Provides consulting services on one or more technical specialties such as usability, interaction or visual design, prototyping or content. Leads project teams to define and document site architecture, navigation elements, content strategy, map user flows, and propose best practices in usability and interactive design based on a deep understanding of customer needs. Recommends innovative solutions that balance customer needs with business viability and technical feasibility. Creates exceptional user experiences that result in market differentiation and efficiency improvements while maintaining brand standards and meeting business objectives.
New York studio Snarkitecture has filled a Manhattan gallery with 168 white spherical orbs that light up in a blue hue when touched.
Snarkitecture designed the immersive Sway installation for a gallery at Intersect – a cultural hub in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan, run by car manufacturer Lexus.
It comprises multiple rows of white plastic spheres hanging from the ceiling and sprouting from the floor. The arrangement of the orbs reflect each other from above and below. The rows repeat, gradually shortening in height from the ceiling and ground, effectively opening up the space.
They are supported by flexible, swaying poles. Snarkitecture co-founder Alex Mustonen likens their shape to ”large lollipops”.
Inside each sphere are LED lights that change colour as the visitor moves through the exhibit. The activation of the light sensor uses the same technology that triggers the shifting orientation of a smartphone screen when the phone is rotated.
The lights are connected to electronic motherboards on the ceiling and floor that “speak to each other” to simultaneously light up upon interaction. ”As you move through, it is a field of spheres that respond to your touch points and movement,” Mustonen told Dezeen.
”They’re illuminating or changing colour based on speed, motion and direction,” he continued. ”The idea is essentially to create this immersive feel, in a relatively small space.”
Unlike most of the studio’s large-scale projects in public spaces, Snarkitecture was challenged to create an exhibit in a space measuring 140 square metres.
In addition to the physical reflection of the spheres, the walls surrounding the space are also covered in mirrors. This creates an infinity effect to open up the area.
”In order to enhance it, there’s a literal mirroring but then we’re playing with reflection with actual physical objects as well,” said Mustonen. ”There’s a sort of a parabolic sweep and then that’s reflected above, and so it’s sort of being enveloped in this shape; it feels very surrounding.”
Speaking to Dezeen at an event held at Intersect on 13 May, Snarkitecture partner Ben Porto told Dezeen the team chose the ball shape to ”remind you of play”. The balls are formed of HDPE (high-density polyethylene) plastic, which is poured into a mould and rotated to create a smooth surface.
”Obviously, there’s a lot of constraints to work with, and time constraint but ultimately we arrived at this product which is an HDPE plastic sphere,” Sway project manager Breanna Urquhart of Snarkitecture, told Dezeen.
“One version we looked at was an inflatable skin versus a hard surface,” Urquhart continued. “What is that tactile experience, and how does it relate to the responsive technology that’s within it?”.
Sway is the Snarkitecture’s latest project after the opening of Snark Park, a permanent exhibit at New York’s Hudson Yards.
”Like Snark Park, Sway is creating a simple understandable landscape where you kind of get lost in an enchanted forest,” Porto said.
The studio is based in Long Island City and its works play on the intersection between art and architecture. The light installation follows a number of other playful projects by the firm, including a giant bouncy ball playground in Hong Kong and a fun house in Washington DC.
Sway is is the result of a collaboration between Lexus and Snarkitecture that started with a partnership with the Lexus Design Awards. The installation is open to the public from 3 May until 2 June at Intersect at 412 West 14th Street in Manhattan.
Manuelo Bececco partage avec nous les merveilles de la forêt. Et plus particulièrement des Forêts de Casentino, dans le Parc National éponyme, en Toscane. « Je me souviens que j’avais monté un zoom 24-70 f2.8 sur mon appareil, mais je me suis rendu compte que c’était trop long à 24 mm. J’ai alors changé l’objectif que j’ai mis sur un 14 mm et à partir de là, j’ai ouvert un monde nouveau. Les arbres sont devenus comme très élevés et la distorsion de la lentille courbe les arbres. J’ai ensuite commencé à élaborer mes photographies avec un aspect de ‘merveille’. J’aimais tellement ce que j’ai fait, que j’ai ensuite pris photos sur photos ».
Tombé amoureux de cet endroit, Manuelo explique qu’il s’y rend maintenant un mois par an, avec sa famille, pour capturer la beauté de l’automne. Plus que la forêt elle-même, le photographe est fasciné par les arbres, qui sont toujours une source d’inspiration pour lui. « Je les trouve particulièrement intrigants. S’ils pouvaient parler, je pourrais probablement écouter leurs histoires pendant des heures. Un peu comme nos grands-parents. Pensez à un arbre séculier… Tout ce qu’il aurait à nous dire. Les photographier, pour moi, c’est comme faire le portrait d’une personne. Vous devez choisir la meilleure pose qui la rend belle, fascinante et mystérieuse, et attendre la bonne lumière pour enfin réaliser lecliché »
We love it when products with a functional purpose carry a characterful and quirky aesthetic; it brings an element of playfulness to what would conventionally be a rather boring and uninteresting product. This is exactly the case with Cable Pets, where humor and personality have been placed at the forefront of the design requirements, therefore greatly influencing the design!
Cable Pets function is a rather handy one; it is an all-in-one USB adapter that allows power banks to charge all types of smartphone. The cables make up the friendly-creature’s arms and legs, giving them an out of proportion and dynamic appearance. It’s certainly a wonderfully simple yet functional accessory that is just bursting with characterful design!
Since Notre-Dame Cathedral was devastated by fire last month, design proposals for rebuilding the roof and spire have got more and more ridiculous. Here are seven of the most far-fetched, including a car park, a swimming pool and a McDonald’s.
The Pool by Ulf Mejergren Architects
Rather than topping Notre-Dame with a park, as several designers have suggested, Stockholm studio Ulf Mejergren Architects wants to create a wetter type of public space on top of the cathedral – a swimming pool.
The open-air pool, which would have “unmatched views over Paris”, would be surrounded by the 12 statues of the apostles that were removed from the roof before the fire.
“Our addition is a complementary spatial experience to the building that will match the awe of the great interior; a space for thinking and self-reflection,” said the studio.
Louis Vuitton vs Notre Dame by Pedro Ribs
Pedro Ribs, art director at Brazilian studio Entrequadra Novas Mídias, has envisioned a Notre-Dame rebuilt by Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), as a response to the corporation’s donation of €200 million to the cathedral’s renovation fund.
The project sees the cathedral rebuilt as it was before the fire, but with the Louis Vuitton print used across the roof and square in front of the west entrance. The Louis Vuitton Notre-Dame would be complete with the fashion brand’s logo placed over the rose windows, and on flags flying from its towers and rebuilt spire.
The multi-storey car park may have been designed in response to Miysis Studio and Vincent Callebaut‘s proposals for Notre-Dame. “When green roof and glass roof proposals are too mainstream,” said the caption alongside the post.
Quasimodo’s Penthouse by Who Cares Design
Who Cares Design has proposed building a rooftop villa for Quasimodo – the fictional protagonist of Victor Hugo’s book The Hunchback of Notre-Dame – on top of the cathedral. The penthouse, which would stretch across the cathedral’s crossing, is designed to replace Quasimodo’s previous home in Notre-Dame’s attic.
“The Hollywood star Quasimodo, by now rich and famous thanks to the royalties from countless movies about him and his story, has already dreamed about changes to his housing conditions for several years,” said the studio.
“Finally, he can follow his dream of more comfort, light and a green rooftop garden.”
Mc Notre-Dame by Unknown
Could Notre-Dame be turned into the world’s largest fast food restaurant? A visual created by unknown designer, which was posted on Reddit, would see the cathedral turned into a McDonald’s.
The cathedral’s roof would be rebuilt in red, to match the roofs of the fast-food chain’s typical restaurants, while the spire would be replaced with the Golden Arches – a large yellow M, which is the company’s logo.
The Dome by Juan Françisco Ronda
Designer Juan Françisco Ronda envisions Notre-Dame being turned into a monument to peace. The building would be enclosed in a translucent dome supported by a column that sprouts from the cathedral’s crossing.
“Erect a place of peace where everyone is to believe (or not) what is best for you!,” said Ronda. “Here is only momentary reunification when an attempt is made or sacrilege, seek peace and thus translate this movement.”
Located in the grounds of the Sant Pau Hospital, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Spain, the Kálida Sant Pau Centre is the first building created by the Maggie’s Centres charity in mainland Europe.
It is distinguished by its red-brick facades, adorned with honeycomb-shaped ceramic tiles, which EMBT designed to complement the decorative, brick hospital.
“The whole project has been inspired by the richness of materials, textures, colours, geometries, drawings and greenery of the original hospital complex,” explained the local studio, which is led by architect Benedetta Tagliabue.
“The building scale, the design of the facades and the garden establish a respectful dialogue with this outstanding environment.”
The Kálida Sant Pau Centre is positioned with direct access to the hospital’s oncology department, however to offer an escape from a medical environment it is enveloped by a garden lined with patios, trees and pergolas.
Inside, the ground floor has flexible, communal spaces, including a kitchen area and small library. A spacious, double-height dining area sits at its centre.
Above, the first floor has counselling and meeting rooms that lead out onto a landing area that looks down into the dining room.
Urquiola designed the interior finishes help to create a bright, homely environment, characterised by wooden detailing, terracotta-coloured floors and wall tiles, which complement a traditional barrel-vaulted brick ceiling.
They are teamed with patterned sofas, rugs and decorative hanging lights dress the spaces, while the brick and ceramic latticework-facade filters in dappled sunlight.
Maggie’s Centres is a charity that creates uplifting places at hospitals where it offers free practical, social and emotional help to anyone affected by cancer.
The development of the Kálida Sant Pau Centre was overseen by the Kálida Foundation, which is part of the charity’s international network.
The Maggie’s charity was established by Maggie Keswick Jencks and architectural historian Charles Jencks in 1995, with the first centre designed by Richard Murphy opening in Edinburgh in 1996. Since then numerous well-known architects have designed cancer centres for the charity across the UK.
The world’s biggest e-commerce company, Alibaba, is changing the infrastructure of design, manufacturing and retail around the globe, says Martina Muzi, co-curator of the Design Academy Eindhoven exhibition Geo-Design.
According to Muzi, the Chinese multinational conglomerate is building new digital, social and logistical networks that are transforming the world’s geography.
“Alibaba is more than just a company, or even one of the world’s largest companies,” she told Dezeen.
“Whether we recognise it or not, it is a powerful agent in every stage of the design process today. More than simply shaping the rules of design, production and circulation as an e-commerce giant, Alibaba is both a massive influence and an engine for change in contemporary geopolitics and global infrastructure.”
Their aim was to show that Alibaba is powerful enough to change how geographical economies and territories are defined.
Geo-Design: Alibaba From Here to Your Home was presented at Milan design week
“Geography is formed by capital and territory,” Muzi explained. “Depending which capital you select – objects, human resources, technology, digital, physical – and depending how you apply it, new geographies are formed.”
“This is super important,” she continued, “because geography does not necessarily have to be a strict decided form. It can be redesigned.”
Alibaba one of the world’s most valuable companies
Alibaba Group was founded in 1999 by Jack Ma and Peng Lei. Today it is one of the world’s largest and most valuable companies, with profits in 2015 greater than Walmart, Amazon and eBay put together.
Its primary business is centred around bringing together retail and technology, but this encompasses a vast spectrum of products and services, including search engines, a social network, electronic payment, cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
It also has established a logistics network that links up cities, factories and ports around the globe.
Jing He’s project looks at how brands like Alibaba are using social-media influencers
Design Academy Eindhoven set up the Geo-Design research platform in the summer of 2018, working with the Van Abbemuseum. They asked nine designers and teams to explore a different aspect of Alibaba. The results were debuted at Dutch Design Week, before travelling to Milan in April.
“You can’t explain Alibaba if you are one designer, it’s impossible,” said Muzi.
“That’s why nine designers were invited to each choose one specific topic and develop it really deeply. All of these topics together make an open portrait of what Alibaba is.”
Designers “trace the nebulous outline” of Alibaba
The Milan exhibition started with Live Streaming, a project by Chinese designer Jing He, which shows how brands like Alibaba are using social-media influencers to change the way objects are marketed.
Exhibition visitors were able to see WeChat influencer Erbi Chen in action, as well as on screen.
Allison Crank used virtual reality to show how consumption is going digital
Next, Irish-American designer Allison Crank used a virtual-reality experience to show how consumption is becoming increasingly digital.
“What is really interesting about this project is that it really highlights the moment – a new nature of products that, before being real, are extremely digital. So what you buy are facts or desires, not objects,” said Muzi.
In one room, a video collage compiled by designers Alice Wong and Aryan Javaherian showed how Alibaba co-founder Ma has become a propagator for global change, through his interactions with mass media.
A video collage showed how Jack Ma has become a propagator for global change
A project by design duo Arvid&Marie looks at how the Alibaba and AliExpress search bars generate influence, while Muzi’s own project, Diamond Model, explores how the company breeds a global culture of copying, through the example of a DIY craft kit.
Maxime Benvenuto’s project investigates how the movement of goods and materials can change global economies, referencing a quote from Ma: “We should not talk about ‘Made in China’, ‘Made in America’. It’s going to be ‘Made in the internet’.”
For their project, designers Leif Czakai and Timm Donke worked with Barbara Ahimbise, a Chinese language student living in Uganda. Together they looked how Alibaba’s e-commerce technology could be applied to an online shoe store in Kampala, where street vendors don’t trust online trade.
Leif Czakai and Timm Donke looked how Alibaba’s e-commerce technology could be applied to an online shoe store in Uganda
In the final room, Isabel Mager showed the relationship between Alibaba and the Huaqiangbei Electronics Market in Shenzhen, the biggest of its kind in the world. By collecting all the components used in the production of an iPhone 7 Plus, she maps out the complex network that connects tech companies, manufacturers, retailers and consumers.
There was also one project in the courtyard outside – a four-metre-high inflatable globe, installed by Irene Stracuzzi to offer a vision of how the world looks through the eyes of Alibaba.
Understand “contemporary infrastructural model”
“As the projects exhibited tell, the learning goes at many levels, from the political meaning of a giant worldwide company and its role in the shaping of new geographies, to the the importance of visible and invisible infrastructures ruling our everyday lives,” said Muzi.
“We learn how all these aspects work within the same multilayered body, which in this case is called Alibaba.”
Muzi said she hopes the project encourages designers to look more closely at the systems that shape the way they do business.
“The message to designers is to get out of your studio and look, from the little scale to the large scale,” she added.
“This complexity is the landscape right outside the doors of design ateliers. It is urgent to understand the contemporary infrastructural model and the possibilities it may open, moving between east and west, and vice versa.”
Isabel Mager collected all the components used to manufacture an iPhone 7 Plus
Other past notable exhibitions included Touch Base in 2016, which included a petting zoo and a vagina mirror, and Eat Shit in 2015, which investigated both ends of the human digestive system.
Geo-Design: Alibaba From Here to Your Home was on show at Via Marco Aurelio 21 from 9 to 14 April as part of Milan design week.
Piero Gandini has resigned as CEO of Flos, the Italian lighting brand founded in 1962 by his father, following a clash of views with its new parent company Design Holding.
Gandini, who has been at Flos for 22 years, also stood down as chairman of Design Holding, the luxury furniture and lighting group he helped create.
The departure is due to “different strategic and management views of the new holding company”, according to a statement issued yesterday.
The move ends the Gandini family’s involvement with Flos, which was established 57 years ago in Merano, Italy, by Piero’s father Sergio.
Design Holding formed eight months ago
Design Holding was formed in September 2018 with Gandini as its chairman.
The group is made up of three leading design companies: furniture brand B&B Italia, and lighting brands Flos and Louis Poulsen.
Gandini has been at Flos for 22 years, since his father died
Gandini was upbeat about the new group when he spoke to Dezeen last month, saying that Flos and Louis Poulson “can perfectly work together”. However the statement suggests there were underlying issues.
In the statement, Gandini thanked the company and shareholders.
“Leaving a group with strong potential, as recently demonstrated by its great success at its debut at the Salone del Mobile furniture trade show, as well as a company, Flos, which enjoys a position of absolute leadership both for its financial results and its design culture, Mr Gandini thanks the company and its shareholders for the great trust they have placed in him,” the statement reads.
“He wishes the vice chairman Giorgio Busnelli and the CEO Gabriele Del Torchio all the best for Design Holding and Flos’s future development and success.”
Gandini led Flos since father’s death in 1999
Gandini’s departure comes at a tumultuous time for Design Holding. Last month the company replaced B&B Italia CEO Armin Broger with Gabriele Del Torchio, who formerly ran brands including motorcycle manufacturer Ducati and newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore. Del Torchio also became CEO of Design Holding.
Busnelli, son of B&B Italia founder Piero Ambrogio Busnelli, remains vice chairman of Design Holding and CEO of B&B Italia.
Gandini took over control of Flos when his father Sergio died in 1999. He built the company into one of the most innovative and successful brands in the lighting sector, working with designers including Philippe Starck and Michael Anastassiades.
In September 2014 he sold an 80 per cent stake of the business to Investindustrial, an Italian-owned private equity firm, but remained at the helm.
Investindustrial is one of the investors in Design Holding, owning 48 per cent.
The Carlyle Group owns a further 48 per cent, with Gandini and B&B Italia’s Giorgio Busnelli sharing the remaining four per cent.
Gandini set out the reasons for selling a majority stake in the family business in a 2014 interview with Dezeen.
“I love the fact that Italian companies are driven by families,” he said. “This can be a fantastic advantage. But it is also sometimes a weak point.”
Indian architecture firm Studio Mumbai will exhibit 14 furniture and homeware items crafted from a mix of “universal” and more unusual materials, at Maniera gallery in Brussels.
Described as the “result of an ongoing process of refinement and study in material, form and function”, the new collection of handmade furniture and homeware features a daybed, a lamp, a console table, a bench, a folding screen and a selection of chairs.
Made from “universal” materials such as stone, textiles, glass and brick, the pieces take inspiration from traditional craftsmanship found across the world.
The studio has also used unusual materials like Japanese washi paper, cow dung and lime in the collection.
“The materials are very much a part of our immediate landscape,” Bijoy Jain, founder of Studio Mumbai, told Dezeen.
“These objects are universal in their relation to water, air and light – they are free from origin or place,” he explained.
In keeping with the idea of traditional crafts, the pieces in the collection do not require expensive power tools or adhesives to be built.
“The pieces emerge from a directness of approach between material and man, enabled by simple tools and manipulated with gestures of the hand,” said Jain.
One piece in the series, a console, has a plywood structure with Japanese washi paper panelling, while a chair is made from recycled teak wood and tied together using silk rope.
Elsewhere, an armchair is hand-carved from a single block of sandstone and features a rounded form with slanting armrests.
There are also two benches that feature dyed bamboo-stick structures and silk rope seats that have been tied together.
According to Jain, the pieces seek to recall the “mythical qualities found in artefacts from another time”, while still retaining a “highly contemporary” edge.
Today marks 15 days to go until the Dezeen Awards 2019 deadline. We’ve put together a list of the most frequently asked questions to help you finish your entry.
When is the deadline?
At 23:59 British Summer Time on Thursday 30 May.
What materials will I need to submit an entry?
You will need to submit basic company and project information, plus a short project description of 100 words, as well as a longer description of 500 words. You will also need tell us why your project or product deserves to win a Dezeen Award.
A hero image, a photograph that best represents your project or product, and up to 10 gallery images will be needed for your entry as well.
Can I upload drawings or renderings?
Drawings and renderings are accepted as supporting material, but the majority of images should be photographs.
I am having trouble with uploading my images, what do I do?
Make sure that each image does not exceed the size limit of 10MB and try uploading the images in an incognito window. Still not working? Send an email to awards@dezeen.com and we’ll help you out.
Can I pay by bank transfer?
We don’t accept bank transfers. You can pay by PayPal or credit card via our website.
No. Apart from the entry fee, there are no extra or hidden costs to entering Dezeen Awards 2019.
When will I know if my project made it to the next stage?
If your project is longlisted, we’ll let you know in July. Shortlists will be published in September and winners will be announced online in late October/early November.
You can take a look at our terms and conditions to find out more about the judging process.
Can I enter an uncompleted or speculative project?
Only projects that have been completed between 1 June 2017 and 30 May 2019 can be entered, sorry! If you’re unsure, read through our terms and conditions or get in touch.
Can I add video content to my entry?
Yes, you can share a link with us in the entry form.
Can I enter a product collection?
Absolutely! We accept collections as long as there is a strong, easily demonstrable theme in common that unites all the products within it.
Is the entry form available in other languages?
The entry form is available in English only, sorry! All entries should be submitted in English as well.
My question is not on the list!
No problem, just email us at awards@dezeen.com and we’ll answer your query as soon as possible.
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