Dezeen Showroom: part of a cohesive and customisable bathroom collection, the Shift 60-centimetre towel rail by VanBerlo for Geesa is ideal for contract projects where the architects and designers have an exacting vision.
The Shift collection features dozens of products, each with various finish options and some with pattern choices including highly tactile 3D forms.
The 60-centimetre towel rail is part of the Shift collection
Coram-owned brand Geesa designed the Shift collection for architects and interior designers working on contract projects such as hotel chains, cruise ships and villas.
The range includes dozens of bathroom accessories, all based on the simple form established by the Shift towel hook — a rounded parallelogram that Geesa describes as having “elegant functionality and pure clarity”.
There is a range of finishes including chrome
While the shapes are minimalistic, Shift bathroom sets can be customised to create looks ranging from classic to modern to expressive.
Like other products in the collection, the 60-centimetre towel rail is available in chrome, brushed stainless steel, brushed gold, brushed metal black or matt black finishes. It is made of high-quality materials and comes with a 15-year guarantee.
About Dezeen Showroom: Dezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen’s huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.
Dezeen Showroom is an example of partnership content on Dezeen. Find out more about partnership content here.
Next month Cambridge will begin trialing three autonomous, electric buses known as Auto-Shuttles. Created by British self-driving vehicle manufacturer Aurrigo, the Shuttles look like they were designed as CAD tutorials, where you start with a rectangle and use every tool in the palette to warp, facet and extrude various surfaces.
Seen in the Union Jack livery chosen for the Cambridge trials, the vehicles are even more attention-getting:
The buses are actually quite small, which can be difficult to tell by the photos; each can carry just 10 passengers. However, it appears that the plan is to run them constantly. “These shuttles can be used on demand all day and night, every day of the year – which is unaffordable with our existing public transport,” Claire Ruskin, director of Cambridge Network, told the BBC. “They are flexible and make good use of resources without needing much infrastructure.”
Entries for Dezeen Awards 2021 close in five days! To help you prepare your entry and submit it before midnight BST on 2 June, we’ve put together some answers to five key questions:
1. What is Dezeen Awards?
Dezeen Awards is our annual awards programme. It identifies the world’s best architecture, interiors and design, as well as the studios and the individual architects and designers producing the most outstanding work. Dezeen Awards is the ultimate accolade for architects and designers around the world.
2. How do I enter?
To enter Dezeen Awards 2021, create an account or sign in here. You can then enter as many categories as you like by completing the entry form for each category entry. Read more on our how to enter page.
3. What are the categories?
This year we have more categories than ever, appealing to a wide range of studios and individual creatives. There are 47 categories that you can enter in total, across architecture, interiors, design, sustainability and media. See the full list here.
The sustainability categories are brand new. Sponsored by Dodds and Shute, these awards will go to projects that strive to reduce their impact on people and the planet.
Also new this year are the media categories. Introduced in a year where much of the design world has turned digital, the media categories will reward excellence in the way architecture, interiors and design are communicated and promoted.
You can also enter your studio into our studio awards, which highlight the architects and designers producing the most outstanding work.
Enter STUDIO50 at the payment stage to receive a 50 per cent discount on your studio award entry.
4. Who are the judges?
Judging this year’s programme is a panel of 75 industry-leading professionals across architecture, design, journalism, and curation as well as experts in the fields of sustainability and media for our newly introduced categories.
Dezeen Awards is unique in having three key judging criteria that we believe should be integral to all design projects:
Beautiful: does it look amazing? We know that beauty is subjective, but our judges will be looking out for aesthetic rigour, attention to detail, and good use of materials.
Innovative: does it incorporate original thinking or address a problem in a new way? We don’t mean that every entry has to reinvent the wheel, but we will be looking for evidence of fresh approaches and new ideas.
Beneficial: is it useful and considerate to both people and planet? Your project doesn’t have to set out to save the world but it should show respect and consideration for both users and the environment.
Enter Dezeen Awards 2021 now
If you need more answers, drop us a line at awards@dezeen.com. You have until midnight BST on 2 June, enter now!
The Design Museum‘s latest exhibition, Sneakers Unboxed, showcases the popular shoe as a design object. Curator Ligaya Salazar picks five exhibits that show how the trainer has been at the forefront of material and user innovation.
On show at London’s Design Museum until late October, Sneakers Unboxed: Studio to Street brings together instantly recognisably shoes like the Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star, collectibles like the Yeezy 350 Zebra and historic designs like 1984’s Adidas Micropacer, the first shoe to tout an embedded computer for fitness tracking.
Nike trainers feature in several sections of Sneakers Unboxed
The exhibition also looks at how sneakers have tied into social movements and youth cultures across the globe, starting with New York’s basketball and hip-hop communities in the 1970s, and have gone on to spawn a resale market worth more than $6 billion.
In doing so, it puts the spotlight on a sector that has not always been taken seriously by institutions.
“A footwear staple for style, performance and comfortwear, Sneakers Unboxed: Studio to Street reveals the role young people from diverse backgrounds have played in making individual sneakers into style icons and in driving an industry now worth billions,” said Salazar.
The exhibition also explores how sneakers have provided a unique platform for experimentation, both in the past and in the present moment.
Recent objects show designers innovating with technologies and processes such as biodesign, circularity and non-animal biodegradable leather.
“The exhibition also gives behind-the-scenes insight into new upcycling and sustainable design practices, unseen prototypes predicting the future of performance design, and streetwear and fashion collaborations that changed the face of the industry,” continued Salazar.
Below, Salazar shares her picks of five highlights from the exhibition that represent the biggest strides in material and user innovation.
Reebok InstaPump Fury, 1994
“Creating a proper fit that is adjustable and holds your foot in place without being restrictive has been an important consideration throughout the history of sneaker design. This was first addressed most simply with laces.
“Both the Reebok InstaPump Fury and the Nike Go FlyEase use design innovation to enable a laceless fit that is both more functional and more accessible.
“In the ‘laceless’ race of the 1990s, the InstaPump Fury marked a breakthrough. Designed by Steven Smith and Paul Litchfield, it used an air bladder inside the upper to alter the fit, which the wearer could inflate by pushing a pumping unit on the tongue.”
“The innovation at the heart of the FlyEase is a one-pull fit system and collapsible step-in heel.
“This means the wearer can get in and out of the shoes without using their hands, eliminating the need for laces or other fasteners and therefore making the shoe more accessible.”
“MIT Design Lab, under the direction of Yihyun Lim, and Puma formed a ‘Collaboratory’ in 2016 to bring disruptive ideas from the laboratory closer to consumers through applied design research and development. The Collaboratory model takes students, researchers and partners from Puma Innovation through all the phases of design research. By merging insights and expertise from academia and industry, it aims to push forward the development of sportswear.
“The prototypes of their ‘Breathing Shoe’, was developed in a collaboration with Orkan Telhan from Biorealize, a biodesign, research and manufacturing company. It changes in response to their wearer.
“The upper is made from a material moulded to include cavities that are filled with bacteria. Once activated by heat, the bacteria begins to eat the material to create a unique pattern, enabling air to pass through the hottest areas.”
“Designing out waste and pollution, and keeping products and materials in use, are two key principles of circular design. Using biodegradable materials in the production process and developing less harmful alternatives, such as animal-free leathers, are some of the more sustainable choices sneaker brands are making.
“Mylo is a leather alternative that rivals the look and feel of animal leather, but is grown from mycelium, the thread-structure that mushrooms and other fungi use to grow. Unlike animal or synthetic leather, it is free of noxious chemicals and the production process emits fewer greenhouse gases. Less water and fewer natural resources are consumed than are needed to rear livestock.
“This material was invented by US biotechnology company Bolt Threads, but Adidas is one of several brands investing heavily to help level up the production capabilities of Mylo.”
Helen Kirkum x Matthew Needham, MN ED31 ØYEBLIKK/Central Saint Martins MA Graduate Collection, 2020
“Helen Kirkum has pioneered deconstruction and upcycling in the sneaker industry, creating bespoke sneakers using recycled and deadstock materials. She began experimenting with ‘unmaking’ shoes in 2016, while studying for an MA at the Royal College of Art, where her graduate collection celebrated the process of wearing and making.
“She has created unique pairs for a catwalk presentation by fashion house Casely-Hayford and worked with Adidas on a scaleable upcycled model in 2019. Most recently, she worked with designer Matthew Needham using offcuts and Vibram FiveFingers deadstock.”
Sneakers Unboxed opened at the Design Museum in London on 18 May 2021 and will continue until 24 October.
The vacation property is named Hale Mau’u – hale means house in Hawaiian, and mau’u is a type of native grass.
Hale Mau’u sits low against the gently sloping volcanic landscape
It sits on the western shore of the archipelago’s largest island, which has a very different landscape to the tropical rainforests typically associated with Hawaii.
“For anyone who has never visited Hawaii’s Big Island, it can be surprising to discover that a vast arid plain occupies a significant portion of its western side, sloping gently down from the Hualalai Mountain to the coastline,” said Walker Warner Architects.
The house is spilt across four volumes
The San Francisco-based firm has completed several homes across the Hawaiian archipelago, including a beach house on Kauai and a holiday home in the Big Island’s Kona resort.
For this project, the team took cues from the setting to design “a house like no other” – based on the clients’ request to eschew resort community architecture.
A swimming pool is located at the end of a central courtyard
“This site is unique in its ability to capture the ocean view and mountain view simultaneously. Not all parcels get that,” said the firm’s co-founder, Greg Warner.
“The arrangement of the 4,817-square-foot (447-square-metre) compound had to do three things: catch the mountain view, catch the ocean view, and then block the view of the neighbouring houses.”
A timber pathway forms an axis through the site
On the 2.9-acre site, the home is spread across four volumes. These have various sizes and orientations but are united in their architectural style.
The most distinct feature is the shallow-pitched, copper standing seam roofs, which extend well beyond each building’s walls to shelter ipe-wood perimeter walkways from the sun.
The roofing seams are randomly spaced to evoke the texture of a coconut palm trunk.
The shallow-gabled roofs form deep eaves around the buildings
A long driveway culminates in front of the first and smallest pavilion, which connects directly to the second and largest containing the shared living room, kitchen, and family room.
Through the centre of the compound, a raised walkway forms an axis from the mountain to the ocean.
It runs from the entrance through a courtyard created by three of the volumes, ending at the outdoor swimming pool.
A series of bedrooms for family and guests are housed within the long volume connected to the main “hale”, while the grand bedroom suite occupies its own block opposite.
The living volume sits next to the pool
The interiors feature polished concrete floors, exposed steel columns and bald cypress ceilings.
The guest-bedroom wing and living area are equipped with barn-style doors, which slide open so that indoor activities can easily spill into the outdoor spaces.
Barn-style doors open the living spaces to the landscape
Section of the living volume’s longer sides both retract, creating an unobstructed view from mountain to sea.
Even when closed, horizontal gaps in the grey-stained cypress facades allow for natural ventilation, while exaggerating the lines of the architecture. At night, light from inside glows softly through the slatted walls.
Teaming up for the HIV/AIDs-fighting organization, the two groups created a song full of energy and optimism
When HIV/AIDs non-profit Red Hot approached duo SOFI TUKKER about contributing a song for the Red Hot + Free album (to be released 2 July), the two musicians—Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern—decided their dream collaboration would be with the legendary Amadou & Mariam. Amadou Bagayoko and Mariam Doumbia met at Mali’s Institute for the Young Blind and have been making music together since the ’80s. Their genre-bending style combines instruments and influences from all over the world to create a sound that’s undeniably vibrant. That vibrancy proves a perfect match for SOFI TUKKER’s music, which is a melange of everything from bossa nova to ’90s house.
Together, the foursome remotely recorded “Mon Cheri“—released today—for the album (which will also feature Billy Porter, Ultra Naté, Casey Spooner, Sam Sparro and others) which intends to provide optimism and escape for listeners. Beyond the album, Red Hot continues to work with local grassroots in order to erase the stigma associated with HIV/AIDs while advocating for marginalized people who are affected by the disease, by fighting for better access to care, education and community support. Proceeds from the sale of all songs on Red Hot + Free will go to The Ally Coalition, Trevor Project and SAGE—organizations dedicated to the LGBTQ community.
Courtesy of Bob Bottle
Both Hawley-Weld and Halpern are Amadou & Mariam fans; Hawley-Weld grew up listening to them and the two say they bonded over their love of the Bamako, Mali-based duo. For Bagayoko and Doumbia, the collaboration was an opportunity to explore and expand. “We have had the opportunity to collaborate with many artists throughout our career, Damon Albarn, Flea, Manu Chao, David Gilmour, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Scissor Sisters,” they say. “For us it’s a way to grow, explore new sounds and learn. To share and enjoy the music.”
While the song was recorded remotely, everybody involved says the process was actually more natural than perhaps expected. “It actually felt extremely organic to create this song remotely. The process was easy, as many of the best songs are. It just flowed,” Hawley-Weld and Halpern tell us. “We sent over the guitar, they sent over their vocals and then we wrote a new vocal melody (along with the Brazilian poet Chacal) to match the tone and lyrical content of theirs. They replayed the guitar part to give it their signature guitar sound and we added some electronic elements to really bring it into our world. It feels like the perfect combination of both of our worlds and the process couldn’t have been more fun. Except perhaps if we had been able to meet and jam in person!”
Courtesy of Red Hot
Bagayoko and Doumbia echo that sentiment. “The truth is that it was quite simple,” they explain. “SOFI TUKKER gave us a lot of freedom when it came to composing. The important thing was to connect with our essence and the message we wanted to give with this song… With ‘Mon Cheri’ everything went very smoothly, we immediately felt where the song had to go and we contributed our sound.”
The buoyant, energized “Mon Cheri” manifests as the perfect pastiche of their respective sounds. Bagayoko and Doumbia agree that “The song is festive and universal and we hope people really like it.” For Hawley-Weld and Halpern, the song “feels like love and energy.”
When it comes to the song’s release into the world, all four simply want it to offer a moment of joy for listeners. Bagayoko and Doumbia say, “After more than a very hard year for everyone, after many injustices and bad news, we want people to be able to enjoy a bit of music again, to escape for a few minutes and let themselves be carried away by a festive sound that makes them dance. We want them to enjoy and love without limits and with respect.”
In a world where everyone is moving toward’s sustainability, architects are also building their structures with materials that are sensitive and kind to nature with materials like bamboo! Bamboo is a durable, cost-effective, and accessible building material that is being used to create majestic structures that respect their surrounding environment. You don’t have to be an architect to want to build a bamboo structure of your own thank to the ‘Zome building kit’ by Giant Grass! The studio has made a DIY kit that is basically a larger-than-life LEGO project which can live in your backyard or be scaled up to create a community space.
The ‘zome’ is a flexible space that can be used by children to hang out in the backyard, like a gazebo for you to entertain guests in, a greenhouse for seedlings, a creative space in the office, a quiet space for yoga at home, or a glamping tent – it can be anything you want it to be. This DIY kit is perfect for those who want to live sustainability and enjoy working on projects which result in a productive reward. The kit comes with all accessories needed – 350 precision-made bamboo strips, nuts, bolts, and an installation guide to make the 3m x 3m ‘zome’. Giant Grass wanted to scale its design and building process to make it more accessible and affordable. The geometric shape of the structure is different than a traditional dome, but the lightweight structure follows similar design principles in regards to symmetry, proportions, and triangulations. ‘Zome’ creates a far more useable space compared to a dome – a 3m diameter dome spans 1.5m in the center while a 3m diameter zome around 2.8m.
It is easy to assemble and doesn’t require any special tools or construction experience. You can make your ‘zome’ in 2-3 hours and dismantled it in just 3o minutes. The bamboo strips are covered with UV-resistant coating and will grey over time like timber unless they are covered with oil which can retain the yellow aesthetic. The ‘zome’ weights less than 35kg and can be transported by two people easily. ‘Zome’ kits give you more power to create a space that you are proud of while being mindful of its environmental impact!
The Ocean range was initially created by Danish modern design couple Nanna and Jørgen Ditzel in 1955 and formed from slats of timber veneer.
In 2019, Mater reissued the pieces in recycled ocean plastic and fishing nets. And now, the timeless collection has once again been revamped in collaboration with Carlsberg using beer kegs that would otherwise have been discarded by the brewer.
Ocean OC2 chairs are made out of recycled Carlsberg beer kegs
“We are constantly looking for similar collaborations where we can use upcycled plastic or other waste streams and send it back as furniture and lighting,” said Mater founder Henrik Marstrand.
Each of the resulting Ocean OC2 chairs generates less than half the CO2 emissions as a similar design made from virgin plastic, according to lifecycle assessment company Målbar.
The chairs come in three colours including dark green
The Ocean OC2 collection was created as part of Carlsberg’s sustainability programme Together Towards Zero, which has seen the Danish brewer commit to cutting down on plastic waste in its breweries and eliminating all carbon emissions by 2030.
The chairs and matching benches are available in three colour options – green, black or sand. They are designed for disassembly so each component can once again be recycled.
About Dezeen Showroom: Dezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen’s huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.
Dezeen Showroom is an example of partnership content on Dezeen. Find out more about partnership content here.
The Cork House in Berkshire. Photography is by David Grandorge
Located on a small island in the River Thames, The Cork House is a single-storey dwelling comprising a row of five volumes with pyramid-like roofs and walls made from blocks of expanded cork.
The sustainable building was developed to address the architecture industry’s contribution to biodiversity loss, carbon emissions and the depletion of planetary resources.
Barnett Howland, Milne and Wilton used expanded cork as the building’s primary construction material because it generates less waste during manufacturing than traditional materials.
The dwelling is made from sustainably sourced cork blocks. Photography is by David Grandorge
Expanded cork also reincorporates leftover product, as it is made from the waste that results when harvesting bark from cork trees.
Additionally, harvesting the bark does not fell trees, which allows landscapes populated by cork oak to retain their biodiversity, a term used to describe the number and variety of species in an ecosystem.
The resulting building is carbon-negative due to the structure’s ability to absorb more carbon dioxide than was emitted during the entire construction process.
The building features five pyramid-like skylights. Photography is by Magnus Dennis
Conceived as a kit of parts for self-building, the components are prefabricated offsite and assembled on site like giant pieces of Lego.
The expanded cork blocks are designed to interlock, removing the need for glue and mortar.
The absence of binding agents enables the building to be dismantled into its constituent components at the end of its lifetime for reuse or recycling.
The cork is left exposed. Photography is by David Grandorge
Inside, the cork is left exposed, while timber and copper are used for the remaining structural elements and details.
The Cork House is part of an ongoing research collaboration between Howland, the Bartlett School of Architecture, the University of Bath, Amorium UK and Ty-Mawr.
For the past seven years, the team has been developing sustainable cork-based construction systems.
In addition to its Stirling Prize nomination, The Cork House also won the Stephen Lawrence Prize 2019 and was longlisted for a Dezeen Award the same year.
Matthew Barnett Howland, head of research and development at CSK Architects
Barnett Howland is the director of research and development at CSK Architects and led The Cork House project.
He also lectures at the Bartlett and has previously taught at the Architectural Association, University of Cambridge and London Metropolitan University, where he was awarded the RIBA Tutor Prize.
Director of CSK Architects Dido Milne
Milne is the director of CSK Architects. The Eton-based practice specialises in crafting bespoke buildings that are designed to be sensitive towards their predominantly historic locations.
In response to climate change, Milne’s work focuses on innovative forms of conservation – particularly the reuse and adaptation of existing buildings.
The Bartlett School of Architecture’s Oliver Wilton
Wilton is director of technology and lecturer in Environmental Design at the Bartlett in London.
His research and teaching cover such fields of enquiry as inhabitation, material technology, environmental and energy performance, and developing new forms of construction.
Wilton is also a director of architecture practice WW Studio and has over 20 years of experience working as an architect and environmental design consultant.
The 50th edition of Field Notes’ quarterly three-pack notebooks features a “Red Hot” French Paper Co cover (embellished with metallic ink and the pop of a Futura “50” through a die-cut circle) encapsulating 48 silver graph grid pages. It’s an altogether vibrant commemorative edition, but one to be used rather than tucked away.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
