Hasta La Ideas

American firms 180 Degrees and CoLab Studio have created an educational facility and a greenhouse in the Arizona desert with polycarbonate facades that bring soft daylight indoors.

The Hazel Hare Center for Plant Science is located within the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. Local firms 180 Degrees and CoLab Studio worked with the garden to conceive a masterplan for the centre’s 85,000-square-foot (7,897-square-metre) campus.

“This horticulture campus is the heart of the Desert Botanical Garden, providing world-class facilities furthering the art and science of nurturing the garden’s renowned plant collection,” the team said.

Since the masterplan was approved, three buildings have been completed: Greenhouse West, the Marley Horticulture Learning Lab and the Ahearn Desert Conservation Laboratory. Future facilities include a headhouse and additional conservatories.

At 5,184 square feet (482 square metres), the West Greenhouse is the largest of the new structures. It contains space for growing various species of cacti, including rare specimens.

The steel-framed facility has white, polycarbonate cladding – a material that brings diffused light into the growing space. The building is topped with a sawtooth roof and, above it, a broad, metal canopy with perforated aluminium louvres that move.

At ground level are two metal cylinders for the storage of rainwater, which is used inside the greenhouse.

Encompassing 1,728 square feet (161 square metres), the Learning Lab offers space for lectures, workshops and laboratory work.

Rectangular in plan, the building is topped with a sloped roof. Wrapping the exterior are polycarbonate panels in hues of grey, blue and green.

On the south elevation, fins made of salvaged wood help shade a row of slot windows. Glazed openings on the building’s north and east facades provide transparency and a connection to the outdoors.

The final building is the Desert Conservation Lab, which totals 2,200 square feet (204 square metres). Roughly trapezoidal in plan, the building has an exterior made of galvanized steel and copper.

The buildings on the horticultural campus are interwoven with walkways, desert landscaping and shaded areas for taking a break. Special attention was given to dividing the campus’s public-facing structures, such as the Learning Lab, from facilities that are more operational in nature.

“The garden needed a means to separate the ‘front of house’ from ‘back of house’ operations at the Horticultural Center, while allowing the public some degree of access,” the team said.

Therefore, stretching through the campus is the Great Wall of Boulders, a tall partition made of 24 boulders and a series of gabion cages.

Each boulder is partly buried underground in order to support its weight. To create the wall, over 436 tons of rock were brought down from a quarry in Kingman, Arizona.

“Garden volunteers installed PVC irrigation pockets inside the gabions to create vertical gardens that simulated desert canyon microclimates that native species could happily cling to,” the team said.

Other projects involving plants include a botanical garden in China that features three giant, domed greenhouses, and a greenhouse with sliding mesh walls that was added to an office building in Santa Monica.

The photography is by Bill Timmerman.

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Regenerative “Planet City” concepts, the future of wireless charging, 3D mapping iconic paintings and more

Architect Liam Young’s City Concept Can House The Population of The Entire Planet

In his latest experiment, speculative architect Liam Young designed a city that can house 10 billion people—the estimated population of the world in 2050. This “Planet City” constructs a regenerative future—one in which the city, occupying 0.2 percent of the earth, sustains space to restore nature, returns stolen lands, staves off climate change and fosters a new myriad of cultures. While this experiment is not an urban planning proposal, Young views Planet City as a call for collective visualization. The new global perspective, gained from this visual inquiry, acts as a lens to reflect on real cities (their structures, politics and prejudices) in order to work toward constructing a better one thoughtfully. Tour this science-fiction city in Young’s TED Talk.

Image courtesy of TED

Researchers Build A Wireless Room That Charges Phones From Anywhere Inside

Located at the University of Tokyo, a prototype room designed by a team of researchers wirelessly charges devices—including a lamp, a fan and smartphones—from anywhere inside. Despite its innovative technology, the room appears like any other 100-square-foot living space. Yet, nestled behind the floor, ceilings and walls of aluminum sheets are a series of capacitors which generate magnetic fields that reverberate around the room, charging items. Now that researchers know their wireless charging technology is successful, they hope to apply the prototype to the medical field, bringing life-changing advancements to implants, robotics and equipment. Find out more about the wireless room and it’s varied uses at Fast Company.

Image courtesy of The University of Tokyo and Nature Electronics

Designer Alexia Audrain’s Oto Chair Inflates to Comfort People with Autism

Conceived us as an article of warm, welcoming design rather than a medical device (thanks to feedback on a prototype model, that was presented at L’École de design Nantes Atlantique, from people with autism as well as from psychometricians studying sensory processing disorders), graduate designer Alexia Audrain’s Oto chair inflates to “hug” a person sitting within it. This cocooning effect can help people with autism self-soothe when presented with sensory overload. Deep pressure therapy from blow-up modules is controlled by the user, granting agency. Further, sound-absorbing foam lends the plush interior and beech wood shell additional function. Read more about the way the chair works—and what Audrain hopes it will provide—at Dezeen.

Image courtesy of Alexia Audrain

Design Agency Invasione Creativa Turns Awe-Inspiring Paintings Into 3D Worlds

Transforming renowned, recognizable painted works by Michelangelo, Munch, Caravaggio and da Vinci into three-dimensional panoramas and landscapes, Italian design agency Invasione Creativa grants art lovers the opportunity to explore images they’ve long admired in a new way. The agency employed numerous 3D-mapping techniques to lend dimension to the source material—and each reveal is surprising. See more imaginative imagery, and watch an inspiring video, at designboom.

Image courtesy of Invasione Creativa

Yves Behar Designs Unagi’s Thrilling “Model Eleven” Electric Scooter

High-end electric scooter producer Unagi’s second release—humorously entitled the Model Eleven (which follows their launch product, the Model One)—debuted on Indiegogo with a thrilling new look from renowned industrial designer Yves Behar. This light (at 32 pounds), smart (with Google turn-by-turn navigation) and portable vehicle includes a suite of tech-forward upgrades, from a motion-detector alarm system to a camera-based advanced driver assistance, full front and rear suspension, and swappable batteries. It’s also composed—almost entirely—from a brand new Swiss material called “long carbon.” This carbon composite (which incorporates materials like nylon) allows “Unagi’s design team to formulate the shape of the scooter using injection molding rather than carbon wrapping,” according to The Verge. Read more about why the (already fully funded) Model Eleven will become Unagi’s flagship vehicle at The Verge.

Image courtesy of Unagi

Link About It is our filtered look at the web, shared daily in Link and on social media, and rounded up every Saturday morning. Hero image courtesy of Invasione Creativa

For our latest lookbook, we’ve collected 10 bathrooms from the Dezeen archive that use marble in their designs, a metamorphic stone known for its smooth but veiny appearance.

Marble is a versatile material often used to clad bathroom sinks and kitchen countertops as well as to form tiles that line floors and walls.

Owing to its streaky and gleaming appearance, designers and architects commonly add marble to projects that require a luxurious element, in place of more simple surfaces such as plain white tiles.

This is the latest roundup in our Dezeen Lookbooks series that provides visual inspiration for designers and design enthusiasts. Previous lookbooks include Japandi interiors, cosy cabin bedrooms and loft conversions.

Louisville Road by 2LG Studio

London interior design firm 2LG Studio overhauled a period house in Tooting with colourful accents, such as this bespoke coral-orange vanity unit in the light-filled bathroom.

Pale marble tiles clad the wall in stark contrast to the bright cabinet, and feature an intricate pattern that offsets the geometric lines of the furniture and floor design.

Find out more about Louisville Road house ›

Teorema Milanese by Marcante-Testa

Italian architecture office Marcante-Testa used rich materials and colours to revamp Teorema Milanese, a Milan apartment that was previously described as a “typical bourgeois home.”

Slabs of salome marble, a type of pinky-lilac stone, serve as a splashback for a bright white standalone bathroom sink.

Find out more about Teorema Milanese ›

130 William by David Adjaye 

Ghanian-British architect David Adjaye designed the interiors for the apartments in the 130 William skyscraper in New York.

The bathrooms feature smoky grey, black and white Bianco Carrara Italian marble, which covers all of the walls.

Find out more about 130 William ›

House in Fontaínhas by Fala Atelier 

Pearly marble-topped counters contrast with deep blue bathroom cabinets in House in Fontaínhas, a project in Porto by Portuguese studio Fala Atelier.

More geometric tiles offset the bathroom’s veiny marble surfaces and floors of this previously abandoned 18th-century townhouse renovated by the studio.

Find out more about House in Fontaínhas ›

VS House by Sārānsh 

Indian office Sārānsh designed the bathroom of VS House in Ahmedabad with veiny, emerald marble elements that are designed to accentuate the appearance of appliances such as a minimal black toilet and curved mirror.

The marble is positioned to look as if it is the dramatic shadows of the fixtures, in a dark green that reflects the lush landscape surrounding the house.

Find out more about VS House ›

House with Three Eyes by Innauer-Matt Architekten

A marble-clad freestanding bathtub is positioned next to full-height glass walls that provide views of the Austrian countryside in House with Three Eyes, a home designed by Innauer-Matt Architekten in the Rhine Valley.

A slab of matching marble also lines the floor next to the bath alongside the sandy-coloured wood that defines the rest of the bathroom.

Find out more about House with Three Eyes ›

Apartment Nana by Rar.Studio 

Peach-coloured Portuguese marble adds a warm glow to this late 19th-century Lisbon apartment that was renovated by local firm Rar.Studio.

A large sink and shower walls were built from pink marble with grey-streaked accents.

Find out more about Apartment Nana ›

London apartment by SIRS 

London and Vienna-based design firm SIRS intended to add a touch of luxury to this home in a 1960s apartment building in England‘s capital, which features a bathroom made almost entirely marble.

Enhanced by mirrored cabinets, the bathroom includes large slabs of black and grey marble that clads the bathtub and the walls from floor to ceiling.

Find out more about this London apartment ›

Marmoreal, Bathroom, Furniture by Max Lamb

British designer Max Lamb created an installation of a multicoloured bathroom made from speckled synthetic marble for industrial design company Dzek, which was shown at Design Miami/Basel 2015.

Lamb aimed to explore the mass standardisation of sanitaryware with a bath, a toilet, a sink and storage units made from a composite pre-cast material formed from marble aggregate and a polyester binder with a bold appearance similar to that of terrazzo.

Find out more about Marmoreal, Bathroom, Furniture ›

Maison à Colombage by 05 AM Arquitectura

Marble accents permeate Maison à Colombage, a 19th-century house near Paris that was renovated by Spanish studio 05 AM Arquitectura.

This theme is particularly highlighted in the home’s bathroom, which is painted mottled grey to echo a streaky marble bathtub and shower that are tucked into an alcove together.

Find out more about Maison à Colombage ›

This is the latest in our series of lookbooks providing curated visual inspiration from Dezeen’s image archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks showcasing home libraries, Shaker-style interiors and hotel bedrooms.

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There’s something about wooden architecture that is simply so humble and endearing. Wood has been a material of choice for construction for ages galore. Wood ages beautifully – anything built with wood will retain the character of your house. And it also manages to incorporate an aura of warmth and serenity within the living space. The rustic and homely appeal of a wooden space instantly makes you feel at ease and welcomed. It’s a material of choice that has stood strong through the ages and continues to do so. Whether modern or traditional, wood can be bent and molded to create a living space of your choice and style. From a wooden treehouse constructed without a tree to a geometric wooden cabin that is perfect for a socially distant getaway – this collection of architectural designs will leave you mesmerized and completely in awe of the wonderful yet simple material that is wood!

Italian architects Massimo Gnocchi and Paolo Danesi probably also can’t wait to enjoy some downtime and therefore created the Mountain Refuge to express their desire for travel. It is a wooden, square, prefabricated cabin with an angular roof. While the geometric cabin is a structural contrast to its natural setting, it still blends in well while showing off its modern design. “The project acts as a contemporary interpretation of old traditional mountain refuges, bringing in architectural character and spatial quality,” say the designers. The wooden cabin comes in different modules and each has the capability to be flexible and expandable. It is made to be compact and optimizes the space while taking up the least in nature.

Designed by David and Jeanette Reiss-Andersen of Oslo-based Norske Mikrohus, Rast is a modern tiny home clad in dark-stained Norwegian spruce. It is constructed with Nordic weather conditions in mind – the roof can withstand heavy snowfall and the walls incorporate thick insulation made of wool, glass, and aluminum – all sustainable materials. On sunny winter days, occupants can stay warm and comfortable inside while still feeling tied to the outdoors. “The large window in the shower really puts you in touch with the natural surroundings,” David says.

Normalize adults living and chilling in treehouses because we are certainly going through a lot more than children and this is the escape we need! Cassiopeia is one such shelter that every grown-up dreams of having, it is a treehouse that was born in a garden without a tree for us to disconnect from the virtual world. It has multiple levels, a fire-man pole, a slide, a swing, a zip-line, a net bed, monkey bars, and a climbing wall in sculptural form with legs that grow in the garden!

Setting up camp has never looked so good and it setting up a minimal glamping cabin just got a whole lot easier thanks to Den! The cabin design studio has a range of flat-packed DIY-style kits that let you assemble your own A-frame cabin in a few days. The average size is 115-square-foot (10.68-square-meter) with models that are larger and smaller depending on what you are looking for. Once assembled, you can see the slanted wooden walls and a floor-to-ceiling triangular window just like how we drew a picture of a cabin as children. The space is minimal and can be transformed into a cozy getaway, a yoga studio, or a creative retreat! The prefab pieces for the cabin are made in New York and come with pre-drilled holes, all wooden structural parts that lock together, bolts, and even door hardware.

The Pod, described by TV host Peter Madison as a “love letter to Tasmania,” is a tiny home comprised of two living ‘pods’ merged together by a narrow row of skylights. Covering only 430sq-ft, the exterior of The Pod is wrapped in Tasmanian oak wood which is replaced with expansive, floor-to-ceiling windows around the back of the tiny home. Positioned on a hillside, the tiny home’s back pod rises on steel beams to merge with the front pod, giving the illusion that you’re “floating” above the ground, as described by Hansen.

Designed and built by Croxatto y Opazo Arquitectos, the holiday cabins are named La Loica and La Tagua and each comprises an individual footprint of less than 25 square meters. Initially conceived of as holiday homes positioned on the coastline of Santiago, La Loica and La Tagua are two-story cabins placed 80 meters above sea level. Getting as close to the Pacific Ocean as possible, the two cabins remain stationed atop the “Lobera,” a large mass of rock that juts out to sea and stands as a home to sea lions and other native sea-dwelling species. Inspired by the windy conditions that Matanzas has become famous for, Croxatto y Opazo Arquitectos played into the wind when designing their holiday cabins.

The Diamanten Cabin, which is positioned atop a cylindrical support pillar in Oppdal, Norway, was constructed within its mountainous, pre-existing framework. The architects with A38 Arkitekter centralized environmental harmony in designing their winter annex; adjacent log cabins punctuate corners of the valley where the diamond-shaped cabin perks. The final structure is visually enigmatic, but chameleon-like in its commitment to reinvigorating, yet respecting the community to which it belongs. Nestled nearby traditionally vibrant timber cabins, the Diamanten Cabin is unassuming in size, with a total of only a single, open room.

A Hungarian company called Hello Wood has designed a tiny minimalist cabin that you can assemble yourself for creative space solutions or just an escape from your living room. The prefabricated cabins start at $10,200 and have been crafted in a way that anyone can put together, it is truly the ultimate DIY project. With the tiny home market ‘growing’ rapidly, the Kabinka cabin is positioned to be like IKEA furniture – easy to assemble with an aesthetic that is loved by most. The Kabinka cabin comes in four sizes that range between 129 and 215 square feet. It is a tiny cabin but it has high ceilings – over 12 feet high actually – that bring a sense of spaciousness and luxury to the otherwise simple structure.

The cabin hides amidst a lush 75-acre property surrounded by a massive wooded area that is used for the business’s various other staying experiences. Payam Shalchian designed the 80-square foot cabin and also co-owns the B&B. The theme is ultra minimalistic – the exterior is a simple wooden frame and the interior only houses essential furniture. The luxury in this case is the immersive experience you have within nature. To truly bring the outside in, the majority of the walls and ceiling panel areas are made of transparent plexiglass. The cabin is basically a sleeping zone and has another supplementary 64-square foot cabin which is a bathhouse containing a shower and composting toilet.

Guambo studies architecture at Universidad Tecnológica Indoamérica (UTI) in Ambato, Ecuador, and like most students, he just wanted a space for him to do projects while listening to loud music – that is how this tiny studio was born! To build his dream focus pod, he worked under the guidance of Al Borde, a local architecture studio that successfully completed the renovation of a deteriorated 18th-century house (!) in Ecuador. The main purpose was to be able to play loud music without disturbing the neighbors so Guambo used a traditional construction method known as ‘Bahareque’, a building system that involves weaving sticks and mud to construct compact walls, to make it sound-proof. Even though the exterior reflects the traditional design technique, the full glass window gives it a modern touch.

An observation deck featuring glass elevators and “levitation” boxes is due to open next month at the top of KPF‘s One Vanderbilt supertall skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan.

Summit One Vanderbilt will become the latest sky-high experience offered by NYC’s skyscrapers when it welcomes its first visitors on 21 October 2021.

New images have been released of the 65,000-square-foot (6,040-square-metre) space, occupying four floors near the pinnacle of recently completed One Vanderbilt, designed by architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF).

It features a variety of attractions, including the Levitation glass-bottomed “sky boxes” that offer views directly down onto Madison Avenue 1,063 feet (324 metres) below.

Fully transparent glazed elevators, called Ascent, also rise up the side of the building from a terrace to over 1,200 feet (364 metres).

Inside is a walk-through art experience designed by Kenzo Digital and titled Air.

Combining lighting, sound and production design, the multi-sensory journey will immerse visitors in spaces that infinitely reflect the views of the city.

“In addition to its remarkable materiality, Air is a living, breathing entity, expressed through its multisensory use of sound, lighting and production design,” said Kenzo Digital.

“It’s a story that evolves with each successive space, bringing visitors deeper and deeper into the experience until finally, they become part of it,” the studio added.

Interiors for Summit are designed by architecture studio Snøhetta, and include the Nordic-themed Après lounge and cafe that will serve light bites and cocktails.

“Summit One Vanderbilt is an immersive and sensory space embracing the cityscape of New York,” said Snøhetta director Anne-Rachel Schiffmann.

“Between integrated art, sound and lighting, and the observatory’s expansive views, our approach to interior design allows visitors to understand their place in the larger city.”

Summit One Vanderbilt joins several public viewpoints atop New York’s iconic skyscrapers, following The Edge at 30 Hudson Yards that opened March 2020.

Visitors can also ascend to the peaks of the Empire State Building, One World Trade Center, Rockefeller Center and soon, the Chrysler Building to enjoy views over the city.

Another attraction to recently open in the Big Apple is the Thomas Heatherwick-designed Little Island, which juts over the Hudson from the Meatpacking District.

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