Hasta La Ideas

The 1930s Montesol hotel in Ibiza has reopened following a full overhaul of its 30 bedrooms and three suites by Dorothée Meilichzon of French interior design studio Chzon.

Set in the old town of Eivissa, the newly renamed Montesol Experimental has been undergoing a multi-stage renovation since 2021, when it was bought by the Experimental hospitality group.

Meilichzon was responsible for overseeing the whole project, starting two years ago with the Sabbaba restaurant and rooftop bar before finally turning to the rooms. Her aim was to infuse “a bohemian overtone throughout the interior”, drawing on the hotel’s rich history.

Built nearly a century ago in 1933, the neo-colonial Montesol is widely considered Ibiza’s first hotel, and between the 50s and 80s was known for hosting a roster of hippies, celebrities and royals including the members of rock band Pink Floyd and legendary director and actor Orson Welles.

Meilichzon was keen to tap into this bohemian past, layering up an array of fabrics, patterns, fringes and pompoms, used against light woods and textured plaster walls.

“The hotel is a pool of colour to reflect the joy and open-mindedness of Ibiza,” she told Dezeen.

Warm yellow hues nod to the building’s iconic yellow-and-white exterior, juxtaposed with a variety of green and blue tones that bring in the colours of the Mediterranean sea.

“Solar colours have been adopted in common areas and lunar colours in rooms,” she said. “Listening to Ayurvedic principles, we used cooling, calming colours inside the hotel to counterbalance the heat outside.”

Tiling, too, brings a cooling element, used in both the rooms and the public spaces.

“Tiles are an important feature in this hotel,” Meilichzon explained. “And we have used traditional zelliges to wrap the niches of the mini-bars in a palette of orange, brown and off-white.”

A hand-made theme threads through the building, as seen in the many shell-patterned walls that were created by pressing individual seashells into fresh lime plaster.

Arched forms – from room openings to bathroom mirrors to statement headboard – reference the grandeur of the hotel’s exterior but in a more relaxed and low-key way.

Circles are another recurring silhouette, found across rugs, arworks and chair backs.

“I enjoyed shaping a lot of curvy, wavy lines around the hotel to add softness to the design,” Meilichzon said. “Nothing is sharp in Ibiza, it is a very smooth atmosphere.”

The circle idea is continued through the use of celestial motifs, with brass suns and iron moons scattered across the hotel calling to mind the sunny days and celebrated nightlife of the island as well as its more spiritual side.

The bedrooms have a playful feel, with chunky Playdough Stools by Diego Faivre, hand-made masks by Mallorcan artist Anna-Alexandra and wardrobe doors informed by jigsaw puzzles.

“These unique and whimsical pieces bring a lot of character to the rooms,” Meilichzon said.

Since founding her hospitality design studio Chzon in 2009, the designer has created a number of interiors for Experimental Group including outposts in London and Menorca alongside the Hotel Il Palazzo Experimental in Venice.

More recently, Meilichzon was also responsible for overhauling a departure lounge at Charles de Gaulle Airport, incorporating her hallmark arches alongside fountains referencing iconic Parisian monuments.

The photography is by Karel Balas.

The post Ibiza’s first hotel gets bohemian refresh from Dorothée Meilichzon appeared first on Dezeen.

With the kind of creativity and engineering going into contemporary tiny homes in the US, one cannot have enough. A look around the inside and you marvel at how much comfort and convenience can be packed into such a small space. From the plush bedding to the fully-equipped kitchenette, within an equipped towable, you know, no matter where your adventures take you, you’ll always be safe and comfortable.

While the US already has existing infra and interesting caravans, New Zealand is only catching up with the likes of Dreadnort Boats creating multi-use portable structures that can be utilized as a mobile office, tiny home, or a camping trailer.

Designer: Dreadnort Boats

Case in point, the POD (Point of Difference in full), is a multi-utility structure that will put some of the more interesting options in the West to shame. Designed to be a tsunami shelter that doubles as a boat or a trailer, the POD, in its current stage, is not equipped for emergencies, owing to its door design and big panoramic windows.

Despite not being tsunami-proof as of yet the POD is a capable portable office with a gullwing door. Made from marine grade aluminum, the main body of the caravan rests almost 4in from the ground and it measures 5.1m x 2.5m x 2.5m, which renders it towable inside a 20-foot shipping container or behind a vehicle as a trailer.

The interesting aspect of the peculiar looking towable from Dreadnort Boats is V-shaped seating with a drop-down table that transforms into a sleeping area by night. Considering the multiple usages of the POD, it is customizable with 150-watt solar panels. The builders are working on several other layouts for the POD to make it useful as a food cart, kiosk, houseboat or anything the client wishes to use a mobile living unit for. A fully finished POD starts at about $60,000 (customization would cost extra).

The post Dreadnort POD is a capable multi-utility travel trailer, portable office with a gullwing door first appeared on Yanko Design.

For people who love their homes or spaces to have a certain aesthetic, products that are both functional and decorative are very much welcome. If you have a small space, you would of course not want to have all sorts of decorations clutter it up (well, unless you’re a maximalist) if they do not serve any other purpose other than just be pretty. So if you find something that beauties up your place and at the same time performs a useful function, then you got yourself a winner.

Designer: Hanyoung Lee, Eunji Ko

This concept for an air purifier is just one of those designs that are both functional and decorative. Abell’s main purpose is as a device to help purify the air inside your room or house. But instead of just standing there in the room, it is actually a lighting device. It will not take up space on your floor or on your table but it can be hung up wherever you want and it will give you cleaner air and also light up the room. And if you’re into the minimalist, monochromatic look, then it can also serve as an aesthetic addition to your room.

If it’s not hanging up there, it looks like your ordinary air purifier with a mushroom-like design. You probably can also use it as a table or shelf-top purifier although it’s unclear if it will light up as well. But if the bulb is under there as the product renders seem to indicate, then the lighting function may be useless if you don’t put it up there. Now when you use it as both a purifier and a lighting fixture, there is a controller attached to it so you can adjust how much light it emits.

It would be interesting to find out some more details about the air purifying aspect of the device. During the pandemic and even now when we’re getting back to whatever constitutes as normal, breathing fresh air even when indoors is an important part of our living. So the quality of air purifying that Abell can give is an important aspect of whether or not someone would buy it, if it becomes a product eventually.

The post Air purifier doubles up as a lighting fixture in your space with this 2-in-1 appliance first appeared on Yanko Design.

The project, called “Kee-PING Hope”, involves designing and fabricating ping pong tables and rackets for orphanages in Lebanon, using leftover pieces of melamine wood collected from carpenters and wood waste disposals. Our main objective was to create colorful tables and rackets that would attract children and bring them closer to the game, while also serving as a visual representation of a child’s cognitive understanding.

The six different colors of melamine were combined to create 20 uniform pieces that were then cut and connected to form 5 tables – three standard size and two smaller. Each table features a non-repetitive color pattern, making each table unique and visually appealing. The rackets were designed to help children identify and organize visual information.

View the full project here

Worker-owned restaurants, the first 3D-printed hotel, a zero-carbon DIY design movement and more

The First 3D-Printed Hotel in the US

On 62 acres in Marfa, Texas, design firm BIG, 3D-printing startup Icon and veteran hotelier Liz Lambert are building the first 3D-printed hotel in the US. Situated alongside Lambert’s “nomadic hotel” and campground (called El Cosmico), the new extension will further transform the site—an innovative desert oasis featuring a sprawling infinity pool, cabanas and mesmerizing views. To build the hotel, Icon will use their signature construction system: a Vulcan printer and LavaCrete, a proprietary concrete mixture that dries in 15 minutes. The method produces homes more efficiently and sustainably than traditional methods while allowing for better curvilinear designs. Learn more about the hotel which is slated for an opening later in 2023 at Interesting Engineering.

Image courtesy of El Cosmico

Scientists Manipulate Quantum Light

For the first time, scientists have manipulated quantum light by identifying and effecting single photons (aka light particles) in an experiment that draws from Albert Einstein’s 1916 theory of stimulated emission. The theory explains how photo emissions are triggered by excited electrons or molecules, creating an energy conversion process. The researchers, from the University of Sydney and the University of Basel, directed a single photon as well as a pair of bonded photons at a quantum dot (an artificially created atom) and measured the direct time delay between the two. “We observed that one photon was delayed by a longer time compared to two photons,” says University of Babel’s Natasha Tomm who helped lead the study. “With this really strong photon-photon interaction, the two photons become entangled in the form of what is called a two-photon bound state.” The breakthrough further informs how light interacts with matter, holding promise for future innovative technology, advancements in quantum computing and applications in medicine. Learn more at Popular Mechanics.

Image courtesy of Cran Cowan/Flickr

Yasmeen Lari’s Zero-Carbon, DIY Design Movement for Climate Refugees

Pakistan’s first woman architect, Yasmeen Lari may have begun her acclaimed career with grand and gilded modernist structures and brutalist homes, but it’s the pioneering architect’s work after her retirement in 2000 that sets her apart. Since 2005, after the fatal Kashmir earthquake hit Pakistan, Lari built what is now the world’s largest zero-carbon DIY design movement for climate refugees. Relying on local materials (like bamboo, clay and lime) and traditional techniques, Lari conceived a low-cost and sustainable way to build climate-resistant homes, community buildings and sanitary facilities for those impacted by climate injustice. “It’s about which method is the most cost-effective, safest, and most ecological, and then to implement it en masse,” says Lari who is currently being honored at her first monograph at Architekturzentrum Wien in Vienna, Austria. Learn more about her brilliant work and how it envisions a future of modern architecture at Metropolis.

Image courtesy of Archive Yasmeen Lari

A Picture of The Sun’s Atmosphere Born from a 90,000-Image Composite

“Fusion of Helios”—Andrew McCarthy and Jason Guenzel’s breathtaking composite of approximately 90,000 images—offers a rare glimpse at the sun’s outermost atmosphere, which is usually concealed by solar glare. To capture the corona, the astrophotographers tapped into NASA’s SOHO data to “geometrically transform Jason’s 2017 eclipse photo to match the features,” McCarthy says in a statement. “The result is a blend of science and art, and my favorite piece of work I’ve been a part of.” Read more (and see more fiery images, complete with wispy spicules) at Colossal.

Image © Andrew McCarthy and Jason Guenzel

Creating New Glass Shapes Using the Art of Origami

The ancient art of origami has influenced contemporary practices from design to engineering to science and space travel. The practice has always been limited to soft, foldable materials like paper or fabric, but Yang Xu (a graduate student who works at Xie’s lab at Zhejiang University) devised a way to apply this technique to glass and other rigid materials. Xu combined silica nanoparticles (an important component of glass) with a multi-substance liquid and cured it under ultraviolet radiation, creating a cross-linked polycaprolactone polymer that acts like paper. After folding and twisting and rounds of heating and cooling, the material holds it shape and cools to a transparent, complex structure. The technique—which can be used in conjunction with 3D printing—can be used to create new exciting designs and sculptures. Learn more at Interesting Engineering.

Image courtesy of Yang Xu

More Restaurants in NYC Are Becoming Worker-Owned

As the food service industry continues to grapple with the pandemic and its consequences, a handful of restaurants and bars in NYC have adopted new structures to make their businesses more equitable. The worker-owned model—in which employees hold stock in the company equally—isn’t a new idea, but more and more business in the city are adopting it, including Astor Wines & Spirits, Banter cafe, Donna, Brooklyn’s Prospect Butcher Co and the forthcoming Sea & Soil Coop. A 2018 Harvard Business Review study found that employee-owned companies were more resilient economically and can boost profits by 14% while creating fairer workplaces and labor conditions. This has been particularly evident for businesses like Astor Wines & Spirits whose manager likens the new model to a “superior form of 401(k).” Co-owners Andy and Rob Fisher say, “The best succession plan is to entrust Astor to the people who have been so instrumental in building our enterprise.” Learn more about the rise of this labor practice at Eater.

Image courtesy of Astor Wine & Spirits

Pongamia Trees Offer a Sustainable Alternative to Palm Oil

Palm oil and soy are two of the world’s largest drivers of deforestation, with the former destroying almost 25 million acres of forests in Indonesia and 47% of tree cover in Malaysia. A new method from agriculture company Terviva offers a climate-friendly alternative to both palm oil and soy by using the resilient pongamia trees. Capable of growing with minimal resources on degraded land, the trees have beans that are rich in oil (which is why India has used it for oil lamps and varnishes). Terviva discovered that when they process the bean and remove its bitterness it results in an oil (which they called Ponova) that’s rich in Omega-9 fatty acids. Ponova has already entered production and is used in a plant-based protein bar from food brand and B-corp, Aloha. Meanwhile, Terviva plans on partnering with farmers whose lands have been devastated by climate change or disease in order to grow pongamia trees, strengthen their land and futures. Learn more about the promising mission at Fast Company.

Image courtesy of Terviva

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 El Cosmico