The incredible story of the Met’s new acquisition

Alexandra Eaton‘s in depth video and feature in the New York Times shares the journey of a now historically important work—a portrait of a family’s three children and the Black slave who took care of them. The painting’s nearly two hundred year journey includes the death of the three children shortly after it was painted, the identification of the slave and details on his life, the work’s storage for years in attics and basements before being donated to the New Orleans Museum of Art, its sales, restorations and eventual acquisition by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It will hang in the museum’s American Wing, helping to fill a large representation gap of Black people in American art of the era.

It’s always interesting to watch cars as they evolve on the market. Some stay stagnant before they eventually just sort of fade away. Others, usually products deemed to be of particular significance by their respective manufacturers, see significant updates and improvements over the course of their lives.

As part of the opening salvo of Volkswagen’s EV onslaught on the global market, the ID.4 is certainly a significant car, one that landed to satisfying but hardly glowing reviews. The next step, the Pro S, is here to add a little more: more range, specifically, but more performance and more responsiveness, too. Is it enough to elevate the perspective of this humble EV?

Design

Visually, not a lot has changed about the ID.4 from the initial version that premiered in late 2020, released to international markets in the following year. It’s the same, tall, upright, deceptively large shape — offering similar cargo capacity to the larger Tiguan SUV.

The biggest change is hidden in the floor of the thing: a larger, 82-kilowatt-hour battery pack that pushes the AWD Pro S flavor of the ID.4 a total of 255 miles on the EPA test cycle. That’s 46 more miles than the rear-wheel-drive ID.4 Standard model can manage.

The AWD PRo S quicker, too, much quicker, with 295 horsepower and an estimated 0 – 60 mph time of 5.8 seconds. That’s enough to make it feel like a completely different machine from the generally sedate and calm but comfortable and competent ID.4 Standard.

The overall body shape is still the same, still somewhat shapely but largely anonymous. However, on the Pro S, the creased flares on the rear fenders seem a little more purposeful, somehow. Perhaps it’s just the knowledge that this one has more power to fill them.

On the inside, the story hasn’t changed much. The AWD Pro S you see here was configured with the Galaxy interior (a.k.a. “black”), which adds a bit of a low-rent feel to things. I much prefer the look of the white interior, but that’s not going to fit into everyone’s lifestyle. It’s a shame there isn’t some in-between option that offers both personality and durability.

Only a splash of silver-painted plastic across the center of the dash breaks up the darkness in here, matched by silver handles and three lines of contrasting stitching on each door. Everything else just falls into a sea of dark and darker.

I don’t love the tones, but the materials are generally good, soft-touch plastics and vegan leathers feel good to the hand, and while there’s the obligatory glossy piano black section too, that’s limited, just surrounding the arm rest and generously sized center console.

In fact, everything feels generously sized in here. There’s plenty of legroom and headroom in either the front or rear seats, while the hatch offers a healthy 30.3 cubic feet of cargo space, 64.2 if you drop the 60/40 split rear seats.

That hatch’s upright shape just makes loading cargo all the easier, and the hands-free operation is quick and easy, crucial when your arms are full with heavy groceries.

Technology and Safety

That’s perhaps the smallest bit of convenience tech found on the ID.4, including a climate control system smart enough to know what to do if you tell it your feet are cold. There’s an LED strip integrated below the windscreen used for signaling upcoming turns or active safety warnings. Sadly, though the tiny gauge cluster behind the steering wheel will pull turn information from Android Auto or Apple CarPlay (wirelessly, even), you have to use the ID.4’s clunkier, integrated nav if you want to make use of that LED light show.

That little gauge cluster measures just 5.3 inches and feels cramped at first, but you’ll quickly realize it has plenty of information. It’s mildly customizable, able to provide slightly more room for notifications from the adaptive safety system or for the navigation section.

The bigger interface is the central, 12-inch display, running a user interface that feels a lot like an iPad rotated right 90 degrees. A home button sits on the left with two rows of icons on the right, through which you can swipe, tap, and drag. There are even simple widgets available, showing currently playing media and navigation information.

The interface is comprehensive and easy to use. It’s also a bit sluggish, but “a bit sluggish” is a noticeable improvement over the software that shipped initially on the ID.4.

Sadly, some other user experience aspects have not changed. The touch controls on the steering wheel ironically are still challenging to find by touch yet easy to find by accident. Likewise, there’s no volume knob to be found anywhere, which is a mark against by my book.

VW’s IQ.Drive safety system is present, including features like automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, blind-spot-monitoring and even Emergency Assist, which can safely stop the car in the case of a medical emergency.

The advanced lane-keep-assist system, Travel Assist, did a great job of keeping the car centered on the highway, modulating speed to match traffic. It’ll even handle lane changes for you automatically when you signal, but the feature is frustratingly slow to actually make the move. In the end I usually just completed the change myself.

Punch It

While the ID.4 at launch was an easy car to like, its middling performance was something that made it a bit hard to love for many. The AWD Pro S fixes that with 295 hp and 339 pound-feet of torque, improvements of 94 and 100 respectively.

The base ID.4 feels quickish up to 30 and then sort of falls on its face at higher speeds. The AWD Pro S, however, pulls strongly up to 60 and has plenty of punch left even at highway speeds. Those with a heavy right foot will be chirping the tires when launching away from traffic lights and surging forward into gaps in traffic with ease.

The only real fly in this ointment is what happens when you do chirp those tires. It’s actually quite easy to overcome the grip of the all-season Scorpion Zero tires, triggering the ID.4’s traction control system to sweep in like a giant wet blanket. Heaven forbid you begin even the tiniest of slides and the car completely cuts power for a solid two-count before re-enabling the right pedal.

I’m aware that very few ID.4 drivers are going to push their cars this hard, but I’m also disappointed that, given the wondrous ability to create advanced traction and stability control systems afforded to modern engineers by the instantly responsive electric powertrains, Volkswagen didn’t do something just a bit more subtle here. The result is a car that is engaging and fun until it suddenly very much is not.

On the handling side, the ID.4 AWD Pro S is still tuned for comfort more so than cornering. Yes, it does just fine through twisty roads, even offering some surprisingly good steering feedback for a modern car, but the body roll and compliance are definite restrictions.

And that’s just fine. By prioritizing ride quality, ID.4 is able to soak up everything from road imperfections to railroad crossings without passing much of any disturbance into the cabin. It’s on another planet compared to the Tesla Model Y’s harsh, buzzy nature over bumps.

All the more reason to drive it calmly, when you’ll see the maximal range from your ID.4. The AWD Pro S is officially EPA-rated to do 255 miles on a charge. In my testing, I saw 3.4 miles per watt-hour, which works out to a theoretical maximum range of 262 miles from the 77 kWh of usable space in the battery.

Options and Pricing

In the U.S., the Volkswagen ID.4 Standard starts at $38,995. But, if you want the extra power, range, and features of the AWD Pro S you’re looking at a minimum of $51,295.

You won’t need to spend much more than that, really. The car you see here had exactly one option: Aurora Red Metallic paint for a worthwhile $395. That’s one of just three real colors, the other two being shades of blue, along with two whites, a black, and a gray.

A somewhat lackluster palette for a genuinely impressive car. The ID.4’s second act proves Volkswagen means business when it comes to EVs, and with more range and power at a fair price, the ID.4 AWD Pro S is well worth including in your shopping list.

The post Volkswagen ID.4 AWD Pro S Review first appeared on Yanko Design.

Brazilian architect Denis Joelsons has completed a rectangular house in São Paulo, Brazil that is set into a slope composed of round garden terraces.

Aptly named Casa dos Terraços Circulares – or the House of Circular Terraces – the 2,725-square-foot (253 square metre) house is embedded within a forested lot outside of the city.

The house is oriented towards its garden, which features sinuous stone walls that loop and overlap, anchoring the house into the site, while narrow stone steps connect the flat grassed areas that mitigate the site’s slope.

“The garden design takes inspiration from an ancient element found in different cultures, such as the agricultural terraces of the Incas, the elevated platforms of the Teotihuacans, or the Chinese terraces,” Joelsons told Dezeen, referencing the six circular platforms of varying sizes that form the yard.

The terraces were constructed with the soil excavated for the foundation, reducing the need for concrete in the landscaping of the site.  They serve as retaining walls that help preserve the existing trees.

This heavy earthen curvature is juxtaposed with the linear house constructed with a prefabricated wooden structure.

Using square modules that reference traditional Japanese motifs and rhythms, the facade is a series of solid and glazed sections.

One side is more glazed than the other, and Joelsons oriented this side towards the south to create “beautiful light effects.” Clerestory windows run along the north-facing side, at grade.

The home is organized around the garden plateaus with communal spaces opening to a small, tiled terrace that also connects to a stepped entrance adjacent to the driveway.

At one end of the house, a garage is embedded within the land and topped by a suspended balcony. The same retaining walls in the garden are integrated into the walls that support the covered garage.

At the other end are three private suites – each with two entrances for circulation and cross-ventilation. This creates a deep hollow in the centre of the plan – a living room that is stepped down from the balcony and suites that “echoes the geography of the valley” in section.

“While the roof is designed as a continual and levelled line in the horizon, the floor surfaces conform to different layers at the ground, which configure a series dynamic spaces with varied ceiling heights,” Joelsons said.

The interior and exterior material palettes were selected for their natural properties and durability.

The materials’ weight and colour are related to their position in space – for example, the black ceramic tile is used on the floor, while the ceiling is composed of lightly coloured exposed beams.

“The closer they are to the ground, the heavier and darker they are, and as we move away, the materials become lighter and brighter, just like the branching of a tree’s trunk in nature,” the team explained.

“Therefore, the wooden structure branches out, and the materials become more luminous as they approach the sky.”

The structure features prefabricated wood frames and the window frames are composed of reclaimed peroba-rosa wood. The lightweight roof is constructed with OSB panels, a layer of thermal insulation and an EVA membrane for waterproofing.

Joelson and his team also installed a complex gutter system.

“Its impluvium system with gutters not only protects the terrain from erosion but also allows the creation of a rainwater cistern for garden irrigation and plumbing,” Joelsons said.

The home’s position and orientation negate the need for air conditioning, while a central fireplace warms the house in the colder months.

Recently, Joelsons renovated a brick estate outside of São Paulo with a focal brick block living room. Other residential architects practicing in the area include Studio Guilherme Torres, which constructed a home with rammed-earth walls in the city.

The photography is by Pedro Kok and Rodrigo Fonseca.

Project credits:

Architecture: Denis Joelsons, João Marujo, Gabriela da Silva Pinto
Builder (masonry, foundations and finishings): Caio Martinez
Plumbing and electrical supplies: Renan de Sousa
Doors and windows: Zé Madeiras
Timber structure: Ita Construtora

The post Denis Joelsons juxtaposes linear house with circular garden terraces in São Paulo appeared first on Dezeen.

A residential skyscraper designed by the late German-American architect Helmut Jahn has topped out in Chicago‘s South Loop.

Sited in the city’s Historic Michigan Avenue District, the skyscraper reached its final height of 788 feet (240 metres) after construction began in 2019. It sits on the western edge of Grant Park.

Designed by architecture studio Jahn, the skyscraper’s concrete structure has been completed and work on the glass facade will complete shortly.

1000 M has two components, a relatively square base with a lip on one side. On top of this is a tower that sits back from the edge of the base, has rounded edges and twists slightly as it rises. Balconies for the residencies have been set back from the glass facade.

With 73 storeys, the skyscraper will be the tallest in the city south of Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower). The original plan for the skyscraper had the tower at 832 feet (254 metres) tall but restrictions in the area forced the developers, Time Equities, Inc, JK Equities and Oak Capitals, to reduce the height.

To support the tower’s height, Chicago construction firm McHugh Construction had to drive caissons 87 feet (26 metres) below ground to reach bedrock.

The finished skyscraper will have 738 apartments as well as a rooftop observation deck with views of the Chicago skyline and Lake Michigan. According to the developers, it will be the tallest observation deck in the city.

Chicago-based designer Kara Mann is currently set to design the interiors for both the apartments and for 80,000 square feet (7,432 square metres) of indoor and outdoor amenity areas located throughout the building.

Jahn was born in Germany in 1940 and moved to Chicago in 1966, where he conducted a majority of his work. In 2021, Jahn died aged 81 after being struck by a bicycle riding in the city.

He is known for his postmodern James R Thompson Center in the city, which in 2021 was saved from demolition after being sold by the Illinois state government. Technology company Google has since expressed interest in purchasing the structure.

The images are courtesy of Jahn.

The post Helmut Jahn-designed 1000 M skyscraper tops out in Chicago appeared first on Dezeen.

I love a beautifully-designed lighting design because I truly believe a really great one has the ability to illuminate a space – both literally, and metaphorically. Besides the physical light that it quite obviously emits, a well-designed lighting design can add manifolds of personality and charisma to a room or space. They can function as sculptural pieces, that are an extension of your personal taste and preference, truly exhibiting the richness and niche-ness of your curation capabilities, or if they’re the portable kind you can carry them along with you to illuminate anything anytime anywhere. And one such innovative and well-designed lighting product I recently laid eyes upon is the Nod Lamp by Tiptoe.

Designer: Tiptoe

Designed by French furniture brand Tiptoe, the Nod Lamp is a cheerful and playful lamp with a tiltable head and a dimmable light. The Nod Lamp is Tiptoe’s first lamp, and it is named after its articulate head. The head has an interesting rounded shape, that can rotate up to 35 degrees on each side to direct and guide light in various directions. The lamp also features a dimmable light that makes it pretty useful for both moments of concentration and relaxation.

Tiptoe describes the Nod Lamp as a “sustainable and thoughtful design”. It is built from recyclable aluminum, and steel and features a low-power LED light source. The lamp is built in Portugal and is available in the form of a table lamp or a clamped lamp, which is inspired by the design of Tiptoe’s modular table legs – one of the brand’s signature products. The Nod Lamp is available in the brand’s key signature colors of Graphite Black, Cloud White, Ash Pink, Rosemary Green, and Eucalyptus Gray, and two new colors called Majorelle Blue and Naples Yellow.

The compact minimalist lamp would make an excellent addition to your work desk, illuminating it and functioning effortlessly, while adding a burst of character and whimsical playfulness to it as well. You can pick the color choice that perfectly complements your home office and work desk, adding an element of primary color that elevates your otherwise mundane worktable.

The post Minimalist Primary Colored Lamp With A Rotatable Head Adds a Playful Touch To Your Workdesk first appeared on Yanko Design.