Hasta La Ideas

Martini & Dall’Agnol is an industrial design studio based in Milan. They designed this Stack chair to ship in two pieces, the legs and the seat. Being made of polypropylene, the user just snaps the two parts together via the molded-in connections; there are no fasteners.

“Easy to ship and easy to assemble, compact and stackable hypothetically to infinity.”

The Stack chair, which is suitable for indoor or outdoor use, is in production by Italian furniture brand Midj.

If you’re a bookworm like me, then you know there’s nothing more relaxing than curling up with a good gripping book at the end of a long day. And if you’re someone whose exceptionally proud of their prized books (like most bookworms), then you probably love taking good care of them and spectacularly showcasing them. We’ve curated a collection of unique, functional, and interesting designs that are a must-have for all the book lovers out there. From an innovative mounted reading light to a bookshelf and side table in one – these amazing designs need to be on the wishlist of every bookworm out there!

1. Bookgroove

Called the Bookgroove, this unique furniture design functions as a bookrack and a table. It has a seamless and well-designed body that makes it an excellent fit for contemporary homes. It is a conceptual design that deserves to be converted into a real one.

Why is it noteworthy?

The Bookgroove may look circular at first glance, but as you look it has a J-shaped carving on one side that can store multiple books. It is an interesting way to store books, as they mimic the shape of the built-in shelf on the side table.

What we like

• Can accommodate a cup of coffee or a glass of wine
• Unique way to store your favorite books

What we dislike

• The books positioned at the bottom of the curve can get damaged over time
• Difficult to access books when you want to read them

2. Bowie 2.0

Named the Bowie 2.0, this reading light is quite genius as it illuminates not only the pages of your book but also your entire room. It is designed like a leather fashion accessory and can be easily clipped onto the left and right sides of your book cover.

Why is it noteworthy?

The light’s straps have LEDs built into them, which cast a soft and subtle glow that is yet strong enough to let you read in the dark. The light casts warm LED light on your pages, allowing you to read them with ease, turn pages, and move around without the light causing any discomfort.

What we like

• Equipped with touch-sensitive brightness settings built in that let you adjust the LED brightness to suit your needs and requirements

What we dislike

• It could be considered inconvenient and uncomfortable for some to hold a book with a reading light attached to it

3. Triangle Side Table

Called the Triangle Side Table, this unique table features a flat horizontal surface, as well as a groove for securing a writing instrument. The main attraction is a resting place for whatever you’re currently reading, and you can place the partially opened book on top of the triangle.

Why is it noteworthy?

The open interior is a great place to showcase reading materials, but you can use it to hold potted plants or even a pet mattress. It has a unique shape, beveled edges, as well as a minimalist base that gives the impression that the table is magically floating.

What we like

• Looks like it is magically floating

What we dislike

• Not the best at functioning as a regular table

4. BOOF

Shaped like an adorable little house, BOOF is a reading lamp that is placed on a metallic desk. The fun bit is that you can place a book on its roof, which gives the image of a house lit during the night.

Why is it noteworthy?

When a book is placed on BOOF, the subtle light on the window and the ground floor light up. The triangular roof also functions as a natural bookmark for the book you place on it. The light is quite soft and inspiring, letting you focus on the written word.

What we like

• Merges with the bedroom decor, and makes a fun and functional addition to your living space

What we dislike

• Will consume a lot of space when placed on your side table

5. Plot Twist Bookshelf

Designed by Deniz Aktay, the Plot Twist Bookshelf features four separate twisted wooden elements that are connected to one another, building a stable and innovative form. The unconventional and mesmerizing design truly captures whoever looks at it!

Why is it noteworthy?

The bookshelf’s design can be accessed from every side. It is oddly satisfying and features curves that are seen in the designer’s other projects. Most of the furniture designs undergo bending and twisting like Aktay’s Wavelet, Tie Stool, and the Pet Table.

What we like

• Similarly sized books can be easily arranged for a clutter-free look
• Stable design that stands on its own

What we dislike

• Space-consuming design, not well-suited for homes with space constraints

6. Fréquence Shelf

Dubbed the Fréquence shelf, this minimal and sophisticated shelving design is a multifunctional and modular piece of furniture that is fantastic for holding and storing your prized books.

Why is it noteworthy?

The shelf includes a bunch of geometrically shaped modules that can be combined, mixed, and matched to create a variety of designs, according to your taste and preference.

What we like

• The elements can be configured to create a small bookcase or a larger room divider

What we dislike

• Bulky + space-consuming design, not suited for smaller homes

7. Nodding Chair

Called the Nodding Chair, this unique chair is perfect for book lovers! It lets your body have its range of natural motions while reading, resting, or even writing. It can be tilted forward and backward, allowing you to make smaller movements that won’t let you feel too nauseous.

Why is it noteworthy?

The entire chair doesn’t move, only the seat can swing in small movements. This allows you to have motion, but not too much of it. Also, it reduces the pressure on the floor, so you won’t get marks and scratches on the floor.

What we like

• Comes with a partner footstool, letting you get into a comfy position

What we dislike

•  The seat doesn’t seem to be that comfortable as it’s just plain wood and there’s no cushion

8. Overlap Table

Called the Overlap table, this versatile furniture design is quite commanding and functional. It functions as a coffee and side table, while also serving as an excellent storage space for your books, also allowing you to showcase them.

Why is it noteworthy?

This beautiful furniture design truly prioritizes storage, something that modern homeowners will truly appreciate as well, considering the space constraint issues we all face these days.

What we like

• Functions as a coffee and side table, as well as a bookcase
• Minimal + clean aesthetics that allow it to merge with any living space

What we dislike

• The box holds books only up to a fixed size and doesn’t allow for bigger books to be kept, so not the best option for those who have a versatile range of books

9. Grid Chair

Called the Grid Chair, this simple and tastefully designed chair by SUNRIU Design, and has a lot of thoughtful details that make it quite unique and appealing. Although it looks like an ordinary wooden chair at first glance, it has a couple of flat elements incorporated.

Why is it noteworthy?

The Grid Chair is built of four planks of wood arranged in an interesting grid-like manner. The lines of the chair stagger together to create a neat grid that produces extended flat surfaces on either side of the chair.

What we like

• The extended surfaces serve as storage spaces to hold and display your books

What we dislike

• The wooden edges of the extended surfaces are rough and raw and could hurt young children and pets, so must be kept away from them

10. The Nemuix

The Nemuix is a reading light that is as thin as a bookmark, and slimmer than a dollar coin! It is also dexterous enough to fold. It is made from reinforced plastic film, hence it can be bent and flexed without receiving any creases.

Why is it noteworthy?

The reading light is fitted with a low blue-light LED, which minimizes the amount of High Bio wavelength emitted by artificial light and digital devices.

What we like

• It is bright enough to let you read your book, even in pitch darkness

What we dislike

• Looks quite easy to misplace and lose

The post Top 10 Unique Must-Have Designs That Every Bookworm Needs in Their Home first appeared on Yanko Design.

Recently unveiled proposals to build America’s tallest skyscraper in Oklahoma City represent an outdated way of thinking about cities‘ cultural status, writes Ryan Scavnicky.

The 20th-century American metropolis is failing in the 21st. Cities that once welcomed flocks of working-class citizens and immigrants are now playgrounds for wealthy oligarchs and real-estate moguls. Streets covered in unique family businesses from all parts of the world are now thickly encrusted with contrived food experiences and milquetoast fusion concepts (the recent loss of Suehiro in Los Angeles to a marijuana dispensary comes to mind).

The United States’ largest cities have all but completely priced out middle-class life. A new study by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies found that the number of “cost-burdened” renting households – people who spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing – hit a record 22.4 million in 2022, up 2 million from just three years before. Meaning half of all renters struggle to afford rent. We desperately need more affordable housing, and our largest cities are seemingly incapable of keeping up.

The plan has critics and neophytes alike scratching their heads

Enter the planned Boardwalk at Bricktown development in plucky Oklahoma City (OKC), which recently hit the headlines after the site’s owners unveiled shocking plans to include the tallest building in the United States. In addition to a hotel and almost 2,000 residential units, the development includes Legends Tower, a 581-metre-tall high rise poised to become the fifth-tallest in the world.

The plan has critics and neophytes alike scratching their heads, and rightly so. Why in the world is this a good idea for Oklahoma City, a place certainly not in desperate need of a new skyscraper? And, hey, what about tornadoes? Searching for answers leads beyond the particulars of the design to find crucial insight into the state of the American metropolis.

First, the architecture offers little design merit. The tower itself is handsome; it has clean vertical edges with a slight taper towards the top, completed by a soaring antenna spire. But beyond that, a proposed podium mall is a jarring collision of materials under a flowing canopy which neither matches nor compliments the anchoring fountain.

I generally like quirky discordant mall urbanism, and this isn’t that – it’s a spineless copy of Galaxy Soho in Beijing. The middle towers have connecting banded walkways and vertical openings which introduce further visual themes into the already overwrought composition.

Nevertheless, some cities in Middle America are adding housing directly to the central business districts with success, like Austin, Cleveland, and Columbus. And while Legends Tower is unnecessarily tall, the surrounding towers, public space, community and affordable housing, and overall connectedness to the surrounding central business district are promising.

The project connects a river walk and the downtown core by filling a currently empty surface parking lot. It is near a streetcar and an Amtrak station with trains to Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio. It also offers some public space, but keep in mind the Boardwalk at Bricktown development isn’t truly public, it’s what I like to call “mall cop” space, meaning it will be vaguely policed, and have its own set of rules it can enforce, like Hudson Yards in New York City.

The proposal for Legends Tower sends the wrong message

Mid-size cities like OKC are in a better position than ever before to create an attractive environment for those who are either priced out or burned out of life in yesterday’s metropolis. As the world changes after a global pandemic and rise of remote work, the cultural benefits of living directly in a major core are wearing thin. No wonder major cities have not yet rebounded from population loss during 2020 and 2021.

Yet, the proposal for Legends Tower sends the wrong message. The 20th-century American metropolis is the physical manifestation of the inequalities of the capitalist economy – most represented by the proximity of poverty to soaring office towers – all wrapped in the paradoxical and often dystopian promise of ever-expanding growth. Before mass media changed cultural production, the prevailing notion was that the city with the tallest tower must have the most cultural and economic importance.

Clearly, Legends Tower is trying to do just that. But realistically it would be silly to think a tall tower in and of itself will push OKC to cultural prevalence in the 21st century, or convince anyone to move there from LA.

This means Legends Tower is a very 20th-century way to say that you are squarely entering the 21st century of cultural and economic change. Instead, Oklahoma City might do better to chop the single tower into five sections and place them in the immediate vicinity. It could establish a wide grassroots buy-in to small, dense and affordable revitalization projects along established transit corridors. Culture comes with that.

Hopefully the Boardwalk at Bricktown development reinforces interest in adding density to the region, which has grown since 2022 zoning legislation legalized accessory dwelling units and four-plex duplexes in single-family residential sections. OKC needs a new icon, and Legends Tower is at the very least a symbol that confirms mid-size cities have the nerve to imagine a physical and cultural resurgence amidst the stagnation of the 20th-century American metropolis.

Oh, and don’t worry about tornadoes. We have building codes for a reason.

Ryan Scavnicky is an architect, educator and critic. He is an assistant professor at the School of Architecture at Marywood University and the founder of architecture-related media practice Extra Office.

The image is courtesy of AO.

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Chinese architecture studio MAD has rebuilt a historic train station in central Jiaxing, China, and expanded it with an underground terminal and public park.

Named Train Station in the Forest, the revamp of the 354,000-square-metre building is MAD‘s first station and the studio hopes it will “redefine transportation infrastructure buildings in China”.

MAD created an underground terminal with a public park at ground level along with a full-scale replica of the original 1907 station that now forms the north entrance.

The 210,000 red and green bricks used for the reconstruction are made of mud sourced locally, mainly from the nearby South Lake.

The size of the station, which is expected to be used by 5.28 million people a year by 2025, was increased from five tracks to six tracks.

To increase capacity, two sunken waiting halls have been built on either side of the overground platforms.

These underground waiting halls have metal roofs equipped with solar panels that power the station, contrasting the brick exterior of the reconstructed building’s facade.

The glass facade and skylights allow natural light into the building while providing a clear view of the reconstructed station front from inside the building.

Exhaust vents, a broadcasting system and underpass light strips are embedded into the walls to create a minimalist interior. Anodised aluminium panels with a honeycomb shape are used to help absorb noise.

According to MAD’s founding partner Ma Yansong, train stations in China have grown too large and Train Station in the Forest was designed to be less imposing than other recently built stations.

“They stand like imposing palaces in Chinese city centres surrounded by wide main roads, viaducts, and vast empty squares,” said Ma.

“We should rethink and redefine the spatial patterns of such transportation infrastructure buildings in China,” he continued.

“We can break away from the common pursuit of grandiose monumental buildings and make them urban public spaces with transport functions, natural ecology and cultural life, where citizens are happy to go, stay, meet, and enjoy.”

A total of 1,500 trees are planted across the site. On the north side of the station, they have been placed to connect the building to an existing public park.

Meanwhile, beech trees lining the central axis of the north square are intended to create a canopy when fully grown. This informed the project’s name, Train Station in the Forest.

At the centre of a square to the south is a landscaped lawn measuring approximately one hectare, with seven buildings arranged around it.

These circular buildings are designed to connect the above and below-ground circulation routes, with sunken courtyards linking them all to the lawn where outdoor events and festivals can be hosted.

“Our design prioritises the emotional and spiritual needs of citizens, brings in natural landscapes and integrates urban spaces and building volumes into nature,” MAD said.

“Through careful traffic planning and employing a vertical use of space, our scheme meets the station’s existing passenger demand while leaving room for future sustainable development and expansion,” it added.

Elsewhere in China, MAD has recently revealed proposals for a few cultural projects including the sinuous Nanhai Art Centre in Guangdong and Anji Culture and Arts Centre with a roof shaped like bamboo leaves.

The photography is by CreatAR Images, unless stated otherwise.

Project credits:

Architect: MAD
Principal partners in charge: Ma Yansong, Dang Qun, Yosuke Hayano
Associate partners in charge: Liu Huiying, Tiffany Dalhen
Design team: Yao Ran, Yu Lin, Cao Chen, Chen Nianhai, Cheng Xiangju, Reinier Simons, Fu Xiaoyi, Chen Wei, He Shunpeng, Li Zhengdong, Cao Xi, Zhang Kai, Li Xinyun, Kaushik Raghuraman, Deng Wei, Huang Zhiyu, Huai Wei, Sun Mingze, Dayie Wu, Hou Jinghui, Yin Jianfeng, Claudia Hertrich, Liu Zifan, Xie Qilin, Alan Rodríguez Carrillo, Qiang Siyang
Executive architects: Tongji Architectural Design (Group) Co., Railway Siyuan Survey and Design Group Co.
Heritage consultant: Shanghai Shuishi Architectural Design & Planning Corp.
Landscape consultant: Z’scape Landscape Planning and Design
Lighting consultant: Beijing Sign Lighting Industry Group
Signage consultant: NDC CHINA
Interior design consultant: Shanghai Xian Dai Architectural Decoration & Landscape Design Research Institute Co.
Structural consultant: LERA Consulting Structural Engineers
Facade consultant: RFR Shanghai
Construction contractor: China Railway Construction Engineering Group, China Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group, China Construction Eighth Engineering Division Co.

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Developer Omniyat has revealed plans for the Vela and Vela Viento residential skyscrapers in Dubai, which will be designed by British studio Foster + Partners and feature apartments with skybridge dining rooms.

Located in the Marasi Bay development, Foster + Partners‘ design for the pair of skyscrapers is characterised by floor-to-ceiling windows wrapped by terraces that overlook the waterfront and the Burj Khalifa in Downtown Dubai.

Omniyat described the residential buildings as complimentary “sister projects” that aim to be examples of ultra-luxury living, with interiors designed by Parisian duo Gilles and Boissier.

“The main design goal is to continuously reimagine ultra-luxury living to elevate and enrich the living experience of those inhibiting the spaces within these buildings,” Omniyat told Dezeen.

The taller of the two skyscrapers will be Vela Viento, which will contain two structural separate towers, be 180 metres high and house 92 residences.

Within the skyscraper, three duplex apartments will feature “hanging” dining rooms that bridge between the buildings.

The upper portion of the building will narrow and step back, intended to provide the best views of the surroundings.

“Vela Viento is a unique solution with two towers that allow more viewing angles for all apartments and allow the building to reach greater heights to provide the upper floors with views in all directions over the neighbouring buildings,” said Omniyat.

The skyscraper will contain an infinity pool, gym, yoga studio, sun deck, and communal lounge area one hundred metres up the building.

Additional facilities on the podium level will include indoor swimming pools, a wellness spa and meeting rooms.

At 150 metres tall, Vela will be the shorter of the Marasi Bay skyscrapers and contain 38 apartments with pools wrapping the edges of the terraces. Facilities in Vela will include an infinity pool, gym, spa and cinema.

“Distinctive L-shaped corner pools, unseen elsewhere in Dubai, frame each residence with a ribbon of serenity,” said Omniyat.

The skyscrapers will have mouldings made from glass fibre-reinforced concrete (GRC), intended as a lighter-weight option than traditional concrete.

“Foster + Partners have chosen to use the GRC to highlight the slab edges, emphasising the horizontal elements and allowing for generous full-height glazing at the facade line,” said Omniyat.

“High-performance glass with generous balconies and terraces providing overshading ensures good thermal performance whilst maximising access to natural light in the buildings.”

A waterfront promenade stretching Marasi Bay will provide a walking route connecting the Vela and Vela Viento skyscrapers and a hotel named The Lana that is under construction, also designed by Foster + Partners.

Other Dubai-based projects by the studio include a trefoil-shaped pavilion built for the Dubai Expo and a design for a terminal for “air taxi services” with a sweeping roof.

The images are courtesy of Omniyat.

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