I’ve spent much time in the beautiful beach town of Goa, India, which truly has a special place in my heart. Coconut trees, salty air, restless waves, and red sandy paths adorn the region. The architecture is a mix of old and new, with traces of the Portuguese influence interwoven with modern Indian-influenced structures. Nestled in the vibrant and lush tropical area of North Goa is a beautiful new restaurant dubbed Como Agua. It provides patrons with stunning views across the Vagator cliffs, allowing them to admire the mesmerizing sea from an impressive elevated location.

Designer: Otherworlds

Designed by the architects at Otherworlds, Como Agua is tucked away on an elevated perch, offering the restaurant a bird’s-eye view of the surrounding landscape and sea. The bar is adorned with two large nests at the top, making it a truly unique and innovative structure. The oversized nests give the restaurant an Amazonian vibe, offering the impression that you’ve walked into the tropics.

It occupies 3750 square meters, and is a vivacious open-air design built from bamboo and Lantana camera – an invasive flowering shrub that torments the local flora and fauna. The founder of Otherworlds, Arko Saha said that the plant “has invaded over 40 percent of the Western Ghats, a total of 13 million hectares of Indian landscape. Arriving in India as an ornamental plant in the early 1800s, lantana has escaped from gardens and taken over entire ecosystems.”

It’s quite interesting to see how they’ve utilized a shrub species that was wreaking havoc on the floral fauna and transformed it into a harmonious and integral element of the building. The architectural team wrapped the Lantana camera around the metal railings, bar, partitions, and canopies to build unique interlaced structures that look as if they’ve been built by weaverbirds!

The team says that –  “The weavers are social birds, usually nesting and feeding in colonies. They collect all sorts of natural materials like twigs, fibers, and leaves to weave a membrane that acts as their nest, usually hanging from the branch of a tree. Materials used for building nests include fine leaf fibers, grass, and twigs. Many species weave very fine nests using thin strands of leaf fiber, though some, like the buffalo-weavers, form massive untidy stick nests in their colonies, which may have spherical woven nests within.”

The post This Resto-Bar Nestled On A Cliff’s Edge In Goa, India Has Two Massive Nests Perched On Top Of It first appeared on Yanko Design.

Your game room could already have billiards, pool, or table tennis equipment. The more enthusiastic may even slot in an artificial climbing wall or mount a frisky basketball arcade gaming machine to shoot an odd ball during your trip to the room. But the latter is not anywhere close to the experience of a basketball game on an indoor hardwood court.

If you’re a fan, the home court basketball pictured above could be the closest way to satiate your desire to play on the hardwood. The sleek glass enclosure with a wooden backboard and rebound board slanting just below is designed for the home champs to compete with the sounds and feel of being on the court.

Designer: Reigning Champ

A collaborative product created by Reigning Champ and Canadian industrial designer Calen Knauf, the Home Court, as it is called, is a fully functional game arcade for an in-home basketball experience. A highly crafted work of art, it is made with the use of wood, glass, and metal, which play in harmony to replicate the authentic feel of playing on a hardwood court.

To minimize the visual footprint, and make the game portable, the contraption rests on four rubberized wheels. The frame is made of metal, which durably holds tempered glass walls – three full on the sides, back and half on the front – of the rig. The backboard holding two rings and the ball rebound surface located below are specifically made from engineered composite wood panels that replicate the auditory quality of the ball hitting the wooden court.

On the front of the arcade, the half-glass wall is where the balls are collected during the game. And when you’re done playing, the spacious lower tier – with a wooden floor – serves as storage for balls. Home Court is made-to-order and comes flat-packed to your doorstep. Presently, Reigning Champ is only shipping it to the US and Canada for $50,000, leaving us in the east wondering when we can sell off our home to own a Home Court and play and live in it happily thereafter.

The post Home Court arcade basketball game is closest way to satiate your desire of playing on the hardwood first appeared on Yanko Design.

Dezeen School Shows: an interiors scheme that uses AI and scent to help ease symptoms of Dementia is included in Dezeen’s latest school show by students at Istituto Europeo di Design.

Also included is an adaptive reuse project that turns a former slaughterhouse in Rome into an educational centre and a space designed to connect local people with traditional Catalan culture and food.

Istituto Europeo di Design (IED)

Institution: Istituto Europeo di Design (IED)
School: Design School
Course: Interior Design
Tutors: Ignasi Bonjoch (IED Barcelona), Adelaide Testa (IED Torino), Federica Bosoni (IED Milano), Marco Provinciali (IED Roma), Javier de Ferrari (IED Firenze) and Maurizio Bosa (IED Cagliari)

School statement:

“The principle of human-centred design is challenged by a new paradigm in which, from the centre of the world, the human becomes one among multiple components of an ecosystem.

“Humans, nature and technology are the components of this ecosystem and their multiple interactions generate the fields of investigation of the design of the future.

“From objects to services, from spaces to experiences, from vehicles to mobility, this transition is immaterial and unstoppable.

“Technologies in our school are an expressive medium and a tool for designing. They must also become the object of critical thinking to understand their limits and implications for the way we look at reality and relate to it, to our creative capacity, logics of power, hazards to health (physical and mental) and to the planet.

“Only with the awareness of this new perspective can design once again permeate industrial and non-industrial production processes in every product sector in terms of contents, languages, expressive and formal codes, technical and functional aspects, to continue to generate innovation, desire, usability and feasibility of the results.

“We invite students to get into the world of interior design to create spaces that will effectively respond to human needs and produce a meaningful experience.

“Students learn about the different applications of spatial design, furniture design, parametric project design, lighting and exhibit design, all the way to green design, visual merchandising and retail space design.

“They take on the challenge of reinventing spaces with projects focusing on sustainability and urban regeneration.”

Memento by Nicolás Alfonso Garcia

“Memento proposes a new experiential and spatial service that stimulates and heals the brain through memory using smell.

“It aims to heal and treat ailments ethically and reflexively through design and creativity.

“The project proposes a network of abandoned spaces, awakening forgotten memories through olfactory devices in constant transformation and change, thanks to the personalisation and use of artificial intelligence.

“Memento is a global company that offers sensory search and processing services through devices that emit olfactory substances, fully personalised to the user, through websites, apps and other platforms.

“Data is collected on this experience with smells and how they can evoke memories for future translation into data and research to be used in the area of health and Alzheimer’s, among others.”

Student: Nicolás Alfonso Garcia
Course: IED Madrid – Bachelor’s of Art in Interior Design

Calli by Arantxa Erazo

“Calli is a project designed to improve the well-being of rural communities in North, Central and South America.

“The objective is to create hospital networks to improve access to traditional health care.

“Erazo wants to create a solution for indigenous communities who, when faced with health emergencies, decide to stay in their town due to a lack of resources and nearby equipped infrastructures.

“With this initiative, she aims to improve the lives of all people by listening to their needs and offering solutions that are not invasive for these communities.”

Student: Arantxa Erazo
Course: Degree in Higher Artistic Education in Interior Design

Amigdala by Elena Bicocchi

“The work is developed by IED Roma in collaboration with Reggio Children, an international centre for the defence and promotion of the rights of children.

“Amigdala is a project that promotes education by redeveloping a large space inside a former slaughterhouse in the Testaccio district.

“A learning hub dedicated to a young target audience between the ages of 14 and 18 has been integrated into the space, conceived as a meeting and exchange place, where a wide range of cultural activities can be hosted through methods appropriate to the target audience.

“It thus incorporates natural and animal figures to invoke, through concepts and images, new relational modes with other species under an anti-speciesist sphere and in response to communities facing complex and global issues such as environmental exploitation and the climate crisis.”

Student: Elena Bicocchi
Course: IED Roma – Three-Year Diploma in Interior Design

Nest: Natural Experience with Sparrows by Patricia Belma

“House sparrows have traditionally been a common species in cities, but today, we are witnessing their gradual disappearance.

“Given their role as a bioindicator of the quality of urban life, the student focuses this project on preserving these birds within the new environment they inhabit, the wooded areas close to cities.

“To achieve this, she envisages a centre located in the Collserola Natural Park, considered to be Barcelona’s green lung. Here, they can be protected and provided with a nest and adequate food.

“She also conceives various activities for the space that aim to raise citizen awareness and promote action on this issue, such as observatories, listening areas, and areas for outreach and relaxation.

“The project received an Honourable Mention, IED Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue Award for Best Interior Design Thesis.”

Student: Patricia Belma
Course: IED Barcelona – Bachelor of Arts in Interior Design

Serendipity by Alberto Bolgan and Stefania Xiao Cheng

“Serendipity proposes the functional reactivation and re‐use of the Cusago Castle, which is currently empty and abandoned.

“All the activities that will take place inside must give the possibility to anyone who passes by to leave a trace, an additional layer that can embellish the castle of Cusago and return it to its former glory.

“The structures inside the space will be mostly modular and adaptable to the various needs of users.

“The students used materials with strong materiality such as wood, corten and cement in contrast with lighter ones such as glass.”

Students: Alberto Bolgan and Stefania Xiao Cheng
Course: IED Milano – Three Year Course in Interior Design

The Alternative Space by Amit Arbiv

“The project functions as a tool for better coping with crowded areas through a flexible and modular space that is designed with the idea of de-stressing in mind.

“The project has no specific location and its principles can be implemented in various locations as long as the guidelines are applied.

“The space comprises four different components that can be used separately or joined into one, each space was carefully researched and designed to promote calmness.

“During the design process, Arbiv learned about the important things in interior design that can assure relaxation and de-stress people, such as colours, lighting and shapes.”

Student: Amit Arbiv
Course: IED Firenze – Three-Year Course in Interior and Furniture Design

What if? by Martina Babini, Giada Bove and Alessandro Melzi

“Today, we pretend we are living in normality, aware of the problems surrounding us but we delay solving them.

“We do not want to accept that our houses are breaking down. More than ever before, the housing system requires alternative proposals.

“As a society, we need to learn to live in minimal, hybrid spaces and share the facilities that we have become accustomed to because resources are beginning to dwindle, and the only way to slow this descent is to reduce consumption.

“The redevelopment of existing buildings presents a future opportunity for the realisation of real solutions, with a focus on environmental, economic and social sustainability.”

Students: Martina Babini, Giada Bove and Alessandro Melzi
Course: IED Torino – Three Year Course in Interior Design

The Heart of Flavours by Marioara Cojocaru and Chiara Avvento

“The Heart of Flavours is a redevelopment project for the Nuovo Calisse Market located in the Don Bosco neighbourhood of Rome that aims to cater to the needs of future generations while addressing the challenges the market faces today.

“The new layout is intended to make the centre of the market the true beating heart, capable of connecting and uniting its previously disconnected galleries.

“Additionally, new connection spaces have been introduced for the community to foster a sense of belonging, including a square, a smart-working station and a game room.

“Through these measures, the market aims to reestablish strong community bonds, transforming into an interactive space that can also address social needs.

“This work is part of the ‘Mercato Futuro’ project in which students, in collaboration with Roma Capitale, were tasked with imagining and designing a market of the future, a place that embraces the fields of architecture and design while emphasising sustainability and new technologies.”

Students: Marioara Cojocaru and Chiara Avvento
Course: IED Roma – Three-Year Course in Interior Design

Alacre by Edoardo de Muro

“Alacre proposes new spaces for the Eliseo Theatre in Nuoro – places of experimentation, workshops and theatre production projects.

“The thesis aims to develop a scheme for the re-fitting of the theatre, starting from the redevelopment and regeneration of both internal and external spaces.

“The project considers sustainable interventions that contemplate the study of the furnishings and lighting components in the areas destined for the public, both during the performance and during breaks or convivial moments, and the communication of the theatre’s activities.”

Student: Edoardo de Muro
Course: IED Cagliari – Three-Year Course in Interior Design

Bridging Generations by Hafdís Katrín Hlynsdóttir

“The objectives of this project – a centre for intergenerational learning in the Catalan region of Maresme – are to build bridges between young and old, and foster connections between urban and rural areas.

“The student designed a space for collective knowledge, exchange and the preservation of cultural heritage and habitat by way of a three-step ritual — storytelling, participation and reflection — that guides participants through a transformative journey.

“The space houses a library with collections of local materials, documents and books on the biodiversity of the area accessible to everyone, as well as a tasting area for regional products.

“The design preserves the original elements of the Can Reon masía – or farmhouse – such as the small windows that help to maintain an optimal interior temperature, and uses natural materials such as oak and earth tones and textures to create a relaxing atmosphere by exploring the balance between natural light and shadows.”

Student: Hafdís Katrín Hlynsdóttir
Course: IED Barcelona – Bachelor’s of Art in Interior Design

Partnership content

This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and the Istituto Europeo di Design. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

The post IED presents 10 interior design student projects appeared first on Dezeen.

US studio Gensler has announced progress on the construction of a skyscraper consisting of “three buildings stacked on top of one another” in Austin, Texas.

The 845-foot-tall (247 metres) Sixth and Guadalupe skyscraper is located in downtown Austin. It will host a mixed-used program of residential, office and retail spaces throughout three stacked volumes that decrease in width as it rises, including two glazed volumes and an opaque podium.

“Form follows function, with what is essentially three buildings stacked on top of one another visually threaded together with a single column of glass from grade to crown,” said Gensler in a statement.

Greenspaces will sit in the space between each volume.

“The beauty of Sixth and Guadalupe is not its height, but its existence alone. Its complexity stems from the audacity of stacking two high-rise towers on top of each other to assemble a super-high rise,” said Gensler designer director George Blume.

According to the team, the Texas Capitol View Corridors legislation largely shaped the building’s design, which is a series of legal restrictions aimed at protecting unobstructed views of the Texas State Capitol building in Austin.

“A dynamic Capitol View Corridor carves the trapezoidal shape of the tower, affording sweeping views of downtown and the Capitol,” said Blume.

“From there, the geometry is a sculpture of the Capitol View Corridor and the city’s zoning requirements. The collision of these factors combines and symbolizes Austin’s idiosyncratic approach to all things in work and life.”

The program will consist of 350 apartments throughout the building’s top floors, with 570,000 square feet (52,954 square metres) of office space below. The building’s base will hold a parking garage and ground-level retail.

A 32,000-square-foot (2,972 square metres), two-tier park was placed on top of this podium, with a lower tier serving as a shared building amenity and an upper tier dedicated to a single tenet.

The green space will also serve to aid in stormwater management with collection

Additional smaller terraces are being placed on each office floor.

“Outdoor parks and terraces ladder up the building at the various transitions, a nod to Austin’s passion for outdoor lifestyle,” said Blume.

Interior renderings depict an open-plan lobby with a curtain wall surrounding its perimeter. An outdoor will be placed on an upper terrace.

The building topped out in late 2022 and is expected to be completed in Summer 2024.

Other skyscrapers in Austin include the supertall Waterline by KPF.

Last year, Dezeen asked local officials and stakeholders to weigh in on the flurry of skyscraper construction in the Texas capital, where some locals said the tall buildings weren’t addressing the “problems of the city”.

Images are courtesy of Gensler

Project credits:

Architect: Gensler
Structural engineer: Brockette/Davis/Drake, Inc.
MEP engineer: Wylie Consulting Engineers
Environmental engineer: Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems
Lighting: Cline, Bettridge, Bernstein Lighting Design, Inc
Parking/Garage: Curtainwall Design Consulting; HWA Parking
Fire/Life safety: Jensen Hughes
Landscape architects: Studio DWG; Nudge Design
Vertical transportation: Persohn/Hahn Associates, Inc.
Additional engineering services: RWDI; Lerch Bates, Inc

The post “Trapezoidal” skyscraper by Gensler nears completion in Austin appeared first on Dezeen.

Dezeen School Shows: a project exploring the sustainable benefits of eating insects instead of traditional meat is included in this school show by Linnaeus University in Sweden.

Also included is a scheme that promotes the mending of clothing and a series of pieces that explore and celebrate the role of craft in sustainable culture.

Linnaeus University

Institution: Linnaeus University
School: Faculty of Arts and Humanity, Department of Design
Course: BFA Design + Change, BFA Visual Communication + Change, MFA Design + Change
Tutors: Anthony Wagner, Daniel Gustafsson, Åsa Ståhl, Anna-Karin Arvidsson, Eric Snodgrass, Matilda Plöjel, Olga Nikolaeva, Cassandra Troyan, Mirai Nemoto, Linda Hilfling Ritasdatter, Ola Ståhl and Nina Paim

School statement:

“Today, it is both formally and globally recognised that both ecological and social systems are in a critical state.

“We also know that human activities, not least design and its associated overconsumption, drive unsustainability. With + Change, we want to emphasise the potential of design to affect change and extend it. + Change comprises different perspectives on change, such as adaptation, evolution and revolution.

“For us, + Change very much includes examining, challenging and changing the norms that shape the everyday life of individuals as well as society at large.

“Affecting change through design can be about initiatives directed at products, systems or worldviews. We can choose to use design to affect change locally, regionally or globally, and with a focus on ecology, economy, human health and equality, or all of them simultaneously.

“Altogether, + Change is about purposefully using design and its inherent creativity to achieve changes towards the future of sustainability.

“+ Change is not only about what we study and why, it is also about how we do it. Its pedagogy brings design, artistic expression and theory together. We believe we need students and staff groups to genuinely engage with the complexity of sustainability in an interdisciplinary manner.

“Therefore, we have chosen to have an international intake on all our programmes and to deliver them in English.

“Together we make a + Change culture – dynamic, vibrant, creative and critical.”

Exploring with the Non-Human by Thelma Cervin

“This project aims to introduce non-human perspectives. It manifested a children’s toolkit for thinking with nature, which bring a non-human perspective to children.

“The toolkit includes everything a teacher might need to introduce and explore a non-human perspective with children of kindergarten age.

“It was developed in collaboration with a teacher and tested with children in kindergarten.”

Student: Thelma Cervin
Course: BFA Design + Change
Tutors: Anthony Wagner, Daniel Gustafsson and Åsa Ståhl

Witchcraft Futuring: The Knowledge Below The Surface by Smaranda Sirbu

“Witchcraft was never about fighting evil or resisting the devil. It was and still is a patriarchal tool for oppressing vulnerable communities, especially women.

“This design project manifests a reclamation of witchcraft for female empowerment and explores the complexity of witchcraft, focusing on the socio-cultural and ecological levels.

“Sirbu’s purpose with this design project is to empower women to reclaim witchcraft in their own way and manifest their multifaceted independence through curiosity, experimentation and speculation, especially within environmental science and ecological curiosity.”

Student: Smaranda Sirbu
Course: BFA Design + Change
Tutors: Anna-Karin Arvidsson, Åsa Ståhl and Eric Snodgrass

Mending On Display by Allis Ohlsson

“Mending On Display explores how to involve people in mending clothes and incorporate it into everyday life. This was done through mending workshops and investigative conversations, as well as a window display exhibiting visibly mended clothes in the secondhand store Busfrö Nytt & Bytt in Kalmar.

“By putting mending on display and forcing it to take up more visual space in our society, more people can be intrigued to using mending as an everyday tool.

“Using visible mending techniques as a method of doing this, Ohlsson wants to push for a change in fast fashion culture, pushing for repairs to be the new (old) norm.”

Student: Allis Ohlsson
Course: BFA Visual Communication + Change
Tutors: Matilda Plöjel, Olga Nikolaeva, Cassandra Troyan and Mirai Nemoto

Disrupting Hustle Culture by Ellyn Casali

“Disrupting Hustle Culture is a candid exploration into the topic of hustle culture from Casali’s perspective of producing an animated short film, Pursuit.

“Tangible change can be made in the world to mend our relationship with time when we start to devalue the dominant western work ethos that prioritises speed and efficiency and instead prioritise more sustainable perspectives towards productivity.”

Student: Ellyn Casali
Course: BFA Visual Communication + Change
Tutors: Matilda Plöjel, Olga Nikolaeva, Cassandra Troyan and Mirai Nemoto

What a Disgusting Thing to Eat by Viivi Pitkänen

“This project questions our meat-eating habits and moralities towards different animals through the investigation of attitudes towards edible insects from a western viewpoint.

“This was done through illustration in different formats; posters, stickers and a comic to explore the attitudes, morals and our current meat consumption.

“Some of the core questions explored through illustration and storytelling in this project are, why do we see some animals as friendly companions, such as dogs and cats, but other animals, like cows and pigs, can be eaten?

“What differentiates cows from insects and why are cows more edible than insects to people in western countries?”

Student: Viivi Pitkänen
Course: BFA Visual Communication + Change
Tutors: Cassandra Troyan, Matilda Plöjel and Olga Nikolaeva

Inqueeries of Space by Leo Hosp

“While public spaces should be safe for everyone, this is not always the case.

“Instead, public spaces are often designed by and for the ‘human default’, which can be described as white, heterosexual, cisgender, male, able-bodied and monogamous.

“In Hosp’s project Inqueeries of Space, they addressed how heteropatriarchal and misogynistic structures show within public spaces, making those spaces hostile for everyone who deviates from the human default.

“They investigated how queering can be developed as a practice and tool that helps in working towards intersectionally inclusive spaces.”

Student: Leo Hosp
Course: BFA Visual Communication + Change
Tutors: Matilda Plöjel, Olga Nikolaeva, Cassandra Troyan and Mirai Nemoto

Exploring Cultural Heritage and Solidarity Through Design by Bashar Lubbad

“The design research investigates the multifaceted interplay between culture and design within the context of settler colonialism in occupied Palestine.

“Its core objective is to underscore the profound influence of visual storytelling in expressing cultural subtleties and fostering genuine empathy and solidarity.

“An essential aspect of the research explores the role of fear in feeling misrepresentations and the subjugation of Palestinians.

“To understand their experiences comprehensively, this exploration considers the historical, social, and political elements that have sculpted the Palestinian narrative.

“The research further scrutinizes the capacity of design to nurture cultural identity and champion precise representation, emphasizing the significance of addressing the obstacles introduced by oppression and cultural erasure.”

Student: Bashar Lubbad
Course: MFA Design + Change
Tutors: Linda Hilfling Ritasdatter and Ola Ståhl

Straying together: intersectional feminist fashion design in the climate emergency by Ashleigh Spooner

“We are straying together from a normative fashion design practice.

“Woven into the fabrics, products and services – the basic structure of the dominant fashion system – are colonial legacies of exploitation and ecological destruction.

“Trained as a fashion designer, Spooner has been searching for other ways to continue working with clothes in the context of the climate and ecological emergency.

“In this collaborative project, she finds an auspicious starting point: aligning design practice with intersectional feminist politics.”

Student: Ashleigh Spooner
Course: MFA Design + Change
Tutors: Linda Hilfling Ritasdatter, Ola Ståhl and Nina Paim

Handmade Stories by Camilla Uhlén

“Handmade Stories is about giving insights into crafts through the voices of others.

“These stories share how sewing a piece of clothing from an old sheet can bring confidence to build a house, how using a handmade dish towel and hearing knitting needles can bring connections across generations, how wood from a single tree, wool from a herd of sheep and clay from the roots of the forest can bring relationships between people and nature.

“The project explores how craft can bring connections between people and nature for sustainability, by asking: what is the story of something handmade that you value?”

Student: Camilla Uhlén
Course: BFA Design + Change
Tutors: Anna-Karin Arvidsson, Åsa Ståhl and Eric Snodgrass

My snus handbook – Rethinking the lifestyle related to nicotine pouches by Heikki Huhtala and Smilte Tarvydaite

“This collaborative design project uses methods of human-centred design and visual communication to help female students who use white snus – a pouch-based tobacco product –to rethink, question and reflect on the lifestyle and emotions associated with nicotine pouches.

“The outcome of this project is a handbook that contains self-reflective exercises, as well as thoughts and experiences of female white snus users.

“The project is made in collaboration with female students who use nicotine pouches, a public health developer and a dental hygienist.”

Student: Heikki Huhtala and Smilte Tarvydaite
Course: BFA Visual Communication + Change
Tutors: Cassandra Troyan, Matilda Plöjel and Olga Nikolaeva

Partnership content

This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and Linnaeus University. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

The post Ten design and communication projects by Linnaeus University appeared first on Dezeen.