Hasta La Ideas

Dezeen Wire: former Foreign Office Architects co-founder Farshid Moussavi has announced the opening of her new studio, Farshid Moussavi Architecture (FMA).

FMA are working on proposals for a Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland, USA and a Quran Museum in Tehran, Iran.

Moussavi has also formed research studio FuntionLab, dedicated to investigating the theoretical aspects of FMA projects.

Foreign Office Architects closed in 2009 – see our earlier story.

The information below is from FMA:

Farshid Moussavi Architecture Opens For Business

Internationally acclaimed architect Farshid Moussavi announced today (3 June 2011) the opening of her new practice, Farshid Moussavi Architecture (FMA). Moussavi has founded her new firm as an international practice based in London. FMA is currently working on a number of prestigious commissions including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland, USA and a Quran Museum in Tehran, Iran.

Moussavi was previously co-founder and co-principal of the award-winning Foreign Office Architects (FOA). At FOA, Moussavi co-authored the design for the award-winning Yokohama International Ferry Terminal in Japan (which was subject to an international competition in 1995) and was part of the United Architects team who were finalists in the Ground Zero competition as well as the team that designed London 2012 Olympics masterplan. Other international projects completed include the John Lewis complex in Leicester, England, the Carabanchel social housing in Madrid, Spain and the Meydan retail complex in Istanbul, Turkey.

Farshid Moussavi is a prominent academic and writer. She is Professor in Practice of Architecture at Harvard University, USA and has published two books, ‘The Function of Ornament’ and ‘The Function of Form’, based on her research and teaching there. Moussavi has also been a visiting professor at UCLA, Columbia and Princeton, and head of the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. As well as serving on numerous international design juries, she is a trustee of the Whitechapel Gallery and Architecture Foundation in London, and a member of the Steering Committee of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

Born in Iran in 1965, Farshid Moussavi studied architecture at Dundee University, University College London’s Bartlett School of Architecture and Harvard Graduate School of Design. She worked at the Renzo Piano Building Workshop and the Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) before co-founding FOA in 1995 where she worked until its demerger in May 2011.

Farshid Moussavi said: “Establishing Farshid Moussavi Architecture has been a significant step and I want to thank my staff and clients for their support. We have some exciting projects to work on and we’re very optimistic for the future of this new Firm.”

The work of Farshid Moussavi Architecture (FMA) in architecture, urbanism and landscape design is to be supported by a newly formed research arm, FunctionLab, dedicated to the investigation of the relationships between architecture and other materials that determine the complexity of the built environment.

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Dezeen Wire: Benjamin Hubert‘s Pod chair for Dutch company De Vorm received the 100% Design Award in Rotterdam last week.

The chair with a felt shell was launched at Ventura Lambrate in Milan last month, where Dezeen filmed an interview with Hubert talking about the design.

See our story about Pod by Benjamin Hubert on Dezeen »
Watch our interview with Benjamin Hubert on Dezeen Screen »

Here are some more details from De Vorm:

Last week, Holland’s largest design and interior fair, 100% Design, took place in Rotterdam.

The Pod was nominated for the prestigious 100% Design Award and came out as winner!

The jury decided unanimously and praised the durable character and the applied PET felt technolgy.

The Pod by Benjamin Hubert is a large privacy chair and is perfect for breakout areas in offices or residential projects. The chair’s ergonomics allow the user to work comfortably whilst feeling relaxed and separated from the hustle and bustle of daily life. It’s almost a little room-in-room solution.

The shell of the chair is the largest form ever produced utilising pressed PET felt technology. This felt allows a distinctive aesthetic as well as offers sound dampening properties to increase the sensation of privacy. In addition, the entire design is environmentally friendly; from its material made of recycled plastic bottles to the fact that the Pod is stackable and therefore easy to store and to transport.

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Dezeen Wire: London furniture company and Dezeen office-mates Chest of Drawers have been awarded a Guardian Sustainable Business Award for their system that rates the sustainability of each wooden product.

More information on the Guardian Sustainable Business Awards »

See all our stories about green design »

See our story about Dezeen and Chest of Drawers’ headquarters »

Here are some more details from Chest of Drawers:

Local David is a match for the Goliaths at the Guardian’s Sustainable Business Awards

Independent furniture retailer Chest of Drawers scooped a Guardian Sustainable Business Award last night. Beating fellow finalists and multi-nationals Unilever and Lend Lease, the London-based business scored a shock victory in the supply chain category. Other category winners were Tesco, Levi, British Land and Marks & Spencer, but Chest of Drawers showed that you don’t need to be big to be innovative and make a difference.

The award particularly recognised Chest of Drawers’ Environmental Grading Scheme, which gives customers information on wood sources, workshop practices and transportation issues for individual furniture pieces.

The Environmental Grading Scheme is the only initiative of its type helping consumers make informed decision about the manufacture, sourcing and environmental impact of furniture. While food and clothing retailers have become more transparent about the origin of their products, furniture is still shrouded in secrecy. Yet nobody wants to find out that the chair they love comes from a protected hard wood or was built in a workshop with illegal employee practices.

Director Kim Corbett said “This means so much to us and all our staff, and of course credit belongs to our loyal customers too. We have always concentrated on long lasting, well- designed furniture from sustainable sources, but we never thought we could win an award in such salubrious company. We see this as simply another step in a long process of showing that businesses, large and small, can be run with a responsible attitude to the environment. This is a challenging time for small businesses so any recognition is hugely appreciated.”

There has been extensive coverage recently of “the death of the high street” and independents being squeezed out by larger chains, but Chest of Drawers tries to show that you do not need to be large to innovate. Small businesses may be perfectly placed to move quickly in response to changing customer priorities, as this award helps to demonstrate.

Chest of Drawers sells solid wood domestic furniture, lighting and accessories from three London stores and online. Its furniture includes its best-selling Caspian bedroom range made from reclaimed wood and bespoke solid oak dining tables. The emphasis is always on distinctive designs but made from traditional methods, often hand crafted. In many cases lifetime guarantees emphasise the confidence provided by the use of premium solid woods, no veneers and no flat pack self-assembled pieces.

Chest of Drawers has operated from its branch in Upper Street for over 25 years, with other branches now in Chiswick and Kingston.

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Dezeen Wire: the Royal Institute of British Architects in London have launched a competition to design new electricity pylons for the UK:

Organised in collaboration with the Department of Energy and Climate Change and National Grid, the competition is open to architects, designers, engineers and students.

The shortlisted designs will be exhibited at the V&A museum in London before winners are selected in October.

A £10,000 prize fund will be divided among the winning teams and their designs will be considered for development by National Grid.

More information on the competition website.

More about pylons on Dezeen »

Here’s some more information from the RIBA:

DECC, National Grid and RIBA pylon design competition launched

Architects, designers, engineers and students of these disciplines are being challenged to rethink one of the most crucial but controversial features of modern Britain: the electricity pylon.

A new competition has today been launched, run by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and National Grid, that calls for designs for a new generation of pylon.

There are more than 88,000 pylons in the UK, including 22,000 on National Grid’s main transmission network in England and Wales. These stand some 50 metres high, weigh around 30 tonnes and carry up to 400,000 volts of electricity over thousands of kilometres of some of the most exposed, weather-beaten parts of Britain. But the familiar steel lattice tower has barely changed since the 1920s.

As well as exploring the design of the pylon itself, the competition aims to explore the relationship between energy infrastructure and the environment within which it needs to be located. The challenge is to design a pylon that has the potential to deliver for future generations, whilst balancing the needs of local communities and preserving the beauty of the countryside.

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne said:

“The dual challenge of climate change and energy security puts us on the brink of a new energy construction age. The equivalent of twenty new power stations is needed by 2020, much more beyond that, and they’ll all need connecting to the grid.

“It’s crucial that we seek the most acceptable ways of accommodating infrastructure in our natural and urban landscapes. I hope the pylon design competition will ignite creative excitement, but also help the wider public understand the scale of the energy challenge ahead of us.”

National Grid’s Executive Director UK, Nick Winser said:

“Much of the new low-carbon generation is planned for remote or coastal areas, which means new infrastructure will be needed to get the electricity we need to our homes, businesses and vehicles. While underground connection will be a viable solution in some sensitive locations, new and replacement pylons will be needed and National Grid is equally keen to support the development of the most visually acceptable overhead solutions.

“The pylon as we know it has served the nation well, but new technologies and materials mean there may now be opportunities for new designs. National Grid is excited to be part of opening up this design challenge. We will give serious consideration to developing the winning design for use in future projects.”

Ruth Reed, President of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), said:

“Design has never been far from our energy network. The current pylon design was chosen by Sir Reginald Blomfield, a leading architect of his day back in 1927, but the familiar steel lattice tower design has barely changed since then.

“Architects, designers and engineers strive to improve the quality of our environments and our lives. This is a technically challenging but exciting competition, with the potential to improve our landscapes for decades to come, and I expect it to generate widespread interest.”

The competition closes on 12 July, with shortlisted candidates notified at the end of July. The shortlist will then have the opportunity to work with National Grid before submitting their final designs at the beginning of September. The designs will be open for the public to view and comment on via the competition website and also at an exhibition to be held at the V&A as part of London Design Festival (17-25 September). The judging panel will meet in October to choose an overall winner.

Chris Huhne will chair the judging panel, which will include Nick Winser, Director of the V&A Sir Mark Jones, architects Sir Nicholas Grimshaw and Bill Taylor, engineer Chris Wise, the journalist Jonathan Glancey and Ruth Reed, RIBA President.

A prize fund of £10,000 will be shared amongst the winning candidates and National Grid will give consideration to developing the winning design for use in future projects.

The competition is now live and open for registration at www.ribapylondesign.com

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