Inside award winner: Table No.1 by NHDRO

Table No.1 by NHDRO

Inside 2011: finally, Table No.1 by NHDRO wins the bars and restaurants category at the Inside awards in Barcelona.

Table No.1 by NHDRO

See all our stories about restaurants and bars here.

Table No.1 by NHDRO

We’ve been posting the winners on Dezeen Wire as they’re announced throughout the day  – see all the shortlisted projects here and all the announcements here.

Inside world festival of interiors is taking place on the third floor of the Centro de Convenciones Internacionales de Barcelona until 4 November – see all our stories about Inside here, including interviews with the judges on Dezeen Screen.

Inside award winner: Wellington International Airport by Warren & Mahoney and Studio Pacific

Wellington International Airport

Inside 2011: The Rock, the newest terminal at Wellington International Airport by Warren & Mahoney and Studio Pacific has just been announced as the winner of the transport category at the inaugural Inside awards in Barcelona.

Wellington International Airport by Warren Mahoney and Studio Pacific

The project connects three existing buildings under two new copper-clad structures.

Wellington International Airport by Warren Mahoney and Studio Pacific

Check out more airports on Dezeen here.

We’ll be posting the winners on Dezeen Wire as they’re announced throughout the day  – see all the shortlisted projects here and all the announcements here.

Inside world festival of interiors is taking place on the third floor of the Centro de Convenciones Internacionales de Barcelona until 4 November – see all our stories about Inside here, including interviews with the judges on Dezeen Screen.

Inside award winner: Bar Code Office by Ministry of Design

Bar Code Office

Inside 2011: Bar Code Office by Singapore studio Ministry of Design has just been announced as the winner of the offices category at the inaugural Inside awards in Barcelona.

Bar Code Office by Ministry of Design

See all our stories about offices here and more work by Ministry of Design on Dezeen here.

Bar Code Office by Ministry of Design

We’ll be posting the winners on Dezeen Wire as they’re announced throughout the day  – see all the shortlisted projects here and all the announcements here.

Bar Code Office by Ministry of Design

Inside world festival of interiors is taking place on the third floor of the Centro de Convenciones Internacionales de Barcelona until 4 November – see all our stories about Inside here, including interviews with the judges on Dezeen Screen.

Bar Code Office by Ministry of Design

Mirrorcube tree house now for sale


Dezeen Wire
: a mirrored tree house designed by architects Tham & Videgård Arkitekter for the Treehotel in northern Sweden is now available for sale as a flat-pack kit.

Mirrorcube is a 4x4x4 metre cube covered in mirrored glass that can be suspended from the trunk of a tree to accommodate two people. It is one of six tree houses that form the Treehotel in Harads, northern Sweden. Treehotel founder Kent Lindvall says the decision to launch the product is a response to interest from investors and international celebrities. The product can be ordered directly from Treehotel and retails at approximately €275,000, excluding transportation costs.

The design was extremely popular with Dezeen readers (see the story here) and has been shortlisted in the Holiday category for this year’s World Architecture Festival awards. It’s also included in the Dezeen Book of Ideas, which you can buy here for just £12.

See all our stories about Tham & Videgård Arkitekter here and all our stories about tree houses here.

Here is some more information from Treehotel:


Treehotel launches Mirrorcube

Treehotel launches Mirrorcube – for sale. Starting on the 2nd of November 2011, Mirrorcube, the flagship treeroom from Treehotel, Harads is becoming available for sale. Treehotel is responding to the demand from collectors, enthusiasts and investors from around the world.

Part of the vision

To make the flagship treeroom, Mirrorcube, available for sale has been part of Treehotel’s vision from day one.

“We’ve had quite a few investors and international celebrities show interest to have their own guesthouse on their grounds and we’re delighted to finally be able to launch this product now that we feel the market is ready”.

Says Kent Lindvall, visionary and co-founder.

Treehotel has had a very successful first year with its completely unique treerooms in the middle of the unspoilt nature of Harads, Sweden. The interest has been enormous and it’s now time to take the next step.

“We’ve had a tremendous year and a very exciting journey until now. To take this next step and make the Mirrorcube and the Treehotel experience available to the world in a whole new way, feels inspiring not only for us, but to the whole community”

says Britta Lindvall, Co-founder and CEO.

MORE ON MIRRORCUBE

Mirrorcube comes as a turnkey solution. Treehotel controls the entire chain of events from manufacturing to transport and installation at the buyer’s desired location. Mirrorcube is delivered with custom-made interior fittings. This exclusive accommodation is ready for use as soon as the installation is completed. Mirrorcube can be mounted on an existing tree or through a custom fitting system. Delivery time is estimated to 4 months from time of ordering.

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Inside award winner: Strelein Warehouse by Ian Moore Architects

Ian Moore Architects Strelein Warehouse

Inside 2011: in our next round of Inside awards in Barcelona, Strelein Warehouse by Ian Moore Architects has just been announced as the winner of the residential category.

Ian Moore Architects Strelein Warehouse

The project involved converting a former grocery warehouse in Sydney into a two-storey home.

Ian Moore Architects Strelein Warehouse

See all our stories about residential interiors here.

Ian Moore Architects Strelein Warehouse

We’ll be posting the winners on Dezeen Wire as they’re announced throughout the day  – see all the shortlisted projects here and all the announcements here.

Ian Moore Architects Strelein Warehouse

Inside world festival of interiors is taking place on the third floor of the Centro de Convenciones Internacionales de Barcelona until 4 November – see all our stories about Inside here, including interviews with the judges on Dezeen Screen.

Ian Moore Architects Strelein Warehouse

Here are some more details from Ian Moore Architects:


This project is the conversion of a late 19th century former grocery warehouse into a 2 level, one bedroom residence. In the mid 20th century it had 35 years of use as an engineering workshop before being converted to an artist’s studio and residence in the 1970s.

The property has 2 street frontages, allowing clear separation of pedestrian and vehicle entries. The new front door is located in the former loading dock at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac, adjacent to a heritage listed sandstone wall. The entry is defined by a full height steel plate portal, adding to the palimpsest of former window openings and recycled brickwork that make up this façade.

Internally a 1.7 metre height difference between the 2 streets is utilised to create the tall volume of the living space, with its’ floor to ceiling wall of books. The kitchen occupies the half level above, overlooking the living area and is screened by a black steel plate structure incorporating a built-in black leather bench seat. The garage opens off the kitchen, with its’ internal dimensions defining the major strategic move within the design. Once the guest bathroom/laundry/storage and the stair opposite were deducted from the internal width, together with the minimum width required for the garage, the remainder was 10 millimetres with which to construct the wall between the garage and stair. This led to the adoption of the 10 millimetre thick steel plate structure that flows through to the entry portals, the kitchen surround and bookcase.

All existing structure has been retained, lined and painted white, while all new elements are painted black. This concept is carried through to the black and white rubber flooring. All joinery is finished in black anodised aluminium, including the bathroom on the upper level, which maintains the datum established by the height of the original window openings. The clear glazing above allows light from the new clerestory window to illuminate the formerly dark centre of the deep open planned space. Internally the bathroom is lined with Corian on both walls and floor.

The main street façade reinterprets the original but in steel rather than timber, with the address spelt out in water jet cut steel letters reflecting the original engineering workshop signage. The contrast between the precision of the steelwork and the patina of the original brickwork summarises the transformation from 19th to 21st centuries and from industrial to residential.”

Inside award winner: The Waterhouse at South Bund by NHDRO

The Waterhouse at South Bund  by NHDRO

Inside 2011: the hotels category award at the inaugural Inside awards in Barcelona goes to NHDRO for The Waterhouse at South Bund.

NHDRO transformed the disused Japanese army headquarters in Shanghai into a hotel, maintaining the building’s stripped concrete and brick walls. Read more about the project in our earlier story on Dezeen.

See all our stories about hotels here.

We’ll be posting the winners on Dezeen Wire as they’re announced throughout the day  – see all the shortlisted projects here and all the announcements here.

Inside world festival of interiors is taking place on the third floor of the Centro de Convenciones Internacionales de Barcelona until 4 November – see all our stories about Inside here, including interviews with the judges on Dezeen Screen.

“RIBA urges architects to embrace localism” – new guides promote community involvement


Dezeen Wire:
the Royal Institute of British Architects has published two new guides aimed at encouraging architects to help improve local communities through urban planning and cooperation with residents.

The guides have been produced in response to the Decentralisation and Localism Bill, introduced on 13 December 2010, which devolved power to local authorities, offering them the opportunity to collaborate with architects on local planning issues and develop new projects without the need for planning applications.

The following information is from the RIBA:


RIBA urges architects to embrace localism

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has called on architects to use their skills and expertise to help communities make the most of their new planning powers and create exciting and bold visions for the future of their areas.

As the Localism Bill makes its final passage through Parliament, the RIBA has published two new guides for architects, outlining how the role of the architect can change under the new approach to planning and highlighting the crucial role that they have to play in helping communities understand the potential of their local built environment and prepare neighbourhood plans.

The Guide to Localism – Opportunities for architects Part one: Neighbourhood planning and Guide to Localism – Opportunities for architects Part two: Getting community engagement right will be launched on 4 November 2011 at the RIBA’s planning and localism conference in Newcastle.  The first guide explains how the proposed changes to the planning system will affect architects and highlights the design skills architects can use to get involved in developing neighbourhood plans. The second guide shows how architects can enable local communities to participate fully in shaping the way their local area looks and feels. Both guides draw on real-life examples, from Dewsbury Town Centre in Yorkshire to Broadway Community Garden at the Tilbury Estate in Essex.

RIBA President Angela Brady said:

“Architects have the skills and expertise to help realise localism. We can develop a ‘vision’ and bring inspiring ideas. We can help people set ambitious targets, have a real say in their local area, and create – through good design – places that will improve the quality of their lives.

“Many of us are already working closely with local communities but we need to seize this opportunity to work together to create the best environment for their neighbourhoods.”

Guide to Localism – Opportunities for architects Part one: Neighbourhood planning and Guide to Localism – Opportunities for architects Part two: Getting community engagement right are available at http://www.architecture.com/TheRIBA/AboutUs/InfluencingPolicy/Localism/Supportingtheprofession.aspx

The guides are designed to be read in conjunction with each other.

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Critics’ reactions to Building the Revolution: Soviet Art and Architecture, 1915-1935


Dezeen Wire:
 art and architecture critics have been offering their opinions on Building the Revolution: Soviet Art and Architecture, 1915-1935, an exhibition presenting the revolutionary imagery of communist Russia at the Royal Academy in London.

The Observer‘s architecture critic Rowan Moore explains that, although much of the architecture is fundamentally flawed, it had a lasting impact on subsequent creative movements and says “the buildings and paintings of the 1920s are presented to the Academy’s bourgeois crowds as an interesting alternative to Degas’ ballet dancers.”

Edwin Heathcote of the Financial Times also writes about the legacy of Constructivism, stating: “part of the fascination here is the juxtaposition of these pure compositions with contemporary images of the architecture they inspired,” adding that the exhibition could offer a lesson on dynamic and memorable presentation to those with contemporary anti-capitalist views.

Art critic Judith Flanders reviews the show for The Arts Desk and says that while the exhibits are spectacular, there is a moral concern regarding the display of projects that glorify a Communist regime that was responsible for millions of deaths, suggesting that it takes “aesthetic objectivity too far.”

In a preview in The Independent (see our previous story), architecture critic Jay Merrick claimed the exhibition re-energises the meaning of the word “revolution” in art and architecture, adding that it “is an irony-free zone, a laboratory containing some of the stark experiments that ignited the most radical movement that modernist art and architecture has ever known.”

The exhibition continues at the Royal Academy until 22 January.

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“The Power, or Folly, of a Product’s Name” – The New York Times


Dezeen Wire:
in her latest article for The New York Times design critic Alice Rawsthorn strikes a blow against the current trend for naming products with confusing, forgettable or misleading monikers.

The issue was raised by a new housing development near Rawsthorn’s residence in London entitled the ‘Avant-garde Tower,’ that Rawsthorn claims has “nothing original about it, nor radical, provocative, subversive or any of the other qualities associated with the avant-garde.”

In a brief summary of the history of product naming, Rawsthorn describes the rationale behind memorable titles such as Concorde and laments the bizarre use of punctuation in product names such as the Mitsubishi i-MiEV and Th!nk electric vehicles.

See links to more articles by Alice Rawsthorn here.

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Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama extension is “dazzling”- The Independent


Dezeen Wire:
 architecture critic Jay Merrick has praised the £22 million extension of Cardiff’s Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama by BFLS Architects, explaining that the spaces perform functionally as well as succeeding in “generating an atmosphere that can only be described as happening.”

Particular complements are reserved for the “superbly crafted recital hall,” which Merrick says comes as a pleasant surprise from the architects responsible for the “controversial” Strata development in London (winner of the 2010 award for Britain’s ugliest building), and for the two-storey central hub, which he explains “makes contextual and human sense of [architect]Jason Flanagan’s virtuosic diagram” – The Independent

See our previous story on the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama here.

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