Hasta La Ideas

Milan 2014: British designer Bethan Gray will exhibit a set of monochrome marble tableware in Milan next month.

The Alice collection by Welsh designer Bethan Gray comprises geometric combinations of black and white marble, which reference stripes and chequerboard patterns used in historic architectural designs, observed during the designer’s trips across Europe and the Arab states.

“The idea for the geometric patterns of the Alice tableware range came from the pattern, form and use of light found in Arabic design and the spectacular black and white stone configurations I’d seen on various trips across Europe,” said the designer.

“These specifically include the ninth-century Amalfi Cathedral in Italy and the twentieth-century San Giovanni Battista in Mogno, Switzerland.”

The collection comprises five pieces that include a chopping board, cheese board, cake stand and bowl.

Following its launch at Maison & Objet in February, the collection will be on display at Spazio Pontaccio in the Brera district of Milan from 8 to 13 April during the Salone Internationale del Mobile.

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by Bethan Gray appeared first on Dezeen.

Artist Tobias Rehberger has taken over a gallery in his home city of Frankfurt with black and white graphics that play tricks on the eye (+ slideshow).

Tobias Rehberger has filled a series of spaces within the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt museum with a diverse selection of his work for the Home and Away and Outside exhibition.

“Tobias Rehberger. Home and Away and Outside brings together the many strands of this internationally renowned artist’s diverse practice, highlighting the numerous themes and influences that have become integral to his work,” said a statement from the gallery.

Over 60 sculptures, installations and paintings are displayed through the exhibition, which is split into three themed sections.

In the first area Rehberger has covered surfaces with geometric black and white patterns that create optical illusions, similar to when he installed a temporary replica of his favourite Frankfurt bar in a New York hotel last year.

Known as dazzle camouflage, this optical technique was originally used on ships during the First World War to make them difficult to target.

As a stark contract, the second space is all white and exhibits sculptures with functional qualities.

Among these items are Rehberger’s versions of iconic twentieth-century furniture designs, which he sketched from memory and then had the drawings recreated as three-dimensional objects.

The artist also created a new sculpture that appears to be cobbled together from found neon tubes, lit advertising signs and old fairground lights.

The piece hangs from the ceiling of the building’s cylindrical lobby and is lit from above, casting a shadow that spells “regret” onto a white platform on the floor.

Curated by Mathias Ulrich, the exhibition continues until 11 May.

Read on for more information:

Tobias Rehberger. Home and Away and Outside
21 February – 11 May 2014, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt

Tobias Rehberger. Home and Away and Outside at Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt is an exhibition in three parts by Tobias Rehberger (born 1966), one of the most influential German artists of his generation. An artist who defies categorisation, Rehberger creates objects, sculptures and environments as diverse in subject, media and context, as they are prolific. Drawing on a repertoire of ordinary, everyday items appropriated from mass culture, Rehberger translates, alters and expands upon familiar situations and objects causing the viewer to question their understanding and interpretation of art.

Tobias Rehberger. Home and Away and Outside is curated by Mathias Ulrich and narrates Rehberger’s artistic development with works spanning 20 years. Divided into three thematic sections, the exhibition presents more than 60 works including sculptures, installations, and paintings that deal with a broad collection of themes incorporating optical illusions, identity games, and the notion of transience. Rehberger draws upon his own memories; takes inspiration from outdated production techniques; and challenges ideas of ownership, authorship and copyright – themes that are constantly present.

The exhibition starts with a continuation of the 2009 work that won Rehberger the Golden Lion for best artist at the 53rd Venice Biennial – Was du liebst, bringt dich auch zum Weinen. Rehberger has transformed the gallery space into artwork, covering it in a unique dazzle camouflage graphic artwork specifically created for the exhibition. Dazzle camouflage, appropriated repeatedly by Rehberger in his work, was an optical technique originally used during World War I and mainly on ships, making them difficult to pinpoint as targets. Within this space, Rehberger has placed deliberately flawed sculptures that challenge notions of aesthetic perfection and other works that examine the subject of functionality and production of art.

In sharp contrast to this introductory visual statement, the second part of the exhibition is an all white, starkly minimalist landscape that blurs the architectural boundaries of the space. Here Rehberger has positioned sculptures with clearly functional qualities, such as furniture, lamps, and vases, which typify his sculptural work from the 1990s onwards. They pose the question of whether art can be permitted a function or whether it then transforms into a piece of design. Rehberger also presents work that studies issues of authorship, of the artist’s control, and of the artist’s genuine influence on their work if the production process is delegated to others. In one series, We Never Work on Sundays (1994), Rehberger sketched, from his own flawed memories, examples of iconic 20th century furniture designs and commissioned Cameroonian carpenters to recreate them as three-dimensional objects. Again Rehberger plays with notions of cultural codification as well as artistic ownership and authenticity.

For the third part of the exhibition, situated in the freely accessible Schirn Rotunda at the entrance of the Kunsthalle, Rehberger has created a large-scale shadow sculpture that will hang from the roof of the atrium. Created from new but appearing to be assembled from found neon tubes, lit advertising signs, and old fairground lights, a spotlight is placed above the sculpture causing it to cast a shadow onto a large round central pedestal below which takes the form of a word.

Tobias Rehberger. Home and Away and Outside brings together the many strands of this internationally renowned artist’s diverse practice, highlighting the numerous themes and influences that have become integral to his work. The exhibition marks Rehberger’s first major exhibition in Frankfurt, the city in which he lives and works.

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at Tobias Rehberger’s solo exhibition appeared first on Dezeen.

Portuguese studio Armazenar Ideias used blocks of white marble to build this cube-shaped mausoleum for a family living in the city of Póvoa de Varzim (+ slideshow).

Rather than replicating the classical structures typically built for Portuguese families, Pedro Matos of Armazenar Ideias wanted to design a more modern and simplistic vault for the Gomes family, who originated from Venezuela.

“There are different values to be represented in architecture now,” Matos told Dezeen. “Not so much the old solemnity and ‘baroque thinking’ associated to death, but a much more simple and essential way to interpret it, detached from the excess of symbolism.”

The architect sourced the purest marble he could to build the walls of the mausoleum, creating a grid of white squares around the rear and sides of the structure.

“The project tries to relate itself with the sacred theme,” said Matos. “The facades carry the weight of a temple and are made of the whitest marble we could find, the colour of purity to Catholicism.”

Some of these panels are slightly displaced, allowing narrow openings to puncture the rear wall.

To contrast with the bright marble, the facade of the vault is made from reflective black glass, intended to reflect the surroundings and give privacy to the interior.

“The black mirror asks everyone to look at themselves before entering,” added Matos.

Darker marble lines the interior of the building and a single brass cross is positioned against the far wall.

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and black glass by Armazenar Ideias appeared first on Dezeen.

Japanese studio Nendo has created a succession of boutiques for New York fashion brand Theory where garments hang from geometric black frames and circulation routes are modelled on road layouts (+ slideshow).

Nendo has so far created a total of nine stores for Theory, including two in California, two in Paris, and others in London, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo and Osaka, all based on the same design concept.

Each one has a largely monochrome interior with a layout shaped around the movement of customers through the store, which the designers compare to the flow of traffic on a road system.

“Our idea was to adhere to the brand’s existing combination of simplicity and functionality with New York loft-style materials and a general sense of ease, while adding and emphasising a new concept: the flow of people,” they explained.

Product display tables and partitions have been arranged to clearly divide up the spaces, creating a network of junctions.

Changing rooms occupy generously sized spaces at the rear to encourage shoppers to spend more time trying on items.

“We allotted more space than usual for the dressing rooms and created a buffer zone between the dressing rooms and the shop proper, so that shoppers can take their time trying on clothes and selecting items without thinking about the main flow of people,” said the designers.

The first of the two new California stores is located in Beverly Hills and features a large shop window filled with a grid of mannequins, as well as clean white walls with recessed shelving.

A Los Angeles store occupies a converted warehouse on Melrose Avenue. Brick walls are left exposed and painted white, while steel trusses are visible overhead.

Photography is by Daici Ano.

Here’s a project description from Nendo:

Theory Stores

Shop interiors for theory, the New York-based fashion brand known for basics that fuse functionality with casual trends.

We designed the interiors for two shops in Paris and Los Angeles and one shop each in London, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo and Osaka.

Our idea was to adhere to the brand’s existing combination of simplicity and functionality with New York loft-style materials and a general sense of ease, while adding and emphasising a new concept: the flow of people. By coming up with a circulation plan as an urban planner might locate new roads within a city, we made careful provisions for people to flow into the shop naturally and move smoothly around it. For the London shop, we created a ‘boulevard’ that follows on directly from the crosswalk outside the shop.

The Paris shop is located on a corner, so we installed entrances on both outward-facing walls and arranged a softly curving ‘short cut’ between them. We then added ‘plaza’ and ‘park’-like product display stages and lounge corners like to fit with the ‘road system’ in each shop and modulate each space. For the London shop, this meant installing 8.2 m long tables orientated to match the traffic flows within the shop; for the Paris shops, we added a large river delta-like stage that can display more than ten mannequins.

We allotted more space than usual for the dressing rooms and created a buffer zone between the dressing rooms and the shop proper, so that shoppers can take their time trying on clothes and selecting items without thinking about the main flow of people.

Together, these touches allowed us to respond to the different demands placed on the shop space while creating new flows of people that may, we hope, flow out into and colour the city space around the shops, too.

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are modelled on road systems appeared first on Dezeen.

Faceted white walls frame the entrances to this monochrome auditorium in rural New South Wales by Australian architects Silvester Fuller (+ slideshow).

Silvester Fuller designed the auditorium building as a flexible events space for the Anglican church of Dapto, a small town south of Sydney.

The building is sandwiched between the existing town hall and primary school, creating a community hub and meeting place that is close to the town’s church.

“Locating the auditorium between these two facilities presented the opportunity to create a central hub, from which all the primary event spaces in both the new and existing buildings are accessed,” said the architects. “This hub becomes the campus meeting place.”

Large pre-cast concrete panels give a textured surface to the exterior walls. These are painted black to contrast with the white entrances, which are clad with sheets of fibre cement.

A paved terrace between the car park and the building leads visitors towards the main entrance, which comprises a concertina-style screen of glazed doors and windows.

The doors can be folded back to the edges of the entrance, opening the hall out to its surroundings.

The 500-seat auditorium is located at the back of the building and has an entirely black interior.

The church auditorium was nominated in the religion category at the World Architecture Festival in Singapore earlier this month, but lost out to a mosque in Istanbul.

Photography is by Martin van der Wal.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

Dapto Anglican Church Auditorium

Silvester Fuller’s Dapto Anglican Church Auditorium is the first of a new generation of buildings for the Anglican Parish of Dapto. The design is a response to the changing functional and social direction of the church and it’s relationship with the community.

Intended to complement nearby St Luke’s Chapel, the auditorium offers a theatre-like venue for a broader range of event types. No longer a place devoted solely to Sunday worship services, the new church building is required to support a range of events held in the morning, afternoon and evening, 7 days a week and catering to a broad spectrum of the local community.

The organisational strategy for the site involved the relocation of vehicular traffic to the site perimeter, allowing for a fully pedestrianised centre. The new auditorium was then to be located on the site with minimal intervention to the existing buildings. For this reason the perimeter plan of the new auditorium is bounded by the two existing buildings; a preschool and church hall. Locating the auditorium between these two facilities presented the opportunity to create a central hub, from which all the primary event spaces, in both the new and existing buildings are accessed. This hub becomes the campus meeting place.

Once the perimeter mass of the new building was defined, circulation spaces were carved out of the mass, informed by the flow of people from the parking areas to the building and subsequently in and around the two primary spaces; the auditorium and foyer. This subtraction of mass defines voids which connect these spaces to each other and the landscape. The secondary support spaces then occupy the remaining solid mass. The requirements of the individual spaces called for a delicate balance between generosity and intimacy, with some spaces open to the landscape and others completely concealed from it.

The external facade responds to two conditions: where the primary mass has been retained the facade surface is dark, earth-like and roughly textured. In contrast the subtracted void areas are bright, smooth and crisp surfaces identifying the building entrances and acting as collection devices. Once inside the building, the entry into the main auditorium is an inverse of the exterior, presenting recessed darkened apertures acting as portals which then open into the 500 seat theatre. The theatre is a black-box with a singular focus on the stage. There is provision for a natural-light-emitting lampshade to be built above the stage at a later date.

A modest budget demanded construction simplicity combined with spatial clarity and efficiency, to produce a building that is easily understood whilst standing apart from its context. The new building aims to establish a new design direction and focus for the Parish and is envisaged as stage one of a master plan of growth.

Site: 9546 square metres
New building: 1155 square metres
Auditorium capacity: 500 people
Parking capacity: 118 cars, 10 bicycles
Design phase: 2008-2009
Construction phase: 2010-2012
Client: Anglican Parish of Dapto & Anglican Church Property Trust
Council: Woollongong City Council
Architect: Silvester Fuller
Project leaders: Jad Silvester, Penny Fuller
Project team: Patrik Braun, Rachid Andary, Bruce Feng

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by Silvester Fuller appeared first on Dezeen.