Hasta La Ideas

American firm Johnston Marklee has designed a circular house with a paddling pool on the roof as part of a series of inventive holiday homes proposed by architects including Sou Fujimoto and Didier Faustino for a national park in Spain (+ slideshow).

Johnston Marklee‘s Round House is number four in the series of Solo Houses, an initiative funded by French developer Christian Bourdais that gives 12 architects free rein to develop any design within a set budget.

Rising above an almond grove, the house will accommodate living spaces and bedrooms on a elevated circular floor. Bedrooms will be positioned around the curved edges of the building, while sliding glass screens will allow rooms to open out to one another.

A spiral staircase at the centre of the house will lead residents up to the rooftop deck, offering panoramic views across the rural landscape.

Architects Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee compare the building to a string of famous villas with rotundas, including Andrea Palladio’s Villa Rotunda and Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion House.

“[It] captures the continuous horizon line of the surrounding landscape while accentuating the different spatial characteristics of the site’s orientations,” they said.

Both the base and roof terrace will feature a small square plan, contrasting with the curved outline of the main building’s floor.

Round House is one of 12 houses set to be built as part of the Solo Houses series. The symmetrical concrete Casa Pezo by Chilean studio Pezo Von Ellrichshausen is the only project completed so far, but will be followed by Didier Faustino’s Big Bang-inspired structure and Sou Fujimoto’s Geometric Forest.

Here’s a project description from Johnston Marklee:

Solo Houses unveils the Round House of Johnston Marklee

Situated on the outskirts of Cretas, Spain the Round House follows the grand tradition of country villas sited within an idyllic landscape. Approached along the edge of a dense forest and the Parc Natural dels Ports beyond, the Round House emerges as a singular object amongst a grove of almond trees.

The house consists of a single floor elevated above the almond grove to capture a panoramic view of the surroundings. The circular floor plan is supposed by a smaller base with a square plan, creating a sense of detachment from the landscape whilst remaining grounded by its inherent weight and mass. Protruding from the base is the main entrance. Upon entry the visitor ascends a flight of stairs and arrives within the centre of the house.

The primary axis of the bilaterally symmetrical plan runs along the length of the entry stairway, and is shaped by two curving walls that connect the living and dining areas of the open plan. These walls create a compressed spatial sensation while directing the visitor outward towards the panoramic view at the perimeter. Hovering above the almond trees, the space of the open plan extends into the landscape.

Behind the curving walls are four bedrooms with bathrooms and storage. The sliding doors of the bedrooms can open to connect to the living space and form a complete open plan when desired. A spiral staircase allows visitors to access the roof deck which has a square plan identical to the base of the house. Centred with a pool, the roof deck obtains an unbroken 360 degree view of the Aragonais backcountry.

Following the lineage of Andrea Palladio’s Villa Rotunda, Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion House, and John Lautner’s Chemosphere House; Johnston Marklee’s Round House captures the continuous horizon line of the surrounding landscape while accentuating the different spatial characteristics of the site’s orientations.

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for series of Spanish holiday homes appeared first on Dezeen.

These necklaces by Canadian studio Ahora Silhouettes display the molecular structures of drugs, allowing the wearer to accessorise with the illicit substance of their choice (+ slideshow).

The Designer Drugs collection by Ahora Silhouettes includes a range of six narcotics, from stimulants such as dopamine and LSD to everyday fuels like caffeine.

“The concept behind Designer Drugs is one of hedonism, indulgence and over-the-top debauchery where, in a fantasy laboratory, both legal and illicit molecular hybrids are created not to be ingested, but worn,” said Ahora Silhouettes founder Tania Hennessy.

The drugs are represented by simplified representations of their molecular structures, sometimes in combinations with one another.

“Creating the necklaces for Designer Drugs was kind of like experimenting with complicated little puzzle pieces to find the perfect eye-catching wearable combinations,” Hennessy told Dezeen. “The individual drug molecules accurately represent their unique molecular structures and were then combined to create visually arresting super molecules.”

Molecules and chemical bonds of caffeine and nicotine are paired up in the Coffee and Cigarettes piece.

Other designs in the series are named Spliff, Candy Flipping, Speedball and Tripping Balls. The Overdose necklace is an amalgamation of all of these patterns into one larger form.

Hennessy told us that she designed the graphics using Adobe Illustrator: “I created a set of rules in Adobe Illustrator to allow me to design pieces that worked within the limitations of the material yet still allowed them to be intricately cut into strong jewellery pieces.”

The stainless steel pendants are finished with either a matte black powder coating with a gun-metal chain or uncoated with a silver-plated chain.

Here’s the text sent to us by Hennessy:

First came Molecular Addictions and now, in Aroha Silhouettes’ latest Designer Drugs Collection, the roof is blown clean off the lab with pieces sure to make you feel like you’re hallucinating. Imagine an alternate reality where unabashed profligacy and depravity could exist without the four day hangover or Breaking Bad consequences.

The concept behind Designer Drugs is one of hedonism, indulgence and over-the-top debauchery where, in a “fantasy laboratory”, both legal and illicit molecular hybrids are created not to be ingested, but worn.

Bringing together the “wearable vices” from the original Molecular Addictions collection and synthesising them to create visually arresting SuperMolecules, the six necklaces comprising Designer Drugs represent a collection of pieces even more stunning than their derivatives.

From the delicate simplicity of Spliff, to Candy Flipping and Coffee and Cigarettes’ understated intricacy, to the strikingly exquisite Overdose statement necklace, each of these unapologetically bold pieces create such a delicious piece of eye-catching neck candy, you’re guaranteed to turn every head you pass.

This fantastical new collection lets you enjoy a spectacular trip in a way that leaves a lasting impression without the icky flashbacks.

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narcotic around your neck appeared first on Dezeen.

Italian design brand Arper is to relaunch a limited edition version of a bowl-shaped chair designed by late Modernist architect Lina Bo Bardi in 1951 (+ slideshow).

The Bowl Chair features a metal frame with four legs supporting a ring into which the upholstered seat is inserted. The seat can be swivelled in the frame to allow for more upright or reclined seating positions, with loose cushions enhancing the design’s flexibility. It will be produced in black leather and a range of coloured fabrics.

Bo Bardi, who was born in Italy in 1914 but moved to Brazil in 1946, designed the chair during a period when she was living in São Paulo and working predominantly on the design of products and interiors.

She subsequently established herself as a prominent publisher, curator and architect, responsible for important projects including the São Paulo Museum of Art and the SESC Pompeia cultural centre, also in São Paulo.

Luigi and Claudio Feltrin of Arper explained that their intention in relaunching the chair is to highlight Bo Bardi’s significant legacy: “In doing this, we wish to give the Bowl Chair and Lina’s way of thinking a future. The limited edition creates a link between the past and the future.”

Working with the Instituto Lina Bo and P.M. Bardi, which owns the copyright to the architect’s designs, Arper developed the new chair based on Bo Bardi’s sketches and a pair of original chairs from 1951 – one produced in black leather with a metal frame and the other with a transparent plastic shell and bright red cushions.

Research suggested that the production techniques specified by Bo Bardi would have relied on artisanal methods. With guidance from the Instituto, Arper identified ways to recreate the shape and comfort of the original design using modern manufacturing methods.

The chair’s bowl, which was originally made from heavy hand-forged iron, is now produced in plastic to make it lighter and flexible enough to fit the foam and fabric to the frame.

Arper attempted to standardise the processes used to manufacture the chair so it can be reproduced accurately in a limited edition, embodying its designer’s philosophy of combining industrialised production and individualised objects with improved interaction.

Bo Bardi’s sketches show the chair and cushions in different colours and finishes that could be configured in myriad combinations and Arper is developing a broad palette of colours that reflects the influences of Italy and Brazil on Bo Bardi’s oeuvre.

A single edition of the new Bowl Chair featured in the exhibition Lina Bo Bardi: Together, dedicated to the designer’s life and career that was presented at the British Council in London in autumn 2012. Arper also presented the design and details of the production process at its Milan showroom during this year’s Milan Furniture Fair.

An official launch event for the Lina Bo Bardi Bowl Chair will take place in London on 29 January 2014.

Since the exhibition in London there has been a resurgence in interest in Bo Bardi’s work and British design brand Izé recently announced it had begun producing door handles she designed for her home in São Paulo.

Here’s some more information about the relaunch of the Bowl Chair:

The Bardi’s Bowl Chair manifesto

In London, 2012, the exhibition “Lina Bo Bardi: Together” imagined by the creative troika of curator Noemi Blager, filmmaker Tapio Snellman and artist Madelon Vriesendorp and sponsored by Arper celebrated not only the products but the creative practice of the Italian-born architectural free-thinker.

Why did Arper enter into partnership with the Instituto Lina Bo and P.M. Bardi to recreate and produce an edition of Lina Bo Bardi’s famously iconic but never industrialized Bardi’s Bowl chair? Quite simply because we share the same values and ideals: we believe in design to create meaningful dialogue.

Designed in 1951 in Bo Bardi’s adopted home of Brazil, the Bowl Chair is an icon of Lina Bo Bardi’s adaptive style. Balancing the worlds of industrialized fabrication and the individualized object, Bo Bardi envisioned the Bowl Chair as flexible in structure while universal and essential in form. But, as with all of Bo Bardi’s designs, the ultimate emphasis remains on the human interaction with the object.

These qualities are what we aim for in every Arper collection. We appreciate the optimism and expression of everyday objects that allow us to put them to work and express our opinions and ideas at the same time.

We believe in design as an agent in conversation and conviviality, a conversation starter between form and function, a corporation and its clients or our personal reality and our ideal selves. We believe in design as an essential language to connect the past to the present and remind us what matters.

Lina believed that to standardize – to create adaptive open systems that are simple, sensual and alive – was to create potential. And we do too. And so, we introduce the Lina Bo Bardi Bowl chair.

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Bo Bardi’s Bowl Chair appeared first on Dezeen.

Japanese studio Nendo has redesigned the humble chopstick, creating six new versions including one with a profile that looks like a flower (+ slideshow).

Nendo collaborated with a traditional manufacturer of lacquered chopsticks from the town of Obama in Japan’s Fukui Prefecture to produce a range of contemporary designs that provide novel twists on the style, materials and functionality of the ubiquitous product.

“Obama’s lacquered chopsticks have been recognised as the hardest and most beautiful of Japanese lacquer chopsticks since the seventeenth century, when they became known as ‘Wakasa-nuri’,” said the designers.

“We designed new chopsticks in collaboration with Hashikura Matsukan, a manufacturer who continues Obama’s traditional manufacturing techniques today.”

The Hanataba chopsticks feature grooves in the broader end that increase the surface area and improve grip. The grooves create a shape on the end that resembles a flower and can be painted different colours.

The tips of the Jikaoki chopsticks are carved to a thin point so they avoid touching the surface when placed on the table.

Instead of applying pattern to the surface of the chopsticks, the Sukima design creates the shape of playing card suits in a gap between the sticks.

The wood is carved into different shapes that produce the negative form of hearts, clubs, diamonds and spades when the sticks are placed next to each other. An aluminium core is embedded inside the wood to compensate for the weakness created by the carving.

A gap in one side of the square-shaped Kamiai chopsticks enables the two pieces to snap together when not in use.

Magnets placed on the outside of the sticks hold them in place but stop them sticking together while eating.

The traditional udukuri process of carving away the surface of wood with a wire brush to reveal the grain, lacquering them and polishing them again to show the lacquer embedded in the grain was used to create a set of chopsticks with the same name.

A simple twist carved into the end of the Rassen chopsticks, produced using a combination of a computer-controlled milling machine and handcrafted processes, enables the two pieces to slot together as one piece.

All of the designs will be sold exclusively at Seibu departments stores in Japan from spring 2014.

Photography is by Akihiro Yoshida.

Here are some more details about the project from Nendo:

New chopsticks for Hashikura Matsukan who continues traditional manufacturing techniques known as “Wakasa-nuri”

For four centuries, the town of Obama in Fukui Prefecture, Japan, has manufactured lacquered chopsticks. Obama’s lacquered chopsticks have been recognised as the hardest and most beautiful of Japanese lacquer chopsticks since the seventeenth century, when they became known as ‘Wakasa-nuri’. We designed new chopsticks in collaboration with Hashikura Matsukan, a manufacturer who continues Obama’s traditional manufacturing techniques today.

Hanataba

Round chopsticks are slippery to use, but overly square-cornered ones aren’t as comfortable to hold. We explored ways of increasing the surface area of chopsticks in the hand, as a way of improving holding comfort, and discovered the natural form of the pleated cross-section.

When viewed as a cross-section, the chopsticks look like flowers, so a bunch of chopsticks kept together into a cup turns into a ‘bouquet’.

Jikaoki

The firm’s expert artisans carefully carved away the chopsticks’ tips to fine points, so that they float above the tabletop when the chopsticks are laid down for cleanliness, even without chopstick rests.

Sukima

The world is full of patterned chopsticks, so we wondered if it wouldn’t be possible to create pattern in the space between the chopsticks. We came up with four patterns: hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades. The two chopsticks are carved into different shapes for all patterns but the diamonds, but it’s possible to use one of the diamond chopsticks as the top chopstick with a spade, or the bottom chopstick with a heart, for a total of four different patterns from the four different chopstick pairs.

The carving made the chopsticks so thin that they weren’t strong enough with wood alone, so we embedded a carved aluminum core in the wood to solve the problem.

Kamiai

We put a gap on one of the four sides of the square shaped chopstick,and embedded a magnet, so that the two would snap together in one piece when they are flipped and fitted to each other.

We placed the magnets towards the outside of each chopstick, so that the chopsticks don’t come together accidentally while someone is using them to eat.

Udukuri

We used the udukuri process, in which the wood surface is carved away with a metal brush, leaving only the hard wood grain, then lacquered the chopsticks and polished them again to bring out the wood grain as pattern.

The traditional technique, in which materials clamshells, eggshells and gold leaf are applied with the lacquer then polished away to reveal a pattern is known as ‘togidashi’ (literally ‘to polish and show’), and is particular to Wakasa-nuri. Unlike patterns drawn by hand, this combination of processes allows patterns from nature to appear organically.

Rassen

Chopsticks ordinarily come in pairs, but the rassen chopsticks are a single unit.

They’re separated into two for eating, then rejoined into one form when not in use. We used the artisans’ hand skills and a multi-axis CNC miller to create these unusual chopsticks.

The post Nendo works with traditional manufacturer
to redesign chopsticks appeared first on Dezeen.

A high-end hair salon and family home are separated by a courtyard planted with a single tree in this building designed by Tokyo firm Apollo Architects & Associates in the Japanese city of Hamamatsu (+ slideshow).

Apollo Architects & Associates designed the Fleuve home for a client who required a small salon space from which to operate his business.

“Our design strategy is to minimise the size of the salon, to create a compact and intimate space where the hair stylist gives utmost attention and professional service to the customer,” said the architects.

The salon is located at the rear of the house and is surrounded on two sides by glass walls that look out onto a planted garden.

Clients walk around the building from the car park at the front to an entrance at the back, which is protected by large eaves.

A separate door for the owners leads to a turfed internal courtyard with a tree at its centre.

“[The] entrance court with a family symbol tree is specially designed as a transitional zone where the client is able to switch his mood from business to private,” the architects explained.

The courtyard adjoins a hallway that connects the owners’ entrance with the rest of the rooms on the ground floor, which included the master bedroom, bathroom and wash room.

Also on the ground floor is a room dedicated to the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, which looks onto its own small courtyard.

“Our intention is to fill the space with an atmosphere of warm welcome from the hair salon to the tearoom, and in and out of the house,” the architects added.

Above the salon is a large roof terrace that can be used to extend the open plan space containing the living, dining and kitchen areas when the family has guests.

Materials including poured concrete, walnut floorboards and built-in cabinetry lend the interior a warm and sophisticated feel.

Apollo Architects & Associates also designed a small house in Tokyo with a long staircase that leads to an entrance on the top floor and a tall, angular house that frames views of a nearby observation tower.

Photography is by Masao Nishikawa.

Here’s some more information from the architects:

Fleuve

The client, who is a hair stylist/a salon owner, requested us to design a house with a hair salon.

It is an exclusive and luxurious hair salon where the salon owner himself provides all services, and the number of clients is limited to only two at the same time.

Our design strategy is to minimise the size of the salon, to create a compact and intimate space where the hair stylist gives utmost attention and professional service to the customer.

On the contrary, we provide the maximum floor area of the house.

The glass-clad salon has a stylish and sharp atmosphere, but the sharpness is softened by greenery in the front yard and low and deep eaves above it.

Lounge for resting is provided as a buffer zone between the hair salon and the house. And entrance court with a family symbol tree is specially designed as a transitional zone where the client is able to switch his mood from business to private.

The client’s wife practices tea ceremony, so we design a Japanese room to welcome tea guests, with a compact courtyard (called “Tsubo-niwa” in Japanese) attached.

Our intention is to fill the space with an atmosphere of warm welcome from the hair salon to the tearoom, and in and out of the house.

On the second floor, family room and child’s room are divided by the stairs in between. Study room in the middle acts as an intermediate space in between.

Roof of the hair salon becomes a wide roof balcony adjacent to the family room.

It can be used as an extended family room on occasions such as big parties with many guests.

From the windows, one can enjoy the view of the family symbol tree, along with the beautiful background of the adjacent park and trees along the street.

Project details

Location: Hamamatsu city Shizuoka
Date of Completion: May 2013
Principal Use: Private Housing
Structure: Timber
Site Area: 299.99 m2
Building Area: 92.44m2
Total Floor Area: 129.99m2 (81.14m2/1F, 48.85m2/2F)
Structure Engineers: Masaki Structure (Kenta Masaki)
Facility Engineers: Shimada Architects (Zenei Shimada)
Construction: K.K.DEN co.,ltd.

Material Information
Exterior Finish: Lithing Spraying
Floor: Walnut Flooring
Wall: Wall Paper
Ceiling: Wall Paper

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by Apollo Architects & Associates appeared first on Dezeen.