Hasta La Ideas

This towering commercial block in Ginza, Tokyo, by Amano Design Office features a faceted aluminium facade reminiscent of a crumpled-up sweet wrapper (+ slideshow).

Tokyo-based Amano Design Office was asked to design an eye-catching building that would entice shoppers from Ginza’s Central Street to a second shopping street just beyond.

The nine-storey tower accommodates small units that can be used as either offices or shops. Apart from the glazed ground floor, each storey is concealed behind a double-layer facade that comprises a perforated metal exterior and a clear glass interior.

The architects used computers to generate the faceted aluminium form, then added a floral pattern to soften the appearance.

“In the neighbourhood of mostly modernist architecture with horizontal and vertical or geometric shapes, the building has a proper feeling of strangeness, attracts special attention and has an appeal as a commercial building,” they explained.

Lighting installed behind the metal panels is programmed to change colour depending on the season, switching between shades of red, blue and green.

“The facade becomes a part of the interior decoration and obviates the need for window treatments such as blinds or curtains,” added the architects.

Other commercial buildings from Japan with unusual facades include a herringbone-patterned boutique designed by OMA and a Tokyo bookstore covered in hundreds of interlocking T-shapes. See more architecture in Tokyo »

Photography is by Nacasa & Partners.

Here’s the project description from the architects:

Dear Ginza Building

The client is a developer company. It purchased a long-sought after lot in Ginza, and planned to build a commercial/office building. The building site is on the Ginza 1-chome Gaslight Street, which is one street behind the Ginza Central Street. It is on the back side of the Mizuho Bank and Pola Ginza buildings on the Central Street. The atmosphere is quite different from the gorgeous Central Street, and the site is on an empty street which is often seen behind the street with large-sized buildings. Attracting as many people as possible into such a street is our task. The client desired the building to be a gorgeous existence. In addition, the designer desired to provide a “slight feeling of strangeness” to the passersby that would attract them to the building.

Considering the views from the inside, simply obtaining openness with glass seems futile, since the outside scenery is hopeless. Therefore, a double skin structure is employed, which consists of glass curtain walls and graphically treated aluminium punched metal. The facade becomes a part of the interior decoration and obviates the need for window treatments such as blinds or curtains. By using a double skin, reduction of the air conditioning load and the glass cleaning burden was also intended.

The irregular facade design was determined by computing a design to avoid arbitrary forms and to approximate forms in nature. We thought that a well-made incidental form would likely be a less-disagreeable design. In the neighbourhood of mostly modernist architecture with horizontal and vertical or geometric shapes, the building has a proper feeling of strangeness, attracts special attention, and has an appeal as a commercial building. The abstract flower graphic is used to balance the impression of the facade, i.e., to free it up from becoming too edgy.

By computing the design, individual aluminium punched panels are irregular with different angles and shapes, yet all fit into a standard size, resulting in excellent material yield. To avoid being clunky, an extremely lightweight structure is required. Therefore, much caution was taken in its details. The coloured LED upper lighting, which is installed inside the double skin, entertains the passersby with different programs depending on the season. Expected tenants included a beauty salon and aesthetic salon, and the expectations are materialising.

Building location: Ginza-1-chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Completion year: March 2013
Designer: amano design office
Collaborators: Atorie Oica, Azzurro Architects
Construction firm: Kumagai Gumi Co.,Ltd.

Main use: store building and office building
Lot size: 187.20 sqm
Building area: 155.55 sqm
Total floor space: 1300.02 sqm
Maximum height above rail level: 31.955 m
Structure: steel frame
Number of stairs or stories: nine storeys above ground and one underground story
Main material: aluminium graphic punching metal, extruded cement panel

The post Dear Ginza Building by
Amano Design Office appeared first on Dezeen.

Mirrored walls and glass ceilings transform this office interior in Shanghai into a labyrinth of reflected light and imagery (+ slideshow).

Shanghai studio AIM Architecture designed the office for Soho China, the property developers behind Zaha Hadid’s Galaxy Soho and Wangjing Soho projects, and it occupies a space in the company’s Fuxing Plaza complex.

The space functions as a showroom, so the architects wanted to show customers the raw condition of the office units available to rent.

“As Soho rents out the offices in this building in bare shell state, the main design idea is to show the customers what they are actually getting, and at the same time add a layer of inspiring luxury to it,” they said.

Ventilation ducts and other service pipes are visible through a continuous glass ceiling, while glass floors surround individual meeting rooms.

Mirrored partitions alternate with glass screens and windows, juxtaposing views between rooms with framed apertures of the Shanghai skyline.

“The glass-only approach allows a complexity that emerges from a simple choice,” added the architects.

The entrance to the office is via an all-white corridor, where strips of light are reflected to create the illusion of a never-ending grid.

Other offices filled with mirrors and glass include a Tokyo office with a hidden slide and a production studio in New York with translucent screens and glass partitions. See more office interiors »

Photography is by Jerry Yin, Chief Architect, SOHO China.

Here’s a project description from AIM Architecture:

Glass office by AIM Architecture for SOHO China

An all glass and mirror inner cladding exposes the infrastructure of SOHO’s new office building in Shanghai. The glass creates manifold reflections of the sales models and meeting rooms, while leaving the original height and structure in view. This creates a ‘double reality’ that merges with the stunning views of downtown Shanghai.

Membrane ceilings create extra attention for the models. Light and surfaces reflect throughout the space, even further diffused by half see-through mirrors. Some of the floors are islands of stone or carpet, to create static moments to offset this sea of reflectivity.

As SOHO rents out the offices in this building in bare shell state, the main design idea is to show the customers what they are actually getting, and at the same time add a layer of inspiring luxury to it.

The glass-only approach allows creating a complexity that emerges from a simple choice. That is what makes this project bold and layered at the same time.

This project by AIM Architecture is part of Fuxing Plaza, a large mixed-use complex (140.000m2) that hopefully will boost more energy and surprises for the city.

Date of realisation: September 2013
Design team: Wendy Saunders, Vincent de Graaf, German Roig, Carter Chen and Jiao Yan.
Client: SOHO China

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by AIM Architecture appeared first on Dezeen.

Small attic spaces are tucked between the ribs of a triangular roof at this house extension in Japan by mA-style Architects (+ slideshow).

Japanese firm mA-style Architects designed the timber roof as a series of V-shaped frames, which sit over a rectilinear base and create triangular windows at each end.

Added to the west side of a family house, the Koya No Sumika extension provides a separate living and dining space for a couple and is connected to the main building by a glass and timber passageway.

“The young couple desired feelings of ease and spaces that ensure quiet and comfortable times,” said the architects. “The extension is designed as a minimum living space and pursues both maintaining distance and retaining fertile relationships.”

Small pockets slotted into the sides of the living area provide storage spaces for books and plants, as well as study areas with wooden desks and chairs.

A set of protruding wooden stairs and a separate ladder lead to the compact attic spaces overhead, as well as to a bed deck at the front of the building.

Bare light bulbs hang down from the triangular ceiling sections to illuminate the space.

Other mA-style Architects projects we’ve featured are an elevated house in the shape of a giant rectangular telescope, a wooden house lifted off the ground and curved like the hull of a boat and a metal-clad house with a smaller wooden house inside. See more Japanese houses »

Photography is by Kai Nakamura.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

Koya No Sumika

This is an extension plan for a young couple’s house next to the main house. The main house is a one story Japanese style house with about 200m2, which is commonly seen in rural areas.

It is a big house with many rooms and mainly consists of large spaces for people to gather and to provide hospitality. However, the young couple desired feelings of ease and spaces that ensure quiet and comfortable times.

A simple extension may enable each of the house’s residents to live completely separated, but the relationship between the families and the connection with the main house might be lost.

Therefore, by utilising the functions for living in the main house, the extension is designed as a minimum living space, and pursues both maintaining distance and retaining fertile relationships.

The extension is attached by a connecting-corridor on the west side of the main house. This enables the residents to switch their mindset before entering into the other living space, and the common garden maintains a proper sense of distance. By relying on the main house for the large kitchen, bathroom, and future children’s room, only a few functions for a living space are required for the extended part.

The living spaces are aggregated into a simple continuous structure, which consists of small, 2m high, U-shaped bearing walls. A V-beam roof truss is made with 62mm panels and structural plywood on both sides, and it is topped with a 69mm thin roof.

By overlapping the bearing walls and the V-beam frame, and by using a variety of finishes, contrasting spaces are created and a sense of scale in the vertical direction is born in the flat house. By doing so, as the residents’ living scenes unfold, light and air freely circulate in the space, and the people’s lines-of-sight extend beyond the area in a state of freedom. We intended to leave a rich blank space that fosters the imaginations of the residents.

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mA-style Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

London Design Festival 2013: Norwegian collective Angell Wyller Aarseth has designed a wooden lounge chair with a slung seat and back for Bernhardt Design (+ slideshow).

American furniture brand Bernhardt Design asked Angell Wyller Aarseth to design an armchair that combines the studio’s Nordic sensibility with a link to American heritage.

The resulting chair features a simple open frame made from solid walnut, a material commonly used in American furniture production.

Gently curving armrests continue around the sitter to form a backrest onto which a padded sling is attached.

An additional cushion fastened to the back of the sling provides supplementary support.

Oslo is the first commercially produced design by Angell Wyller Aarseth, which was formed in 2010 by Oslo National Academy of the Arts graduates, Christoffer Angell, Øyvind Wyller and Simen Aarseth.

It is available in a range of coloured leather and fabric options and is launching this week during the London Design Festival.

Bernhardt Design presented a chaise designed by Eindhoven couple Kiki van Eijk and Joost van Bleiswijk at the 2011 edition of the London Design Festival. See more furniture by Bernhardt Design »

Other launches at this year’s LDF include a collection of wooden bedroom furniture by British brand Another Country and a range of wicker lamps by Swedish studio Claesson Koivisto Rune.

See all our stories about London Design Festival 2013 »
See Dezeen’s map and guide to London Design Festival 2013 »

Here’s some more information about the project from Bernhardt Design:

Northern Lights – London, UK

It takes a spark to light a fire. Such a spark was cast one evening three years ago during the 2010 London Design Festival. As part of 100% Norway, Ambassador Bjarne Lindstrom organized a reception to connect Norway’s best home-grown talents with the international design world. While there, three young designers, Christoffer Angell, Øyvind Wyller and Simen Aarseth, met Jerry Helling, President of Bernhardt Design. That chance encounter has now come full circle with Bernhardt Design’s launch of Angell Wyller Aarseth’s Oslo Chair at the 2013 London Design Festival.

A strong supporter of young designers, Helling is often on the look-out for promising new talent. “There are bright young designers working all over the world, the tricky part is finding ones who are the right fit,” Helling said. “Sometimes, we meet through formal channels like tradeshows and exhibitions. More often, however, a first meeting is more serendipitous – through mutual acquaintances or at cocktail parties such as where I met Christoffer, Simen and Øyvind.”

The trio of young Norwegian designers calls themselves AWAA. They met during school at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts and, as Angell puts it, they “found each other creatively.” As their paths crossed in classes and at exhibitions, they realized they shared the same theories about design – primarily a focus on archetypal purity and structure, the layering of elements, and a passion for classic Scandinavian modernism.

It was an exciting time for the three young students as they formed a loose collective to explore these shared values and ideas. They soon decided to apply for 100% Norway during the London Design Festival, in hopes of broadening their industry exposure. They were accepted, and were elated when Helling handed them his business card at the Ambassador’s reception.

“Young designers often have this intense passion that can fade with time and success,” Helling added. “Talking with AWAA sparked an interest. You could sense a light burning in them.”

After meeting Helling, Angell, Wyller and Aarseth sent a portfolio of their work. Helling was impressed and suggested they apply for the 2011 ICFF Studio program at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York. Their Handle Me cookware designs were a critical success, winning an award for best accessories. It was also at the end of ICFF that Helling formally asked them to collaborate on a new project.

“We’d trained ourselves to not get too excited when someone says, ‘We want to work with you’, because we’d heard it so many times before. But Jerry followed through,” says Wyller. “It’s really exciting when someone tells you this great thing will happen, and then it really does.”

The Oslo chair is AWAA’s first product together to be launched commercially, and it is a balanced mix of the Nordic trio’s design philosophy and Bernhardt Design’s American heritage. When Helling asked them to design an armed side chair, AWAA first delved into the physical essence of an armchair – namely that it is made up of four legs, a seat and back, and arms – to focus on a pure skeletal structure. They then set out to layer comfort onto the structure by adding a sling seat and back that seem to rest upon the frame, like garments on a figure.

As a result, they have created a light, airy chair that is comfortable and strong, yet visually simple and open. Rather than being made from traditional Scandinavian hardwoods, Oslo is made of solid walnut, giving it a distinctively American sensibility. The Oslo chair may be upholstered in fabrics and leathers from Bernhardt Textiles or in the customer’s own material.

With the debut of the Angell Wyller Aarseth’s Oslo Chair at the 2013 London Design Festival, Bernhardt Design shows that what starts as a spark can become a bright light.

About Angell Wyller Aarseth

The Norwegian design collective Angell Wyller Aarseth (AWAA) was founded in 2010 by Christoffer Angell, Øyvind Wyller and Simen Aarseth. While pursuing their Masters of Design at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, the three realized they had complementary ideas about design. They decided to form a loose collective to explore those ideas, while also continuing to work individually as interior architects and product designers.

After exhibiting together at the 2010 London Design Festival (at 100% Norway, a juried exhibition of leading Norwegian design talent), and Design Tide in Tokyo, the collective debuted their first range of cast iron cookware in Paris in January 2011. AWAA subsequently showed a larger range of products at the Salone Satellite in Milan, where they received a Special Mention from the jury, and at ICFF in New York, where they won ICFF Studio for their cookware. In 2012, they presented their collection of seating, lighting and tables at the Salone Satellite in Milan.

AWAA approach design by analyzing an activity to determine its essential elements to then establish an archetypal object that fulfills those elements. From there, they layer on elements to lend meaning, functionality and adaptability to the object.

Their diverse personal interests and experiences contribute to their designs. Angell is also an interior architect with experience in lighting design, having interned with the American lighting brand Rich Brilliant Willing. Wyller is a freelance designer and has experience with design journalism from his time as a columnist with the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet. Simen works as a brand strategist and designer at the Oslo-based firm Work.

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for Bernhardt Design appeared first on Dezeen.

London Design Festival 2013: British design brand Noble & Wood is presenting its debut collection of crafted furniture and products at designjunction this week (+ slideshow).

London-based designer Paul Blease launched the collection under the Noble & Wood label at Maison & Objet in Paris earlier this month, and is showing it at designjunction this week as part of the London Design Festival.

“Crafted modernism is our design philosophy, which explores the qualities of traditional craft techniques and combines them with modern manufacturing technology,” Paul Blease told Dezeen.

The collection includes a console designed in collaboration with Gautier Pelegrin that leans against the wall and incorporates an additional smaller shelf to help organise everyday clutter.

The magazine holder is made from a solid wedge of Carrera marble, American walnut or ash, with leather pouches slung over the top.

The three legs of the Domino stool are fixed together by a horizontal brass bar and a removable felt pad adds extra comfort on the seat.

A solid turned-wood stool has a felt pad that can be switched for a metal surface to transform it into a side table.

Wall hooks in two diameters are available in copper or anodised aluminium finishes with a range of coloured leather fronts.

A leather strap used to suspend the Loop mirror from its wall-mounted hook fits snugly into a groove that runs around the wooden frame.

Noble & Wood collaborated with textile designer Sarah Pourcher on a wallpaper design featuring her hand-drawn patterns.

Noble & Wood’s collection is on show at designjunction until 22 September, alongside a debut furniture collection from Joined + Jointed and a range of wicker lamps by Claesson Koivisto Rune.

See all our stories about London Design Festival 2013 »
See Dezeen’s map and guide to London Design Festival 2013 »

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by Noble & Wood appeared first on Dezeen.