Hasta La Ideas

Faceted aluminium panels rise from the ground to form this pipe-shaped pavilion at the FRAC Centre in Orléans, France by architects Jakob + MacFarlane (+ slideshow).

Jakob + MacFarlane created the geometry of The Turbulences by extruding grids created across FRAC art centre‘s courtyard by the existing buildings in the public. The faceted surfaces form tubes topped with glass panels and entrances are inserted under raised parts of the undulations.

The new pavilion was designed as a reception area to funnel visitors towards the exhibitions housed in the main buildings. A tubular metal structure supports the secondary system of panels that cover the building.

Pre-fabricated concrete slabs clad the lower portion as a continuation of the courtyard surface. These are replaced by aluminium panels higher up, some of which are perforated and light up with LEDs at night.

More museum extensions on Dezeen include Zaha Hadid’s addition to the Messner Mountain Museum in the Dolomites and a new aquarium dedicated to codfish at the Ílhavo Maritime Museum in Portugal.

Photographs are by Nicolas Borel.

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The FRAC Centre sent us the following information:

Jakob + MacFarlane have brought to the fore an emerging dynamic form based on the parametric deformation and the extrusion of the grids of the existing buildings. As a strong architectural signal interacting with its context, this fluid, hybrid structure develop likes three glass and metal excrescences in the inner courtyard, in the very heart of the Subsistances.

The principle of emergence is extended to the immediate surroundings: the courtyard is treated like a public place, a topographical surface which forms the link between all the buildings and accommodate the Frac Centre programme. This surface goes hand in hand with the natural differences in level of the site towards the building’s entrance, reinforces the visual dynamics of the Turbulences and stretches away towards the city in a movement of organic expansion.

The destruction of a main building and the surrounding wall on Boulevard Rocheplatte has made it possible to greatly open up the new architectural complex to the city. Thanks to its new urban façade, the Frac Centre is connected to the cultural urban network of Orléans, and the inner courtyard has been turned into nothing less than a square. The new architectural presence has become the point of gravity of the Subsistances site, a new structure, and a new geometry. The architectural extension comes powerfully across through its prototypical dimension, which echoes the identity of the Frac Centre and its collection.

The glass and steel excrescences of the Turbulences house a public reception area and organize the flow of visitors towards the exhibition areas, situated in the existing main buildings.

The critical dimension of the work, conveyed by its structural complexity, is transcribed on all the project’s scales. The tubular metal structure, reinforced by a secondary structure supporting the exterior covering panels (aluminium panels, either solid or perforated) and the interior panels (made of wood), is formed by unusual and unique elements. The lower parts of the Turbulences are clad with prefabricated concrete panels, which provide the continuity of the building with the courtyard. The apparent disjunction between the two architectural orders is offset by the impression of emergence given by the Turbulences.

The light, prefabricated structure of the Turbulences has been entirely designed using digital tools. All the building trades involved worked on the basis of one and the same modelling file. The structures were subject to a trial assembly in the factory where the tubes were welded, before the permanent on-site assembly.

In this project, the at once conceptual and surgical approach to the urban fabric developed by Jakob + MacFarlane redefines the site in order to incorporate in it new points of equilibrium, “shifting” the architecture and offering contemporary art a dynamic and evolving image.

The architectural intervention, with its complex, facetted geometry, stands out against the symmetry and sobriety of the Subsistances site whose period structures and materials are left visible.

As “living” architecture permeable to urban ebbs and flows, the Turbulences – Frac Centre thus becomes the emblem of a place devoted to experimentation in all its forms, to the hybridization of disciplines, and to architectural changes occurring in the digital age.

The Jakob + MacFarlane extension, conceived like a graft on the existing buildings, introduces a principle of interaction with the urban environment activated by a “skin of light” on the Turbulences, designed by the artists’ duo Electronic Shadow (Niziha Mestaoui and Yacine Aït Kaci), the associate artist and joint winner of the competition.

Their proposal consists in covering a part of the Turbulences, giving onto the boulevard, with several hundred diodes, thus introducing a “media façade”, a dynamic interface between the building and the urban space. Using the construction lines of the Turbulences, the points of light become denser, passing from point to line, line to surface, surface to volume, and volume to image. This interactive skin of light, integrated in the building like a lattice-work moucharaby, will function in real time and develop a state of “resonance” with its environment, based on information coming, for example, from climatic data (daylight, wind, etc.) as well as animated image scenarios devised by the artists.

The building’s surface will thus be informed by flows of information, transcribing them as light-images. These luminous signs, the result of a computer programme, implement the merger of image and matter, turning The Turbulencess into “immaterial architecture”.

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at the FRAC Centre appeared first on Dezeen.

Footwear designer Liz Ciokajlo used natural fibres from coconut husks and flax to create this shoe collection (+ slideshow).

Liz Ciokajlo mixed fibrous materials with bio-resin to set each shoe in a continuous piece.

“In the women’s footwear world the materials are usually just leather or synthetics, so these other natural materials give a softer approach that is more feminine,” the designer said.

After experiments mixing a selection of fibres in various densities with bio-resin, she created firm but flexible materials to mould into shoes.

“By concentrating the fibres and adding binders, the properties and characteristics could change, producing both soft and hard material over one continuous surface,” said Ciokajlo.

Even though each design looks solid, the heels are hollow to reduce weight and allow air to flow up through holes in the insoles.

Wool felt lining protects the feet from the scratchy fibres used for the heels and uppers, and a couple of pairs are made entirely from this softer textile.

The felt was steamed and then moulded with gauze, a technique often used in millinery design. In some cases it was dyed to contrast with the muted colours of the natural materials.

Coconut husk mixed with latex was formed around a mould designed using computer software to create the heel and sides of one pair.

Shoes in hardened flax and sculpted hemp made in the same way also feature in the collection, along with leather elements.

We featured footwear with platform heels made from porcelain earlier this month and recently we ran a feature about shoes designed by architects such as Zaha Hadid and Oscar Niemeyer.

Photos are by Stephanie Potter Corwin.

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Here’s the information sent to us by the designer:

Liz Ciokajlo is a footwear designer based in London with a background in a combination of product, furniture design and fashion accessories.

This year she finished her Masters in Fashion Footwear at London College of Fashion being the recipient of the Jimmy Choo Dato Cordwainers Award and was one of ten accessory designers in the world chosen to be a finalist in the International Talent Support Competition 2013.

The collection, called Natural Selection, aimed to objectify the shoe. The project started with the examination of how 3D printing could alter footwear architecture and identify new design constructions.

Observations were made that whilst the potential of this new technology offers many benefits the materiality was limited. There seems to be a lack of natural materials used. This lead to the critical theory 3D print is the right process but maybe using the wrong materials?

So practical research was made into the use of non-wovens as a potential material arrangement which could be developed by specialists to drive the materials used in 3D print.

A collection of varied natural non-woven materials were selected and applied to a methodology in a masters educational context. By concentrating the fibres and adding binders, the properties and characteristics could change, producing both soft and hard material over one continuous surface.

Innovative materials used in the product and furniture industries were “borrowed” and applied to fashion footwear raising further challenges as to what materials are acceptable, in a trend lead fashion context. The design form was the element unifying the collection.

As the project progressed it became evident, synthetic biology will converge with 3D print to offer solutions to these issues. A designer’s understanding of trends and emotional qualities of materials make them key to drive the new technologies in fashion and science.

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by Liz Ciokajlo appeared first on Dezeen.

A dilapidated car showroom in north-west London has been transformed into this flexible workspace by Hackney designers the Decorators and community initiative Meanwhile Space (+ slideshow).

Meanwhile Space set up the communal office for creatives to hire. Cottrell House is located on the ground floor of a vacant building close to the stadium and arenas in Wembley.

“The design of the space responds to the context of Wembley, whose landscape is regularly transformed by the large scale events of Wembley stadium,” said designers The Decorators.

A central table in the shape of the nearby national stadium can be surrounded by blue curtains to create a private meeting room.

The unit also contains a cafe, a shared studio, eight fixed desks and hot-desking spaces, which are hired out to more than one occupant to use at different times.

Metal-framed desks backed with peg board can be wheeled outside and used as stalls so designers can flaunt their wares during an event at the stadium.

Black and white tiles randomly pattern the floor, while smaller ones cover the circular columns in a similar style.

The space was built by volunteers in exchange for free membership at the venue.

More unusual offices on Dezeen include one where walls are peeled back to reveal meeting rooms and a Stockholm branding and design agency with surfaces that resemble cardboard boxes.

Photos are by Dosfotos.

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The following information was sent to us by the designers:

Cottrell House is an enterprise space in Wembley set up by Meanwhile Space and initiated by Brent Council to support local start-up businesses and entrepreneurs with affordable workspace.

Cottrell House overlooks the fast paced, large scale development of Wembley City and is almost invisible amongst the shadows of it’s grand structures. In these shadows, meanwhile projects like Cottrell House are providing local alternatives to inaccessible and intangible large scale development.

For this project The Decorators worked with Meanwhile Space to convert the ground floor of a prominent, long term vacant, building on Wembley Hill Road.

This former retail unit was rearranged to provide a small cafe, one shared studio for rent, eight fixed desks for hire and hot-desking space, catering for different needs and budgets.

The space was built with volunteers from Meanwhile Space’s Coming Soon Club, who gave time to the project in exchange for free membership days at Cottrell House.

The design of the space responds to the context of Wembley, whose landscape is regularly transformed by the large scale events of Wembley stadium.

A central round table with the profile of the stadium was built to give room to the many other things Wembley has to offer beyond its football matches.

The self-contained desk units can be wheeled outside and reconfigured as market stalls to provide an opportunity for makers of Wembley to sell and promote their work.

The post Cottrell House by The Decorators
and Meanwhile Space appeared first on Dezeen.

Slender columns support a canopy that sweeps around the front of this family residence in Japan’s Tokushima prefecture by Japanese firm Horibe Associates (+ slideshow).

Horibe Associates raised the single-storey wooden House in Naruto off the ground on concrete foundations to protect it against flooding, a common issue in the neighbourhood.

“The clients requested a design that dealt with the problem, as well as providing security, privacy, good natural light and air circulation, and a space that their children could run around in,” said the architects.

Access to the chunky wooden front door is via steps around one side of the curved facade or a ramp from the other, both covered by the porch.

The entrance leads through to a combined kitchen, dining and living room at the west side of the property, while bedrooms are positioned to the east.

Full-height sliding windows lead from these zones into a rectangular outdoor space.

A single tree is planted in the middle of this central courtyard, which is decked with the same wooden slats that run throughout the house.

“[We] proposed locating a large courtyard in the centre of the house that would let in light and air without sacrificing privacy,” the architects added.

The low window on the north wall leads into a play area with softer tatami flooring so the children can access the room directly from outside.

Storage space and a bathroom are accessed by a narrow corridor that buffers the ancillary rooms from communal space and completes the loop around the house.

Horibe Associates founder Naoko Horibe has also designed a house with a protruding, timber-clad mezzanine.

Popular Japanese houses we’ve posted recently include a family home that’s only 2.7 metres wide and a white shed-like abode raised up on pilotis.

Photography is by Kaori Ichikawa.

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Drawings key:

1. Entrance
2. Shoe closet
3. Dining & Kitchen
4. Living room
5. Japanese-style room
6. Lavatory & Washroom

7. Room 1
8. Room 2
9. Free space
10. Room 3
11. Bathroom
12. Washroom

13. Walk-in closet
14. Courtyard
15. Approach
16. Car parking space

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Horibe Associates appeared first on Dezeen.

Product news: Japanese designer Taiji Fujimori has designed a miniature paper chair, armchair and sofa, one-fifth the size of standard furniture pieces (+ slideshow).

“Do not sit on this chair, but use it to accommodate other small items,” suggested Fujimori, showing the models used to support small items like keys, spectacles or ornaments.

The scaled-down furniture is made by folding and tucking a pre-cut sheet of paper together. It’s designed for use in the home or office and can be personalised by adding designs or messages to the paper.

The paper chair measures 240 millimetres in height and is 200 millimetres wide. The chair is available in four colours: white, grey, red and blue.

Fujimori’s 1/5 scaled paper furniture range also includes an armchair (240mm x 220mm) and a sofa (240mm x 305mm).

The chairs are produced and manufactured by Kami No Kousakujo.

Prior to founding his own practice four years ago, Fujimori worked for architectural planning studio Itsuko Hasegawa Atelier. He specialises in furniture design and has worked in collaboration with architects including the 2013 laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize Toyo Ito, and Japanese studio Torafu Architects.

Other paper projects that we have featured on Dezeen include Jule Waibel’s concertinaed handbag and pleated paper dress that expands with the movement of the body and Pepe Heykoop’s paper faceted vase covers.

Last month furniture giant Ikea launched a range of miniature furniture for dolls’ houses.

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Photography is by Taiji Fujimori.

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by Taiji Fujimori appeared first on Dezeen.