Workstead bolts together metal rods to form lighting for Another Country

Clerkenwell Design Week 2014: British design brand Another Country has collaborated with New York studio Workstead to produce a lighting collection formed from reconfigurable metal rods.

Workstead Lighting by Another Country
Bent Wall Lamp

“We aim to make furniture and accessories that are familiar and unpretentious and the simplicity of Workstead suits our aesthetic,” said Another Country founder Paul de Zwart.

Workstead Lighting by Another Country
Bent Wall Lamp

The collection comprises a range of chandeliers, wall and floor, table and pendant lamps.

Workstead Lighting by Another Country
Corner Lamp

Workstead created the lights largely to meet their own purposes, combining fixtures from old lamps to create new chandeliers.

Workstead Lighting by Another Country
Corner Lamp

“The collection came about very organically,” Workstead co-founder Stefanie Brechbuehler told Dezeen. “Robert, my husband and business partner, loves and collects old light fixtures and has always tinkered with them. The tinkering led to creating a fixture for our own needs, the Industrial Chandelier.”

Workstead Lighting by Another Country
Industrial Chandelier

The Industrial Chandelier is formed from a series of perpendicular steel rods with bulbs on the ends, which are connected with screw clasps. These can be unscrewed to rearrange the elements into different forms.

Workstead Lighting by Another Country
Industrial Chandelier

“One of the main focuses of our lighting is its ability to transform,” said Brechbuehler. “It can be configured in many ways to better fit the needs of the user or to be more site specific.”

Workstead Lighting by Another Country
Industrial Chandelier

A version of the chandelier with bent arms and cast-iron articulated joints also features in the collection.

Workstead Lighting by Another Country
Wall Lamp

The Brass Pendant is comprised of a disk that can rotate 360 degrees on the end of a thin vertical rod.

Workstead Lighting by Another Country
Wall Lamp

Mounted on two adjoining walls in the corner of a room, a bent steel element provides an armature for a cantilevered arm to create the Corner Lamp.

Workstead Lighting by Another Country
Floor Lamp

A crane-like profile defines the Floor Lamp, which has an adjustable arm and an elliptical shade covering the bulb. It is held steady by a heavy cast-iron base.

Workstead Lighting by Another Country
Floor Lamp

The Shaded table and floor lamps are held up on two vertical stems that can be moved up and down to adjust the height. Each features the same cylindrical-shaped fabric shade.

Workstead Lighting by Another Country
Shaded Floor Lamp

A pendant version of this design is also available and can be used to illuminate areas off-centre from its ceiling rose.

Workstead Lighting by Another Country
Shaded Pendant Lamp

Workstead’s collection was on show alongside pieces by Another Country at the Design Factory exhibition in the Farmiloe Building during London’s Clerkenwell Design Week, which concluded yesterday.

Workstead Lighting by Another Country
Shaded Pendant Lamp

Another Country recently opened a showroom in London’s Marylebone district, dedicated to displaying the brand’s products.

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“Growing a city from the bottom up” could save the human race

Dezeen and MINI Frontiers: developing “living architecture” could help humanity survive, claims senior University of Greenwich lecturer Rachel Armstrong, who is investigating how we could grow a city in space.

Visualisation of living architecture by Dan Tassell
Visualisation of living architecture by Dan Tassell

“The world in which our cities are situated is lively,” says Armstrong. “A living city could confer survival strategies and some form of adaptation to our buildings.”

Living buildings could “absorb pollutants and carbon dioxide,” she claims, and even offer better protection against natural disasters.

“In an age when we’re faced with repeated flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes, I think that to design for instability is a really powerful thing.”

Illustration of what the starship Persephone might look like by Phil Watson & Jon Morris
Illustration of what the starship Persephone might look like by Phil Watson & Jon Morris

Armstrong, who is also a senior TED fellow and founder of research group Black Sky Thinking, is currently investigating how we would grow cities from soils as part of a project called Persephone. Led by the Icarus Interstellar foundation, the ambition of the project is to achieve interstellar space travel by the year 2100.

Illustration of what the starship Persephone might look like
Illustration of what the starship Persephone might look like

“Persephone is the design and engineering of the living interior of a starship,” Armstrong explains. “This is a world ship. It contains human inhabitants and therefore the interior of this space needs to support these peoples for the duration of their journey, and that could be hundreds, potentially thousands of years.”

Visualisation of synthetic soil on the starship Pershephone
Visualisation of synthetic soil on the starship Pershephone

She continues: “The architectures within this space will be grown from the bottom up, using the soils. The soils themselves will not be made inert like they are on earth – like bricks. In Persephone the culture would be to keep the liveliness of everything. So we will be extruding structures from soils. In some ways I can think of them being like the caves in Cappadocia in Turkey.”

Cappadocia caves, Turkey
Cappadocia caves, Turkey

While Armstrong admits the realisation of such a “world ship” is far off, she believes research into biological buildings and construction methods is important for life on earth.

“This might seem quite esoteric and ‘out there’,” she says. “But Persephone is essential for us because it asks us questions about what survivability and sustainability is on our planet right now.”

Rachel Armstrong
Rachel Armstrong

The music featured in the movie is a track called Everything Everywhere Once Was by UK producer 800xL. You can listen to more original music on Dezeen Music Project.

The movie features additional footage from Dan Tassell’s The Battersea Experiment.

Dezeen and MINI Frontiers is a year-long collaboration with MINI exploring how design and technology are coming together to shape the future.

Dezeen and MINI Frontiers

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Panovscott creates Sydney extension with alternating timber and glass facade

Three by Two House by Panovscott

Alternating cubes of timber and glass cover the back of this Sydney house extension by Australian office Panovscott, offering a balance of light, shade, views and privacy.

Three by Two House by Panovscott

Three by Two house was designed by Panovscott for a couple with two young children, who wanted to transform their dark semi-detached Victorian house in an inner-Sydney suburb.

Three by Two House by Panovscott

“Their second child was due shortly when they approached us, so they wanted light, air, a place for the family to commune, and they wanted a great building,” architect Andrew Scott told Dezeen.

Three by Two House by Panovscott

The two-storey extension gives them a new kitchen on the ground floor, which opens on to the garden. Above, a bedroom and en-suite for the parents is set back slightly from the back wall to create a six-metre-tall double-height space at the rear.

Three by Two House by Panovscott

“By pulling the bedroom back, the kitchen-diner below opens up to the light at the edge of the house,” said Scott. “The void also allows the parents to be part of the life of the house when they are in the bedroom, while still giving them privacy. In a constrained fiscal and spatial environment, sometimes an exuberant gesture is crucial.”

Three by Two House by Panovscott

The western red cedar and glass sections on the rear facade act like blinkers, framing views of treetops while shielding the family from being overlooked. On the ground floor, glass doors and a timber panel fold back to open the house up to the garden.

Three by Two House by Panovscott

Inside, a wall of the kitchen-diner has been covered with floor-to-ceiling cabinets made from kauri pine – a sustainable locally sourced plywood. For the flooring, a structural concrete slab has been polished to expose the aggregate, and then sealed.

Three by Two House by Panovscott

“This room is conceived as a ‘great room’, based on the example of a medieval castle, in which a large space accommodated multiple uses at the centre, and more specific spatially constrained opportunities at the edge,” said Scott.

Three by Two House by Panovscott

The extension offers a bright contrast to the front of the long, narrow house, which is just over four metres wide and  attracts scant light throughout the day.

Three by Two House by Panovscott

A long corridor leads from this existing part of the house to the extension at the back. The entrance to the new space is tilted, intended to offer a glimpse of the light on approach but saving the full impact of the large space as a surprise.

Three by Two House by Panovscott

An indentation where the extension meets the existing house also allows for a small courtyard, which ensures light comes deeper into the narrow space.

Three by Two House by Panovscott

Photography is by Brett Boardman.

Here is some more text from Panovscott:


 Three by Two House, Sydney, Australia

This project is the renovation of a house, one of two semi-detached single storey dwellings located in Sydney’s densely inhabited inner west. Broadly speaking it is about the making of a new whole by retention of one half of a structure and reconfiguration of the other.

The environ is an increasingly gentrified subdivision originating around 1880 and characterised by predominantly narrow east-west orientated housing parcels fronting a large public park.

Three by Two House by Panovscott
Ground floor plan – click for larger image

Approach to the house remains via the formal front garden up three generous steps and on to a narrow porch below a low curved corrugated roof. Within, the front rooms have been retained with minimal intervention allowing the continued manner of dwelling.

A long hall leads past two bedrooms. The high ceilings, small windows and wonderfully lean vertical timber construction establish the character typical of a Sydney terrace. Cool in both summer and winter and dark even on the brightest of days, these spaces offer the initial experience of homecoming and become a counterpoint for the character of the rear addition.

Three by Two House by Panovscott
First floor plan – click for larger image

At the end of the existing hall a small opening twists to the sky bringing gentle light though the upper level and into the centre of the long plan. The light washes down a 45-degree splayed plywood panel. Visible from the dark front rooms and immediately upon entry, it announces the differing quality of the spaces ahead. Moving towards this quiet light, the thin sliver of a brighter room beyond gradually widens with the shifting perspective. Shunted off the previous axial alignment, and past a discreet bathroom, the great communal room of the house is revealed. Light filled, this is a combined kitchen and dining space of slightly smaller area than the lean-to it replaces. Here the elegant vertical proportions and lean timber construction techniques of the front part of the house are reinterpreted.

Three by Two House by Panovscott
Elevation – click for larger image

Continuing the homecoming journey the room increases to six metres in height reaching upwards at its far end. The number and size of windows also increase gradually to this point allowing the internal space to expand horizontally as well as vertically and for the light levels to approach that of the external environment. Turning 180 degrees and up a narrow stair concealed behind a ply lined wall, the level above contains a master bedroom and en-suite, with a tiny window looking back across the roof to the park. This moment completes the journey within to the most private realm of the house.

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alternating timber and glass facade
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Photography studio by Input Creative Studio features a turquoise playhouse

Input Creative Studio has created a New York studio for a children’s portrait photographer with a turquoise playhouse hollowed out of one wall (+ slideshow).

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New York-based Input Creative Studio designed a neutral space for Studio Eight Photos, then made a couple of playful additions that keep children entertained both in between and during shoots.

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A custom-made playhouse area is integrated into one wall, while a full-height blackboard becomes a giant drawing surface.

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“Thinking back to our childhood memories, the idea of using wooden toys as our inspiration surfaced. The simplicity, warmth and nostalgia of the toys in addition with clever engineering gave us the idea to develop a playhouse, called Toto,” the designers told Dezeen.

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“The playhouse not only entices the children but also provides them with entertainment; taking them out of the digital world back to analogue as they engage with the space by pushing the chalkboard door and playing in the house,” they said.

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The blackboard doubles up as the sliding door for a cupboard, while the rest of the wall integrates a desk space and a line of wooden cabinets, allowing the client to stow away his camera equipment.

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The rear wall accommodates several colourful backdrops for shoots, while an orange sofa provides a seating area for parents.

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Photography is by Efi Panagoula of Studio Eight Photos.

Here is some more information from the designer:


Studio Eight Photo by Input Creative Studio

Studio Eight Photos’ design is composed of modular and graphic elements in a clean and neutral palette.

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Bold black lines outline the space’s vast storage units that have been designed to accommodate a plethora of photography equipment. A modular lounge can be configured in a variety of ways, providing easy staging for different shoots. The studio’s layout is a blank canvas that can be easily transformed, providing an ideal and diverse backdrop.

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Scale model

Since Studio Eight focuses on artist children’s portraits, a custom playhouse has been integrated into the design providing both an ideal backdrop for shoots and entertainment for the kids. Flexible, elegant and fun; the overall design is sophisticated yet playful.

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features a turquoise playhouse
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OODA completes modern apartment renovation behind tiled facade in Porto

Behind the traditional ceramic-tiled facade of this nineteenth-century building, Portuguese studio OODA has completed a modern renovation to create 14 studio flats (+ slideshow).

DM2 Housing in Porto by OODA

The building in Porto dates from 1895 and was originally designed as a home, but was turned into an office and service building in the late 20th century. It lost many of its original features in the process, including wood flooring – now concrete – and a skylight above the stairwell.

DM2 Housing in Porto by OODA

It has now been converted back into a residential building by OODA with 14 studio flats and three one- or two-bedroom apartments. The apartments range from 28 square metres to 105 square metres, and are aimed at young people and students.

DM2 Housing in Porto by OODA

An automatic pivoting door provides access for cars from the street to the DM2 Building, and OODA clad it in stone to camouflage it among the building’s exterior when the door is closed.

DM2 Housing in Porto by OODA

“The client’s objective – which drove the intervention – was to cater for the younger market as the building is near universities, hospitals, the art district and the nightlife area,” architect Diogo Brito told Dezeen.

DM2 Housing in Porto by OODA

The apartments all feature contemporary details such as folded metal staircases and built-in storage, and mezzanine levels for sleep or work areas to maximise the small footprint of some of the apartments.

DM2 Housing in Porto by OODA

Black floor-to-ceiling cabinets help to differentiate the kitchen as a separate area in the open-plan apartments, and also helps to visually recede them in the room.

DM2 Housing in Porto by OODA

The communal corridors are covered in oriented strand board (OSB), which the architects chose partly for its affordability, and to add warmth to the building’s interior.

DM2 Housing in Porto by OODA

“We used it because it is a cheap material, and we thought it would be an interesting and warmer contrast to materials such as glass, concrete and light,” said Brito.

DM2 Housing in Porto by OODA

At the back, a patio designed for parking has been landscaped using grass and paving with the same triangular pattern found in the ceramic Azulejo tiles at the front.

DM2 Housing in Porto by OODA

“In Portugal it is quite common and traditional to use tiles in facades,” said Brito. “Our idea was to make this part of the conceptual process, using its configuration to generate other new features of the building.”

DM2 Housing in Porto by OODA

Beneath the patio, a separate, sunken apartment has been built for the client’s son, with a small, private courtyard at its front. A rectangular concrete structure protrudes through the front window, and is designed to serve a range of purposes.

DM2 Housing in Porto by OODA

“The client’s first idea was to place a mini-bar there, which then shifted to storage, and then to a place for TV and music devices,” said Brito.

DM2 Housing in Porto by OODA

The renovation is part of a wider regeneration taking place in Porto at the moment, which saw construction projects drop significantly following the global financial crisis.

DM2 Housing in Porto by OODA

“The recovery of abandoned buildings has become the new major task for the market,” said Brito. “It’s a process that is now in full throttle, but there is still a lot to be done. This building is one of many that our office is doing.”

DM2 Housing in Porto by OODA

OODA was co-founded by Brito, who previously worked as an architect at Zaha Hadid, and Rodrigo Vilas-Boas, who has worked with both OMA in Rotterdam and Álvaro Leite Siza in Porto.

Photography is by João Morgado.

Here is some more text from OODA:


DM2 Housing, Porto, Portugal

One of the most demanding tasks in Porto nowadays is the intervention on the major amount of old and historical buildings of Porto’s downtown. This project is a renovation of a 20th century building to convert to a 17 housing unit for students and young people in general.

DM2 Housing in Porto by OODA

The DM2 Building, located in downtown Porto (priority intervention zone), in the area of protection of the National Museum Soares dos Reis, is dating the nineteenth century and their original composition the property was intended for a single dwelling taking ornamental and construction of the whole characteristics of the buildings at the time, both in functional layout as an ornamental and aesthetic.

DM2 Housing in Porto by OODA

However, a later change occurred in the late twentieth century, the building has undergone a profound change taking place inside caused by the modification of use required.

DM2 Housing in Porto by OODA

The property became divided by several independent floors with features framed in services and trade and lower floors have been completely redesigned and trace assets were hidden in part and/or removed from the particular frames original, wood structure of the floors (now concrete) and traditional skylight at top of stairs. Indeed, the draft D.Manuel intended to rebuild the property, returning the initial function of integral housing, recovering traces of hidden identity, reinterpreting traditional elements and giving the building a new sense of contemporary housing program with a set of typologies ace current market needs.

DM2 Housing in Porto by OODA

So Manuel II building as a whole distributes 17 apartments T0 and T1 types, ranging in size between 28sqm and 105sqm, spread over 5 floors and are accompanied by a landscaped patio intended for parking.

DM2 Housing in Porto by OODA

The rehabilitation now completed, restores the original residential function, underlines the unique formal and constructive characteristics and adapt to a contemporary urban reality of the city of Oporto.

DM2 Housing in Porto by OODA
Floor plan – click for larger image

Size: 1,100 SQM
Team: Diogo Brito, Rodrigo Vilas-Boas, Francisco Lencastre, Francisca Santos, Lourenco Menezes Rodrigues

DM2 Housing in Porto by OODA
Section – click for larger image

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behind tiled facade in Porto
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Maarten Baas’s surreal solo show created to “emphasise the circus that Milan is”

Milan 2014: Dutch designer Maarten Baas‘s circus-themed show at Milan design week, featuring a welded metal gum ball machine and modified arcade game, was created to “emphasise the circus that Milan is” (+ slideshow + interview).

Maarten Baas solo show Milan 2014

Baas‘s show was installed in an empty garage in the new 5 VIE design district during the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, which took place from 8 to 13 April.

Maarten Baas solo show Milan 2014

Visitors followed a red carpet that led them through a presentation with fairground music and surreal objects created specifically for the event, as well as some of the designer’s latest work for clients and galleries.

Maarten Baas solo show Milan 2014

“The starting point was to emphasise the circus that Milan is,” Baas told Dezeen, adding that the event has become more about presenting photogenic objects for promotional purposes than retail-ready products.

Maarten Baas solo show Milan 2014

“It hardly makes sense to develop a piece from A to Z and then present it in Milan because in the end it’s nothing more than a snapshot for sharing on Facebook, and the product is never sold even though it’s widely published,” he said.

Maarten Baas solo show Milan 2014

Baas and his team spent three weeks in Milan producing pieces for the exhibition, many of which were deliberately fabricated to look good in photographs, but were, in fact, very roughly finished.

Maarten Baas solo show Milan 2014

These pieces included a chair with a randomly shaped seat upholstered in a red fabric that was held together at the back with sticky tape.

Maarten Baas solo show Milan 2014

To enhance the idea of creative freedom and that “everything was possible”, Baas exhibited new limited edition works for London and Paris gallery Carpenters Workshop Gallery alongside pieces made from polystyrene that were thrown out after the fair.

Maarten Baas solo show Milan 2014

To tie in with the circus theme, Baas replaced the playful seats of rocking rides commonly found at fairgrounds or shopping malls with a range of adulterated alternatives including a welded metal box, an upholstered four-legged creature and a foil-covered blob embellished with coloured lights.

Maarten Baas solo show Milan 2014

Inside two booths built against the walls of the exhibition space, actors dressed as clowns sat surrounded by everyday paraphernalia, representing Baas’s recent collaborations with Dutch theatre group De Kwekerij.

Maarten Baas solo show Milan 2014

A gumball machine in Baas’s cartoon-like style dispensed oversized pills instead of sweets, while chairs and lamp shades were presented on a carousel with a stripy tree at its centre.

Maarten Baas solo show Milan 2014

Summarising his thoughts on the overwhelming volume of products launched by design brands in Milan and the reason for his own avant-garde presentation, Baas said: “for the visitor [to Milan], your whole critical system is kind of wobbling in the end – you kind of swallow everything and that’s what I wanted to break open.”

Maarten Baas solo show Milan 2014

The exhibition was coproduced by Ventura Projects, the organisation behind the Ventura Lambrate design district. It was presented alongside a separate show dedicated to the work of designers and companies with whom Baas collaborates, including Den Herder Production, Bertjan Pot and Nightshop.

Maarten Baas solo show Milan 2014

Photography is by Kazoe van den Dobbelsteen.

Here’s an edited version of Dezeen’s interview with Maarten Baas:


Marcus Fairs: Tell us about the show you’ve set up in Milan.

Maarten Baas: In the Circus there’s a lot that reflects my ideas. The starting point was to emphasise the circus that Milan is and also that things are very much about showing nice pictures. It hardly makes sense to develop a piece from A to Z and then present it in Milan because in the end it’s nothing more than a snapshot to share on Facebook or whatever. And then the product is never sold, even though it’s widely published. So I think it’s not needed to develop the product totally. So I made a lot of improvised pieces that look good from one side and are taped together from the back side in order to anticipate that way or working.

Maarten Baas solo show Milan 2014

That’s one thing and another thing that was important was that it was so crazy, I wanted to get rid of all the critical voices in your head saying “This is not done!” “You cannot do this!” All the things that in the creative process are blocking your creativity. I threw it all out, all the ideas, I put bronze next to polystyrene pieces, very expensive €40,000 pieces next to things that we are going to throw in the garbage after the fair. We cut a Bambi in half and made a trophy out of it, we made a rocket going through the sky, everything was possible and I wanted to explode all those ideas.

Maarten Baas solo show Milan 2014

Also for the visitor, your whole critical system is wobbling in the end. You kind of swallow everything. That’s what I want to break open.

Maarten Baas solo show Milan 2014

Marcus Fairs: Describe the show for people who haven’t seen it.

Maarten Baas: We’re here close to the Duomo, five minutes walk from the Duomo. I always like to be not in the popular zones. This is a new zone called 5VIE and it’s a kind of garage. Since I’ve put a circus in it you could say it’s a circus tent. It’s an open space where I put all my pieces around a red catwalk carpet. You walk in one direction and go around all the pieces in a certain order and then you go out having seen the entertaining show.

Maarten Baas solo show Milan 2014

Marcus Fairs: You have some kiosks with actors dressed as clowns in them.

Maarten Baas: I collaborated a lot this year with other artists, other designers but also theatre people. Also last year I designed a set for a theatre play in Holland. I see design in the widest sense of the word as anything that is creative in whatever way and where the creativity becomes reality or hits the market. I want to use design as a platform where everything like that can happen. So theatre and music and all kinds of things that are somehow connected.

Maarten Baas solo show Milan 2014

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“emphasise the circus that Milan is”
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BMW unveils Vision Future Luxury car with augmented reality display

German car manufacturer BMW has unveiled Vision Future Luxury, a saloon concept car featuring augmented display technology (+ slideshow).

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The Vision Future Luxury concept comprises the latest iteration of BMW‘s Vision Head Up Display, which augments the driver’s view of the world by projecting real-time information including speed limits and road signs onto the windscreen directly in the line of sight.

Sensors located on the exterior of the car collect environmental data, which is deciphered and transferred to a light source located inside the instrument panel. Light shining through a translucent thin-film transistor (TFT) projects the relevant data on to the windscreen via specially shaped mirrors and allows the driver to view information without having to look away from the road.

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“Innovative technology and modern luxury have always been an important part of BMW’s brand DNA,” explained Adrian van Hooydonk, Senior Vice President of BMW Group Design at a preview of Vision Future Luxury in Munich. “Connectivity in a luxury vehicle has to be seamless and so well integrated that it doesn’t deter from the driving that you want to do, it actually enhances it.”

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The rear lighting is provided by organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) for the first time on a BMW, an efficient light source consisting of wafer-thin semi-conductive layers of organic material that can be cut into any shape to allow for a variety of patterned lighting designs.

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The luminescent layer is a film of carbon compound, which emits light in response to an electrical current. Each light-emitting polymer layer is roughly 400 nanometres thick, which is approximately 400 times thinner than a human hair.

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Car designers have previously relied on reflectors to enable the light produced by LEDs to be seen from different angles, but OLEDs do not need reflectors, allowing designers to create less bulky and more unusual shapes. OLEDs also require less power to operate.

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The roofline and sloping boot lid on the car have been designed to reduce drag, while carbon fibre openings positioned at the front and rear of the car help to channel airflow more efficiently.

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“Aerodynamics and lightweight materials are key elements of this car’s design,” explained Karim Habib, head of BMW design. “Visible carbon fibre on the exterior of a luxury car is something we believe BMW needs to do.”

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Carbon fibre, as a lightweight and strong composite, also allows for a minimised central B-pillar – the join between the front passenger and rear passenger doors. This allows the doors to use different hinge points to a standard car door.

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The doors open to reveal a layered interior with wood, leather and aluminium finishings on top of a carbon fibre base.

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“Lightweight construction is not going to go away,” says Adrian van Hooydonk. “All of our cars will have to get lighter and that means as a design team we are dealing with different types of materials, which can lead to different types of aesthetic.”

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Front passengers are equipped with a personal information display, which is connected to the driver display via a touch-sensitive panel. Rear passengers also have access to two displays mounted in the headrests of the seats in front and a detachable tablet between the individual seats. All three can be used to exchange information with the front passengers using swiping movements.

Embedded user interface components from which internet-based video and music streaming can be accessed also feature.

Read on for BMW’s press release:


Heralding a new approach – the design.

“The design of the BMW Vision Future Luxury is the messenger of our philosophy of modern luxury, one in which innovative technologies play a key and vital role. These innovations deliver a new, multifaceted luxury experience that spans intelligent lightweight engineering, innovative interior design and a radically new user interface design,” says Karim Habib, Head of BMW Design, summing up the design approach to the BMW Vision Future Luxury.

This approach is particularly tangible in the interior. Throughout, the design expresses both form and function of the innovative technologies. For example, the intelligent lightweight engineering concept of the BMW Vision Future Luxury is expressed in the design principle of subtractive modelling. That is to say, the specific geometry and functions of an individual component are created from one and the same layered composite structure, comprising many different levels and materials. An initial base layer of fine carbon fabric is followed by a functional level featuring user interface components, control and display interfaces and lighting functions, which in turn is followed by a further structural, load-bearing layer of aluminium for additional strength.

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Finally, the top layers comprise wood, then leather, to create a warm and comfortable ambience. In a given area of the interior, the multi-layer structure is “milled down” to the appropriate depth depending on what surface material and what function is required. Since the interior geometry is therefore always pared down to essentials, this cuts total weight substantially. This treatment also makes for virtually seamless transitions and very elegant, fluid surfaces.

The unrivalled characteristics of carbon as a material – both individually and in combination with its surrounding materials – are optimally utilised in this rigorous lightweight design concept. The carbon underlying layer is visible in the doors, under the seats and especially in the innovative, pared-down B-pillar. A full B- pillar as used in the past is dispensed with. The carbon construction allows the seat frames to be integrated into the load-bearing structure. There are also connections to the door sills and centre console, which means only a very small and unobtrusive B-pillar is required. The BMW Vision Future Luxury’s wide- opening coach doors would not have been possible without this new carbon B- pillar solution.

New-style user interface design and exclusive
BMW ConnectedDrive services.

In the driver’s and front passenger’s area, precisely defined lines and surfaces create a sense of exclusive dynamism. The design of the instrument panel closely complements the design of the displays themselves. The driver is surrounded by a wrap-around cluster of three intermeshing displays, creating the typical BMW driver-centric cockpit. The three-dimensional display technology means that at the visual level the instrument panel styling appears to carry over into the displays themselves. In other words, to the eye the interior space seems to continue into the solid structures of the instrument panel, generating an impression of unprecedented depth and spaciousness.

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The left-hand display mainly presents vehicle-related information, while in the centre a programmable cluster displays speedometer, rev counter and other information, as well as context-adaptive supplementary data, which is displayed as and when relevant. Meanwhile, the right-hand display – the Driver Information Display – provides additional infotainment information. The driver also has the option of controlling all these functions by voice command.

BMW Vision Head Up Display.

The primary driver display, however, is the “contact-analogue” BMW Vision Head Up Display. This display augments the driver’s view of the real world by projecting information directly in the driver’s line of sight onto the road. Buildings, traffic signs or hazards can be highlighted directly in the real-world environment, selectively directing the driver’s attention to specific information which is particularly important at any given time. This technology gives a new dimension to driver assistance functions such as Speed Limit Info, where road signs can be identified and highlighted in the driver’s field of view, or the Traffic Light Assistant, which provides real-time information about traffic light phasing.

In place of a central shared information display for driver and front passenger, the BMW Vision Future Luxury offers front passengers their own Passenger Information Display. This display is connected to the Driver Information Display via a touch-sensitive panel, where information can be exchanged between driver and front passenger using swiping movements. Applications like booking opera tickets online direct from the vehicle via the BMW ConnectedDrive Luxury Concierge service can be displayed in the Passenger Information Display, where they don’t risk distracting the driver. The relevant functions can be conveniently controlled by the front passenger using the iDrive Controller with touch-sensitive interface.

Rear Seat Touch Command Tablet.

In the back, two Rear Seat Displays set into carbon surrounds, and a detachable Rear Seat Touch Command Tablet, put the finishing touch to the integrated user interface concept of the BMW Vision Future Luxury. These displays can communicate with the front displays and also with the BMW ConnectedDrive services. Everything from trip-related information like speed and journey time to information relating to the Luxury Concierge Services can be displayed here in simple and customised form.

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It is also possible to use online entertainment content like internet-based video and music streaming as well as gaming. All content and functions can be controlled from the rear seats using the detachable Rear Seat Touch Command Tablet in the centre console.

Personal space at the rear.

For the occupants of the rear seats, the BMW Vision Future Luxury offers a luxurious haven of personal space. Two large, deeply contoured single seats add to the appeal, inviting passengers to retire into their own personal “comfort zone”. A retractable table, the angled Rear Seat Displays and the rigid backs of the front seats create a very private ambience, sectioning this area off from the rest of the interior. The sense of privacy is accentuated by modern, flowing geometry and the use of select materials, with lavish wood surfaces extending from the rear parcel shelf to enfold the rear seat occupants in a cosseting three- dimensional space.

Strategically placed lighting slats integrated into the wood echo the surrounding styling and, with their warm glow, accentuate the modern and cosy ambience. Finest-quality aniline leather in Batavia brown and a lighter Silk shade, Silk nubuk leather and the warm brown, layered lime wood all have a natural aura which offers unique visual appeal and quality. The division between darker materials in the upper areas and light materials in the lower areas creates a feeling of warmth and a luxurious sense of space. A deep-pile pure silk carpet rounds off the exclusive array of materials in the interior of the BMW Vision Future Luxury.

Exclusiveness and elegance – the exterior design.

In side view, perfect proportions – precise, uncluttered and elegant – convey the exclusiveness of the BMW Vision Future Luxury. The long wheelbase, short overhangs and low, set-back greenhouse lend the stretched silhouette a refined dynamism. In hallmark BMW style, a finely sculpted contour line creates a taut arc along the side of the vehicle, and the opulent surfaces underneath this line have, as always on a BMW, been shaped by seasoned modellers. This hand- sculpted design gives the surfaces a special emotional appeal that would be beyond the capabilities of a computer.

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The effect is further enhanced by the Liquid Platinum Bronze exterior paintwork, which generates a warm, shimmering effect. An exclusive flourish at the side of the vehicle is the side mirror, which appears to grow organically out of the chrome window trim. Designed as a visual continuation of the chrome trim, its slender stalk is attached to the mirror from below, giving it a graceful and effortless appearance, almost as if it were hovering in mid-air.

BMW EfficientDynamics: honed aerodynamics and intelligent lightweight engineering.

The exterior design perfectly showcases the advanced aerodynamics and innovative lightweight engineering of the BMW Vision Future Luxury. The coupé- style roofline and sloping boot lid, for example, significantly reduce drag. Underlying the tautly sculpted exterior surfaces, equally refined solutions provide optimal channelling of the airflow. They include the Air Breather system at the rear of the front wheel arch, a C-pillar with internal air channelling, and openings in the rear apron which vent air from the wheel arches. An elegant carbon strip in the door sill area alludes discreetly to the innovative lightweight engineering concept based on aluminium and carbon. Both these lightweight materials are used in the vehicle in exactly the right places to achieve maximum effect – both individually and in tandem.

BMW Laserlight at the front.

Clean and simple in design, the traditional iconic BMW front-end design cues – the twin kidney grille and twin headlights – instantly proclaim the brand identity of the BMW Vision Future Luxury. The lean contours of the headlights also hint at the innovative technology sheltering behind them: BMW Laserlight. This new technology not only paves the way for a very flat and dynamic interpretation of the typical BMW twin round headlamps, it also sets completely new standards in terms of brightness, range and intensity. The concentrated, parallel light beam is up to ten times more intense than that of an LED system. The reduced energy consumption and packaging requirements of laser lights make this technology a prime candidate for use in future vehicles.

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Underneath the headlights, the assertive multi-material front apron accentuates the elegant front-end styling. At the outboard ends of the apron, graceful carbon air deflectors conceal a range of BMW EfficientDynamics aerodynamics features. The thin-walled air deflectors are made of carbon, a further reminder of the intelligent lightweight engineering concept of the BMW Vision Future Luxury. A slender chrome strip on the air deflectors highlights the airflow system.

OLED lighting at the rear.

The horizontal lines of the side profile glide gently away at the rear in a final expansive flourish. As at the front, the body styling in this area is deliberately understated, allowing the innovative, narrow and slender lights to make a powerful statement. For the first time on a BMW the rear lighting is provided by organic LEDs, paving the way for a completely new treatment of the typical BMW L-shaped lights. The BMW Vision Future Luxury’s L-shaped rear lights comprise a large number of small, likewise L-shaped OLEDs.

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An organic LED consists of wafer-thin organic semiconductor layers positioned between two electrodes. The light-emitting polymer layer is only approx. 400 nanometres thick, making it roughly 400 times thinner than a human hair. Organic LEDs are not only extremely thin, as well as flexible, they also produce very uniform illumination over their entire surface. Due to their very thin dimensions, and since they do not require reflectors in order to produce the desired broad light dispersion, they open up completely new ways of using light in and around the vehicle.

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“Taste is not what a museum is about”

Marcel Wanders Pinned Up at the Stedelijk_opinion_dezeen_1

Opinion: in choosing to stage a major exhibition of work by Marcel Wanders, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam has mistaken commercial success for cultural importance, says Louise Schouwenberg.


Pinned Up, the Marcel Wanders retrospective exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (SMA), elicits all clichés on design as a shallow field of expertise: devoid of deeper meanings, focussed on styling and the production of gadgets and kitsch items.

The presentation, which will last until mid-June 2014, contains plenty of gold and baroque decorations, a host of glamorous everyday items as well as objects devoid of practical use, blown up to enormous proportions. The opening event was a visual spectacle that closely resembled a millionaire’s fair, where the luxury items and pedestaled pieces of furniture were displayed in a nightclub ambiance with women of flesh and blood serving as lamp posts. For those who failed to grasp the significance of all this, snippets of seemingly philosophical insights on the walls tried to offer answers.

Why a prestigious art institute like the SMA chose to stage an exhibition that appears to serve the marketing strategy of a design brand, which is known for its commercial success but not for its cultural importance, is puzzling. Good reasons are needed to lift designs out of their natural, functional habitats, and expose them to a museum audience that searches for cultural value.

Those reasons can be found in many exemplary design exhibitions, which evidence the wider scope of design. To name a few, designer Martino Gamper recently guest-curated Design is a State of Mind for the Serpentine Gallery in London, presenting a wide variety of products in such a way that not only the underlying inspirations but also their inherent narrative meanings come to the fore.

Retrospective exhibitions that focus on a single designer’s oeuvre can likewise offer evidence of a larger significance, such as the recently opened exhibition Panorama in the Vitra Design Museum, in Weil am Rhein, which presents the work of Konstantin Grcic. Apart from the inherent value of the industrial objects themselves, the special scenography and composition cast new light on reality and offer visionary views on the future of living and working conditions, as new communication technologies will drastically change the notions of public and private spaces.

The flamboyant Wanders possesses a business instinct, some very strong marketing qualities and a flair for the sweeping gesture, which have brought him many lucrative commissions worldwide, helped him establish a solid business empire and turn his name into a highly successful brand. For these accomplishments the designer naturally deserves praise. The latest instalment in his series of successes – the much-coveted recognition from the cultural elite and serious media – has been well prepared and staged by Wanders. He has, for instance, been supporting the SMA with substantial donations since 2012.

But do his designs really mean so much to the world that they merit a retrospective at a cultural institute? Some of Wanders’ products may be comfortable and an incidental early design (Knotted Chair) at the time of its conception indicated an innovative take on technology. But he can hardly be called a pioneer who has offered new perspectives on the world of everyday functional objects or new views on the future of design. He’s not known for a critical take on the design profession, a sustainable approach, nor does he belong to the group of designers who are opening up new horizons by instigating multi-disciplinary collaborations. So does the strength of his work lie in breaking down the boundaries between visual art and design? What views on art do his items reveal? What views on design?

Obviously the glamorous products on display in Pinned Up can be viewed as witnesses to the taste of the nouveau riche of our times. What about the oversized items, devoid of practical use value. Should they be considered autonomous artworks?

For the sake of argument, one may compare Wanders’ exhibition with the show Ushering in Banality, which took place in 1988 at the very same SMA, headed by director Wim Beeren at the time. Artist Jeff Koons presented a number of dramatically magnified replicas of decorative porcelain figurines, which led to some heated and interesting debate within the art world. Pretty soon, however, indignation turned to admiration. Koons had had the genius to raise, within the context of a museum, some highly topical questions about the relationship between art and commercial objects, a novelty in those days.

Twenty five years on, Wanders has also blown-up trivial objects to huge proportions, and placed them on pedestals in an attempt to raise their stature to that of visual art. Aside from questioning if such a strategy can lead to any new insights so many years down the road, there’s one major contrast: Wanders did not create enlargements of existing objects, but of his own creations. Where Koons’ sculptures raised interesting questions as they carried numerous references to the unusual contexts from which they were taken and the context in which they landed, the images created by Wanders refer to nothing but themselves. When devoid of inherent meanings and references, we can hardly consider them artworks. At most they might be considered late specimens of the Design-Art phenomenon that suddenly bloomed up at the turn of the century.

What started with prototypes of iconic historical designs and experimental designs by contemporary designers, soon led to objects being designed on purpose as costly one-offs, crafted from special materials. These were widely exposed in the media because of their extravagant forms and the reputation of the designers, thus gaining the aura of rare valuables. They competed with artworks, claiming eternal value and thus economic profit, and eventually lost even a slightest link to functionality. Neither art, nor design, most of them were also devoid of higher cultural significance, only aiming at a gradually decreasing market of collectors. It proved to be a dead end path for design.

Like many other specimens of the Design-Art phenomenon Wanders’ theatrical settings, living lights and richly decorated products are just kitsch: objects without too much significance nor use, appreciated by the newly monied and thus supplied by the designer with the knack for business. The only question these objects raise is why they are being presented in this museum.

The opening of Pinned Up drew quite a crowd, and the show will probably continue to do so over the coming months when a larger audience is allowed in to gawk at the luxury goods and gadgets. And then, when 2014 comes to a close, the museum will be able to report that this was one of its most successful exhibitions.

In an era in which populism is on the up and up, and large visitor numbers are increasingly becoming the main driver in the way cultural institutions are run, the overwhelming interest in Wanders’ exhibition may be deemed a triumph. But it also painfully reveals something else; when the exhibition was initiated and prepared the SMA was in need of a director who could manage the collecting and curating policies of this key institution – a director with the wherewithal to pull a timely plug on any whimsical plans and point the curator to more suitable locations for this kind of design experience.

SMA’s collection of applied art and design was once among the best in the world, but for a number of decades it has lacked a clear concept. Most of the acquisitions and exhibitions betray personal whim and a tendency to be swayed by the issues of the day. It is this context that has allowed commercial success to be mistaken for cultural importance. Design is about taste, and taste can be disputed. But taste, which will always be transitory and personal, is not what a museum is about.

Apart from the surprise that the SMA chose to create this show, it was also surprising in the first weeks after the opening how many media let themselves be directed by Wanders, indiscriminately copied his press release and failed to badger him when he set aside critics of his work as cranky modernists, design fundamentalists, with no eye for innovation. Blown-up pretentions call for critical questions, but they were barely asked. Almost all Dutch media mentioned for instance that Wanders’ oeuvre is part of the prestigious design collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). A simple inquiry would have shown that only a single early piece, the Knotted Chair from 1996, is part of the collection and the museum has made no further purchases from the Wanders brand.

Many developments in design are worthy of exposure in a museum context, where their deeper layers of meaning don’t evaporate in thin air but are acknowledged for what they are. The MoMA has always well understood that design should only find a natural habitat in a museum when it represents those layers of meaning, challenging concepts, or visionary narratives that reach beyond luxurious comfort or commercial success.

The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam appointed a new director, Beatrice Ruf, in April 2014. Let’s hope that under her leadership, the museum remembers again how to discern commercial gadgets from designs that are valuable testimonies to our time, worthy of an exhibition in an institution of this stature.


Louise Schouwenberg is head of the masters programme in contextual design and co-head of the masters programme in design curating and writing at Design Academy Eindhoven. She is course director of the fine arts and design masters programme Material Utopias at the Sandberg Instituut / Gerrit Rietveld Academy Amsterdam.

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Elding Oscarson completes Swedish seaside house in Mölle

This house in the Swedish seaside town of Mölle by Stockholm studio Elding Oscarson has an upper storey clad with roughly sawn Douglas fir and a lower section that is entirely transparent (+ slideshow).

Elding Oscarson completes Swedish seaside house in Molle

When developing the design for the Mölle house, architects Jonas Elding and Johan Oscarson set out to reestablish the architectural experimentation they say dominated the town at the turn of the last century.

Elding Oscarson completes Swedish seaside house in Molle

“Experimentation has been overpowered by conservation,” said the architects. “Our ambition has been to recover Mölle’s dormant architectural tradition, extrapolating it into the twenty-first century, while providing a house for generations to come.”

Elding Oscarson completes Swedish seaside house in Molle

Referencing the nearby Villa Italienborg, which features a striking chequerboard facade, the designers chose oversized planks of Douglas fir to create a cladding unlike any other in the town.

Elding Oscarson completes Swedish seaside house in Molle

These horizontal boards wrap all the way around the building, punctured at intervals by an assortment of square and rectangular windows.

Elding Oscarson completes Swedish seaside house in Molle

To contrast, the ground floor level features floor-to-ceiling windows with slender frames, offering residents uninterrupted views towards the surrounding garden and coastline beyond.

Elding Oscarson completes Swedish seaside house in Molle

“The building expresses both contrast and tenderness in relation to site and context,” said Elding and Oscarson.

Elding Oscarson completes Swedish seaside house in Molle

The house has three storeys – two above ground and one below. Three wings make up the plan, framing a pair of garden terraces and a driveway at the building’s entrance.

Elding Oscarson completes Swedish seaside house in Molle

Living, dining and kitchen spaces occupy the entire ground floor. All furniture is free-standing so as not to obstruct views through the glass walls, and includes a kitchen island. Heating is provided by a wood-burning stove in the middle of the space.

Elding Oscarson completes Swedish seaside house in Molle

A spiral staircase leads to floors both above and below. Upstairs, three bedrooms are arranged around an extra lounge, while the basement accommodates a fourth bedroom and a sauna.

Elding Oscarson completes Swedish seaside house in Molle

Photography is by Åke E:son Lindman.

Here’s a project description from Elding Oscarson:


Mölle by the Sea

Mölle is an extreme location with regards to topography and landscape, as well as history and aura. Around the turn of the century 1900, Northern Europeans were migrating to “Sinful Mölle” – where men and women were allowed to enjoy each other’s company at the same beach – leaving a trace of eccentric and experimental architecture from the first half of the 20th century.

However, from that point in time and onwards, experimentation has been overpowered by conservation. Our shared ambition with our client has been to recover Mölle’s dormant architectural tradition, extrapolating it into the 21st century, while providing a house for generations to come suited an open-minded family, presently with one child.

Elding Oscarson completes Swedish seaside house in Molle

The building expresses both contrast and tenderness in relation to site and context. Its volume has been kept low, without any plinth or pitched roof. Facing Öresund, the terraced site has an ocean view, but the building questions the convention to turn all rooms towards that same view – the site has many qualities all around, with stone and brick walls, vegetation, and an old ice cellar semi-submerged into a hill.

The building’s shape divides the site into different exterior spaces and provides a softly divided sequence to the interior. Not immediately perceptible, the graphic form of the plan results in a building volume that rather reads as a fragmentised whole – from some angles striking, from other angles neat.

Elding Oscarson completes Swedish seaside house in Molle

On the ground floor, a pilotis space wrapped in low iron glass, with sliding doors and undivided panes of up to almost 7 metres wide, the garden and its stone walls frame the interior space. The upper volume is resting on a slender steel structure in an abrupt collision between glass and saw finish douglas planks in jumbo format – a facade which is the first of its kind, just like Mölle’s most famous house “Villa Italienborg”, with its chess-board ethernite shingles facade, was back in the days.

Elding Oscarson completes Swedish seaside house in Molle

Architect: Elding Oscarson
Project team: Jonas Elding, Johan Oscarson, Yuko Maki, Gustaf Karlsson
Textile: Akane Moriyama
Location: Mölle, Sweden
Client: Private
Area: 300 sqm

Elding Oscarson completes Swedish seaside house in Molle
Site plan – click for larger image
Elding Oscarson completes Swedish seaside house in Molle
Basement plan – click for larger image
Elding Oscarson completes Swedish seaside house in Molle
Ground floor plan – click for larger image
Elding Oscarson completes Swedish seaside house in Molle
First floor plan – click for larger image
Elding Oscarson completes Swedish seaside house in Molle
Section – click for larger image

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seaside house in Mölle
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Traditional British beach huts get a modern makeover from Pedder & Scampton

Stones and shells from the seashore fill the walls of these eight contemporary British beach huts that London office Pedder & Scampton designed for the seaside town of Southend (+ slideshow).

New beach huts at Southend on Sea by Pedder and Scampton Architects

Pedder & Scampton‘s design won a competition organised by Southend Council to develop “a new generation” of beach huts that offer a modern alternative to existing huts found along the local beaches.

New beach huts at Southend on Sea by Pedder and Scampton Architects

“We have always enjoyed beach huts ourselves, and this fantastic site and simple project gave us a great opportunity to think imaginatively about materials and form,” architect Gill Scampton told Dezeen.

“We took the traditional elements of beach huts to be a strong rythmic repeating form, variation within an overall form, strong use of colour and individually customised spaces,” she added. “We wanted to propose an update for a traditional building form that responds to the very particular character of the site.”

New beach huts at Southend on Sea by Pedder and Scampton Architects

The colourful doors and shutters of the eight huts reference the typical painted wooden structures that have been a popular fixture at many seaside resorts since the nineteenth century.

“The strong colours and industrial scale of the numbers respond to the scale and character of the Thames Estuary, which call for something more robust than the usual pastel colours,” Scampton explained.

New beach huts at Southend on Sea by Pedder and Scampton Architects

Traditionally, beach huts are situated above the high tide mark and used as a place to shelter from the sun or wind, change into swimming gear and store personal belongings.

Rather than the linear formation found on many beaches, Pedder & Scampton’s huts are arranged along an existing concrete promenade at an angle to one another, creating individual private terraces in the spaces between each one.

New beach huts at Southend on Sea by Pedder and Scampton Architects

The huts are constructed from prefabricated components that allowed them to be assembled quickly on site during the winter months.

Timber frames support walls made from recycled timber pallets, with plywood used to clad the internal surfaces and translucent polycarbonate sheeting covering the exterior.

New beach huts at Southend on Sea by Pedder and Scampton Architects

The cavities between the two layers are filled with pebbles, gravel, glass chippings, shells and other recycled materials, which are arranged in layers to represent the tidal drift on the beach.

These materials provide thermal mass, as well as privacy and security, and can be seen through the translucent outer surfaces. They also provide additional strength and stability, which enabled the huts to withstand the strong winds of recent storms that damaged many of the traditional beach huts in the area.

New beach huts at Southend on Sea by Pedder and Scampton Architects

Gaps left between the level of the infilled material and the roof create clerestory windows that introduce natural light into the huts.

The angled arrangement of the structures creates spaces through which the sea can still be seen from a promenade that runs along the rear of the site.

New beach huts at Southend on Sea by Pedder and Scampton Architects

The sloping roofs create an irregular rhythm and are planted with sea-hardened sedum and other plants that can also be seen from the promenade.

New beach huts at Southend on Sea by Pedder and Scampton Architects

Local publication the Southend Standard has reported that more huts are planned for a location nearby after the initial eight sold for more than £27,000 each. The design was developed in collaboration with structural engineers StructureMode.

Photography is by Simon Kennedy.

Here’s a project description from Pedder & Scampton:


New beach huts at Southend on Sea

Brits are set to enjoy a late spring heatwave according to the Met office, which is good news for those lucky enough to have bagged one of the eight new beach huts at Southend, designed by London practice Pedder & Scampton.

New beach huts at Southend on Sea by Pedder and Scampton Architects
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The British love affair with the beach hut has never been healthier. Bidding for the 7-year leases of the huts at East Beach was fierce given their location just an hour and a half’s drive away from London and perfect for last minute weekend getaways.

Pedder & Scampton’s competition-winning design responded to an ambitious brief from Southend Council calling for ‘a new generation’ of beach huts. It updates the traditional format with an eco-friendly design featuring green planted roofs, recycled materials and a distinctive slanted shape that gives each individual hut its own private terrace.

New beach huts at Southend on Sea by Pedder and Scampton Architects
Elevation one

Coloured doors and shutters create variety and a feel-good vibe within the bold repetitive structure. The walls of the huts – which are built on the existing raised concrete promenade with great views of the sea – are formed from recycled timber pallets bolted into timber frames and faced with tough translucent polycarbonate sheeting to the outside and plywood to the inner faces.

The wall cavities are then filled with layers of pebbles, gravel, glass chippings and shells, laid in drift layers visible through the plastic, giving the huts a beautifully tactile seaside aesthetic.

The simple, robust interiors allow for customisation, and can be painted or fitted out by tenants, looking to create a home-from-home to make a brew or read the papers in, whist still enjoying the tang of the salty air.

New beach huts at Southend on Sea by Pedder and Scampton Architects
Elevation two

The freeholds remain with Southend Borough Council who, through local agents Haart, are now actively seeking interest from prospective tenants for a potential Phase 2 of the development, which already has planning permission.

Pedder and Scampton beat more than 40 other entrants in the competition, which was launched in August 2012. The designs were developed with structural engineers StructureMode.

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makeover from Pedder & Scampton
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