Hasta La Ideas

News: architects Rem Koolhaas and Foster + Partners will work alongside Hollywood power-couple Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin to create a new ocean-side cultural quarter at Miami Beach in Florida (+ slideshow).

Faena Miami Beach will include an arts centre by Rem Koolhaas/OMA, a beachside condominium tower by Foster + Partners, and a restoration of the landmark Saxony Hotel by husband-and-wife team Luhrmann and Martin.

The all-star cast has been assembled by Argentinian hotelier and property developer Alan Faena, who presented the plans during the Art Basel and Design Miami fairs in the city earlier this month.

“In Miami Beach we are creating a new epicenter for the city,” Faena said. “Acting as curators, we are commissioning a group of standout talents to create an urban installation without equal.”

Faena Miami Beach will stretch six blocks along Collins Avenue, between 32 Street and 37 Street, and extend from the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Creek waterway.

Koolhaas’ Faena Arts Center, due to open next year, consists of a cubic volume and a cylindrical volume, both featuring diagonally banded facades.

The development will also include two further projects by Koolhaas: the Faena Bazaar retail building and Artists-in-Residence Center and Faena Park, an automated car parking garage.

“We were invited to design three buildings – an arts center, retail bazaar and car park,” said Koolhaas. “These distinct functions are linked by a sequence of public domains including a plaza, courtyard and marina dock.”

“Culture is at the core of Faena’s vision, and has been the driving force for our collaboration in Miami Beach,” Koolhaas added. “By curating their neighborhood with programmatic diversity, Alan’s sphere of influence will likely extend beyond this development to the rest of Miami Beach.”

Foster + Partners’ 18-storey residential tower, Faena House, will feature distinctive wraparound, Argentinian-style “alero” covered terraces on each floor (“alero” is the Spanish term for a projecting eave).

“We were talking about the nature of indoor and outdoor living, remarking on how much one used the alero, the outdoor terrace,” said Brandon Haw, senior partner at Foster + Partners. “This really became very much the leitmotif of the project.”

The aleros will be up to 37 feet (3.3 metres) deep and the glazed walls of the apartments will feature sliding glass doors up to 12 feet 6 inches (3.8 metres) wide, allowing the terraces and interior spaces to be used seamlessly.

The building will also feature a lobby with water pools to help cool the ground floor.

Film director Luhrmann and production designer Martin, whose credits include The Great Gatsby and Moulin Rouge, will oversee the renovation of the Saxony Hotel. Built in 1947, this was once one of the most glamorous luxury hotels at Miami Beach. Luhrmann and Martin will oversee the design of the 168-suite hotel – including the interiors and the staff uniforms – as well as curating entertainment in the theatre, cinema and public spaces. The hotel is due to reopen in December 2014.

The project is the latest in a string of new developments by high-profile European architects in Miami, which is rapidly establishing itself as the most architecturally progressive city in the USA. New apartment towers by Zaha Hadid, Herzog & de Meuron and Bjarke Ingels Group have been announced this year, while OMA recently won a competition to rebuild the Miami Beach convention centre.

Faena Miami Beach is the first project outside Argentina by Faena, who previously turned a stretch of abandoned docklands at Puerto Madero in Buenos Aires into a thriving arts-led urban quarter, featuring the Faena Hotel designed by Philippe Starck and the Faena Aleph residential buildings by Foster + Partners.

Visualisations are by Hayes Davidson.

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Hollywood duo on Miami Beach appeared first on Dezeen.

These plates and dishes made of cellulose by Swedish design studio Tomorrow Machine have a special self-cleaning coating that means they never need washing up.

Tomorrow Machine and research company Innventia were asked by the Swedish Forest Industries Federation to envision uses for cellulose harvested from Swedish forests in the year 2035.

The prototype tableware was made to showcase the qualities of a new cellulose-based material developed by Innventia, which is light but strong and can be moulded into double-curved surfaces.

“The product not only saves resources during the manufacturing process, but also over its full life-cycle, not requiring water and chemicals to be kept clean,” claimed the designers.

The cellulose pulp is first made into a sheet, which is then heat pressed in a mould. “The material becomes as hard as a regular ceramic product, but with the advantages that it is lightweight and won’t crack or break in case it’s dropped,” Hanna Billqvist of Tomorrow Machine told Dezeen.

The coating is a new technology developed by KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, which mimics the surface of a lotus leaf to create a surface that’s resistant to dirt and water. “It is real but a very new technology that is still being developed, so it’s not ready for the industry yet,” explained Billqvist.

“KTH are using a process called Rapid Expansion of Supercritical Solutions (RESS) to make the surface superhydrophobic,” she said. “A wax is dissolved in carbon dioxide at high pressure and temperature, and then sprayed onto the surface to be treated.”

The designers specified a marbling technique to decorate the cup, selecting a cobalt blue reminiscent of the glaze used on traditional porcelain and ceramic tableware.

Based out of Stockholm and Paris, Tomorrow Machine comprises Billqvist and Anna Glansén, and specialises in packaging, product and food concepts. “Our vision as designers is to build a better world through research, new technologies and intelligent material,” they said. “We believe in looking at science from a creative point of view to shape the innovations of tomorrow.”

Photographs are by David Axelsson.

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needs washing up appeared first on Dezeen.

Visitors to this lakeside concrete tower in the Netherlands can scale its walls, jog up to an observation deck on its roof, or sail a zip wire across the water from a balcony (+ slideshow).

Designed by Eindhoven studio Ateliereen Architecten, the Beldert Beach Adventure Tower is part of a outdoor activities park surrounding Beldert Lake in the centre of the Netherlands.

Colourful treads are set into the concrete on two sides of the structure, allowing climbers to scramble their way up the entire 19-metre height of the tower and arrive at a viewing platform on the roof.

Those less willing to climb can take the stairs, which wind up through the centre of the tower but burst through the walls in three places before ending up at the top.

“Functionality and visibility were the basic principles for this design,” said architect Bram Hurkens. “We choose a clear shape, which is formed by the stairs, going inside and outside of the structure.”

Bright yellow balustrades allow the staircase to stand out against the concrete, and match one of the three colours used for the climbing treads.

“This way the route up is marked and the building has a cheerful and sunny appearance,” added Hurkens.

The zip line is attached to a balcony 11 metres above the ground, while a kiosk is located at the base of the tower offering drinks and snacks.

The tower was constructed from 11 prefabricated concrete modules stacked on top of one another.

“The tower is designed in such way that the centre of gravity is always located above the footprint,” said the architect.

The Beldert Beach logo was imprinted into the concrete during the casting process.

Here’s a project description from Ateliereen Architecten:

Adventure tower in concrete at Beldert Beach

For our client in the Betuwe – Holland Evenementen Groep – Ateliereen designed an adventure tower at Beldert Beach, which is a recreational lake.

The tower can be used for climbing and other group activities and there is a small kiosk included in the building. There is a viewing platform at a height of nineteen meters, which offers a view over the water, the wide area and the Holland Evenementen Groep.

Functionality and visibility were the basic principles for this design. We choose a clear shape, which is formed by the stairs, going inside and outside of the structure. The stairs have a prominent, bright yellow colour. This way the route up is marked and the building has a cheerful and sunny appearance.

The tower is constructed in prefab concrete rings, a robust material with a high-quality finish. The function of the tower is recognisable because the coloured climbing routes contrast with the silver-like background. The project is an addition to the activities of the Holland Evenementen Groep and a new impulse for the beach.

The eleven prefabricated concrete rings all have unique dimensions. In the rings at the top, the logo of Beldert Beach is poured into the surface, so no flags are needed.

The rings are approximately 3 x 5 meters. The peculiarity of casting these rings is that only one mold is used, which had to be converted after each ring working from the biggest element to the smallest.

Moreover, the architectural concrete requires a high quality surface with little room for errors. The different sloping walls have been an extra challenge whilst pouring and stacking. The tower is designed in such way that the centre of gravity is always located above the footprint, also during the stacking of the rings.

The kiosk is built with prefabricated walls. By opening the yellow shutters guests are invited to buy a snack at the counter.

Completion: November 2013
Client: Holland Evenementen Groep, Zoelen
Architect: Ateliereen Architecten, Eindhoven
Building contractor: Van Arnhem Bouwgroep, Culemborg
Concrete manufacturer: Mombarg Beton B.V., Doetinchem
Copyright pictures: Ateliereen Architecten

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tower features a climbing wall and zip line appeared first on Dezeen.

Dezeen Music Project: London artist Di Mainstone is developing an electronic instrument that enables performers to make music from the subtle vibrations of suspension bridge cables (+ movie).

“I would regularly go to Brooklyn Bridge [in New York] and it struck me that there’s a comparison between a suspension bridge and a harp,” said Mainstone, who presented the project at this week’s Wearable Futures conference in London.

“I started thinking about the cables of the bridge, which carry vibrations down them in the same way as a harp string. I wondered if there was a way to develop a parasitic interface that would enable people to ‘play’ the frequencies of the bridge, which is this beautiful deep groaning sound.”

She added: “I imagined these people called ‘movicians’ who were almost part bridge, part instrument with all of these cables attached to them.”

Mainstone’s Human Harp, which she is developing in partnership with Queen Mary University of London and Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design, consists of a series of eight electronic modules, which modify digital recordings of the sound of vibrating suspension bridge cables.

These devices, which Mainstone attaches to the structure of the bridge, contain retractable cables that control the volume, pitch and intensity of the sounds based on the length, speed and angle at which they are pulled.

Mainstone’s performers wear a special vest, which these cables clip on to, enabling them to alter the music by rolling and contorting their bodies.

Mainstone tested the Human Harp on Brooklyn Bridge earlier this year, using pre-recorded sounds from the bridge. She is now looking at developing technology to enable the modules to record the sounds of a bridge in real time and wants to create specific sound installations on bridges around the world.

“We plan to do a tour in the UK and then a global tour of suspension bridges after that,” she explained.

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music from suspension bridges appeared first on Dezeen.

Montreal designer Loïc Bard has created a wooden stool to add to his collection of furniture with gaping mouths that store magazines inside the top.

A single magazine can be stored within the thin curved lip of the Andy stool seat.

“This new furniture follows the organic shape of my previous creations,” said Bard, who has also created a coffee table in a similar style.

His collection was influenced by his childhood memories of a trip to Japan: “I designed this [furniture] while remembering the sober atmosphere, the simplicity of the utensils and the rustic environment of the tea ceremony.”

Three tapered round legs support the irregular-shaped seat, which comes in maple wood finished with natural oil or stained darker colours.

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stores a magazine within its seat appeared first on Dezeen.