The shapes of the series LEM are the first results of the analysis and interpretation of quasicrystals and aperiodic patterns. In chemistry, quasicrystals stand with their aperiodic but still ordered structure for a contradiction to the actually required periodic symmetry of molecules within a crystal.
During the development process, crystalline structures have been constructed and implemented in three-dimensional shapes of fine wire mesh. These shapes are covered with layers of different textiles and foils, thereby creating a play of light which varies in addition depending on the used bulb.
The main intention in the still ongoing design process of LEM is the search for shapes with a very high visual complexity on one hand and a construction which is reduced to the essentially necessary parts on the other.
Swedish studio Claesson Koivisto Rune has fitted out this Japanese showroom selling European ceramics using pale wooden display furniture and potted plants (+ slideshow).
Swedish architects Claesson Koivisto Rune designed the interior for Ceramika’s flagship store in the city of Matsumoto in the mountainous Nagano Prefecture.
The retail space in a former city hall by the river was stripped out and then fitted with neutral painted walls, timber flooring and a range of custom-designed wooden furniture.
“The colours and materials of the interior were chosen to harmonise with the porcelain, which is mostly blue and white,” said the architects.
The showroom is laid out in a simple grid, with display units positioned in rows and shelving on the walls. “The aim was to create a space which was strict yet humble,” the architects explained.
The display tables comprise wooden frames with side panels that can be removed and opened up to provide extra shelving below, and grey curtains can be used to divide the space.
Ceramika ceramic tableware showroom, shop and cafe
The Ceramika showroom is located in Matsumoto in the mountainous Nagano Prefecture, some 200 km northwest of Tokyo. Matsumoto is not a very big city, but it is a centre of traditional crafts, such as wood, lacquerware and fabric. Oddly perhaps then that the cups and plates and bowls at Ceramika are European and not Japanese. But this is what modern Japan is about. Opened up to the world while never deviating from the very strong Japanese heritage of aesthetics and quality.
In line with these principles was the commission to design the Ceramika flagship store given to the Swedish architects Claesson Koivisto Rune – undeniably Scandinavians, but well accustomed to Japan.
Ceramika is represented with shops in every major city throughout Japan and through mail order and online business, but Matsumoto is the home town.
The Ceramika showroom is located in the city centre in a former City Hall building along the Matsumoto river. The space was completely stripped and the new interior is deliberately simple but with meticulously refined details. The layout is on a strict repetitive grid.
The colours and materials of the interior were chosen to harmonise with the porcelain which is mostly blue and white.
The project was a fruitful collaboration between the architect and the client. The client and owner of the Ceramika showroom, Mr. Hiroshi Arai, took a personal pride in attending to the quality and execution of every detail in the project.
The wood furniture was designed by Claesson Koivisto Rune and manufactured by carpenter master Hoshino-san. This made it possible to use smaller proportions and have a much higher degree of refinement, than usually in a project like this.
Many of the pieces in the project was designed especially by Claesson Koivisto Rune and manufactured locally in Japan. Such as the display furniture, tables and clothes hangers. Other pieces also designed by Claesson Koivisto Rune were produced by manufacturers such as Almedahls, David design, Tacchini, and Wästberg.
The aim was to create a space which was strict, yet humble. As an enhancing frame for the ceramic objects at display and a section of illustrated children’s books from around the world!
And – last but not least – the small cafe with both indoors and outdoors seating.
World Architecture Festival 2013: the Future Project of the Year award at the World Architecture Festival has been given to a museum for China‘s maritime heritage, proposed in Tianjin.Brisbane studio Cox Rayner Architects’ waterside scheme consists of five halls that radiate out to the harbour, which will each contain different exhibitions.
The National Maritime Museum of China will sit in front of a large plaza for outdoor events, marked by an observation tower also acting as the museum’s energy plant. Completion is due in 2015.
“The project demonstrates a strong conceptual clarity,” the WAF judges said. “In its response to the sea, the design evokes a strong sense of the maritime experience. It brings together vast collections of elements of China’s rich maritime history and offers the visitor references to global maritime cultures. The jury looks forward to a realisation that maintains the integrity of the original idea.”
Wonmin Park‘s latest Haze Series in white, grey and navy is made up of eight pieces that include tables, shelves and benches.
The process is the same as in the earlier pastel-coloured series, where the resin is cast in separate moulds before being joined with coloured pigments.
However, this range comprises a different pallet with more neutral colours. Grey, white and navy elements vary subtly in tone, opaqueness and texture.
“I’m trying to use less colour and play more with propositions and form in a very simple way, which can give some feeling and emotion but is still usable as furniture,” Park told Dezeen.
Dezeen and MINI World Tour: in our first video report from Singapore, Colin Seah of local architecture studio Ministry of Design tells us how the recent cultural shift away from mass-market shops and restaurants is helping transform attitudes towards design in the city.
“Singapore was known as a clean and green city,” says Seah. “Clean almost to the point of being boring.”
“There seemed to be a saturation of mass-market experiences. But from 2000 to 2005, things started to rapidly open up. Singapore now is a lot more exciting.”
Our MINI Paceman across the water from Gardens by the Bay by Wilkinson Eyre
Seah claims that many Singaporeans are choosing to stay away from established chains, preferring to spend their money in more boutique shops and restaurants.
Dempsey Hill, Singapore
In the movie he takes us to two recently rejuvenated parts of the city where independent retailers and food outlets are flourishing.
The first is Dempsey Hill, a former British colonial army barracks to the west of the city centre, which now hosts a wide range of independent restaurants and cafes.
Dempsey Hill, Singapore
“It was the first major adaptive reuse project in Singapore, where a building that was once governmental or institutional was given back to the market,” says Seah. “That shift has taken root and you see more districts now being reclaimed this way.”
Haji Lane, Singapore
Closer to the city centre is Haji Lane, a narrow street lined with two-storey shophouses in the Arab quarter of the city, in sharp contrast to the towering skyscrapers of the nearby financial district that Singapore is more famous for.
“Along Haji Lane you’ll find maybe 30 independent boutiques,” says Seah. “Just a great amount of variety without having to see a brand that you would find also in California or the UK.”
New Majestic Hotel by Ministry of Design
One of the first boutique hotels in Singapore was designed by Seah’s studio, Ministry of Design. Called New Majestic Hotel, it comprises four converted shophouse tucked away down a quiet street in Singapore’s Chinatown.
New Majestic Hotel by Ministry of Design
Seah believes that the recent demand for hotels like New Majestic Hotel provides an important source of work for designers in the city.
“Without this increased level of curiosity and diversity, firms like ours would not really be able to exist,” he says. “There would just be no market for the work that we do.”
New Majestic Hotel by Ministry of Design
He also believes that the cultural shift is encouraging more young people to study architecture and design.
“Because of the need for more firms to provide work of this nature, I think young people feel that it’s less of a risk to enter the design field,” he says.
New Majestic Hotel by Ministry of Design
“In Singapore, most of our parents want us to be accountants or lawyers or doctors. [To be an] architect is a bit dodgy and [if you study] interior design or art, you’re a lost cause. But not any more.”
Singapore’s government is also starting to take design seriously, Seah says. In 2008 it established SOTA (School of the Arts), which offers an arts and design-based curriculum for 13 to 18 year olds.
“Schools like SOTA are not just great physical examples of architecture,” Seah concludes. “They are also symbols of where Singapore is headed in terms of culture, in terms of design.”
Frances-Jones Morehen Thorp‘s Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki in New Zealand was designed in association with New Zealand studio Archimedia as an extension and refurbishment of the existing gallery, creating a new entrance and doubling the amount of flexible exhibition space.
Roofs over the forecourt, atrium and gallery spaces appear to float at different heights, patterned with wood panels on their undersides.
These canopies are designed to mirror the trees at nearby Albert Park, which can be seen through the large transparent walls of the exhibition spaces.
“Our inspiration was the beautiful natural landscape,” FJMT design director Richard Francis-Jones said after the announcement. “We saw the building as embedded in place. We wanted to use natural local materials, especially the beautiful kauri trees. But because these are protected, we could only use fallen trees or recycled wood.
‘The building is all about New Zealand, and it has the work of great Maori artists embedded in it.”
When the project won the Culture category at the awards yesterday, the WAF judges said: “This is a highly sensitive addition to Auckland Art Gallery which reanimates and reinvigorates the existing building. It responds brilliantly to context and site and gives the gallery a new architectural identity.”
Dezeen is media partner for the World Architecture Festival, which concludes today at the Marina Bay Sands hotel and conference centre – see all our coverage of WAF 2013 here.
The floor of the Carrer Avinyó apartment by London studio David Kohn Architects is covered in triangular tiles that gradually change colour from green to red across the space.
The architects designed the apartment as a holiday home for two brothers who live in Hong Kong. They removed the internal partitions to form a large living area and restored the original ceiling mouldings – read our full story about the project here.
After the announcement David Kohn commented: “We are absolutely delighted to have won the award. The project demonstrates how an interior can be about the city in which it is situated. An homage to Barcelona.”
“The project has a quality we set out to find today, that is the quality of magic,” said Inside Awards head judge Nigel Coates at the awards ceremony. “Spanning extremes of scale, it has become a suitcase you can sleep in but also a place for celebration and entertainment. The newly achieved large central room combines simplicity with a sense of space that stimulates curiosity.”
Modular panels fold around the exterior of this electricity station in rural Denmark by Scandinavian firm C. F. Møller (+ slideshow).
Photograph by Helene Hoyer Mikkelse
C. F. Møller was commissioned by Danish energy company Energinet to design the gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) station, used to control the flow of electricity on its way from Dutch wind farms to the Danish areas where it will be used.
The project forms part of a wider government scheme to upgrade the visual appearance of the country’s power grid.
Photography by Helene Hoyer Mikkelse
The first switchgear station has been built in Vejen from prefabricated wooden components on a steel frame.
Photograph by Helene Hoyer Mikkelse
“Since it is a design concept and the first in a series of new stations, the exterior cladding is something that can be varied according to the location and context,” architect Julian Weyer told Dezeen.
Photograph by Anne-Mette Hansen
“The first station now completed is clad in pre-weathered zinc panels, chosen mainly for their low maintenance, good recycling potential and the interesting play of light as reflected on the folded surfaces,” Weyer added.
Photograph by Anne Mette Hansen
Each modular unit of the exterior has a sloping roof and sides that triangulate to add stability.
Photograph by Anne-Mette Hansen
They create a row of gill-like openings ranged along the sides of the structure, admitting daylight and allowing glimpses of the GIS units from the outside.
Photograph by Anne-Mette Hansen
“With the progressing daylight, the folded surface creates an ever-changing play of shadows, altering its appearance all day long and all year round,” said the architects.
Photograph by Anne-Mette Hansen
Exposed wooden fibreboard panels line the interior, contributing to the acoustics of the building.
The Danish Parliament wishes to upgrade the visual appearance of the Danish power grid. Therefore, C. F. Møller has been hired to create a new design concept for switchgear stations for Energinet.dk. The first 400 kW station is now ready for operation.
Photograph by Anne-Mette Hansen
As a result of the new design concept, Energinet.dk has decided not to construct a new large open-air switchgear station in Vejen, Jutland, but instead build a gas-insulated switchgear station – also called a GIS station.
The idea of the design concept has been to give the technical enclosure of the station, placed in the open landscape, a distinct architectonic profile, and at the same time maximise the future flexibility.
Concept diagram
This GIS (gas-insulated switchgear) station is one of the nerve centres in the Danish power grid, through which increasing volumes of sustainable energy – mostly wind power – will be transported. The GIS station is an important part of 175 kilometres of new 400 kW high voltage cable running from Kassø in Southern Jutland to Tjele in central Jutland.
Concept diagram
The link has been built to upgrade the power grid and to ensure that wind power from Danish wind farms is transported to the areas where it is needed. The GIS station is linked to a total of six aerial cable systems.
The enclosure has been designed as a series of modules, each consisting of a lightweight shell with a slanted roof and a folded exterior surface which adds lateral stability. Arranged in series, the modules create a transparent, gill-like envelope with triangular openings, letting ample daylight into the interior and allowing glimpses of the GIS units at the heart of the building.
All this gives the design an unmistakeable and strong sculptural and facetted identity. With the progressing daylight, the folded surface creates an ever-changing play of shadows, altering its appearance all day long and all year round.
Client: Energinet.dk Size: 1,650 m² (450 m²workshops and 1,200 m² GIS building) Address: Vandmøllevej 10, Revsing, 6600 Vejen in Denmark (and various sites across Denmark) Year of project: 2010-2013 Design architects: C. F. Møller Architects Executive architect: Kærsgaard & Andersen Landscape: C. F. Møller Architects
Product news: Japanese design studio Nendo has launched a range of cutlery that looks as though it’s been carved from flint like prehistoric tools.
Called Sekki, the set was created by Nendo in collaboration with metalwork firm Kobayashi Kogyo.
“Kobayashi Kogyo is a metalwork firm located in the cradle of modern Japan’s metal cutlery industry, the city of Tsubame in Niigata Prefecture,” said Nendo.
“The firm was founded in 1868, the first year of Japan’s modern era, and enjoys a strong reputation for its command of metal production techniques, including polishing.”
The three-piece set was designed to show off the firm’s expertise and its crooked shapes recall implements carved from flint.
“It’s difficult to make the pieces’ rough, nonstandard forms by machine, so the firm had to rely on its artisans’ sensibility, skill and handwork,” explained the designers.
The concave surfaces were sandblasted to a matte finish while the other surfaces have been polished to a mirror finish, heightening the impression of sections being carved away.
“The pieces’ thickness and weight recalls stone, too,” the designers added.
“We flattened the pieces’ backs to further make the connection with cutlery carved from lumps of stone, pressing the metal sheets seven times, rather than the usual one.”
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