Cirbaots by Nick Ervinck

Belgian artist Nick Ervinck has masked the unattractive rear facade of a building in Ghent by constructing a gigantic yellow blob with a bar inside (+ slideshow).

Cirbuats by Nick Ervinck

Named Cirbaots, the huge sculpture is attached to the rear of Zebrastraat, a mixed-use building that houses art galleries, apartments, and a hotel and lounge. New apartments constructed recently behind the building had revealed windowless facades never intended to be seen, so Nick Ervinck was asked to place a large sculpture in front.

Cirbuats by Nick Ervinck

“For me it was really challenging to do something at that scale,” he told Dezeen. “The idea was to put a bar inside the sculpture, so it was almost like hiding one sculpture underneath another.”

Cirbuats by Nick Ervinck

Describing how he came up with the idea for the blob-like form, Ervinck explained: “I started with the idea of water, then came more to the idea of fabric, of a cloth or a veil.”

Cirbuats by Nick Ervinck

The bright yellow form folds around the new bar – set to be fitted out by designer Peter Vermeersch – and its colour matches an earlier installation created by the artist on another side of the building.

The structure was assembled from seven parts that were manufactured offsite and then hoisted into place. “We had to close one of the most important streets in the city for two days,” revealed Ervinck.

Cirbuats by Nick Ervinck

The main body is made from polyurethane foam, which was sculpted by hand based on a computer-generated design. The exterior was then built up with a layer of fibreglass and painted polyester.

“It still fells like one really big veil,” said Ervinck, reflecting on the completed form. “On one hand it’s very much a sculpture, but on the other it’s completely figurative, like a huge piece of fabric that’s glowing.”

Cirbuats by Nick Ervinck

Other installations to feature on Dezeen recently include an arched screen with hundreds of building-shaped holes and a melting brick wall. See more art and design installations »

Here’s some more information from the designer:


CIRBAOTS

With this monumental project for Zebrastraat in Ghent, Ervinck bundles some current topics and personal interests: the architectural discourse between blobs and boxes, the art historical motif of the veil and the social and political tension between public and private, and outside and inside. This monumental sculpture should be a meeting point that bridges the separation between public and private, and between inside and outside. Moreover, it elevates the “rear” of the building or neighbourhood to a visual attraction.

Cirbuats by Nick Ervinck

Blobs and boxes

This monumental sculpture is so to speak grafted on the building and illustrates the contrast between the conventional models of the architecture (box) and the virtual design (blob). It is a contrast between rigid and organic forms and between physical and virtual. While most architects favour only one single of these schools in design, Ervinck choose with this design resolutely for a third way: the synthesis of both. Inspired by architects like Will Alsop and Greg Lynn, Ervinck explored the potential of digital design methods for the sculpture. For Zebrastraat he designed an organic form that seems to loosen the cube, but at the same time can not exist without the latter. This tension between the solidity of the base on the one hand, and the sculpture coming to life on the other, was already treated by Ovid (the sculptor Pygmalion creates Galathea from a cut stone) and in the 17th century, beautifully visualised by Bernini (Daphne’s legs are half part of the base and half free). In the work of Nick the blob and the box form as it were two identities that attack, embrace and reject each other and merge together. This monumental work is not only a study of the media sculpture, it also challenges its existence conditions (mass, dimension, matter and gravity) in a radical way.

Cirbuats by Nick Ervinck

Veil

Covering with fabric or a veil is an art historical theme with a long tradition. Pliny associated the curtain with illusionism and interactivity: he described how he fooled the artist Parrhasius Zeuxis by asking him to slide a painted curtain. The contemporary artist Michelangelo Pistoletto worked further on this tradition with his work ‘Green Curtain’ (1962-1965). The artwork for Zebrastraat is also about such illusion: using digital design and mathematical formulas the illusion of a fabric is created. This substance seems loosely draped over the underlying matter. It invites so to speak the viewer to lift the veil and to see what lies hidden beneath it. Associated to this are questions about the role of art in society and the imperative of participation and engagement of the viewer relative to the artwork. This artwork also refers to the Belgian identity which is intertwined with surrealism.

The German Renaissance painter Lucas Cranach accented the nakedness of his figures by a transparent veil. The veil is a very ambivalent pattern: firstly it hides the information, but at the same time it also emphasises what is hidden under the cloth. The sculpted fabric stands for transformation: it conceals and reveals the matter. This art work for Zebrastraat is finally a monumental poetic ode to the volume and shape: the fundamentals of sculpture.

Cirbuats by Nick Ervinck

Public and Private

Because this work responds to the social specificity of the real estate project in Zebrastraat, it has, besides its artistic relevance, also a profound social significance.

First Ervinck plays with the concept of ‘rear’. These facades were originally not intended to be seen from the street. Now the land was bought, these facades play a new role in the streetscape. Ervinck wants to upgrade the – often unappreciated – rear of the building, and even attribute it a public function. With this work he also thinks about how art can be integrated into society.

Cirbuats by Nick Ervinck

By “covering” part of the facade with a veil, Ervinck reflects secondly on the processes of spatial appropriation. Its imposing structure reflects an increasingly problematic division between public and private, and a privatisation process that since the 15th century has become increasingly compelling. Claiming common property in order to transform it into a profitable product is today common practise in all segments of society. The protection of certain areas (think of Fortress Europe) – and the related division between “us” and “them” – is surmounted by a political act. This separation is always characterised by a tension between protection and confinement. Ervinck does not want to draw a radical line between inside and outside. He would rather create a meeting point, which will functionally be realised by the installation of a bar at the bottom of the sculpture. Just as the world has not gone away, when you close your eyes, the architecture does not disappear when it is shielded. It has been transformed and is part of the common area.

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“We want to put 3D printing in every home” – Janne Kyttanen

Freedom of Creation co-founder and 3D Systems creative director Janne Kyttanen tells Dezeen that he believes one day everyone will have easy access to 3D printing in the first of our series of video interviews with pioneering figures in the world of additive manufacturing. 

"We want to put 3D printing in every home" - Janne Kyttanen
Janne Kyttanen

We visited Kyttanen during a road trip across the Netherlands and Belgium, where many of the major players in 3D printing are clustered, as part of our research for Print Shift, the one-off magazine about 3D printing that we launched earlier this year.

In the movie, Kyttanen says that the actual technology behind additive manufacturing hasn’t changed much in recent years, but the interest in it has rocketed.

"We want to put 3D printing in every home" - Janne Kyttanen
The Cube desktop 3D printer by 3D Systems

“When it comes down to the technologies themselves, fundamentally nothing has changed,” he says.

“The biggest change that has happened is the awareness. People know that these things exist; they know the possibilities. Also, the ease of use of software: pretty much everything is getting easier and easier and once that happens the masses start picking it up.”

"We want to put 3D printing in every home" - Janne Kyttanen

In 2011, Kyttanen’s design studio Freedom of Creation, which pioneered the use of 3D printing technology to create consumer products, was acquired by American 3D printer manufacturer 3D Systems and he now acts as creative director for the company.

Having been at the forefront of 3D printing since the 1980s when the company’s founder Chuck Hull invented stereolithography (SLA), 3D Systems has recently turned its attention to the consumer market. In 2012 it launched the Cube, an affordable desktop 3D printer promising the kind of plug-and-play simplicity we have come to expect from the electronic products in our home.

"We want to put 3D printing in every home" - Janne Kyttanen

“We want to put 3D printing in every home,” says Kyttanen. “A lot of the home machines that came on the market were open-source and people could tinker with them. What we’re trying to do is to make products where you can just open the box, take out the machine, plug it in, send a file and it starts printing. That’s truly what’s happening with the Cube.”

The machine became the first domestic 3D printer to be sold on the shop floor by a US retailer when Staples announced plans to stock it in May.

The Cube is a simple fused-deposition modelling (FDM) machine, which builds up objects layer-by-layer using a plastic filament fed into a heated print nozzle. “The Cube is the most plug-and-play 3D printer on the market at the moment,” Kyttanen claims.

"We want to put 3D printing in every home" - Janne Kyttanen
The CubeX 3D printer by 3D Systems

Recently, Kyttanen launched a range of women’s shoes that can be printed out overnight on the larger version of the printer, the CubeX. He strongly believes that as the technology moves into people’s homes, it will transform the way they act as consumers.

“Everyone will get interested in design and making things instead of just being consumers and buying things,” he says. “The designer’s role [will be] merely creating better templates for all these people.”

He continues: “If you want to customise something for yourself, now you have the ability to do that. You can make any shape you want. Now everybody has the power to do whatever they want, with very easy tools.”

"We want to put 3D printing in every home" - Janne Kyttanen

It is this ability to customise products, Kyttanen says, which will drive the demand for 3D printing in the home.

“People always ask me what would be the killer product for the technology, what would sell the most,” he says. “I always tell people that I don’t think it’s a product at all, I think it’s the empowerment itself.”

See all our stories about 3D printing »
See all our stories about Janne Kyttanen »

Find more information about Print Shift and see additional content here.

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House in Nishimikuni by Arbol Design

A garden snakes between the cedar-clad walls of this house in Osaka by Japanese architects Arbol Design (+ slideshow).

House in Nishimikuni by Arbol Design

Arbol Design chose to enclose the garden within the high walls that surround the property to keep the spaces out of view from tall apartment buildings close by.

House in Nishimikuni by Arbol Design

“There was concern about overlooking from the park and the apartments nearby, plus views within the site to the buildings outside,” said the architects. “We solved it by encircling the entire house with a wall.”

House in Nishimikuni by Arbol Design

Designed for a retired couple, the single-storey wooden home stands out from the rendered concrete multi-storey apartment blocks in the Nishimikuni district of central Osaka.

House in Nishimikuni by Arbol Design

The gravel garden planted with small trees winds around the bedroom at the front of the property, passes the dining room and tatami area then ends beside the bathroom at the back.

House in Nishimikuni by Arbol Design

Its path is broken by a small portion of corridor in the centre of the plot that connects the front section of the house to the rear. Large windows along the route flood the rooms with natural light and allow the foliage to be appreciated without venturing outside.

House in Nishimikuni by Arbol Design

The perimeter wall blocks all views of the neighbourhood so only the sky is visible from inside, though thin vertical slits allow glimpses beyond.

House in Nishimikuni by Arbol Design

The same cedar cladding used externally also covers the floor, while other indoor finishes are kept neutral. Entry to the home is through an inconspicuous door off the side of the partly covered front driveway.

We’ve posted a couple of Japanese houses already this week. One features a staircase that folds around a double-height bookcase and another includes playground swings that can be hung inside or out.

See more Japanese houses »
See more architecture and design in Osaka »

Keep reading for more information from the designers:


House in Nishimikuni

What are one-storied houses like in the centre of cities? The surroundings and privacy matter, or how to use the outer space of the house. We pursued simplicity and richness the most.

House in Nishimikuni by Arbol Design

By decreasing the number of the rooms as much as possible, we made it possible to use rich materials in the spaces. Furthermore, take away unnecessary stories and let in the natural sunshine instead.

This house is designed for a retired couple, proposing a new style of one-storied house located in the centre of Osaka city.

There was concern about overlooking from the park and the apartments nearby, plus views within the site to the buildings outside. We solved it by encircling the entire house with a wall.

House in Nishimikuni by Arbol Design

You could see a beautiful colour contrast in green from planting within the site and in blue from the sky. We created a S-shaped garden across the house so you could enjoy it anywhere, and it is as if you were in the forest watching a river running!

This one-storey house surrounded with lined-up condominiums has created a new concept of richness, in the concept of not needing to be chained to thoughts about how large the ground space is, or how convenient it is.

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Poke Hanger by Kyuhyung Cho

Poke Hanger by Kyuhyung Cho

This coat stand by Stockholm designer Kyuhyung Cho appears to defy gravity, with a hovering metal ring keeping four diagonal sticks from crashing to the ground.

Poke Hanger by Kyuhyung Cho

Kyuhyung Cho designed the prototype with solid metal rings at the base and the waist, connected by a diagonal steel tube.

Poke Hanger by Kyuhyung Cho

Additional wooden poles can be slotted through the ring so garments and accessories hang from the ends.

Poke Hanger by Kyuhyung Cho

Cho says the design was “inspired by surrealist René Magritte, to create poetic imagery in our everyday life.”

Poke Hanger by Kyuhyung Cho

The wooden poles are painted white while the steel elements are black, so the trick is revealed once the viewer takes a closer look.

Poke Hanger by Kyuhyung Cho

Other coat racks on Dezeen include one resembling a television aerial that leans in a corner and another based on a ladder.

See all our stories about coat hooks »

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Cloudscapes at MOT by Tetsuo Kondo Architects and Transsolar

Japanese studio Tetsuo Kondo Architects teamed up with environmental engineering firm Transsolar to encase a cloud inside this transparent two-storey cube (+ slideshow).

Cloudscapes at MOT by Tetsuo Kondo Architects

Tetsuo Kondo and Transsolar previously collaborated to produce an indoor cloud at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2010 and this second Cloudscapes installation recreated the experience in the sunken courtyard of the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT).

Cloudscapes at MOT by Tetsuo Kondo Architects
Photograph by Ken’ichi Suzuki

The cloud effect was formed by pumping three layers of air into the space. Cold dry air went in at the bottom, while hot humid air was fed into the middle and hot dry air was pumped in at the top.

Cloudscapes at MOT by Tetsuo Kondo Architects
Photograph by Ken’ichi Suzuki

This produced a canopy of clouds at the centre of the cube, which visitors could climb through using a central staircase.

Cloudscapes at MOT by Tetsuo Kondo Architects
Above and top: photographs by Yasuhiro Takagi

“The temperature and humidity inside the container are controlled to keep the clouds at their designed height,” explained Tetsuo Kondo.

The transparent cube surrounding the cloud was built from a framework of metal tubes, with cross bracing that allowed the structure to respond to outside wind pressure.

Cloudscapes at MOT by Tetsuo Kondo Architects

“The edges of the clouds are sharp yet soft, and always in motion,” added the architect. “Their colour, density and brightness are constantly changing in tune with the weather and time of day.”

Tetsuo Kondo Architects also recently completed a family house that looks like a stack of cubes on the outside, but opens up inside to form one big bright space. See more design by Tetsuo Kondo »

Cloudscapes at MOT by Tetsuo Kondo Architects
Elevations – click for larger image

Clouds have featured in a couple of recent stories on Dezeen, including an art installation in a beaux-arts style room and a prefabricated holiday home. See more weather-themed architecture and design »

Here’s a project description from Tetsuo Kondo:


Cloudscapes at MOT

We created a small bank of clouds in the Sunken Garden of the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. 
The clouds billow softly in a compact, transparent container and can be seen from the entrance hall, exhibition galleries, outdoor plaza, and other parts of the museum.

Climb the stairs inside the clouds’ container. When you climb beyond the clouds to reach the top, the museum,
 the surrounding buildings, and the sky stretch out above the clouds. The edges of the clouds are sharp yet soft, and always in motion. Their colour, density and brightness are constantly changing in tune with the weather and time of day. The temperature and humidity inside the container are controlled to keep the clouds at their designed height. The air inside the container forms three distinct strata, one cool and dry, at the bottom, a warm and humid middle stratum, and a hot and dry stratum at the top. The warm, humid layer is where the clouds form.

The transparent container is constructed of 48.6 millimetre diameter pipe. The elastic material added to the mid region, at a 6 metre ceiling height, makes the structure as a whole responsive to wind pressure. That elastic material also makes it possible to build the transparent container of nothing but thin pipes. The double layers of vinyl sheets dividing the strata ensure stability of temperature and humidity inside the structure.

The constantly changing clouds are both soft structures and part of the natural environment that surrounds
 us. It is not the structure alone but the invisible differences in humidity and temperature and the weather, the time of day, and other aspects of the surrounding environment, all influencing each other, little by little, that make this work an artistic whole.

Cloudscapes is, in effect, an experiment in creating a new type of architectural space, one that achieves integration in engagement with its environment.

Collaboration with Transsolar/Matthias Schuler
Location: Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Program: installation
Completion period: December 2012
Architect: Tetsuo Kondo Architects
Structural Engineer: Konishi Structural Engineers

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Architects and Transsolar
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Taipei city submits the only bid for World Design Capital 2016

Taipei submit single bid for World Design Capital 2016

News: only one city has submitted a bid for World Design Capital 2016 – meaning Taipei is likely to be awarded the title.

This week the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) in Canada announced that they had received a single submission from the city of Taipei for the World Design Capital 2016 designation. Last time around there were just three contenders.

The World Design Capital selection committee said that they are not discouraged by the lack of submissions to this fifth edition and will “leverage this opportunity to focus its assessment on the viability of the application”.

Taipei’s application has passed the first evaluation phase. ICSID and WDC officials will conduct a two-day visit to the city to assess if it qualifies for the title, which will be announced in September. It’s not yet clear what will happen if Taipei fails to qualify.

Two projects underway in Taipei include Agora Garden, a plant-covered twisting tower by Vincent Callebaut and Taipei Performing Arts Center, designed by architects OMA.

World Design Capital was established in 2008 to “focus on the broader essence of design’s impact on urban spaces, economies and citizens”.

Next year the city of Cape Town will become the World Design Capital 2014, following previous winners Helsinki, Seoul and Turin. The South African capital beat off competition from shortlisted rivals Bilbao and Dublin to be named World Design Capital back in 2011.

Earlier this year at the 2013 Design Indaba conference non-profit organisation Cape Town Design launched a call for event submissions for the city’s stint as World Design Capital.

Read more design in Taipei »
Read design and architecture news from Taiwan »

Image of Taipei city courtesy of Shutterstock.

Here’s a full press release from ICSID:


In its first round of evaluation towards the selection process of the next World Design Capital (WDC) designated city, the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) announced on 6 August 2013 that members of the Selection Committee identified the City of Taipei as the only municipality to move on to the next phase in the process towards becoming the WDC 2016.

The Selection Committee convened on 5 August to discuss the merits of the application brought forward by the City of Taipei with the aim of evaluating its contents against the stringent criteria that awards this designation to a qualifying city on a biennial basis. Having passed the initial scoring, it was decided upon careful consideration that the application would move on to the next phase, which would involve a two-day onsite evaluation.

The site visit will enable further information to be gathered in an attempt to provide the WDC Selection Committee with a more thorough understanding of the proposed programmes, as well as aim to address questions raised during the first round of evaluation.

The 2016 designation will mark the 5th cycle for the WDC programme established by Icsid as a year-long platform demonstrating the value of design when utilised by cities to empower revitalisation strategies from a social, cultural and economic perspective.

The WDC Selection Committee was not discouraged by the one bid submitted but rather leveraged this opportunity to focus its assessment on the viability of the application. The same rigour will be applied to ensure that the proper evaluation metrics are enforced to determine whether the City of Taipei will meet all criteria.

A comprehensive report on the findings will be compiled by members of Icsid’s WDC Organising Committee and shared with the WDC Selection Committee following the city visit. The final deliberation and official announcement is expected to take place in September 2013.

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Prouvé Collection Update by Vitra

Product news: Swiss furniture brand Vitra has put its latest range of updates and reissues from the archive of French designer Jean Prouvé into production (+ slideshow).

The production pieces follow a limited collection of reproductions that the brand first presented in 2011 as a collaboration with fashion brand G-Star Raw.

Prouvé Collection Update by Vitra
Standard SP chair

Newly available pieces include reissues of the Fauteuil Direction and Fauteuil de Salon armchairs, plus Tabouret Solvay stool. There are also updated materials and finishes to the Standard chair, EM Table and Compas Direction developed with Dutch designer Hella Jongerius and Jean Prouvé‘s family.

Prouvé Collection Update by Vitra
Standard SP chair

The Standard chair was originally designed in wood with thicker back legs, as these take more weight. Vitra is now producing the design with a plastic seat and back as a model named Standard SP, which has matte powder-coated metal legs.

Prouvé Collection Update by Vitra
EM Table and Standard SP chairs

The plastic elements can be mixed and matched in various colours, and can easily be replaced.

Prouvé Collection Update by Vitra
EM Table

Now available with a solid wood top instead of veneered surfaces, a version of Prouvé’s EM Table has been created with a powder-coated base to match the Standard SP chairs.

Prouvé Collection Update by Vitra
Table Solvay

Among Prouvé’s designs for chemical company Solvay, Table Solvay looks similar to the EM Table but was created with wooden legs due to the metal shortage in the Second World War. This design now can now be obtained in three different types of solid wood.

Prouvé Collection Update by Vitra
Compas Direction

The metal legs of the Compas Direction desk are designed to look like the arms of a drawing compass and this design now also comes with a solid wood top.

Prouvé Collection Update by Vitra
Fauteuil de Salon

Archive designs that have been put into production include the Fauteuil Direction and Fauteuil de Salon cushioned armchairs, plus the Tabouret Solvay solid wood stool.

Prouvé Collection Update by Vitra
Tabouret Solvay stool

All these additions were shown as prototypes in Milan this spring and are now available to order from Vitra.

Recent furniture designs we’ve featured include shelves that stay propped up with the help of random found objects and brightly coloured lounge chairs that tessellate into an endless array of shapes and patterns.

We spoke to Erwan Bouroullec at the Vitra showroom in London during this year’s Clerkenwell Design week – watch the interview here.

See more furniture design »
See more products by Vitra »

Here’s some extra information from Vitra:


Prouvé Collection Update, developed by Vitra in Switzerland

In the fields of design, architecture and the art of engineering, the Frenchman Jean Prouvé ranks among the most versatile and innovative minds of the 20th century. From letter openers to door and window hinges, lights, furniture, façade elements, prefabricated houses, modular construction systems to large trade fair and exhibition constructions, his work includes almost everything that can be designed and requires an industrial manufacturing method. In his work as a designer, Prouvé was never searching for his own signature, but was instead striving to create logical and useful answers to required functions.

Vitra has been producing Jean Prouvé’s furniture since 2001. In cooperation with the Prouvé family and the Dutch designer Hella Jongerius, the colour palette of the entire product family has been given a makeover. Reserved but contemporary shades give the Prouvé classics a fresh new image. “My father never used primary colours, but preferred a sophisticated palette of shades. Of course – he was the son of a painter!” – Catherine Prouvé.

Prouvé tables are now available with solid wood table tops and the Table Solvay is the realisation of one of Prouvé’s table designs with a wooden base.

Prouvé Collection Update by Vitra
Standard chair

Standard SP, 1934/1950

A chair is subjected to the most strain on its back legs as it must carry the weight of the upper body. Jean Prouvé’s concise interpretation of this simple recognition can be seen in the Standard chair: whereas tubular steel is sufficient for the front legs that are subjected to less strain, the chair’s back legs form a voluminous hollow body that transfers the strain to the floor.

Standard SP (Siège en Plastique) brings the iconic chair up-to-date without changing anything about its form: A seat and backrest of robust plastic in a carefully chosen colour palette gives Standard SP a contemporary look. The plastic parts can be combined in various colours and easily switched out or replaced. To match the plastic surface, the bases feature a resistant, matt powder coating and, last but not least, Standard SP is an economic alternative.

To match the Standard SP, a new version of Jean Prouvé’s EM Table is being launched with an HPL table top and a base that is in the same structure and colour of powder coating as the chair.

Prouvé Collection Update by Vitra
Table Solvay

Table Solvay, 1941

During the years of 1941 and 1942, Jean Prouvé’s studios planned and realised various interior design projects for the chemical company Solvay. Among his many designs of this time, there was also a wooden table that is a prime example of Prouvé’s creations: The necessities of statics and the force path are clearly reflected in his design details – similar to the later EM Table that differs from the Table Solvay due to its metal table legs. When the Table Solvay was created during World War II, there was a metal shortage and so the table legs were made of wood.

Table Solvay’s table top is available in three different kinds of wood and the base is made of the same wood. The solid oiled woods give Table Solvay a high-quality homely feel and compensate for its cool design.

The round table Guéridon has also been given a makeover: the legs, materials and surfaces are the same are those of Table Solvay, but it has an extended diameter and height.

Prouvé Collection Update by Vitra
EM Table

EM Table, 1950

At the beginning of the 1950s, Jean Prouvé developed the EM Table for the “Maison-Tropique” project. The table , defined by his design right down to the very last detail, follows Prouvé’s typical aesthetics of necessity. It illustrates the force path and the static connections in a way that is otherwise only featured in engineering construction.

EM Table is now of even higher quality thanks to its new table tops in oiled solid wood. The solid wood table tops in oak or walnut give the table an exclusive note and offer a very pleasant feel. The height of the base is adjusted to contemporary requirements and the colour concept has been revised.

The EM Table can be ideally combined with Prouvé’s Standard chairs, but also with various other chairs.
Another new design is the EM Table with HPL table top and a base that is powdercoated in the same colours and structure as the base of the Standard SP chair.

Prouvé Collection Update by Vitra
Compas Direction

Compas Direction, 1953

Jean Prouvé developed the Compas Table in various models around 1950, applying the construction principles that he is known for. All share elegantly splayed, narrow legs in metal, a formal reminder of a compass – in French, “le compas”.

The oiled solid wood table tops give Compas Direction an individual touch. With its compact dimensions, the table is ideal for the contemporary, largely paperless, home office, where it cuts a fine figure, particularly in combination with the Fauteuil
Direction.

Prouvé Collection Update by Vitra
Fauteuil Direction chair and Compas Direction table

Fauteuil Direction, 1951

Fauteuil Direction is a well designed chair in which you can sit comfortably at the table. It pays homage to Prouvé’s typical philosophy of focusing on design factors.

The little chair is perfect for the home office where, particularly in combination with the small desk Compas Direction, it creates an individual touch and can also be used as a comfortable dining chair. In addition, Fauteuil Direction also looks great in elegant lobbies, restaurants or waiting areas.

Prouvé Collection Update by Vitra
Fauteuil de Salon chair

Fauteuil de Salon, 1939

Fauteuil de Salon combines plain surfaces into a complete architectural form with a comfortable seat and backrest. Rediscovered in the archives of the French design engineer, the chair’s colour was adapted for modern tastes. Thanks to the armrests in oiled solid wood and Prouvé’s typical philosophy of focusing on design factors, Fauteuil de Salon goes perfectly with other products in the reworked Prouvé Collection.

Prouvé Collection Update by Vitra
Tabouret Solvay stools

Tabouret Solvay, 1941

Tabouret Solvay is a simple, robust stool made of solid wood with a signature design that is visible at first glance: Jean Prouvé developed it, applying the design principles that he is known for. Thanks to its level seat, Tabouret Solvay can also be used as an occasional table.

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by Vitra
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Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects

UK studio Designscape Architects has completed two buildings for artist Damien Hirst. One is an art production studio that appears to change colour from blue to green and the other is a glazed brick building designed for using toxic chemicals (+ slideshow).

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects
Science Studio

The two buildings are located near Damien Hirst‘s existing studio in Stroud, Gloucestershire. The Science Studio provides the British artist with a generous workspace, high-security art store and private gallery for showing work to clients, while the Formaldehyde Building provides a controlled environment for working with chemicals, particularly the preservative previously used by the artist to create sculptures from dead animals.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects
Formaldehyde Building

Diffused internal lighting was an important requirement for the Science Studio, so Designscape designed a windowless building that brings in daylight through rooftop glazing.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects

Without windows, the aluminium-clad exterior walls presented a blank canvas, so the architects added stripes of graphic tape to create flashes of blue and green on the edges of each raised seam.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects

“The aim was to produce a wall that was intriguingly blue from one direction and green from the other,” they explained. “If you stand halfway down the elevation, you are not quite sure whether the building is blue or green.”

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects

Nine-metre walls give high ceilings to rooms inside the studio, while the gallery is housed in an adjoining 18-metre-high block that is clad with dark grey panels. Interior walls are lined with plywood and plasterboard, providing a strong surface for hanging artwork.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects

The neighbouring Formaldehyde Building was designed to fit the shape of its site, with one extremely pointy corner.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects

Glazed white brickwork gives a clean surface to the exterior walls, screening an internal layer of concrete blocks.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects

Louvred openings in the walls ensure a constant stream of natural ventilation, creating a safe environment for working with poisonous chemicals.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects

Designscape Architects is a Bath studio led by architects Chris Mackenzie and Spencer Back. Past projects include an extension to an English country house that reverses the building’s orientation.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects

Other studios designed for prolific artists include a galvanised steel workshop for Antony Gormley and a studio for Vivienne Westwood in London. See more art studios on Dezeen »

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects

Here’s some more detailed information about the construction of each building:


Science Studio

Science Studios is the largest art production studio in the world, incorporating a high security art store and private gallery for showing art to clients.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects
Site plan – click for larger image

The studios and art stores have stringent requirements for diffused daylight, as well as privacy and security, so all the daylight is provided from the roof except in the staff amenity areas. This results in very big elevations with very few openings – 70 m long and 9 m high without interruption. The walls are clad in 200 mm thick mineral fibre filled composite metal panels which provide an airtight, fireproof, highly insulated and secure external envelope. Inside these walls there is a high density blockwork wall clad in ply and plasterboard to provide a high-strength hanging wall for artwork, as well as providing a services zone, additional security and additional thermal mass.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects
Science Studio ground floor plan – click for larger image

The idea of the standing seams, with blue on one side of the seam and green on the other the Client’s brand colours was to make the most of this unusual opportunity with a very big, uninterrupted façade. The aim was to produce a wall which was intriguingly blue from one direction and green from the other. If you stand half way down the elevation, you are not quite sure whether the building is blue or green.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects
Science Studio first floor plan – click for larger image

The snap-on overcladding, which protects and extends the life of the mineral fibre panels is made of pre painted hard tempered aluminium. The metal came to site as a coil, and the building was used as a production factory to decoil and form the cladding into trays. Then the colour was applied to the preformed standing seams with a specialist graphic tape (made by 3m).This is a technique very much like a traditional standing seam system, but the seams are preformed and then snap together so no tools are required to close up the seam. This technique is rarely if ever used in the UK, but is more common in the US, but was used in this case because it allowed the application of the coloured tape on the sides of the seams without the risk of damaging the tape during installation.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects
Science Studio roof plan – click for larger image

Once formed and coloured, the panels were carried outside manually and hoisted up (they are extremely light and easily handled by 2 people) and then snapped into place on the façade. Setting out and detailing had to be meticulously planned in order to ensure that there were no unfortunate alignment problems at the openings, and the all the details were first trialled on a sample panel which was essential in order to iron out some issues which would otherwise have ruined the simplicity of the façade.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects
Science Studio long section – click for larger image

The gallery is 18m high by 70m long, and is expressed as a separate volume and clad in a dark metallic grey Kingspan micro ribbed panel. These panels were made especially long by Kingspan – they exceeded the normal maximum length by several metres, but because they are made in a linear production line, all that was required was to cut them longer than the normal limit, and then arrange special transport to get them to site. The setting out and installation of these again had to be thought through meticulously, so that the cumulative installation tolerances could be accommodated and the cladding module would coincide neatly at the openings without cutting panels. Corners were designed to take out any final tolerances, with the corner panels being mitred along their full length and then fixed using a @damage and fillA technique making a countersunk hole in the cladding using a ball hammer, installing the fixings, and then repairing the panel with an epoxy filler and overspraying the damaged panels. The resulting finished fixing is invisible, but does require exceptional workmanship to get it right. Finally, the mitred corners were covered by a small 100 x 100 mm angle bonded in place and the coping was made to a matching dimension.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects
Science Studio cross section – click for larger image

Formaldehyde Building

The building houses a specialist studio facility which uses various chemicals and is therefore fitted out with specialist finishes and services which enable a safe working environment and safe ventilation. The chemicals being used react with and corrode many commonly used building materials, so the choice of glazed brickwork provided a solution that is naturally resistant to the chemicals, but also expresses the use of the building through the choice of external finishes. The client demanded a high quality of finish and detail, and the form of the building – which was dictated by the shape of the site, combined with the other requirements to produce a number of challenges.

The end result is a very high quality and durable building envelope, with all the openings covered in louvre clad doors to produce a fine – grained monolithic, wedge of a singular material.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects
Formaldehyde Building ground floor plan – click for larger image

The building is constructed as a steel frame with an internal leaf of concrete blockwork, bracing the frame and providing the inner leaf of a cavity. The brickwork is therefore a ½ brick thick outer leaf of a cavity wall.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects
Formaldehyde Building roof plan – click for larger image

The choice of glazed brickwork and the requirement for a high quality finish led the designers to decide that a standard 10mm brick joint would not be acceptable, and so a 4mm joint was adopted in order to produce the aesthetic quality the client was looking for. This raised a number of challenges:

» Putting wall ties into a 4 mm joint – The solution was to make every brick as a “pistol”, so that the actual brick bed joint was in fact 12 mm, with only the visible face of the brickwork having a 4mm joint for pointing up. This thick bed joint also assisted with the control of thermal movement.

» Avoidance of movement joints in the brickwork – there are only two vertical movement joints in the building façade, and these are disguised by a full height louvred panel. The mortar and the pointing up mix were designed by a specialist engineer and are soft, flexible lime mortar mixes, allowing sufficient movement to avoid thermal expansion cracking.

Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects
Formaldehyde Building section – click for larger image

Coordinating brickwork with 4mm joints sizes around openings. As the perpendicular joints are changed from 10 mm to 4 mm it means that, with a whole number of bricks dictating an opening width, then the bricks at the opening jambs will no longer be exactly a ½ brick – one side of the opening will be 6mm more than a ½ brick, and the other will be 6mm less than a ½ brick.

The solutions to the issues outlined above involved the manufacture of a large number of brick specials. The specials used included the pointed end of the building, copings made into precast units, glazed headers for corners and jambs, (not exact ½ brick sizes) slips for cladding lintels, brick slips for cladding a door, and all the “standard” stretcher bricks were cut as pistols. The Design Team worked closely with Ibstock to develop the details and the range and quantity of brick specials.

The nature of this facework is very unforgiving and required unusually tight manufacturing tolerances (dimensions and colour) and meticulously accurate setting out and gauging, using 4mm tile spacers and specially design stainless steel gauging rods to maintain an accurate face dimension of the brickwork in order to achieve the end result.

The post Science Studio and Formaldehyde Building
for Damien Hirst by Designscape Architects
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“Don’t be afraid to learn by copying others”

"Don't be afraid to learn by copying others"

Opinion: Slovakian designer Tomáš Libertíny, who wrote to Dezeen last month accusing a major advertising agency of exploiting his work, reflects on the nature of copying in design and argues that imitating the work of others should be an integral part of any designer’s education. 


Recently, a post on Dezeen showed a great deal of similarity between Dewar’s advertising campaign and my work. The agency’s stunt reminded me of the likes of Adibas, Adidos, Naik and countless other “brands”.

Inspired, and having thought about the subject of ethics, originality, progress and education in design, I decided to write a short reflection in the spirit of essays by French Renaissance writer Michel de Montaigne.

"Don't be afraid to learn by copying others"
Tomáš Libertíny

Copy to learn… to be copied to learn

I once heard someone say that the single cause of all the world’s evil are the words: “This is mine!” Picasso said that good artists copy; great artists steal. This is well-known and recently over-quoted thanks to the success of Steve Jobs with Apple. It is also tragically misinterpreted. It is a tongue-in-cheek phrase that insinuates that great artists build on the work of others without anyone spotting it.

Actually, it is more that we forgive them due to the personal spin they give to the bounty. In the light of the recent Tour de France doping scandals, one could say that good cyclists cheat; great cyclists don’t get caught. I am forced to ask myself the same question as Mugatu in the 2001 comedy movie Zoolander: “Doesn’t anyone notice this? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!” Ironically, he claims he invented the piano-key necktie.

American art critic Arthur Danto pondered over the success of Andy Warhol’s Brillo Box. This work would not have been possible without the Brillo box design by James Harvey. I imagine it should have been Harvey and not Valerie Solanas who shot at Warhol. The success of pop art is largely thanks to the appropriation of work of often anonymous designers created for the purpose of a vicious battle for consumers.

Nonetheless, it certainly brought Warhol fame and eventually stardom. His version of the Brillo box also became an icon and a dead end. However, its real relevance is the ecstasy of the mind that hangs in confusion. We love to hope; we love the game. The mystery of David Lynch’s movies has the same mind-tickling effect. It is not surprising, since we celebrate entertainers over caretakers.

It seems to me a sign of foresight that we should recognise the path that people walked and pawed before us. That foresight looks back to secure the future. It was Neil Armstrong who took the first step on the moon but that step was the sum of all the steps taken before him by all humankind (not only those of NASA). Similarly, designers are nothing as individuals.

I want to argue that in our education we should learn from the past and not be afraid to learn by copying others. This type of learning is taking a step further in a purposeful direction, acknowledging the source and paying tribute to the ongoing building of knowledge that defines culture.

Our knowledge of Greek sculptures is through the Roman copies. The actual number of surviving ancient Greek originals is pathetic. By copying, the Romans have not only preserved but also learned and improved. Even the famous statue of Laocoön, admired by Michelangelo, is a copy.

The age-old idea of ownership and possession is a consensus upon which the majority of societies agreed to act to bring order into the growing complexity of relationships. We protect the whole by limiting the individual. Copying is not an act of stealing, but it can give the same advantage.

One can copy someone or something in order to:

» learn about the subject and understand it
» pay homage to it
» acquire the same privileges as the subject and exploit it for personal gain.

The nature of the world is such that all of these are part of life and always will be.

Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges wrote in his essay titled The Flower of Coleridge that for the classic mind, literature is the essential thing, not individuals. You could say the same of design.

My training was classical. When I was about 14 years old I got an assignment for an art class I was privately attending to copy a painting. I chose Portrait of a Sculptor, believed to be the self-portrait by Italian Renaissance painter Andrea Del Sarto. There was a limitation: I had to do it in tempera on paper. It was difficult since tempera acts differently to oil, obviously, but the lesson was priceless. My confidence in the medium had risen. Immediately following the copy of a painting was an assignment to copy nature en plein air. I sat by a tree and looked at the structure, texture and weight of its intertwined branches.

"Don't be afraid to learn by copying others"
Graphite on paper, 1984, Tomáš Gabzdil Libertíny

In the same way, I observed my own hands. I started to see more the longer I looked at them. It was a great exercise in discipline, focus and of course draftsmanship. I felt that I was starting to understand the relationship between skin, flesh and bones. Later, when I was in the first year of my formal design education, we visited a medical school where they fished human body parts from the pool of formaldehyde for us to draw. A human torso was delivered to us on a trolley and there I was, seeing an expired human engine and tracing it on a piece of paper.

"Don't be afraid to learn by copying others"
Graphite on paper, 2001, Tomáš Gabzdil Libertíny

In general, this exercise eventually teaches the mind of any student to look at things. It doesn’t substitute natural talent but nonetheless establishes neural connections that will be prone to recognise relationships, patterns and hierarchies in the world observed. These neural connections may be permanent or flexible, have style or no style (one may argue though that everybody has a style but the difference is quite clear when a rigid and fresh mind approaches a problem).

To learn is to love. Our initial response attaches us to the subject. However, it is the continued study of the subject “as it is” that evolves into love. Bruce Lee in one of his televised interviews says: “If you put water into a cup it becomes the cup. Water can flow or water can crash – be water, my friend”.

Spiritual writer Anthony de Mello puts it differently. He says when you cut water, the water doesn’t get hurt; when you cut something solid, it breaks. You’ve got solid attitudes inside you; you’ve got solid illusions inside you. This is what scientists strive for: an unobstructed view. When you truly love something or someone you must first see it.

A common practice of artists of the past was learning through apprenticeship from an older master. Michelangelo did his time as an apprentice too. He preferred copying paintings from churches rather than learning at school. But which of the world’s renowned design academies today have their students copy, for example, Charles Eames chairs? Or a software code in reverse engineering? How about an assignment to write a story like William Shakespeare? Wouldn’t that be a great way to really understand the inner workings of his writing style and language?

In the case of Eames, when I say copy, I mean literally copy and make an exact replica with the resources one has at his or her disposal. Looking at pictures doesn’t teach anyone much more than information about the weather. It is just information. Following design blogs and current trends does not make one a better designer; it makes one a better-informed designer. Despite the fact that information and skill are both pillars of knowledge, there is fundamental difference between them.

Copying is wrong when it is pretending to be original; then copying becomes faking. A fake is the cardinal sin of design, a non-progressive parasite. On the other hand, copying to learn and improve is the most characteristic trait of human behaviour. Unlike non-human primates, which don’t have the cognitive capacity to improve upon something learned, we do. We copy our parents and friends as children in order to become our unique better selves. That is exactly what designers should do.

Unfortunately, our era pushes individuals to perform at early stages as original creators not understanding that the history of design is the history of re-design. Heading towards the new for the sake of the new is counterproductive. Look, for example, at the three volumes of Phaidon Design Classics. An icon is a stage in the process of re-design that reaches its peak; it cannot be a better version of itself. Originality is a myth. Discovery of the not-yet-seen is not. Scottish novelist Robert Louis Stevenson said that there are no foreign lands, it is only the traveler who is foreign.

It was Giorgio Vasari with his Lives of the Most Excellent Italian Painters, Sculptors, and Architects who introduced the myth of an artist. It was Michelangelo, who witnessed his Pietà attributed to Gobbo from Milan, who decided, in the quiet of the night, to carve his name upon it. Vasari distinguished between “disegno” and “invenzione”, understanding them as mother and father of the work of art. He saw “invenzione” not as new, but better. He recognised, however, that not everybody was able to reveal the better and it took a genius to fish it out from the pond of knowledge. Hence not everybody is Michelangelo – but we are all fishermen.

Students of design, copy to learn and remember that you are part of the history of design. We are trying to land on Mars.

Libertiny’s  Honeycomb Vase was copied by Berlin students at last year’s DMY Berlin – read our earlier story »


Tomáš Libertíny is a Slovakian designer working in Rotterdam. He founded Studio Libertíny after completing his masters degree at Design Academy Eindhoven in 2006. His works have been acquired by a number of museums around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

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Dezeen Mail #164

Dezeen Mail #164

A rural beach house in Chile (pictured) and Shigeru Ban’s cardboard cathedral feature in Dezeen Mail issue 164, plus all the latest news, jobs, competitions and reader comments from Dezeen.

Read Dezeen Mail issue 164 | Subscribe to Dezeen Mail

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