Hasta La Ideas

News: Dutch firm OMA has seen off competition from Danish studio BIG to land the high-profile commission to renovate Miami Beach Convention Center, home to the annual Art Basel/Miami and Design Miami trade fairs.

In a meeting held last night, Miami Beach City Commission named the winning development team as South Beach Ace, the group comprising OMA, property developers Tishman and UIA, local architect TVSdesign and landscape architects MVVA and Raymond Jungles.

OMA’s design will see a new 800-room hotel constructed over the roof of the existing convention centre, which itself will be expanded and reorganised by a 90-degree rotation that relocates the entrance on the south side of the site.

OMA’s Rem Koolhaas and Shohei Shigematsu commented: “We are thrilled to be chosen to develop one of the most significant urban districts in the US. Our design will reintegrate Miami’s vital convention centre with the area’s existing neighbours, offering new connections as well as amplifying the character of this vibrant and exciting city.”

Reports claim that Miami Beach city manager Jimmy Morales had recommended BIG‘s Portman CMC team because it would be a cheaper and quicker construction, but that eventually OMA’s proposal was selected on a vote of five to two.

A public vote on the plans will take place in November, and if successful the renovated building could be open by 2018.

Here’s an animated fly-through of the winning design:

See more images of OMA’s proposal in our earlier story, or see the opposing design by BIG.

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Convention Center commission appeared first on Dezeen.

An integrated pulley system allows items to be hoisted up and down around this workstation by Italian design graduate Micaela Nardella (+ slideshow).

Micaela Nardella was influenced by the movement of industrial cranes and lifts when designing the wooden structure, which is intended to be wheeled over an existing desk.

CRANE-IT features a series of hanging platforms with perforations and nets that can hold books, pens, coffee cups or plants.

The platforms can be lifted up and down using the spinning wheels on the side of the structure, creating a dynamic workspace that can be adapted to suit different activities.

“The project creates an innovative overhead experience by featuring different textures, densities and by expanding or shrinking the space underneath the structure,” explains Nardella.

All the pulleys, ropes and handles are deliberately over-scaled so that the working mechanisms of the structure become the main feature.

The apparatus can be used as a single module or combined with additional units to form a larger arrangement for several people.

CRANE-IT was presented earlier this month at the Post-Port exhibition in Rotterdam, a showcase of work by graduates from the Piet Zwart Institute.

Other adaptable workstations we’ve featured on Dezeen include a writing desk with sliding storage compartments that can be pulled out and rearranged.

See more stories about desk design »
See all our stories about furniture »

Here’s a project description from the designer:

CRANE-IT is a vertical moving machine on wheels to be located over an existing workstation. The wooden structure and its pulley systems add functional quality and new levels of spatial use to an ordinary desk.

Inspired by the mechanisms of harbour cranes and warehouse industrial lifts, the project translates their moving technique into the design of a new spatial organization. Different functional elements are suspended above head level and each set of systems controls the relocation of one component; objects would move up and down by spinning the wheels placed on the structure.

Every component of the vertical motion is exposed and over-scaled so that pulleys, ropes and handles become the main feature of the project.

This apparatus features a group of hanged surfaces: from extra space for pens or coffee cups to a small comfortable cushion for a short break. Net hangers, book holder and temporary partitions are added on a conventional work place. CRANE-IT stands as a singular active module that adapts to the necessities of one person. It can also be positioned in a multiplied spatial arrangement for a larger and lively working area, suitable for more users.

The project creates an innovative overhead experience by featuring different textures, densities and by expanding or shrinking the space underneath the structure. This new machine proposes a dynamic approach to work areas, where the continuous movement opens up for adaptability.

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Micaela Nardella appeared first on Dezeen.

We take a tour through the staircases, gyms and study areas of Steven Holl’s Campbell Sports Centre at Columbia University in the second of two movies by architectural filmmakers Spirit of Space.

Steven Holl Architects designed the building as a combined athletics and study facility for students. The movie shows activity both inside and outside, from football games on the sports pitches to conversations in the stairwells.

The film begins with the building’s busy setting on the corner of West 218th Street and Broadway, where the five-storey structure climbs up a sloping site and forms a new entrance to several existing sports tracks.

It also traces routes through the building, including on the staircases and balconies that zigzag across the facade.

Steven Holl describes the design concept for the sports centre as being based on a diagram for a football strategy in the first of the two movies.

See more images of Campbell Sports Centre in our earlier story, or see more architecture by Steven Holl Architects.

Spirit of Space has previously filmed movies about other Steven Holl-designed buildings, including an underground gallery in South Korea and the mixed-use Sliced Porosity Block in China. See more movies by Spirit of Space on Dezeen »

Architectural photography is by Iwan Baan.

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by Steven Holl Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

The facade of this black and white house by British architect Matthew Heywood is sliced up into irregular shapes to mimic the crooked angles of tree branches (+ slideshow).

Matthew Heywood wanted to create an affinity with the surrounding woodland when designing the five-bedroom property, located in a small village in Kent, England.

The architect used slanted columns – known as raking columns – to form the structure of the building, referencing criss-crossing branches and twigs.

“Large expanses of glass fill the gaps between the structure and allow you to appreciate the landscape and setting as if you were peering out from between the trunks and branches of the trees,” explained Heywood.

The residence is clad in a mixture of black-stained and white-painted clapboard, which is commonly found on houses in this part of England. “The weatherboarding represents the foliage wrapping the building and enclosing the spaces within,” Heywood said.

The monochrome colour palette continues inside the house with dark flooring, white walls and furnishings in shades of grey.

The ground floor of the property includes a large reception area with a suspended fireplace and sliding doors that open out onto the garden.

A staircase with a glass balustrade leads to the first floor, which accommodates five bedrooms, three bathrooms and a dressing room.

Matthew Heywood doesn’t just work on buildings – the London-based architect previously tried his hand at redesigning London’s buses.

Other British houses we’ve recently featured include a small wooden house on the Isle of Skye and a house with a mirrored facade that slides across to cover the windows. See all our stories about British houses »

Photography is by Jefferson Smith.

Engineer – Fothergill & Company
Main Contractor – Ecolibrium Solutions

Here’s a description from the architect:

Trish House Yalding

The design of the house developed in direct response to the site and its location within the beautiful village of Yalding in Kent.

The building’s structure is composed to reflect the surrounding woodland with the raking columns representing the irregular angles of tree trunks and branches.

Large expanses of glass fill the gaps between the structure and allow you to appreciate the landscape and setting as if you were peering out from between the trunks and branches of the trees.

The traditional Kentish black and white weatherboarding represents the foliage wrapping the building and enclosing the spaces within. In contrast to the surrounding nature, the form and lines of the house are intentionally very geometric and crisp, creating a dialogue between the organic woodland and the modernist box.

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by Matthew Heywood appeared first on Dezeen.

News: London interior designer David Collins has died after a short battle with skin cancer, his office has announced.

Collins, best known for restaurant interiors including The Wolseley, J Sheekey, Nobu Berkeley and Massimo (pictured), died this morning. “It is with great sadness that we announce the death of David Collins following a short but valiant battle with cancer,” reads a message on his website.

“David died this morning at 1.20am surrounded by his family and loved ones. A truly gifted and inspirational man who has left us with some of the most remarkable and treasured interiors.”

“David’s death is a real shock,” wrote Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman in a tribute on vogue.co.uk. “As well as being responsible for designing many of the most influential London restaurants and bars of our age, he was a dear friend of many at Vogue.

She added: “His work merged luxury, glamour and heritage in an inimitable fashion and his company was always of the first and most enjoyable order.”

Born in Dublin, Collins founded David Collins Studio in London in 1985 and landed his first big commission when he was hired to design every branch of French-style restaurant chain Cafe Rouge.

More recently Collins designed retail interiors for fashion brands including Jimmy Choo, Alexander McQueen and Harrods.

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