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News: architect Daniel Libeskind has refuted allegations that he was given an unfair advantage and received unlawful payments for designing a new building at the Leuphana University of Lüneburg in Germany, where he is also a part-time professor.

The allegations, printed in the German press last week, claim that there were irregularities in the way the project was awarded to Libeskind, as well as irregularities in reimbursements for his work.

Leuphana University has threatened to take legal action against the publications and today issued a statement saying the allegations are “unsubstantiated”.

“We categorically refute these allegations”, said university spokesperson Henning Zühlsdorff. “Daniel Libeskind was not granted any unlawful advantages nor were competitors given a disadvantage.”

“The allegations that are made through the press are allegations which we refute as false,” Nina Libeskind told Dezeen. “The contracts between the university and professor Libeskind were contracts that were publicly registered and were passed through the parliament. How we could be any more official or legal than that, we don’t know.”

Daniel Libeskind was awarded the commission to design a new building for Leuphana University to house an auditorium, lecture theatres and student offices in 2007, around the same time he joined the university as a visiting professor.

Nina Libeskind told Dezeen that the program for the building was developed by Libeskind in a seminar with students at the university before plans were submitted to the ministry of science and culture. “There were a whole series of seminars which were conducted and on the basis of that, the building was designed,” she explained. “As a professor working with the students, he designed the building… I think that’s why it wasn’t put out to tender.”

A spokesperson from the European Union’s anti-fraud office (OLAF) told Dezeen that the organisation has recommended action be taken by the commission directorate-general for regional policy and urban development (DG REGIO) to clarify the way EU funding has been spent in relation to the building.

The total cost of the project is €60,000,000, with the state of Lower Saxony contributing €21,000,000 and the European Union contributing €12,480,000.

The building is due for completion in August 2015.

See all our stories about Daniel Libeskind »
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The statement below is from Leuphana University:

Allegations of Unlawful Acceptance of Benefits by Daniel Libeskind Unsubstantiated

Lüneburg. Leuphana University of Lüneburg unequivocally rejects all allegations of irregularities in the award procedure in relation to Daniel Libeskind and reimbursements of services rendered by him and his office. According to the university’s legal interpretation those accusations are groundless and irresponsible. We also wish to state that we are extremely appreciative of Daniel Libeskind’s contributions to the work of the university.

Contrary to recent media coverage of an as yet unreleased and confidential report prepared by OLAF, the European Anti-Fraud Office, neither Mr. Libeskind nor his office received any unlawful payments.

“We categorically refute these allegations”, stated university spokesperson Henning Zühlsdorff. He added that, following the university’s instigation of legal proceedings against numerous members of the press, many of them have already agreed to issue retractions or corrections.

The process of retaining and paying both Mr. Libeskind and his practice have been conducted in accordance with the law. For his work as a part-time professor at Leuphana University, Mr. Libeskind receives an annual salary of approximately 50.000 Euro pre-tax. Studio Daniel Libeskind, Mr. Libeskind’s architectural practice, was retained by the university solely to provide advice on the design of the new central university building.

Says Zühlsdorff: “Daniel Libeskind was not granted any unlawful advantages nor were competitors given a disadvantage.”

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allegations” of unlawful payments appeared first on Dezeen.

Orthopedic practices to correct body deformities influenced the leather straps and buckles in this fashion collection, presented by Marina Hoermanseder at Graduate Fashion Week earlier this week (+ slideshow).

Vegetable-tanned leather is double-sided and painted red on the reverse to create patterns where sections are flipped over.

“I became absolutely passionate about working with leather and manipulating it,” Hoermanseder told Dezeen. “I experimented a lot with moulding, twisting, buckling and strapping the leather around the body.”

Buckles secure twisted straps down the length of a perforated leather skirt and helmets worn after an accident informed the back of a visored hat.

A series of buckled bands form the sleeves of one top, which has a zip-up bodice and two wide shoulder panels clasped at the neck.

Straps are also fastened around the legs with metal studs, either over bare skin or white leggings.

In some cases the leather items are worn over ruffled tops in red, grey and white, designed to emulate skin maladies.

“The colourful silk ruffles were inspired by serious skin conditions such as smallpox and represent skin that is falling apart,” said Hoermanseder. “They provide a contrast to the stiff leather elements.”

Accessories include straps that fit around the head and cuffs that look like plaster casts, which can be attached to metal hooks at the breastbones of some tops.

“The accessories are my favourite,” the designer said. “Outside of the collection they work with casual clothes, adding a little fetish edge that’s still high fashion.”

Other garments are created by wrapping skin-coloured bandages around the body.

“My aim was to give women a spine, by giving them support and self-confidence in the world of fashion,” Hoermanseder concluded.

The collection formed part of the Esmod Berlin International University of Art for Fashion exhibition and show at Graduate Fashion Week 2013 in London earlier in the week.

We recently featured an exhibition in London that displayed fetishistic prosthetics.

See more fashion design »
See more 2013 graduate projects »

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Marina Hoermanseder appeared first on Dezeen.

Shoes are displayed in metal mesh columns at this footwear store in Osaka, Japan (+ slideshow).

Interior designer Ryutaro Matsuura used the see-through wire panels and a neutral palette to create an environment that puts all the emphasis on the shoes.

“When the differences of surrounding decorative environment are suppressed, the items themselves begin to enhance their presence,” he explains.

Shoes are displayed on translucent shelves made from a honeycomb resin sandwich, attached to floor-to-ceiling columns of different circumferences.

Matsuura describes the interior as a “shoe forest”, with “the merchandise hovering like fruits on trees”.

The design gives equal prominence to each product and allows customers to navigate the displays without overbearing design elements influencing their purchasing decision.

Nendo recently designed a store in New York for Spanish brand Camper with white resin shoes covering the walls and we spoke to Miguel Fluxá, head of Camper, who told us why they use different designers for each of their stores.

See more retail design »

Photography is by Nacasa & Partners Inc.

Here is some more information from the designer:

Stores tend to be composed of wall shelves and display tables. In those cases, the priority levels for the items at the store and the flows of customers would be set by the sellers. And hence the selection behaviours of the customers tend to be controlled.

So that made us create a pleasant space where customers can find the goods they have hoped for without bias. That was the birth of the shoe store studded with the same C-shaped wire mesh fixtures.

The fixtures have translucent loose shelves for shoes that are made of honeycomb sandwich resin panels. The merchandise hovering like fruits on trees shows its presence in the store that can be described as a “shoe forest”. Customers can enjoy meeting the merchandise and feel a sense of exaltation.

When the differences of surrounding decorative environment　are suppressed, the items themselves begin to enhance their presence. Therefore we think that spontaneous perceptions would be educed from
customers. And then, imagination and curiosity of the customers would be getting large.

Those feelings will provide a motivation for customers to approach each item, and they will have an opportunity to find the item that really suits. That is what we are expecting.

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by Ryutaro Matsuura appeared first on Dezeen.

Competition: Dezeen and UK designers Dorothy have teamed up to give readers the chance to win one of five prints that group Hollywood actors into constellations named after films they have starred in (+ slideshow).

Dorothy‘s pair of Hollywood Star Charts feature constellations named after culturally significant films since 1927 and the group of stars that form the clusters are the actors that appeared in them.

Films on the Golden Age chart include The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, Casablanca and fifty-nine more classics.

The names are mapped onto the Los Angeles night sky as it appeared on 6 October 1927 – the release date of Al Johnson’s The Jazz Singer, the first feature-length motion picture with synchronised dialogue.

The Exorcist, Star Wars and Pulp Fiction are among the 108 movies on the Modern Day print, based on the night sky over New York on 16 June 1960 – the date and place that Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho debuted.

Titles were included if they are chosen for preservation in the US National Film Registry, Academy Award winners or the designers’ personal favourites.

A key at the bottom of each print lists featured actors, date of their Oscar win or nomination and position of their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Readers have the chance to win either a dark blue Golden Age or dark grey Modern Day open edition chart, worth £25 each.

The litho prints are also available as signed limited editions in gold and silver, which cost £100 each. All prints are available to purchase at Dorothy’s online store.

To enter this competition email your name, age, gender, occupation, and delivery address and telephone number to competitions@dezeen.com with “Hollywood Star Charts” in the subject line. We won’t pass your information on to anyone else; we just want to know a little about our readers. Read our privacy policy here.

Competition closes 4 July 2013. Five winners will be selected at random and notified by email. Winners’ names will be published in a future edition of our Dezeen Mail newsletter and at the top of this page. Dezeen competitions are international and entries are accepted from readers in any country.

We’ve previously run competitions to win maps with locations names after films and prints that feature bands and songs with colours in their names next to corresponding hues on the colour wheel, both also by Dorothy.

See more graphic design »
See more design by Dorothy »

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by Dorothy to be won appeared first on Dezeen.

An inflatable pavilion covered with a clear tensile membrane has been installed in east London by Paris architects Atelier Zündel Cristea (+ slideshow).

A continuous white tube twists and undulates to create a three-armed form that visitors can walk or sit underneath and climb on top of.

“The design of the structure is a simple topological deformation of a torus and the shape was mathematically generated,” the architects told us.

The clear plastic sheet stretched over the top and attached with zips forms a springy surface, which can be reached by clambering up one of the sections that touch the ground.

An anodised aluminium platform with the same plan as the inflated structure forms the base, anchored to the ground at six points around the edge.

Atelier Zündel Cristea‘s design won first prize in a summer pavilion competition organised by ArchTriumph.

It is located in Museum Gardens in the east London area of Bethnal Green, next to the Museum of Childhood, and will be in place until 16 June.

Over in west London, this year’s Serpentine Gallery Pavilion by Sou Foujimoto was unveiled earlier this week. See the first photos of the structure here, additional images here and watch our interview with Fujimoto here.

Our other stories that feature blow-up design include the entrance to last year’s Design Miami fair that was covered by inflatable sausages and a balloon shaped like a naked fat man pressed up against a gallery window.

See more inflatable architecture and design »
See more pavilion design »

Photography is by Sergio Grazia.

The architects sent us the following information:

Enhancing the experience of the city does not always require projects of significant cost and time, but can often come about as the result of modest, temporary interventions and events, in key places, at chosen times.

Our office is dedicated to the conception of interventions likely to appeal to city residents, transforming the way in which they view the places around them and the practices possible in their cities.

Human beings carry within them nostalgia of a primordial happiness from ancient times. The notion of a return to these origins of happiness is often associated with Nature.

Our intention is to encourage inhabitants to participate in fun, uncommon events taking place within the urban landscape: an inflatable bridge equipped with giant trampolines rises above the Seine, a pavilion erected in a London park, a museum traversed by a roller coaster.

These projects offer, in the heart of the city, new forms of Elysian Fields, given over not to the Champs-Élysées of shopping and strictly urban activities, but rather to fundamental human practices, which liberate strong emotions calling on all our senses.

The site of this competition is the Museum Gardens, Cambridge Heath Road in Bethnal Green, London. It lies within the Tower Hamlets and Hackney boroughs. The gardens are on the English Heritage Register for Historic Parks and Gardens. It is approximately 1.05 hectares in size and is surrounded by: Cambridge Heath Road, Museum Passage, V&A Museum of Childhood, St John’s Church and Victoria Park Square. The site’s main use is as a recreational garden for living, working and visiting communities. Given it’s prominence within the community it serves, it is clear to us that it is important that the most is made of the site through our pavilion.

Our project responds to the desire to create a temporary transportable pavilion for the summer of 2013 in such a public space, with a need for inclusion, socializing, relaxation, discussion, reflection, escape, view and enjoyment of a high quality space.

It will provide an inspirational space where visiting architects, designers, families and the general public can stand and sit whilst admiring, embracing diversity and engaging with each other in discussions about design, the importance and benefits of peace and co-existence, or even novel stories they have to tell in a peaceful setting.

The Museum Gardens, and nature in general are the perfect settings to promote the idea of peace, to encourage the sharing of joyful stories and provoking discussions about architecture and design.

We propose a Pavilion which is visually and aesthetically engaging. We think it is capable of providing an ideal contemporary space which offers a sense of tranquility, beauty and an exceptional aesthetic value to the very heart of the Museum Gardens.

Peace is one of the highest possible human ideals. It is a state of equilibrium; it means NO WAR, but also harmony, silence, pureness, kindness, happiness, appeasement, calm, reconciliation, serendipity, tranquility…

To express all of these ideas, we have created a perfect and symmetrical sculpture, obtained by a precise geometrical manipulation. The beauty of the shape lies in its perfect symmetry and fluidity; we feel there is no need to explain it a great deal as it is a pavilion that speaks to everyone. It allows visitors looking at the volume for a split second to get a sense of the pavilion and its layout with minimum effort.

The symmetrical geometry of the pavilion blurs our notions of inside and outside, however the simple act of motion through the exterior and interior spaces of the pavilion bringing an understanding to the visitor.

The Pavilion is 4 meters in height and 20 square metres in area. Designed entirely with lightweight materials – 77.96m² of PVC membrane and 20m3 of air – our project is a self-supporting structure; it is easily scalable to inhabit larger dimensions of other sites.

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Atelier Zündel Cristea appeared first on Dezeen.