This apartment block in the Iranian town of Mahallat was constructed using the otherwise useless offcuts from local stone cutting businesses.
Stone cutting is the largest trade in the area but is a wasteful process that discards more than half of its produce, so architect Ramin Mehdizadeh of Tehran studio Architecture by Collective Terrain (AbCT) decided to recycle the material and use it as cladding for a building.
“There are some very nice characteristics of this waste, and one is that the thicknesses are all the same,” says Mehdizadeh, explaining how easy it is to stack the pieces in rows to form a wall.
“The form is very familiar for the people, because the origin of this form is the quarries, and that’s why even a contemporary piece of architecture could sit here easily,” he says.
AbCT built up the stones around each elevation of Apartment No. 1, a five-storey block that contains eight apartments on its upper floors and two shops at ground level.
The variations in colour, size and texture give a natural pattern to the walls, which angle outwards at intervals to shield small windows from direct sunlight.
Larger windows are screened by timber shutters made from locally milled wood. Designed in response to the conservative lifestyle of the local community, the shutters help to regulate light and temperature in the apartments at the hottest times of the year.
Here’s a short project description from the award organisers:
Apartment No. 1
The majority of Mahallat’s economy is engaged in the business of cutting and treating stone, over half of which is discarded due to inefficiencies in stone-cutting technology.
This project turns the inefficiency to economic and environmental advantage by reusing leftover stones for both exterior and some interior walls, and has led to the increasing adoption of stone recycling by local builders.
The five-storey structure comprises two ground-level retail spaces and eight three-bedroom apartments above. Its austere prismatic form is balanced by the warmth of the natural materials. Small windows are shielded by triangular stone protrusions, and larger ones have wooden shutters that allow residents to regulate light and temperature levels.
Location: Mahallat, Iran (Central Asia) Architect: AbCT – Architecture by Collective Terrain, Tehran, Iran Client: Ramin Mehdizadeh, Hossein Sohrabpoor, Mehdi Mehdizadeh Completed: 2010 Design: 2007 Site size: Ground floor area: 260 m2 – Total site area: 420 m2
Like Rams’ 606 Universal Shelving System, which Rams designed for Vitsœ in the same year, the chair is an adaptable piece of furniture that can be joined with other chairs to form a multi-seat sofa. Its castors can also be swapped for a swivel base.
Following Dieter Rams granting Vitsœ the exclusive worldwide licence to his original furniture designs, Vitsœ is pleased to announce it has comprehensively re-engineered Rams’s 620 Chair Programme delivering exceptional improvements in both quality and price. The 620 Chair Programme – marking its 50th anniversary – will be available from 9 May.
Vitsœ’s new production of 620 shows characteristic rigour and attention to detail. The chair has been completely re-engineered, right down to the last purpose-designed stainless-steel bolt. In turn, the very best traditional upholstery skills have been revived to ensure a chair that will last for generations, a point reinforced by the choice of a sumptuous full-grain aniline-dyed leather that will only improve with age. All of this has been achieved while prices have been reduced.
Designed for Vitsœ in 1962, the 620 Chair Programme has won numerous prizes and is collected by, and exhibited in, museums and galleries worldwide. Notoriously, in 1968, the chair was copied. Vitsœ’s co-founder, Niels Vitsœ, fought a lengthy court case that culminated in the chair being granted rare copyright protection in 1973.
Like its sibling the 606 Universal Shelving System, which was designed by Dieter Rams in 1962, the 620 Chair Programme is a carefully-conceived kit of parts. For example, a single chair can become a multi-seat sofa when more chairs are added. Or a chair on castors can be transformed into a swivelling chair.
This coastal holiday house and swimming pool by Mumbai practice WE Design Studio is positioned over a stone retaining wall in the hilly landscape of Alibaug, India (+ slideshow).
Accommodating a family of four, the single-storey residence has a rectilinear plan orientated to face a view of the Arabian Sea to the west.
A glazed wall stretches across the sea-facing facade, offering a panoramic view from the living room and two bedrooms positioned alongside. The panels slide open to lead out to the swimming pool and surrounding terrace.
WE Design Studio constructed the walls of the house from brick and they are coated in lime plaster to give a uniform colour.
“The brief was to build a compact house for a family of four, which is easy to manage and maintain,” architect Saahil Parikh told Dezeen. “We were given a very moderate budget to work with and the construction and material choices have been largely influenced by it.”
The pale-coloured exterior contrasts with the dark grey tones of the basalt stone retaining walls that surround the building. These walls lift the house up from the steeply sloping hillside in front, but also support an access road at the rear.
Flooring inside the house displays the same texture as the surface of the terrace outside, finished in a locally sourced limestone called Shahabad.
This 3500 square foot single family house is located on a two acre hill in Kashid, Alibaug. The house comprises two intersecting monolithic volumes that are oriented to maximize a spectacular panoramic view of the Arabian Sea.
Two stone retaining walls made of locally available basalt wrap around the front and rear of the house. The articulation of spaces is governed by the different ways in which these volumes interact with the stone walls.
The pool and deck seamlessly integrate interior with the surrounding landscape, establishing a strong sense of continuity. The house is a result of a continuous negotiation between topography, programmatic requirements and economy.
News: the winners of the 2013 Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Awards have been announced, with Chicago-based collective Studio Gang Architects taking the prize for architecture.
New Jersey Performing Arts Center facade by Pentagram
James Vines, founder and president of New York-based architecture studio SITE, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement prize for his work on environmentally-conscious buildings, interiors and public spaces.
The Corporate & Institutional Achievement award was given to TED, the nonprofit organisation whose online TED Talks on topics ranging from augmented reality to how to tie shoelaces surpassed one billion views in 2012.
Silk dress by Behnaz Sarafpour
Architect and urbanist Michael Sorkin picked up the Design Mind award, while the Graphic Design prize was given to Paula Scher, a principal at design consultancy Pentagram, whose work includes the typographical decoration on the facade of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.
The Fashion Design award was won by Behnaz Sarafpour, who has collaborated with Target, Lancôme and Earnest Sewn and had her clothes exhibited at the V&A in London and the Fashion Institute of Technology’s museum in New York.
Fitbit activity tracker by NewDealDesign
Joshua Aidlin and David Darling of Aidlin Darling Design won in the Interior Design category, while media design firm Local Projects, which specialises in work for museums and public spaces, took the Interaction Design prize.
Margie Ruddick won the Landscape Architecture award for her work on projects including New York’s Queens Plaza and Trenton Capital Park on the Delaware River, while NewDealDesign, a San Francisco studio whose work includes the Fitbit wearable activity tracker, picked up the Product Design award.
An exhibition charting punk’s influence on high fashion has opened at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York this week. Above: Chanel by David Sims, 2011.
Aiming to examine the relationship between 1970s anarchic subculture and fashion design today, vintage punk outfits are shown alongside contemporary clothing by brands such as Alexander McQueen, Martin Margiela and Karl Lagerfeld.
Rodarte by David Sims, 2008
“Since its origins, punk has had an incendiary influence on fashion,” said Andrew Bolton, curator in The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Although punk’s democracy stands in opposition to fashion’s autocracy, designers continue to appropriate punk’s aesthetic vocabulary to capture its youthful rebelliousness and aggressive forcefulness,” he said.
Comme des Garçons by Peter Lindbergh, 1982
Approximately 100 garments for both sexes are displayed across seven galleries, each with a different theme.
One room is based on iconic Manhattan music bar CBGB, represented by bands such as Blondie and the Ramones, while the space opposite takes reference from Malcolm McClaren and Vivienne Westwood’s Seditionaries boutique at 430 King’s Road in London.
Hussein Chalayan by Eric Nehr
Located in the museum’s second-floor Cantor galleries, Punk: Chaos to Couture opened earlier this week and runs until 14 August 2013.
Read the full press release from the museum below:
Punk Fashion Is Focus of Costume Institute Exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Exhibition dates: 9 May – 14 August 2013 Exhibition location: Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Exhibition Hall
PUNK: Chaos to Couture, organized by The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, examines punk’s impact on high fashion from the movement’s birth in the 1970s through its continuing influence today. The exhibition is on view from 9 May through 14 August at the Museum.
John Lydon by Richard Young, 1975
The Exhibition
The exhibition, in the Museum’s second-floor Cantor galleries, features approximately 100 designs for men and women. A few iconic punk garments from the mid-1970s are juxtaposed with recent, directional fashion to illustrate how haute couture and ready-to-wear have borrowed punk’s visual symbols, with paillettes being replaced with safety pins, feathers with razor blades, and bugle beads with studs. Focusing on the relationship between the punk concept of ‘do-it-yourself’ and the couture concept of ‘made to measure,’ the exhibition is organised around the materials, techniques, and embellishments associated with the anti-establishment style. Presented as an immersive multimedia experience, the clothes are animated with vintage videos and soundscaping audio techniques.
Organized thematically, each of the seven galleries has footage of designated punk ‘heroes’ who embody the broader concepts behind the fashions on view. The first gallery is devoted to CBGB in New York City, represented by Blondie, Richard Hell, The Ramones, and Patti Smith. Opposite is a gallery inspired by Malcolm McClaren and Vivienne Westwood’s Seditionaries boutique at 430 King’s Road in London, and between the two is Clothes for Heroes, embodied by a slow motion video of Jordan. This gallery examines designers who extend the visual language of punk, as it was originally articulated by McLaren and Westwood, by merging social realism with artistic expression.
Sid Vicious by Dennis Morris, 1977
Do-it-yourself, punk’s enduring contribution to high fashion, is explored in the four final galleries: D.I.Y. Hardware, focusing on couture’s use of studs, spikes, chains, zippers, padlocks, safety pins, and razor blades, with Sid Vicious as its icon; D.I.Y. Bricolage, highlighting the impact of punk’s ethos of customization on high fashion, including the use of recycled materials from trash and consumer culture, as epitomized by Wayne County; D.I.Y. Graffiti and Agitprop, exploring punk’s tradition of provocation and confrontation through images and text exemplified by The Clash; and D.I.Y. Destroy, examining the effect of punk’s rip-it-to-shreds spirit, typified by Johnny Rotten, via torn and shredded garments associated with deconstructionism.
Designers in the exhibition include Miguel Adrover, Thom Browne, Christopher Bailey (Burberry), Hussein Chalayan, Francisco Costa (Calvin Klein), Christophe Decarnin (Balmain), Ann Demeulemeester, Dior, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana (Dolce and Gabbana), John Galliano, Nicolas Ghesquière (Balenciaga), Katharine Hamnett, Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren (Viktor & Rolf), Christopher Kane, Rei Kawakubo (Comme des Garçons), Karl Lagerfeld (Chanel), Helmut Lang, Martin Margiela, Malcolm McLaren, Alexander McQueen, Franco Moschino and Rossella Jardini (Moschino), Kate and Laura Mulleavy (Rodarte), Miuccia Prada, Gareth Pugh, Zandra Rhodes, Hedi Slimane (Saint Laurent), Stephen Sprouse, Jun Takahashi (Undercover), Riccardo Tisci (Givenchy), Gianni Versace, Junya Watanabe, Yohji Yamamoto, and Vivienne Westwood.
Jordan, 1977
The exhibition is organized by Andrew Bolton, Curator, in the Met’s Costume Institute. Photographer Nick Knight is the exhibition’s creative consultant working with exhibition design consultant Sam Gainsbury (who was creative director for the Met’s Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibition in 2011) and production designer Gideon Ponte (a set and production designer for photo shoots and feature films including Buffalo 66 and American Psycho). All mannequin head treatments and masks are designed by Guido Palau, who also created treatments for Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty and last year’s Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations.
The design for the 2013 Costume Institute gala benefit is created by Nick Knight, Sam Gainsbury, and Gideon Ponte with Raul Avila, who has produced the benefit décor since 2007. Additional funding for the gala benefit is provided by Givenchy.
Richard Hell by Kate Simon, late 1970s
Related Catalogue and Programs
A book, Punk: Chaos to Couture, by Andrew Bolton, with an introduction by Jon Savage, and prefaces by Richard Hell and John Lydon (a.k.a. Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols), accompanies the exhibition. This publication is illustrated with photographs of vintage punks and high fashion. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the $45 catalogue (hard cover only) is distributed worldwide by Yale University Press.
A series of programs will be presented in conjunction with the exhibition, including a Sunday at the Met discussion on the origins of punk with Glenn O’Brien, Jon Savage, and Roberta Bayley on June 16; a gallery conversation with Vivien Goldman and Curator Ian Alteveer on July 26; and performances by Liars on May 18; and by So Percussion as wellas Man Forever on June 8; a studio workshop on July 20; and related gallery talks in the Museum’s permanent collection.
Seen from one angle, the scaffolding on the upper levels gives the tower an obviously phallic appearance, as internet commenters pointed out this week.
The 150-metre-high building, which will become the new headquarters for the Chinese state newspaper People’s Daily, in fact has a wedge-shaped silhouette.
Visualisation of completed building
The Chinese government has attempted to block internet users in the country from searching for images of the building, but carefully worded messages have spread the word across Weibo, China’s biggest social networking service.
“It seems the People’s Daily is going to rise up, there’s hope for the Chinese dream,” said one message.
Massachusetts-based company Terrafugia has announced it is working on a concept for a four-seater vehicle with motorised rotors, which can take off without the need for a runway.
TF-X concept
Dubbed TF-X, the vehicle’s wings and rotors are designed to fold into the side of the car when it’s on the road, making it small enough to park in a standard garage.
The ability to take off from standstill would allow owners to take to the air from their driveways. Once in the air, it is expected to be able to fly nonstop for 500 miles.
The TF-X probably wouldn’t be suitable for escaping traffic jams, however, as it requires a 30-metre-wide clear space around it during takeoff.
A working model of the aircraft is expected to become available to purchase within eight to 12 years.
Transition
Meanwhile Terrafugia’s earlier flying car concept, the Transition, which last year flew for eight minutes at an altitude of 420 metres during its test flight, is set to become available to buy within two years, priced at £190,000.
Terrafugia Inc., the developer of the Transition street-legal airplane, announced its vision for the future of personal transportation. Building on its experience with the Transition program, Terrafugia has begun feasibility studies of a four-seat, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) plug-in hybrid- electric flying car, the TF-X. Incorporating the state-of-the-art in intelligent systems, fly by wire controls, and currently available technology, the TF-X will further increase the level of safety, simplicity, and convenience of personal aviation.
“This is the right time for us to begin thinking about the future of the company beyond Transition development,” says Terrafugia CEO/CTO Carl Dietrich. “We are passionate about continuing to lead the creation of a flying car industry and are dedicating resources to lay the foundations for our vision of personal transportation.”
Terrafugia’s design team is excited to be looking ahead to TF-X development activities as the Transition programme shifts from research and development to certification, production, and customer support activities. The Transition serves as a Proof of Process for TF-X development and commercialisation through the many technical, regulatory, and usage challenges it has overcome.
By directly addressing congestion and other transportation challenges currently being faced internationally, widespread adoption of vehicles like the Transition and TF-X could result in significant economic benefits and personal time savings. Preliminary conversations with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about the TF-X concept have demonstrated their willingness to consider innovative technologies and regulatory solutions that are in the public interest and enhance the level of safety of personal aviation. Terrafugia is excited to be nearing production of the Transition and continuing to push the envelope of personal transportation.
Terrafugia (terra-FOO-gee-ah), based in Woburn, MA, is a growing aerospace company founded by pilot- engineers from MIT and supported by a world-class network of advisors and investors. The company name is Latin for “escape the earth.” Terrafugia’s mission is to build practical flying cars.
Swedish designer Richard Lindvall has converted a car park near Stockholm into a restaurant and nightclub with copper pipes stretching across its walls and ceiling.
The restaurant serves Polish food, so Richard Lindvall visited a few factories in Poland to find inspiration for the project and came with a concept for an industrial interior filled with raw materials rather than soft furnishings.
The designer left many of the concrete surfaces exposed inside the old car park, while others he lined with plain white ceramic tiles. “The natural raw atmosphere of the space was kept and used as a base for the concept,” he says.
Some of the copper pipes snake across walls to function as radiators, while others create a lighting framework overhead and more can be found as plumbing for sinks in the toilets. Copper is also used for the facade of a large fireplace.
The bar is made from concrete, as are the shelves that span the walls behind it. Industrial lights hang from the ceiling, which the designer sourced from an old factory in the Czech Republic, and a hunting trophy is mounted to the wall.
Metal stools surround concrete tables in the dining room. Other details in this space include framed photographs by Mattias Lindbäck of the construction workers who installed the interior.
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