Hasta La Ideas

News: JDS Architects has unveiled plans for an M-shaped office building with green terraces in the north of Turkey’s largest city.

Called Premier Campus Office, the building will be located in the Kagithane district of Istanbul.

Julien De Smedt Architects has proposed a gently curving M-shaped plan topped with several levels of green terraces.

As well as offices, the building will offer shops and leisure activities on its ground floor.

“We’ve thought of a building where inside interacts with outside, where the plan is flexible to allow for anyone to find its desired space and place, whether it be a small one man show company or a large corporate office employing hundreds,” the architects said.

The firm, which is based in Oslo, Copenhagen and Brussels, was selected from a shortlist that includes Dutch firm UNStudio and Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas.

Construction on the building will begin in June.

The firm’s previous work includes a Danish housing development modelled on a cluster of icebergs and Holmenkollen ski jump in Oslo, Norway – see all architecture and design by JDS Architects.

Other projects in Turkey we’ve featured lately include an apartment building covered in timber louvres and shutters and plans for a museum at the site of the ancient city of Troy.

Here’s some more information from the architects:

The Premier Campus Office in Kagithane is a business district that focuses on the users working and living qualities and addresses its presence in Istanbul as a new form of contextual and urban approach: The building is formed by our desire to make it interact with its environment. It opens itself up to the neighbourhood and offers spaces to the users and the passers by such as plazas, intimate gardens and generous terraces.

The volume of the block is literally carved out to invite the surroundings in. The local hilly landscape, characteristic to Istanbul, is continued in the meandering of the volume both in plan, adapting to the site’s edges, and in section, weaving into itself in a series of gentle curving slopes, echoing the nearby Bosphorus waves. The vibrant commercial life of the ground floor burst out onto the plazas and the landscape. Upstairs the offices open out onto the green terraces, populated with lush vegetation, tempering the hot Springs and Summers. The volume reads clearly while still opening itself generously to the city from the far. As one gets closer the interiors become more discreet, protected by louvers that help shade from the sun.

The project acts as a catalyst of business life for a new Istanbul, that promotes contemporary culture, architecture and lifestyle. We’ve thought of a building where inside interacts with outside, where the plan is flexible to allow for anyone to find its desired space and place, whether it be a small one man show company or a large corporate office employing hundreds. We believe life is plural and various entities should coexist and exchange their experiences. The Premier Campus Office is where such a rich diversity can find its place.

Project: Commercial
Size: 100,000 sq m
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
JDS partner in charge: Julien De Smedt
Client: Feryapi
Team: DB Architects, Tavusbay-STATIK, Geodinamik, Dinamik Proje, Pozitif Proje
Project leader: Kamile Malinauskaite
Type: Invited competition
Status: Ongoing

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Dezeen and MINI World Tour: in the first of a series of films recorded at the MINI Paceman Garage in Milan last month, MINI head of design Anders Warming explains the thinking behind the brand’s presentation during the furniture fair while Johanna Agerman Ross, editor-in-chief of Disegno magazine, gives her opinion on the highlights of the world’s most important design week.

“The MINI Paceman Garage is centred around how people act within a MINI community,” says Warming (above), explaining why the presentation – set up inside a car repair garage on Via Tortona – included features such as a record store, a coffee shop, a barber and a cinema. “They end up talking about anything that involves their life. And that’s why we have these different stations. It’s sort of like the extended life around the MINI.”

As part of our Dezeen and MINI World Tour, we set up a video studio within the garage, where we conducted interviews with some of the world’s leading design authorities to get their thoughts on the week.

Agerman Ross of Disegno, our first interviewee, believes a key theme this year was the renewed focus on the official fair, the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, at the expense of the independent exhibitions that take place around the city.

“I have found in the last few years that going to the city and going to the independent exhibitions have been where things have been really happening and interesting,”she says. “But I feel there’s a return to the reason why we’re all here – the commerce of the fair, the wheeling and dealing and the showing off of new products by the bigger brands.”

“Milan this year was more subdued that previous years, with the ongoing economic crisis clearly affecting many companies. This has led to a more pared-back and business-like week without the frivolity of previous years,” says Agerman Ross.

“I think so. After all if the industry doesn’t work, the other things can’t happen either. There needs to be an economy and a network for these things to function. The designers and the brands need to make money in order to exist, and without a healthy commercial branch of design, the other things won’t exist either. One supports the other.”

“Everyone’s taking a step back, trying to be quite precise in what they’re putting out and trying to show products that seem quite close to hitting the market, rather than being just a product for show that won’t go into production,” she says. “It’s a tighter output altogether.”

See all our stories about Milan 2013.

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commerce of the fair” appeared first on Dezeen.

Japanese architect Shigeru Ban developed these timber and earth houses for the rehabilitation of a Sri Lankan fishing village that was swept away during the 2004 tsunami (+ slideshow).

Developer Phillip Bay asked Shigeru Ban to design a prototype house that could be built cheaply using local materials and would be suitable for the tropical climate. The house was to form a template for the construction of 100 replacement homes in Kirinda.

“This was not going to be a traditional disaster relief effort where we go in and make homes really fast and leave,” said Bay. “I wanted to treat this like a development project.”

Ban’s design comprises a single-storey structure with walls made from compressed earth blocks and a pitched roof made from locally sourced teak and coconut wood.

Each house has two bedrooms, a hall and a sheltered courtyard, which residents can use as a dining room, social space or simply as a place to repair fishing nets.

Adaptable wooden screens divide the rooms, to suit a Muslim lifestyle. “This is the first time I’ve worked for the Muslim societies,” said Ban, “so before I built the houses I had a community meeting to find out what has to be carefully done depending on the generation, for example, we had to separate the man’s space and woman’s space.”

Ban also designed furniture for the residence, using wood from the rubber trees that are common to the region.

The Post-Tsunami Housing was completed in 2007 but was recently named as one of 20 projects on the shortlist for the Aga Khan Award 2013. Other projects on the shortlist include an Islamic cemetery in Austria and a reconstructed refugee camp in Lebanon. Five or six finalists will be revealed later this year and will compete to win the $1 million prize.

Shigeru Ban has also worked on a number of other disaster-relief projects. He devised apartment blocks made from shipping containers for victims of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami of 2011 and was one of several high-profile architects involved in the Make It Right housing project in New Orleans. See more architecture by Shigeru Ban.

Photography is by Dominic Samsoni.

Here’s a project description from the Aga Khan Award organisers:

Post-Tsunami Housing

This project provides 100 houses in a Muslim fishing village, in the region of Tissamaharama, on the southeast coast of Sri Lanka, following the destruction caused by the 2004 tsunami. Shigeru Ban’s aim was to adapt the houses to their climate, to use local labour and materials to bring profit to the region, and to respond to the villagers’ own requirements through direct consultation. For example, kitchens and bathrooms are included within each house, as requested by the villagers, but a central covered area separates them from the living accommodation, as stipulated by the government. The covered area also provides an entertainment space from which women can retreat to maintain privacy. Local rubber-tree wood was used for partitions and fittings, and compressed earth blocks for walls.

Location: Kirinda, Sri Lanka (Asia)
Architect: Shigeru Ban Architects, Tokyo, Japan
Client: Philip Bay
Completed: 2007
Design: 2005
Site size: 71 m2 for each house – Total site area: 3’195 m²

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by Shigeru Ban appeared first on Dezeen.

Milan 2013: Spanish designer Jaime Hayón has created a chair with armrests that stretch outwards like limbs for Danish brand &tradition.

Jaime Hayón based the form of the Catch chair on the image of a human figure with outstretched arms.

“When I was drawing Catch, I drew a man with open arms, like a chair that wants to catch you. And it works like that,” explains Hayón.

Produced by furniture brand &tradition, the chair is composed of a moulded polyurethane-foam shell, which is covered in cold cure foam and then finished with either leather or textile upholstery.

The legs are available in white-oiled or black-stained oak, while the upholstery comes in various finishes, from a naked shell to pigmented leather or wool in a broad range of colours.

The chair was presented at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan last month.

Hayón also unveiled a wingback armchair called Ro and a series of aluminium and terracotta outdoor furniture in Milan.

See more design by Jaime Hayón »
See all our stories about chair design »
See all our coverage of Milan 2013 »

Here’s some more information from &tradition:

Renowned for his whimsical drawings, CATCH is capturing Hayon’s playfulness, while creating a comfortable, upholstered chair with a very light touch. The armrests extend from the padded backrest like literal limbs, ready to embrace you as you sit down. The wooden legs in stained or white-oiled oak adds a grace and lightness to the chair.

“Our collaboration with Jaime Hayon dates back to when the company was founded in 2010,” says brand director martin Kornbek Hansen. But this is the first product to come out of the exchange between Hayon and &tradition, that started over a steak dinner. “It’s a curious relationship,” says Hayon of the collaboration with &tradition, “because I come from a very different ambience. I’ve always liked scandinavian design, but I never knew I’d end up designing for great companies in the north.” The meeting of Hayon’s mediterranean aesthetic with the heritage of the scandinavian craftsmanship has given rise to an innovative form. “It has been interesting to see how Hayon interprets and adapts his design to this tradition,” says Kornbek Hansen.

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for &tradition appeared first on Dezeen.

Michael Renard, executive vice president of bioprinting company Organovo, explains how 3D printing could one day be used to produce replacement tissue, vessels and organs in this interview conducted for our print-on-demand magazine Print Shift (+ transcript).

In the interview Renard describes how Organovo is applying 3D printing to cell biology and tissue engineering.

“We’re working with small pieces of tissue at the moment – a small piece of blood vessel or liver,” he says. “Once you have the cells ready, we can print something in a few hours.”

He also discusses how the technology can be used for experimental drug testing: “Being able to provide functional living human tissues will provide drug-discovery scientists with entirely new means to test drug candidates.”

Although supplemental tissues such as patches to assist heart conditions may reach the clinic soon, he thinks that use of “more advanced replacement tissues will most likely be in 20 years or more.”

The interview forms part of a feature on the way 3D printing is transforming the healthcare industry in Print Shift, our one-off, print-on-demand magazine about this emerging technology.

The magazine was created by the Dezeen editorial team and produced with print-on-demand publisher Blurb. For more information about Print Shift and to see additional content, visit www.dezeen.com/printshift.

Top image: cross-section of bioprinted human liver tissue.

Here’s an edited transcript of the interview, conducted by Claire Barrett:

Claire Barrett: Tell me how Organovo’s 3D printing research began?

Michael Renard: The concept for printing tissues came out of Professor Gabor Forgac’s research at the University of Missouri, enabled through a $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation. That work was about using living cells and depositing cells in an architecture that could create tissue.

It led to the creation of Organovo as a company, which acquired that intellectual property exclusively. Gabor worked mostly with non-human cell sources to build structures, layer by layer. Through that science we arrived where we are today.

Claire Barrett: Is it possible to print an organ?

Michael Renard: Bioprinting should be thought of as the first step in building fully functional tissue. The printing starts a process to create a continuous piece of tissue. That early tissue construct is moved to a bioreactor where it grows and differentiates into its final form. We’re the only company doing it. Our approach is consistent with other forms 3D printing because it’s an additive process, but what is unique to Organovo is our application of the process in the field of cell biology and tissue engineering.

Claire Barrett: How does it work?

Michael Renard: Tissues are built layer by layer, using a combination of hydrogel and cell aggregates deposited in specific spatial arrangements that are programmed into the bioprinter. A wide variety of shapes and orientations can be created using the combination of these materials.

When you deposit cells they have to be the right cells and in the right biological state; the hydrogel holds them in the right place. Then the cells fuse, form junctions, and the hydrogel can be removed to yield a tangible piece of material made up entirely of human cells.

Claire Barrett: How long does it take?

Michael Renard: It all depends what you’re trying to grow. We’re working with small pieces of tissue at the moment – a small piece of blood vessel or liver, for example, so our time from printing to maturity of the tissue can be quite quick. Once you have the cells ready, we can print something in a few hours. It will then take a few days for it to fuse and become anatomically correct, and begin to exhibit expected metabolic properties.

It is unknown how long it will take to build larger, organ-sized tissues. We are researching ways to grow a vascular system as part of the tissue design; that is needed to feed tissue grown on a large scale, without which cell death will occur as tissues expand in size.

Claire Barrett: Are certain tissues easier to grow?

Michael Renard: Virtually all tissues have a specific design and repeating patterns. Each tissue has a consistent set of characteristics, such as certain cell types that create capillary systems, nerves and collagens. These patterns and symmetry can help as the scientific advances and discoveries with one tissue will better inform how to approach the creation of subsequent tissues.

Claire Barrett: How is it used in drug discovery and what are the benefits?

Michael Renard: Being able to provide functional living human tissues will provide drug-discovery scientists with entirely new means to test drug candidates and study their effects in an environment most like that of the drug administered in the human body. This can both improve the safety of potential drugs and help determine whether a drug should be taken forward in very expensive human clinical trials. The end result can be a significant improvement in the efficiency of safety and efficacy testing.

Further to that, diseased tissue models can be built, giving the scientist a completely new approach for understanding disease and disease progression, with the opportunity to find new targets for building drugs with new mechanisms of action.

Claire Barrett: Is the public worried about the ethics of growing organs in a lab?

Michael Renard: People with chronic or degenerative conditions often live with the constant need for medical and assisted-living care. We can keep people alive, but at a cost to the healthcare system and at a reduced quality of life for the patient. What if we could reverse that process, or replace an organ? That’s what the focus is. There is public interest. People are waiting for transplants, but transplant surgeons lack the tissues to help all those in need. Eighteen people die every day in the US waiting for a transplant.

Claire Barrett: What about tissue rejection? Could you take cells from a person in future and grow tissue for transplant and therefore avoid this issue?

Michael Renard: It has become possible to harvest cells from a person’s own body and use them as a source of therapy. Research over the last decade or so shows that many sources of stem cells can be isolated and these often can be a valuable source of potential therapy from the patient themselves. In concept, a tissue engineered from a person’s own DNA should yield a match, with a much-reduced chance of rejection.

Claire Barrett: How far away are you from creating tissue that can be used in operations?

Michael Renard: In the next 10 years it is possible that supplemental tissues, ones that aid in regeneration, will progress through design, clinical and regulatory testing, making it to the clinic as therapies. Examples may include nerve grafts, patches to assist a heart condition, blood vessel segments, or cartilage for a degenerating joint. But more advanced replacement tissues will most likely be in 20 years or more.

Claire Barrett: What needs to happen to enable the next stage of innovation to take place?

Michael Renard: Supplemental tissues need to be shown to be safe, clinically effective and cost-effective in terms of reducing the total cost of care. Also, the ability to grow larger tissues – solving the challenge of creating a vascular and capillary network as an inherent part of the engineering solution – is the critical next step to advance the science.

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are ten years away” appeared first on Dezeen.