Home rental website Airbnb has opened an office in Dublin with a reception area modelled on an Irish pub designed by local architects Heneghan Peng (+ slideshow).
The architects designed a horseshoe-shaped bar in dark wood to mimic the interior of traditional pubs found across the city.
The bar is complete with bottles around the top, candelabras at both ends and a suit of armour that is posed to be having a drink between the stools.
Tables and chairs in the adjacent presentation space are also modelled on typical pub furniture, and the ceiling and flooring echo the decor of drinking venues from different eras.
Continuing the local theme, a pair of green and beige Irish telephone boxes form booths for private phone calls.
Heneghan Peng also included the 12-metre-long bench it designed for Ireland’s Venice Biennale pavilion in 2012, which dips and rises as users sit on different sections.
Throughout the office are a series of meeting pods made from oriented strand board, with interiors designed to look like apartments listed on Airbnb from cities across the world.
These rooms are glazed on opposite walls and the name of the city that the design is based upon is written on the side.
Some have seating set into the outside walls for employees to sit and chat in, designed to look like different spaces from the same apartment.
Other larger pods are hinged at the centre so they can be rolled apart to split them into two meeting rooms.
Giant wooden steps are scattered with cushions to create an informal meeting area or workspace.
Architecture student Tyler Short has developed an alternative to the traditional window shade – mechanical louvres that move in three dimensions to adapt to sunlight at different times of the day (+ movie).
Like vertical indoor blinds, the conceptual Penumbra shading system would hang down in front of windows and could be pivoted left and right to adapt to the east and west orientations of the sun. But it would also be able to fold upwards to create a horizontal shade against the high afternoon sun.
“This project was designed to offer a kinetic and mechanical solution to a problem that would otherwise be nearly impossible to solve with static architectural components: providing shading across a building facade for both low evening sun and high afternoon sun conditions,” explained Short, who created the design for his architecture degree at the University of Oregon.
“Our solution was a series of vertical shading louvres, that can independently pivot to maximise solar protection, and when the sun reaches an altitude in which vertical louvres would be ineffective, completely rotate upwards to act as a horizontal shading element and light shelf,” he added.
Short has produced a short animation to demonstrate the concept, showing the louvres powered by a system of cogs and gears. The designer says the system could be powered by either hand or computer.
Put into motion, the shades create an undulating ripple across the facade.
This wooden home in Helsinki by Finnish architect Tuomas Siitonen has a roof that dips in the middle to allow views across it and a kinked plan that wraps around a secluded garden (+ slideshow).
Constructed on a sloping plot in the garden of a house occupied by the client’s parents, the building was designed by Siitonen to provide two separate apartments – one for a couple and their two children, and another for the children’s great-grandmother.
The ground floor contains an accessible apartment for the great-grandmother, while a larger apartment for the family occupies the two upper storeys.
“The brief was to design an inspiring and environmentally sensible house incorporating a separate flat for a grandmother, or for example to be used by one of the children in the future,” Siitonen told Dezeen.
The new house’s plan kinks to accommodate the contours of the site and to wrap around the garden it shares with the existing hundred-year-old property, increasing privacy while maintaining a connection with its neighbour.
On the other side, the building presents a closed facade to a nearby road and railway, while its height allows views from the upper floors and balcony.
“The plot was a north-facing slope, so I wanted to build something that rises up to provide light and views,” said Siitonen.
“The slope faces a busy road and a railway, which is why the house is more closed on that side and opens up towards the garden, making a small sheltering turn that follows the slope to make the terrace feel more intimate and to take the garden into the house.”
Siberian larch cladding covers the building’s exterior. It will turn grey over time and Siitonen said it was chosen to reflect the house’s natural setting.
As well as the accessible self-contained apartment, the ground floor contains utility areas and a sauna.
Upstairs is an open plan living and dining area incorporating a custom-made kitchen built from flamed birch.
Large windows look out onto a large wood-lined terrace perched among the treetops that can be heated by a fireplace that backs onto another one inside the living room.
Another staircase leads past windows that look out over the treetops to a mezzanine that is intended to give the space the feel of a treehouse, and on to the master bedroom housed in the loft.
Sustainability measures were a key part of the clients’ brief and informed the use of wood throughout the project and the use of a ground-sourced heat pump and underfloor heating that removes a need for radiators.
Here’s a text about the project by Martta Louekari:
House M-M, Helsinki, Finland
Someone should pick the children up from day-care; the grandparents would appreciate a visit; who’d have time to cook and help with the homework? What if the whole family lived together, on the same plot, even under the same roof?
Actors Vilma Melasniemi and Juho Milonoff wanted a home where the entire family, including grand- parents and great-grandmother could spend their time together. They were looking for space for the family and friends to be together, but also for the chance for everyone to have some privacy and their own room. That way the grandparents could help with childcare and great-grandmother would have company and a feeling of security.
A place was found on the plot of mother Vilma’s parents’ home in Helsinki’s Oulunkylä. The location of the 100-year-old house – in a garden of apple and lilac trees with a steep north-facing slope – imposed its own demands on the design. What was wanted was a house that would be contemporary and yet homely and full of character, that would respect its surroundings and the site’s natural features but would still constitute a clearly self-contained whole.
The new home was designed with two apartments. The lower storey is a level-access studio-apartment for Vilma Melasniemi’s 91-year-old grandmother. The ground floor also includes sauna and utility spaces.
The 120 square-metre apartment upstairs is the home of Vilma Melasniemi and Juho Milonoff and their 8 and 11-year-old children. The upstairs is comprised of a large reception room and a kitchen, made to measure in flamed birch, that serve as the whole family’s living space. In the summer this extends effortlessly outdoors via a large terrace.
The three-storey building sits comfortably on the slope, the large windows bringing in the green outside and creating a feel of a tree house. The tree house-like atmosphere is enhanced by the loft space situated over the kitchen and the stairs leading to the master bedroom with its view over the tree tops. The exterior of Siberian larch changes with the seasons and will gradually turn grey.
Mother Vilma Melasniemi’s parents continue to live in their wooden villa on the same plot. Because the roof of the new building dips in the middle, it does not affect the familiar view from the villa to the rising slope across the plot. The footprint of the new-build follows the shape of the slope and creates a bend making the garden more intimate and shielding it from the public roadway.
One important consideration was the building’s ecological sustainability. Most of the building is made of wood. The building has floor heating coupled to ground-source heat so stand-alone radiators are not necessary. The energy needed for cooling in the summer also comes from ground-source heat. Because of its large south facing roof space, in the future it will also be possible to make good use of solar energy.
“The large windows bring light and warmth right into the house. The exterior doesn’t need maintenance and the open fireplace heats up with wood from our own plot. We travel to work and into town by train. We believe these are sustainable solutions. One good home in a lifetime is enough!” says Vilma Melasniemi.
Finland’s baby-boomer generations are ageing; a demographic peak of 65 to 74-year-olds is expected in 2020, and there is already a shortage of care-home places and staff. The working day is long and school-age children are often forced to spend afternoons either at after-school clubs or home alone. Well-designed models for multi-generational living and functional architecture can help meet these challenges in the future.
News: the UK’s Royal Mint has unveiled a revised £1 coin with 12 sides, which it hopes will make the currency harder to forge.
The Royal Mint says it based the dodecahedral design on the threepenny piece used before the UK switched to the decimal system.
The coin features a bimetallic design similar to the current £2 coin and the mint claims it “will be the most secure circulating coin in the world to date”.
The new design will aim to reduce the amount of counterfeit versions produced of the current pound, which has been in circulation for over 30 years.
“The current £1 coin design is now more than thirty years old and it has become increasingly vulnerable to counterfeiting over time,” said Adam Lawrence, chief executive of The Royal Mint. “It is our aim to identify and produce a pioneering new coin which helps to reduce the opportunities for counterfeiting.”
A public design competition will be held at a later date to choose the design for the tails side before the coin is introduced in 2017.
Cedar shingles typical to New England houses have gradually faded from warm beige to a soft greyish brown on the walls of this residence in Maine by Los Angeles office Bruce Norelius Studio (+ slideshow).
Recent photograph of the house, courtesy of Kelly Bellis
Bruce Norelius Studio completed House on Punkinville Road in 2008 for a couple looking for a change of lifestyle as well as a new residence. Five years on, the pair say the best quality of the house is its adaptability to the changing seasons.
Recent photograph of the house, courtesy of Kelly Bellis
“During a snowstorm, we don’t watch the storm, we’re inside the storm,” said the client. “The amount of glass and the way the glass is placed takes every advantage of the site. And the sun is a constant presence.”
He continued: “As the light changes from hour to hour, from room to room, from season to season, it changes the rooms. The living area is not the same room at sunset as it was at sunrise, nor is it the same in winter as it is in the spring.”
Located several kilometres inland from Smelt Cove, the house sits on an elevated site surrounded by juniper trees and blackberry bushes. A concrete base grounds the structure into the landscape, while the main walls are all clad with the humble cedar shingles.
“It’s gratifying to know the clients are enjoying life here, even during the harsh Maine winters,” said the architects. “The facades are simple, confident and holding true, telling their time naturally, which is a narrative we continue to embrace in our work.”
The building is primarily made up of two rectilinear volumes stacked over one another to create an L-shaped plan. This creates a sheltered driveway at ground level and a generous roof terrace on the first floor.
Proportions were based around a prefabricated window module, which is used throughout. Combined with a specification for a simple timber structure, this design concept allowed the architects to deliver the project on a low budget.
The interior layout was also kept as simple as possible, with a pair of bedrooms and bathrooms on the ground floor and an open-plan living, dining and kitchen space above.
Photography is by Sandy Agrafiotis, apart from where otherwise indicated.
Here’s a project description from Bruce Norelius Studio:
House on Punkinville Road
The genesis of this project came from the clients, a couple who had lived many years in a treasured 19th century cape, and who sought a significant change in lifestyle. Their deep appreciation of that cape and its particular relationship with its site made them realise that their new site – a spectacular inland promontory on ledge, juniper and blueberries with extensive views – required a very different architectural solution.
The concept that evolved was a perpendicular stacking of two simple volumes. This allowed a relatively small footprint on a pristine site, and also created useful negative space – a carport below, and an expansive deck above. Furthermore, it guaranteed that the house took advantage of the entire site, ensuring each space its own particular, appropriate relationship to sun, passive solar gain, and views.
The plan is simple and rigorous, based on the module of a single prefabricated window unit that is used throughout. The entirely-wood structural system was edited and refined to allow speed and clarity in the construction process.
The sober expression of the house responds intentionally to the climatic demands of the site, and is clad humbly in white cedar shingles, the most traditional of New England building materials, and exactly what was used on that cape built a century and a half ago.
The priority on the interior was to create calm spaces deeply influenced by the seasons and weather. A remarkably low construction cost was achieved because of the clients’ ability to prioritise goals, the design team’s search for simplicity in both aesthetics and construction techniques, and the builder’s ability to propose alternative, less expensive solutions for aspects of the building.
Dutch firm Korteknie Stuhlmacher Architecten covered the facade of this school in Rotterdam with black and white tiles arranged in patterns that reference typical Dutch interior decoration (+ slideshow).
The new A.J. Schreuderschool was designed by Korteknie Stuhlmacher Architecten for children with learning disabilities, and the tiled decoration was added to give the exterior spaces a more domestic and familiar appearance.
“The pattern is based on classical patterns used in many traditional Dutch houses for various purposes, usually entrances, and kitchens,” architect Mechthild Stuhlmacher told Dezeen.
“We used the tiles on the exterior as an ornament but also to make the outdoor spaces more room-like, as if we are referring to an interior,” she added.
The architects also invited pupils to create unique colourful tiles that are incorporated into the facade near the entrance.
“We proposed the involvement of the pupils, because we were impressed by the artistic production and the creativity of the mentally handicapped children who happen to be taught by a very engaged, creative art teacher,” said Stuhlmacher. “The black and white pattern has been designed as a rather powerful framework to integrate the pupil’s work in a larger whole.”
The school is situated in the postwar neighbourhood of Lombardijen and was laid out to establish a stronger relationship with its surroundings than the majority of its 1960s-built neighbours.
Two connected buildings housing the classrooms and a large sports hall are positioned on opposite corners of the plot, creating a pair of outdoor spaces that are partly enclosed by the two blocks.
The courtyard facing the street at the front of the school acts as a playground and public square leading to the main entrance.
At the back of the school is a larger space used as a garden for play and teaching activities centred on nature and sustainability.
“The two outdoor spaces have a very different character – one is very open to the neighbourhood while the enclosed garden on the other side is much more private,” explained Stuhlmacher. “For pupils with a mental handicap both qualities are essential, and the school can divide groups according to the abilities of the children.”
Inside the main school building, the reception area connects to a corridor that leads past labs dedicated to skills including art, music and computing, towards classrooms that face the street or the garden.
On the other side of the reception is the entrance to the sports hall, which features windows at floor level and a roof supported by chunky timber beams.
Circulation spaces at the centre of the school feature large skylights that introduce natural light to both levels of the building.
Materials throughout have been chosen for their muted tones and to help reduce noise levels in line with the needs of many pupils for a neutral and tranquil environment.
On the site of a former technical school in Rotterdam Lombardijen a new school for children with learning disabilities has been built. Lombardijen is a typical post-war neighbourhood consisting of a repetitive mix of low-rise and high-rise blocks of flats.
The neighbourhood is urgently in need of technical, spatial and social transformation. This especially applies to the public space; as in many neighbourhoods of the 1960s the area between the building blocks is rather large and unarticulated, poorly maintained and hardly used. The problem is partly caused by the existing architecture that fails to establish a mutual relationship between indoor and outdoor space. The project for the new school attempts to rethink this relationship while engaging with the existing context.
The project consists of two loosely connected volumes, a two storey compact building block, which is the actual school building, and a double sports hall. Both volumes are placed in the far corners of the generously dimensioned plot. The buildings are complemented by two semi-enclosed outdoor spaces. Facing the Spinozaweg there is an open, paved and rather urban square that will be used as playground.
On the other side there will be a large, intensively planted, enclosed garden. This garden offers space for recreation and play and serves as an outdoor ‘classroom’ for the subject ‘green’ that will be part of the curriculum in the new school. The design of the façades, entrances and the plinth supports the desired close relationship between inside and outside.
The curriculum focuses on three main subjects: living, working and leisure. These subjects are taught in specific classrooms, such as the living room, the kitchen and the art studio. These classrooms are situated on the ground floor facing the street and establish, quite literally, the connection between the school and the outside world.
The rest of the school, with all regular classrooms facing the garden, has a more private character. Specific attention has been paid to the design of the spacious circulation area in the centre of the building. Generous roof lights and voids allow for daylight to reach the ground floor, while respecting the need of many of the pupils for a calm environment avoiding stimuli such as noise, too vivid colours and forms.
Within the budgetary limits of public school buildings we designed a sustainable structure with flexible and timeless plans and a low energy installation; in the future the school can easily be adjusted to the needs of other types of education. The sports hall combines a regular steel structure with an expressive timber roof and appears as a completely timber-lined, roof-lit space. The plinth around the building has been clad with ceramic tiles in different black and white patterns made by the remarkably artistic pupils.
More than 50 artists, designers and makers were enlisted to help design the eclectic interior of this hotel in Canberra, overseen by Fender Katsalidis Architects and Suppose Design Office (+ slideshow).
The space combines a stripped-back aesthetic, local raw materials and quirky additions including brass lighting and eucalyptus strand board to create what the hotel describes as a “quintessentially Australian vernacular”.
Nestled inside the Nishi buildings in New Acton, Canberra’s arts and culture precinct, the exterior is an irregular series of polygons giving the building an undulating shape.
The hotel’s grand staircase made from recycled timber welcomes visitors into the living-room-style hotel foyer, which has been called Main Street.
The reception desk is made from interconnected beams that continue up the walls and onto the ceiling. Two small spot lights and a low-hanging brass orb create an atmospheric space, which features studded metal walls and a tessellated mirror facing customers.
The wood theme continues into the library, which has been stocked by local press publisher Perimeter Books and holds titles on art, architecture and design.
The ground floor bar and lounge is dominated by a perforated concrete ceiling that allows pockets of light to illuminate the pale wooden floors below.
Designer Anna-Wili Highfield created the hotel’s brass Moth and Owl chandeliers based on the migration paths of local fauna in and around Canberra.
Continuing onto the lounge, the space features large, multi-coloured, irregular shaped desks designer Charles Wilson calls feasting tables.
Just off from the lobby is a huge open fireplace bracketed by overhanging concrete slabs. The material continues throughout the space providing areas for seating that have been filled with grey leather seats.
The rooms meanwhile, curated by Hotel Hotel founder Nectar Efkarpidis and aesthetic curator Don Cameron, are an re-imagination of the Australian shack.
The walls have been rendered in clay and feature natural fibre wallpapers to create a colour palette of cool greys.
In contrast, salvaged oak beds covered in brightly coloured throws are coupled with headboards made from reclaimed timber and vintage leather couches.
Adorning the walls are original artworks from a wide range of local and international contemporary artists, plus objects collected over ten years by members of the team.
News:Apple‘s reclusive head designer Jonathan Ive says the technological age in still in its infancy in his first in-depth interview in almost 20 years.
“We are at the beginning of a remarkable time, when a remarkable number of products will be developed,” said Ive in an interview with John Arlidge of The Sunday Times.
“When you think about technology and what it has enabled us to do so far, and what it will enable us to do in future, we’re not even close to any kind of limit,” he said. “It’s still so, so new.”
During the interview, Ive revealed more details about the design process at the core of the Apple operation.
A team of 15 to 20 designers work on new projects in an all-white open-plan studio behind opaque glass. A large wooden bench hosts new products and one end is taken up with CNC machines used to create prototypes.
“Objects and their manufacture are inseparable,” he said. “You understand a product if you understand how it’s made.”
“I want to know what things are for, how they work, what they can or should be made of, before I even begin to think what they should look like. More and more people do. There is a resurgence of the idea of craft.”
Apple devices provoke such a strong response because they represent something rare, according to Ive who describes them as not just products but “a demonstration against thoughtlessness and carelessness”.
And he described the widespread referencing and copying of Apple designs as straight “theft”.
“What’s copied isn’t just a design, it’s thousands and thousands of hours of struggle,” he told the paper. “It’s only when you’ve achieved what you set out to do that you can say, ‘This was worth pursuing.’ It takes years of investment, years of pain.”
Ive also spoke publicly about his relationship with Apple’s visionary leader Steve Jobs for the first time since his death.
“So much has been written about Steve, and I don’t recognise my friend in much of it,” said Ive.
“Yes, he had a surgically precise opinion. Yes, it could sting. Yes, he constantly questioned. ‘Is this good enough? Is this right?’ but he was so clever. His ideas were bold and magnificent. They could suck the air from the room. And when the ideas didn’t come, he decided to believe we would eventually make something great. And, oh, the joy of getting there!”
News:Google has unveiled an operating system designed specifically for wearable devices called Android Wear, plus details of the first smartwatches to incorporate the technology.
Example of a watch using the Google Android interface
In a series of Youtube movies released today, Google previewed the Android Wear operating system that will extend apps currently available on Android devices to present contextual information designed to be viewed at-a-glance on wearable devices.
“With a wearable device you can be going about the rest of your day, just glance down at your wrist and the information you need is there right away without even having to ask for it,” said Android’s director of engineering David Singleton.
The Android system uses Google’s existing Google Now service
Using the existing Google Now service, the new user interface will prioritise information specific to the user’s context to allow a more passive experience, without the need to retrieve the information from multiple applications.
For example, in the morning it could show local weather reports, the time of the wearer’s first meeting and travel time to get there based on current traffic conditions.
“Watches are good at telling time, but imagine having useful actionable information there precisely when you need it, automatically,” said Singleton.
The launch movie also shows a user receiving an alert for jellyfish when about to go surfing, and immediately swiping to a screen showing other beaches in the area to head towards.
“Think about the times you need information most urgently,” said Android designer Alex Faaborg. “The stuff you care about moves with you from place to place so you never miss out on the important stuff.”
Android Wear incorporates voice control and, like Google Glass, will be activated by saying “Okay Google”.
“We put a lot of thought into how simple this has to be,” he continued. “It has to be incredibly fast, incredibly glanceable. There’re really only two components: the information that’s most relevant to you and the ability to be able to speak to it and give it a command.”
The system will also facilitate receiving and responding to text messages and calls, and listening to music. It could also incorporate health or activity-monitoring functions to rival devices like Nike FuelBand and Fitbit.
LG G Watch
The first device announced to use the system, the LG G Watch, will be launched by South Korean firm LG later this year. The two devices shown in the Android Wear launch movies with either a round or square case are reported to variations of the forthcoming Moto 360 from Motorola.
“To bring this vision to life, we’re working with consumer electronics manufacturers, chip makers and fashion brands who are committed to fostering an ecosystem of watches in a variety of styles, shapes and sizes,” said Singleton.
Google today made a preview software development kit available, so that developers can begin to extend Android applications to work with the new system.
News: researchers in America have developed a friction-based miniature generator that could enable mobile devices to be charged by typing or stroking the screen.
TENG generator producing energy through sliding motion
The generator created by nanotechnology expert Zhong Lin Wang and his team at the Georgia Institute of Technology produces electricity when two sheets of a specially adapted polymer are rubbed or pushed together.
Actions such as tapping, swiping, stroking or even the movement of a device incorporating the material in the user’s pocket could generate electricity, making external power sources redundant.
Impact between two surfaces generating power
The technology is based on a principle called triboelectricity, which produces a charge similar to static electricity when two materials touch or rub together.
By adding microscopic patterns that increase the level of friction, the researchers have developed a triboelectric nanogenerator, or TENG, which is capable of producing a power output density of 300 Watts per square metre – enough to illuminate 1000 LED bulbs with the stamp of one foot.
Stamping on the TENG sheet can illuminate 1000 LED bulbs
“The amount of charge transferred depends on surface properties,” said Wang. “Making patterns of nanomaterials on the polymer films’ surfaces increases the contact area between the sheets and can make a 1000-fold difference in the power generated.”
The TENG technology can be applied to other materials, from paper to metal, plastics and cloth, and has already been incorporated into shoe insoles, whistles, floor mats, backpacks and ocean buoys to harness the power created by movement.
Wind power could be used to generate electricity
The team presented the project earlier this week at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in Dallas and is currently working on commercial applications including chargers for mobile devices.
Wang believes the technology will be able to contribute significantly to global energy production within five years by using tiny generators to harness energy from ocean waves, rain drops or wind power.
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