News: a design team led by London firm Grimshaw has revealed plans for a new six-runway airport in Istanbul capable of accommodating up to 150 million passengers a year.
The Grimshaw-led team, which also includes Norwegian firm Nordic Office of Architecture and London studio Haptic, says the Istanbul New Airport Terminal One will become the “world’s largest airport terminal under one roof”, covering a site of nearly 100 hectares.
Described by the designers as “modern and highly functional, with a unique sense of place”, the terminal will feature a vaulted canopy dotted with skylights. These will focus daylight onto key sections of the interior, including check-in desks, passport control and shops.
The airport will be located 20 miles outside the city on the Black Sea coast. It will be built in four phases, with the first expected to open in 2018 and serve up to 90 million passengers a year.
A large plaza and transport hub will be built at the entrance, allowing the airport to integrate with existing rail, metro and bus routes.
Grimshaw recently completed an airport in St Petersburg with golden ceilings, designed to reference the gilded spires of the Russian city’s churches. But partner Andrew Thomas says this new project will aim to capture “design worthy of the world city of Istanbul”.
“The Istanbul airport attempts to reconcile the requirements for a top modern, functional airport with something that is rooted in local identity,” added Haptic director Tomas Stokke.
“We were inspired by the local use of colours and patterns, the quality of light and how it penetrates buildings, as well as by traditional architecture such as the Süleymaniye Mosque.”
Milan 2014: architect Zaha Hadid has cantilevered a series of elongated strips of black granite to create a fluid storage unit for Italian brand CITCO.
Zaha Hadid lengthened the interconnected elements of the Tela Shelving for CITCO to make the heavy stone look as weightless as possible.
“Tela is a shelving system characterised by an interesting dichotomy: the solidity of the black granite of which it is composed seemingly dissipates with the elongated cantilevers,” said Hadid.
Shelves are connected to each other by sloping sections that support the cantilevers on both sides, so each of the three levels looks like a wavy line when viewed straight on.
This group of connections is offset from the centre of the unit and make the shelves appear to have been pulled up from a single flat piece of stone.
“At the centre of the configuration, its structural core, are the interweaved shelves which appear to open and unfold from a single surface to follow parallel trajectories,” Hadid said.
Milan 2014: British designer Max Lamb developed a multicoloured engineered marble for Dzek, which was used to build furniture that appears to merge with walls of the same material for an installation in Milan.
Max Lamb was approached by London design brand Dzek to re-examine the production of man-made stone surfaces and came up with a material called Marmoreal that combines coloured marble with a polyester binder to create a durable stone for architectural applications.
“We invited Max to examine agglomerate stones such as terrazzo and question how he would design and use one consistent with his practice known for its quixotic craftsmanship, disciplined logic, and a measured exuberance deeply rooted in materiality,” said Dzek founder Brent Dzekciorius.
Rather than the small chips of stone embedded in typical terrazzo, Lamb chose to celebrate the natural surface detail of marble by including large chunks in the mix for his manmade material.
Marmoreal means “real marble” in Italian and is used to describe materials or objects that resemble marble. The four types of marble used in Lamb’s stone come from the quarries around Verona in northern Italy, which are famous for processing marble.
Green Verde Alpi, ochre-yellow Giallo Mori, and red Rosso Verona variants were selected to contrast with a background of white Bianco Verona marble.
Combining these stones with a small amount of polyester resin results in a multicoloured material that is stronger and less porous than natural marble.
“Composed of four historically significant Veronese marbles, Marmoreal is a material exploration that celebrates the individual qualities of these stones while acknowledging that the sum of its parts makes for something far more compelling,” explained Dzekciorius.
The material can be used to produce tiles or components for furniture, like the six pieces developed by Lamb to showcase the product’s capabilities.
These include a chair, bookcase, low coffee table, side table, shelf and a dining table or desk, all produced from simple geometric blocks of the engineered marble.
At its installation during last week’s Salone Internazionale del Mobile, Dzek presented the furniture in a space lined with tiles of Marmoreal that made it hard to distinguish the furniture from the walls.
Dzek focuses on collaborating with architects, designers and artists to develop architectural materials that can be used as the basis for product collections. The Marmoreal project is the first to be completed by the company.
The timber and stone buildings of Gion A Caminada, a cult figure in Swiss architecture, will feature in an exhibition opening next month at the House of Art in the Czech city of České Budějovice (+ slideshow).
Haus Walpen, Blatten
Hailing from Graubünden, the same Swiss canton as fellow architect Peter Zumthor, Gion A Caminada has built little outside of his native region and instead focussed much of his life’s work on the village of Vrin, where he established his studio in the late 1970s.
Both the population and the economy of the village were in serious decline, so Caminada set about providing infrastructure that would help it to thrive again. These projects include the Klosterhof Salaplauna farming facility and the Mehrzweckhalle public sports hall.
Klosterhof Salaplauna
Initally trained as a carpenter and cabinet-maker, the architect also designed a series of houses aimed at combining traditional constructions with modern detailing. Examples of these include Haus Walpen in Blatten, Haus Caviezel in Vrin and his own home, Haus Caminada.
The exhibition, entitled Creating Places, will offer a retrospective of Caminada’s career to date, compiled by the architect alongside curator Michal Škoda.
Aussichtsturm Reussdelta
“The aspect of my architecture that I am interested in is the discussion with the local tradition,” said Caminada, who currently works as an architecture professor at ETH Zurich.
“I pose a question to myself what those old architectural systems may give us,” he continued. “Where is the substance of those constructions? How can they be transformed for new kinds of use to meet the requirements of the present time?”
Aussichtsturm Reussdelta
Other projects featured will include Aussichtsturm Reussdelta – an observation tower for ornithologists – and Waldhuette, a school classroom contained within a woodland cabin.
Stall Werner Caminada
The exhibition opens at the House of Art’s contemporary art and architecture gallery on 7 May and will run until 15 June.
Here’s some more information about the exhibition:
Gion A Caminada – Creating Places
“The aspect of my architecture that I am interested in is the discussion with the local tradition. I pose a question to myself what those old architectural systems may give us. Where is the substance of those constructions? How can they be transformed for the new kinds use to meet the requirements of the present time? It is always the matter of discussion and a new development. I believe that it is the core of tradition of the entire village.”
Mehrzweckhalle, Vrin
These are the words of the Swiss architect Gion A Caminada, whose exhibition was prepared by the Gallery of Contemporary Art and Architecture of the House of Art in České Budějovice for May and June this year.
In the late 1970s, Caminada appeared with a project of improving the development and functioning of the village. And Vrin became the place that Caminada focused a major part of his lifelong effort on. Nowadays, with the benefit of hindsight, we can state that certain ideas and proposals of Caminada’s have not remained at the level of considerations only, which is proved by an essential change on the place mentioned.
Waldhuette, Domat/Ems
Vrin, a village that was dying, both in terms of population and economy, started to change in a number of respects. People stopped moving away, and a number of communal and private buildings, as well as modern farming constructions enabling a contemporary manner of cultivating land, were built. All of this was achieved without a conflict with the traditional nature of the village. Traditions and the cultural heritage were linked with new, up-to-date needs. Another proof of the well-chosen way is that Vrin was the first village to be awarded the Wakker Prize of the Swiss Heritage Society.
In Caminada’s work, architecture also plays a social role. It is happy and beautiful only if the tension between tradition and modern ways bring attractive solutions and if its function is linked with a way of life.
Waldhuette, Domat/Ems
Caminada based his work on the presumption that houses have to reflect people’s stories, and that architecture is an interdisciplinary field, while technology is merely its complement. He uses contemporary means to imprint a traditional appearance to the Alpine environment. However, at the same time, he admits that architecture is becoming a political issue to an increasing degree. The designer has to overcome a number of obstacles related to politics. This is what he partly views as the weak point of contemporary architecture, which has forgotten to solve problems.
Haus Caminada, Vrin
Caminada focuses his interest on the countryside/periphery. He characterises it as the domesticated countryside. Although this area once received a generous support from the Swiss government, this support started to fade away as the government decided to support centres/catchment towns and large villages, which are supposed to influence and inspire the periphery. However, is he convinced that proceeding in the opposite direction is correct. He assumes that this way would, on the contrary bring about an increase in the number of abandoned villages.
He is very particular about tradition and continuity in his work, not only about the picture. His constructions communicate in a comprehensible language, giving priority to their own function. It places a great emphasis on details while studying further possibilities of traditional constructions and trying to find ways towards a perfect model of the timbered house.
Berghuette Terri
We can talk about architecture with a reflection of the original culture, with respect to a particular place, which is not only a romantic area, but also a countryside with whims of the weather.
This exhibition that Caminada prepared specially for the Gallery in České Budějovice focuses on the subject of The Creation of Places. At this venue, it deals with a particular architectonic object to a lesser extent, but gives more attention to the idea of how a place could be strengthened in its broadest reality. The exhibition is divided into five parts, and visitors may see both the village of Vrin and the relationships between objects and the countryside, and the place of Caminada’s next place of work – the ETH Zurich.
Haus Beckel Kübler
Gion Antoni Caminada lives in the village of Vrin, in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. First, he learned the trade of carpenter and cabinet maker and then he attended a school of applied arts. After gaining experience on his travels he graduated from the ETH Zurich, the Department of Architecture, where he currently works as a professor. In the late 1970s, he returned to his native village of Vrin, founded his own office, and is also politically active there. Most of his realised works that focus on optimising the functioning of the village are situated at Vrin and its surroundings. He is interested in discussions with the local building tradition, and seeks possibilities of employing old building constructions in modern architecture. To realise his constructions he uses traditional local materials wood and stone.
Milan 2014: Slovenian designer Nika Zupanc has created a collection of furniture and products for London design label Sé, influenced by Modernism and sporting motifs (+ slideshow).
Zupanc designed pieces including an armchair, sofa, cabinet, table lamp and a mirror for the collection, which is the third to be launched by Sé since it was founded in 2007.
Sé cofounder Pavlo Schtakleff first came across Zupanc’s work in 2011 and said he was keen to work with her because of her “distinct design language”, but also because he wanted to work with more female designers.
“I was particularly interested in collaborating with a female designer,” Schtakleff said. “Sometimes overlooked within the industry, I felt this would introduce a fresh perspective to the collection; however Nika’s creativity and approach spoke for themselves.”
For this collection, Zupanc drew on the simplicity of 1950s Modernist furniture and combined this stylistic reference with forms intended to evoke a fictional private sports club.
“With Collection III, I wanted to blend timeless elegance, sensitivity and tenderness with a splash of smoky, determined and even masculine reality,” explained the designer.
Materials including marble, brass and wood are used throughout the collection to add a sense of luxury and emphasise the craftsmanship involved in the production of the pieces.
The collection includes a dressing table – the first to be produced by Sé – which features a mirror comprising two offset intersecting circles and a straight central section that provide reflections from different angles.
A curving sofa upholstered in a textured gold fabric is supported by solid brass legs, while mirrors are framed in metallic laurel wreaths in reference to the prizes awarded to athletes in ancient Greece.
A monumental cabinet featuring a grid of shelves behind curved glass doors is embellished with brass details, including handles formed from interconnecting circles.
Marble-topped tables of different heights with slender metal legs can be grouped together as a family.
Some of the rectangular tables feature ceramic surfaces with raised compartments that surround containers topped with spherical handles.
A ceramic table lamp houses its light source inside a dome-shaped shade with a metallic interior. This joins the Full Moon Lamp, which was first exhibited last year and features a round, flat light source mounted on an adjustable arm.
Sé presented the new products at Spazio Rossana Orlandi in Milan last week. The brand’s previous two collections were designed by Jaime Hayon and Damien Langlois-Meurinne.
Milan 2014: Swedish collective Note Design Studio has designed glass lamps mounted on wooden frames that resemble mind-bending illustrations (+ slideshow).
The design for the bases was influenced by illustrations and optical illusions by Dutch graphic artist MC Escher and Swedish graphic artist Oscar Reuterswärd.
The solid oak frame balances on three points and allows the globe-shaped lamp to rest on top.
A small circular opening at the top of the shade can be pointed in the desired direction by swivelling the ball.
“Depending on how you lean or tilt the bowl you can direct the light like a soft spotlight,” explained the designers.
The lamps come in gradated pastel shades in three different sized globes and frames.
They were displayed at Per/Use’s exhibition in Milan’s Brera district during the city’s design week, which concluded yesterday.
Here’s some information from Note Design Studio:
MCE Lamp for Belgian design brand Per/Use
The design of the wooden frame was inspired by the mathematical illustrations and optical illusions by M.C.Escher, Oscar Reuterswärd and their likes, hence the name MCE Lamp.
Of course this “impossible” frame is nothing but possible and it’s sturdy construction allows the big glass bowl to rest safely. The glass bowl is blown in three different sizes as the frame and the generous bowl elegantly hides the light source. Depending on how you lean or tilt the bowl you can direct the light like a soft spotlight.
The lamp was launched during Salone del Mobile 2014 by the Belgian design brand PER/USE at the Per/Use own exhibition Brera Design District in Via Dell’Orso 12.
The MCE lamp was originally designed as a one-off piece for the Glass Elephant exhibition during Stockholm Design Week.
The exhibition was a collaboration between Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair and ABB.
Seven concrete fins provide a green roof that collects rainwater at this new engineering facility for a wastewater treatment plant in Portland, Oregon, by local firm Skylab Architecture (+ slideshow).
The Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant was built in 1950 to process the Portland’s combined wastewater and stormwater, and now serves 600,000 residents. Skylab Architecture was tasked with creating new office facilities for the plant’s engineers and public reception areas.
The single-storey structure has a curved plan designed to trace the path of the sun. The seven roof fins form a linear sequence over the top, turning the building into a series of angular grass-covered hills that appear to fold up from the landscape.
Each of these fins features an integrated collection system that channels rainwater down to the nearby Columbia Slough waterway.
“Inspired by the native landscape and its industrial past, the building is an elegant combination of landform, indigenous planting, formal geometry, and durable construction systems that support staff and the public interface,” explained the architect.
In contrast with the plant-covered southern facade, the building’s northern elevation comprises a glazed curtain wall with a serrated surface.
Workspaces for up to 36 engineers are located just behind, replacing the mobile units that had served as offices for the previous 16 years. South-facing clerestory windows bring light into these spaces from above, filtering through steel louvres.
A new reception welcomes guests to the plant, while meeting rooms accommodate talks and other public events. These spaces lead out to a grass lawn that functions as a common space for staff and visitors.
Here’s a project description from Skylab Architecture:
The Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant Engineering Building
The Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant was constructed in 1950 as an industrial site to treat the city’s combined wastewater and storm water now serving 600,000 residents in Portland, Oregon. In recent times, this municipal works project has become increasingly public through efforts to highlight the importance of sustainable infrastructure. Over the past 16 years, engineering staff on site worked out of portable trailers that became unsuitable for occupation.
The new 11,490 square-foot Engineering Building and site development project was proposed to create replacement office space while also establishing a new public interface for the Plant. The program included office space for 36 engineers and construction management staff, a visitor reception space and public meeting spaces all to be developed within a sustainable landscape.
The new single-storey building was oriented along the path of the sun featuring seven folded cast-in-place concrete roof forms that channel storm water sustainably through the eco-roof. The storm water then drains along the berms into a visible storm water collection system leading back to the Columbia Slough.
As an intentional demonstration, the building and its immediate landscape employ signage and educational elements to celebrate the Columbia Slough ecosystem where the project is located as well as share information about the regional watershed. Inspired by the native landscape and its industrial past, the building is an elegant combination of landform, indigenous planting, formal geometry, and durable construction systems that support staff and the public interface.
The site development transformed and redefined the transportation traffic flow to create a newly formed pedestrian central green space used for educational tours of the plant and as a commons for the overall plant staff. This commons space replaced the original axial road leading into the plant improving vehicular circulation, plant security, parking organisation to create a shared central gathering space.
Juxtaposing the soft, vegetated southern edge, the building’s northern facade is a dynamic, serrated curtain wall that tracks the circular path of the commons. Exterior stainless steel solar shades and a system of clerestory windows create modulated day lighting in concert with a fully glazed operable north facade connecting the interior spaces with the central green space.
Aerial view of the plant
The mechanical system is a heat pump system that taps into the plant’s process water source for heating and cooling. While the building has a photovoltaic system it also benefits from an on- site co-generation plant for power.
Owner: City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services Architect: Skylab Architecture Contractor: Skanska USA Building Engineer: Solarc Architecture and Engineering, Inc. Engineer: Catena Consulting Engineers Landscape: 2-ink Studio Landscape Architecture Lighting: Biella Lighting Civil Engineer: Vigil-Agrimis Inc. Environmental Graphics: The Felt Hat
Milan 2014: industrial designer Konstantin Grcic has created a birch chair with a circular seat and splayed legs, his first design for Finnish furniture company Artek.
Grcic‘s circular Rival chair for Artek incorporates a swivel function and has four splayed legs milled from solid birch.
“Grcic designed legs milled from one piece of solid birch,” said a statement from Artek. “This technique has recently been used in a number of chairs, resulting in the wood taking on a fluid quality more like moulded plastic than timber.”
Laminated birch is used for the arms and the backrest, formed from one curved element, as well as for the vertical supports holding this piece in place.
It comes in a high and low-back version, with a choice of upholstery in a three-dimensional textile or leather for the seat. Colour options include white, black, and red, as well as natural wood.
Konstantin Grcic’s Rival is designed with people working from home in mind.
In its use of materials, Rival reflects its roots in the legacy of Artek, with a mix of solid birch for the legs and laminated birch for the arms and back, and in the circular geometry of the seat. But it also has a technical finesse, which transforms it into an entirely modern piece of furniture. The swivel function offers a psychological clue as to the purpose of the chair – a multifunctional task chair for contemporary living.
Grcic designed legs milled from one piece of solid birch. This technique has recently been used in a number of chairs, resulting in the wood taking on a fluid quality more like moulded plastic than timber. But Grcic has maintained a more conventional form that reflects the materiality of birch. The birch of the back and the arms is displayed in a saw-cut lamella.
For Grcic, designing a chair works on a number of levels. There is the choice of materials, and it was clear that for the Rival, birch would play an important part. There is the home office typology, a reflection of a contemporary approach to life. And third is what might be called the grammar of construction, the way in which a piece is put together.
The first incarnation of Rival is an armchair with a low (KG001) and a high (KG002) back version, a seat in a choice of a three-dimensional textile or leather upholstery, available in a range of colours.
Milan 2014: Dutch studio Scholten & Baijings has designed a series of marble tables decorated with engraved geometric patterns that contrast with the natural veined surface of the stone.
Disassembled tables
Scholten & Baijings created the Solid Patterns series for Italian marble producer Luce di Carrara and used different types of marble from the company’s quarry in Tuscany to produce five unique pieces.
Disassembled tables
“The collection is inspired by the uniqueness of marble quarried from the depths of the Apuan Alps,” said the designers. “Designing was all about expressing the various characteristics of the marble in a single form, merging mass, colour, unique line patterns and circular shapes.”
Dinner Table
Thin table tops with irregular rounded edges combine with bases shaped as columns, truncated cones, faceted blocks or fluid curving forms.
In some cases, Scholten & Baijings applied its signature geometric patterns to the table tops, while other examples feature lines engraved into the bases.
Low Table 2
“Adding grid patterns to the designs has created a contemporary look that enhances the contrast between the graphics and the crystalline marble patterns,” the designers added.
Small Table 1
The largest table in the series can be used as a dining or conference table. It features a base made from a single block of white-beige marble, embellished with a subtle pattern of vertical lines.
Two low coffee tables, one produced from brown-beige Lericy marble and another from a pink-hued stone, feature criss-crossing diagonal lines covering their top surfaces.
Small Table 2
One of two taller tables for seating three to four people has a base made from a hollowed-out block of grey marble with a pattern of vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines. A similar pattern applied to the other table’s base emphasises the accuracy of its faceted form.
The collection was presented at Spazio Rossana Orlandi in Milan during last week’s Salone Internazionale del Mobile.
Alessi said that until the 1970s, Italian design was characterised by Italian designers working for Italian manufacturers.
“Then during the 80s we had some important change,” Alessi said, as Italian industry started to work with foreign designers. “Design expressed through the catalogue of Italian design factories was not any more Italian,” he said.
Today, he said, “maybe the second element, Italian production, will disappear.”
The company, which specialises in kitchen accessories and tableware, was founded in 1921 by Alberto Alessi’s grandfather Giovanni Alessi and today employs around 500 people at its factory in Crusinallo on Lake Orta in northern Italy. Its annual turnover is around €100 million.
One of the best-known of Italy’s design-led manufacturers, Alessi started out as a producer of stainless steel utensils for the catering industry but, like many successful Italian “design factories”, began collaborating with external designers in the fifties and sixties.
Famous Alessi collaborations include the 9090 espresso machine designed by Richard Sapper, the Juicy Salif lemon squeezer by Philippe Starck and the Record watch by Achille Castiglioni.
“Italy… is very much in a crisis because it doesn’t want to change, doesn’t want to move and is becoming very old,” she said, adding that the country was “losing the culture behind production.”
Alberto Alessi said his company was committed to maintaining its production base in Italy but said he was “concerned” that Italian manufacturing would go the same way as Italian design, and migrate abroad.
But he added that, even if this happened, the notion of “Italian design” would continue, because of the country’s unique culture of collaboration between designer and manufacturer.
“I think that [Italy] will continue to have Italian design because it has not only to do with the nationality of the designer but it has to do with a culture,” he said. “We are a kind of mediator. The core of our activity is to mediate endlessly between on one side the best creativity in product design from all over the world and on the other side, customers.”
“This culture makes Italian design factories the best labs to offer to designers to make real their designs,” he added. “When they enter the door of Alessi, the designer or architect immediately feels he will meet people who will do their best to help him express what he has inside.”
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