Hasta La Ideas

Japanese artist Kohei Nawa filled a dark room with billowing clouds of foam for this art exhibition in Aichi, Japan (+ slideshow).

Kohei Nawa used a mixture of detergent, glycerin and water to create the bubbly forms of his installation, entitled Foam.

Described by the artist as being “like the landscape of a primordial planet”, the large cloud-like forms were pumped up from the floor in eight different locations, creating a scene that was constantly in motion inside an otherwise black room.

The artist experimented with different quantities of the three ingredients to create a foam stiff enough to hold a shape without being affected by gravity.

“Small cells bubble up ceaselessly with the slight oscillations of a liquid,” said Nawa, explaining the process. “The cells gather together, totally covering the liquid as they spontaneously form a foam, an organically structured conglomeration of cells.”

“The risen volumes of foam link together and reach saturation, but continue to swell, occasionally losing vitality and spreading out over the ground,” he added.

The exhibition was presented in Autumn 2013 as part of the Aichi Triennale, an art exhibition in Nagoya, Japan.

Photography is by Nobutada Omoto.

The post Kohei Nawa’s Foam installation created
a cloud-like landscape of soapy bubbles appeared first on Dezeen.

Bright red walls contrast with vivid green lawns at this art and culture centre in Portugal by Lisbon architecture firm Future Architecture Thinking (+ slideshow).

Located in the town of Miranda do Corvo, Casa das Artes is made of three differently sized volumes that are painted red all over to help the building stand out as much as possible from its surroundings.

Asymmetric roof profiles were intended by Future Architecture Thinking to correspond with the angular rooftops of nearby houses, as well as with the irregular geometries of the distant Lousã Mountains.

“The proposal is based on a contemporary language that is structurally very strong through the continuity between the facades and the roof,” said the architects.

“The slopes of the roof look for identification with the city rooftops and the use of the strong colour is intended to create a building which is immediately recognisable by the public,” they added.

A chimney-like skylight stretches up beyond the roof, drawing evening sunlight from the west down to a covered terrace at the building’s entrance.

The largest of the three volumes accommodates the stage of a 300-seat auditorium, while seating extends back into a second block positioned behind.

This block also contains the auditorium foyer, which doubles up as a split-level gallery for temporary exhibitions, while an independent cafe is housed in the third and smallest block.

Photography is by João Morgado.

Read on for more information from Future Architecture Thinking:

Casa das Artes in Miranda do Corvo

The Casa das Artes (House of the Arts) in Miranda do Corvo expresses the meeting between two identities, rural and urban, in a landscape marked by the Lousã Mountains.

The building features a contemporary and volumetrically expressive language. The sloping roofs establish a dialogue with the geometry of the mountain landscape, in an analogy to the village rooftops. The dynamism achieved through the continuity between facades and roof is accented by a strong red colour, emphasising its design and highlighting the building through the surrounding landscaped area vegetation.

More than a building, the Casa das Artes pretends to be an iconic landmark, celebrating the place where people meet, where culture and art happens, a space capable of promoting and stimulating creative activity, increasing the population quality of life.

The project was conceived by creating versatile spaces, technically suitable for different kinds of events, in order to serve all segments of the population.

The deployment area was optimised to favour landscaped spaces, allowing the creation of an amphitheatre for outdoor events, integrated in a garden which is a public space for the village, with several spaces and inviting pathways for leisure.

The building consists of three volumes reflecting different sorts of use: the first one containing the stage areas, the second comprising the audience and foyer, and the third with a cafeteria and a future museum area, which constitute a visually independent volume.

The proposed diversity of accesses for the building attempts to emphasise the characterisation of this site as a public space, while allowing the public direct access of specific places, such as the museum area and cafeteria, independently, without passing through the auditorium.

The main entrance is through the foyer. This space may function as exhibition area which can be divided into two by a short flight of stairs. From here depart two paths to an auditorium for nearly 300 people, with a motorised orchestra pit and six technical levels, properly equipped for holding theatre performances, opera, concerts, conferences or lectures.

The cafeteria can operate independently from the rest of the building, or even serve as an entrance point providing access to the auditorium. This space has a covered terrace with a skylight oriented west, channelling sunset light into its interior. The terrace area gives access to a multimedia room. The facade of the museum area is facing the northern part of the garden where one of the main entries is located and the outdoor amphitheatre.

Client: Municipality of Miranda do Corvo
Location: Miranda do Corvo, Portugal
Area: 2.360 sqm

Architect: FAT – Future Architecture Thinking
Project Team: Architect Miguel Correia, Architect Cláudia Campos, Architect Sérgio Catita, Architect Patrícia de Carvalho, Architect Miguel Cabral, Architect Margarida Magro, Architect Sara Gonçalves, Architect Telmo Maia, Architect Gabriel Santos, Architect Hilário Abril, Engineer José Pico, Landscape Architect Sara Távora
Builder: TECNORÉM – Engenharia e Construções, S.A.
Year: 2010/2013

The post Art and culture centre with bright red walls
by Future Architecture Thinking appeared first on Dezeen.

News: a fighter jet incorporating 3D-printed parts has successfully completed a test flight, making it the first combat aircraft produced using additive manufacturing.

Defence contractor BAE Systems announced yesterday that the Tornado aircraft fitted with components printed at a Royal Air Force base completed a successful test flight from the company’s airfield at Warton in Lancashire, UK, last month.

The firm’s combat engineering team is now using 3D printing to design and produce ready-made parts for four squadrons of Tornado GR4 aircraft at RAF Marham, a Royal Air Force station in Norfolk, UK. Components include protective covers for cockpit radios, support struts on the air intake door and protective guards for power take-off shafts.

They estimate that use of the technology will cut the cost of repairs, maintenance and service to the Royal Air Force by more than £1.2 million over the next four years, but also paves the way for using 3D printed parts in other military equipment.

“You are suddenly not fixed in terms of where you have to manufacture these things,” said Mike Murray, head of airframe integration at BAE Systems. “You can manufacture the products at whatever base you want, providing you can get a machine there, which means you can also start to support other platforms such as ships and aircraft carriers.”

“If it’s feasible to get machines out on the front line, it also gives improved capability where we wouldn’t traditionally have any manufacturing support,” he added.

The US military has been developing its own 3D printers for the frontline for some time, enabling soldiers to quickly and cheaply produce spare parts for their weapons and equipment, while NASA is developing an orbiting factory that will use 3D printing and robots to fabricate giant structures such as antennas and solar arrays in space.

The post First combat aircraft with 3D-printed parts
completes test flight appeared first on Dezeen.

Italian office Studio Galantini has upgraded the wooden structure of a 1970s chapel in north-west Italy so that it can be used for summer services, music recitals and theatrical performances.

The Cappella Sant’Anna, or Saint Anna’s Chapel, was first built in 1973 in the Italian hamlet of Torre del Lago, but had been out of use since 2010 after parts of the structure were declared unsafe.

In the summer of 2013 Studio Galantini took up the task of repairing the structure. “We were captured by the structural purity and by the formal simplicity of the chapel, qualities that totally integrate it into nature,” explained architect Marco Biondi.

With help from structural engineer Renato Terziani, the architects replaced around half of the building’s framework, which comprises three triangular frames and a series of supporting crossbeams. They also repaired the old steel fixings.

The original moss-covered roof was retained, revealing the building’s true age. “The substitution of the overlay with new elements would have permanently damaged the harmony with the landscape, created by time going by,” said Biondi.

The two ends of the chapel remain open to expose the interior to the elements – a feature of the original design by engineer Vardemaro Barbetta. Barbetta named the chapel Sant’Anna, after the mother of the Virgin Mary, but also after the name of his own mother who initiated the project.

Photography is by Paolo Del Freo.

Here’s some extra information from Studio Galantini:

Galantini’s Firm: Sant’Anna’s Chapel recovery

Galantini’s Firm in Pisa, with the support of Renato Terziani as structural engineer, was involved in the recovery project of the Sant’Anna Chapel. The work was shaped around the full philological and compositional rightness and sensitivity, paying particular attention to the usage of technology and careful intervention techniques.

The chapel arises in the Lagomare residential complex that is located at Torre del Lago, Viareggio’s hamlet (LU). It stands inside the “Parco Naturale di Migliarino San Rossore Massaciuccoli” area, very close to the sea.

The Church, consecrated to Sant’Anna, was built on the engineer Vardemaro Barbetta’s project in 1973, following the engineer’s mother will whose name was Anna. The architectural work is highly characterised by the structural work: three gantries are settled by two balks that statically frame a three hinges portal. The hinges are made of steel and they are placed at the foot and at the top of the structure, resolving the work architecturally and structurally.

Because of the ageing of the wood in 2010 the structure was considered unsafe and declared not accessible, notwithstanding an offhand and structurally decontextualised past recovery action. A support for the balks, made by steel sections and welded batten plates, set up a mixed load-bearing structure.

The recovery work began in April 2013 and finished the 8th of August. The work was designed with no compromises: the technical complexity of the work was accepted to preserve the compositional integrity of the structure and the physics of the materials. The landscaped value of the overlay was preserved too, because of its integration with the surrounding pinewood.

This accomplishment was reached recreating the wooden parts and recovering the mechanical essentiality of the steel hinges. To accomplish that project, the work was realised suspending the structure using a scaffolding specifically designed for that aim; moreover the scaffolding was able to bear the efforts and the load transmitted during the substitution of the ground bases and of the degraded wooden parts.

Project: recovery of Cappella Sant’Anna

Designer: Studio Galantini

Engineer: Renato Terziani

Constructor: Antica Toscana

Client: Parrocchia di San Giuseppe

Location: Torre del Lago, Viareggio, Lucca

Completed: 2013

The post Studio Galantini rebuilds wooden frame
of small Italian chapel appeared first on Dezeen.

News: a survey of UK design and digital agencies has revealed annual increases in salaries and bonuses that indicate a recovery from the financial crisis affecting the design industry, though unpaid internships and free pitches are still on the rise.

The survey compiled by branding specialist Fairley & Associates, recruitment agency Gabriele Skelton and marketing firm On Pointe Marketing examined working conditions in digital and design companies, with its key findings indicating that “UK digital and design agencies may be emerging from the economic difficulties of recent years”.

According to the survey, 42.4 percent of employees received a pay rise in 2013 compared to 21 percent the previous year, while 27.7 percent received a bonus compared to 10.7 percent the previous year.

Pay increases are rising at a higher rate than inflation, with 73 percent of respondents who received a raise stating that it was more than 3 percent of their salary and more than a tenth enjoying pay rises of over 10 percent.

“This is the first evidence we have that the industry is in recovery, as despite the pressure from clients to do more for less money, agency leaders are awarding their staff pay rises and bonuses,” said Rachel Fairley, MD of Fairley & Associates.

However, 42.5 percent of respondents agreed that “agencies are using more unpaid interns”, though less than four percent of them judge fellowships and internships to be the best form of training. “This suggests that the perceived increase in the use of unpaid interns may be more about using cheap labour than developing the talents and skills of those entering the industry,” said the report.

The survey also revealed that many clients still expect agencies to pitch ideas for free, with 36.2 percent of the agencies polled claiming the number of free creative pitches requested by existing clients has increased since 2007, and 49.3 percent saying that the number of free pitches they’ve submitted for prospective clients has risen.

The survey of of 576 people also found that 53.7 percent of staff plan to change jobs in the next year, which represents a drop from last year’s result of 59 percent.

Attitudes towards training and development were also polled, with 40.5 percent of employees claiming they were disappointed with the support and opportunities for professional development provided by their agency.

The report is published annually by Design Industry Voices and is in its third year.

A recent survey by the Royal Institute of British Architects found that the annual workload of British architects increased for the first time since 2009.

Image of British currency is courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Pay rises and bonuses suggest better
times ahead for UK designers appeared first on Dezeen.