Passionné par les musées d’histoires naturelles, mais encore plus par les coulisses de ces lieux de culture, le photographe autrichien Klaus Pichler compose avec sa série en cours « Skeletons Series » des clichés impressionnants sur ces créatures. L’ensemble est à découvrir en images dans la suite.
As an artist, sculptor and photographer, Maximo Riera has used his eye and craft of creating dramatic works across disciplines in his most recent project, The Animal Chair Collection. The ever-growing series of biologically accurate animals covers mammals, reptiles and insects from the octopus and elephant to walrus and…
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American artist Charley Harper’s fascination with the natural world kicked off with a childhood spent on a West Virginia farm. In his professional work, Harper rendered natural subjects for “The Golden Book of Biology,” Ford Times, the National Park Service and the Cincinnati Zoo. Ammo Books—who previously released a…
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A gigantic yellow giraffe pokes its heads out from the roof of this nursery and childcare centre in Paris by French studio Hondelatte Laporte Architectes (+ slideshow).
The larger-than-life statue appears to act as a supporting column, as its body pushes up through a cantilevered upper storey so that only legs, a long neck and a head can be spotted by passers-by.
“The idea is to animate the urban landscape by using a child’s imagination,” explains Hondelatte Laporte Architectes.
The aptly named Giraffe Childcare Centre accommodates a 60-bed childcare facility and a nursery for up to 20 children, in addition to playgrounds on each of its three levels.
As well as the giraffe, the playgrounds feature a white bear and a parade of huge ladybirds, all constructed from concrete. “Through their affable form, the lively animal sculptures invite us to live our dreams,” say the architects.
The centre is located beside Jean Nouvel’s Horizons offices, in the riverside Boulogne-Billancourt district in the south-west of the city.
The entrance is positioned at the end of the building so that visitors have to walk through the giraffe’s legs on their way inside.
The architects used corrugated metal cladding for the whole exterior, creating a series of bright white elevations.
Animal sculptures are a recurring feature in designs for children and we’ve previously featured a restaurant with a model elephant inside.
Giraffe fans may also enjoy a house with a front door tall enough to let one of the animals, or the giraffe enclosure at Rotterdam Zoo.
Photography is by Philippe Ruault.
Here’s some project details from the architects:
The Giraffe childcare centre is located in the C1 block of the Seguin Rives de Seine district in Boulogne-Billancourt, a suburban area of Paris. The program houses a 60 bed childcare centre and 20 bed day nursery. The building has been awarded the green “zéro Energie Effinergie” label. This public building is located next to Jean Nouvel’s “Horizons” tower, at the junction between the “Vieux pont de Sèvres” neighbourhood, built in the 70s, and the new area called “le Trapèze”. The high density of this area gives it a rugged skyline. To be integrated into this particular urban landscape, the building is composed of three tiers. Each of the south-facing playgrounds is in continuity with the interior spaces and is identified by a unique concrete animal sculpture. Viewed from the surrounding towers, the regular sequence of terraces offers a real “fifth facade” to the neighbourhood.
The facades of the building are made out of white corrugated iron that provides a minimal background to the wild animal sculptures. The idea is to animate the urban landscape by using a child’s imagination. The wild animals appropriate the space; a giraffe appears to be peacefully eating the leaves of the trees from the neighbouring park, a polar bear tries to clamber up the steps, while a family of ladybirds climbs the façade in an attempt to reach the interior patio.
Architecture turns into storytelling. The building changes its identity and becomes a landscape in its own right, a metaphor for the urban jungle. The animals and the trees link the building to nature and motion. The giraffe has become a banner for the nursery since it is visible in the surrounding area from all angles. We walk through its legs to enter the building. Through their affable form, the lively animal sculptures invite us to live our dreams. These playful and dreamlike sculptures introduce a little bit of fantasy into the routine life of the town in order to inspire our lives with a bit of poetry.
Project name: Giraffe childcare centre
Architect(s): Hondelatte Laporte Architectes
Project manager: Virginie Davo
Project team: Charlotte Fagart (architect)
Engineering: Studetech
HEQ Engineering: GCB Gestion Conseil Bâtiment
Client: SAEM Val de Seine Aménagement
Program: 60 bed childcare centre and 20 bed day nursery.
Lieu/Location: Boulogne-Billancourt (92) – France
Competition: January 2009
Delivery: 2012
Area: 1450 sq m
Cost: 3 744 000€ HT
Construction companies): SPIE SCGPM (general contractor), AAB (animals sculpture)
Above: site plan – click above for larger image
Above: ground floor plan – click above for larger image
Above: first floor plan – click above for larger image
Above: second floor plan – click above for larger image
Above: roof plan – click above for larger image
Above: side elevation – click above for larger image
Above: front elevation – click above for larger image
Above: side elevation – click above for larger image
Above: rear elevation – click above for larger image
Above: long sectional elevation – click above for larger image
Above: cross sectional elevation – click above for larger image
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Hondelatte Laporte Architectes appeared first on Dezeen.
Product news: British design brand All Lovely Stuff have created a bird box inside a flowerpot.
The Bird sNest Box by All Lovely Stuff is made by mounting the pot sideways and closing it with a disc of Douglas fir plywood, which has a hole for the bird to get in and a wing nut underneath for a perch.
Designers Ed Ward and Carl Clerkin say the bird box is an ideal home for tree sparrows, great tits and pied flycatchers.
Dezeen filmed a movie with Clerkin earlier this year where he explained the brand’s aim of creating functional wooden products with “a little bit of charm about them”.
Other products we’ve featured by the same designers include a wind-up toy that draws abstract patterns and salad servers shaped like dinosaurs.
We’ve also previously published a giant nesting box for both humans and birds in Japan and a wall of 1,000 nest boxes for birds and bats in Wales.
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All Lovely Stuff appeared first on Dezeen.
Making the rounds on the web this week, a charming set of light fixtures inject sleek design—and fun—into the realm of bottle lamps, which can run the risk of looking like DIY kitsch. Animal Farm, a series of abstract pig, giraffe, penguin, hippo and elephant figures made from upcycled…
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Inspired by the elusive little creatures native to the rugged, windswept mountains of Ireland’s western coast, textile designer Claire-Anne O’Brien created three delightful knit animals to sell exclusively through the Emerald Isle’s online design and craft shop Makers & Brothers. Included in the bunch is the wise and speedy…
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Architects and designers including Kengo Kuma, Toyo Ito, Shigeru Ban, MVRDV and Konstantin Grcic have designed a series of downloadable architectural structures that are just for dogs (+ slideshow).
Organised by Kenya Hara, the creative director of MUJI, Architecture for Dogs is set to launch next week as an open-source network where dog-owners can download the templates for each of the thirteen designs, then build them for themselves.
Each designer was asked to think up a structure that would alter the way that people interact with their pet, so Atelier Bow-Wow have designed a ramp for a daschund (above) that helps it make eye contact with its owner, in spite of its short legs. “We thought about stairs, but their bodies are too long and they risk hurting their hips,” said the architects, explaining their design for a folding slope.
Meanwhile, Konstantin Grcic has designed a mirror for a poodle (above), as apparently it is the only dog that can recognise its own reflection.
Shigeru Ban has used his trademark cardboard tubes to create a maze for a papillon (above), while Sou Fujimoto has recreated the scaffolding-like structure of his House NA project in Tokyo in his house for a Boston terrier (below).
Sanaa‘s Kayuzo Sajima came up with a design for a fluffy white cushion (below) that matches the fur of the bichon frisé.
“Bichons love soft surfaces and snuggling into large blankets,” said Sajima. “The typical space designed for dogs in the interior of a house is at the convenience of the human and is frequently a cage-like container you keep in the dark corner of a room. This design however is a warm, inviting version of that crate.”
Kengo Kuma has devised a system of wooden components (above) that can be used to construct a hill, which a pug can either sit inside or climb up onto.
MVRDV wanted to “give the curious and playful Beagle a space of its own” and have created a gabled kennel (above) that rocks back and forth.
For a spitz, Hiroshi Naito has created a curving bed of tubes and wooden blocks (above), while Toyo Ito‘s design is a four-wheeled mobile home for a shiba (below).
As chihuahuas are known to love burrowing, Reiser + Umemoto thought the best structure for one would be a comfortable outfit (below). “We wanted to create something that would make the dog feel protected and safe,” said the architects.
Other structures include a reimagined hammock by Torafu (below), a staircase in a box by curator Kenya Hara and an upside-down suspended cone by the Hara Design Institute.
The Architecture for Dogs website is set to launch on 15 November, when people will be encouraged to upload photographs of the structures they’ve built and share any improvements they’ve made.
The structures will also be presented in December as part of Design Miami.
Other designs for dogs on Dezeen include a special staircase at a house in Vietnam and a combined chair and kennel.
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Photography is by Hiroshi Yoda.
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curated by Kenya Hara appeared first on Dezeen.
More Than Human est le titre de la dernière série de photographies de Tim Flach. Réunissant des portraits d’animaux dans le cadre de son prochain livre, le photographe nous propose de découvrir des clichés époustouflants de divers espèces, permettant ainsi de dévoiler des facettes plus qu’humaines de ces animaux.
Voici la série de photographies Nature Humaine dans des lieux ordinaires où sont présentés des animaux sauvages, soulignant que le danger et les prédateurs peuvent être partout. Un travail de Samuel Guigues et du studio « La souris sur le gateau » qui représente nos angoisses collectives liées à la ville.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
