Hasta La Ideas

A fantastical mobile library with a conceptual twist

No offense to bookmobiles, but Numabookface—part installation, part bookstore—ups the ante on mobile libraries. A collaboration between design collective Nam and specialty publisher Numabooks, the whimsical pop-up shop launched earlier this year as part of Nam’s “A Fantasy in Life” solo exhibition at Public/Image 3D in Toyko.

Made of 3,500 used books that fall under the keyword “fantasy,” the face-shaped bookshelf took one day to build. “We’d love to make this small, fantastic shop like a touring project, visiting various places and being observed as a graphic artwork as well as considered as a place to meet unexpected books,” says Takayuki Nakazawa, co-founder of Nam. “This is a little presentation against the severe situation the publishing business is facing.”

The artfully-arranged stacks are not intended for browsing and page-flipping, but none of that’s necessary. In a surprise for readers, Shintaro Uchinuma of Numabooks choses titles for each individual customer based on how he or she answers the question, “Please tell me about yourself.” Available in sets of five for ¥1,800 ($22) or 50 for ¥9,800 ($122), purchases will be delivered after the installation’s run. “I love this rather surrealistic method of selling, as this seems to provide the customer with a chance to meet with new books that they cannot imagine,” says Nakazawa.

Numabookface is open through 31 July 2011 at the Ikejiri Institute of Design in Toyko (closed on Mondays).

While the Smithsonian wound up being able to avoid having to charge its threatened $7.50 per ticket, other Washington DC-based museums haven’t fared the same. The National Building Museum has announced that, effective June 27th, it will begin charging an entry fee, $8 for adults and $5 for children. While that certainly likely won’t destroy any visitor’s wallets, considering nearly every museum in the country seems to start at around $15/per, it’s a big change for the organization, which had been free to visit since its opening in 1985. The museum had tested the fee-charging waters with its popular Lego Architecture exhibition, which ran for nearly a year and cost visitors $5 a pop. That experiment having been successful and the financial issues plaguing nearly every museum in the world certainly not passing them by, the museum made the decision that now was the time to implement the new policy. Here’s a portion from a letter to the museum’s staff from the NBM’s executive director, Chase Rynd:

Over the past few years, the recession has been particularly devastating for the culture and arts community, as well as the building and design industry. The many people who have deep affinity for the National Building Museum understand all too well, therefore, that this institution has been greatly impacted by the economic crisis.

Around the world and in our backyards, the landscape for nonprofit organizations has shifted dramatically. Those who wait too long to realize this truth or dismiss it entirely are likely to become casualties of the era. Under no circumstances will we allow this to be the fate of the National Building Museum.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Alessi launches its Milan flagship designed by Martí Guixé

For 24 years the house of Alessi in Milan was the store on Corso Matteotti, originally designed by Ettore Sottsass and later renovated by Atelier Mendini. Nevertheless, last week Alessi opened a totally new store conceived by design star Martí Guixé.

The project follows the collaborations for the Shop Museum in Paris and the recent experience of their exhibition at the Triennale Design Museum. Just a short walk from Montenapoleone, the store is located in via Manzoni, close to the metro station La Scala Theatre and the beautiful Poldi Pezzoli Museum.

Divided into four different sections, the space includes a large entrance overlooking Via Manzoni and an area called Museum to display the most sculptural objects in a gallery-like setting. A retail section is reminiscent of the old space, though turned upside down, and “Wunderkammer” hosts new collections and curiosities. Each section has its own strong character, with different lighting systems custom-designed by Guixé himself and produced by Danese.

The predominant colors are glossy red, shiny white and grey, while the materials are mainly aluminum, ceramic, resins and wood. The result is a perfect mixture of Alessi spirit and a design gallery.

Rotterdam studio STAR Strategies + Architecture have photoshopped green walls over images of iconic buildings to poke fun at the way architects believe cladding a building in plants makes it sustainable.

The Berlin Wall, Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye and Issac Newton’s Cenotaph are among the buildings draped in greenery.

Entitled O’ Mighty Green, the images are being exhibited at the International Architecture festival eme3 in Barcelona.

More conceptual architecture on Dezeen »

The following information is from the architects:

O’ Mighty Green

Sustainability currently shares many qualities with God; supreme concept, omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient; creator and judge, protector, and (…) saviour of the universe and the humanity. And, like God, it has millions of believers. Since we humans are relatively simpleminded and suspicious and need evidence before belief can become conviction, Green has come to represent sustainability; has become its incarnation in the human world. But sustainability, like God, might not have a form, nor a colour…

1. Emancipation

In a desperate attempt to give shape to an all-encompassing ideology the Green proves to work as the quickest and easiest representation of sustainability. The Green is the only symbol able to keep pace with today’s lack of patience and hunger for images; a Lady Gaga-Sustainability: effective, noticeable, creative, sensationalist. In a persistent effort to become the allegory of Sustainability, Green has been emancipated as its caricature.

2. Function

If the Iconic buildings simply needed to be iconic, the Green buildings simply need to be green. Green as a function. Green allows sustainability to be bought per m2, or to be painted on, or glued on. Sustainability is a Photoshop filter in CS6: Ctrl+Green.

3. Style

Modernism, Postmodernism, Deconstructivism… We have now definitely entered Sustainabilism. Unlike in previous movements every architect can be a Sustainabilist: whether avant-garde, commercial, young, established… It can be even combined with other styles: Eco-Deconstructivism … Architectural magazines and commercial brochures found a common language: the Green. Green is also the point on which the architect, the client, the developer, the politician, and the user agree. For the first time ever we have a genuine International Style.

• Green buildings can be Ducks or Decorated sheds, and there are some interesting cases of being both at the same time: the Decorated Ducks.
• Green should be added as the sixth principle to Le Corbusier’s five points, and as the fourth quality to Vitruvius’ triad: Venustas, Utilitas, Firmitas and Sustinebilitas
• The built … product of Sustainability is not sustainable architecture but Green. Green is what remains after Sustainability has run its course or, more precisely, what coagulates while Sustainability is in progress, its fallout… *Taken from Junkspace by R. Koolhaas
• Green is the new Black.

4. Religion

• Green works as faith. Saint Green will watch over the sustainable architects, and will guide them in the Green direction.
• Green works as confession. The guiltier we feel, the greener we try. The green-looking is usually indirectly proportional to its sustainability achievements. Green has the capacity of reducing all that matters to one single problem, and one single solution: Green.
• Green is double-miraculous. As if trying to heal cancer with aspirins, Green is the phenomenal formula that turns sustainable everything that it touches. It can also hide graceless designs. Ugly Green buildings are more readily accepted than ugly buildings.

5. Ambiguity

But the Green also hides a perverse dimension… As in a David Lynch movie; everything appears to be calm and harmonious but there is something disturbing… rotting… The Green is the common lie, the secret consensus, the perfect crime; everybody knows that it cannot be that good, that it cannot be that easy, but why bother? It sells, and there is enough Green for everybody.

See also:

.

Playhouse by Aboday	Home 06 by i29	Barnacre Equilibrium Tanks by Ian Simpson Architects

This school in Cambodia by Finish architects Rudanko + Kankkunen was built by the local community from hand-dried blocks of the surrounding soil.

The Sra Pou vocational school serves as a business training centre and public hall.

Small gaps in brickwork allow soft natural light and breezes to flow through the building, while colourful woven shutters open the indoor teaching areas onto a shaded terrace.

More stories about educational buildings on Dezeen »
More architecture using rammed earth on Dezeen »

Photography is by Rudanko + Kankkunen.

Here is some text from the architects:

Sra Pou Vocational School by Rudanko + Kankkunen

Sra Pou vocational school is a vocational training center and community building in Sra Pou village, Cambodia. The school is designed by architects Rudanko + Kankkunen from Finland and built during spring 2011. The architects took care of both building design and project management.

The purpose of the vocational training centre is to encourage and teach poor families to earn their own living. The Sra Pou community is one of the unprivileged communities in Cambodia, who have been evicted from their homes in the city to the surrounding countryside. They lack basic infrastructure, decent built environment and secure income. The new vocational school provides professional training and helps the people to start sustainable businesses together. It is also a place for public gathering and democratic decision-making for the whole community. A local NGO organizes the teaching.

The project was started by young architects Hilla Rudanko and Anssi Kankkunen in an Aalto university design studio in spring 2010. During the studio, they travelled to Cambodia to find a design task with a local NGO. The studio works were imaginary, but Rudanko and Kankkunen decided to organize the construction of Sra Pou vocational school, since there was an urgent need for it and their design inspired both the community and donors. The firm Architects Rudanko + Kankkunen was founded during the design process. Now, it is an adventurous architecture firm specializing in public buildings in various settings.

The school building is made out of local materials with local workforce. The aim was to teach people how to make the most out of the materials that are easily available, so that they can apply the same construction techniques for their own houses in the future.

As the materials are scarce, the beautiful red soil was utilized to make sundried soil blocks. The whole school is hand-made: no machines or prefabricated parts were used in the building work. This allowed employing many people from the community, and it kept all techniques simple and transferable.

Using local materials and techniques, the designers have created a beautiful architectural composition. The soil block walls repeat the warm red shade of the surrounding earth. They are laid out with small holes, so that indirect sunlight and gentle wind come in to cool the spaces – and at night, the school glows like a lantern through these small openings. The whole community space is open, providing comfortable shaded outdoor space. The colorful handicraft doors are visible from far away and welcome visitors coming along the main road.

Click above for larger image

Location : Sra Pou, Oudong, Cambodia
Function : Vocational training and small business centre
Client : Sra Pou community, represented by Blue Tent NGO
Floor area : 200 m2
Construction cost: USD 15 000
Main material: Hand-made sundried soil block
Completed: 04/2011

Click above for larger image

Architect: Architects Rudanko + Kankkunen
Structural advisor: Advancing Engineering Consultants
Construction management: Architects Rudanko + Kankkunen
Project and financial management: Architects Rudanko + Kankkunen
Donors: M.A.D., ISS Finland, Wienerberger, Ecophon / Saint-Gobain, Uulatuote, and Puuinfo.

See also:

.

Earth House by BCHO Architects	Desert City House by Marwan Al-Sayed Architects	Wadi Resort by Oppenheim Architecture + Design