Hasta La Ideas

Belgian beer brand finds five men with extraordinary stories to match its equally remarkable flavor

Advertorial content:

With a history steeped in robust flavor, Belgian beer brand Leffe recently turned to the intriguing men of NYC to find a cast of characters whose personal stories matched the beer’s extraordinary qualities. Part of Leffe’s nationwide “Craft Your Character” campaign, the five finalists shared intimate stories from the past that shaped who they are today, spanning an archaeologist lost in the arid deserts of Petra to a gym teacher waking the streets of Prague with an inspirational bell ringing.

The first finalist, Ryan Eberts, saw his opportunity to make a difference after watching a slideshow on Bangladeshi orphans. For two and a half years Eberts taught at an orphanage in Bangladesh, and has since published his written experiences. Also seeking adventures in foreign places, fellow finalist and Notre Dame alum Blaine Pennington backpacked and lived abroad for three years, traversing 26 countries. His escapades, including finding himself lost in the city of Petra on a recent excavation, are documented in his travelogue site, Glimpse. Not to be outdone, Adam Strauss chimes in with his exotic tale. The comedian-turned-entrepreneur details leaving the Volvo-lined streets of Newton, MA for the spiritual mecca of Varanasi, India, crashing weddings and catching sunrises on the River Ganges.

Diverging from the exotic theme, but spinning no less of an interesting tale, teacher-turned-trader Charlie Sewell has been an NYC educator for 20 years and currently manages an online equities account. Sewell’s story of friendship founded over beers and brawls made him a worthy finalist. Last but not least, Nick Sonderup balances his love for music with a career in advertising, working at Weiden + Kennedy while promoting his personal project, “100 Bands in 100 Days.” Ranging from indie venues in the Lower East Side to a church in London, Sonderup chases a whirlwind odyssey of music.

Though a close race, ultimately the winning entry went to Connecticut-based teacher and fisherman Ryan Eberts for his heroic work with orphans in Bangladesh. As the winner, Eberts will fly to Belgium, Leffe’s home.

Leffe’s Stories of Characters will continue to travel throughout the U.S. in search of men with character. Check out some of the finalists’ stories in this video.

Five jumping-off points when visiting Antwerp’s new impressive museum

Advertorial content:

Building as exhibition: the Guggenheim pioneered the larger-than-life model we’ve come to expect from any international museum worth its salt. New York and Bilbao have their Guggenheims, and Rome has its MAXXI. Now, Antwerp has its own iconic piece of museum architecture and it’s poised to make the medieval Flemish town a global destination. The Museum aan de Stroom opened last weekend to an estimated 100,000 visitors, including the Belgian royal family. (Yes, they’ve got a royal family.)

First, some context. Antwerp is a harbor village with a massive port more than seven times the size of its commercial center. In the 1600s, the city was the seat of the Dutch superpower, establishing the nation’s merchant status for centuries to come. Though Antwerp now belongs to Belgium and Chinese harbors have taken precedence in the world’s shipping market, it’s still a city defined by its watery borders. And it’s there, just off the River Scheldt between the historic city center and the up-and-coming industrial neighborhood het Eilandje, that the MAS Museum steps into its starring role.

An icon the city elders ordered, and an icon they got, with a striking ten-story monolith of stacked boxes in alternating red Indian limestone and undulating glass. The architects, Neutelings Riedijk from Rotterdam, rotated each level 90 degrees, allowing the escalators to ascend around the perimeter of the museum. The effect is a moving viewing platform affording wraparound views of the city, from the Gothic Cathedral of Our Lady to the domed Centraal Station to the grittier docklands and warehouses in the immediate vicinity of MAS.

The exhibition spaces, designed by B Architecten, highlight the social and economic culture of the Dutch lowlands and draw from the permanent collections of Antwerp’s more established museums. The 470,000 objects come from three of the city’s historical museums, along with temporary exhibitions of pieces from the contemporary art museum, MuHKA, and the Koninklijk fine arts museum, currently closed for renovation. Highlights include the Wunderkammer (“cabinet of curiosities”) pairing Northern Renaissance still life paintings with found objects and scientific artifacts, and a floor devoted to harbor history, including miniature ship models and counterfeit goods seized from the ports. All eight floors of exhibition space are outfitted in interactive technology as well — should you be curious about that minutely detailed illustrated map of Antwerp from 1566, use the handy QR code to go back in time to the 16th century.

Taking the international and interactive themes online, MAS Museum also offers a quirky virtual tour on its website. From your computer, you can reserve a real live museum guide and steer them through the building according to what you want to see. For the less dictatorial, a video library lets you experience the museum inside and out.

Those visiting the museum in person should take note that beyond the fascinating works on display within and the impressive exterior are some places of note not to be missed. Ranging from a cafe perched upon the River Scheldt that offers stunning views to a young gallery with an eye for works that rival what is housed at the main attraction, here are our five recommendations for places to visit after you’ve had your fill of everything this new cultural landmark has to offer.

Bar Berlin

Bar Berlin is a dark and roomy all-day affair that acts as a cafe, meeting spot, and at night, a bustling bar with attractive young Antwerpers and their international friends. Order a bolleke, the Antwerp nickname for the local pale ale by De Koninck brewery. Kleine Markt 1

Viar

One of the standout shops on the antique-heavy thoroughfare of Kloosterstraat, Viar offers both hand-picked vintage costumes and blue-chip furniture and objets d’art: mid-century Italian desks, Baroque floor mirrors, and sinuous silver candlesticks. Kloosterstraat, 65

Glenns Restaurant

Gilded in a heavy helping of Dutch design and Tom Dixon lighting, Glenns Restaurant is carved out of a former garage near the fine arts museum and named after Antwerp’s most famous hairdresser (yes). The menu is a careful, but not overly precious, demonstration of local seafood and crisp, elegant wines. Graaf van Egmontstraat 39

Zuiderterras Cafe

Zuiderterras – A ship-like restaurant on the banks of the River Schedlt with ridiculous views, Zuiderterras Cafe is where locals go to pretend they’re tourists. The food is straightforward, but the swoon induced by a killer sunset adds a memorable sheen to the proceedings. Ernest van Dijckkaai 37

Office Baroque Gallery

Office Baroque Gallery has been showing the work of international artists (including Cool Hunting favorites Mathew Cerletty and Matthew Brannon) for three years. Their space promises intelligent exhibitions for discovering rising talent. Lange Kievitstraat 48

Faceted chocolate-brown panels line the walls of this chocolatiers’s shop in Brussels designed by Minale Design Strategy.

A triangular relief at the top of the walls gives way to a flat, regular grid further down, making way for display cases.

Located on the city’s Grand Place, the Maison des Maîtres Chocolatiers Belges sells chocolate by ten master chocolatiers.

Minale Design Strategy also created the branding and identity for the shop.

More stories about retail on Dezeen »

The information that follows is from the designers:

A chocolate jewel case for chocolate gems

From outside, one is drawn in by the originality of this boutique.Once past its glass entryway, the Maison des Maîtres Chocolatiers Belges strikes the senses of the visitor with its bold singularity. The single floor-to-ceiling chocolate color treatment of this triangular space definitely stirs emotional response.

The three dimensions of the space suggest a chocolate quarry, out of which the shop has been hewn,» explains Samuel Dubech, interior designer for Minale Design Strategy. On the walls, one notes diamond-like facets in their upper and lower zones, which visually «melt» into the floor and ceiling. The chocolate «raw materials» give way at midpoint to perfectly aligned chocolate squares from which extend glass display shelves.

The interior design echoes the transformation process of crude rock from the quarry: from the rawness of the space to the refinement of the displayed product.The orthogonal feel of the store’s two display walls offers a well-defined showcase to resident artisans. Each is provided with a dedicated space for his or her portrait, career path, birthplace and personal quote. On the floor, carved join-lines link the lower points of the wall to the straight edges of the central units that seem to push up from the floor.

Also treated to a lick of chocolate brown, they are equipped with a retro-lit glass plate to highlight the products of the Maison des Maîtres Chocolatiers Belges. They become an exhibition zone according to the events of the year. Visitors can sample pralines and more than ten varieties of hot chocolate on site.

At the center of this triangular space lies the exposition zone of the Master Chocolate Makers. Presented in a unified fashion (photo, brand, quote…), they display their creations on glass shelves, a material that echoes the precious quality of the products on show.

At the heart of a chocolate quarry

The visitor penetrates a chocolate world from top to bottom, like a chocolate quarry out of which the shop has been carved. A raw material, as if shaped by the artisan. The intrinsic character of the space is relayed by its «diamond point» design, which, under the play of careful, precise lighting, offers subtly graded chocolate tones, and creates a unique experience for the visitor. Guaranteed pure chocolate !

At the back of the store, floor and wall melt in a «waterfall» of melted chocolate. Near the counter, to the left, the fudge-hued wall turns to milky white, thus introducing the white chocolate theme that continues upstairs. The second floor «atelier» is where the Académie du Chocolat will meet and where more «scientific» demonstrations will take place. All the Maison’s architectural elements were custom designed and made to measure.

Both awards are testimonials to the importance of design in today’s consumer market, concludes Gwenaël Hanquet. A design carried through to the smallest details creates a kind of harmony that literally transcends the concept to reveal its strength. These distinctions are also proof that design is not the reserved domain of big chains; it is within the reach of all those who want to make their point of sale a living, breathing space capable of creating emotional response, while measuring up to exacting standards of profitability.

Creating emblematic brands in France, Benelux and abroad, Minale Design Strategy is a corporate and retail identity specialist.

An independent agency with offices in Paris, Brussels, London, Rome, Moscow and Brisbane, Minale Design Strategy advises businesses, property investment companies, mass-market chains, and retailers in areas of market strategy, name and brand creation, merchandising, and commercial space design.

The agency currently accompanies networks such as Delhaize, Colruyt, Multipharma, Côte d’Or, Brico, Century 21, Luxus, Conforama, Carestel

See also:

.

Godiva Chocoiste by Wonderwall	Confiserie Bachmann by HHF Architects	Kiosk at SCP by Michael Marriott

Belgian studio Room & Room opened this apartment in a listed Bruges building to the attic above, then opened the attic to the sky.

The attic floor has been removed, exposing the existing wooden roof structure and doubling the height of the living space.

Glazed roof panels inserted between the original structure and neighbouring building admit light to the deep spaces.

The kitchen is concealed behind pale wooden panelling, while the living area centres around a triangular chimney breast.

The listed building houses a pharmacy on the lower floors and a family home at the very top.

The following information is from the architects:

Renovation Bruges (Brugge) – Renovation of a listed building in the historical centre of Bruges

In the shadow of the cathedral the protected building is since the 17th century pharmacy and a home.

Expand wishes for the pharmacy made looking to expand the house. To connect the adjoining apartment to the attic floor offers the solution. Intensive discussions with the service heritage results in a integration into the sensitive historic urban texture.

Shed roofs are connecting the bays of the historical roof trusses with the side lying flat. They bring light and space in the heart of the new house.

The support functions of the house are grouped in the former apartment. This makes the attic fully opened and the trusses are restored to their value as defining elements in the space.

Two contemporary sink dormer give the house a new identity restored. They open the closeness of the attic without compromising the historical character of the city.

ROOM & ROOM, architecture and urban planning

Click for larger image

See also:

.

House NSV by adn Architectures	Paris apartment by MAAJ Architectes	Apprentice Store by Threefold Architects

Designers Gijs Van Vaerenbergh have suspended a network of chains to create an upside-down dome inside this church in Leuven, Belgium.

The Upside Dome hovers in front of the pulpit inside St-Michiel Church, suspended from the roof where the building’s missing dome should be located.

The installation is open to the public until 31 October 2010.

Photos are by Jeroen Verrecht.

Here’s a note from the architects:

Gijs Van Vaerenbergh

When visiting the St-Michiel Church in Leuven one might overlook that the church has no dome. Pieterjan Gijs and Arnout Van Vaerenbergh build an in- stallation that takes this seemingly trivial fact as a starting point and generate the missing dome in a remarkable way.

The installation casts light on the architecture of one of the most prestigious baroque churches of the Low Countries from a contemporary perspective. Using the design technique of the catenary, a new structure emerges in the church. The Upside Dome is a real size scale model, comprised of hundreds of meters of chain, which is literally and figuratively the counterpart of the unfinished dome.

Pieterjan Gijs (1983) and Arnout Van Vaerenbergh (1983) both studied archi- tecture and work together under the name Gijs Van Vaerenbergh in a multidis- ciplinary practice with an important focus on public space.

See also:

.

Parish House St. Josef by Frei + Saarinen Architects	Robert Stadler installation in a Parisian church	The Vanishing Mosque by RUX Design for Traffic