Hasta La Ideas

Dezeenwire: a major exhibition on the work of Dutch firm Office for Metropolitan Architecture is to open at the Barbican art gallery in London this October.

Entitled Progress, the exhibition will be curated by Belgian collective Rotor and will run 6 October 2011 to 22 January 2012.

See all our stories about OMA »

Here are some more details from the Barbican:

OMA / Progress

6 October 2011 – 22 January 2012, Barbican Art Gallery, London

This autumn Barbican Art Gallery will be transformed by a major exhibition on the architectural – and non-architectural – work of OMA and its research unit, AMO. Led by seven partners – Rem Koolhaas, Reinier de Graaf, Ellen van Loon, Shohei Shigematsu, Iyad Alsaka, David Gianotten and Managing Partner Victor van der Chijs – OMA is widely held to be one of the most influential practices working today.

PROGRESS will explore the radical conceptual, formal and material qualities in the built work of OMA – the result of an unpredictable combination of rigorous research and pure intuition. Acclaimed OMA buildings like the Seattle Central Library (2004) and Casa da Música, Porto (2005) will be examined in new ways together with the office’s current projects, which include the headquarters of China Central Television (CCTV), Beijing, and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (both of which are nearing completion). Recent AMO projects to be interrogated include a blueprint for a Europe-wide renewable energy grid, a curatorial masterplan for the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and Strelka, a new postgraduate school which the office helped to set up in Moscow. These various projects and preoccupations reveal OMA’s complex attitude towards the idea of progress.

Jane Alison, Acting Head of Art Galleries, Barbican Centre, says: Planned to coincide with the opening of OMA’s first two buildings in the UK, the HQ of Rothschild Bank here in the City of London and the latest Maggie’s Centre, in Gartnavel, Glasgow, Barbican is delighted to announce our collaboration with OMA to realise the first major exhibition since 2003 devoted to their work. Designed to reflect the breadth of OMA’s practice across the globe, the exhibition will highlight the richness of ideas and formal experiment that has set OMA apart from their contemporaries over the last forty years.

The exhibition will be guest curated by Rotor – a collective based in Brussels, known for their recent exhibition in the Belgian Pavilion at the 2010 Venice Architecture Biennale. Working with material processes and their use and re-use in architecture, Rotor’s approach will yield fresh insight into both the built projects and conceptual work of OMA and AMO.

Rem Koolhaas, founding partner of OMA, says: This exhibition will be the first time OMA’s work has been shown in depth in the UK. We have chosen to surrender to the forensic abilities of Rotor in order to produce a new translation and consideration of what we (try to) do in architecture and beyond it. We are excited to use the unique spaces of Barbican Art Gallery to reflect the extreme diversity of OMA’s work – in building, researching, writing, and a host of other pursuits that are at the same time intricately connected and apparently random…

The work of OMA’s partners and Rem Koolhaas has received several awards, including the Pritzker Prize for architecture in 2000 and the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 12th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2010. As much as OMA’s buildings, Koolhaas’s provocative ideas – from ‘the culture of congestion’ in his seminal book Delirious New York (1978) to Generic City (1995), and Junkspace (2004) – have consistently pushed architectural thinking in new directions. Always innovative and pioneering, OMA is deeply engaged in the changing social and political contexts of our time.

OMA is a leading international partnership practicing architecture, urbanism, and cultural analysis. Its buildings and masterplans around the world insist on intelligent forms while inventing new possibilities for content and everyday use. Through AMO, its research and design studio, the practice works in areas beyond architecture that today have an increasing influence on architecture itself: media, politics, renewable energy, technology, publishing, fashion. OMA is led by seven partners – Rem Koolhaas, Ellen van Loon, Reinier de Graaf, Shohei Shigematsu, Iyad Alsaka, David Gianotten and Managing Partner, Victor van der Chijs – and sustains an international practice with offices in Rotterdam, New York, Beijing and Hong Kong.

Curators of the acclaimed Belgian Pavilion at the 2010 Venice Architecture Biennale, Rotor is a collective based in Brussels. Founded in 2005, Rotor is a group of people sharing a common interest in the material flows in industry and construction. On a practical level, Rotor handles the conception and realisation of design and architectural projects. On a theoretical level, Rotor develops critical positions on material resources and usages through research, publications, writings and conferences.

One of the leading art spaces in the UK, Barbican Art Gallery presents the best of international visual art with a dynamic mix of art, architecture, design, fashion and photography. From acclaimed architects to Turner prize-winning artists,the Gallery exhibits innovators of the 20th and 21st centuries: key players who have shaped developments and stimulated change. Previous architectural exhibitions include Future City: Experiment and Utopia in Architecture 1956 – 2006 (2006); Alvar Aalto: Through the Eyes of Shigeru Ban, (2007) and Le Corbusier – The Art of Architecture (2009).

Dezeenwire: food company Del Monte have begun a trial packaging individual bananas in plastic wrappers. The company claim the packaging extends the shelf life of bananas by up to six days – Daily Mail

Dezeenwire: the Kingkey Finance Tower by architects Farrells, the tallest tower in Shenzhen, China, topped out today. More details below.

See more images of the project in our earlier story »
All our stories on Shenzhen »

Farrells tops out the Kingkey Finance Tower

Confirms position as the leading British architect in China

04 March 2011, Terry Farrell and Partners (Farrells) has today announced the official topping out of the Kingkey Finance Tower in Shenzhen, China. The tallest building designed by a British architect to date, Kingkey includes over 100 stories and stands at 441 metres (1,440 ft); the tallest building in Shenzhen and over 130 metres taller than the final height of The Shard, the UK’s tallest skyscraper.

Kingkey Finance Tower is the latest in a number of high-profile commissions for Farrells in China. These include the largest station complex in the world – Guangzhou South Railway Station – which completed in January this year; the publically acclaimed Beijing South Station and the Kowloon Station development and masterplan which fills a reclaimed area the size of Canary Wharf.

In recognition of the scale of this success for a British architect in Asia, Peter Murray and the NLA hosted a reception at the London Guildhall last night for Sir Terry Farrell and his partners from London and Hong Kong, showcasing the work of the team to date.

Peter Murray, Chairman of NLA, commented: “Farrells has been one of the leaders among UK practices working in Asia dating back to designs for The Peak and Kowloon Station in Hong Kong and the Beijing Opera House competition. It is a practice which has a lot to teach us about the export of professional services and future opportunities in the East”

Sir Terry Farrell commented: “The economic growth in China provides a natural opportunity for British architects and engineers and there is a strong appetite for British expertise, design and imagination. The commissions which the Hong Kong team has won and delivered are helping to shape rapidly growing cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. With new projects such as the 500 metre Z-15 tower in Beijing, we’re committed to growing our presence here.”

Key Developments: A Summary

Kingkey Tower, Shenzhen – topped out March 2011

• The tallest tower created by a British architect at 441 metres (1,440 ft) and over 100 storeys
• Twice the height of 1 Canada Square, the original Canary Wharf tower, Kingkey will be the eighth tallest building in the world
• It is part of a 417,000 square metre office, retail, entertainment, apartment and hotel complex

Guangzhou South Station – completed January 2011

• Guangzhou South Railway Station serves as a transport interchange where passengers can easily switch between express rail link, metro, taxi and bus services
• It serves a catchment area of more than 300 million people and is the largest new station in Asia, consisting of 28 elevated island platforms and three underground metro lines and arranged over six floors
• Designed to accommodate an anticipated daily passenger flow of over 300,000 per day by 2030

Kowloon Station, Station Development and Ventilation Building, Kong Hong – Completed 2010

• Farrells’ Kowloon Station scheme provides a transport super-city and is one of the world’s largest station construction projects
• Placed in a new city district on the reclaimed land of West Kowloon with a new 173,500 square metre railway station linking Central Hong Kong to Chek Lap Kok Airport, the scheme included a masterplan for a 1.5 million square metre air-rights property development above the station and a ventilation building
• A 90-storey tower housing retail areas, offices and a luxury hotel at the uppermost levels provides a prominent landmark

Beijing South Station – opened 2008

• Beijing South Station is a fully integrated transportation hub that serves as a “Gateway” to the capital and a vital link in China’s new high-speed intercity network
• Designed for a passenger turnover of 220,000 passengers a day, 80 million passengers annually by 2030
• Recently voted as the most popular new building in Beijing ahead of the Bird’s Nest and the Beijing Airport

Dezeenwire: Giorgio and Emanuele Busnelli, sons of the founder of design brand B&B Italia, have regained corporate control of the business after an eight year partnership with private equity fund Opera. More details below.

The family lost their majority share of the company in December 2002 after selling 55% of their capital to Opera.

All our stories on B&B Italia »

Here’s some more information from B&B Italia:

B&B Italia: The Busnelli family regains total control of the company.

Operation focuses on restoring entrepreneurial vision as the key to strategic development.

Novedrate (COMO), 1 March 2011 – The Busnelli family is once again the major shareholder of B&B Italia, the premier contemporary furnishings manufacturer founded by Piero Ambrogio Busnelli in 1966. An operation carried out under the advisement of Gruppo Banca Profilo and Studio Legale Chiomenti, has restored the total control of B&B Italia to the Busnelli family, which has taken over 51.4% shares from the Opera Fund.

Having maintained their role as operative corporate management through the partnership with the Opera Fund, Giorgio and Emanuele Busnelli, President and Director respectively of B&B Italia, have now also recovered corporate control of the family-owned company.

“We operate in open integrated markets”, says Giorgio Busnelli, President of B&B Italia, “focused on rewarding brands that can express strong intrinsic, aesthetic and functional values, the same that have always underpinned the success of B&B Italia. Therefore, we deem it appropriate on our part to gain full control of the middle and long term development of the company, focusing on B&B Italia’s capacity to endow products with all the values, technical competency and design aesthetics that have generated unmistakable collections in terms of style and elegance for over 40 years.”

Busnelli concludes, “This operation is part of a strategic framework that is driven by ambitious developmental goals, especially in terms of exports towards markets that are experiencing a powerful economic growth and which offer interesting developmental prospects.”
Having been in the business since 1966, B&B Italia is an international leader in the sector of design furnishings both for the retail and corporate market. Products are designed in collaboration with world famous designers such as Antonio Citterio, Patricia Urquiola, Zaha Hadid, Gaetano Pesce, Naoto Fukasawa, Jeffrey Bernett and many others, and are marketed through the brands B&B Italia and Maxalto.

Consolidated turnover for B&B Italia in 2010 exceeded 156 million euro. The company, which employs a workforce of approximately 500 distributed between the two branches, prides itself on an internal R&D Centre that absorbs about 3% of the yearly turnover.

B&B Italia, cover story

B&B Italia, formed in 1966 as the result of the entrepreneurial vision of Piero Ambrogio Busnelli, is a leading Italian design furnishings company with stores located around the world. Headquartered in Novedrate (COMO) – a building designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers in 1972 – the company has built its success on the ability to represent contemporary culture through perception and a trend-setting approach, and by responding to changing taste and lifestyles.

B&B Italia’s call to research and innovation is mirrored in its collections of furnishings that represent an essential segment of Italian design history, based on a unique union of creativity, innovation and industrial know-how, and focused on producing timeless products that last a lifetime.

The heart of the company is its internal R&D Centre, which is a real forge of cultural meetings and experiences, strongly fuelled by partnerships with international designers such as Antonio Citterio, Patricia Urquiola, Zaha Hadid, Gaetano Pesce, Naoto Fukasawa, Jeffrey Bernett, and many others.

The company’s “Home Division” is present on the home furniture market with the trademarks B&B Italia and Maxalto. The two trademarks have their own brand identity but express the same philosophy, namely a balanced blend of innovation and design to create products, whose unique style and elegance are unmistakable. Today B&B Italia stores can be found in the heart of leading capital cities (Milan, London, Paris, Munich, New York, Chicago, Tokyo) besides 18 single brand stores located around the world. It has also signed commercial agreements with leading players in 54 countries, thus developing a presence of over 750 specialist points of sale.

In addition to the Home Division is the “Contract Division”, the segment dedicated to turnkey projects. This division, which is service-oriented, manages and coordinates the most articulate and complex orders for interiors, ranging from design to logistics, from supplies to installation. Operating sectors include hospitality, retail, offices, public institutions and cruise liners. Key achievements include the hotels Bulgari in Milan, Puerta America in Madrid and Mandarin Oriental in Barcelona. In the cruise liner framework, the Contract Division has completed over 27 orders with leading shipping companies such as Costa Crociere, Holland American Line and Carnival Cruise.

Dezeenwire: the Design Council have launched a competition to design ways of tackling violence and aggression in National Health Service Accident & Emergency wards in the UK.

The entrants will work with A&E staff and patients at three NHS Hospital Trusts to develop and trial their ideas.  The shortlisted entries will be announced on 18 April and the winning designs will be presented in October this year.

All our stories on the Design Council »

Here’s some more information from the Design Council:

NHS joins forces with designers to tackle violence and aggression in A&E departments

Designers are to rethink the design of hospital Accident and Emergency departments in a bid to develop innovative new ways to reduce violence and aggression towards NHS staff, which is estimated to cost at least £69 million a year in staff absence, loss of productivity and additional security.

The year-long project, Reducing violence and aggression in A&E by design is being run by the Design Council, and has been commissioned by the Department of Health. The project will involve designers, architects, healthcare experts, patients and frontline NHS staff working together to develop and trial potential solutions. The Design Council today launched a national search for a design team or teams to work with A&E staff and patients at three NHS Hospital Trusts – Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust.

The winning design team or teams will develop a variety of innovative solutions to give patients, visitors and staff a better and safer experience in A&E.

The solutions will include:

• Changes to interior design, such as redesigning layout and use of space, or introducing new products and furniture.
• Improvements to information given to patients and their families.
• Redesigned clinical and non-clinical services and systems.

An NHS staff survey from the CQC in 2009 revealed that 11 per cent of staff experienced physical violence from patients or their families in the previous year. Figures from the NHS Security Management Service also show that the number of reported physical assaults against staff is on the rise across the NHS. In 2009/10 there were over 150 physical assaults per day on healthcare staff – a total of 56,718 physical assaults in England. The problem is particularly difficult to handle in the complex, high pressure environment of A&E.

Commenting on the project, Sir David Nicholson, Chief Executive of the NHS said:
“NHS staff save lives every day and are committed to providing the best possible service to patients. It is completely unacceptable for them to be assaulted or work in fear of being physically or verbally abused. There is a substantial financial and human cost to violence against staff and I look forward to seeing the results of this project which will help A&E departments become calmer, safer and more productive environments.
Anything which can help to diffuse difficult situations, demand mutual respect or reduce the pressure on busy staff is a welcome addition towards building a modern NHS, centred around high quality patient care.”

Lord Bichard, Chairman of the Design Council said:
“Design is now recognised by the Department of Health as having the potential to develop new solutions to difficult problems within the National Health Service. This is a great opportunity for designers to really make a difference to staff and patients and, hopefully, save money.”

‘Reducing violence and aggression in A&E by design’ follows the success of similar interventions by the Design Council and the NHS to improve patient privacy and dignity and reduce MRSA and C. difficile.

Professor Matthew Cooke, National Clinical Director for Urgent and Emergency Care at the Department of Health said:
“As an A&E consultant I have witnessed the effect of violence on colleagues. Verbal abuse is a daily occurrence and unfortunately physical violence against staff is not rare. This violence also increases the anxiety of other patients and their families in the emergency department at a time when they need a calm atmosphere to aid their recovery from their illness. Better design can help reduce violence and reduce its adverse effects. I look forward to seeing the results of this project that will not only make work safer for my colleagues but also enable us to provide better care for our patients.”

Teams will be invited to submit a proposal on how they would approach the challenge, with solutions which will offer good value for money, and could significantly reduce the financial and human cost of violence against staff.

Designers have already proved that re-designing aspects of A&E departments can reduce violence and aggression against staff. This brings a variety of benefits including:

• increase of staff morale/satisfaction and confidence;
• reduction of litigation costs and a reduction of security and insurance costs;
• reduction in staff absence;
• increase in productivity and quality of care;
• calmer environment;
• improved ‘patient experience’;
• cultural change among staff and patients which encourages mutual respect;
• improved efficiency.

Whilst these have been specific to the hospitals in which they have been trialled, the innovations emerging from this latest project are intended to be universally applicable, with the ambition of being rolled out across England’s hospitals. The closing date for entries is the 4 April with shortlisted entries to be announced on the 18 April 2011. The winning designs will be showcased in October 2011.