Hasta La Ideas

This baguette shop in Warsaw, Poland, by architects MFRMGR is modelled on market booths and stalls set up in the city during the 1990s (+ slideshow).

Polish firm MFRMGR, formerly known as Moko Architects, designed Serwus as a healthy and modern version of the traditional Zapiekanka stall, which served open baguettes topped with meat, vegetables, cheese and ketchup as a popular type of fast food.

“The entire spatial idea relates to the market booths where virtually everything was sold in Warsaw in the 90s,” said the architects.

“Generally, we have pleasant memories from that time when small businesses developed and huge changes took place in our country after the fall of communism,” they added.

Red and yellow steel frames – coloured to resemble ketchup and cheese – surround wooden serving counters, representing the framework of a market booth.

During construction the architects also exposed the original tiled floor, dating back to before the Second World War.

The interior is divided into five stalls. The first one is a welcome zone with the menu and cash register while the second zone separates the customer and staff area with a flap and gate.

The third stall is designed as an area for preparing sauces and storing ingredients. The fourth stall is the food preparation area and the fifth stall, in front of the window, features a high counter where customers can sit and enjoy their food.

Photography is by Jakub Certowicz.

Here’s a project description from MFRMGR:

Zapiekanka Bar

Recently, hamburgers and other types of food from distant places of the world have become extremely popular in Warsaw. However, we always felt sentimental about the typical Polish toasted baguettes called zapiekanka which were common fast-food in the 90s and were sold in hideous booths on markets or in trailers.

The basic zapiekanka was made with delicious baguette with mushrooms and real cheese with ketchup on top. Unfortunately, the typical tasty zapiekanka became extinct like the dinosaurs or we can say that they ate their own tail – instead of a yummy meal you could buy just a large frozen baguette with cheap ingredients (ham, cabbage, onion etc.) which was prepared in a microwave.

At Serwus we decided to experiment with the vision of zapiekanka. Apart from the reference to classics we created variations with original and healthy ingredients. Our offer is based on the idea of slow-food – each morning fresh products are prepared while the sauces (ketchup) is prepared using homemade methods. The ingredients, shape and size of the baguette was prepared by a partner bakery according to our guidelines. Zapiekanka is prepared in a fan oven.

The entire spatial idea relates to the market booths where virtually everything was sold in Warsaw in the 90s. Generally, we have pleasant memories from that time when small businesses developed and huge changes took place in our country after the fall of communism.

The small space features five such booths with different dimensions. Each stall is dedicated for a particular function in the process of preparing food. The structure of the stalls consists of powder-coated steel profiles which have the colour of ketchup and cheese. The frame of one stall is zinc-coated. Countertops and enclosures of the oven and refrigerators are made from softwood plywood coated with clear varnish. Round bulbs with visible filaments hang from horizontal steel connectors. Intensity of illumination can be regulated while the worktops can be illuminated with warm-colour fluorescent bulbs.

Each stall is equipped with all necessary elements for completing a certain function.
Stall 1 – welcome zone for the customer. This is where the menu and cash register is located. Under the counter there is a place for beverages and a small refrigerator. After ordering and paying the customer moves further into the restaurant.

Stall 2 – serves as a separation point between the customer zone and the employee zone. There is a flap and gate.
Stall 3 – the area for preparing sauces where the induction stove is installed. It also features the storage area for ingredients in plastic cases. It is possible to attach herb pots, knives, cutting boards etc. on the steel profiles.

Stall 4 – the area for preparing food, cutting bread and putting ingredients on the baguette. This area also features a large fridge, an oven and a storage area for bread in plastic cases. Apart from the multi-function hangers there is also a paper towel holder.

Stall 5 – the area for customers where they can enjoy their food, read a newspaper or have a cup of coffee. Due to the small space, this area features only a high counter where the guest can eat or talk to friends.

During renovation of this shop we discovered unique flooring from the pre-world war II period. The wooden frame where the glass panels were attached using putty was refurbished and repaired where necessary. The frame was coated with red varnish on the outside and cream-white varnish on the inside. We also successfully renovated the brass door handle. In order to easily locate the restaurant we have designed a neon light using old technology.

Project name – SERWUS – Zapiekanka Bar
Project city, country – Warsaw, Poland
Designers/architects – MOKO ARCHITECTS / MFRMGR / Marta Frejda , Michał Gratkowski /
Collaboration – Pamela Krzyszczak
Logotype – Lange & Lange
Status of project / expected completion – completed in 2013
Usable floor area: 18 m2

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on a market booth by MFRMGR appeared first on Dezeen.

A series of steel-braced oak staircases and bridges connect the different levels of this extension to the Manchester School of Art by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios (+ slideshow).

London architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios designed the extension to link the original nineteenth century art school building to a 1960s tower, which was also refurbished as part of the project.

A bank of lifts ascends from next to the entrance to every storey of the tower, with bridges and staircases helping to unite the old and new buildings.

The new building provides additional studio, workshop and exhibition spaces for the school’s 3500 students and features a seven-storey glazed facade, which creates an exhibition and events space that can be seen from the street outside.

Behind the gallery-like facade is a longer, lower building containing studios, workshops and teaching areas, which were designed in an open plan format to encourage interaction between students from the 30 disciplines that share the space.

“Private spaces no longer exist,” described John Brooks, vice chancellor at Manchester Metropolitan University, of which the art school is now a faculty. “What you’ll find are lots of spaces that are intersected by passageways, walkways, stairwells and glass partitions, so whatever you’re doing is almost like a performance.”

Referencing the aesthetic of traditional local warehouses, the architects applied industrial materials including concrete, steel and glass throughout the interior, while the open spaces and comprehensive use of glazing fill the building with natural light.

“This building is all about light,” said architect Keith Bradley. “The way that we’ve created a series of cascading floorplates, almost like a landscape of floors, allows light deep into the space so that we can still get the combination of people working together but also get good natural daylight.”

Concrete is treated with different surface finishes to demarcate the spaces; smooth in most areas, but with a rough texture created by casting it against chunky chipboard on the walls of the staircases.

Four of the double-height columns inside the studio and workshop building feature a decorative pattern that was produced during the concrete casting process. The pattern was designed in the early twentieth century by Lewis F. Day, a former tutor at the school.

Oak was used to line the staircases and linking corridors, and provide a warm and tactile contrast to the raw materials that dominate the interior.

Photography is by Hufton + Crow.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

Manchester School of Art

Context

Celebrating its 175th birthday in 2013, Manchester School of Art is one of the oldest institutions of its kind in the UK. The school was established in the 19th Century to help keep the region competitive in an international market and support regional industry in a wider marketplace.

Now a faculty of Manchester Metropolitan University this remains an important objective for the Art school and a key part of the brief was to help the school bridge the gap between education and professional life.

The new building celebrates the inter relation of the various art & design disciplines and encourages 21st century students to work alongside each other and enjoy the crossover rather than concentrating always on the differences. With a huge front window, it is also a building that is proud of its product and shows the work to everyone who passes by.

Now one of the leading Art & Design courses in the country, the School has around 3500 FTE students across its various disciplines. Housed within a range of late Victorian and post-war buildings, the School forms the southern edge of All Saints’ Park, a green square at the heart of the city centre campus. The Art School Extension consists of an 8600-metre-squared new building of studios, workshops and a gallery; and a 9000m2 refurbishment of a 1960s Arts tower and plinth.

Concept

FCB’s design of the Manchester School of Art has provided an engaging and lively environment in which to work and study and helped re-assert both the art school and the university’s profile on the national stage. The Dean of the School, Professor David Crow, describes the scheme as “a hugely exciting arena where anything is possible and everything is relevant.”

The working heart of the building comprises open studios, workshops and teaching spaces (known as the Design Shed.) A second element is a seven storey Vertical Gallery. This is the linking piece between the existing 1960s arts tower (known as the Chatham Building) and the new studio building. This vertical gallery provides a showcase space for the output of the School and acts as a shop window to the school itself.

Hybrid Studio Space

The open studio space places a great focus on collaborative working in an atmosphere that is inherently creative. Students and MSA staff from a broad spectrum of contemporary design disciplines can work on projects in close communal proximity. This proximity encourages the sharing of ideas, techniques and methodologies in a way that was previously impossible.

The Hybrid Studio is also an environment in which students can proudly display their work in a setting that is light and easy to explore.

Materials

As a building for designers, and a place for teaching and learning about Art & Design the clarity and articulation of materials was crucial, as was the tonal and textural quality of the interior. The interiors are a study in concrete, with three distinct grades creating different atmospheres. Rough is used in back stairwells giving a sense of rawness and a factory aesthetic; double height cast concrete columns articulate the central spaces of the design shed, punctuated by four very special decorative concrete columns which were developed from an early 20th century wallpaper design by Lewis F Day, an eminent designer of his period, contemporary of Walter Crane a tutor at Manchester School of Art.

A secondary but important material is the use of oak linings to the stairs and linking corridors which span the vertical gallery. These provide a warmth to soften the hard edges of steel and concrete which form the structure.

Collaboration

Working with clients who are artists and designers on a building for training artists & designers was a wonderfully rich experience for us. The level of collaboration was exceptionally high and we worked with the client by testing processes, recrafting ideas and always seeing the design as an iterative, creative process.

Client: Manchester Metropolitan University
Construction value: £23 million
Commissioned: June 2009
Construction Start Date: April 2011
Completion: April 2013
Project Gross Area: 17320sqm
Cost Consultant: Turner and Townsend
Contractor: Morgan Sindall
Structural engineer: Arup

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bridges by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios appeared first on Dezeen.

One of the suites at this year’s Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden, features blocks of ice carved into the shape of Parisian rooftops and chimney pots by French designers Les Ateliers de Germaine (+ slideshow).

Located 200 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle, the Icehotel is the largest hotel built of snow and ice in the world. It is constructed afresh every year and various artists are selected to create different themed rooms, allowing visitors to spend the night in sub-zero temperatures.

Luc Voisin and Mathieu Brison of Paris-based Les Ateliers de Germaine designed their space to represent “a postcard from France”.

The room is based on Montmartre, one of Paris’ most famous areas. It features a carved outline of the Sacré-Cœur basilica at one end, as well as a series of rooftops with illuminated dormer windows and chunky chimney pots.

“Paris seemed to be the best example of a French city known all over the world,” Voisin told Dezeen. “We thought about the way Paris is showed in cinema and literature. Because everything is a bit crooked in the room it looks like cartoon scenery.”

Voisin said the process of creating the sculptures was challenging because of the extreme weather conditions: “It is very interesting because the texture of the snow and ice changes so much depending on the temperature.”

“From one day to another you might have to adjust your gesture if it is ten degrees less,” he explained. “If it is warmer, the snow is wet and sticky, if it is very cold, the ice cracks and is very fragile.”

This year is the twenty-fourth edition of the Icehotel. Other suites created this year include a room modelled on a laboratory for a crazy scientist by Swedish designers Pinpin Studio.

Photography is by the designers.

Here’s a description from Les ateliers de Germaine:

Icehotel Jukkasjärvi

Magical city, legendary city, romantic city, poetic city, symbolic city, Paris will always be Paris.

The cinema, literature and music have tried to capture the atmosphere and essence of Paris: it seems like it is an endless source of inspiration for artists and keeps attracting billions of tourists from all over the world.

Climbing to the top of the Eiffel Tower, walking on the Champs Elysées, visiting the Musée du Louvre, shopping in Le Marais, wandering along the River Seine or simply sipping coffee at a café, everyone can live and explore the city as they see fit, like adventurers.

More than a design, more than an architecture, it’s a trip to the heart of one of the historical districts that we offer. You can feel the people living all around you, you might even see them if you’re curiously peeking out the window. You are part of the city, you are the city.

Suspended between heaven and earth, far from the chaos of the city, rocked to sleep between dormer windows and chimneys, overlooking the city skyline and its countless shining windows, this room will take you to Montmartre’s rooftops, as Satine and Christian in Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge.

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recreates the rooftops of Paris appeared first on Dezeen.

A diagonally stacked arrangement of cardboard shoe boxes covers the back wall of this footwear store in Santiago, Chile, by Move Architects (+ slideshow).

Move Architects designed 140 wooden supports with x-shaped profiles and inserted them into corresponding CNC-cut indentations on a large sheet of plywood mounted to the back wall of the shop.

“The X shaped perforations and supports are generated from the store’s name and logo, Bestias XX,” said the architects, explaining that the solution was also the result of a need for lots of accessible storage in a small space.

Shoe boxes can be stacked in a cascading arrangement between the supports and different patterns visible from outside the store can be created by leaving gaps or allowing some boxes to protrude.

“Given the project’s short construction time and it’s restricted budget it we decided to minimise the use of conventional manual labour and instead of what would traditionally be called ‘building’ a store, we decided to ‘manufacture’ the shop,” the architects explained.

Once the panels and supports had been created, the interior was assembled by the clients in 12 hours.

The store also features a plywood counter and metal stools for customers to try on the range of shoes.

Photography is by Cristobal Palma.

Here’s a project description from Move Architects:

Bestias XX

Bestias XX can be summarized in two constrains: quantitative and qualitative. On one hand, 12 sqm has to hold at least 380 shoeboxes, 2 employees and 3 potential customers. On the other hand this quantitative restriction must be the image of the shop.

As a result space restrictions, from the beginning of the design process the project was treated as combined need for storage space and a strong image. Therefore, we decided that the shoeboxes would define the shop image. To achieve this, 140 wooden X’s were built and inserted into six 18 mm plywood sheets over a perforated grill at 45 degree defined by the size of the box (33x13cm).

The plywood sheets are hung from the store’s perimeter walls. Since the store is located in a corner of an urban shopping centre in Santiago, the boxes mounted on the X’s create an exterior façade. The X- shaped perforations and supports are generated from the store’s logo: BESTIAS XX.

Given the project’s short construction time and it restricted budget it was decided to minimise the use of conventional manual labour and instead of what would traditionally be called “building” a store we decided to “manufacture” the shop. The store was “mass-produced” mostly using two types of plywood sheets (one used to obtain the X’s) that were cut using a CNC router, thus reducing the cutting time to one day. The rest was only a matter of assembling and mounting.

From the construction of the 6 panels that contains the perforations and the X’s, the structure was assembled by the clients themselves in 12 hours of uninterrupted work.

Project Name: BESTIAS XX
Architects: MoVe architects (Paula Velasco + Max Velasco + Alberto Moletto)
Construction: Max Velasco
Surface: 12 sqm
Budget: U$ 12.000
Location: Providencia, Santiago, Chile
Year: 2012

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shoe boxes by Move Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

Architecture firm OMA has designed a temporary auditorium for the basement of London department store Selfridges (+ slideshow).

Called the Imaginarium, the space will be used to host talks, debates and lectures during the Festival of Imagination, which opens in the store on 16 January.

The installation will feature a circular “amphitheatre” contained within a polycarbonate wall. Other walls in the space will be clad in mirrors while the floor will be painted in an Op Art-style pattern of black and white stripes, which will be applied using a road-painting machine.

“We asked Rem [Koolhaas of OMA] to do it and he said yes,” said Carlotta Jacoby, senior visual project manager at Selfridges. “It’s quite a simple design but with the mirrored walls it’s going to be pretty bonkers”.

The stepped amphitheatre will seat up to 72 people. OMA has also designed the furniture for the space and a folding screen that will be used during talks. Columns will be painted with green-screen paint.

The Imaginarium will host daily events during the Festival of Imagination – a store-wide festival that will “explore the nature, power and positive impact of imagination”. It will occupy the Ultralounge in the basement of the store, which is located on Oxford Street in central London.

The festival also features the Imagine Shop, a pop-up store curated by Dezeen that will showcase future-facing products and will contain an augmented reality watch store and an augmented reality model of a yacht designed by Zaha Hadid.

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features mirrored walls and an Op Art floor appeared first on Dezeen.