Hasta La Ideas

New York designer Karim Rashid has renovated the University of Naples subway station in Naples, Italy.

Commuters pass between huge columns with the profiles of faces towards a shifting lenticular wall of graphic patterns.

Sculptures and graphic artworks line the escalators, leading to platforms with backlit patterns on the walls.

More about Karim Rashid on Dezeen »

The information below is from Karim Rashid:

The University of Naples subway station is highly trafficked by a multi-cultural, academic community of thousands of passengers a day.

A creative concept that communicates and embodies knowledge in the new digital age, language in the shrinking global landscape, innovation and mobility in this third technological revolution.

Naples is no longer a historic southern city of Italy but instead now is an integral intellectual information haven that extends itself throughout the rest of the world.

This is the changing Italy and the station is a metaphor of this new wired global condition. It integrates the station with its surroundings, as well as provides a platform for innovative, cutting-edge design strategy.

We utilize the descension from the piazza to the subway platforms to represent a metaphorical shift from the conscious brain to the spiritual mind. Experiencing this journey, the commuter is able to define one’s own experience by interpreting the individual shift from a busy “brain state” to a focused “mind state”.

Entering into the station from the piazza to the subway station, the visitor will walk though a space clad with tiles, each one with is printed with new words created in this last century. Once the visitor arrives in the station lobby, he/she is impacted by the soft nature of the space, the striking palette of colors and patterns.

Along the back wall of the station lobby level, lenticular iconography changing colors and perspective provides an interesting siteline as commuters proceed to the platforms below. Intersecting the space between the heads profile benches (metaphorically intersecting the dialogue) is an abstracted, SYNPOSIS sculpture reflecting the nodes of the brain and the synapses which occur within.

When descending to the subway platforms via escalator, a visitor experiences a transition from the busy piazza to a more intimate, focused environment. It is here where we display various artworks and other graphic art as a focal point. These abstract images invoke the user to shape the environment according to his/her own creative interpretations.

Rolling LED programming situated behind frosted glass displays universally recognized words, referencing knowledge and the multicultural university setting.

Descending and ascending the stairwells on each respective platform, the steps have abstracted portraits of Dante and Beatrice. Once the commuter arrives at the end of the escalator, transformational digital art follows he/she to the platform stairways. The accent colors, lime and pink, indicates the direction and guide visitors through the descent to the final destination.

Airframe surfaces speak about the beauty of our airframe voxels of the flux and ever dynamic multidimensional information and data age (infostethiks).

The platform level of the subway station is where the people spend the most static time. One’s experience while waiting for the subway is enhanced by the tranquil, imaginative environment of the “mindstate”. Seating is provided in the form of landscape forms.

The back wall of the subway platform is a backlit artwork, providing a continuous soft glow in the space. Across the platform, digital artwork creates an entertaining distraction. In addition to related iconography, the piece could include a shadow of an oncoming train, etc. to signify a train’s arrival.

A subway station is a temporal, transitional space, yet the commuter is contained for a short period of time before continuing his/her journey.

As he/she transitions from one environment to another, he/she is most likely reviewing the day’s previous events, or preparing for the next task. Our concept focuses on the commuter experience within the train station, and how the surrounding environment can serve as a respite in a day’s schedule.

Globalove, Karim Rashid

PROJECT TEAM: KARIM RASHID, CAMILA TARIKI, DENNIS ASKINS.

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Switch Restaurant by Karim Rashid	Fluxus by Karim Rashid and Michela Vianello	Snoop and Woopy by Karim Rashid for B-Line

This exhibition designed by Gitta Gschwendtner for London’s Somerset House displayed fashion drawings on gauze-covered boxes.

Designed to showcase work by 20th century illustrator René Gruau for fashion brand Dior, the exhibition opened with a collage of posters featuring Gruau’s work, incased in a eight-metre box with a timber frame and coloured gauze covering.

Similar structures were used to hang works in the exhibition itself, while smaller stacked boxes spelled out the exhibition name.

Grey netting was used to cover a vaulted alcove housing a selection of Dior Haute Couture dresses.

The exhibition, called Dior Illustrated: Rene Gruau and the Line of Beauty, took place 10 Nov 2010 to 9 Jan 2011.

See also: Drawing fashion at the Design Museum by Carmody Groarke

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The information that follows is from Gschwendtner:

‘Dior Illustrated: Rene Gruau and the Line of Beauty’ at Somerset House

‘Dior Illustrated’ celebrates the renowned illustrator René Gruau, who created some of the most iconic fashion images of the 20th century. This exciting exhibition showcases groundbreaking artworks including original illustrations for Christian Dior Perfumes, vintage perfume bottles, sketches and magazines, as well as a selection of Dior Haute Couture dresses.

The challenge for the exhibition design was to create a spatially stunning environment for the predominantly two-dimensional works. Furthermore, the Embankment Gallery with its vaulted ceilings and stone coloured render required a design that complements its unique architecture.

Gitta Gschwendtner’s design solution creates a stunning installation of timber frame boxes covered in coloured gauze. These light three-dimensional structures form the main exhibition build for the hanging of the prints and object display.

On entering the exhibition the visitor encounters an 8 meters long gauze box containing a collage of Dior advertisements. This exhibit introduces Rene Gruau’s prolific work prior to seeing the original illustrations that form the basis for the advertisement prints upstairs.

Further along a large-scale installation of red gauze boxes showcases the exhibition title while introducing the concept of the transparent exhibition structures to the visitor.

In the main gallery gauze boxes are staggered in the space loosely following the shape of the vaulted ceiling. The transparent gauze creates layers of colour in the space, with each section custom dyed in a different shade to compliment the work. The precious couture dresses are dramatically lit behind a screen of grey gauze, protecting them from visitors touch and giving them an ethereal quality.

Exhibition Design: Gitta Gschwendtner
Graphic Design: Studio Frith
Photography: Sorted

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Drawing Fashion at The Design Museum by Carmody Groarke	Drawer Kitchen by Gitta Gschwendtner	Lik+Neon by Gitta Gschwendtner

Ceiling recesses lined with wood draw the eye upwards from the matching floor in this apartment designed by Davidclovers of Hong Kong.

Called Tregunter, the renovation project in a tower overlooking Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour also involved creating built-in storage and seating, painted white to match the walls.

Artificial lighting and air conditioning is incorporated into the curved ceiling depressions.

More about Davidclovers on Dezeen »

Here are some more details from the designers:

Tregunter Residence (2010) by davidclovers

Nestled amongst a forest of towers on Old Peak Road above Central Hong Kong, the Tregunter tower holds unique layered views of Victoria Harbour. The abundance of bay windows, structural walls and beams that are common to residential towers would appear to constrain the possibilities of the apartment.

However, by turning constraints into opportunities, davidclovers re-works the volumes of this apartment by using the ceiling and the floor. Subtly elongating, pressing upward, and sloping downward, the ceiling produces variable sensations of compression and expansion – making the apartment seem larger than it is, drawing delicate lines that separate dining from living.

Skillfully dodging and maneuvering around air-conditioning units and structural beams, the ceiling integrates artificial light and various materials – re-orienting the apartment toward the exterior.

The minimal use of wood and plaster shift the elevation of the apartment (typically on the walls) to the horizontal surfaces – enhancing the outward/upward thrust of the ceiling.

Cabinets painted white, thicken and absorb storage, entertainment systems and integrate bench seating.

Materials are used three-dimensionally throughout the apartment. Wood rotates from floors and ceilings to walls in the kitchen and mosaic tiles brighten toward windows in the bathrooms making the illumination from windows seem even brighter.

Design: davidclovers

Design Team:
David Erdman, Clover Lee, Jason Dembski, Mui Fuk Man, Katrina Lee, Spencer Mak

CLIENT: Brain Ltd.
LOCATION: The Peak, Hong Kong
TYPE: 2400sf apartment renovation
STATUS: completed

Photography:
Courtesy of davidclovers
Assisted by Ziyin Zhou

Furniture provided by Lane Crawford Pacific Place Home Store

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House DE by Davidclovers	Barker Residence by Davidclovers	Yud Yud by Davidclovers and C.E.B. Reas

London studio Found Associates have completed this restaurant with an oak and concrete interior in west London.

Called Nottingdale Cafe, the project involved adding a mezzanine level and creating a 10 meter-long bar clad in porcelain panels.

Blackboard paint applied directly to the walls provides a surface for wine lists and specials.

See also: The Lollipop Shoppe by Found Associates

See all our stories about restaurants and bars »

The following information is from the designers:

Found Associates were appointed to devise a new restaurant concept for the Nottingdale Village development in West London, opposite the Westfield Shopping Centre. Following their successful implementation of TalkTalk’s new head office, the restaurant is the second building Found have been appointed to work on within this development (by award winning architects AHMM).

The philosophy behind the restaurant is to serve the best ingredients in an unpretentious manner, while offering a relaxed but stimulating environment for the customer. Although the restaurant offers food throughout the day there are two separate dining experiences; the lunch offer being an inexpensive frequently changing menu aimed at staff in the adjacent offices, whilst the dinner offer provides more refined a la carte menu aimed to set the establishment as an occasional venue. The existing building’s wedge shaped plan, multi facetted front elevation and pitched rear elevation presented a challenging space to provide a cohesive interior concept.

Found have reinterpreted the internal form of the building, adding a new cantilevered mezzanine with glazed balustrade, to create a dynamic series of linear single and double height spaces that rationalises the limited internal volume and reacts against the buildings angular plan form and external elevations.

The dining area is spread over the ground floor and mezzanine, at the restaurants heart is a bespoke ten-metre long porcelain clad counter that runs almost the entire length of the ground floor. The counter is the focus of the ground floor dining experience, with diners seated on high stools while opposite them chefs prepare food in the open kitchen.

Porcelain was selected for the counter not only for the unique quality of the finished material but also as a reference to the history of the site, which was for many years a centre for the Kensington Potteries. Each porcelain panel to the front, side and top of the counter has been created using bespoke moulds that have been formed, fired and glazed by a specialist supplier.

The fair faced concrete structure of the building provided a basis from which a complementary palette of materials were carefully selected.

The aim was to retain as much of the existing structure as possible whilst offsetting the harder elements with natural materials.

Much of the ground floor walls have received blackboard paint to enable the menu, specials and wine lists to be added/updated on a daily basis in multiple locations within the restaurant.

Solid oak with a natural finish was selected for the main floors and stairs to provide a warm contrast to the concrete and black walls.

The chairs and tables are also solid oak and by specialist suppliers, the bar stools were ordered as soon as the design was brought out of prototype.

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26 Lounge Bar by Cor	Federal Café by Barbara Appolloni	Hatched by Outofstock

Japanese architects Geneto installed diagonal walls across the interior of this houe in Shiga, Japan, to block views through to neighbouring houses and create new spaces in between the rooms.

Called KD-House, the renovation project also involved installing built-in wooden tables and storage to make best use of the new areas created.

Here is some more information from Geneto:

We did a renovation for a two-by-four construction unit house by Sekisui Heim that is located in a new residential area in Shiga prefecture. Although the site is relatively broad, the way it is built makes the site strangely narrow.

We believe this is because each houses were built only thinking about concluding within the site and without regarding the connection to the surroundings.

As a result the curtains hanged on the windows are always closed because the privacy is abused by making eye contact with the neighbors, so the　broadening of the out door space makes no sense. We planed to salvage the situation and create flourishing life scenes inside.

First, we can’t add openings in a two by four construction house, so we decided to take over the exiting allocation of rooms and insert a new wall that connects each room.

The new wall stands up as if it wraps around the entrance, living room and the second living room while it leaves space between the existing windows and walls.

The wall prevents line of sight from adjacent land and bring in daylight and draft.

The space between the new and existing wall becomes a buffer zone and creates rooms like hobby room.

Furniture (tables, storage cabinets and horigotatsu) is built in the wall that gives character to each room.

By making a buffer zone in the interior, 4 layers including the inside surrounded by walls, the surrounding buffer zone, the outside (garden) buffer zone and the surrounding environment are created and connect the inside and outside softly.

Various life scenes revolve around the wall, and the space that spreads out from the inside to the outside sweeps away the constrained feeling.

This is a project that we tried to reedit the relations between the existing inside and outside space.

Click above for larger image

Click above for larger image

Click above for larger image

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AZB House by Geneto	Renovation Bruges by Room & Room	NSV by adn Architectures and Olivier Dubucq Architecte