Hasta La Ideas

Wood, metal and formed concrete create some of the most creative designs around

by Graham Hiemstra and Evan Orensten

Milan Design Week is always full of surprises and this year’s fair was no exception. We found a strong presence of innovative furnishings mixing modern production techniques with the classic aesthetic of raw materials. From “melting” wood to laser cut marble and a table that can be formed in multiple shapes, here are five of our favorites.

One of the most intriguing pieces was Ferruccio Laviani’s design for Emmemobili. The massive wooden Twaya table is machine molded of countless layers of solid oak. Each corner of the expansive tabletop appears to melt, stretching the rough wood fibers into legs for a look unlike anything we’ve seen before.

Using over 400 wooden slats, the impressive Fan Table from Mauricio Affonso was a highlight of the Royal College of Art ‘s PARADISE show in the Ventura Lambrate neighborhood. Designed to “explore the role of tables as the infrastructure for social interaction,” the transformative design can be effortlessly expanded or contracted to meet the needs of its surroundings. As the rectangle legs are moved the shape changes along with the surface size. From circle to rectangle to square, the Fan Table is a work of pure inspiration and one of the most impressive designs we saw. Affonso, a Brazilian designer earning his Master’s at the school, is one to keep tabs on.

As part of the Vertigo exhibition, student designer Gaetano Gibilras instilled a sense of unknown with the VoroNOI table. Standing at 30cm high with a diameter twice the size, the stone and wood table was cut with innovative digital dissection techniques not generally seen in furniture production. Juxtaposing nicely against the milky stone top, each pinewood leg bares its own unique shape dictated by the unique VoroNOI diagram.

Also seen within the winding streets of Ventura Lambrate, Free Concrete was the product of Studio Itai Bar-On, part of the TLV Express collective. As the name implies, this sculptural piece is hand made with concrete, utilizing a customized bending process that allows the concrete to be rendered in lightweight, free form figures. The process allows for the choice of a smooth surface or a rougher, more natural texture, and this piece takes advantage of both with a smooth surface and a rough interior, to great effect.

Released just days before the fair, the TRI table is one of many inspiring pieces from the multidisciplinary design studio Thinkk. Created with the environment in mind, the table is made with powder coated aluminum and natural teak wood, and comes flat packed. We really appreciate the playful burst of color that extends through the tabletop, base and one of three legs.

Our interview with the spirited Italian designer on a child-like design approach and his latest collection for Kartell

Trained as an architect some 30 years ago, Italian-born Piero Lissoni has since mastered every design discipline from architecture and interiors to product and graphic design. Lissoni has established himself as one of most notable names is contemporary design for his clean, industrial aesthetic while collaborating with many of the world’s most notable design companies. After a productive 2011 his collection for Italian furniture maker Kartell has drawn much attention for its innovative design and production processes. While visiting Milan for Design Week we caught up with Lissoni at Salone del Mobile to learn a bit more about his broad design portfolio and take a closer look at his two new pieces in the Kartell collection.

With a studio that works in architecture, furniture, graphic and product design, how do you manage one discipline over another?

I’m quite convinced it’s better if you start being a little bit more humanistic. I never believed in a specialized way of life. Every day you study something completely new. In an Anglo-Saxon way of life architects are architects and they design a shell. The interior’s something inside, designers design only products and somebody designs furniture and somebody designs industrial. For us it is more easy. You have to be open and able to design all facets. For me it’s impossible to think I design one building, only the external parts and somebody decides for me the technical parts inside, the decoration inside and somebody decides inside for me the spaces. That’s exactly the opposite way. If I design a table or if I design a chair, of course I’m totally convinced it’s interactive. The interactivity with the people, with the human beings, with the party, with the movement, it’s inside. And one space fits inside another space. I never accept the idea to disconnect these different qualities of work.

Do you think this comprehensive design mentality is the reason why so many architects find success in product design?

I don’t know if this is the reason why, but to be an architect, for me the meaning is being flexible. When you design one watch, at the same time you change the scale and design a building. It doesn’t matter if the building is bigger or smaller in the end it is a pleasure to be good on a different scale. I like to work like a child. If I design one small object I am a child with a small toy. If I design a big object, again I’m the same child with one toy, a little bit bigger. I like to live inside this toy’s life.

For your latest collection for Kartell you designed the “Zoom Table”, which is Kartell’s first ever extendable table. How did this idea come about?

I was asked to do a series, a family, and we used a special name. The nickname for the project was “Il Progetto Misteri”. During the day the table is a mystery, during the night with friends, with people it becomes a project. But the morning later, zoom, it’s again the mystery—perfect, small, pure, clean with flowers and with coffee. But again at night again it is bigger with friends, with noise, with food, with alcohol, with whatever you want. That was the exploration point. The second part was the discussion around doing something so precise with the super soft movement like a camera. When you move one macro in a camera the movement is so gentle, so soft. We tried to design a movement like this. It’s so easy to design one table, but the movement, the cinematics inside, small wheels inside, this was the goal. I told you I’m like a child.

How did the design process of the “Audrey Chair” differ from other projects you’ve worked with Kartell on?

When we designed Audrey, we started to design five years ago. Five years ago Audrey was a piece of paper with pieces of plastic and pieces of small models, but normally I never accept to design something in a small scale. Normally when I design I do some prototypes in a 1-1 scale. But the real project was not to design another chair but to design a process. This one, it was a secret.

We talked about robotics, and they designed for us the whole process of production with robots, building this chair. After that we started to design the chair because the robots, they are so fantastic but full of limits and we have to follow the limits of the machine, follow the limits of this technology. But again I become a child in front of the robots. We started to remodel the chair, one millimeter thicker, one millimeter thinner, one corner a little bit heavier, another one a little straighter—and then the process begins to become a project.

Although “Audrey’s” specific production process was a bit unconventional for you, is this concept of industrial over artisanal important to your design?

I like to stay in a family of industrial designers. For me design means industrial. Design without industrial isn’t impressive. Of course I like the unique pieces, I like the unique production, but I’m not good at it. I prefer to think in another way. I’m connected with the hardware, I’m connected with the factories, I’m connected with the users, with the human beings.

What other designers or companies have you worked with in 2011?

I’m very lucky because I design for many many companies. And luckily for me some of these companies are certainly very good. I designed a new collection for Cassina, Matteograssi, Flos, Porro, Kartel, I designed a collection of kitchen for Boffi. You know what more can I ask for?

What have you been working on since finishing your collections for Salone?

Two weeks ago I was asked to start to design one project for one house. I was without anything and then I rediscovered at home one piece of lego. And I designed a house with lego bricks. And I was inspired by the small lego house for my project. My studio laughed a lot and came to me and said to sit there and don’t use the telephone until I start to design the house. But it is funny because I am the boss. I like to be like a child.

The famed performance artist’s most significant works are revisited to further blur the line between audience and participant

Marina Abramović has returned to Milan with a new performance, specially conceived for the Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea (PAC), her first major museum exhibition since her retrospective in 2010 at the MoMA. The Abramović Method continues Abramović’s three major performances from the last decade: The House With the Ocean View (2002), Seven Easy Pieces (2005) and The Artist is Present (2010). The focal point is always the constant relationship with the public, which becomes part of the artwork.

A retrospective of her most significant performances is presented among furniture with embedded minerals, allowing the public to interact with them while standing, sitting or lying down on the sculptures. These objects create a physical and mental pathway that transforms the PAC into an experience of darkness and light, absence and presence, altered perceptions.

Visitors can become performers and stand in absolute silence (thanks to special noise canceling headphones) expand their senses, observe (the rooms are provided with telescopes), and learn to listen. The Abramović Method aims to transform the artist, the performers and the public. In the video below we get a brief look at the piece in action.

The Abramović Method

Curated by Diego Sileo and Eugenio Viola

March 21—June 10, 2012

PAC Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea

Via Palestro, 14

Milan

Commencé par Future Systems et fini par Shiro Studio, le projet de musée “Enzo Ferrari” à Modène en Italie se dévoile en images. Avec un design surprenant et contenant une collection impressionnante de voitures de course, ce musée est à découvrir dans la suite.

Previously on Fubiz

• Lamborghini Aventador
• Lamborghini Aventador J Roadster
• Mercedes Benz – Invisible Car

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Slideshow: a Ferrari automotive museum designed by the late Czech architect and Future Systems founder Jan Kaplický has opened in Modena, Italy.

Following Kaplický’s death in early 2009, the Enzo Ferrari Museum has been completed by London practice Shiro Studio under the direction of former Future Systems associate Andrea Morgante.

The museum comprises two buildings. The first is the early nineteenth century former house and workshop of Ferrari’s father, renovated to house a 40-metre-long gallery, while the second is a new glass-fronted structure that curves around it.

This new non-linear structure has a streamlined yellow aluminium roof that matches the colour of the Ferrari logo and features sliced incisions intended to resemble the air intake vents on the bonnet of a car.

A gently-sloping ramp leads down into the building’s basement level exhibition hall, where up to 21 cars can be exhibited on a series of raised platforms.

Above: photograph is by Andrea Morgante

An exhibition of models and key drawings spanning Kaplický’s career took place at the Design Museum the year he passed away – you can find photographs and a podcast from it here.

Above: photograph is by Andrea Morgante

Photography is Studio Cento29, apart from where otherwise stated.

Above: photograph is by David Pasek

Here’s a more comprehensive project description from Andrea Morgante:

Enzo Ferrari Museum, Modena, Italy

In 2004 Future Systems won an international competition to design a new museum in Modena, Italy. Dedicated to motor racing legend and entrepreneur Enzo Ferrari (1898 – 1988), the museum comprises exhibition spaces within the early nineteenth century house where the motor racing giant was born and raised, and its adjoining workshop, as well as a separate, newly constructed exhibition building.

Above: photograph is by Andrea Morgante

Following the death of Jan Kaplicky in 2009, the office of Future Systems was dissolved ¹. Andrea Morgante, formerly of Future Systems and now director of Shiro Studio, was appointed to oversee the museum’s completion. The new building has been constructed to Kaplický’s original design– it is sensitive to the existing historical context, combines the latest in construction and energy saving technology, and resonates in spirit, language and materials with the cars it is intended to showcase. The fully restored house and workshop provide additional exhibition space designed by Morgante.

Above: photograph is by Andrea Morgante

New Exhibition Building

The sculpted yellow aluminium roof with its ten incisions – intentionally analogous to those air intake vents on the bonnet of a car – allows for natural ventilation and day lighting, and both celebrates and expresses the aesthetic values of car design. With its 3,300 square metres of double-curved aluminium, the roof is the first application of aluminium in this way on such a large scale. Working together with boat builders whose familiarity with organic sculpted forms and waterproofing made them the ideal partner, and cladding specialists, the form is constructed from aluminium sheets fitted together using a patented tongue and groove system. The bright Modena yellow of the roof is Ferrari’s corporate colour, as seen on the Ferrari insignia where it forms the backdrop to the prancing horse. It is also the official colour of Modena.

Above: photograph is by Andrea Morgante

Kaplický wanted to create a sensitive dialogue between the two exhibition buildings that showed consideration for Ferrari’s early home and underscored the importance of the museum as a unified complex made up of several elements. The views out of the new exhibition building dramatically frame the house and workshop, while views from outside the house and workshop immediately reveal the function and content of the new exhibition building. The height of the new exhibition building reaches a maximum of 12 metres – the same height as the house – with its volume expanding below ground level. In addition, the new building gently curves around the house in a symbolic gesture of appreciation.

The glass façade is curved in plan and tilts at an angle of 12.5 degrees. Each pane is supported by pre-tensioned steel cables and is able to withstand 40 tonnes of pressure. The technical specification of these panes and cables means that greater transparency in the façade is achieved with maximum functionality. In the summer months a thermo-sensor activates the windows in the façade and roof allowing cool air to circulate. With 50% of the internal volume of the main exhibition building set below ground level, geothermal energy is used to heat and cool the building. It is the first museum building in Italy to use geothermal energy. The building also employs photovoltaic technology and water recycling systems.

Visitors entering the new building have uninterrupted views into the entire exhibition space: a large, open, white room, where the walls and floor transition lightly into one another and are perceived as a single surface. A stretched semi-transparent membrane spreads light evenly across the roof, and in combination with the slits running from side to side which allow air to escape and give a ribbed effect, recalls the language of a car interior. A bookshop and café are situated to one side of the entrance and facilities to the other. Both are painted the same Modena yellow as the roof and take the form of blister-like pods. A gently sloping ramp gradually leads the visitor around the building from the ground floor to the basement level, with display stands designed by Morgante punctuating the circulation path. These stands lift the cars 45 centimetres so that they can be viewed from different angles and appreciated as works of art rather than objects simply placed in a room. Up to twenty-one cars can be displayed in this open space at any one time. Supplementary exhibition material is displayed in leather cases located along the perimeter wall. At the bottom of the ramp and directly below the entrance, an audiovisual room forms a permanent part of the exhibition. A flexible teaching space and a conference room with a carved out opening allowing views up into the entrance area are located next to it.

Restored House and Workshop

The two-storey house and workshop built by Ferrari’s father in the 1830s has been completely refurbished. Later additions to the house and workshop have been removed and, with the exception of two internal bracing structures that have been inserted in accordance with Italian anti-seismic regulations to give structural rigidity, no alterations have been made. The main gallery space is located within what was the double height workshop. Here Morgante has designed a contemporary exhibition display system, which incorporates digital projections, objects owned by Ferrari, information panels and other material.

The display system was conceived as a large-scale vertical book that allows the visitor to read the different chapters of Ferrari’s life through various media; a three-dimensional immersive biography. The system takes the form of a sinuous wall separated into pages, so that as visitors progress down the room, they are obliged to gradually discover each page and chapter in sequence. At every point the next chapter is concealed so as to maintain interest and create a sense of excitement. This organic landscape stretches through the entire length of the 40 metre long space and soft, low-level backlighting gently illuminates both it and the room, making the space intimate in spite of its size. At the northern end of the main gallery, in the original house, two smaller exhibition spaces are located next to one another. Administrative spaces are situated directly adjacent to them and on the first floor.

Client: Fondazione Casa Natale Enzo Ferrari
Location: Via Paolo Ferrari 85, Modena, Italy
Concept design: 2004
Completion date: 2012
Site area: 10,600 m²
Gross floor area: 5,200 m²
Contract value: €14.200.000

Architect: Jan Kaplický (Future Systems)
Project Architect: Andrea Morgante
Competition team: Jan Kaplický, Andrea Morgante, Liz Middleton, Federico Celoni
Project team (Preliminary, Detailed, Construction) (2005-2007): Andrea Morgante, Søren Aagaard, Oriana Cremella, Chris Geneste, Cristina Greco, Clancy Meyers, Liz Middleton, Itai Palti, Maria Persichella, Filippo Previtali, Daria Trovato.
Art Direction (2009-2012): Andrea Morgante (Shiro Studio)
Gallery Exhibition design: Jan Kaplický (Future Systems), Andrea Morgante (Shiro Studio)
Enzo Ferrari House Exhibition design: Andrea Morgante (Shiro Studio)

Project Management and Site Supervision: Politecnica- Modena
Structural, Mechanical & Electrical Design, Environmental Impact Assessement, Health & Safety (Preliminary, Detailed & construction stages): Politecnica

Main Contractor: Società Consortile Enzo
CCC soc. coop. (Leader), Ing. Ferrari s.p.a, ITE Group s.r.l, CSM.
Technical Director: Giuseppe Coppi (CdC – Modena)