Hasta La Ideas

News: here are the first images of this year’s Serpentine Gallery Pavilion by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto, which was unveiled in London this morning (+ slideshow).

The cloud-like structure on the lawn outside the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens is made from a white lattice of steel poles.

The grid varies in density, framing or obscuring the surrounding park by different degrees as visitors move around it. Circles of transparent polycarbonate amongst the poles afford shelter from the rain but also create a layer that reflects sunlight from within.

“I tried to create something – of course really artificial – but nicely melding together with these surroundings, to create a nice mixture of nature and architecture,” said Sou Fujimoto at the press conference this morning.

“This grid is really artificial, sharp, transparent order, but the whole atmosphere made by grids is more blurring and ambiguous, like trees or a forest or clouds. So we can have the beautiful duality of the artificial order and natural order,” he added.

The lattice parts in the middle to house seating for a cafe. It will open to the public on Saturday and remain in place until 20 October.

The annual unpaid Serpentine Gallery Pavilion commission is one of the most highly sought-after small projects in world architecture and goes to a major architect who hasn’t yet built in the UK.

Last year’s pavilion was a cork-lined archaeological dig created by Herzog & de Meuron with Ai Weiwei. Dezeen filmed interviews with Herzog & de Meuron at the opening, where Jacques Herzog told us how they sidestepped the regulations to be allowed to participate and Pierre de Meuron explained how cork was used to appeal to “all the senses, not just your eyes”.

In 2011 it was a walled garden by Peter Zumthor, who told us at the opening: “I’m a passionate architect… I do not work for money”. Watch that movie here.

Past projects by Sou Fujimoto include a house that has hardly any walls, another with three layers of windows and a library with shelves on the exterior. See our slideshow of Sou Fujimoto’s key projects or check out all our stories about his work.

See all our stories about the Serpentine Gallery Pavilions »
See more architecture by Sou Fujimoto »

Here’s some more information from the Serpentine Gallery:

The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013 is designed by multi award-winning Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto. He is the thirteenth and, at 41, the youngest architect to accept the invitation to design a temporary structure for the Serpentine Gallery. The most ambitious architectural programme of its kind worldwide, the Serpentine’s annual Pavilion commission is one of the most anticipated events on the cultural calendar. Past Pavilions have included designs by Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei (2012), Frank Gehry (2008), Oscar Niemeyer (2003) and Zaha Hadid, who designed the inaugural structure in 2000.

Widely acknowledged as one of the most important architects coming to prominence worldwide, Sou Fujimoto is the leading light of an exciting generation of architects who are re-inventing our relationship with the built environment. Inspired by organic structures, such as the forest,Fujimoto’s signature buildings inhabit a space between nature and artificiality.

Fujimoto has completed the majority of his buildings in Japan, with commissions ranging from the domestic, such as Final Wooden House, T House and House N, to the institutional, such as the Musashino Art Museum and Library at Musashino Art University.

Occupying some 357 square-metres of lawn in front of the Serpentine Gallery, Sou Fujimoto’s delicate, latticed structure of 20mm steel poles has a lightweight and semi-transparent appearance that allows it to blend, cloud-like, into the landscape against the classical backdrop of the Gallery’s colonnaded East wing. Designed as a flexible, multi-purpose social space – with a café run for the first time by Fortnum and Mason inside – visitors will be encouraged to enter and interact with the Pavilion in different ways throughout its four-month tenure in London’s Kensington Gardens.

Fujimoto is the third Japanese architect to accept the invitation to design the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, following Pritzker Prize winners Toyo Ito in 2002 and Kazuyo Sejima & Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA in 2009.

AECOM have provided engineering and technical design services for the Pavilion for 2013. David Glover, AECOM’s global chief executive for building engineering, has worked on the designs of many previous Pavilions.

Sponsored by: HP
With: Hiscox
Advisors: AECOM
Platinum Sponsors: Rise, Viabizzuno progettiamo la luce

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by Sou Fujimoto appeared first on Dezeen.

A tiny mobile performance venue based on sixteenth century market stalls and Roman fortune tellers will be appearing around the Lower Marsh area of Waterloo in London this summer.

Designed by London Studio Aberrant Architecture, the bright blue folly incorporates a rooftop platform, a covered seating area and a signpost printed with a chicken.

Constructed from steel and mounted on a trailer chassis, the maneuverable stall is intended to recall the site’s history as a bustling market area renowned for fortune tellers, mystics and peep shows.

As part of the design process, Aberrant Architecture examined Hugh Alley’s sixteenth century text A Caveat for the City of London, which features drawings of market totems around which traders used to gather.

“We really wanted to challenge the idea of how a sign could become a physical experience and weave together the richness of the area’s past with the street’s current character,” explains Kevin Haley, co-founder of Aberrant Architecture. “By reimagining historic market structures to reflect the unique character, noise, and atmosphere of the present day market the new stall marks the next step in Lower Marsh’s story.”

The stall features a steel staircase that leads to a rooftop plinth on which installations and events can be held, whilst a cubbyhole beneath combines seating with a built-in chess board.

A signpost protrudes from the roof with a graphic chicken mounted to its tip as a reference to Roman times when chickens were used by fortune tellers to predict the future.

Collapsable steel balustrades allow the stall the be lowered in height and stored away easily.

The Roaming Market was commissioned by Waterloo Quarter Business Improvement District as part of Waterloo’s Portas Pilots project, which aims to regenerate the Lower Marsh and The Cut areas of the district. We previously featured Mary Porta’s review of the future of high streets.

The stall’s debut appearance was during the English festival of St George earlier this year with a party involving Morris Dancers, musicians, a fortune teller and a fool.

The Roaming Market’s next appearance will be at the Waterloo Quarter Food Festival which runs from June 27 to July 31.

This isn’t the first time Aberrant Architecture have designed a travelling folly-like structure. During Clerkenwell Design Week last year the studio unveiled a tiny mobile theatre with chimneys made from coal scuttles.

See more stories about Aberrant Architecture »

Here’s some more information about the project:

Waterloo Quarter Business Improvement District (BID) has commissioned aberrant architecture to design a new ‘roaming market’ stall for Lower Marsh Market in Waterloo, London. Inspired by ‘totem’ structures found on London’s historic street markets and Lambeth’s rich history of fortune tellers and mystics the new structure will act as a local information point. Once it has arrived at its site it will unfold into a mutli-functional stall incorporating a covered seating area with built-in chess board, a stage on the roof for hosting events and performances and a ‘chicken’ signpost for guiding people around the local area.

It is hoped the new structure will continue the rejuvenation of the Lower Marsh market, which was re-launched in 2011, by acting as a portable anchor around which new satellite markets can be created and as a promotional and signage tool helping to draw people through the local area. The innovative stall is being delivered as part of Waterloo Quarter’s ‘Portas Pilot’ project for Lower Marsh and The Cut, and is supported by the Mayor of London and delivered by Waterloo Quarter BID in collaboration with the London Borough of Lambeth.

The stall is inspired by drawings of ‘totem’ structures found in Hugh Alley’s idiosyncratic 16th century ‘A Caveatt for the City of London’ which were used as markers around which different traders assembled, often representing the part of the country where the produce was from. In addition the stall’s design is influenced by Lambeth’s history as a market area renowned for fortune tellers, mystics and peep shows. The giant chicken sign being used at the top of the structure reflects stories of chickens being used to tell people’s fortunes, a tradition that goes back to Roman times. The sign is also formed of images of livestock, food and household items all sold on the ‘New Cut’ market according to records from 1849.

Talking about plans for the new stall Helen Santer, Chief Executive of Waterloo Quarter BID said: “Once completed the satellite market stall will play an active role in the street market, and at events like the Waterloo Quarter Food Festival. It will complement the existing shops in Lower Marsh and on The Cut by directing people around the area and promoting Waterloo as a vibrant shopping destination. It will also be moved around the wider area to act as a satellite sign-post for our historic London market.”

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News: British architect Terry Farrell’s firm is onboard to masterplan a £1 billion business hub in London’s docklands for Chinese and Asian businesses.

The Mayor of London’s office has announced its plan to transform a 14 hectare site at the Royal Albert Dock, a stretch of land near London City airport, into a gateway for Far Eastern businesses looking to establish their headquarters in Europe.

Farrells, which has offices in London, Hong Kong and Shanghai, is creating the masterplan for the £1 billion development, which will comprise around 230,000 square metres of office space as well as shops, apartments and leisure facilities.

The first phase of 55,000 square metres is due to open in 2017, subject to planning permission, with work on the site intended to be completed by 2022.

The Royal Albert Dock is one of a number of developments currently planned on the banks of the Thames, including three residential towers by Foster + Partners and plans to slot a glazed extension over the brutalist concrete architecture of the Southbank Centre – see all London architecture.

Earlier this year the firm’s head Terry Farrell was selected to lead an independent review of the UK’s architecture policy, working with an 11-strong advisory panel of architects and designers.

Other Farrells projects we’ve featured include the 442-metre Kingkey 100 skyscraper in Shenzhen and a proposal to convert London’s Battersea Power Station into a park – see all architecture by Farrells.

Here’s the press release from the Mayor of London’s office:

Mayor announces £1bn to transform Royal Albert Dock into capital’s next business district

» ABP to create state of the art business port aimed initially at Chinese and Asian business
» Estimated 20,000 jobs to be created
» Development to be worth £6bn to the UK economy when complete

The Mayor, Boris Johnson, has announced details of a £1bn deal to transform London’s historic docklands into the capital’s next business district, forging new trade links with China and other economies in the Asia-Pacific region and securing billions of pounds of inward investment in the UK economy.

Owned by the Greater London Authority and situated in the heart of Royal Docks Enterprise Zone, the 35-acre site at Royal Albert Dock is set to be transformed by ABP China (Holding), a successful commercial developer, into a gateway for Asian and Chinese business seeking to establish headquarters in Europe as well as other businesses wanting to set up in the capital.

Historically the trading heartland of the capital, the deal will re-instate the Royal Docks as a commercial and trading centre for the 21st century, delivering around 20,000 full-time jobs and boosting local employment in Newham by 30 per cent. When complete the site will become London’s third business district and, according to initial projections, be worth £6bn to the UK economy, generating £23m in business rates annually and acting as a catalyst for further development in the area.

The largest development of its kind in the UK, the state-of-the-art business district will act as a platform for financial, high-tech and knowledge driven industries looking establish and drive forward their business in UK and European markets. The deal represents one of the first direct investment by a Chinese developer in London’s property market and will eventually be home to over 3.2 million square feet of high quality work, retail and leisure space, including 2.5 million square feet of prime office space, creating a new, vibrant 24/7 district on London’s waterways.

An experienced developer in China, this is ABP’s first development project in Europe. With a track record of investing in and transforming large areas in need of regeneration, the company specialises in delivering projects of significant scale. ABP have recently completed a large development of around 15 million square feet in Beijing, while their Shenyang project in north-eastern China is even larger, with plans for 75 million square feet when complete.

Working with UK developer Stanhope and architects and masterplanners Farrells, ABP have a commitment to developing a minimum of 600,000 square feet in the first phase, with strong interest for office space already being shown by Chinese companies, including some of the country’s top banks. The first occupiers are due to move in in 2017.

The deal is a key part of the Mayor’s on-going commitment to regenerate London’s docklands, bringing jobs and homes back to the capital’s waterways and builds on the momentum of the development of the Olympic Park and Stratford City. It is the latest in a string of investments in the area including the Siemens Crystal Centre, the Emirates cable car, and new homes at Great Eastern Quay, as well as upcoming developments at Silvertown Quays and the plans to create the UK’s largest floating village at Royal Victoria Dock.

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “For centuries the waterways of east London were the throbbing arteries of UK trade and commerce. This deal symbolises the revival of that great era, continuing the re-invention of this once maligned part of the capital into a 21st century centre of trade and investment. Creating a third financial district in the capital, this development will act as a beacon for eastern investors looking west, bringing with it tens of thousands of jobs and billions of pounds of investment for the UK economy.”

Chairman of ABP, Mr Xu, said: “I am very pleased and very proud that my company ABP has reached this agreement for the Royal Albert Dock with the Greater London Authority. This project will be hugely significant for both the Chinese and UK economies. My vision is to develop a world class international business district which will initially target Asian businesses to help them secure a destination in London, which in China is seen as the gateway to both the United Kingdom and the wider European economy. Our plans aim to strengthen trade between east and west, provide new local jobs and deliver benefits for the wider London and UK economy.”

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said: “Enterprise Zones are creating new local jobs and stimulating business ventures through significant tax incentives, simplified planning and super fast broadband that will support our economy.

“This is a significant investment deal for London and will boost employment and growth in the capital. I am delighted that the benefits of Enterprise Zone status are attracting foreign investment to the country and strengthening our trade relations with major international players like China.”

Sir Robin Wales, Mayor of Newham said: “The Royal Docks Enterprise Zone offers an unrivalled investment opportunity and this deal further strengthens Newham’s growing reputation as an ideal destination for international business.

“We welcome ABP’s ambitious vision for the Docks which are already home to London City Airport, the University of East London, the Siemens Crystal and the Excel. ABP’s proposals will bring further investment from abroad and unlock future development. It will also create benefits for local people by providing thousands of new jobs and further enhancing the waterfront for people to enjoy.

“Newham will work closely with ABP and their UK development partner, Stanhope, to ensure that as many of these jobs as possible are accessible to local residents. Our successful Workplace jobs brokerage scheme is ideally placed to ensure this happens.”

Situated in the Royal Docks Enterprise Zone, the Albert Dock site, when complete, will have some of the best transport links in the capital, with direct access to central and western London via the new Crossrail station coming in 2018. It also benefits from close proximity to the University of East London and City Airport, providing direct links to Europe’s key business destinations.

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News: architecture firm dRMM will install 20 interlocking wooden staircases outside St Paul’s Cathedral for the London Design Festival in September.

Unveiled this morning at the London Design Festival 2013 press preview, the design comprises a complex configuration of steps to be made from 44 cubic metres of tulipwood. Visitors will be invited to climb the structure and use it as a viewpoint towards the River Thames, Millennium Bridge and Tate Modern.

“Endless Stair is a three-dimensional exercise in composition, structure and scale,” said dRMM co-founder Alex de Rijke. “The Escher-like game of perception and circulation in timber playfully contrasts with the religious and corporate environment of stone and glass in the city.”

The structure will be made of cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels, which are usually created by layering up softwoods to form cheap and stable panels for fast construction. This installation will instead use a sustainable hardwood – tulipwood – to form lighter and stronger hardwood CLT panels for the first time.

The Endless Stair will be created in association with the American Hardwood Export Council and engineered by Arup. A lighting scheme for the spot will be developed by London studio Seam Design using products from LED company Lumenpulse.

The same team delivered Amanda Levete’s Timber Wave installation outside the V&A museum for the 2011 London Design Festival. The American Hardwood Export Council worked with Royal College of Art students on twelve wooden chairs at last year’s festival.

Alex de Rijke is dean of the School of Architecture at the Royal College of Art in London. Previous architecture projects by dRMM include a golden wedding chapel by the seaside and a house with mobile walls and roof.

The London Design Festival 2013 takes place from 14 to 22 September. See more design events taking place throughout the year on our World Design Guide.

See more unusual staircases »
See more projects by dRMM »

dRMM’s Sliding House features in the Dezeen Book of Ideas. Special offer: buy the book now for just £10 »

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outside St Paul’s Cathedral appeared first on Dezeen.

The use of copper in functional industrial design has been on the rise for some time now, especially since seeing it all over London Design Festival last September. We spotted six new products during this year’s NYC Design Week that prove even more designers are embracing the multifaceted,…

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