With the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games taking place in a few hours’ time, take a look at this annotated aerial photo of the Olympic Park, which we’ve tagged with info about all the key venues and nearby buildings (click here to see the image). See all our stories about London 2012 here.
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London 2012 Olympic Park appeared first on Dezeen.
The 2012 Olympic games begin today and this latticed timber hut on stilts by Hackney architects Studio Weave now marks the direct route from the City of London to the Olympic Park.
The temporary installation is positioned at the start of High Street 2012, a ribbon of streets that lead directly from Aldgate, east London, to the main site of the games in Stratford.
Named Paleys upon Pilers, or palace on pillars, the wooden folly was inspired by the dream-like temples described in two poems written by historic Aldgate resident Geoffrey Chaucer.
The structure will remain in place throughout the summer.
Studio Weave’s project was constructed in place of the 100 metre-tall glass elevator that won a competition for the site back in 2010 but was abandoned when funding couldn’t be raised.
See more stories about Studio Weave »
See more stories about London 2012 »
Photography is by Studio Weave.
Here’s some information from the architects:
Paleys upon Pilers celebrates Aldgate’s distinguished resident Geoffrey Chaucer
To mark the location of the historic Aldgate – where Chaucer lived from 1374-1386 – an intricate timber ‘paleys upon pilers’ (palace on pillars) has been commissioned by the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects as its contribution to the games celebrations.
The installation secured temporary Planning Permission on Friday May 4th, will officially open on Friday the 27th July 2012 and will remain in place throughout the summer.
Created by the young, award-winning architects, Studio Weave, the construction will also mark the start of High Street 2012, the direct route from the City of London to the games site at Stratford.

The New Aldgate is supported by the City Property Advisory Team (CPAT) and eight other Worshipful livery Companies and will be built from sustainable British Larch supplied by BSW Timber and is sponsored by 4C Hotels Ltd.
Sir Michael Bear, former Lord Mayor of London and President of the London Festival of Architecture says “As a ward member for the area I am delighted that this elegant structure will provide a focus and identity for this area which is undergoing major regeneration.”
Peter Murray, founder director of the London Festival of Architecture and Court assistant to the Worshipful company of Chartered Architects says “This is a delightfully evocative design that brings a contemporary clarity to the eastern fringe of the Square Mile. The old Aldgate was designed to keep people out; Studio Weave’s design welcomes visitors from around the world who will be visiting London this summer.”
Studio Weave: Project description
A gate stood at Aldgate from the Roman Period until 1761. From 1374 to 1386 Chaucer (1343-1400) lived in the rooms above the Aldgate.
Our design is inspired by the two dream poems written by Chaucer while resident in the rooms above the gate from 1374 to 1386. ‘The House of Fame’ and ‘The Parliament of Fowls’ both include images of fantastic dream-like temples of impossible materials and scale, elevated on precarious, precious structures above vast, bizarre landscapes conceivable as analogies for the City.
Paleys upon Pilers is an abstraction of the uppermost room of the old gate and an invocation of Chaucer’s luxurious dreamed temples. The structure consists of a kind of timber embroidery and will sit in the air above the busy Aldgate High Street, supported on pillars decorated with images from Chaucer’s illuminated manuscripts.
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by Studio Weave appeared first on Dezeen.
An exploration of the relationship between artist and audience
Two years ago Maria Abramović wowed an array of visitors at NYC’s Museum of Modern Art with her emotionally engaging, 736-hour staring contest, “The Artist Is Present.” This powerful display of human connectivity caused a major shift in the conventional outlook on performance art. Now, at London’s Tate Modern, artist Tino Sehgal is continuing to explore creative interaction with his new live art installation in the museum’s massive Turbine Hall as this year’s annual Unilever commission.
Sehgal’s work lures museum-goers into running around one end of the hall and then the other, as spectators watch from the bridge and balconies above. Whether demonstrating that in our digitally hermitic worlds we still seek tangible interaction or just adding an artistic twist to the stillness of museums, like Abromović’s, his message is as magically engaging to participants as it is to observers. From above, the whirlwind of people running below in random formation feels a little bit like a Van Gogh painting brought to life. Down in the hall, you feel a strange surge of buoyant energy circling around you as people waggishly run by.
Sehgal’s installation is accented by a host of revolving exhibitions on display for 15 weeks in The Tanks, the museum’s underground chambers recently renovated by architects Herzog + de Meuron. An area dedicated to “art in action,” on our visit we wandered into interdisciplinary artist Sung Hwan Kim’s two-room video installation that befuddles you with a two-way mirror, before being even further entranced by Lis Rhodes “Light Music” installation—a work originally conceived in 1975 in which two projectors at either end of the room create a fanning strobe effect as the horizontal shadows fluctuate in size. Standing between them turns you into an active puppet-shadow.
For the full line-up of live art running through the end of October 2012, check out The Tate Modern online.
An Olympian pop-up supper club opens in London
The Olympics opening ceremonies are nearly upon London, and as the city makes its final preparations to host the world for the games, many creative projects are popping up around town to celebrate the event. Taking the international spirit of the Olympics to heart—by way of the belly— the pop-up restaurant Global Feast has opened in Stratford Town Hall near Olympic Park with an astonishing 20-night lineup of exceptional cuisine from across the world.
Global Feast is a collaboration between architect Alex Haw of
Atmos and celebrated underground supper club chef
Kerstin Rodgers, AKA MsMarmiteLover. Together they have curated a delicious culinary adventure that showcases the best of supper club culture. Top supper club chefs from across London and further afield have been selected to host one night each, with their menus celebrating the delicacies of their chosen part of the world.
Global Feast also marks the realization of Haw’s long-held ambition to seat people at the tallest table in the world. He describes his Worldscape design as a “voluptuous, CNC-carved landscape, a vast, 3D model of world terrain, seating 80 people on its ocean contours to dine off its coastlines, illuminated by its cities, enshadowed by its mountains.”
“Our culinary journey starts, like our species, in Africa—on the Western tip of Senegal, opening alongside the first Olympic event (football),” says Haw about what diners have in store. “Traveling east, we land at home on the opening night of the Olympic ceremony, with fireworks visible from our courtyard, to celebrate the best of host nation Britain. We continue east through Europe and onwards past Asia, from old world tonew, to end our entire journey the night after the last Olympic event by passing on the baton to Rio de Janeiro—with a climactic fiesta of Brazilian Carnival.”
Global Feast kicks off 25 July in London, and traveling gourmands can choose to attend for both the opening and closing ceremonies of the games, or any night in between.
Sarcastic Olympic souvenirs for those who are cynical about the games are now available at Dezeen Super Store, 38 Monmouth Street, London WC2.
Priced at £15 each, the bags and t-shirts sport artwork in a style similar to the much-ridiculed London 2012 graphics, with mocking phrases printed on brightly coloured angular shapes.
Dezeen readers can get 10% off any Dezeen Super Store purchase (excluding sale stock and Jambox) and enter our competition to win a designer watch worth £150 by downloading this flyer and presenting it at the shop.
See more products currently for sale at the store here.
Dezeen Super Store
38 Monmouth Street, London WC2
1 July – 30 September 2012
The products were created by Hackney-based designer Tobatron. Scroll down to see a map of all the Hackney creatives we’ve featured as part of Designed in Hackney and click here for more details about Designed in Hackney Day on 1 August.
Here is some more information from Tobatron:
While “that big event in London” is taking place, inject some reality into the proceedings with these limited edition souvenirs.
They are designed by Tobatron in Hackney- a mere javelin’s throw away from the “big event” itself.
All ranges are ethically produced and are made in conjunction with accessories designer Elaine Burke and www.khama.co.uk – a network of women’s community groups in Malawi.
By purchasing these products you are helping to offer support and sustainable employment for women in one of Africa’s poorest regions.
Tobatron is the alter- ego of artist and designer Toby Leigh, his clients include The Guardian, FHM, Sony, Playstation and Channel Four.
His work can be viewed at www.tobatron.com and other products designed by Tobatron can be viewed and purchased here.
Elaine Burke is a London based accessories designer specializing in ethical fashion production in Africa. She has worked as a design consultant for ethical brands and developed ranges for ASOS, House of Fraser and Whistles.
Her company Khama is a network of womens community groups in Malawi making accessories and collaborating with micro-finance charities to help women in one of Africa’s poorest regions.
.
Key:
Blue = designers
Red = architects
Yellow = brands
Green = street art
See a larger version of this map
Designed in Hackney is a Dezeen initiative to showcase world-class architecture and design created in the borough, which is one of the five host boroughs for the London 2012 Olympic Games as well as being home to Dezeen’s offices. We’ll publish buildings, interiors and objects that have been designed in Hackney until the games this summer.
More information and details of how to get involved can be found at www.designedinhackney.com.
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at Dezeen Super Store appeared first on Dezeen.
La marque Nike nous présente son nouveau spot publicitaire pour les Jeux Olympiques de Londres 2012 intitulé « Find Your Greatness ». Reprenant divers lieux dans le monde baptisé également London sans pour autant être en Grande-Bretagne, la vidéo montre que la performance et la réussite est possible pour tous.
Perforated steel doors fold open like the wings of a butterfly at the backstreet entrance to this London house by architects Teatum+Teatum.
Named Hidden House, the residence is squeezed between two existing buildings and has a glittering facade of black render and metal filings.
The folding metal doors lead into a ground-floor living room and kitchen, where chunky chipboard walls integrate kitchen counters, shelves and a desk.
There are no windows, but a seven-metre-high lightwell brings natural light in from above.
First-floor bedrooms are positioned either side of the lightwell and also receive daylight from funnel-shaped skylights.
Other London houses we’ve featured recently include one with an oak staircase and another clad in rubber.
Photography is by Lyndon Douglas.
Here’s a project description from Teatum+Teatum:
Hidden House – T+T 001
Using the left over spaces of the city, Hidden House is formed between existing buildings.
The house makes an opportunity of its dislocation from the street. It turns its back to the city and responds to its location by creating an architecture that is internal and intimate.
The house is organised over two levels and structured around a seven metre high internal light well. Living spaces interface across the central light well, allowing bedrooms and living areas to overlap and connect.
This interface between spaces seeks the opportunity for programmes to infect one another.
The connection to the exterior is formed through high level skylights that bring daylight into the bedrooms and the central light well. By removing external views the sense of interior is reinforced, creating intimacy and a focus on light and materiality.
The rear elevation, a black shining surface, embedded with silica carbide particles acts like a mask in that it engages the viewer without expressing or revealing the space behind.
The steel butterfly doors are laser cut to reflect the pattern of rain on a cold window. Internally, the laser cut pattern allows shards of light to extend into the hidden spaces of the ground floor interior. Hidden House provides a way for the city to create more housing on existing sites providing unique spaces at low cost.
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Teatum+Teatum appeared first on Dezeen.
Hackney designer Lee Broom has filled a room in a London mansion with studded furniture to host visting business leaders during the Olympic games.
The Gold Room is one of a series of newly furnished rooms at the nineteenth century Lancaster House, completed by a host of British designers that includes BarberOsgerby, Jasper Morrison and Sir Terrance Conran.
Broom’s room contains fourteen upholstered pieces from his 1930′s-inspired Salon collection, as well as oak and walnut tables featuring veneers and coloured stripes.
The rooms will remain in this guise throughout the Olympic and Paralympic games and will be used for a series of summits by government organisation the British Business Embassy.
See more projects by Lee Broom »
Here’s some information from Broom:
Lee Broom Takes Centre Stage at British Business Embassy During Olympic Games
This summer, acclaimed product and interior designer, Lee Broom curates a central room in the Lancaster House where the British Business Embassy will host global influential business leaders during the Olympic and Paralympic games.
Broom is one of an exclusive number of respected British designers, including Terrance Conran and Ross Lovegrove, invited to atmospherically enhance the British Business Embassy, which will take place at London’s historic Lancaster House. The magnificent 19th century house will be transformed to showcase modern art and design highlighting the talent of British or British-trained designers, photographers, furniture makers and sculptors.
The Gold Room by Lee Broom is the only room dedicated solely to one designer at Lancaster House. The historic room juxtaposed against Broom’s modern, contemporary pieces exemplifies the designer’s ethos of connecting the past and the future, the traditional and contemporary.
Included in the room are 14 pieces from Salon, an upholstered furniture collection in soft hues contrasted and accentuated with modern stud detailing. The room will feature several products from the range including armchairs, two-seater sofas, drum-seats, dining chairs and footstools. Further pieces included are: Parqlife, a side table and table in walnut veneer with complementing brass accents. Parquetry coffee table and lamp crafted from wenge, oak and walnut wood with blue accent stripe and panels. Carpetry console and pendant, which are from Broom’s first collection and feature pieces in satin lacquered blue with blue and beige carpet.
Demonstrating the designer’s commitment to his country’s heritage, all the pieces have been designed in Broom’s east-end studio and manufactured in the UK.
Broom says, “it is an honour to be invited to participate in this unique event, especially when the spotlight is on London during the Olympic and Paralympic games. Championing British design and manufacturing is something I feel passionate about and this centrepiece backs the best of UK creativity – it’s a hugely valuable opportunity.”
The British Business Embassy, developed by the UK trade & investment (UKTI) is the centrepiece of the government’s international business legacy programme. It will see over 3,000 UK and international business leaders come together for an ambitious series of global, sector and country summits. The embassy will stage a host of world-class speakers including Eric Schmidt, Sir Jonathan Ive and Howard Stringer.
Design leader and UKTI business ambassador, Sir John Sorrell, alongside Diana Yakeley, president of the British Institute of Interior Design have overseen the selection and creation of a total of 18 rooms at the British Business Embassy which will highlight British design talent. Other designers and contributors include Paul Smith for Conran and The Rug Company, BarberOsgerby, Jasper Morrison for Vitra, Sir Terrance Conran and Foster & Partners for Lumina.
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by Lee Broom appeared first on Dezeen.
These hand-drawn illustrations by Hackney design studio Something & Son explain the designs for a temporary spa that opens tomorrow in Barking, east London.
Above: bar and cucumber plants
Top: relaxation room
The Barking Bathhouse will be open for seven weeks in the heart of Barking’s town centre and will feature a series of treatment rooms, a cocktail bar and a makeshift beach made from piles of pebbles.
Above: pebble bays
Homegrown cucumbers will spout from a canopy of plants above the bar and will be used to make drinks, as well as for spa treatments.
Above: sauna room
One room will provide a wooden sauna, while another will contain a cool room chilled with dry ice.
Above: massage room
The structure is being assembled from a series of prefabricated wooden huts and is one of twelve projects taking place this summer as part of arts festival CREATE.
Other projects with imaginative illustrations on Dezeen include a tiny theatre and a row of houses for London’s east end.
Something & Son are based on Dalston Lane in the London Borough of Hackney. Scroll down to see their location on our Designed in Hackney map.
Here’s some information from CREATE and Something & Son:
The Barking Bathhouse, Something & Son
27 July – 16 September
CREATE has commissioned Something & Son to design and build The Barking Bathhouse. Focusing on wellbeing, The Barking Bathhouse will experiment in the latest design, health and beauty ideas to help people feel happy and relaxed this summer during perhaps the most hectic period in London’s history. The Bathhouse will open on 24 July in Barking town centre and provide affordable spa treatments as well as a free social space for people to meet. Something & Son are the design practice behind the hugely successful FARM:shop in Dalston which saw the practice create a fully functioning farm within a disused shop. This new project is one of the Mayor’s Outer London Fund projects being delivered for Barking and Dagenham Council.
The Barking Bathhouse will combine a spa with a bar, where visitors will be able to sip healthy cocktails under a canopy of growing cucumbers and sunbathe in seaside-inspired pebble bays. After soaking up vitamins and being pampered with a variety of treatments – using produce grown by local allotment gardeners – visitors will be able to sweat it out or cool down in a traditional wooden sauna or a cold room with a pioneering ‘dry ice’ chiller. The purpose-built design of the Bathhouse is inspired by 20th century working men’s bathhouses, ultra modern spas and Barking’s industrial heritage.
Andrew Merritt of Something & Son said: “Ideally relaxation should be an everyday experience and we wanted to design a space that can increase happiness and explore ideas of relaxation in an urban context. The juxtaposition of traditional spa techniques and the industrial setting will create a raw but very human space.”
Paul Smyth of Something & Son said: “When you travel the world, some of the best, most memorable experiences can happen in a simple massage hut or bathhouse. And many other cultures see visits to a bathhouse as an essential way to de-stress or spend time with others. We hope to recreate that unpretentious but effective philosophy at the Barking Bathhouse.”
The building design
Drawing on the industrial heritage of Barking, as well as the aesthetic of darkened timber farm buildings found in nearby Essex and the wooden beach huts of Kent, Something & Son will combine functional design and new spa technologies to create the Bathhouse building. The clear roofed structure of the bar area will allow high levels of sunlight into the communal space. In the treatment area, strong spotlights will pinpoint areas such as the nail bar, creating some drama in an otherwise low lit, tranquil space. A raw aesthetic throughout will challenge traditional notions of ‘luxury’ while creating a blissful space to relax.
The pod-based structure, to be prefabricated and docked together on site, has been planned with the future in mind, and when the Bathhouse closes at the end of the summer the different pods will be separated with the aim of relocating them locally for continued use by the community, including local allotment owners, playgrounds and youth centres.
The spa
The spa area will consist of a series of massage and treatment rooms in addition to a traditional sauna and a cold room lined with ice blocks will bring traditional bathhouse rituals to the experience. There will also be a relaxation area with loungers. Massages, body treatments, manicures and pedicures will all be offered, and Something & Son are working with local beauticians and local allotment gardeners to develop natural and refreshing treatments. To reduce excessive water use the Bathhouse will not have communal pools or energy-wasting hot tubs.
The bar
In the bar cocktails, smoothies, snacks and spa treatments will all be offered on the bar menu, the cucumber canopy above the bar providing fresh produce for use in beauty treatments. Next door a beach-inspired pebble bay is set aside for socialising and sun bathing under a partially open roof. Shingle dunes will provide the perfect space to relax and unwind between treatments, or just to come and catch some rays over lunchtime.
Events programme
The Bathhouse will also run a rich and varied events programme with workshops, talks and discussions with happiness and wellbeing as the central ethos. From talks on whether money can make you happy to chocolate making and meditation workshops, the programme will focus on establishing personal happiness. A workshop on the beauty myth will offer photoshop makeovers showing how media images of beauty are unattainable, while laughter yoga, clowning workshops and comedy nights will all bring an extra bit of happiness to the day.
Anna Doyle, Producer, CREATE, said: “We have developed a relationship with Something & Son over the past two years and are thrilled to have commissioned The Barking Bathhouse. Working with Barking and Dagenham we hope that the project will reinvigorate Barking town centre, bringing back a social space for local people, as well as providing a place for visitors to escape the crowds in central London during the Olympic period. CREATE is a great place to nurture new design talents like Something & Son, and The Barking Bathhouse is very exciting project for east London.”
Councillor Collins, Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Sport, said: “I am thrilled that Barking and Dagenham is taking part in the CREATE festival this year, and in such a big way too. The Barking Bathhouse sounds like a fantastic concept and I am looking forward to seeing it operational. I am sure it will have something of interest to everyone and would like to encourage everyone to visit and take advantage of the facilities on offer.”
Entry
Public areas are free. Treatments can be reserved in advance or ordered on site. Spa: £8, £2 for Barking and Dagenham residents
Events: £4
CREATE in partnership with London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and the Mayor of London. Part of the London 2012 Festival.
The history of bathhouses
While the practice of travelling to hot or cold springs in hopes of curing ailments dates back to pre-historic times, the earliest structured baths are found in the ruins in of the Indus Valley Civilization (present-day Pakistan). These were large communal baths reminiscent of modern day swimming pools. It was in ancient Greece and Rome that public baths became a centre of social and recreational activity. The bathing ritual was developed past immersion or sweating with the development of separate areas for massage and relaxation. Gardens, exercise spaces and even libraries and theatres were added. Meanwhile, in Japan, the historical origins of bathing are based in ritual purification with water, with many early Buddhist temples including saunas for free public use. Bathing in these ancient times was a necessity and socialising and relaxing in these spaces was central to daily life. Roman style public baths were introduced to England in the medieval period but these gained a bad reputation as a front for brothels and many closed during the 15th and 16th centuries. It was not until the mid-19th century that Britain’s first true public bath houses were opened, and by 1915 most towns in Britain had at least one.
.
Key:
Blue = designers
Red = architects
Yellow = brands
Green = street art
See a larger version of this map
Designed in Hackney is a Dezeen initiative to showcase world-class architecture and design created in the borough, which is one of the five host boroughs for the London 2012 Olympic Games as well as being home to Dezeen’s offices. We’ll publish buildings, interiors and objects that have been designed in Hackney each day until the games this summer.
More information and details of how to get involved can be found at www.designedinhackney.com.
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by Something & Son appeared first on Dezeen.
Dezeen Wire: the London Borough of Hackney have announced the details of their Architecture Weekend, a free event showcasing architecture in the borough.
Taking place from 28 to 29 July at Hackney House, the event will give visitors the chance to speak to architects who have studios in Hackney or have designed work in the borough, with entertainment from comedians, musicians and DJs in the evenings.
Hackney House is also the venue for Dezeen’s Designed in Hackney day that will take place on 1 August.
See all our stories about architecture and design in Hackney »
See more details about Architecture Weekend below:
Daytime: Architecture Showcase, a public event showcasing Hackney’s best architectural designs and innovative ideas for the future shape of the borough.
Join us at a free event showcasing the best of the Hackney’s architects and architecture. Hackney Architecture Showcase, taking place on Saturday 28th July and Sunday 29th July, will play host to some of London’s leading architects who have designed structures or spaces in the borough, as well as Hackney-based architectural firms who are pioneering building design in the UK and across the globe.
Opening Times:
Saturday 28th July: 11am – 4pm
Sunday 29th July: 11am – 3pm
With models of the schemes, a chance to speak to the people behind them and special talks on excellence in design, this event is a MUST for architects, designers and creatives and anyone with an interest in the exciting schemes that are transforming Hackney!
The weekend will also be the last chance to nominate a building or space in the borough for entry into this year’s Hackney Design Awards, which celebrates great design and architecture in Hackney. Details of previous winners will feature at the event and anyone can make a nomination, including residents who inhabit newly developed homes; employees who enjoy their workplace; pupils who love their schools or people who are simply inspired by the look of a building or place in Hackney.
Featuring: Tim Ronalds’ Hackney Empire (2004 Royal Fine Art Commission Building of the Year Award), RIBA winner Henley Halebrown Rorrison’s projects in Hackney, Theis and Khan’s Bateman’s Row (2010 RIBA Stirling Award, Shortlisted), and Stephen Marshall Architects’ proclaimed Nile Street Residential development (The best new development in the affordable sector at the New Homes Awards 2006).
The venue is Hackney House – the venue set up by Hackney Council to showcase Hackney to media, business and investors during Games time. This is located at 186 Shoreditch High Street, London E1 6HU.
Saturday evening:
Hardeep Singh / DJ Prince Nelly
Comedy Night with Hardeep Singh, Des O’Connor and Johnny Cochrane followed by DJ Prince Nelly. Register for the Architecture Showcase by Friday 27th July for a chance to win a pair of tickets for Comedy Night! Winners will be chosen at random.
Sunday evening:
Konkoma / DJ Ben Pistor
Tonight’s entertainment comes from London-based band KonKoma who will bring us a rich blend of Afrofunk, jazz, soul and traditional African rhythms. DJ Ben Pistor continues the evening.
For tickets please email hackneyhouse@hackney.gov.uk
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details announced appeared first on Dezeen.
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