Hasta La Ideas

Rotating walls with acid green edges slot together like jigsaw pieces between a London lighting showroom and its window display.

Located at the base of the Centre Point tower, the Atrium showroom was designed by Studio RHE.

Reclaimed railway sleepers step down from the window to a bar at the centre of the store for events.

Lighting products are displayed on the ceiling above this space, mounted onto white geometric shapes with the same glossy green edges.

More lighting products are attached to the walls at the back of the showroom.

Photography is by Bjarte Rettedal.

Here are some more details from Studio RHE:

Atrium

For the last twenty years, ‘Atrium’ has been located in the base of the Centrepoint tower, the iconic building that once held the title of the tallest building in London.

Recently ‘Atrium’ has made a professional move away from modern furniture supply to selling the finest lighting products – a move that needed both explanation and celebration.

This then lead to a design Brief that required an interactive open space, with a central reception area that could very easily be converted into a darkened showroom.

‘Studio RHE’ reacted to the Brief by designing a carefully choreographed intertwined space which utilizes a series of rotating, interlocking, hinged, jig‐sawed wall panels that transform the bright day‐lit space to a darkened showroom with a simple twist.

These rotating walls allow natural light to be played with throughout the day as well as adding an ever changing frontage to the streetscape of St. Giles Circus.

This theatrical transformation will let ‘Atrium’ demonstrate their range of ‘Soft Architecture’ lighting by FLOS. ‘Studio RHE’ has emphasized this by arranging a rich mix of tactile materials from high gloss resin to reclaimed Yara timber sleepers.

This has been done whilst keeping to a simple palette of predominantly a clean white, accentuated by a bright acid green used throughout the edges as a luminous highlight.

Finally an darkened ‘inner sanctum’ meeting space has been created with colour change lighting control wheels and integrally plastered fittings within the walls.

These complete the showroom experience before returning to the beautifully fitted central kinetic bar at the heart of the space.

The design direction is continued through the entire space to the Offices above where desks are arranged along a diagonal show wall with integrated screens and net surfing booths that look out over the double height showroom and plaza.

Design: Studio RHE
RHE Lighting: Atrium, FLOS

Main Contractor: ISM Design Ltd
Resin Flooring: Senso Floors

Click above for larger image

See also:

.

Showroom by Antonio Ravalli	Món Petit by MSB Workshop	Trent Vioro by STAD

Here are some more photographs of Zaha Hadid‘s recently completed aquatics centre for the London 2012 Olympic Games, taken by UK photographers Hufton + Crow.

Six curved concrete diving boards stick out like tongues across one pool at the end of the main hall, beneath an undulating wave-like roof.

The competition pool is also located in this hall, which will seat 17,500 spectators during the games.

Petal-shaped openings allow light through the concrete ceiling of a second hall, where a practice pool is located.

Wide glass walls provide views of pools in both rooms from connecting corridors.

More information and images by David Poultney can be seen in our earlier story.

Other completed venues on the Olympic Park include the Olympic Stadium by Populous, the Basketball Arena by Sinclair Knight Merz and the Velodrome by Hopkins, which is nominated for the Stirling Prize. See all our stories about London 2012 here.

Zaha Hadid also recently completed the Riverside Museum, which has a zig-zagging zinc-clad roof – click here to see all our stories about Zaha Hadid.

Photographers Hufton + Crow also photographed a laboratory in the botanic gardens of Cambridge University and Peter Zumthor’s recently-opened Serpentine Gallery Pavilion – see all our stories with photography by Hufton + Crow here.

See also:

.

London 2012 Olympic Stadium by Populous	London 2012 Velodrome by Hopkins Architects	ArcelorMittal Orbit by Anish Kapoor

The aquatics centre designed by Zaha Hadid for the London 2012 Olympic Games is complete.

The 17,500-seat centre is the final permanent venue to be completed at the Olympic Park, one year ahead of the games.

The aquatics centre features an undulating wave-like roof that critics originally speculated would be too complex to build on time.

The competition and diving pools are sheltered below this steel roof, enclosed within the main hall.

Above photograph is by Anthony Charlton / Getty

A third pool to be used for training is located beneath the Stratford City Bridge, which is also sheltered by the curving canopy.

Above photograph is by Anthony Charlton / Getty

Wings on each side of the building provide additional seating but will be removed once the games are over.

Above photograph is by Anthony Charlton / Getty

Other completed venues on the Olympic Park include the Olympic Stadium by Populous, the Basketball Arena by Sinclair Knight Merz and the Velodrome by Hopkins, which was recently nominated for the Stirling Prize. See all our stories about London 2012 here.

Zaha Hadid also recently completed the Riverside Museum, which has a zig-zagging zinc-clad roof – click here to see all our stories about Zaha Hadid.

Photography is by David Poultney/Getty, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here are some more details from the Olympic Delivery Authority:

Aquatics Centre unveiled as main Olympic Park venues completed on time and budget

With exactly a year to go until the start of the London 2012 Games, the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) has announced that the Aquatics Centre is now complete, the last of the six main Olympic Park venues to finish construction.

The Olympic Stadium, Velodrome, Handball Arena, Basketball Arena and the International Broadcast Centre were all completed earlier this year.

The Aquatics Centre is being unveiled with British Olympic hopeful Tom Daley making the first dive into the pool.

Back in July 2006, the ODA set out a challenging brief to clean and clear the Olympic Park site and build the new venues and infrastructure needed in time for test events by the summer of 2011 – a year before the Games. This has now been achieved on time, to budget, with a safety record far better than the industry average, and by setting new standards in sustainability and accessible design.

Double Commonwealth Gold medallist and 2012 hopeful Tom Daley said: ‘Marking the 1 year to go, by diving in the Aquatics Centre is an incredible honour. Only a few years ago, this was a distant dream. The fact that I qualified at the weekend and am taking the first dive is a complete privilege. I can’t wait for next year and the honour of representing Team GB.’

ODA Chairman John Armitt said: ‘The Aquatics Centre will be a fantastic gateway to the Games in 2012 and a much-needed new community and elite sporting venue for the capital afterwards. Five years ago, in July 2006, we published a delivery timetable which set out the ambitious target to complete the main venues a year before the Games. Today, with the completion of the sixth main permanent venue, I am proud to say that we have delivered on that commitment.

‘The completion of the Aquatics Centre is the latest chapter in a British success story where tens of thousands of workers and business from across the UK have demonstrated the ability of this country to successfully deliver major projects.’

LOCOG Chair Sebastian Coe said: ‘With construction now complete on the Aquatics Centre, we are another step closer to the spectacular Olympic Park which will be host to world class sport in 2012. And after the Games, the venue will become a much-needed swimming facility for London with community use at its heart, epitomising the spirit of London’s bid – a Games which would bring lasting change and encourage people to choose sport. Everyone involved can be very proud of this venue and the progress of the Olympic Park as a whole. I congratulate the ODA and their teams who have done a fantastic job.’

Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport Jeremy Hunt said: ‘The build project for London 2012 has been a huge success for the British construction industry, public sector and UK plc as a whole. The completion of the Aquatics Centre is the final permanent world-class sport venue to be finished on the Park and a proud moment for the ODA. All those that have worked on the Olympic Park deserve huge credit for what they have achieved. The venues are stunning and the stage is now set for us to put on the greatest sporting show on earth.’

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: ‘It’s fantastic to add the beautiful Aquatics Centre to London’s list of first class venues which are already set to welcome the world’s greatest sportsmen and women. To have all six permanent venues complete with a year still to go to the Games is a great achievement, and a firm sign that we are well on track to deliver a truly spectacular show in 2012. Congratulations to the ODA and all those who have worked on the construction of the Olympic Park for reaching this milestone.’

Andrew Altman, Chief Executive of the Olympic Park Legacy Company, said: ‘The Aquatics Centre will be a unique facility in London that puts sport at the heart of regeneration. As a focal point for community, national and international swimming, it will sit at the centre of the south plaza – London’s newest public space which will welcome visitors to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park after the Games.’

Construction started on the Zaha Hadid-designed Aquatics Centre just over three years ago in June 2008 and has been completed on time and with an exemplary safety record. Over 3630 people have worked on the construction of the venue and over 370 UK businesses have won contracts including the steel for the roof from Wales, pool lights from Scotland, pumps from Bedfordshire, under-floor heating by a company from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and water testing done by a Flintshire-based business.

In total, over 40,000 people have worked on the Park since April 2008 and over 1500 direct contracts worth £6bn have been distributed to thousands of companies across the UK.

See also:

.

2012 Olympic Arena by Sinclair Knight Merz	2012 Olympic Stadium by Populous	2012 Olympic Velodrome by Hopkins Architects

Polish artist Monika Grzymala will fill a London gallery with lengths of black and white sticky tape at an exhibition that opens in October.

The exhibition at the Sumarria Lunn gallery will follow previous shows (pictured) at MoMA in New York, the Tokyo Art Museum, the Drawing Room in London and the Donald Judd Foundation in Texas.

Grzymala applies adhesive tape directly to gallery walls to create three-dimensional drawings that can both wrap around corners and project outwards.

In previous installations kilometres of tape bridge doorways, swirl into whirlpools and spill onto the floor.

The exhibition runs from 12 October to 5 November.

Other installations featured on Dezeen in recent weeks include a stretchy web of netting and an exhibition of floating hats – see all our stories about installations here.

Photography is by Monika Grzymala.

Here’s some more information from the gallery:

Monika Grzymala was born in Zabrze, Poland in 1970. Having moved to Germany with her family in 1980, she went on to study stone sculpture and restoration. It was only when a professor observed that her interest appeared to lie not in the objects themselves, but the relationships between them that the nature of her work changed. She stopped making sculpture and focused on drawing, exploring the basics of line and mark.

“Very quickly my line left the page and continued on the walls”

Western history has been preoccupied with drawing since records began. Indeed, many of these records are drawings themselves. From the illuminations in medieval manuscripts, through Renaissance depictions of the human form, to minimalist constructions made solely of lines, drawing has maintained its place in art. Grzymala references this sense of tradition, but sharply updates the practice by teasing it out of two-dimensions and out of its traditional medium.

“Her mastery and imagination have taken the liberation of drawing a step beyond what was accomplished by those who came before.”

Describing her use of materials in terms of distance rather than weight or amount, Grzymala claims her works are more akin to performance than conventional installation. By measuring her used spools of tape in length rather than number, she documents the physical effort she invests in every work.

“Time is a very important component of my work. The pieces are all like time capsules.”

Each work is site-specific – created in response to the conditions and configuration of a given space. For an exhibition in New York 8.3 kilometers of black and white adhesive tape seemed to hurtle across the gallery walls, turn corners, then leap off the wall to wrap around a pillar. At London’s The Drawing Room the artist’s installation documented her response to the chaotic London skyline using kilometers of white and grey sticky tape to fill each corner of the gallery.

“Whenever I leave a work, I feel as if I leave a part of me, a part of my body behind… there’s a connection – an invisible line from Berlin to London to New York.”

Grzymala’s upcoming solo exhibition at Sumarria Lunn Gallery follows shows at the Donald Judd Foundation in Texas (2008), The Drawing Room in London (2009), Tokyo Art Museum (2010) and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York (2010).

Exhibition details:

Title: Monika Grzymala
Location: Sumarria Lunn Gallery, 36 South Molton Lane, Mayfair, London W1K 5AB
Exhibition runs: October 12th to November 5th 2011

See also:

.

Tape Installation by For Use/Numen	Tapehook by Torafu	Aoyama installation by Studio Toogood

Clouds of mist erupt from the base of two trees in this London water feature designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando.

The trees sit in a raised granite-edged pool in front of the Connaught Hotel in Mayfair.

Atomisers hidden at the base of the trees create clouds of water vapour for fifteen seconds every fifteen minutes.

Glass lenses below the surface of the water contain fibre optics that illuminate the basin by night.

The feature, which forms part of a wider project to upgrade the surrounding streets, was delivered in collaboration with UK architects Blair Associates.

More stories about landscape architecture on Dezeen »

Photography is by Adrian Brookes.

Here are some more details from developer Grosvenor:

Mount Street unveiling marks completion of first phase of street improvement

Grosvenor is celebrating the end of the first phase of the property company’s £10million programme to improve key streets across its London estate in Mayfair and Belgravia. The ambitious project is being undertaken in partnership with Westminster City Council.

‘Silence’, a new water feature designed by the Japanese architect philosopher Tadao Ando, will be unveiled at the event. The feature was jointly commissioned by Grosvenor and the Connaught hotel. The street improvements are based on the understanding that the space between buildings is as important as the buildings themselves. Ever-increasing traffic volume, and a mass of unnecessary signage and other ‘clutter’, have diminished the quality of London’s streets. The works aim to enhance the experience for all those who live, work and visit, particularly pedestrians. Unnecessary signage has been removed and pavements upgraded and extended, with two new pedestrian areas introduced to the street. The completion of the works on Mount Street follows a similar scheme on Elizabeth Street in Belgravia.

Commenting ahead of the Mount Street event Peter Vernon, Chief Executive, Grosvenor Britain & Ireland, said: “With over 300 years experience of managing and developing property in Mayfair and Belgravia we recognise that places are about more than buildings. The appearance of streets, and the public space around buildings, is fundamental to the long-term success of the London neighbourhoods we manage. “Large-scale works like these require a long-term outlook but we can already see the results. This is only the first phase of our programme, plans for the next wave of projects are already well underway.”

The improvements to Mount Street and Elizabeth Street were delivered through an innovative funding arrangement. Westminster City Council invested the funds need to pay for the work with Grosvenor, a long-standing property owner in the area, delivering the improvements. After five years from completion of the works Grosvenor will make a refund to Westminster equivalent to the project cost.

Cllr Colin Barrow, Leader of Westminster City Council, said: “We are delighted with the works which will bring huge improvements to this historic part of the capital. Our innovative finance agreement means significant enhancements to local streets, roads and open spaces, with the council’s initial investment being reimbursed by the land owners, who will also benefit from a boost in the value of the area in the long term. It is particularly poignant that the fountain outside the Connaught Hotel bears a memorial to Sir Simon Milton, who as Leader of the council did so much to pioneer the joint working between the private and public sector that has brought such improvements to the city.”

See also:

.

Tsunami Memorial by Carmody Groarke	Chimecco by Mark Nixon	Spontaneous City by London Fieldworks