Hasta La Ideas

Here are some photos of the refurbished womenswear floor of La Rinascente department store in Milan by Japanese designers Nendo.

Nendo used architectural elements observed while exploring Milan on foot as inspiration, explaining that the studio was “inspired by the unexpected encounters with shop windows, courtyard gardens and public squares that come from wandering Milan’s back streets.”

They divided the space with 17 window frames covered with a film that’s opaque when viewed from an angle but transparent when seen straight-on. “This allows products to suddenly appear in front of shoppers’ eyes as they move through the space and creates a constantly changing spatial experience, much like the constant but unpredictable small surprises of Milan itself,” say the designers.

Mobile rails and shelving units are made of white metal with stands that look like they’re peeling away. Pendant lights were inspired by those seen hanging from wires between buildings above the streets in Milan and concessions are tucked into archways referencing Milanese architecture.

Womenswear is located on the fourth floor of La Rinascente, the city’s best-known department store, which is situated alongside the Duomo cathedral. The department reopened in September but these images had not been published until now, in time for the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in the city next week. See all our previews of design at Milan 2013 here.

Other stories about designs by Nendo include tables coloured in with crayons and chairs with tall backs for extra privacy. See all our stories about designs by Nendo »

Photos are by Daici Ano.

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by Nendo appeared first on Dezeen.

News: architects and designers including Rem Koolhaas, Zaha Hadid, Ross Lovegrove, and Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec have sent an open letter to Milan’s mayor calling for the reinstatement of architect and editor Stefano Boeri (above), who was sacked last week as the city’s councillor for design, fashion and culture.

In the letter, signatories including Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, French design duo Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec and Domus magazine editor-in-chief Joseph Grima expressed their “regret and disappointment” over Boeri’s sudden exit.

“This unmotivated dismissal seems to us inexplicable,” states the letter to Mayor Giuliano Pisapia, which was also signed by architects Zaha Hadid, Jean Nouvel and Bjarke Ingels of BIG.

“Stefano Boeri is one of Italy’s foremost cultural exponents: he has taught in universities in Italy and abroad, curated exhibitions, designed buildings and written books that have been translated into many languages.

“Thanks to Boeri’s many initiatives […] Milan had finally succeeded in reaffirming itself forcefully on the international stage as an epicentre of art, design, fashion and culture.

The letter closes by urging the mayor to “put personal differences aside” and reconsider his decision to dismiss Boeri.

Trained as an architect, Boeri had relinquished a teaching post at Politecnico di Milano and resigned as editor-in-chief of Abitare magazine in order to become a councillor for Mayor Pisapia, to whom he had narrowly lost in the primary round of the mayoral election.

Since taking up the role in June 2011, his efforts to promote Milan’s reputation for art, design and culture included Piano City, a scheme encouraging piano-playing residents to perform concerts in their living rooms, and Book City, a festival of readings, author talks and literary events.

He also organised major exhibitions of artists such as Picasso, Bramantino, Jeff Wall and Marina Abramovic, another of the letter’s signatories.

His unexpected departure comes just a fortnight before thousands of international guests descend on the city for the Salone del Mobile and numerous other design events and exhibitions taking place alongside it – see all news and products from Milan 2013.

We previously reported on a complex of buildings completed by Stefano Boeri Architetti in northern Sardinia.

Here is the letter and the full list of signatories:

March 27th, 2013

Dear Mayor Pisapia,

It is with regret and disappointment that we learn that Stefano Boeri was dismissed from his position as Councillor for Design, Fashion and Culture for the city of Milan.

Thanks to the energy and commitment of Boeri, and despite the deepening of the gravest crisis to have faced Italy since the postwar years, since 2011 Milan has succeded in projecting an image of renewed cultural vibrancy and dynamism onto the international stage. Thanks to Boeri’s many initiatives — citywide events such as Book City and Piano City, or international exhibitions of internationally renowned artists such as the Marina Abramovic, Picasso, Bramantino, Alberto Garutti and Jeff Wall — Milan had finally succeeded in reaffirming itself forcefully on the international stage as an epicentre of art, design, fashion and culture.

This unmotivated dismissal deprives Milan of one of its greatest assets—an individual who possesses the intelligence, energy, motivation and global network of relationships needed to make Milan an unrivaled protagonist of the European cultural scene of the 21st century. Stefano Boeri is one of Italy’s foremost cultural exponents: he has taught in universities in Italy and abroad, curated exhibitions, designed buildings and written books that have been translated into many languages. As such, this unmotivated dismissal seems to us inexplicable.

In this moment of grave crisis, we urge you to put personal differences aside and, for the good of the city, reconsider your decision.

Yours sincerely,

Marina Abramović – Artist, New York
Iwan Baan – Photographer, Amsterdam
Tatiana Bilbao – Architect, Tatiana Bilbao Architects, Ciudad de Mexico
Daniel Birnbaum – Director, Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Petra Blaisse – Landscape Architect, Inside Outside, Rotterdam
Erica Bolton and Jane Quinn – Directors, Bolton Quinn, London
Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec – Designers, Paris
Maurizio Cattelan – Artist, Milan
Teddy Cruz – Architect, Teddy Cruz Architects, San Diego
Chris Dercon – Director, Tate Modern, London
Elizabeth Diller – Architect, New York
Jimmie Durham – Artist, Berlin
Okwui Enwezor – Curator, Munich
Amos Gitai – Film Director, Tel Aviv – Paris
Joseph Grima – Editor in chief, Domus, Milan
Zaha Hadid – Architect, Zaha Hadid Architects, London
Nikolaus Hirsch – Dean, Städelschule Frankfurt
Li Hu – Architect, Beijing
Bjarke Ingles – Architect, Bjarke Ingels Group Architects, Copenhagen
Rem Koolhaas – Architect, Rotterdam
Koyo Kouoh – Art Editor, Dakar
Armin Linke – Photographer, Berlin
Ross Lovegrove – Designer, London
Qingyun Ma – Architect, Shanghai
Michael Maltzan – Architect, Michael Maltzan Architecture, Los Angeles
Giancarlo Mazzanti – Architect, Mazzanti Arquitectos, Bogotà
Shelley McNamara & Yvonne Farrell – Architects, Grafton Architects, Dublin
Mohsen Mostafavi – Dean, GSD Harvard, Cambridge
Alexei Muratov – Journalist, Moscow
Jean Nouvel – Architect, Paris
Hans Ulrich Obrist – Co-director, Serpentine Gallery, London
Julia Peyton Jones – Director Serpentine Gallery, London
Bas Princen – Photographer, Amsterdam
Edi Rama – Artist and politician, Tirana
Anri Sala – Artist, Paris
Tomas Saraceno – Artist, Berlin
Milica Topalovic – Architect, Zurich

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dismissal of Milan councillor appeared first on Dezeen.

Italian studio Park Associati has overhauled a 1960s office block in Milan and added new glass and burnished aluminium facades (+ slideshow).

The six-storey Palazzo Campari block was recently purchased by financial services firm Morgan Stanley, who wanted to adapt the fifty-year-old building and bring it up to modern standards. “The client wanted to turn a very inefficient building, very expensive to maintain, into a very efficent building,” the architects told Dezeen.

Park Associati re-planned the building with a more flexible layout by rationalising routes through the building and opening up the ground floor to accommodate additional uses.

“The aim of the new scheme is to provide a maximum level of flexibility in terms of the division of the internal spaces, with a sense of uniformity given by the system of the internal lighting and improved access and circulation,” said the architects.

The original facades were replaced to create a more energy-efficient envelope. Along Via Turati the new elevations feature perforated and pressed aluminium panels that are back-lit by night, while the walls along Via Cavalieri are dominated by glazing.

A landscaped courtyard is still concealed at the heart of the building and has been reworked with strips of planting and circular paving patterns.

Other recently compelted office renovations include a 1950s office in Hamburg adapted by J. Mayer H. and an updated Art Deco building in London by David Adjaye.

See more office architecture »

Photography is by Andrea Martiradonna.

Here’s some more information from Park Associati:

Building refurbishment for “La Serenissima” offices
Via Turati, Milano

The building known as “Palazzo Campari” was designed in the 1960s by Ermenegildo and Eugenio Soncini in the heart of Milan and was one of a series of buildings that emerged during the economic boom years, representing a new aspect of corporate identity for Italian industry. It was originally characterised by the burnished colour of the metal structure of the facade, tinted glass of the curtain walling and the brown metallic paint used for the smaller block in via Cavalieri given over to residential use.

When it was built, it was considered to be modern and technologically advanced, even experimental. Today however, many of its undeniably attractive aspects have become outdated with regards to current standards of building construction. For this reason the new owner, aware of its quality and evocative presence, decided to bring in architects to redesign the complex.

With respect to the original layout, the aim of the new scheme was to provide a maximum level of flexibility in terms of the division of the internal spaces with sense of uniformity also given by the system of the internal lighting and improved access and circulation.

Other elements central to the design were the use of additional space at ground floor level as well as an overall reworking of the structure of the elevations, made much more open and vibrant especially on via Turati and part of via Cavalieri.

With the elevations pulled back with respect to the original boundary it has been possible to eliminate cold bridging – at the time not considered – the useful floor area has been shifted allowing new spaces to be built at ground level, now given over to tertiary use.

The landscaped courtyard meanwhile, the heart of the original scheme, has been retained and reworked into a bright new design.

The new elevations are the main feature of the design. On via Turati boxes in perforated and press-formed aluminium in a burnished colour (lit up at night) are used in a rhythm that enables the elevation to be reworked also to ensure maximum flexibility in terms of the division of the internal spaces.

In the courtyard a close relationship has been created between the interior and exterior; on via Cavalieri the original lower elevation that is in direct relation with the nearby Cà Brutta, appears sleek and flat, with predominant use of grey for the glazed surfaces, smooth and reflecting its historic surroundings.

Client: Morgan Stanley Sgr S.p.A.
Location: Via Turati 25-27, Via Cavalieri 4, Milano
Schedule: 2008 – concorso, 2008 – 2010 Progettazione, 2010 – 2012 Cantiere
Gross Floor Area: Slp 7988.84 mq
Construction Cost: 11.000.000 Euro
Architect: Park Associati (Filippo Pagliani, Michele Rossi)

Project Team: Marco Panzeri, Project Manager, Alice Cuteri, Andrea Dalpasso, Marinella Ferrari, Stefano Lanotte, Marco Siciliano, Paolo Uboldi, Fabio Calciati (rendering)
Site supervision, Structural, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering: General Planning
Design Team: Giovanni Bonini, Loris Colombo, Walter Cola, Luca Dagrada, Franco Pesci, Paolo Rossanigo, Roberto Villa, Luigi Zinco

Artistic Site Supervision: Park Associati, Arch. Marco Panzeri
Project Management: ECHarris Built Asset Consultancy
Landscape Project: Marco Bay Architetto
General Contractor: Mangiavacchi e Pedercini S.p.A.

Above: ground floor plan – click above for larger image and key

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by Park Associati appeared first on Dezeen.

On Space Time Foam est le nom de la dernière création interactive réalisée par l’architecte argentin Tomás Saraceno au centre d’arts HangarBicocca de Milan. Cette installation composé de 3 niveaux permet aux visiteurs de se plonger dans un monde suspendu et mouvant. A découvrir dans la suite.

Milan’s airy new bar and restaurant Pisacco was born out of a collaboration between consulting firm food.different and a group of food- and art-loving friends. As a result, the new eatery is characterized by its close connection to contemporary art, from the name (a deliberate misspelling of Picasso), to…

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