Western Canada’s largest art gallery—and with a permanent collection of more than 10,000 artworks, it’s firmly in art museum territory—is in expansion mode. Planning is underway for a bigger (310,000 square feet), better Vancouver Art Gallery, which will be located on a city-owned site in downtown Vancouver. The aim of the project is “to create an architecturally significant visual art museum that places prominence on artists and art and that celebrates the rich cultural context of Vancouver.” But who will design it? The gallery has narrowed a pool of 75 architectural firms from 16 countries to an all-star shortlist of five: Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Herzog & de Meuron, KPMB Architects, SANAA, and Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects. Will KPMB convert on the home-country advantage? Will Herzog & de Meuron ride their recent art-smart triumphs in Watermill and Miami to another commission? Will a field trip to Philly’s Barnes Foundation seal the deal for team TWBT? Stay tuned, art and design fans, the announcement of the winning firm is expected this spring.
News: architect Kathryn Findlay of London firm Ushida Findlay Architects has died at the age of 60 after suffering from a brain tumour.
Findlay, the co-founder and principal director of Ushida Findlay Architects, is best known for a series of inventive houses in Japan and the architectural elements of the ArcelorMittal Orbit sculpture at the London 2012 Olympic Park.
Soft and Hairy House in Tokyo
The architect graduated from the Architectural Association in London in 1979 before spending 20 years practising and teaching architecture in Japan, including a position with Tokyo University and a spell in the offices of architect Arata Isozaki.
She founded Ushida Findlay Architects in 1986 with her then husband Eisaku Ushida and went on to complete projects such as the Soft and Hairy House (1992-94) in Tokyo and the Truss Wall House (1993), also in Tokyo.
Kasahara Culture and Amenity Hall in Gifu
In 1999 the studio relocated to London and over the last 15 years has worked on projects including a pool house in southern England, another in the Chilterns, and a handful of projects back in Japan such as the Kasahara Culture and Amenity Hall in Gifu.
Most recently, Ushida Findlay Architects was appointed to realise the architectural elements of the 115 metre-high ArcelorMittal Orbit designed by artist Anish Kapoor and engineer Cecil Balmond at the London 2012 Olympic Park.
News: American biotechnology company Bioglow has applied synthetic biology processes to develop ornamental glowing plants that its founder claims are “truly the first of their kind.”
Bioglow, which is based at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St Louis, Missouri, claims its Starlight Avatar is the first plant that is able to light up autonomously, without the need for external treatments or stimuli such as chemicals or ultraviolet lighting.
“There are no comparables on the market, these are truly first of their kind,” the plants’ creator and Bioglow founder Alexander Krichevsky told Dezeen.
Krichevsky, a specialist in microbiology, developed the plants by introducing DNA from luminescent marine bacteria to the chloroplast genome of a common houseplant, so the stem and leaves constantly emit a faint light similar to that produced by fireflies and other bioluminescent organisms.
The Starlight Avatar plant is derived from the ornamental Nicotiana Alata plant family
Krichevsky is working on increasing the brightness of the plants, which currently need to be viewed in a darkened room. He told Dezeen that his technique could attract a new audience to the ornamental plant market and eventually provoke a revolution in lighting design.
“We think that glowing plants will particularly be of interest to the fans of the movie Avatar,” said Krichevsky, referring to the 2009 science fiction feature film set on an alien planet where flora and fauna are illuminated at night.
He added that they could also be used as efficient light sources for interiors, architecture or transport infrastructure. “In the long term we see use of glowing plants in contemporary lighting design, namely in landscaping and architecture as well as in transportation, marking driveways and highways with natural light that does not require electricity,” he pointed out. “We also have a capacity to make plants glow in response to environmental cues, making them effective environmental and agricultural sensors.”
Prospective buyers will be able to bid for one of a limited number of the Starlight Avatar plants via an online auction due to take place in late January. The plants are shipped in cultivation boxes containing a plastic nutrient-rich gel and can be transferred to a plant pot when fully developed. Each plant has a life cycle of two to three months.
News: American manufacturer 3D Systems has unveiled the world’s first 3D printers for food at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The Chefjet and Chefjet Pro are the first professionally certified, kitchen-ready 3D food printers, on display at 3D System‘s stand at CES this week.
The machines were launched with the pastry chef in mind, and so far they can print in milk chocolate or sugar in three flavours: mint, cherry and sour apple.
“The machine uses an ink jet print head that’s just like the one you would find in your desktop 2D printer,” explained 3D Systems’ Liz von Hasseln. “It spreads a very fine layer of sugar then paints water onto the surface of the sugar, and that water allows the sugar to recrystalise and harden to form these complex geometries.”
A “digital cookbook” will allow those unfamiliar with CAD modelling to generate and print complex objects with ease.
The ChefJet is aimed at the domestic market and will retail at under $5000 (£3000). It produces single-colour edible prints for items like sugar cubes and cake decorations.
The ChefJet Pro will be priced at under $10,000 (£6000) and produce full colour prints with a larger build volume. Both will be available in the second half of 2014.
In 2011 the husband-and-wife team wanted to try and “print” a birthday cake so they hacked a 3D printer and, after much trial and error, successfully printed a mini cup cake with cursive sugar script. The couple, who both have backgrounds in molecular biology, then launched The Sugar Lab in July 2013 and it was acquired by 3D Systems in September 2013.
News: following the announcement last month that London architecture studio FAT is to disband this year, founding member Sean Griffiths has been appointed professor of Architecture at the University of Westminster.
Griffiths is an alumnus of the University of Westminster and has recently held posts there as a teacher and researcher at the Department of Architecture.
“In my new role I want to highlight alternative forms of practice, exemplified by firms such as FAT, which emerged from the University of Westminster, as well as draw attention to the huge variety of activities in fields such as fine art, journalism, property development, social activism and arts consultancy that a number of prominent former students currently undertake,” said Griffiths. “This is particularly important in light of the ongoing debate about the value of architectural education.”
“I’m particularly pleased that the Professorship is at the University of Westminster, which was the springboard for the formation of FAT and has been a fantastic workshop for ideas that have found their way into my practice work, a process that will no doubt continue,” he added.
Alongside his position at University of Westminster, Griffiths will continue his current work as an architect, designer, artist, writer and teacher.
The appointment follows the news that London studio FAT, which Griffiths co-founded in 1995 with Charles Holland and Sam Jacob, will close down this summer.
The decision follows a six-month study that investigated options for its retention. “The plans approved today are the result of a recommendation from the architects after a diligent and thoughtful six-month study and design process that explored all options for the site,” said Lowry.
“The analysis that we undertook was lengthy and rigorous, and ultimately led us to the determination that creating a new building on the site of the former American Folk Art Museum is the only way to achieve a fully integrated campus.”
Williams and Tsien have described the move as “a missed opportunity to find new life and purpose for a building that is meaningful to so many”.
“The Folk Art building was designed to respond to the fabric of the neighbourhood and create a building that felt both appropriate and yet also extraordinary,” they said.
“Demolishing this human-scaled, uniquely crafted building is a loss to the city of New York in terms of respecting the size, diversity and texture of buildings in a midtown neighbourhood that is at risk of becoming increasingly homogenised.”
American Folk Art Museum building – photograph by Dan Nguyen
The bronze-clad museum first opened its doors in 2001 to exhibit a collection of paintings, sculptures and crafts by self-taught and outsider artists, but relocated to a smaller site on Lincoln Square, further north in Manhattan, after the building was sold to MoMA in 2011 to pay off a $32 million loan.
However, Williams and Tsien believe the building already holds a “powerful architectural legacy”.
“The inability to experience the building firsthand and to appreciate its meaning from an historical perspective will be profoundly felt,” they said.
Diller Scofidio + Renfro‘s expansion will add approximately 3700 square metres (40,000 square feet) of new galleries and public spaces to the museum.
It will extend across two sites west of the museum’s midtown Manhattan building, including both the folk art museum site at 45 West 53rd Street and three floors of a new residential tower underway next door, allowing the existing lobby and ground-floor areas to be transformed into a large public space.
Scroll down for the full statement from Glenn D. Lowry:
Message from Glenn D. Lowry Director, The Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art’s Board of Trustees today approved initial details of a major building project that will expand the Museum’s public spaces and galleries to provide greater public accessibility and allow the Museum to reconceive the presentation of its collection and exhibitions. Working with Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the renowned interdisciplinary studio based in New York City, the Museum has developed a plan to integrate its current building with two sites to the west of the Museum’s midtown Manhattan campus into which it will expand: three floors of a residential tower being developed by Hines, at 53 West 53rd Street; and the site of the former American Folk Art Museum, at 45 West 53rd Street. The plans include new gallery space on three floors within the tower, and a new building on the site of the former museum.
The plans approved today are the result of a recommendation from the architects after a diligent and thoughtful six-month study and design process that explored all options for the site. The analysis that we undertook was lengthy and rigorous, and ultimately led us to the determination that creating a new building on the site of the former American Folk Art Museum is the only way to achieve a fully integrated campus.
As a major component of the Museum’s desire for greater public access and a more welcoming street presence, the preliminary concepts approved today will transform the current lobby and ground-floor areas into an expansive public gathering space, open to the public and spanning the entire street level of the Museum, including The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden. In advance of these plans, the Museum will increase free public access to the Sculpture Garden later this year.
The extension of MoMA’s galleries to the west on its second, fourth, and fifth floors will add a variety of spaces and allow the Museum to present an integrated display of its collection across all disciplines—photography, architecture, design, film, media, prints, drawings, performance, painting, and sculpture. These carefully choreographed sequences will highlight the creative frictions and influences that spring from seeing these mediums together.
The expansion will add approximately 40,000 square feet of new galleries and public areas, providing 30% more space for visitors to view the collection and special exhibitions. The additional space will allow the Museum to show transformative acquisitions that have added new dimensions and voices to its holdings, drawing from entire collections of contemporary drawings, Fluxus, and Conceptual art; the archives of Frank Lloyd Wright; and major recent acquisitions by such artists as Marcel Broodthaers, Lygia Clark, Steve McQueen, Robert Rauschenberg, Gerhard Richter, Mira Schendel, Richard Serra, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, and Cy Twombly, among many others.
Our vision for MoMA’s next phase will be completed over the coming years, and I look forward to updating you on our progress.
News: architecture firm Snøhetta has concluded the first phase of a major overhaul of New York‘s Times Square, continuing the initiative started in 2009 to pedestrianise large sections of the popular tourist destination.
The $55 million reconstruction project is the largest redesign of the square in decades and encompasses the transformation of five public plazas between 42nd and 47th Streets, which will be entirely reconstructed to remove any traces that vehicular traffic once ran through the square along the Broadway.
Rendering by Snohetta and MIR
Snøhetta completed the redevelopment of the plaza between 42nd and 43rd Streets just in time for the New Year’s Eve celebrations. It features flattened-out curbs that create single-level surfaces for pedestrians, as well as new benches and paving surfaces.
Working alongside engineers Weidlinger Associates and landscape architect Mathews Nielsen, the architects plan to open a second plaza by the end of 2015 and complete the entire project the following year.
Rendering by Snohetta
This stretch of the Broadway was first closed to traffic in 2009 as part of an initiative by New York mayor Michael Bloomberg to provide additional space for more than 400,000 pedestrians who pass through Times Square every day. Since then the square has seen a 33 percent reduction in traffic-related injuries, as well a 180 percent increase in shop lets around the square.
“Since we first introduced temporary pedestrian plazas in Times Square, we have seen increased foot traffic and decreased traffic injuries – and businesses have seen more customers than ever,” said Bloomberg. “With more than 400,000 pedestrians passing through Times Square every day, the plazas have been good for New Yorkers, our visitors, and our businesses – and that’s why we’re making them permanent.”
Once complete, the restructuring will add 13,000 square-metres (140,000 square-feet) of new pedestrian space to Times Square. It will feature ten solid granite benches, as well as two-tone paving slabs with embedded metal discs, designed to reflect the neon glow from surrounding signs and billboards.
“With innovative designs and a little paint, we’ve shown you can change a street quickly with immediate benefits,” said transportation commissioner Sadik-Khan.
News: online home rental brand Airbnb is to replace a set of aluminium chairs at its new San Francisco headquarters after Emeco, the company that makes the original Navy Chair, pointed out that they were fakes.
Original Emeco Navy Chair
Airbnb announced today that it will replace eight chairs after Emeco contacted Dezeen to point out that the chairs were imitations of its patented design.
“With our new office, we have worked hard to create a home for our employees that reflects our company’s culture, values, and brand – including design,” said Airbnb in a statement to Dezeen. “Now that it has been brought to our attention, in this instance we will replace the eight chairs with originals.”
Emeco director of communications Martin Olsson-Prescott emailed Dezeen last week to complain about the fake chairs following our publication of the Airbnb offices, which were designed in-house by the company in homage to rental properties around the world.
Original Emeco Navy Chair
“Unfortunately, we are obliged to make you aware of a knockoff product featured in that piece,” Olsson-Prescott. “Seeing a knockoff chair in a Dezeen featured cool space like the Airbnb office would help validate the false form of a knock-off. And the few people who notice might question both Airbnb’s designer and Dezeen’s selectivity.”
The Navy Chair, originally designed in 1944 for use on US Navy submarines, is one of the most widely copied designs of the last century and Emeco has been active in the courts to protect its intellectual property. Last year Emeco settled a lawsuit against American company Restoration Hardware, which was producing £50 copies of the £300 chair.
“We put a lot of efforts and investment into fighting knock-offs,” said Olsson-Prescott, who told Dezeen readers what to look out for when searching for an original Navy Chair.
“There are many small details that distinguish a genuine Emeco Navy chair from a knockoff,” he said. “In this case the biggest giveaway is the shape of the back, which is very rounded. And the spacing between the three bars in the back.”
Emeco’s Navy Chairs are created from recycled aluminium using a 77-step process and are guaranteed for 150 years.
In a video interview with Dezeen last year, Emeco CEO Gregg Buchbinder said his company was working with leading designers to create ever-more sophisticated products in order to deter copying. “The more difficult it is, the more difficult it is for people to knock it off,” Buchbinder said.
News: online design retailer Fab has changed its strategy yet again, ending its relationship with external designers and brands across Europe and instead focusing on selling its own custom-designed furniture.
The changes were announced on Fab’s European website today. “We’re transitioning our business in the EU to focus solely on growing our popular custom-designed furniture line,” the site says.
“We have decided to focus our European business on our custom-made furniture, which will give you access to affordable, high-quality, made-to-measure sofas, shelving, tables, and beds, and more,” it adds. “This has been a very successful aspect of Fab’s business in Europe to date, which we will continue to invest in and grow.”
While the US, Canadian and Australian Fab sites will remain the same as before, the European site will now focus on selling own-brand goods.
“While we focus on bringing custom-made, high-quality furniture to customers in the EU, we’re taking a break from selling products made by others in the EU region at this time,” the site explains. “We are still working with designers to develop products that you may eventually see on Fab.”
The move comes less than four months after Fab held its latest Disrupting Design event in London, where it asked young designers to pitch products to be sold on the site.
“I have dozens, if not hundreds, of stories of designers whose lives have changed through selling on Fab,” said Fab co-founder Bradford Shellhammer in an interview with Dezeen at the time. “Designers can make more money than they would at one of these old-school design manufacturing brands licencing their products, because we have an audience.”
Other senior staff, including senior vice president creative Tracy Dorée, have also left the company. Dorée joined Fab after Llustre, the UK flash sales startup she founded, was bought by the American site in June 2012, just ten weeks after Llustre’s launch.
The latest move comes after a traumatic last year for the company that was once valued at over $1 billion, but which has seen its value and audience decline.
Shellhammer, Fab’s chief design officer, stepped down from his role at the company in November last year, just after the company laid off 101 employees – around 20% of its workforce.
In July it had announced it was moving away from its earlier reliance on “flash” sales towards being a more traditional retailer, selling products designed and made by a wide range of suppliers.
Around the same time, around 100 employees at its European headquarters in Berlin were laid off and operations centralised in New York.
In April last year, Fab announced it would be manufacturing its own products for the first time and bought German custom-made furniture website MassivKonzept, which is thought to be the inspiration behind its latest move into customised products.
The announcement published on Fab today explains how the new European site will work: “[It] means that our customers in the EU will have access to affordable, high-quality, made-to-measure furniture at their fingertips. You can configure our shelving, table, and seating systems online to create quality furniture that meets your needs perfectly.
“You choose the dimensions, colour and materials, and our skilled cabinetmakers will make your furniture and turn your designs into a happy reality.”
News:Google has joined up with automotive manufacturers including Honda, Audi, Hyundai and General Motors to integrate its Android smartphone operating system into cars.
The news could bring Google into fresh conflict with Apple, which is understood to be working on similar plans and hopes to make its iOS operating system the industry standard.
They claim the system’s openness, customisation and scale will allow carmakers to easily incorporate cutting-edge technology, but will also create opportunities for developers to create new experiences for drivers and passengers.
“The car is the ultimate mobile computer,” said Jen-Hsun Huang, president and chief executive officer of NVIDIA. “With onboard supercomputing chips, futuristic cars of our dreams will no longer be science fiction. The OAA will enable the car industry to bring these amazing cars to market faster.”
Google will bring Android apps to car dashboards later this year
“They’re working with all the world’s major automotive companies to bring iOS to cars,” he told Dezeen. “That could be a huge deal for them because that’s where most people listen to music.”
The first vehicle equipped with Google’s Android technology is due to roll off the production line later this year, bringing the 700,000 existing Android apps to the dashboard. Open Automotive Alliance is inviting more carmakers to join in the hope that Android will become the dominant platform for in-car computing.
“Millions of people are already familiar with Android and use it every day,” said Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Android, Chrome and Apps at Google. “The expansion of the Android platform into automotive will allow our industry partners to more easily integrate mobile technology into cars and offer drivers a familiar, seamless experience so they can focus on the road.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
Western Canada’s largest art gallery—and with a permanent collection of more than 10,000 artworks, it’s firmly in art museum territory—is in expansion mode. Planning is underway for a bigger (310,000 square feet), better Vancouver Art Gallery, which will be located on a city-owned site in downtown Vancouver. The aim of the project is “to create an architecturally significant visual art museum that places prominence on artists and art and that celebrates the rich cultural context of Vancouver.” But who will design it? The gallery has narrowed a pool of 75 architectural firms from 16 countries to an all-star shortlist of five: Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Herzog & de Meuron, KPMB Architects, SANAA, and Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects. Will KPMB convert on the home-country advantage? Will Herzog & de Meuron ride their recent art-smart triumphs in Watermill and Miami to another commission? Will a field trip to Philly’s Barnes Foundation seal the deal for team TWBT? Stay tuned, art and design fans, the announcement of the winning firm is expected this spring.
