Hasta La Ideas

Milan 2014: Japanese architect Toyo Ito spoke to Dezeen about his design for textile brand Kinnasand’s first Milan showroom and his “site specific” architecture (+ interview + slideshow).

Kinnasand, a company founded in Sweden over 200 years ago and now owned by Danish textile brand Kvadrat, asked the 2013 Pritzker Prize-winner Toyo Ito to develop its showroom interior for Milan design week.

Ito rarely designs interior projects, but in an exclusive interview with Dezeen the architect said that he agreed to collaborate with Kinnasand as he felt that several of its fabrics were reminiscent of the transparency and natural influences inherent in some of his architectural projects.

“What I have felt from the start is that it would be important to create an architecture that is more site specific, that is going to take into account what surrounds the human begins,” said Ito, who discussed the underlying ethos that connects the wide variety of styles and forms he has experimented with.

“When I think about a new piece of architecture, I think about making it as if it was a piece of clothing that must be wrapped around a human being,” he said.

Ito’s career has spanned more than four decades. Predominantly based in Japan, his best known projects include the Mikimoto Building, created for a jewellery company in the Ginza district of Tokyo – which features a series of irregular glazed openings all over its facade – and the Tod’s building in Tokyo with criss-crossed concrete bracing that echoes the silhouettes of the trees on the street it faces on to.

His more recent projects include the Sendai Mediatheque – a transparent glass cube that aimed to remove some of the architectural barriers around how space should be used. In 2011 he completed work on the Toyo Ito School of Architecture in Ehime, completed in 2011.

At the last Venice Architecture Biennale in 2012, he curated Japan’s award-winning pavilion presenting alternative housing solutions for the aftermath of the country’s 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

For Kinnasand’s showroom, he chose to translate the properties of the company’s textiles into the materials used for the showroom’s walls, floors and ceiling.

“Some of them were transparent, others were semi-transparent, all of them were very light and it really felt like they could float over the whole space of the showroom,” said Ito, describing the fabrics.

“I decided that the architecture for this space needed to be something that would not overwhelm the essence of these fabrics. It needed to be something that could leave the textiles the possibility to float around the space,” he added.

“This is the image that I had in my mind and this is also why I decided to use the reflective glass, but at the same time I decided it needed to be something with a not too strong reflection. I wanted to create a soft but deep environment for the showroom.”

The glass walls have a frosted finish that reduces their reflectivity and are complemented by the dull shine of the electropolished steel panels on the ceiling and the polished white limestone floor tiles.

Two curving metal poles suspended from the ceiling provide rails over which the fabrics can be draped to enclose the central area of the showroom and form its only product displays.

A storage area for further fabric samples is concealed behind floor-to-ceiling wooden doors featuring minimal metal handles at one end of the space.

The clean and bright aesthetic is enhanced by basic furnishings including a rounded meeting table and chairs made from pale wood, which reference the brand’s Scandinavian heritage.

Lighting is provided by spotlights and strips of LEDs hidden behind the edges of the ceiling that wash the walls in light that can be adjusted between different colours to alter the mood of the space.

Read the edited transcript from our interview with Toyo Ito:

Marcus Fairs: How did you get to come into contact with the brand and how did you apply your architectural ideas to an interior?

Toyo Ito: About one and a half years ago, I had a visit from a Kinnasand person that arrived in Tokyo with a suitcase full of textiles and I was asked if I would be interested in doing the interior design for the showroom. And I have to say that usually I don’t do just interior design, I do architecture. But in this case, the textiles that I had the chance to see were so beautiful, so brilliant, that I really wanted to do just the interior design for the space.

Marcus Fairs: Tell us about the way you’ve used the space here.

Toyo Ito: I had the chance to take first a look at all the textiles of Kinnasand and I realised that is was very sensitive fabric. Some of them were transparent, others are semi transparent, all of them were very light and it really felt like they could float over the whole space of the showroom. They could actually envelop, they could wrap the whole environment.

So I decided that the architecture for this space needed to be something that would not overwhelm the essence of these fabrics. It needed to be something that could leave to these the textiles the possibility to float around the space. This is the image that I had in my mind and this is also why I decided to use this reflective glass that you can see here but at the same time, I decided it needed to be something with a not too strong reflection. I wanted to create a soft but deep environment for this showroom.

In order to have the materials of this architecture not take all the attention in this space, I give a lot of attention to small details and this is why I decided to choose simple materials. As you can see for those doors, you have a surface that is very plain and flat but at the same time is very simple and linear. So you do not have a frame where the doors are actually hidden, you have some doors that become the surface itself of a very linear construction, so that it could envelop this whole environment. This is something that I really wanted to give great attention to in the details.

Marcus Fairs: The white fabric with the pattern of circular dots on it reminds me of the facade of the Mikimoto building in Ginza, Tokyo, which has a similar pattern of circular windows. Did you spot that similarity?

Toyo Ito: Absolutely, I think that the fabric right behind me is perfect for my architecture. In relation to the building of Mikimoto in Ginza, it has got a very simple surface with several sized holes in it. Also, just by having a look at the fabric behind me, I think I would really like to use Kinnasand’s fabrics and textiles in my own architecture.

Marcus Fairs: Throughout your career, there’s a lot of different forms you use and different structural solutions. How would you describe your approach to architecture?

Toyo Ito: As you said, my style, the materials I’ve been using, has changed throughout several eras. Also the shape and the form of my architecture. But there is one thing that is consistent, which is that my own architecture is something made for human beings. You have other architects that think if human beings are not a part of the particular architecture, that architecture will look even more beautiful. I do not think so. I think that architecture is something that must be made for human begins. That human beings must be partners with the architecture itself. So when I think about a new piece of architecture, I think about making it as if it was a piece of clothing that must be wrapped around a human being. This is my image of architecture.

Marcus Fairs: Sendai Mediatheque was a hugely revolutionary building because of the structure and the way it used data, and the Mikimoto building is fun and it has a pattern on it. So what is the link between those two different architectures?

Toyo Ito: Both the Sendai Mediatheque and the Mikimoto building have got a very important point which is the structure. Of course what I wanted to create was a kind of structure that had not yet been seen until that very moment. But what I wanted to focus my attention on is that when you decide to use a new kind of structure, you have to think of how you can make it as human as possible. To turn it into a human space as much as possible.

For the Sendai Mediatheque, I decided to use pieces of wood like tubes that would give the human being inside the space the idea of being surround by a forest – so you have a human being that can enjoy a video or just some time inside the forest. And for the Mikimoto building, of course that was also commercial architecture, so we didn’t have the chance of making the interior design. As for the main architecture, I decided that it was also interesting in that case to have the light entering the building as if it were through the leaves of a forest and so in both cases, you have a very natural element that is strongly felt by the human being inside the environment and that’s the common point in my architecture.

Marcus Fairs: And the Tod’s building in Omatesando in Tokyo has a glass facade with large tree shapes set in it.

Toyo Ito: Of course Tod’s even more than the Mikimoto building, you would have the possibility to see a very strong and direct wooden silhouette, wooden structure. In that case, we didn’t have that much of a volume we could use and also the facade was L-shaped. In that case we decided to have a wooden structure and having it completely surrounded by wood you would feel like you were really surrounded and wrapped by nature and this is the image that I had when I created the design.

What I have felt from the start is that it would be important to create an architecture that is more site specific, that is going to take into account what surrounds the human begins. So it would be important to create an architecture that destroys that distance between human begins and nature. Up to now, human beings have lived in environments that are very far from nature and actually I would like the chance for human beings to live inside nature and to be surrounded by nature.

Of course you have to take one step at a time, and I think that if we do take one step at a time in that direction we can achieve some kind of evolution. And I can also tell you that to a certain extent, we are already going towards that direction, and if we continue completely towards the direction and arrive at the goal we will be able to enjoy a much more lively life. We will get back to a more primitive instinct that will give us the possibility to be more natural in our everyday life. Like animals to a certain point, having the possibility to completely enjoy the surroundings and that is the kind of architecture that I think we should all aim for.

Marcus Fairs: And when you say “we”, do you mean “we” as an architectural office, or “we” as a society?

Toyo Ito: Of course I mean my personal office but not only just that. I would like to think I am extending the meaning of what I just said to all people who are currently making architecture.

The post Glass, timber and stone showroom created by
Toyo Ito for Kinnasand’s “sensitive fabric” appeared first on Dezeen.

Tsutsumi & Associates has added a spiral staircase and glazed meeting rooms to an old factory in Beijing to transform the building into the headquarters of a furniture company (+ slideshow).

Beijing firm Tsutsumi & Associates renovated the entire four-storey building for Daxing Furniture, adding production facilities on the lower levels, a furniture showroom on the second floor, and offices on the third floor and mezzanine loft.

The staircase spirals up through a double-height void in the upper section of the building to connect the showroom with the offices. Glazed office cubes are positioned around the space, while an inclined atrium is visible on one side through a large internal window.

“I wanted to make [the space] as transparent as possible and emphasise the dynamics of the overhung loft volume,” architect Yoshimasa Tsutsumi told Dezeen.

Concrete slabs are left exposed throughout the building, creating gridded ceilings that are streaked with rows of angled spotlights.

The architects also installed a wall of living plants on the office floor. “This separates the white boxes from the background and softens the office space at the same time,” said Tsutsumi.

Photography is by Misae Hiromatsu.

Here’s a project description from Tsutsumi & Associates:

Daxing Factory Conversion

The factory building was converted to the head office of the furniture manufacturer.

The programs are factory for 1st floor , 2nd floor and half of 3rd floor, exhibition space for half of 3rd floor, office space for 4th floor. The exhibition space of 3rd floor is connected to the 4th floor through spiral stairs where the existing floor was removed. 5.5m ceiling height is enough to make skip-floor style, so that we aimed to realise three-dimensional office landscape.

The requested programs were conference room, meeting room, resting space, office space, vice-presidents room and so on. Comparatively public programs of these such as conference room were put near to the elevator hall, on the other hand office space was put on inner part of the floor. Office space was planned to open, whereas the rooms those were needed to be closed would be treated as a group of several volumes in the huge space.

The spiral staircase that was put in the centre of the floor connects the exhibition space of 3rd floor and office space of 4th floor and resting space of loft. When we enter from the elevator hall, we can see the conference room in tiers next to the void with spiral staircase. On the opposite side of the conference room across the void, there is small-sized meeting room and the volume of the resting space is flying over it.

After passing through this small-sized meeting room, there is office space with skip-floor where the sections are clearly separated by the floor height also the difference of eye level induce the communication between them.

When rising up to 1.2m level, we reach the back of the conference room in tiers. This conference room connects between entrance hall and office space, when not using conference room we can use this as shortcut.

Basic use materials are white EP paint on the wall, mortar finish on the existing floor, steel checkered plate on the skip-floor. Around some part like elevator hall or stairs, Corten steel was used to add rigid accent, on the other hand on the wide wall at the end of the entrance hall vertical plant was put to soften space.

Inside the landscape with various levels, white boxes are put as if to make village. There are some bypasses, hidden area and open area, alcove where we can look down the atrium, also we can overview whole area from the loft space. As if we walk inside the ancient village, we can enjoy sequential view here.

Client: THT Design & Consulting
Design: Nie Yong + Yoshimasa Tsutsumi / Tsutsumi & Associates
Address: Daxing district, Beijing, China
Area: 4,964 square metres
Program: office, exhibition space, factory
Construction: THT Design & Consulting
Completion: September 2013

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into furniture brand headquarters appeared first on Dezeen.

Walls surrounding this property showroom in Chongqing, China, were designed by architects PURE Design as triangular planes with origami-like folds (+ slideshow).

Located on the side of the hill within the Hong’en Temple Forest Park, the Chongqing Greenland Clubhouse comprises two storeys, which include a boxy lower level with transparent glass walls and a more sculptural upper level clad with zinc.

The sloping ground allowed PURE Design to add entrances on both levels of the building. On the lower floor, visitors arrive at a reception area for the sales centre and offices, while the upper entrance leads into an exhibition gallery.

A river runs past the south elevation, so walls are glazed on both levels to afford views out across the water towards the city skyline.

A spiral staircases connects the levels, plus the lowest floor opens out to a patio seating area on the east side of the building.

The building will initially function as a sales centre for the Chongqing Greenland Real Estate Development Company, but could be converted for use as a restaurant and clubhouse in the future.

Construction in and around China has led to the construction of a number of new showrooms for property developers that we’ve reported on, including an extremely pointy pavilion in Tianjin and a building with a rampart-like facade in Singapore.

See more new architecture in China, including a 300-room hotel in one of the country’s oldest cities.

Photography is by Shu He.

Here’s a project description from PURE Design:

The clubhouse is located halfway up the south side of the mountain in Hong’en Temple Forest Park, Chongqing, facing the Jialing River. It is one of twenty-three commercial buildings, initially used as a real estate sales centre for the Greenland Bund Center project. Designed as a medium for dialogue between the river and mountain, the spatial experience through the building reflects the unique qualities of the dynamic terrain.

Due to the one storey height difference between the mountainside entrance and the terrace overlooking the river, the building is composed of two floors. The second level consists of the main entrance, and is primarily used as the real estate exhibition space, containing multimedia presentations and a river view experience. The first floor functions as a sales centre, containing models of the properties and sales spaces. It is also connected to the model homes.

In terms of architecture, the form of the first level is conceived from a glass box, pristine and sturdy. On the second level, the side facing the mountain utilizes stretched triangular shapes to create an undulating contour line, echoing the silhouette of the mountains. Additionally, the heavy gray colour of the external zinc cladding integrates the architecture with the city. In contrast, the surface facing the river is tranquil and lithe, reminiscent of a crystal case; its translucency presents little disturbance to the river scenery while allowing a complete view of the river from the interior of the building. On this basis, the visitor is led on a winding path containing seven different experiences from the second floor entrance to the first floor terrace. Let each visitor experience the beauty of the medium between the site and its surroundings, composed of an infinity pool, river, triangular form, courtyard, and crystal case.

Above: exploded axonometric diagram

Project: Chongqing Greenland Clubhouse
Location: Chongqing, China
Completion: September 2012
Area: 1100m2
Client: Chongqing Greenland Real Estate Development Co.
Design Firm: PURE Design LLC.
Structural Engineer: Shanghai Baoye Construction Group Corp.
Landscape Design: Collective Landscape Design LLC.
Interior Design: MoHen Design International

Above: site plan – click for larger image

Above: lower level plan – click for larger image

Above: upper level plan – click for larger image

Above: long section – click for larger image

Above: cross section – click for larger image

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by PURE Design appeared first on Dezeen.

Architecture studio Neri&Hu has opened a design gallery, shop and event space in a former colonial police station in Shanghai’s Jingan district.

Named Design Commune, the renovated brick building houses a series of design stores and showrooms, including the new flagship for Neri&Hu‘s own furniture brand, Design Republic.

“The concept for the Design Commune is to bring designers from around the city to hopefully have a place where they can have a discourse in architecture, in product design, in interior design,” Lyndon Neri told Dezeen. “To have a place where they could shop, a place where they could rest, a place where they could meander and wander and see different shops and different stores, different products, and at the same time be a part of an exhibition, or be part of a gallery, or be part of a talk.”

The architects hope the spaces will be able to showcase the vibrancy of China’s growing design scene. ”We want to bring the best of what the world can offer to China and hopefully one day bring the best of what China can offer back to the world,” said Neri.

For the conversion, the architects peeled back the decaying layers of wood and plaster, before restoring the original brickwork and adding new walls and rooms using a materials palette of glass, metal sheeting and white plaster.

“The existing building has a heaviness, and a kind of institutional feel,” explained Rossana Hu, before describing how they wanted to offset this with lighter materials. “Big open glass lets you see through a lot of visual corridors, or openings between floors that didn’t used to exist.”

A new glass structure runs along the facade of the building, creating a modern shopfront for Design Republic.

Elsewhere in the building, the architects have created a restaurant, a cafe, a lecture hall and a one-room hotel.

Dezeen visited the The Design Republic Commune last week to take part in a series of discussions about architecture and design in China and you can see our snapshots in an album on Facebook. We’ll also be publishing a full movie interview with Neri&Hu soon and you can also read about another Design Republic showroom in Shanghai in our earlier story.

During our visit, Hong Kong-based designer Michael Young also tipped China to have as many world-class designers as Japan within 20 years.

See more stories about Neri&Hu »
See more stories about Shanghai »

Photography is by Pedro Pegenaute.

Here’s a project description from Neri&Hu:

The Design Republic Commune (Shanghai)

The Design Republic Commune, located in the center of Shanghai, envisions itself as a design hub, a gathering space for designers and design patrons alike to admire, ponder, exchange, learn, and consume. It houses the new flagship store for Design Republic, a modern furniture retailer, alongside a mixture of design-focused retail concepts, including books, fashion, lighting, accessories and flowers. The Commune will also have a design gallery, an event space, a café, a restaurant by Michelin-Starred Chef Jason Atherton, and a one-bedroom Design Republic apartment.

Situated within the historic relic of the Police Headquarters built by the British in the 1910s, the project takes a surgical approach to renovation. First, gently removing the decaying wood and plaster, then carefully restoring the still vibrant red brickwork, while grafting on skin, joints, and organs onto parts that needed reconstruction. And finally with the attachment of a brand new appendage which, like a prosthetic, enables the existing building to perform new functions, the nearly abandoned building begins its life again.

Replacing the rather dilapidated row-shops on the street front, Neri&Hu introduced a modern glassy insertion onto the brick façade. To accentuate the historic nature of the main building, the street level periphery is enveloped by transparent glazing to reveal the existing brickwork and rough concrete structures. Breathing new life into a traditional colonial building plan, Neri&Hu strategically removed certain floor plates, walls, as well as ceiling panels, to allow a renewed experience of the existing building, one that is fitting for the new functions to which the building now needs to respond.

Various small and precise incisions have been made in the interior architecture to reveal the building’s history and integrity while creating experiential intersections for a coherent experience when moving through the building. Contrasting with the exterior which has mostly been left intact due to historic preservation guidelines, the interior has been completely transformed. The starkly modern white rooms are juxtaposed with untouched remnants of brick walls, and in some cases, exposed wood laths underneath crumbling plaster walls. The clear intentionality behind the detailing of connections between the old and the new creates a visually and spatially tectonic balance in relation to the building as a whole.

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

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

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

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by Neri&Hu appeared first on Dezeen.

A boxy wooden staircase twists up through the floors of this design store in Shanghai by architects Neri&Hu.

The architects refurbished an existing building to create the Design Collective store, which houses a series of showrooms including one for their own furniture brand Design Republic.

A huge steel funnel leads customers into the triple height atrium, where products are displayed within recesses in the walls.

Design Republic is located on the ground floor beside an exhibition and events space, while eight more showrooms are located on the two upper levels.

Patterned panels made from carbon fibre cover the building’s entire exterior, transforming its appearance and giving it a new identity.

See more projects by Neri&Hu here, including the award-winning hotel they designed in a disused army headquarters and our movie interview with them at last year’s Inside awards.

See all our stories about staircases »

Photography is by Shen Zhonghai.

Here’s some more information from Neri&Hu:

The new Design Collective is located in the outskirt of Shanghai in a town called Qingpu. Neri&Hu inherited an existing building and was given the task to completely redesign both the exterior and the interior without demolishing the existing structure.

Neri&Hu’s concept was to cover the existing building to create a new exterior identity and simultaneously fabricate an introverted spatial platform to create a new identity for the Design Collective, a group of avant garde furniture retail initiative in the city.

The existing building has been completely covered with an opaque graphic wrapper made with carbon fiber panel to create an introverted spatial condition to showcase furniture both visually and experientially.

The main entry is characterized by a large steel funnel, serving as a transition element from the urban context to the exhibition space.

The shape of the entry tube also serves as a means of emphasizing the arrival into the 3 story exhibition hall where the visitors introverted journey begins.

The staircase wrapping the interior of the main exhibition space leads the visitor throughout the multiple levels of display where the furniture can be experienced from varying spatial relationship and viewed form different vantage points and voyeuristic snippets of retail display.

This journey is accentuated as the visitor climbs higher through the gallery levels by the seven large openings in the roof which serve to allow daylight into the exhibition space while at once generating a moment of visual release from within the introverted exhibition environment.

Design Republic Qingpu store is located on the first floor, with a total area of 2,000 sqm. Design Republic offers a unique collection of products created by the world’s best design talents collaborates with many designers both foreign and local to create products that will explore a new modern Chinese aesthetic.

Click above for larger image

Design Republic stands for a new birth of life and style. At its foundation, it is a republic of life – life that creates meaning and understanding through its relationship to objects of habitation. Seeking to explore the relationship between people and the simple objects they use in life – a plate, a teacup, a chair; it is here where we discover the beauty of everyday life.

Click above for larger image

Design Republic is also a republic of style – style that creates new ideologies in design, retail, and merchandising concepts embodying a distinctive aesthetic for contemporary China.

Click above for larger image

It crosses traditional boundaries to merge old and new, traditional and modern, opulent and austere, to ultimately create a dynamic platform of design.

Click above for larger image

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by Neri&Hu appeared first on Dezeen.