Hasta La Ideas

This multi-storey car park in Soissons, France, by Paris firm Jacques Ferrier Architectures has an undulating facade of vertical timbers.

Lez Yeux Verts, which can house 600 cars, forms part of a development of former barracks into a business park.

The building has a concrete structure, galvanised-steel framework, and is clad in vertical spruce timbers that vary in angle and spacing to create a ripple effect.

The timber facade is punctuated by eye-shaped openings that afford views over the town, and behind which new planting will eventually grow to form hanging gardens.

On each floor a different image has been superimposed onto a giant cube to denote the level.

Photos are by Jacques Ferrier Architectures/photo Luc Boegly

Here’s some more from the architects:

Les yeux verts

Architectural description

Located in Soissons close by the famous Saint Jean-de-la Vigne abbey, the new 600 space capacity “Les Yeux Verts” multi-storey car park is fundamental to the project redeveloping the Gouraud barracks into a modern business park.

Its presence contributes to the transformation of the site and is one of its federating landmark elements. With its concrete structure, galvanised steel framework and timber cladding, the car park takes the form of a contemporary yet highly restrained urban infrastructure.

The architectural style of the building is based on a clearly affirmed structure overlaid by a pleated openwork timber envelope that lightly and delicately clads the entire car park. On each level, a slit opens up in the envelope to provide views from the inside over the urban landscape of the town.

From the outside, these “green eyes” open widely to reveal hanging gardens that delicately spread into the surrounding façade.

Subtle visual variations have been created using a single retified spruce slat module. This is achieved by adjusting the rhythm and angling of the slats, stepping away from the façades, using solids and voids, and incorporating light and transparency into the construction. These elements create dynamic, vibrant façades that give the car park a strong image within the town’s urban fabric.

The signage takes the form of a series of ten photographic images (one per half-level) that, borrowing from the “memory” game used by Charles Eames, allows users to mentally associate the area where their cars are parked with an atmosphere, a sensation and a visual reference point.

Architectural team : Jacques Ferrier Architectures
Architect : Jacques Ferrier
Project Manager : Stéphane Vigoureux
Team : Emmanuel Coudert (project leader), Corentin Lespagnol (image conception), David Juhel, Harold Chaveneau
Client : Communauté d’Agglomération du Soissonnais

City : Soissons, France
Programme: parking, 600 spaces
Competition: projet lauréat en 2007 / winning project in 2007
Completion: mars 2010 / March 2010
Area: 12 250 m²
Cost : 6.6 M Euros

Consultants :

Landscape designer: Agence TER
Signage: Laboratoire IRB Ruedi Baur
Structural engineers: HDM Ingénierie 
Utilities engineers: SOGETI Ingénierie
Photos credits: ©Jacques Ferrier architectures/photo Luc Boegly

See also:

.

Choisy-le-Roi bridge by Jacques Ferrier	Aluchair by Jacques Ferrier for Ligne Roset Contracts	French Pavilion by Jacques Ferrier

Nuova collaborazione per Keep e Animal Collective. I modelli rilasciati per la collezione spring 2011, verranno personalizzati da ogni membro del gruppo e il ricavato verrà devoluto a favore della Socorro Island Conservation Fund.
[Via]

Curata da Adelina von Furstenberg per la Fondazione Zoé nell’ambito di Vivere Sani, Vivere Bene, rassegna dedicata alla salute, al benessere e agli stili di vita, dal 10 ottobre al 21 novembre quattro spazi della città di Vicenza saranno trasformati in luoghi per l’arte contemporanea: la sede della Fondazione, la Loggia del Capitaniato, il Teatro Comunale e lo Spazio Monotono.
Cinque artisti internazionali – SHEBA CHHACHHI, MASBEDO, NIKOS NAVRIDIS, FARID RAHIMI e VITO ACCONCI – presentano altrettanti video ispirati alla tematica del respiro.
Inaugurazione: domenica 10 ottobre ore 12.00.

Johnny Selman of San Francisco is designing a poster a day for 365 days based on a headline taken from the BBC News website.

Above: Pope Offers ‘Hand of Friendship’ To UK, 16 September 2010

Selman wants to elevate the American public’s awareness of global events by presenting world news from a credible source in a more visually engaging way.

Above: Oktoberfest to Tackle Stink of Stale Beer with Microbe, 17 September 2010

The project is a response to the rise of so-called ’soft news’ – entertainment-focused news programs and reporting often lacking in content – and domestic news programming, which are said to contribute towards American’s lack of knowledge about curent affairs.

Above: Belgian Skydiver ‘Murdered Love Rival’ During Jump, 24 September 2010

The series can be followed on the BBCX365 website.

Here are the details from Selman:

The Project

In 2008 the internet overtook all other outlets for international and national news aside from television. Forty percent of Americans got their news online in 2008, up from twenty-seven percent the previous year. It can be estimated that currently over 50% of Americans use the internet as their main source of news. Nearly six-in-ten Americans younger than 30 (fifty-nine percent) say they get most of their national and international news online (Pew). With the rise in popularity of mobile devices and the continued trajectory of Americans getting their news online; this project will predominantly be based online.

Above: Nigeria Ex-Rebel Leader Okah Arrested After Abuja Blast, 2 October 2010

I will light a fire that spreads beyond your fences and into your house. I will set ablaze your dormant minds. I will turn your preconceptions to smoldering ash. I am the arsonist that will wake you the fuck up.

Above: Islamists Seize Somali Radio Stations, 19 September 2010

I will do this by creating a more visually interesting vehicle for the news, use a credible news source (BBC), and promote, market, and network. I will design a poster a day for 365 days in reaction to a headline on the BBC news website and update my website –  – everyday with the poster and the accompanying news story.

Above: Israeli PM Urges West Bank Settlers to Show Restraint, 26 September 2010

The Purpose

The purpose of this project is to promote the awareness of global current events with the American public. ”American citizens know little about current events in general and even less about overseas events” according to The Washington Post in 2006. The article further explains that the reasons for the “unwillingness of American citizens to live up to their civic responsibilities” are due to the supply and content of our news.

Above: Obama Confirms Exit of Key Aide Rahm Emanuel, 1 October 2010

In the article titled “Mind the Gap,” an explanation is given as such: “Driven by market pressures, news organizations across the globe are turning to more entertainment-centered forms of reporting, making it more difficult for lazy citizens to encounter substantive political information as a matter of course. An important consequence of the shift to “soft news” has been the scaling back of international bureaus and staff.”

Above: Societe Generale Trader Kerviel Jailed for Three Years, 5 October 2010

Heavily “domesticated” news programming creates fewer opportunities for people to learn about overseas events. Even at the height of the Cold War, when international issues were front-page news, the American public displayed only superficial awareness of overseas events and foreign policy. In the post-Cold War era, despite massive increases in education and access to information, Americans continued to lag behind citizens of other industrialized democracies on measures of international affairs information.

Above: North Korea’s Kim Pavesway For Family Succession, 28 September 2010

In 1994, for example, an eight nation survey found that citizens of Mexico, Spain, Italy, Canada, Germany, Britain and France were more able than Americans to provide correct answers to a series of questions tapping foreign affairs. Whereas thirty-seven percent of the American sample was unable to answer a single question, the comparable level of ignorance (averaged) for Italy,France, Britain, Germany and Canada was 19% (Iyengar).

See also:

.

Homemade is Best for IKEA	Dezeen Watch Store iPhone clock app	Drawings by Clo’e Floirat

In the middle of last month, you might recall that the New York Board of Regents made the sudden and unexpected move to let the regulations surrounding the sale of art by public museums expire, thus making it easier for them to sell pieces or whole collections to help pay bills, instead of the expected procedure wherein a museum only sells when doing so is in the interest of building up their art holdings in other areas. While there are still provisions in place, the expiration now gives way to older rules that are far more lax in their ability to oversee sales. While the big New York City-based museums who have lobbied against any form of mandatory restrictions are plenty pleased by the Board’s decision, the NY Times reports that those who were in favor are livid over the move. In particular, they’re pinpointing the Board’s chancellor, Merryl H. Tisch, who not only helped the vote to expire go through, but also happens to be connected through family to those big museums who were fighting it (“There are Tisch Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum, for example, named for her father-in-law, Laurence, and his brother, Preston”). Chancellor Tisch, of course, says her family associations had nothing to do with the Board’s decisions. So while there has yet to be any big fire sales of whole collections yet, the situation certainly seems to be gathering some press momentum, with the Board certainly not winning any points along the way. It’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.