Hasta La Ideas

It’s hard to keep a good starchitect down. Back in late-April, we reported that 102 year-old Oscar Niemeyer was once again back in the hospital, this time battling an uncomfortable urinary tract infection. But as he still has lots more work to do, and ever the fighter, he pulled through just fine and after twelve days of observation, was released just before the weekend got started, reports the Associate Press.

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pAs you can A HREF=”http://www.core77.com/gallery/milan-design-week-2010/65.asp” see in our gallery/A, last month at Milan Coca-Cola took the wraps off of A HREF=”http://emecowithcoke.com/information” a special variant of Emeco’s Navy chair/A made from 111 recycled Coke bottles. The project has been a long time coming: /p

blockquoteAbout four years ago, in 2006, Coca-Cola came to us at Emeco with a proposal. Their recycling plant in Spartanburg South Carolina was brand new and processing thousands of plastic bottles a day and they were looking for ways to show the value of recycled plastic. Everywhere else in the world people recycle about 80% of their bottles while in the US we recycled only about 20%.

pCoke asked us to make the classic Navy Chair out of a new, unproven formulation of rPET (Recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate- recycled plastic bottles). They introduced us to the scientists at BASF the international chemical innovator and together we developed proprietary mix made of about 60% and a special combination of pigment combined with glass fiber for strength./p

pIn Coke-Speak, “The goal of the 111 Navy project was to alter consumer behavior by illustrating the value of rPET with beautifully designed and everyday products – ultimately encouraging more recycling.”/blockquote/p

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pHit the jump for some production-method-geek goodness about the special mold required to make the chair./pa href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/technology/have_a_coke_and_a_seat_16543.asp”(more…)/a
pa href=”http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/m6jecRFox460nUIO_Y810d6O7DQ/0/da”img src=”http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/m6jecRFox460nUIO_Y810d6O7DQ/0/di” border=”0″ ismap=”true”/img/abr/
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div style=”align: right;”img src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/2010/05/loebach-himmelchand.jpg” width=”468″ height=”625″ alt=”loebach-himmelchand.jpg”//div

div style=”align: right;”img src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/2010/05/adelman-chandelier.jpg” width=”468″ height=”547″ alt=”adelman-chandelier.jpg”//div

pa href=”http://www.rollandhill.com/”Roll and Hill/a, a new design brand founded by designer a href=”http://www.millerstudio.us/”Jason Miller/a in January of 2010, produces contemporary lighting fixtures; though they don’t mention working only with American designers, their first collection comes directly out of New York, with pieces from Jason Miller, Lindsey Adelman, Paul Loebach, Rich Brilliant Willing, and Partners Spade. /p

pThough some of the pieces will be shown at ICFF in the Javits Center, the full collection will be staged (for the first time) at Great Jones Lumber as part of the new a href=”http://www.nohodesigndistrict.com/”NoHo Design District/a. The show will be open from the 15th through the 18th./p

pAccording to Jason Miller, this is “hopefully a sign of the strength of the design industry in the United States.” Though it’s easy enough to say, we agreemdash;the offsite scene is shaping up to be especially strong this year, with the a href=”http://www.nohodesigndistrict.com/”NoHo Design District/a joining SoHo and Meatpacking, and US-focused shows like a href=”http://www.citegoesamerica.com/”400 sq. Feet Later: Cite Goes America/a and a href=”http://www.modelcitizensnyc.com/”Model Citizens NYC/a. New York represent! /p

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pNow, for a preview of some of the work: Pictured top is the Himmeli Chandelier and the by Paul Loebach Agnes Candelabra Chandelier by Lindsay Adelman, and above, the Excel wall sconces by Rich Brilliant Willing. Click through the jump for more./p

pstrongRoll and Hill Launch/strongbr /
Opening: Saturday May 15th, 7-10pmbr /
Hours: May 15-16, 12PM to 7PM; May 17-18, 12 PM to 6 PMbr /
Great Jones Lumber, 45 Great Jonesbr /
New York City/pa href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/ny_design_week_10/new_york_design_week_2010_preview_roll_hill__16542.asp”(more…)/a
pa href=”http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/xX6e1uj1qbSdXrYGYsAGzgtnW8c/0/da”img src=”http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/xX6e1uj1qbSdXrYGYsAGzgtnW8c/0/di” border=”0″ ismap=”true”/img/abr/
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Coca-Cola has recently collaborated with design company Emeco to make the 111 Navy Chair, created from 111 recycled plastic bottles…

Wieden + Kennedy London has created this global press campaign for the chair which, in keeping with Coke’s ice-cold branding, sees the red chair encased in a block of ice. The agency has created a making-of film to show the chair being turned to ice, shown below (and we’re very happy to report that unlike most ad making-ofs there are no cheesy talking heads with creatives here, just lots of ice – well done W+K!):

The poster reflects the launch of the 111 Emeco Chair at the recent Milan Furniture Fair, where it was displayed on the Emeco stand in a one-tonne block of ice. “It took two-and-a-half weeks to cast the ice cube,” say W+K creatives Ben Everitt and Sophie Bodoh, “and once the shoot was finished all that was left was a beautiful chair and a giant puddle.”

Credits:
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy London
Creatives: Ben Everitt, Sophie Bodoh
Creative directors: Guy Featherstone, Lucy Collier
Designer: Richard Hooker
Photographer: Peer Lindgreen

Speaking of big fairs, some news about this year’s Venice Biennale of Architecture. Atlanta’s excellent High Museum of Art has been selected as a co-presenter for the American pavilion. The museum (who know from good architecture, given their beautiful Richard Meier building and newer Renzo Piano wing) will work to create an exhibit called “Workshopping: An American Model of Architectural Practice,” which will feature seven firms, from Archeworks here in Chicago to former P.S.1 courtyard winners MOS, demonstrating how architects identify problems in society and try to find solutions. Here’s a bit:

The exhibition highlights projects in which a designer identifies an urban problem or condition and initiates research into its foundation and potential solutions without prompting by a client assignment or proposal request. The designers then engage their design skills and insights to catalyze action.

“We wanted to use this platform to propose that architecture constitutes the shared space of ideas in research, social engagement, and public-private initiatives — the foundational values of American architectural practice,” said [High curator Michael Rooks].

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