Hasta La Ideas

Dezeenwire: Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne (ECAL) have appointed Alexis Georgacopoulos as the college’s new director. See press release below (in French)

Alexis Georgacopoulos, futur directeur de l’ECAL

Le Conseil d’Etat vaudois a désigné à la direction de l’ECAL/Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne Alexis Georgacopoulos, actuellement doyen et responsable du programme de Master en design de produit auprès de cette haute école. Le Conseil d’Etat a porté une attention particulière à cette désignation, pour laquelle il a fait appel à une commission de recrutement internationale composée de professionnels du domaine de la formation, de la culture et du management. Pierre Keller, directeur de l’ECAL, restera en fonction jusqu’à la fin de l’année académique 2010-2011, soit jusqu’au 30 juin 2011. Alexis Georgacopoulos prendra par conséquent ses fonctions le 1er juillet 2011.

Né en 1976 à Athènes, Alexis Georgacopoulos obtient en 1999 son diplôme de designer industriel à l’ECAL/Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne où il est aussitôt engagé comme assistant. Dès 2000, il devient le plus jeune responsable d’une filière HES de Suisse en reprenant les rênes du Département design industriel tout en poursuivant sa propre activité professionnelle.

Il a depuis démontré son talent et son sens de l’organisation en attirant les designers les plus convoités à Lausanne, en mettant sur pied les participations de son département à de grandes foires internationales (Salon international du Meuble de Milan, imm Cologne, ICFF New-York), en montant de grandes expositions internationales (Le Botte-cul, La Baguette de chef d’orchestre, La cuisine festive) et en collaborant activement avec de grandes maisons d’édition (Nestlé, Nespresso, SWISS, B&B Italia, Serralunga, Ligne Roset, Coca-Cola Atlanta, Boffi, Swarovski, Christofle).

Dans sa pratique, il revendique un design à la fois fonctionnel et ludique, où l’humour est le contrepoids de la technique. En 2005, il fait partie de la sélection du livre DesignSuisse édité par la SSR et Hochparterre. En 2006, il a reçu la Bourse Leenaards. L’année suivante, il fait partie des 100 designers présentés dans le livre «&FORK» édité par Phaidon. En 2008, il se rend à Hong Kong pendant quelques mois afin de développer des projets. Ses créations ont été présentés lors de nombreuses expositions en Suisse et à l’étranger et figurent dans plusieurs catalogues. Il donne régulièrement des conférences sur le design aux quatre coins du globe.

This house with checkered windows by Japanese firm Apollo Architects & Associates sits on a street corner in downtown Tokyo.

Damier is built over five stories with with the first two forming rentable space.

The concrete construction is left exposed on the exterior facade and interior ceilings.

A steel spiral staircase connects all the floors and leads up to a roof terrace.

All photographs are by Masao Nishikawa.

See also: Flow by Apollo Architects & Associates

Here’s some more from the architects:

DAMIER

Urban housing built on a area of 23m2 in a 30m2 site.

Located in downtown Tokyo, where old and new coexist in the form of old houses and stores and large-scale apartment buildings.

The owner of the house grew up in this area and decided to rebuild one of the two tenement houses that he inherited from his father into a five-storied house.

An architectural plan that makes use of the characteristic position of the site located at the corner of a crossing has been developed.

Employing a checkered pattern on the three sides facing onto the roads enabled a view from the interiors to all directions and a striking exterior.

A reinforced-concrete wall structure was adopted in order to reduce the wall thickness as much as possible because of the limited size of the site.

The ground and first floors were respectively designed to be leased out to a real-estate company and for residence.

Entering from the door on the ground floor, a spiral staircase leads to the upper floor where more light pours in and the windows frame a richer view.

Leasing out the ground floor to secure an income and securing permanence in urban life by dividing the private and the public has by now become a standard choice.

This monumental architectural work will become part of history as a new landmark of the neighborhood.

See also:

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Flow by Apollo Architects & Associates	Key projects by SANAA	More architecture stories

Cause I would so take English 333, at the University of Baltimore.

Students will watch 16 classic zombie films…read zombie comics and, as an alternative to a final research paper, have the chance to write scripts or draw storyboards for their ideal zombie flicks.

these bust me up

From a never-before-seen jet pack to geodesic shoes, a new exhibit of Marc Newson’s designs for mobility

Designer Marc Newson‘s prolific body of work spans everyday objects to total luxury, all executed with the utmost attention to detail, form and function. The latest exhibit dedicated to his output focuses on designs related to mobility and human locomotion, displaying shoes, boats, jets and a new release—a sleek jet pack.

Newson explains much of his inspiration comes from an interest in post-war Italian design, an era when designers produced “every conceivable type of industrial product, from furniture to automobiles.”

His career clearly reflects this ideology, and combined with his adept use of materials and technology has led to stunning examples of modern transportation for brands such as Quantas, Riva, Ford and more.

“Transport” shows off Newson’s raw brilliance as a designer, his true understanding of engineering as well as how to integrate his signature style into every project.

“Marc Newson: Transport” is currently on view at NYC’s Gagosian Gallery through 16 October 2010. See more images from our look at the exhibition in the gallery below.