Hasta La Ideas

In this exclusive interview, British fashion designer Paul Smith shows Dezeen his new exhibition at London’s Design Museum, which contains a room “nicknamed the paracetamol room, because by the time you come out you’ll probably need an aspirin” (+ movie).

Called Hello, My Name Is Paul Smith the show, which opened today, celebrates Paul Smith‘s career to date and reveals insights into his creative processes.

“The whole point of the exhibition is really about encouragement,” he tells Dezeen while sat in a recreation of his cluttered Covent Garden office that has been created at the show. “It hopefully gives you the encouragement to think, well, I can move on from a humble beginning’,” he says.

Visitors enter the exhibition through a three-metre-square cube that simulates Smith’s tiny first shop on Byard Lane in Nottingham, which was only open for two days a week. Smith’s Covent Garden design studio has also be recreated, with material and pattern samples strewn amongst sketchbooks and colour swatches.

In a room called Inside Paul’s Head, images of flowers swirl around screens before morphing into prints covering Smith’s garments and accessories. “It’s nicknamed the paracetamol room, because by the time you come out you’ll probably need an aspirin,” Smith jokes.

The next space is a hand-painted wooden mock-up of the Paris hotel room that Smith used as his first showroom during Paris fashion week in 1976.

“I think it was six shirts, two jackets, two jumpers and nobody came,” he recalls. “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, nobody. I was leaving on Thursday and one person came at 4 o’clock, and I was in business.”

There’s also a section dedicated to Smith’s photography: “I’ve been taking photographs since I was 11. My Dad was an amateur photographer and his original camera is there on the wall. I shoot all our advertising and promotional material but also work for lots of magazines as a photographer.”

Smith’s collaborations over the years including a MINI car and a pair of skis painted with his signature colourful stripes are displayed together, along with cycling jerseys and a giant rabbit-shaped bin he has worked on.

“It’s really interesting for me to see,” he reveals. “They’re usually all hidden away somewhere. Seeing them all together is like ‘Oh wow! We’ve done quite a lot over the years’.”

A wall covered in 70,000 buttons is used to demonstrate the unique elements found in each of the brand’s stores worldwide, such as a room decorated with 26,000 dominoes at his recently extended Albemarle Street store in London’s Mayfair district. “It shows my passion to make sure all out shops are different,” he says.

Garments from Smith’s archive flank both sides of a long white corridor and are grouped into themes rather than age, while a movie documenting Smith’s most recent menswear show is played in the final room.

The exhibition is laid out around a central space lined with a pictures from Smith’s personal collection, encompassing photographs by Mario Testino to framed drawings sent by fans.

On the way out, a giant Post-it note on the wall reads “Everyday is a new beginning”. Smith finishes by saying: “The idea is you come here, you get inspired, then the next day is the rest of your life.”

The exhibition was curated by Donna Loveday and runs until 9 March 2014 at the Design Museum.

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Design Museum show, says Paul Smith appeared first on Dezeen.

News: British architects are enjoying their busiest period since the financial crisis began in 2008, while the Italian market looks set to decline by 14% this year, according to new industry research from Arch-Vision.

Almost 60% of British architects saw their order books increasing during Q3 of 2013 and the sector is set to grow 2% this year, says Arch-Vison in its latest quarterly European Architectural Barometer report. Further growth of 1% is expected in both 2014 and 215.

“The UK has been showing a clear recovery during the last six quarters and especially during the last nine months,” says the report. “In Q3 2013, the British market keeps on improving. This quarter is marked by a strong positive order book and turnover development.”

The German architecture sector can expect a similar 2% growth this year, the report says, while Belgium is also improving. However France, Spain and the Netherlands continue to shrink, while Italy is showing “no signs of any improvement yet,” with a downturn of 14% predicted this year. Arch-Vision “predicts shrinkage of the market by 14% in 2013, by 5% in 2014 and by 2% in 2015.”

Across the EU, the report expects a 3% decline in future building volumes to €766, with zero growth next year followed by a modest 1% increase in 2015.

“Italy had a very difficult quarter again, while France and Spain show slight indications of improvement,” says the report in summary. “For the first time in two years more than 30% the Dutch architects reported growing order books. Germany is still offering the best market conditions.”

The European Architectural Barometer is based on surveys of 1600 architects in eight European countries.

Image of London skyscrapers under construction is courtesy of Shutterstock.

Here’s the full press release from Arch-Vision:

Italy continues to deteriorate. The British architects had their best quarter so far. The future looks brighter for the Dutch.

In Q3 2013, almost 60% of the British architects saw increasing order books, marking the best quarter for the UK market since 2008. Italy had a very difficult quarter again, while France and Spain show slight indications of improvement. For the first time in two years more than 30% the Dutch architects reported growing order books. Germany is still offering the best market conditions. These are some of the conclusions of the Q3 2013 European Architectural Barometer report, a quarterly research among 1,600 architects in eight European countries. European architects act as a leading indicator for the construction activity.

The UK has been showing a clear recovery during the last six quarters and especially during the last nine months. In Q3 2013, the British market keeps on improving. This quarter is marked by a strong positive order book and turnover development. More than half of the architects (59%) reported to have experienced increasing order books in comparison with Q2 2013. The share of those with still declining order books has shrunk significantly to the lowest ever measured by Arch-Vision 13%. The British market is on the right track and the recovery is getting more stable with every quarter being better than the previous for a larger part of the architects. Despite the obvious improvement, the number of architects expecting an empty order book in the next 12 months is the same as in the previous quarter: 27%. Arch-Vision predicts a 2% rise of the market in 2013 and an increase of 1% in 2014 and 2015.

Both the German order book and turnover development were positive again. More architects reported increase in their order books (31%) than those experiencing a decline (13%). In general, for half of them times are stable and no big changes from quarter to quarter can be seen. In Q3 only 5% expect an empty order book, an indicator which also remains quite the same during the last measurements (Q2 2013: 3%). For 2013 (+2%), 2014 (+2%) and 2015 (+3%) a growth of the German construction market is expected.

In Q3 2013, French architects saw new drops in the order book and turnover, reaching the lowest point since 2008. After Q1 2013 when 50% of the French architect reported decline in their order books, the situation seems to be slightly improving with every passing quarter. In Q3 2013, 24% of the French professionals saw their order book increasing, while 44% experienced a decrease. In Q2 2013 a growing feeling of optimism was observed among the French architects, back then 14% expected an empty order book for the coming 12 months. With the situation improving much slower than expected, more pessimists can be found amongst them this quarter: 22%, going back to the Q1 2013 level. Arch-Vision expects that the French construction market will decrease in 2013 (-4%) and 2014 (-1%), but will grow in 2015 (1%).

The Spanish architects are still experiencing decrease, but the positive thing is that both order book and turnover developments seem to be declining less sharply than in the previous quarters. Q1 2011 was until now the best quarter for the Spanish architects when 22% of them reported increasing order books. The current quarter seems to be the second best quarter for the Spanish architects: 22% saw their order book growing in Q3 2013, against 34% who experienced a declining order book (in Q2, 14% saw an increase and 41% a decrease). Despite the slight positive developments, the Spanish architects are still far below the order book levels of 2008 and there is a significant number (35%) of them expecting an empty order book in the coming 12 months (44% in Q2). A further decline of the Spanish construction market by 5% is to be expected for 2013, while 2014 will see a 3% decrease and 2015 will bring a 1% increase of the market.

After a very bad second quarter in 2013, Italy again has experienced a big drop in the order book and turnover development. Italy has almost reached the levels of Spain, but with no signs of any improvement yet. Only 6% of the architects have seen a growth in their order books, while for 75% the order books are still declining. This quarter, despite of the ongoing bad results, Italian architects are less pessimistic regarding having an empty order book in the next 12 months (32%) in comparison to Q2 (52%). Many obviously think that the bottom has been reached and hope for positive months ahead. Arch-Vision predicts shrinkage of the market by 14% in 2013, by 5% in 2014 and by 2% in 2015.

Again, the Dutch order book and turnover development was negative. This is however better than in the previous quarter. Although the architects reporting declining order books still prevail (39% vs. 35% with increasing order books) this is the first quarter since Q3 2011, when the share of architects experiencing increasing order books is above 30%. If the positive tendency continues, it can be expected soon that there will be a change in the Dutch picture, i.e. more Dutch architects with growing than with decreasing order books. At the moment 24% are expecting an empty order book within the coming 12 months, which is less pessimistic than in the previous quarter (31%). A decline in 2013 (-3%) and 2014 (-1%) is to be expected. By 2015, the market will be recovering slowly (1%).

The positive developments observed in Belgium since the start of the measurements for this country (Q4 2012) continue in Q3 2013 as well. The number of architects indicating an increasing order book (32%) is higher and the number of architects experiencing a decreasing order book is lower (24%) than the previous quarter (28% and 26% resp.). Only 4% expect an empty order book, which is only comparable to the German results.

26%of the Polish architects reported an increase and 42% a shrinkage of their order book. Since Q1 2013 the results have become more positive every quarter. Still it has to be noted that the quite significant share of the Polish architects expecting an empty order book within the next 12 months (31%) remained quite stable.

These and many other results and trends of the developments of the European construction market can be found in the European Architectural Barometer, an international market research conducted among 1,600 architects in Europe. This study is conducted in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium and Poland by Arch-Vision four times a year. Besides indicators to forecast the European building volumes, a specific topic is highlighted each quarter. The topic in Q3 2013 was “Sustainability”. Architects can be used not only as a reliable source for future building volumes information, but their role is very important as they have great influence on how projects are built and which materials are used.

www.arch-vision.eu

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Design studio Post-Office has transformed an old photographic storage unit in east London into an office and creative studio (+ slideshow).

Post-Office, who also designed Dezeen’s north London office, renovated the space for The Operators, a digital design agency in Shoreditch.

Designer Philippe Malouin and his team wanted the space to reference the building’s industrial history, so they retained the existing concrete floor and left pipes and wiring exposed across the ceilings.

The company directors’ rooms are modelled on the offices of foremen in industrial warehouses, which are typically surrounded by glazing so occupants can supervise activities going on outside.

“The most important thing the client requested was a meeting space and a kitchen to fit eight people,” Malouin told Dezeen. ” It was quite a difficult brief because we only had one wall of light to work with. This was the reason why we made the foreman’s offices – if we’d built regular offices the whole space would have been shut out of natural daylight.”

Steel beams with a dark red coating conceal light fittings, while mesh screens and green-painted partitions separate the offices from the corridor.

“The olive green colour would have been used in the building’s original era. It’s a neutral yet masculine colour, which suits the space as all of the company’s staff are men,” Malouin added.

The designers reproduced the company’s circular logo using CNC-cut MDF and inserted it into a gap in the kitchen wall so it sits flush with the surface.

Desks and cupboards throughout the interior are constructed from bare plywood.

Here’s a short description from Post-Office:

The Operators

We were approached by the directors of “The Operators”, a digital agency in Shoreditch, to transform a site in an old photographic storage unit into a creative studio to house their ever-growing team.

The space needed to be flexible, provide both private and communal spaces, while allowing for daylight to travel throughout the space.

Given the restricted size of the site, it was important to make the most of the space available. The design of the space borrows from the aesthetics of the building’s victorian industrial history.

The offices of the directors were based on industrial ‘foreman’s offices’, while many of the materials used were reminiscent of the era.

Red oxide was used to finish the metal beams concealing the indirect soffit lighting, and mesh screens were used to facilitate the flow of light through the space while separating the corridors from the works spaces. Bare plywood was also used throughout for the work desks, tables, storage and kitchen.

Working with a small budget and tight deadlines, the space was successfully transformed form an old storage unit to a fully functional work space.

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storage unit by Post-Office appeared first on Dezeen.

This spiral staircase conceived by London designer Paul Cocksedge will feature balustrades overflowing with plants and circular spaces where employees can take time out from their work.

Paul Cocksedge designed The Living Staircase for Ampersand, a new office building in London’s Soho dedicated to creative businesses.

The design concept is for a staircase that is about “more than a means of moving from floor to floor”. By widening the diameter of the spiral and excluding the central column, there will be enough space to create three circular platforms that can be used as social spaces.

“The Living Staircase is actually a combination of staircase and room, of movement and stillness, vertical and horizontal”, said Cocksedge.

“At every turn there is an opportunity to stop and look, smell, read, write, talk, meet, think, and rest. If a staircase is essentially about going from A to B, there is now a whole world living and breathing in the space between the two,” he added.

Plants and herbs will be sown into the tops of the balustrade. The hope is that employees will turn the greenery into a working garden, adding ingredients to their lunches and making fresh mint tea.

Here’s a project description from Paul Cocksedge Studio:

The Living Staircase

Paul Cocksedge has been commissioned by Resolution Property to design a central feature for Ampersand, the state-of-the-art creative office development in Soho, London.

At the project’s heart are the people who make up the Ampersand community and so the question was: how can a staircase become something more than a means of moving from floor to floor?

By examining the structure of a staircase, it was discovered that by expanding the diameter and by removing the traditional central, load-bearing pillar, a new hidden space was revealed at its centre. As you emerge onto each floor, you can now enter the centre of the spiral and into social spaces devoted to a specific activity: a place to draw, to read a novel, to pick fresh mint for tea.

Everything about ‘The Living Staircase’ relates directly to the people using it, including the plants along the balustrade, which are not intended as merely decoration, but envisaged as a working garden, each plant cared for by individual members of the community.

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by Paul Cocksedge appeared first on Dezeen.

Here are some images of the restaurant inside the Serpentine Sackler Gallery extension by London architect Zaha Hadid, which opened today in the city’s Kensington Gardens (+ slideshow).

The Magazine is a new restaurant venture, taking up residence in the new addition to the Serpentine Sackler Gallery with the interior, kitchen area, bar and structure itself all designed by Zaha Hadid.

Chef Oliver Lange’s Japanese cuisine is served beneath the undulating fabric roof, which curves down to meet the ground at three points around the periphery.

The entrance to the extension is located on one side of the adjacent 200-year-old brick building formerly used as a gunpowder store, which houses the gallery.

Tables are positioned around the sculptural columns extending down from oval skylights. Diners can enjoy views of the surrounding landscaped gardens through the glass walls that curve around the space.

The extension to the gallery officially opened in September, when we featured a full set of images by photographer Luke Hayes.

Photography is by Ed Reeve unless otherwise stated.

The Magazine

Chef Oliver Lange opens The Magazine restaurant at the new Serpentine Sackler Gallery.

Pritzker Prize-winning architect Zaha Hadid’s first designed restaurant space in her first building in central London, will open on 1 November 2013 at the new Serpentine Sackler Gallery in Kensington Gardens operated by celebrated hospitality company K&K London Ltd. At the helm of The Magazine restaurant and bar is Berlin-born chef Oliver Lange, one of the most exciting contemporary chefs in the industry, and a past guest chef for Kofler & Kompanie’s notable Pret A Diner events in London.

The Magazine bar will be serving a small selection of light bar snacks, 10am until 7pm daily, catering for the visitors to the gallery.

The Serpentine Sackler Gallery gives new life to the Magazine, a former 1805 gunpowder store, located five minutes walk from the Serpentine Gallery on the north side of the Serpentine Bridge. With 900 square metres of new gallery, restaurant and social space, the gallery will be a new cultural destination in the heart of London and will present an unrivalled programme of exhibitions and events.

Oliver Lange was brought up in a family passionate about food and so began to cook at an early age. While studying art he realised it was cooking that was his real passion, and so he travelled to learn about the different cuisines of the world. His first great love was Japan: he dedicated his young talent to immersing himself in the tastes, techniques and textures of the Japanese kitchen. He was so successful at incorporating the precision and dedication of Japanese cooking into his own European heritage, that his masters awarded him the name Ollysan.

There is an organic flow to the newly designed structure – the continued movement stems from the membrane roof that playfully undulates and is penetrated only by columns filtering natural light into the room – while clear glass walls give the impression of dining within the surrounding garden, landscaped by Arabella Lennox-Boyd.

Ollysan’s experimental cooking, combined with Zaha Hadid’s inspirational and contemporary architecture, creates an overall distinctive and innovative dining narrative – whilst the marriage of the original building instils The Magazine restaurant’s rich and vibrant history. His vision for the food compliments the two contrasting linked buildings – where the traditional meets the modern. Ollysan brings the philosophy of Japanese cooking into his kitchen – its dedication, respect for the purity of ingredients, balancing of tastes and most importantly kokoro (heart and soul) to British and European cooking.

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Sackler Gallery extension by Zaha Hadid appeared first on Dezeen.