Hasta La Ideas

Award-winning USB adapter reduces size of bulky British power plug design by 70%

Designed in 1947, the British plug firmly holds its place as one of the world’s largest three-pin power interfaces, escaping the grips of design innovation with the equally clunky editions continuously rolled out. Now, however, product designer and illustrator Min-Kyu Choi of Made in Mind has created The Mu—a folding USB adapter with a minimal, refined design that reduces overall object size by more than 70%.

The streamlining is achieved with a rotating central pin that allows the adapter to fold flat for travel and storage. This clever, space-saving innovation earned The Mu the title of Product Design of the Year and Overall Design of the Year from the 2010 Brit Insurance Design Awards. Even the packaging on the sleek, white Mu is slender and attractive.

Much anticipated, The Mu launches today, 17 February, for £25.

A single-storey studio at the bottom of the garden of a semi-detached house in London creates a separation between work and domestic life for its residents.

The new layout by Ashton Porter Architects includes a courtyard garden between the house and studio that’s landscaped with timber decking, including hatches that open to reveal a sandpit, fire pit and paddling pool.

A glazed strip round the bottom of the studio’s wooden facade makes it appear to float above the floor, which is the same level inside as out on the decking.

Corrugated aluminium cladding on the side and rear elevations make reference to a typical garden shed.

This project was one of two winners of New London Architecture‘s Don’t Move, Improve! award. Read about the other winning project here and take a look at last year’s winner here.

Photography is by Andy Stagg.

Here’s more information about the project from Ashton Porter Architects:

Suburban Studio

A garden studio and refurbishment to a typical Victorian suburban house. The garden is transformed into a courtyard condition which is addressed by both the studio and the remodeled house.

Project Description

The existing house is a Victorian semi was built about 1890. The long plan form and the deep narrow site allowed for the opportunity to develop a different approach to the remodeling of the property than the typical suburban norm forced by later types.

It is typical to consolidate the development of semi-detached houses to the rear and side of the existing house, extending and increasing volume to the maximum extent allowable. However, we have taken a very different approach; it was realized that due to the size and depth of the garden plan there was potential to develop a completely different type of project and, one that required no planning permission.

A single storey detached studio is located at the extreme end of the garden away from the existing house. The rear of the existing house is remodeled by inverting the existing kitchen and dining room. The existing kitchen was to the rear of the house and this was repositioned to the centre of the house to form a hub and the dining room was relocated to the rear. By locating the dining room to the rear it meant that a habitable space (it also became a library as well) would address the newly formed private courtyard in the garden by the addition of the studio. The courtyard is bounded on 2 sides by high fences of bamboo and ivy respectively and on the other two sides by the bookend condition of the studio and library/ dining space.

Separation of Programme

With a move to working from home the separation and thresholds between domestic and workspace become a key consideration. Typically home workers occupy a spare bedroom or living room and are compromised with disruption from the domestic environment. By locating the workspace in a separate studio space these disadvantages are overcome, however there needs to be flexibility and adaptability with this approach. Whilst the studio addresses the garden as a floating fence to create separation it is also usable as a family space at weekends and evenings; the children are able to use the computers (with their own log-ins) as well as layout surface for homework and play.

The new dining room doubles up as a library but it also is able to become a workspace and most usefully a separate meeting room to the studio. Sliding walls give separation from the domestic realm.

Pop- up landscape

The courtyard condition created has a different language to the conventional suburban garden. It’s predominantly hard landscape is characterized by a timber surface, which can transform from formal public landscape into a children’s play area. A series of timber hatches lift to reveal a subterranean sandpit, a firepit and paddling pool with hot and cold plumbed water. The timber garden also houses a small circular lawn and the hidden pump and filter system for an adjacent pond.

Structure

The studio is constructed from stressed plywood insulated wall panels. On the front elevation addressing the garden the wall forms a structural truss to allow it to float above a low-level glass panel. From the garden this floating, and apparently solid, timber end wall creates a distinct separation to the studio space. The floor of the studio and the timber garden are at the same level; from within the studio this reads as a continuous surface as a reminder of the ambiguity of home and work space.

Click above for larger image

The front elevation not only floats above ground with no visible supporting structure but it also connects to the side walls through a cantilever junction. This allows the low level glass to return along the side walls and means there is no visible supporting side wall form the garden elevation. There is no structural steel in either the floating elevation or the cantilevering side walls.

Materials

The predominantly timber cladding and surfaces borrow from the domestic language of the garden fence and shed. The corrugated aluminium cladding to the side and rear elevations of the studio make reference to the former corrugated metal garden structures of an Anderson shelter and prefabricated garages typical to the suburban landscape.

Oriented strand board lines every wall, floor and ceiling inside this residential barn extension in Norfolk, England, by London studio Carl Turner Architects.

Black-stained timber clads the exterior of the gabled building, named Stealth Barn, and it sits perpendicular to a larger brick barn that the architects previously converted into a residence.

The interior is divided into rooms that allow it function as a guest house, although the clients also use the barn as a meeting place or studio.

Above: photograph is by Carl Turner

The OSB surfaces are intended to be reminiscent of the straw bales that fill the barns of many farms nearby.

Above: photograph is by Carl Turner

Another project we’ve featured from the agricultural landscape of Norfolk is an extension to a mill-keeper’s house – see it here.

Photography is by Tim Crocker, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here’s some more text from Carl Turner Architects:

Stealth Barn- Carl Turner Architects

Stealth Barn is a project that sits next to and complements Ochre Barn, a large threshing barn converted by CTA to a home and studio.

This addition was to provide a self-contained unit that could equally act as a guest house, studio or meeting place, depending on time of year and workloads: a retreat, but also a place of inspiration, enjoyment and a place of work and home without compromising the experience of either.

Above: photograph is by Jeremy Phillips

Sitting in the exposed expanse of the Cambridgeshire fens, it is a bold, simple form, reminiscent of the barn it accompanies.

Above: photograph is by Jeremy Phillips

Placed perpendicular to the existing barn, it stands to create and define a slightly more sheltered and casual garden which melts into the fens. This clear and simple move also hints at the memory of a former farm yard.

Above: photograph is by Jeremy Phillips

Stealth Barn pays respect to the form of the agricultural context but contrasts with the traditional barn. Stealth Barn is a sharp black mass – a shadow of the adjacent barn or a silhouette on the horizon.

It is a robust exteriorwrapped with a restricted palette, devoid of fussy detail, and formed to withstand its exposed position.

On the interior, this toughness is inverted through the inclusion of a warmer OSB; it wraps fully around the space to form angles reminiscent of the adjacent barns divided with straw bales.

Above: photograph is by Carl Turner

It also creates an immersive interior landscape with spaces simply disected in a semi open-plan manner to create compartments.

Each room has aspects overlooking the fields which, although open, are very much seen through and out of this interior, providing a sense of protection and warmth.

The arrangement of the main spaces into simple pockets is key to facilitating the barn’s multifunctional use – for it to become both a bedroom and a meeting room, a dining room and a studio space. It can be all of these things equally without ever feeling overly domestic or of business.

Stealth Barn is a project instigated and overseen by Carl Turner Architects.

We have acted as developer Architects and, in turn, the project has allowed the office scope to experiment, learn and test ideas.

It was completed at the end of August 2011.

Swedish studio Råk-Arkitektur have won a competition to design a cultural centre for a north London site believed to have once been the legendary realm of King Arthur.

The proposals comprise a 36-metre-high mirrored and faceted building, intended to resemble the stone that the king is said to have pulled a sword from in the 5th Century.

Evidence that the site could be the historical location for Camelot includes archeological findings of thick stone walls, a huge drawbridge and a subterranean dungeon.

A skylight will be positioned atop the structure, which will form a pointed glass shard on the ceiling inside.

By night, lighting directed through this hole will create a bright line across the sky above Trent Park.

It is hoped that the centre will serve as a meeting place for different faiths, as well as a venue for theatre or music.

The competition was organised by the Organization for Mythological Protection and Promotion, who are working to deliver the project.

Here’s some more text from Råk-Arkitektur:

With Trent Park being once the home of King Arthur and Camelot we drew inspiration for this project from the story of him drawing the sword Excalibur from a stone.

The 36 meter high stone shaped structure will have a surface that reflects its woodland environment, creating a less imposing structure whilst rendering the inside with an impressive airy void.

A 7m glass structure in the shape of a swords tip will let in light from outside and during the night a light will beam from the hole, illuminating the night sky, becoming a beacon for Trent park.

With the sites rich historical and mythological past we suggest that the future for Trent Park and this site will hold a multi faith meeting place and cultural centre. With London being known for its religious diversity we want this place to act as a spiritual sanctuary were people of all faiths and beliefs are welcomed alike. The building will also be able to host events such as theatre, opera and other cultural happenings.

Climbing plants grow in the recesses of this mysterious steel fence, which conceals the entrance to a renovated coach house in north London.

Completed by London studio Moxon Architects, Murray Mews is now a residence with an entrance courtyard occupying the coach house’s former service yard.

Glazing behind the fenced facade and courtyard provides a view into the open-plan living room and kitchen, while an extended, projecting entranceway leads inside.

The building’s original concrete ceiling is retained on the ground floor, as are the existing steel joists.

Secure bicycle storage is provided in the entrance lobby, while bin stores are integrated into the rear of the steel fence.

We’ve published a few London extensions on Dezeen – see our earlier stories about a barrel-vaulted conservatory and an extension with a flower-covered roof.

Photography is by Edmund Sumner.

Here’s a full description from Ben Addy of Moxon Architects:

257 MWS / Murray Mews

This modest project comprises the renovation and extension of a coach house on Murray Mews in the London borough of Camden. Murray Mews comprises a uniquely varied and idiosyncratic, but also beautiful, collection of small scale domestic architecture – a concentration of robust one off houses and conversions that nonetheless retains a coherent charm.

The project brings new use to the service space at the front of the property as a private courtyard, while the internal spaces comprise a carefully composed mix of pre-existing and new elements. The utilitarian character of the building’s former function is retained and complemented by new insertions to provide for the requirements of a modern home.

The pre-existing boardmarked in-situ concrete ceiling is retained alongside exposed bolted steelwork and engineering brickwork. New structure and services are incorporated as background elements of volumes and planes.

In order to maintain security and privacy to the living areas, steel screens are used for the street facing boundary of the site. These screens also incorporate a bin storage area to reduce visual clutter at street level.

Behind the boundary screens a single storey lobby extension provides both a secure entrance space and cycle storage. Next to the lobby a private front courtyard space has been created to turn an otherwise disused private car parking space into provide external family / play space.

One of the fundamental characteristics of Murray Mews is the variety of attitudes to the streetside elevations. Proportions, fenestration and massing along the street frontage vary greatly, creating a rich vocabulary of material and structural methods along the length of the street.

The approach to boundaries also varies along the street; some houses are set back creating private courtyards, others built up to the kerb. These extensions are natural developments over time and are informal in architectural massing terms – this informality is what gives the road its identity and ongoing vitality, this project is intended to take its own identifiable place in this context.

The vigorous nature of the mews streetscape is complimented by the tough materiality and direct simplicity of the boundary wall. The monolithic nature of the wall matches the functional approach to brickwork and painted timber screen walls elsewhere in the mews.

The steel used in forming this boundary is stepped in plan to provide structural depth for stiffness while also providing opportunities for planting in the recessed portions of the wall, presenting a green face to the interior of the property.

Client / Private
Budget / Confidential
Stage / Completed