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Milan Design Week 2013 Showcase
Thursday, 18th April 2013 at 1:24pm
Milan Design Week an event that showcases the latest designs from around the world with a focus upon furniture took place at the beginning of the month.
Many architects have worked in collaboration with manufacturers to design pieces to be shown here, and ArchDaily has compiled a list of what they feel are the Best Architect Designed Products from the week.
The list includes work by Jean Nouvel for Ruco Line, where he explored fashion, creating Pure - a high quality trainer that idolizes “purity of form”.
Also featured is Tools for Life, a new furniture range designed by OMA for Knoll and Ron Arad’s 3 Nuns Stool for Moroso’s American Collection.
Take look at the full list here.
World's largest underwater hotel
Wednesday, 30th January 2013 at 1:21pm
It looks like it could be something from an old James Bond film, but Polish company Deep Ocean Technology (DOT), are planning to make this idea a reality. The Water Discus hotel will not be the first underwater hotel, but is set to be the world’s largest. It will be built in Dubai, and consist of two main discs, one above water, the other below, and will have smaller circular modules connected to the above water section to provide additional facilities to the 21 hotel rooms located below the sea level. The main above sea disc will be supported and connected to it's counterpart by five columns and a main central shaft for stairs and lift.
The hotel will also boast a helipad, an underwater diving centre, with an airlock leading directly underwater, and a decompression chamber for training purposes. The nature of the design allows for the hotel to be expanded or even moved, with the surrounding discs having the ability to detach from the main disc and act as a buoyant life raft in the event of an emergency.
Hotel guests will be able to enjoy underwater views from their room, a submerged bar and even take a course in piloting an underwater vehicle.
DOT’s other ventures include designing underwater vehicles and equipment for seabed exploration.Tagged Architecture, design, innovation, hotel, underwater, Dubai, architects, Polish, diving
A crystal ball for the FIFA 2022 World Cup
Thursday, 13th September 2012 at 7:37pm
Building up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar has announced its plans to construct a gigantic shimmering crystal ball that will host a sports museum and shopping centre.
It was conceived by Danijel Koletić, owner of Apriori Communications, and was designed by architects Vedran Pedišić (SANGRAD) and Erick Velasco Farerra (AVP-arhitekti).
Incorporating cutting-edge technology to ensure energy efficiency (they will need a crystal ball to know what these might be), the structure will be called the Crystal Ball-Light of the Future.
See more on Inhabitat.
Russian aquarium covers all five continents
Thursday, 13th September 2012 at 7:24pm
This beautiful structure, still in construction, is the Primorsky Aquarium, which is the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.Combining a research centre, Dolphinarium and the underwater worlds from five continents the centre will have tanks that are more than 10,000 cubic metres in size.
These will hold around 500 species of marine and fresh water inhabitants with a complex of different sized tanks, allowing visitors to explore a range of habitats including the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk, the Bering Sea, Lake Baikal, the Amur River and Lake Khanka.
The centre has been design by architects, OJSC Primorgrajdanproekt and you find out more on Arch Daily.
Photographs by Alexander Hitrov.Tagged Russia, Russian, Architects, Design, Primorsky, Arch Daily, Marine, Construction
Clock this interior in St Petersburg
Monday, 10th September 2012 at 8:02pm
Clocking in in St Petersburg, Russia could not be easier than in this office designed by Za Bor Architects.
The office was designed for Yandex, a search engine business, who wanted to go one step further than their other office, also designed by Za Bor, in the same building.
The project architects decided to locate meeting 'cells', work areas and unusual objects along the corridor, resulting in visitors finding themselves 'inside' the Yandex search service.
At the reception they're met by a 'Search' button and a yellow arrow (an unofficial Yandex logo) and as visitors move around the corridors they find familiar user name and email password input boxes as well as symbols and icons associated with Yandex services.
To find out more about this interesting themed interior visit Contemporist by clicking here.
Canstruction comes to London
Wednesday, 27th June 2012 at 8:54pm
Ever fancied knocking down a stack of cans in a supermarket? Then you wouldn't have been very popular at Canstruction last week.
Sunday saw architects, designers and engineers coming together to compete in teams of five in the 20th anniversary of the Canstruction competition.
The task was to build sculptures entirely from canned food during the 12-hour competition that took place in London's Canary Wharf.
Waitrose and food retailer AF Blakemore provided the contestants with 40,000 cans to build their designs. Competitors included engineering practice Thornton Tomasetti, who used cans of Heinz Cooked Spaghetti to create a rocket ship, while others used cans of Heinz Baked Beans to create a variety of shaped archways.
This is the first time that Canstruction has come to the UK and is part of the London Festival of Architecture, which started on 23rd June.
For more information see World Interior Design Network.
AIA launches architecture app
Saturday, 2nd June 2012 at 8:20am
If you're heading over to the States and fancy finding out more about the buildings around you then this is the essential app.The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has formed a partnership with Broadcastr and created an app that provides in-depth information about the buildings around you along with exclusive interviews with architects and a vast library of narratives from local professionals that reveal the stories and facts. The app initially works in Los Angeles, New York City and Washington D.C.
“Imagine standing in front of one of the world’s great buildings and listening to the architect tell you about her inspiration,” said Andy Hunter, CEO of Broadcastr. “We are thrilled that our partnership with AIA makes that possible.”
The AIA Broadcastr is available on Apple and Android. Let us know if you make it over there and use it. Should RIBA be launching a similar app?Tagged Architecture, AIA, RIBA, App, Buildings, Architects, Inspiration, USA
The Ordos Museum lands in the Gobi desert
Sunday, 11th March 2012 at 5:31am
It was designed by MAD Archtiects and is surrounded be the dunes of the Gobi desert with stairways and belvederes that grow out of the earth.
Located in the new city center of Ordos, the space itself is deeply rooted in the local culture. To view on ArchDaily click here or watch this atmospheric video.
Casting a new light on wallpaper
Sunday, 4th March 2012 at 4:39am
The paper has LED lights embedded within a circuit board design.
The designer comments, "The LED wallpaper offers very thrilling possibilities to illuminate rooms: Dimmed, enigmatic light hardly revealing where the shine is coming from or an urban vibrating atmosphere – to mention only a few options."
"It’s magic! A big advantage also is that the LED wallpaper can be hung in more or fewer strips and lengths according to the architecture and furnishing of a room. Interior designers have the choice."
See more on Trendir.
Moleskine launches architects series
Saturday, 3rd March 2012 at 7:47am
Now, to celebrate the notepad's association with architects and their sketchpads, Moleskine has launched a new range of raw grey cardboard books with excerpts from the original notebooks of four inspirational architects, Zaha Hadid, Giancarlo De Carlo, Peter Wilson of BOLLES+WILSON and Alberto Kalach.
Providing unprecedented access to their archives and personal files these small Moleskine books show reproductions of their works alongside blank pages for the owner’s own use. Passages of handwritten text from the architects explaining their inspiration for the original sketches are also shown within the notebooks as well as replicas of line drawings on table napkins and scraps of paper and early plans for now completed buildings.
These are really interesting insights into the thought processes of some of the world's leading architects and a must have for architecture fans.
They are a bit difficult to find on the Moleskine website but if this link does not take you straight to them search for Architecture. You can also see more on Design Boom.
RIBA hunts for unique pews and perches
Friday, 30th December 2011 at 4:29am
The winners of Pews & Perches will receive funding to build their designs which will be showcased around the Royal Docks in East London in time for the 2012 Olympic Games.
The deadline for submissions is 30 January 2012.
Click here for more details
Sir Peter Cook’s 75th Birthday Art Auction and Exhibition
Monday, 31st October 2011 at 10:39am
'Showrooms' app launched for New York
Monday, 14th March 2011 at 7:41am
Download the 'Showrooms' app here
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