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Conifera

Innovation - 24.06.2019

Conifera Arthur Mamou-Mani & COS

Arthur Mamou-Mani collaborated with COS for the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in April, designing this installation built with 3D printed bio-plastic in the courtyard of Palazzo Isimbardi in Milan. The fashion house COS, headquartered in London, built its eighth consecutive installation at Milan’s annual Salone del Mobile, this time in collaboration with the London-based French architect Arthur Mamou-Mani.Conifera is a large-scale digitally designed pavilion built with 700 3D-printed ‘bio-blocks’ made of renewable materials. The project centered on using 3D technology without sacrificing sustainablity and the message. The structure connects the palazzo’s central inner courtyard to the garden, creating a transition symbolized in a change of materials, with a mix of wood and bioplastic transforming into soft, translucent, pure bioplastic towards the other end.In Arthur Mamou-Mani’s words, “Conifera blends the digital with the physical world while addressing sustainability through the use of compostable bio-plastic, propduced and 3D printed locally. It is a dialogue between technology and craft, between the manmade and the natural and between monu
House of the Archeologist

Architecture - 20.06.2019

House of the Archeologist

LCA architetti

The Italian firm LCA architetti, based in Varese (Milan), has designed a house for an archaeologist where history and archaeology are the centerpiece, as they are in the client’s life.  The practice pursues a sustainable architecture through renewable materials and by creating spaces at a human scale, whatever the scale of the building. The ‘House of the Archaeologist’ was specially designed for the client, who wanted a contemporary reinterpretation of the past in the form of a bright home where the effect of light changes in the course of the day, discarded materials are given new life, and energy consumption is down to the minimum.The house has a rectangular base which other blocks of cubic form have been inserted in or extracted from. It rises two levels and the openings are placed in such a way that they interact with the surrounding landscape.All materials are taken from decommissioned quarries and landfills, and the result is reminiscent of the brick textures of old walls, interspersed with large cut stones.
Interview with Nika Zupanc

Interview - 19.06.2019

Interview with Nika Zupanc

Cosentino

In this conversation Vanessa Feo, Head of International Communication for Cosentino, interviews Nika Zupanc, globally recognised product and interior designer. What is the first material, the first spark to start designing a product? What path do you follow in your creative process?Nika Zupanc (NZ): For me it is very important who I am working for, because I am of course an industrial designer, so the product is always a combination of your philosophy and philosophy of the company. So the initial brief always comes from the company. Then it depends whether the company has its own material that it works with, if this is the case, then you concentrate on that material, and you work with that material. Then you have companies that don’t have their own technology, and in cases like that you start from different points. But it’s always combination of the material, for me the innovation in the material is very important, so is how to use the existing techniques in a new way. And then of course it is just the combination of the function, the appearance, the colours, etc. But it really depends on each product, always it&rs
Camp Adventure Park

Architecture - 13.06.2019

Camp Adventure Park

EFFEKT

In the middle of Gisselfeld Klosters Forest, an hour south of Copenhagen, stands this 45-meter tower designed by EFFEKT, which officially opened on 31 March this year. The first of its kind in Scandinavia, typologically, this multi-awarded mirador-tower with a hyperbolic shape seeks to bring visitors closer to nature by giving them a new perspective of the boreal forest and its ever-changing appearance: the view from above the treetops. Its uniqueness is its strong point, with the potential to boost tourism in the area. The idea of the construction and its unique frame came from a desire to give everyone access to the forest, a special place with a huge variety of fauna and flora that is not to be invaded or hindered in any way. The project involved two different parts: a series of paths through the woods, and the observation tower culminating it. The tower structure was built with weathered steel and locally sourced wood. The latter is used for the floor of the boardwalk that spirals up amid treetops to a height of 45 meters. The visitor is treated to a 360º view and can see all the way to Copenhagen or Malmö; a true experience of immersion in na
Casa Rural VB

Architecture - 10.06.2019

Casa Rural VB

Lucas y Hernández - Gil

In Villalba de los Barros, in the south of the region of Extremadura, Estudio Lucas y Hernández-Gil has renovated one of the small town’s whitewashed houses, blending new and preexisting. The area where the town is located is called Tierra de Barros because of the deep red tone of its clayey soil. The project involved a rural inn on the main square, a two-story construction containing four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a hallway, a sitting room, a kitchen, a dining room, a patio, and a cellar. The strategy of the architects was to highlight the original features of the existing building, and preserve its character in the new ones, even with the incorporation of current uses and details.Structurally the building is held up by loadbearing walls and an Extremaduran (timbrel) vault at ground level, which accommodates the more social and public parts of the program. New openings are made on this level in order to create more space and connections between rooms.As for interior materials and finishes, again the intention was to maintain the house’s atmosphere of the past, so the lost original flooring was reinstalled, handmade by local ceramicists.
Entre Pinos

Architecture - 06.06.2019

Entre Pinos

Taller Héctor Barroso

In the middle of a forest in Valle de Bravo, Mexico, stand five houses caressed by the moving shadows of the surrounding pines. They are identical in typology, each one divided into six volumes that generate a play of voids and a central courtyard where one can enjoy silence, privacy, and marvelous views of the woods. The design is more closed to the north, maximizing privacy by limiting fenestration to the necessary, while presenting generous openings southward, capitalizing on natural light and views. Entrepinos (amongst pine trees) is a project that seeks to connect with the place. Hence the use of materials of the area, such as wood and soil, and excess soil extracted during the digging for the foundation was used as finish in the exterior and interior walls.The interior layout goes by levels. Upstairs go the bedrooms, and on the ground floor are the shared spaces, which expand to the exterior, forming a continuity with terraces, the patio, and the gardens.
Pavilion House

Architecture - 03.06.2019

Pavilion House

Andreia Garcia Architectural Affairs & Diogo Aguiar Studio

Amid vineyards in Guimarães, Portugal, the Porto firms Diogo Aguiar Studio and Andreia Garcia Architectural Affairs raised this small timber-clad house where furniture and services are built into the walls.  Pavilion House is a small inhabitable space on the mountain located between vineyards and woods in Guimarães, specifically on top of a preexisting granite wine cellar. This restricts the shape of the floor plan, but the altitude makes for fine views of the surrounding landscape. The interior is organized to capitalize on the views, framed by four openings facing different directions.Inside we find a space designed to adapt to the user’s momentary needs, but always in direct connection with the environment. The small house has an open space where the eye is drawn to the largest window, which frames the best views, northward. On the other hand, private elements like the bathroom and the bed, besides the kitchen and the pantry, can be hidden, appearing and disappearing from the central space as the user pleases.Both inside and outside the walls present vertical wooden slats. Native plants deck the roof, blending the building with the nature around.
Los Angeles

Travel - 30.05.2019

Los Angeles

USA

The ‘city of stars’ is a stage and a dream factory that spreads between signature houses, red carpets, and highway junctions.

Kéré & Kundoo

Interview - 27.05.2019

Kéré & Kundoo

In Dialogue

The Berlin-based Burkinabé Francis Kéré and the Indian architect Anupama Kundoo talk about the coincidences and differences that have marked their lives and their careers. The following is an excerpt of a conversation that took place in Madrid, on the occasion of the Museo ICO exhibition, between Francis Kéré and the Indian architect Anupama Kundoo, whose work expresses a sensitivity much akin to the African’s.Anupama Kundoo: There is something I never asked you before. You and I have done things that point to a certain grouping or commonality. But one of the differences between us is this: I studied architecture in India and I started working there with the education I had received. I come from a very populated area in Bombay but I moved to a rural zone, where, out of necessity, I explored low-tech ways of building, respecting the resources the locals have. Later I went to Germany, taught with the head of the department, and decided to do my PhD. You, in contrast, studied in Germany, so there has to be a German influence on the African imprint you carry inside. I see your underlying emotions and roots clearly, also in the way yo
Architecture on the Road

Architecture - 23.05.2019

Architecture on the Road

Norwegian National Scenic Routes

A project with the objective of recovering the use of national roads in Norway by creating routs in which we find architectural interventions, most of them carried out by Norwegian firms.   The development of the highways in Norway left the vernacular routes that ran along national roads in disuse. This circumstance is common to the rest of Europe, but was especially dramatic in the Nordic country because of the extraordinary landscapes that were being left behind. The project launched in 1993, and still in progress today, set out to recover 18 of these routes with the addition of architectural, artistic, or landscaping projects that equip the roads with the necessary services and establish natural milestones. This initiative helps to support far-off towns that are disconnected from the main roads while developing a completely innovative program that becomes a touristic and cultural magnet. The 18 routes and more than 1.600 kilometers that cross the country from north to south will have around 250 resting areas, parking lots, and viewpoints in 2024, spaces carefully designed by different architecture and design studios. Today 60% of the facilities have already been completed, in most cases by No
James Simon Galerie

Architecture - 22.05.2019

James Simon Galerie David Chipperfield Architects

Located between the canal and the River Spree, in the center of Berlin, the Museumsinsel comprises five historic buildings raised between 1824 and 1930, and has now just opened a new addition, the James Simon Galerie The inauguration of the James Simon Galerie marks a key moment in the history of the Museumsinsel, creating a new entrance that welcomes visitors and organizes the circulations throughout the five buildings that make up the ensemble. Designed by David Chipperfield Architects, the project evokes the classical character of the ‘cultural acropolis’ imagined in 1841 by Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia, who hoped to turn the ‘island’ into a sanctuary for art and science. This new building continues the restoration – also developed by Chipperfield – of the Neues Museum, which after being bombarded during World War II remained for decades in a state of ruin. Upon establishing a connection with this work – designed in 1843 by Friedrich August Stüler – the new building departs from historicist trends yet remains silent. After a careful study of the different degrees of destruction of the building, which still preserved some of its detailed finishes and frescoes, t