Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2020 i AZURE

Don’t touch that. At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, every interaction suddenly became a potential vector of transmission — and of heightened anxiety. Fortunately, not all surfaces are created equal. Ceramic and porcelain are inherently bacteriostatic, exceptionally non-absorbent and easy-to-clean materials, and they’ve been used to create hygienic and durable spaces for centuries. But that’s no excuse to stop evolving. For Ciot, the intrinsic properties of porcelain and ceramic tiles are a springboard for innovation in new technologies that supplement their natural qualities. Enter Microban. A marquee addition to Ciot’s extensive porcelain and ceramic portfolio, the antibacterial technology has recently been introduced to a number of its striking collections. Microban integrates ceramics with silver ions during the firing process to embed a powerful — and permanent — protective shield…

Before COVID-19 had the unexpected consequence of improving global air quality by reducing car, plane and other traffic worldwide, many of China’s urban centres struggled with serious air pollution, a scourge that civic authorities there have tried to counter by investing in health-enhancing infrastructure. One such project — the Jiangyin Greenway in the Yangtze River port city of the same name — is intended to knit together a quartet of existing green zones via a walkable raised loop comprised of four “clearly identifiable segments.” The northern segment, which was realized first, passes through Jiangyin’s docklands parks. The segment shown here — the eastern part of the loop — meanders to the river and was finished late last year. As envisioned by its designers — a team from the Australian–Chinese practice…

Olli Olli is a flexible power and data beam system that can be reconfigured in minutes. Each of the components — pivoting and hanging screens, side and meeting tables, stackable storage caddies, coat racks, planters — features the same slip-slot connection to make swapping in and out quick and easy. A palette of fresh colours and finishes suits a range of contexts. madebypair.com Screen One of three new two-tone woven upholstery fabrics, Screen mixes negative and positive space through its medium-scale raised grid patterning. Intended for modular furniture and vertical panel applications, the durable polyester has a soft, cottony texture and comes in nine colour-ways. wolfgordon.com Twist Chair For this sculptural seat by Patkau Architects and Nienkamper, a special process was developed to press two layers of birch plywood into…

Stacked rows of stylized book spines wrap the sinuous walls of the Leganes Norte Central Library in a witty example of architecture parlante. The sign is redundant: Everyone in the surrounding neighbourhood, a new development on the southern edge of Madrid, can guess what’s inside. The outer facade is composed of 9,126 curved terracotta tiles in 40 different sizes and 17 hues, integrally coloured and clipped to a metal frame that’s attached to precast concrete panels 14 centimetres thick. Behind them is a layer of glass-fibre insulation, another void and an inner lining of gypsum board. A lofty glass atrium links the library to the municipal archives — a volume faced in standing-seam zinc that’s almost moody by comparison. BN Asociados Arquitectos, the husband-and-wife team of Silvia Babsky Nadel and…

Recycled products are usually discussed in terms of percentages. A sneaker composed of 30 per cent recycled ocean waste. Wood flooring that’s 50 per cent recycled wood chips. PrettyPlastic is an outlier. The line’s exterior cladding tiles are made entirely from used PVC construction waste such as gutter pipes and window frames; there is no new material in their composition. Its creators say the shingles are the world’s first 100 per cent recycled cladding. The Amsterdam team that makes PrettyPlastic was founded by designers Reinder Bakker and Hester van Dijk of Overtreders W and architect Peter van Assche of Bureau SLA. The three met as neighbours and began collaborating, eventually designing a coffee bar made entirely from secondhand materials. Their partnership evolved when a local group collecting household plastic asked…

1 MASTERCOOL II The second generation of the MasterCool series features a handle-free push-to-open door so the unit can sit flush with the wall, as well as an interior with height-adjustable shelves and bins for flexible storage. Discreet but effective LED strips illuminate the contents and an integrated filter eliminates odours. miele.ca 2 COLUMN REFRIGERATION Offered in three widths, JennAir’s column refrigerators have been updated with over 600 LEDs (to dramatically highlight the obsidian interior) and the Trinity Cooling system (which allows for three customizable and distinct temperature zones within). Solid glass and metal door bins are also new additions. jennair.com 3 400 SERIES On the outside, the 400 Series of refrigerators and freezers can be finished in a single sheet of stainless steel or adapted to match a kitchen’s…

Spanish architect LUIS VIDAL has worked on more than 30 airport designs worldwide, including the award-winning Zaragoza Airport in northeastern Spain and the beloved Queen’s Terminal at London Heathrow. His floor plans are spacious and open-ended, his interiors bathed in natural light. Few people alive have thought so carefully about the experience of being in an airport. Thanks to COVID-19, that experience is likely to change dramatically, as the architect, who is currently working on Pittsburgh International’s new terminal, explains to Simon Lewsen. In Vidal’s view, the post-pandemic airport will be unlike anything we’ve seen before. It seems clear that, if airports are to become safer from an epidemiological standpoint, we will need to move through them in a different way. There will need to be less clustering, shorter lineups…

THE OFFICE OF TODAY IS A GRID OF FACES ON ZOOM It’s official: The office has migrated online. The tools that we use for working and communing are now a network of apps and clouds. While it was once an abstract notion for most, working from home is the new normal. During the pandemic, WFH has proved successful as an infrastructural exercise, with technology as the platform for all social connections, from staff meetings to happy hours. The pandemic has also brought the various meanings of work into sharp relief and reset our understanding of essential and nonessential work, of salaried and gig positions. In the process, it has catapulted new heroes — medical professionals, grocery store cashiers, takeout couriers, mail clerks — into a vastly altered public sphere. In…

Tiles 1 Glow Each of the colourways in this wall tile collection includes a hologram option with a rainbowlike effect to strategically interrupt the pastel palette. Materials Ceramic Dimensions 5.08 × 25.4 (8 mm thick) Colourways Four (Rain Gloss shown) Manufacturer Nemo Tile + Stone, nemotile.com 2 Biscuit With five three-dimensional surfaces and one flat, Biscuit allows for architectural installations that play with different perceptions of shadow and light. Materials Ceramic Dimensions 5.08 × 20.3 (8 mm thick) Colourways Four (Salvia shown) Manufacturer Ceragres, ceragres.ca 3 Lume Intentionally inconsistent colouring and perfectly flawed surface patterning give these high-gloss tiles a sense of movement between light levels. Materials Porcelain Dimensions 6 × 24 (10 mm thick) Colourways Six (Green shown) Manufacturer Marazzi, marazzigroup.com 4 New California Alluding to both the North…

What technology is set to shape how we work? LEXI TSIEN Co-writer, “The Office as We Knew It No Longer Exists” (page 80) I think the TikTok generation will create some new technologies for collective learning that upgrade Zoom. Social media in general will continue to blur what work is, how it is organized and the production of value. The office as an architectural typology is going to be much more informal — more a place for social connection than a place for you to be supervised. What was the most memorable part of your assignment? MAXIME BROUILLET Photographer, “Service with a Style” (page 76) Capturing the CO-Sol offices by Toronto studio Uufie was a challenge. Not only was this a unique space in a somewhat standard office building, but…

Riffing on the simple form and refined lines of torii, the entrance gates common at Shinto shrines throughout Japan, designer Oki Sato has translated this post-and-lintel structure into an interlocking metal frame that defines his latest collection for Minotti. The Nendo founder’s aptly named Torii series is a flexible and sprawling family of furnishings that includes coffee tables, consoles, sofas, ottomans, dining chairs and armchairs, to name of few of the many options. Complementing the unique horizontal supports, a curving backrest gives the line’s seating elements their unique sculptural quality. The high- and low-back versions of the armchair (shown) feature vertical quilting and piping drawn from traditional luggage-making techniques, which combine with the bronze-varnished legs (inspired in part by the kigumi method of wood joinery) to effortlessly marry Italian and…

Click Spanish manufacturer Sancal’s first flat-pack seating range takes its name from the car seat–inspired mechanism that allows its various modules — from armrests to tables — to click into place. The system comes in a variety of textiles and leathers, including this muted coral. sancal.com Ruff The chunky volumes of Patricia Urquiola’s latest creation for Moroso form a tribute to the art of Basque abstract sculptor Eduardo Chillida. Ruff’s wide armrests perch on the sides of the seat and wrap firmly around it with the help of a single joint. moroso.i Telares Celebrating the tensions between warp and weft, the Telares rug by Nanimarquina is handwoven from Afghan wool using techniques common in kilims and dhurries. This rustic, carmine-coloured yarn version highlights the collection’s serious level of craft. nanimarquina.com…

When Rand Elliott was tapped to design a new home for Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, he was intent on conceiving a structure that was uniquely of its place. But rather than looking to the region’s vernacular, landscape or cowboy past, the local architect and principal of his eponymous studio settled on something more ethereal: Oklahoma City’s wide open sky and radically unpredictable climate. “They say the weather here is like riding a bucking bronco,” Elliott explains, noting that summer-like sunshine can shift to bowling ball–sized hail within 24 hours. “You either like those huge shifts or you don’t. But for natives of Oklahoma, it goes with the territory. I wanted to go beyond the history of the state — the Dust Bowl, the bombing of 1995 and the oil and…

1 Q_STONE In Monterrey, Mexico, architect Mario Bolivar designed a house with a jagged profile to reference its mountainous surrounding. The exterior is clad in 1,200 square metres of Q_Stone by Provenza, a UV- and extreme temperature–resistant porcelain that mimics the look of natural quartzite. Five tile sizes (from 10 by 30 to 30 by 60 centimetres) were installed to create a varied and textured effect. emilgroup.it 2 TEXTURE TRAVERTINE Developed using noncombustible, mineral-based raw materials, this fibreglass-reinforced concrete is sustainable and lightweight, with 13-millimetre-thick panels and multiple colours, including Anthracite (shown). rieder.cc 3 LOIRE VALLEY ROUGHCUT The irregular surface of these stone-cast veneers is achieved by handapplying multiple layers of a concrete and aggregate blend. The resulting colourway, similar to limestone, mixes ivory and cream with hints of sand;…

After years of studying fruit fly cells, three American scientists discovered a vital genetic link that illustrates how living organisms have adapted their biological rhythms to synchronize with the Earth’s rotation. The breakthrough garnered the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the trio, and proved without a doubt that all life on this planet is adapted to its revolutions. So if it’s a reality embedded into our DNA, why not our architecture? The groundbreaking Circadian Curtain Wall concept, originally devised by senior HOK facade specialist John Neary and developed in collaboration with WSP Built Ecology, aims to effect just that. Recently, Azure spoke to Neary, who broke down how it works. Learning from nature Exposure to daylight and views of the outdoors make a real difference. While studies…

COMBINE EVOLUTION Expanding on his 2018 design, Piero Lissoni’s Combine now includes an open metal structure with drawers to connect the cooking and working blocks, a built-in solid oak stave table and a fixed hanging matte black aluminum utensil bar with embedded LEDs, plus tall storage units and integrated appliances. New finishes — Carrara marble and a matte black scratch- and fingerprint-resistant stainless steel — are also offered. boffi.com SHAPE A unifying moulding runs across the volumes of this system, allowing the neatly tapered edges to contain integrated handles; the result is a sleek handle-free front. Appliances — both vertical and under-counter models — can also be concealed behind the cabinet and island panels for a seamless look. And it can be paired with the new Infinity Modular hood system…

Over the past few months, COVID-19 has greatly altered the way we work. Forced into lockdowns all around the world, many of us have abandoned our traditional offices, instead connecting with people through digital services such as Zoom, Skype and FaceTime. If such patterns were to persist, the consequences for cities could be major. Certainly, a lot of real estate would be freed up — something that might be bad news for developers, but not so bad for citizens, as large metropolises could become more affordable for the young and less wealthy. More importantly, new living patterns might redefine the prevailing modes of human habitation. As it was during the mid–20th century, suburbia might again become a preferred urban form — with drastic repercussions for our global infrastructure. The key…

When it comes to the smart city of the future, the most important thing is to use technology for good. And that means ensuring sustainability, which goes hand in hand with health. From a civic point of view, there are three kinds of health: social health (bringing people together as a community), mental health (which entails making people feel safe, seen and accepted) and physical health (which involves a healthy environment that allows people to grow their own food, for instance, in a semi-public garden). From now on, technology should be used to support sustainability and health the same way that an analog solution would. It should not be used merely as a gadget. unstudio.com Dutch architect Ben van Berkel is co-founder and principal of Amsterdam-based UNStudio and a lecturer…

There are a number of qualities that make Natura — a 2,500-square-metre office and residential complex in the Quito suburb of Tumbaco, about 25 kilometres southeast of the capital — unique among buildings in the country and indeed in South America. For one, it’s unusually open, both in its relationship to the street and in its use of interior space. Unlike many buildings in Latin America, it doesn’t lie behind high walls, but welcomes occupants and visitors with verdant, unbarricaded frontage and a flight of low, wide steps that leads to a check-in booth and the main entrance. Its defining feature, moreover, is a soaring central atrium, partly open to the elements, that separates the residential component from the offices. As its name implies, the complex is also strongly connected…

Liberty Atelier Alain Ellouz’s latest addition to the Infinity lighting series is a playful trio dubbed Liberty. Each of the three NYCxDesign Award–winning pendants features a leather-wrapped steel suspension system and two bronze or brass rings that hold a serpentine alabaster diffuser. atelier-alain-ellouz.com Rose Sofa Four plush cylinders comprise French–Italian designer Joris Poggioli’s four-metre-long, limited-edition lounger. Shown here wrapped in ribbed tone-on-tone fabric, the design comes in a number of customizable sizes and materials. jorispoggioli.com Ribbon Chair Composed of layered bands of extruded aluminum, the Ribbon Chair by Los Angeles studio Laun is as flexible as it is charming. Offered in a range of custom powder-coated hues (such as the rosy shade shown) and sizes, the indoor–outdoor seat was conceived by designers Rachel Bullock and Molly Purnell with a matching…

What does Made in Italy really mean? As a designation, it makes for a compelling selling point, one that lends new Italian-crafted products the cachet of the country’s rich design tradition. But for Flexform, these words represent not only a statement of fact but an ethos. The leading brand, with over a century of history, has harnessed its Italian design heritage to create a timeless yet contemporary collection of residential furniture that feels tailor-made for a moment in history mostly experienced from home. While post-pandemic reality has given our homes a more pivotal role in day-to-day life, this considered design approach intuitively responds to longer-term changes in lifestyle. In bold new pieces by the likes of Carlo Colombo, Antonio Citterio and Flexform’s in-house Design Center, the elegant and deftly tapered…

PATTERN READY First applied by BNIM Architects to the building housing Johnson County Community College’s Fine Arts & Design Studios in Kansas, Lumi Frit specialty exterior glass can be customized with a laminated and etched surface — in this case, an array of fine white dots that minimizes reflections and is visible to birds. An endless range of patterns can be adhered to the panels, which measure up to 2.13 by 4.19 metres and are easily installed using the brand’s clip-in ventilated glass cladding system. bendheim.com CLEAN LINES From the Series 7000 performance line of moving glass walls and windows, the Series 7600 multi-slide doors feature low-E, argon-filled dual-pane glass (in heights up to 4.5 metres) that can be customized for colour, solar control and more. Thin sills let walls…

Although California architect Thomas Ryan had long been a fan of Alvar Aalto’s buildings, it was during a 2006 trip to Finland and Sweden that he became particularly enamoured of the Finnish icon’s recurring use of screens. “There’s something about the way a screen creates space but doesn’t stop space,” the Sausalito-based architect says. “It creates the atmosphere of a wall.” When a couple asked him to take over the gut reno of a two-storey San Francisco house that already had permits for its interior plan, Ryan designed a series of quasi-walls in tribute. “Because there were so many givens I couldn’t change, it became about the details.” Screens appear throughout the 297-square-metre Mission District home. Entering it requires passing beneath a painted cedar board-and-batten facade and through a security…

Specializing in database technology, CO-Sol is a Japanese company that provides its clientele with 24-hour support service. To create its new satellite office in Toronto, it turned to the local design studio Uufie, which transformed a compact suite in a massive mixed-use complex in the city’s north end for the firm. Taking advantage of the time difference between Toronto and Asia, CO-Sol’s seven employees handle nighttime duty for Japan out of the space. It’s the type of quirky cult-film premise — a tiny band of transplanted computer whizzes (plus one Canadian) quietly at work in a quasi-suburban residential and commercial building — that sparks the imagination. And the interior, replete with bold gestures and moody details, more than lives up to the cinematic promise. Eiri Ota — who runs Uufie,…

GABRIEL HUERTA, principal of the Brooklyn- and Tijuana-based design firm Studiohuerta, didn’t get into architecture just to build lavish retreats for the well-to-do. He has a decidedly humanist bent — and a portfolio that includes a postgraduate student centre at CETYS University in Mexico as well as conceptual designs for miniature green spaces to be situated on traffic medians in New York City. Currently, Huerta is enrolled in the Yale School of Architecture’s post-professional design research program, which focuses on socially engaged work. “I want to move back and forth between architecture and academia,” he says, noting that he has already taken at least one break from professional practice to pursue intensive studies; in 2012, Huerta completed a degree program in environmental design at Spain’s Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura…

Solid Surfacing 1 Dark Side Caesarstone’s Dark collection is a range of deep quartz surfaces with a subtle textured finish and satin sheen. Designed for kitchens and bathrooms, the four lines comprising the series include Black Tempal (shown), patterned with delicate mineral deposits that give it a weathered appearance. caesarstone.ca 2 Timber Terrazzo Each of Foresso’s 85 per cent recycled products is composed of end-grain wood chips, plaster waste, wood dust and a bio-based resin. Offered in four colourways, the 24.4-by-12.2-centimetre terrazzo-like slabs consist of a 0.6-centimetre-thick top layer and a 1.8-centimetre plywood substrate. foresso.co.uk 3 Wave Maker Liquid is a collection of three ultra-compact Dekton by Cosentino surfaces conceived with London studio Patternity. From swirling-veined Liquid Sky (shown) to dark Liquid Embers, the marbled slabs are available up to…

In one of my favourite works by Virginia Woolf, the author reflects on the fleeting life of a day moth as it darts from one edge of her window to the other, unable to access the pastoral landscape unfolding just beyond the pane. A similar sense of confinement resonated as I traced the perimeters of my apartment during recent weeks spent sheltering in place. Like the insect, many of us were restricted to our domestic spaces, finding refuge in momentary glimpses of the outside world through Zoom, FaceTime and other virtual windows. Not just innate voids in a facade, windows compose particular visions of entire exterior and interior worlds as they merge inside and out. Their strategic positioning is carefully considered, echoing that of a camera’s lens. “Ever since I…