Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2015 i AZURE

SEPTEMBER 4 TO 8 MAISON&OBJET PARIS THE BIANNUAL HOME DECOR EVENT is undergoing a bit of a makeover this fall, to better serve the designers, distributors, specifiers and retailers who flock to Nord Villepinte to take in the latest trends. The show is now organized around three “poles,” the largest of which is Maison, encompassing five halls of furniture, lighting and fabrics from such brands as Ligne Roset, Kartell and Marimekko. These exhibitors are grouped by style, from elegant to eclectic, cozy to contemporary. Two more halls form the Objet pole, spotlighting accessories and products, such as kitchen utensils, home fragrances, smart technology and other gadgets. The final pair of halls promises luxury, design and interior decoration with the Projets, Scènes d’Intérieur Gallery and Now! Design à Vivre exhibits. The…

JAPANESE MANGA ARTIST Kazuhiko Katō, creator of the über-popular character Lupin the Third, the master thief, is the latest artist invited by Del Conca of Italy to apply his illustrations to ceramic tile. The manga- themed designs are just one example of how pop culture is finding its way onto the floors and walls of restaurants, hotels and, occasionally, the home. Cartoony wood effects from Ornamenta, and other playful expressions that riff on unlikely sources – tartans (courtesy of 14oraitaliana), along with bricks and supersize weaves, for instance – are among the most eye popping. Some of the credit goes to advancements in digital technology, which enables highdefinition images to adhere to ceramic and porcelain without fading, chipping or wearing. The possibilities are endless. 1 Wood by Ornamenta (24 X…

RUFF WELL WATER RESORT IN SICHUAN, CHINA, BY AIM ARCHITECTURE The therapeutic and medicinal benefits of soaking in water that bubbles up from the earth’s geothermic core is ancient history in China, dating back 3,000 years, and its popularity is still going strong. In the southwestern province of Sichuan, a spa has opened that is informed by the dramatic landscape. Designed by Aim Architecture of Shanghai, the Ruff Well Water Resort is devoted to hot spring rituals, with 25 pools, mostly outdoor, strategically placed on a 24,000-square-metre site, where, in the words of Vincent de Graaf, the firm’s principal and founder, “The flat lands collide with the Himalayan mountains.” Water in all its forms is the resort’s guiding theme and element. Each pool offers a distinctive bathing experience, from the…

CHANGE WAS IN THE AIR at Chicago’s Merchandise Mart this June. Every once in a while, rather than the usual flute of champagne, a protein shake was handed out; at one booth (maybe even two) massages were offered; and the talk during NeoCon’s three-day run veered more than once toward a burgeoning trend that’s seeing HR take on a bigger role in planning and configuring the new work environment. What that means is employees are becoming an indispensable asset in the workplace, at least more so than energy-efficient lighting or HVAC systems. Of the 517 exhibitors at North America’s largest contract furniture show, many of the leading brands launched designs geared for happy, healthy and inviting environments, in shades and styles more calming than seen in previous years. Shaw, Interface,…

NOW IN ITS FIFTH YEAR, the gala for the AZ Awards, which honours the very best in international architecture and design, has become a summer event not to be missed. On June 19, some 400 guests filled the airy venue at the Evergreen Brick Works, among them many of the 47 finalists, who arrived from such far-flung places as Dubai, Copenhagen, Paris, Rotterdam, San Francisco, and Fogo Island, Newfoundland. A stunning feature of the night was an ethereal installation designed by local firm DTAH. Made from construction fencing, it floated like a bluishorange cloud above the guests as they sipped prosecco and munched on macarons, made by local pâtissier Nadège, sporting the awards logo. The awards presentation, hosted by Globe and Mail journalist Ian Brown, honoured each of the 19…

A CURIOUS BUILDING has cropped up in – or perhaps sailed into – east London’s Canary Wharf, atop the new Crossrail transit station at North Dock. It’s part of an extensive redevelopment of the financial district that will double the number of people living and working here over the next 10 years. Though the station whirs into action in 2018, visitors began to arrive in May with the opening of the multi-use structure by Foster + Partners. Spread over seven storeys, the ship-like building culminates in an enchanting 4,160-square-metre rooftop garden that showcases exotic botanical species from around the globe. Conceived by Gillespies landscape architects, the Crossrail station rooftop garden brings together two communities: area residents, and the thousands of office workers from the surrounding towers. “For us, the garden…

FEATHR WALLPAPER New wallpaper company Feathr.com’s inaugural collection features the work of nearly 70 artists, including tattooists and typographers. The Synchronized Divers pattern, by Dutch graphic designer Robin van Wilk, is shown. feathr.com RE-WORKED CHAIR Barnaby Barford was one of more than 90 artists and designers to put his stamp on the Ernest Race BA2 side chair for Re-Work It. The installation and auction at Selfridges were organized in support of U.K. charity the Art Room, which provides art therapy for children and teens. theartroom.org. uk BALLOON INVASIONS Photographer Charles Pétillon alters perceptions of empty spaces in his ongoing Invasions series. In each image, white balloons represent something different, from ghosts of childhood filling an empty basketball court to the weight of time pushing against an abandoned building. charlespetillon.com INTERTIDAL…

RETIREMENT HOUSING GOES FUTURISTIC Forward-thinking architects are already designing sophisticated communities for pensioners. In 2012, Guedes Cruz Architects completed the Social Complex of Alcabideche, a community in western Portugal. It consists of 52 cubic residences made with cast concrete walls and Plexiglas roofs. For safety at night, the houses illuminate medina-like pathways surrounding various amenities, such as pools and terraces. If an emergency occurs in one of the houses, the resident can activate an alarm that turns the unit’s roof red, alerting neighbours. A MANIFESTO ON AGING When his firm’s concept for an LGBT retirement village stalled, Matthias Hollwich of HWKN set out to write a handbook with Bruce Mau Design about changing attitudes toward aging. New Aging: Live Smarter Now to Live Better Forever, to be published next year,…

FRITES, FROMAGE, COCOA, rice and sake are some of the foodstuffs that have found shelf space in Milan. Given Italy’s obsession with eating, it’s fitting that the Northern Lombard region is hosting the 2015 iteration of World Expo: Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life, which opened in May. The relevance of world expos today may be questionable. They are often criticized for being more commercial than cultural affairs, but to see the heart, soul and cravings of 145 nations worldwide, all in one place, is undeniably impressive. Fifty-four pavilions represent a varied and visually stunning selection of international architecture and multi-sensory culinary experiences, five of which stand out beyond the rest: Bahrain, Chile, France, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates. By the time the show closes on October…

A FLOCK OF BIRDS, a droplet falling from a leaf, a formation of cumulus clouds. At Euroluce, the massive bi ennial light expo that coincides with Milan’s Salone del Mobile, the inspiration behind many of the most stunning fixtures came straight from nature. And some felt just as phenomenal. A veritable showstopper, Vancouver’s Bocci – the only Canadian brand at a show dominated by Europeans – captivated with its 73 and 16 series, which evoked clouds and trees, respectively. At Vibia’s booth, the Algorithm series of installations of suspended glass spheres recalled frozen rain; and Wonderglass and Brokis both presented glass lamps that mimicked the dapples of light on water. It would be an understatement to say that glass is big this year, and while ornate crystal chandeliers appeared everywhere,…

THOMAS HEATHERWICK IS A PROBLEM SOLVER: every project begins with a question. That approach allowed the English designer to rethink such icons as the New Bus for London and the Olympic Cauldron. When his London studio received a commission from Nanyang Technological University to help upgrade its Singapore campus, he asked, “Can a building change the way we learn?” His answer was the Learning Hub, 12 eightstorey stacks of rounded tutorial rooms that taper outward as they ascend, girding a glass-covered void. Each room is enclosed in ribbed concrete, and opens through folded glass panels onto a wide gallery that encircles the atrium. The 56 shared learning spaces replace the conventional box of closed classrooms opening off a main corridor. The faculty contributed key elements of the program: rooms without…

IN A WORLD where finger painting is done on an iPad and games are played alone in front of a screen, there’s little room left for kids to make their own fun. Unstructured play is essential to childhood development, but opportunities are dwindling as play spaces are more and more scrutinized for safety. In banishing danger from the playground, have we tossed the baby out with the bathwater? The brutalist playgrounds of 1960s London are a parent’s nightmare: concrete pits rife with hard edges and sharp corners to skin knees and shatter bones. However, for a recent installation at the Royal Institute of British Architects, design collective Assemble highlighted the potential of these undefined landscapes and their rugged minimalism by re making them, at full scale, in a softer, safer…

Members Václav Mlynář, born in Prague, 1989. Jakub Pollág, born in Bratislava, Slovakia, 1989 Location London Education Product design at Royal College of Art, London, Mlynář: 2014–15; Pollág: 2013–15; and the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague Occupation Product, furniture, interior and exhibition designers Selected awards 2013 Designblok Award, Prague; 2014 Czech Grand Design Award Selected exhibits 2014 & 2015 Salone del Mobile, Rossana Orlandi Gallery, Milan; 2012 Czech House, Summer Olympics, London Selected clients Bomma, Botas 66, Fiat, Heineken, Kavalierglass, Lasvit, Rudolf Scheer & Söhne, Ve BEGINNINGS Jakub Pollág: Our collaboration was kind of an accident. During our studies at UMPRUM [the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague], we were both looking for someone to share an exhibition space with at Designblok, the city’s annual…

WHEN JAN AND BRIAN BORNSTEIN’s grown children moved out, the couple sold their house and moved into a lower- maintenance condo. However, they quickly realized that vertical living wasn’t for them, so they bought another house. This time, though, they commissioned Toronto architect Luc Bouliane to design a semi-detached that would feel comfortable no matter how old they got. The Bornsteins experienced firsthand what various studies have indicated for years: most people over 55 prefer to live out their remaining years in their own space. But most houses are not designed to adapt to changing lifestyles, when seniors find stairs harder to climb and they spend far more time indoors. The new house, a modernist outlier on Relmar Road in Toronto’s leafy Forest Hill neighbourhood, anticipates those changes and others.…

In 1961, urbanist Jane Jacobs described Detroit as “composed of seemingly endless square miles of low-density failure.” It was a reasonable portrayal of a city just beginning its descent from boom town to paradigm of urban decay. But as the auto industry failed, a more sustainable legacy joined the mix, with John Lee Hooker’s blues, Berry Gordy’s Motown pop and the MC5’s psychedelic rock keeping the town on its feet. Now the O.N.E. Mile Project is making that musical tradition part of the city’s comeback. Led by architect Anya Sirota, of local experimental studio Akoaki, the initiative zooms in on a section of Oakland Avenue in the North End to reactivate it using design, art and music. Sirota, along with partner Jean Louis Farges, launched the project with a portable…