Riverside Museum - ZZZZZ

Zaha Hadid Architect's Riverside Museum on the Clyde River in Glasgow embodies a connection between the water and the city.  Through the zig-zagging facade and wave-like curving in the zinc-clad roof, Zaha Hada gives her signature loose style a more specific application to the city of Glasgow.

R: Interior strip lighting inside the museum follows the exterior curve of the roof and ceiling.

L: The zinc cladding extends from the roof down to the sides of the building.

“Through architecture, we can investigate future possibilities yet also explore the cultural foundations that have defined the city. The Riverside Museum is a fantastic and truly unique project where the exhibits and building come together at this prominent and historic location on the Clyde to enthuse and inspire all visitors. The design, combining geometric complexity with structural ingenuity and material authenticity, continues Glasgow’s rich engineering traditions and will be a part of the city’s future as a centre of innovation.” - Zaha Hadid

My Dream Desk

For all the hours I can spend working on the computer, I personally would greatly appreciate having a touch of wildlife incorporated into my work desk.  I would plant some delicious-smelling herbs to spice up (no pun intended) my workspace. Thanks Love Hulten!

Another Layered-Plywood Piece

Aeroply by Karolina Ferenc

Making of Novum Magazine Cover

This great video shows the process of the physical creation of a magazine with a twist on the standard cover.

http://www.novumnet.de/

Vitra Video on Vimeo

Great product video.

Ark Nova by Isozaki and Kapoor

This is a great video promoting the "Ark Nova," a mobile music hall by Arata Isozaki and Anish Kapoor.  The concert hall will travel across Higashi Nihon, the area devastated by the earthquake of March 2011.  This video is a great treat as it evokes a Alfred Hitchcock kind of title sequence to introduce the structure. 

Ben Ben is leaning!

The Washington Monument is cracked, and now it has been released that Big Ben is leaning.  Yes, maybe this photo is altering the true exaggeration of this lean visually in person, but it's been reported as becoming gradually worse and worse each year.  If it is not fixed soon engineers say Ben will fall over.  Ooops! For more, read the article on Hg2 Blog.

Field of Lights

Bruce Munro, a lighting designer from England, has created "Field of Lights," a lighting installation part of the Eden Project in Cornwall, England.  Munro created these bulbous sprouts from acrylic tubes filled with fiber optics, and the tubes sit on top of a green roof on the premises.  "Field of Lights" is inspired by the way a desert flowers after a rainstorm, specifically encountered by Munro in the Australian red dessert.

"For me, it is a natural medium to use." - Munro on his use of lighting design

I can't stop watching this

Larch on the Sea

British Guy Hollaway Architects have created the Rocksalt Restaurant in Folkestone, England.  The exterior is clad in charred larch, which is a wood often used as a material for building ships.  It was built on top of a historic brick viaduct.  It is raised on a slate plinth to protect the structure from potential floods.

Blooming Structures

 

Sivan Royz's Blooming Structures are laser-cut pieces of silk strung together with string.  The density of the silk curves results in the darkness of color.  The forms are hollow to hold particular items such as iPhones, though I'd rather just admire them than use them as a purse.

Fabric Mushrooms

The New York-based Situ Studio has installed ReOrder, a collection of large fabric mushroom clouds attached to the preexisting columns of the Brooklyn Museum.  The acrylic bases of the mushrooms serve as benches. It's up until January 2012, so hopefully I can make it to New York before then!

CORTONA: Concept Image

Here is a sneak preview into the start of my project this summer. This is my concept image and statement for my shipping container shop. My shop is for the Cortonese DelBrenna family's jewelry.

Industrial Light

Pendant lamps by Studio Takagi, at Roll&Hill

[from ICFF 2011]

Octium

I've been conducting research for my current retail interior design project, and I found the Octium Jewelry project in Kuwait.  Designed by Spanish Jaime Hayon, the space includes suspended lights inserted in display boxes, a central cylindrical display area, and wall insets all to display different jewelry designs.  My favorite detail is the light entering the box from above.

Hostel Pod

I've seen my fair share of Italian hostels this summer, but none like this. Antonio Ravalli Architetti's MiNO youth hostel is composed of modular pods that 2-3 persons can inhabit. An old factory building in Migliarino, Italy has been converted to the hostal. The fabric pods are supported by tension rods and sit on a wooden base, to give an indoor camping kind of feel.

Elevated Shipping Container

In my studio class this summer, we're completing a project where we design a pop-up shop in a shipping container for a local Cortonese craftsperson. We've needed to do some research on different architectural projects with shipping containers, and this just happened to be on the front page of Dezeen when I signed on this morning. The project, "Sky is the Limit," by Portuguese Didier Faustino serves as an observation deck in South Korea. Read more here...

TRAVEL: Basque Health Department

As I have now embarked on my summer European travels, I recently spent a few days in Bilbao, Spain.  Of course I saw the Guggenheim, which was very exciting with all it's folds.  Yet, I spotted this building while strolling the streets, and it's many reflective planes caught my attention.  After some research, I discovered it's the Basque Health Department Headquarters.  Designed by Coll Barreau Arquitectos, the facade has two layers to comply with zoning and fire code requirements.  The extra layer allows the building to breath, providing a filter between the interior and exterior.

To read more and see many more photographs (much better than my quick snapshot above), read the ArchDaily.com article here...

Be Kind to Your Chicken

I've been reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle lately, and it's really increased my awareness of the treatment of animals before we eat them (or not, just treatment in general).  There is also a chicken plant close to my house here in Athens, and it emits the most disgusting smells.  With all that said, James Ramsey, founder of New York's Raad studio, has designed the Chicken Co-Op: a stylish, luxurious, and chicken-friendly home.

While I was in the mindset, I found a couple of other stylish chicken homes.

Left: Drew Water's Handcrafted Chicken Coops
Right: Frederik Roije's Breed Retreat

The Roots

I love this line of chairs: Di Corte by Andrea Magnani, Giovanni Delvecchio, and Elisabetta Amatori of the Italian group Resign. 

The Next Stage of the Art Nouveau Stair

Atmos Studio included these stairs in their project in Clapham.  I see this as an evolution of the Tassel House stairs by Victor Horta.  It's also very Gaudi-like, but I may just be thinking about that because I'm excited for my fast-arriving trip to Barcelona.

Food Storage without a Refrigerator

Today when talking to my grandmother, I was reminded of this video I saw about a year ago on Dezeen. This clip is from Milan 2010 Food and Design.  My favorite piece included is the food storage system, Shaping Traditional Oral Knowledge, by Japanese student Jihyun Ryou.  She combines sand with a little water to replace a refrigeration system needed for vegetables.  This is based on old family traditions, just as my grandmother told me her step-father used to store potatoes, carrots, and radishes in a dirt-filled cabinet when she was younger.  (I think I prefer the sand.)  This is a great way to eliminate those CFCs.

Scholtès Food and Design movies: Design Acadamy

To read and see more from this event, click here...

LEED Green Associate

Look out world. Yesterday I passed my LEED Green Associate exam.

Rib Cage

The Dutch firm Origin's Architects have designed the motion graphic design firm OneSize's office.  They created this wooden rib cage to separate the office into 3 different functioning meeting rooms: one open, one enclosed, and one dark enough for projections.

Bike Seat

In honor of last night's Twilight race here in Athens, this is Portuguese Rui Alves's Tour Chair.

No Waste Furniture

Swiss brothers Rainer and Tobias Kyburz have created the furniture line No Waste.  Each item is created from a single piece of FCS-certified plywood.  Every part of the sheet is used, creating no waste!  Buyers can choose the finish they want ahead of time.  Super efficient furniture!

This Post Is about a Toilet

Kohler has released the Numi toilet. Now after seeing this featured on Design-Milk, I was initially interested because I've been writing an art history paper on Marcel Duchamp's Fountain. He and other French visitors to America around World War I were particularly interested in the American bathroom. The convenience, the intimacy, the engineering, and the modernity of the porcelain toilet bowl was like nothing ever experienced.  It was so fascinating that Duchamp, Edward Weston, Diego Rivera, and even D.H. Lawrence devoted a portion of their art career to the toilet.

Now after saying all of that, this toilet is like nothing I have ever seen before. Features include a motion-activated seat and lid, a self cleaning wand and deodorizing vacuum in the bidet, a seat heater, feet warming, illuminated panels (for the ultimate visual experience), music, and a remote control for your potty.

So this is the ultimate toilet (at least for this year). I hope that more and more ultimate toilets begin to appear on the market. My favorite thing about the Kohler's site for the Numi is all the editorial fashion photographs. They are just stunning.

Haiti Mountain House by NC-office

Miami-based NC-office has developed a prototype for natural disaster relief housing, specifically to the needs in Haiti.  The houses' floor plans consist of five square, forming an L-shape to provide space for a garden.  The structures are composed of steel beam framing to withstand extreme weather conditions, and openings at the top and bottom of the house allow for views to the garden and heat to escape the interior.  There is no actual glazing in the home, but mosquito nets and panels allow for the safety from nature's outdoor conditions. A cistern collects water for occupant use, and a 1 KW solar panel system provides electricity to the house.

This is a great example of simple design that doesn't place stress on the environment.  I love the colors used, too. This house almost looks like a more tropical Eames case study to me.