k:fem department store by wingårdh architecture

the k:fem department store by wingårdh architecture is located in the vällingby development, just outside of stockholm. the store was conceived as a new beacon for the community serving to inject new life into the area. the exterior is covered in a milky glass which get increasingly see through toward the top, merging into the red overhang above. the list of stores inside are displayed on the overhang, all in white on red. a pedestrian street cuts-through the department store, dividing it from the adjoining solo retailer. inside the store, the semitransparent theme continues. the most unique features is the light filled central core which is open to the sky.

http://www.wingardhs.se

“Puzzling” Modern Design – Next Generation House is the Cottage of the Future

Sou Fujimoto Architects have this “puzzling” vision for the home of the future. Next Generation House is a small, cottage-style design discreetly tucked in a forest overlooking the picturesque River Kuma in Kumakura, Japan. This four-by-four-meter box is assembled from Japanese cedar blocks, thoughtfully fitted together to create a unique interior terrain. Blocks jut out from walls to create built-in shelves, tables, seating, windows and skylights. Sou Fujimoto Architects
via Cool Boom

Children's furniture series by RAFASCHIERI DESIGN STUDIO

 

Children’s furniture is intended for being used in child-related everyday activities and manipulations: meals, hygiene and games. The furniture’s design principle contributes to adapting more adequately the height of the seat to the growing child thus lowering the risk and the gravity of a possible fall. An additional asset of the unit is the durability of its components, which can be used either en bloc or separately to safely contain and entertain the child.

The underlying concept takes account of and integrates the child’s ability to progressively find both independence and security in his movements and is conducive to the behaviour of minimum risk, which for the child starts with learning 

Ann Demeulemeester shop by Mass Studies

Ann Demeulemeester shop by Mass Studies
The site is located in an alley, at a block’s distance from Dosandae-ro – a busy thoroughfare in Seoul’s Gangnam district – in close proximity to Dosan Park. Primarily residential in the past, the neighborhood is undergoing a rapid transformation into an upscale commercial district full of shops and restaurants.

The building is comprised of one subterranean level and three floors above. The Ann Demeulemeester Shop is located on the first floor, with a restaurant above and a Multi-Shop in the basement.

WINNER ANNOUNCED FOR THE EUROPEAN UNION PRIZE FOR CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE

This landmark building by Snøhetta, who also designed the new Library of Alexandria (2002), is the largest cultural centre built in Norway in 700 years. It sloping stone roof - made up of 36,000 fitted pieces – rises up from the fjord; allowing members of the public, residents and opera goers alike, to walk over the building, developing a relationship with the public structure. Integral to the 1,000-room interior, which is largely lined with crafted woodwork (using the traditions of Norwegian boat builders), are a number of art commissions interwoven into the structural fabric, including a cloakroom, a collaboration with their 2007 Serpentine Pavilion collaborator Olafur Eliasson. There will be a press visit to the winning building on 7 May 2009 and a special granting ceremony at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona on 28 May 2009.

renovation of the showroom YESHOP IN HOUSE

Concept - Milles feuilles – a thousand leaves | Concept of the approach was the design of site-specific constructions that would emphasize and intensify the continuity of space and its homely feel while at the same time they would homogenize in a mental and formal way the varying events that happen in the “house” (shop – exhibition space, lounge area, party space, small scale fashion shows). The ephemeral character of the refurbishment was a wish of the client.
Existing furniture were rearranged in order to bring into forth the two, new, constructions that were handmade, using eco -friendly corrugated packaging carton. The sense of packing (as a reference to refurbishment, moving and the ephemeral) is spatially expressed, while the cheap material used in a derivational manner, structures space.

Toy Factory Loft by Zellnerplus

Glacier Loft by Gus Wüstemann. Interior Design did a piece on this way back when, and every time that image of the stair pops up I fall in love with it again.

Hoe Hoe Hoe at Container Ground, Tokyo

We should have run this over Christmas, on account of its punny name. Hoe Hoe Hoe! was an installation at Container Ground during Tokyo Designers Week in November. Students of Tama Art University in Tokyo filled their shipping container with a papier mache structure lined with shredded newspaper.

credit  Tokyo Designers Week

Roll Charger – Chinese health toy-inspired ecofriendly battery charger

Eco Factor: Charger converts mechanical energy into electricity.

In Chinese tradition balls have been used as health and fitness toys for centuries. Rolling two balls in one’s hand stimulates acupuncture points and loosens bones and muscles making you feel relaxed and fresh. Keeping conventions aside, product designer Jiang Qian has developed a concept charger that utilizes the mechanical energy generated in the balls and converts it into electricity.

Roll Charger, as Jiang calls his concept, harnesses energy as the balls are rolled in the palm. The device then converts this rotating motion into electricity, which is then fed into a single AA or AAA battery that fits neatly inside the ball. Since two balls are used to stimulate the acupuncture points, you can charge two batteries at once which can then be used in a remote or other devices powered by them. A LED is integrated into the device, which tells you that the charger is functioning and also alerts the user when the batteries are completely charged.

A house for Art / Luca Selva Architects

There are houses that become houses devoted to art over time by the gradual addition of artwork. Others, like the house in Binningen, were built to be a house for art from the beginning. This is reflected in the traffic pattern as well as in the sequence and size of the main rooms, the position and finish of the windows and the conservative and unitary materialization. The ground floor flooring gives the impression that it has existed since the beginning of time. It consists of a stomped clay floor, made by Martin Rauch. It is the colour of honey and it has countless crazes and a velvety touch despite its hardness. The floor leads the visitors from the entrée through the corridor to the entrance hall, which are squired by large-sized photographs by contemporary artists and include rare and aged cactuses and various delicate antique physiques. This archaic floor contrasts strongly with the slender and precise aluminium frames of the sliding glass doors which constrict the passage from the hall to the living room, opening it up towards the garden and the covered seating area. This is where the interpenetration of indoors and outdoors is strongest. The angular floorplan repeatedly allows simultaneous views of interior and exterior surfaces which are both kept in the same bright white to enhance the visual continuity of ceiling and walls.

credit  www.archdaily.com