Design: The Latest Architecture and News

Designers from mode:lina have recently finalized their premises in an elegant 60′s building basement in Poznan, Poland. Additional images and a brief description of their renovated offices after the break.

iki, a practice based in Ankara, Turkey, have shared with us their competition proposal for a Concert Hall and Art Center for Ankara, capital city of Turkey. Additional renders, plans, sections and a brief architects description after the break.

Architects Ahmed Mito, Kamel Loqman, Hisham Alaa and artists Ayman Lotfy, Ahmed Refat, Niveen Farghaly, and Amer Abdelhakemrecently took part of the prestigious La Biennale di Venezia where they presented their work for the Egyptian Pavilion. Images and the architects description after the break.

The urbancanvas Design Competition is a unique opportunity to challenge professional artists and designers to create printed artworks for temporary protective structures at construction sites that will beautify New York City’s streetscape and promote maintenance of these structures. The competition seeks complementary designs for different types of temporary protective structures located on City-owned property: construction fences, sidewalk sheds, supported scaffolds and cocoon systems.

Recently, we were invited to see Sir James Dyson’s newest technology in the Pomegranate Gallery. Perhaps the name sounds familiar, and rightly so. The company continually makes innovative products that remain at the top of their market, such as their Dual Cyclone which became the fastest selling vacuum cleaner ever to be made in the UK, or their washing machine with two rotating drums which move in opposite directions, or even their hand dryer which produces an air stream flowing at 400 mph. With a background in industrial design, Dyson’s work combines modern engineering with an aesthetic undertone, all in an effort to achieve energy efficiency. Their creativity comes to life within their Malmesbury headquarters, a long span structure topped with an undulating roof designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects.

Shot by architect turned filmmaker Jeffrey Durkin, this introspective piece on designer/architect/professor Miki Iwasaki explores how “the small objects in our life shape the big picture of how we live.” What began as a video aimed to capture the essence of Iwasaki’s furniture design quickly transformed into a short piece which addresses larger issues of society and the ramifications of design and consumerism.

More about the video after the break.

Lundgren Monuments in association with Vital 5 Productions is proud to present The Architect and the Urn – a west coast exploration of the cremation urn as architectural object, June 3 – July 18, 2010. Twenty-five architects from Seattle to Los Angeles approach the design and concept of housing human ash in this complex and conceptually rich exhibition.

Americans have an unhealthy relationship with death and remembrance. Death care has become a multi-billion dollar industry almost devoid of artists, designers and architects. Instead it is clogged with mass produced plastic urns and heavy, uninspired blocks of imported granite. With the choice of cremation on the rise, more and more of our departed friends and family are returning to us in the form of ash. In the design savvy culture that we live in, it is amazing how few interesting choices exist for us to address this transformed matter. The Architect and the Urn exhibition is assembled to approach this social trend and help fortify the ideas and forms that define our very last residence.

Curated by Greg Lundgren, The Architect and the Urn is on exhibition at the Lundgren Monuments boutique located at 1011 Boren Avenue, Seattle WA 98104. You can see the complete poster after the break.

Arch Group shared their innovative SLEEPBOX design with us. Intended to provide a comfortable night sleep, the mobile 3.75 m2 unit can be located anywhere people need a place to rest or relax such as airports, train stations, shopping centers, or even in the middle of the streets. “We believe that urban infrastructure should be more comfortable for people,” explained the architects. Rented for between fifteen minutes and several hours, the SLEEPBOX provides moments of quiet sleep and rest from the city as clients can rest on foamed polymer beds, which are equipped with an automatic system that changes bed linen once the client leaves. But a bed is not the only accommodation the SLEEPBOX provides. The unit is also equipped with a ventilation system, sound alerts, built-in LCD TV, WiFi, sockets for a laptop, charging phones and space for luggage. After clients feel refreshed and leave the unit, the automatic change of bed linen starts and the quartz lamps turn on. Clients can pay for the time spent in the unit at a shared terminal, which provides the client with an electronic key.

More images after the break.

Designliga, a design agency from Munich, Germany, has just created the perfect room for a child. Here, the children can play, hide, built or just relax.

“Playground for Leif” marks a clear end to tradition in children’s room design and offers a new look and a brand new world of experiences for children and family members alike. The room is designed using a unique piece of furniture that meets the practical needs of a children’s room while at the same time provides excitement, inspiration, and a feeling of independence.

More images and architect’s description, after the break.

The AIA Committee on Design (COD) invites architects, students, and allied design professionals to submit sketches to the international 2009 COD Ideas Competition, entitled “Listening to the Past, Looking to the Future: A House for Today.” In this unique sketch competition, submitters are asked to explore the legacy of modernist design, through a concept design problem.

The step by step process