Swiss furnishings manufacturer Vitra has teamed up with Spanish shoe company and design patron Camper for a pop-up project that reimagines the retail experience. Located inside a futuristic tent construction (once a Detroit car showroom in the mid-‘70s) on the Vitra campus in Weil am Rhein, Germany, the project opened on June 18. The companies commissioned Berlin-based architect Diébédo Francis Kéré, originally from Burkina Faso, to design a space inside the tent: a modular, donut-shaped pavilion made of blockboard. The zig-zag orientation of panels creates seating, LED-illuminated shelving, and display space on both sides of the freestanding walls. Kére, known
“Has ‘The Lighthouse’ Found Support?” boldly queried the Helsinki daily newspaper’s leading headline the morning after the June 23 announcement of the winning entry of the Guggenheim Museum’s year-long, two-phase, open international design competition to produce “a museum for the 21st century” as an extension of its branded franchise operations in the Finnish capital. The competition and its long-awaited result have been aimed at persuasively reinvigorating the Guggenheim’s dogged five-year saga in “the White City of the North,” following the Helsinki City Council’s 2011 rejection of the proposed museum branch and its financing. The headline’s question neatly condensed several aspects
New projects by Sou Fujimoto and Hiroshi Sambuichi add to the cultural attractions on Naoshima Island. Sou Fujimoto's new waterfront pavilion. On Naoshima, the 3.15-square-mile island in Japan’s Seto Inland Sea that Tadao Ando and other architects have turned into a popular station on the art-world pilgrimage route, the projects keep coming. In March, Sou Fujimoto completed a metal-mesh pavilion on the waterfront that lures visitors and local residents to climb inside its faceted form, while Hiroshi Sambuichi has designed a community center that will serve as a venue for Bunraku, a traditional form of Japanese puppetry, when it opens
Each year, the nonprofit National Trust for Historic Preservation publishes a list of the most endangered historic places in the United States. The 2015 list comprises 11 geographically and culturally diverse buildings, areas, and natural features. More than 250 sites have been recognized since 1988, and the National Trust, along with local preservationists and community partners, has played a role in saving dozens of historical sites through this annual act.Click on the slide show above to view the 2015 list.
Although clouds gathered above MoMA PS1’s courtyard Tuesday, it was evident—despite intermittent showers—nothing would rain on architect Andrés Jaque’s parade. “COSMO is ready to party!” he declared. COSMO, the winning proposal for this year’s Young Architects Program (YAP) pavilion, was designed by Jaque’s Madrid and New York-based firm, Office for Political Innovation and will serve as a colossal canopy for the museum’s Warm Up concert series, as well as a self-contained ecosystem that will filter 3,000 gallons of water. In short, COSMO is the architectural love child of a disco ball and a science project.This is the 16th year of
Photo courtesy Michael Graves Architecture & Design Shortly before he died on March 12, Michael Graves gave his last artwork to the Sir John Soane Museum in London. A longtime advisor to the fabled house museum’s New York-based fundraising foundation, Graves donated the acrylic-on-paper piece, 5.8 by 8.3 inches, as part of an auction to help the Soane digitize its extensive drawings collection. On June 22, Steven Holl found he was the new owner of the unframed work: His bid of $2,500 is being matched by the Leon Levy Foundation in this intensive effort to electronically archive 18,000 items. Holl
There’s a new resource for young architects navigating the tricky waters of international work authorization: Architect-US. Sponsored by the Spain-United States Chamber of Commerce, the new organization, launching June 25, will place international visa candidates in United States-based architecture firms. Architect-US will screen participants, help with the State Department’s J-1 visa application process, and match qualified candidates to employers. The J-1 visa allows students and recent graduates to work as interns for up to 12 months; young professionals can work as trainees for up to 18. The full-time positions will provide real-world experience and compensation, with interns earning at least
Contentious museum redesigns have become commonplace lately, from Diller Scofidio + Renfro's plans for the Museum of Modern Art in New York, to Peter Zumthor's divisive proposal for a new LACMA superstructure. But as the documentary The New Rijksmuseum: Years of Metamorphosis shows, it's not a problem confined to the United States. The film, which opened in Los Angeles June 19, tracks the decade-long renovation of Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum in almost excruciating detail. Begun in 2003, the project intended to bring Pierre Cuypers' 1885 building up to 21st century "museological" standards.Seville and Amsterdam-based architects Antonio Cruz and Antonio Ortiz's original plan
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation announced the winning design for its proposed museum in Helsinki: a scheme of low-slung, pavilion-like volumes designed by Paris-based firm, Moreau Kusunoki Architects.
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