Magazin

What can an inclusive sports and culture park look like that has its place under a motorway bridge? Students from the Urban Design department at HfG Offenbach answered this question for the non-profit association Vair e.V. under the project name "Vairplay" with designs that were recently presented during the HfG Offenbach tour.

The Zurich-based company Dukta turns the characteristics of wood upside down: through targeted incisions, solid mouldings and panels become flexible – and offer new possibilities for interior design.

The Van B apartment building designed by Ben van Berkel offers "Very Urban Living" and, according to the client, has what it takes to become Munich's new architectural icon. Our author Alexander Russ took a look at the concept in 2021 and wrote the headline "Less for more". A visit to the construction site shall clarify what the project is all about.

For years our author Andrea Mende has been focusing on the topic of light – from planning via luminaire design through to light art and research. What, we wonder, does she make of the new publication “Licht Natur Architektur” (Light Nature Architecture) by lighting designer Ulrike Brandi?

On the outskirts of Tripoli there is an architectural ensemble designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer: the Rachid Karami International Fair from the 1960s. Now the unfinished project's guest house has been transformed by East Architecture Studio. Our author Claudia Simone Hoff followed Niemeyer's footsteps in Tripoli.

In collaboration with LAR Studio, pur natur is pushing the boundaries of the technically possible for the extraordinary design of the rooms of “Haus Brutalisme” in Ludwigsburg.

With the elegant "Black Edition", Dallmer has created a collection of aesthetic bath elements that can serve both for a monochrome design and for setting accents.

For the Chouchou Hotel in Paris, interior designer Michael Malapert achieves a coherent overall effect by combining cultural references and opting for AXOR's elegant fittings in the bathrooms.

The artist and furniture designer Sara Martinsen recently collaborated with the Danish furniture manufacturer Garde Hvalsøe at 3daysofdesign to present a wide range of organic materials in an aesthetic context. She explains her practice to us in an interview.

In collaboration with Typico, the experts for textile communications, the Zumtobel team has developed the sound-absorbing pendant luminaire "TRAMAO" – a sustainable lighting solution that offers a holistic spatial experience.

“Making the impossible possible” is part of the DNA at Brunner, the contract furniture manufacturer from Baden in South Germany. Stylepark publisher visited the family-owned company in Rheinau-Freistett and were able to experience the team’s great drive for themselves.

Barefoot on plastic? It can surprisingly be both comfortable and stylish! “Mediterraneo”, the new and first carpet collection by Object Carpet for indoor as well as outdoor use, is visually reminiscent of rattan, is robust, and yet amazingly soft to the touch.

Our author Claudia Simone Hoff paid a visit to Carl Hansen & Søn: In the factory on the Danish island of Funen she found out what is behind a classic furniture item such as the “Wishbone Chair” by Hans J. Wegner, sanded down a chair leg herself, and visited Knud Erik Hansen’s manor house.

With "Aava 02", Arper presents a classic collection that has been optimised in terms of both material and the wide range of finishes.

For the 18th Architecture Biennale in Venice, gmp Architekten are setting standards with their new approach to conversion work, which they see as the new norm and the enduring construction task of the future.

Normal Studio expands the "Paname" collection by Sammode with three impressive floor lamps that make the French company's industrial-looking lighting universally useful.

English architect Stephen Bates and his Swiss colleague Bruno Krucker have been sharing a professorship in Munich for just over ten years now. In that time, they have walked the length and the breadth of the city, accompanied by their students, in a thorough and remarkable exploration of the metropolis. And they have now compiled their findings in book form.

Elegant, decent, robust and practical: with the "CleanLine50", Geberit presents a shower channel that leaves nothing to be desired.

With "CeraFrame Liquid", Dallmer has developed an innovative and smart shower channel for seamless bathrooms with thin-layer floors.

The designer and architect Patricia Urquiola is one of the mentors of the project "Mentorship Milano": The project, conceived and promoted by the city councillor Alessia Cappello and the city of Milan, is the first public and free mentoring project by women for women between the ages of 16 and 30 in the region. She explains the concept to us in an interview.

Robert Volhard, founder and board member of Stylepark, visited Ligne Roset’s main factory outside Lyon. There not only did he found out some fascinating things about the history of the 160-year-old family-run business but he was introduced to product innovations and new store concepts.

The traditional Swiss textile specialist Création Baumann presents a new look after its brand relaunch. Managing Director Philippe Baumann explains the concept to us in an interview.

A renaissance of architecture and design – this claim characterises both the ambition and the working approach of the Indian architecture and design studio Renesa.

In our Spotlight on Women Architects series, we regularly present the work of female architects – such as the multifaceted portfolio of Pakistani architect Yasmeen Lari, who turned her back on large-scale commercial commissions in favour of more socially oriented architecture and the preservation of traditional building methods.

With "Vry" for burgbad Patrick Frey presents a bathroom furniture collection which with its graphic appearance and variable functions offers new perspectives in the bathroom – but is adaptable enough to cut a fine figure in all other living areas.

If you have a good idea, sooner or later it will be copied – designer Luca Nichetto recently highlighted two examples where his works were obviously the basis. In an interview, he tells us why these plagiarisms are symptoms of a diseased system.

Photographer and author Patricia Parinejad shares her impressions of the 18th Architecture Biennale in Venice, which presents a variety of experimental approaches under the title "The Laboratory of the Future". In addition to the new perspectives, the international exhibition shows the numerous questions that the architecture sector is currently facing.

A luminaire that ideally illuminates workplaces as well as living spaces: "AMBITUS" by Zumtobel. Yorgo Lykouria, founder and creative director of Rainlight Studio, came up with the design – a flat light ring made of anodised aluminium that combines diffuse indirect light, direct light suitable for workplaces and maximum performance.

"Where Would We Be Without You?" was the motto of this year's 3daysofdesign, Denmark's most important design festival, which took place in Copenhagen from 7 to 9 June 2023. Poorer of many wonderful memories and encounters would be my answer to this question.

Villeroy & Boch has recently begun to offer faucet collections that are a perfect match both technically and in design terms for its own range of bathroom ceramics. They go by the name "Top Together".

Honoka Lab, a design collective from Japan, was honoured with first place at this year's SaloneSatellite Award. For their Tatami ReFAB Project, they use 3D printing technology and recycled materials to bring a centuries-old tradition into the modern age: discarded tatami mats serve as the base material for furniture.

For the "Padiglioni" table, Alain Gilles was inspired by one of the internationally most famous Bauhaus buildings: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's pavilion, which he realised for the 1929 World's Fair in Barcelona.

Studio Besau Marguerre have redesigned the foyer of the MK&G in Hamburg. We spoke to Eva Marguerre and Marcel Besau about a space where you can catch your breath, about how to talk about colors while out for a walk and why sometimes you have to choose bright colors.

At the recent Milan Design Week, Ukrainian designers showed how design can contribute to self-assertion. Our author Thomas Edelmann took a look at the joint exhibition "Contïnuum", which was realised by the architect and designer Victoria Yakusha.

He is considered a master of timeless elegance, and many of his designs have been steadily produced by leading manufacturers in the Italian furniture industry: Piero Lissoni, architect, designer and creative director of seven Italian furniture brands, has apparently cracked the "classic" code for furniture design. Now Knoll is launching new outdoor furniture with a claim to imperishability.