FAIRS & EVENTS System optimization: Team Mexico4/21/2014Mexico City is renowned for its gridlocks. Each day, commuters spend more than two hours in traffic jams. José Castillo, Carlos Gershenson and Gabriella Gomez-Mont are hunting for solutions to this problem.
FAIRS & EVENTS Swarming behavior: Team Berlin4/20/2014If you need to get from A to B in Berlin you need above all two things: patience and time. Architect Max Schwitalla, neuroscientist Arndt Pechstein and transit-manager Paul Friedli want to change this, and in their efforts have investigated the swarming behavior of animals.
FAIRS & EVENTS Dance of the Machines4/19/2014Building automation with a difference: An industrial robot on Frankfurt’s Hauptwache plaza practices East Asian martial arts and prompts all manner of responses during the Luminale festival.
ARCHITECTURE Architecture’s creative struggle4/18/2014Architecture as a non-artistic discipline struggles between being a creative process and functional parameters. How could architecture transcend its eternal dilemma: the obligation to be critical in the face of inescapable submission?
FAIRS & EVENTS Salone, Salone or Twelve Milan stories4/16/2014Milan in the days of the Salone and Fuori Salone – is a hodgepodge of impressions, encounters and cameo stories. In terms of form and content, they are as different as, say, people, furniture, brands, and markets.
FAIRS & EVENTS Iridescent floor coverings: Raw Edges for Golran4/16/2014We didn’t hear a whole lot about them for a while: At the Salone del Mobile, Raw Edges now presented carpets for Golran, which can do far more than you might imagine at first glance.
FAIRS & EVENTS The front bench: Zinta by Lievore Altherr Molina for Arper4/16/2014All the things the Barcelona trio of Lievore Altherr Molina have created for Arper have hit the mark. And with “Zinta” they are now presenting a bench that leaves no secrets unshared.
FAIRS & EVENTS Jaime Hayon or for the love of amphorae4/16/2014Being original is especially difficult in the realm of the decorative. Once again Jaime Hayon has done just that with “New Roman”.
FAIRS & EVENTS Like Swiss cheese: Celebrating the revival of the Landi chair!4/16/2014This veritable design classic has the Swiss National Exhibition to thank for its name. Now Vitra is reissuing Hans Coray’s “Landi” chair from 1938.
FAIRS & EVENTS Backstage, side room4/16/2014The various venues of the Milan Salone must shine in all their splendor. Behind and next to the main stage however, on the show’s periphery, one can observe a whole host of smaller sensations. A slightly different kind of picture book, with photographs by Barbara Wildung and Thomas Wagner.
FAIRS & EVENTS See me! Believe me!4/16/2014Be it fold-out wall tables, plain LED rod luminaires, or stools made of soy resin, wood and foam: At the Salone Satellite the flock of young designers demonstrated how they want to design the world of tomorrow.
FAIRS & EVENTS Notes on Milan 20144/16/2014Here today, gone tomorrow: In Milan we put in quite a few kilometers. Given the ground covered, the editorial team of course spotted the one or other thing along the way. So before we threw away all our bits of paper with the jottings, we reviewed them first.
FAIRS & EVENTS Digital Locomotion4/15/2014Stylepark is curating the Audi Urban Future Award for the third time. This year, the focus is firmly on connectivity: How can we utilize data to improve infrastructure and thus make more efficient use of urban space?
FAIRS & EVENTS A Sound-&-Light Lab4/14/2014As part of the Luminale, artist collective RaumZeitPiraten created an experimental sound-&-light lab in a church, evoking somber counterworlds in the process.
DESIGN Visions of yesteryear4/13/2014In its heyday Braun set the benchmark, designing everyday objects destined to serve as “quiet assistants”. Now Braun licensee De’Longhi is relaunching some of the historical designs. But beware: What might at first sight seem to be the respectful cultivation of revered traditions is nothing but whitewash.
FAIRS & EVENTS Of lenses and other lighting magic4/10/2014Small firms alongside large corporations, tiny components and immense spotlights for buildings: The manufacturers at Light+Building certainly extended our sense of dimensions. Which has resulted in records this year.
FAIRS & EVENTS The present – in transit4/10/2014“Panorama” is the name of the current Konstantin Grcic show. And you soon realize that what he displays at the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein is far more than simply a glittering array of products.
FAIRS & EVENTS Light for all4/8/2014You needed an eagle’s eye to spot all the new developments at this year’s Light+Building. After the LED revolution, all the detailed and highly exciting adjustments and innovations are now coming into play. We’ve summarized the important ones for you.
FAIRS & EVENTS Bright lights, bright minds4/7/2014Not only trade fairs such as Light+Building but conversations, too, can occasionally be enlightening. Especially if the mood and setting are right and you meet great people. Which is why AD magazine and Stylepark repeated last year’s concept and invited people to an evening get-together in the apartment of Robert Volhard, one of Stylepark’s founders.
INTERVIEWS For Indians, the floor constitutes a piece of furniture4/7/2014Indian architect Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai is well-known for his architecture that is rich of traditional craftsmenship. But how does he live himself? Peter-Philipp Schmitt spoke with Jain about his house that is on view at the exhibition “Where Architects Live” at the Salone in Milan.
FAIRS & EVENTS Bellini’s library and Jain’s pool4/7/2014Can there be anything more fascinating than catching a glimpse of other people’s homes? And particularly of those of world-famous architects? An exhibition at the Milan Furniture Fair does just that.
FAIRS & EVENTS Lilies of the valley in a drying hood: Mona by Lucie Koldová for Brokis4/6/2014Lucie Koldová always combines glass and light in extraordinary ways. And now the Paris-based Czech designer has created the “Mona” luminaire for Czech manufacturers Brokis.
FAIRS & EVENTS Summer time: Grace by Samuel Wilkinson for Emu4/5/2014There simply can’t be too much garden furniture. To enjoy a cup of coffee or a drink outside you don’t need some super seating set, but a table and a chair, simply and practical, colorful and stable.
DESIGN Konstantin Grcic: Straightforward as Alvar Aalto4/5/2014Not officially presented yet, but definitely a cameo piece of his exhibition at Vitra Design Museum: Konstantin Grcic’ new “Rival Chair”.
FAIRS & EVENTS Spanish sophistication: Aballs by Jaime Hayon4/3/2014Hard to beat this for perfection: reflective ceramics, polished brass, radiant balls made of hand-blown glass – and Hey Presto you have an exquisite luminaire.
ARCHITECTURE Going local: Tatiana Bilbao4/3/2014Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao makes buildings that sensitively engage with the specifics of the locations where they are erected. The result is an architecture that is pleasantly bemusing.
FAIRS & EVENTS In command on the digital bridge4/2/2014It all starts with switches that can be networked and electronic electricity meters. But there’s much more besides: Things around us are supposed to be coordinated and controlled via networked systems. A critical eye on new technology - and its opportunities for the future.
FEATURED Light and yet precious4/1/2014Van Cleef & Arpels has been a first class address on New York’s Fifth Avenue since the 1930s. Following necessary renovation work, the designers at the Jouin Manku Studio set about refurnishing the legendary jewelry store, drawing inspiration from New York Art Déco in their planning.
FAIRS & EVENTS Lights on at e15: North by Eva Marguerre and Marcel Besau4/1/2014Life around the famous "Backenzahn" is getting bright: e15 is launching a luminaire collection. Including “North” by Eva Marguerre and Marcel Besau. Martina Metzner chatted with the designers and with e15 MD Philipp Mainzer on the fun and frustration of light.
MAGAZINE Public Space Inc.4/1/2014The Springer media corporation seeks to take its place alongside the likes of Facebook and Google. Which is why it’s having OMA design a new headquarters: a monument that can be used as an office building.
FAIRS & EVENTS Simply divine: Kvadrat’s fabric festivities4/1/2014It’s 30 years since Finn Skjödt premiered “Divina” for Kvadrat. To celebrate the fabric’s jubilee the Danish textile manufacturer has put together an exhibition for which it asked 24 designers to interpret the fabric in their own personal way.
ARCHITECTURE Smart Cities – Big Data, Civic Hackers, and The Quest For A New Utopia4/1/2014In the cities of tomorrow high-tech networks are expected to make everyday life a lot easier. But the more complex the systems become, the more error-prone they get. Anthony M. Townsend confronts us with the extremely fragile systems of permanent enhancing efficiency.
FAIRS & EVENTS Selected exhibitors Milan Design Week 20143/31/2014The 53rd edition of the Salone Internazionale del Mobile is ready to go from 8th to 13th April, along with the biennial EuroCucina and International Bathroom Exhibition. Amazing designs can also be found at the showrooms across the city. A list of selected exhibitors shows which manufacturers are to be found where.
FAIRS & EVENTS A step up in life: Mono by Steffen Kehrle3/31/2014With “Mono” Steffen Kehrle is presenting a polyethylene stepstool for Richard Lampert. Practically offers you a step up in life.
