Magazin

Gerrit Rietveld is one of the best-known Modernist designers and architects. However, his oeuvre is not just of historical interest. A visit to the exhibition at Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein shows how Rietveld addresses space, and proves himself to be highly topical.

Should architecture serve power, provide a visual representation of it? How do we read traces of destruction that scar the urban space? An ambitious reader by Bechir Kenzari on the relationship between architecture and violence seeks to answer precisely such questions.

In the form of “JOH3”, J. Mayer H. Architects have completed their first construction project in Berlin. The apartment block is clad in aluminum blinds and has a curved silhouette – offering a new interpretation of the Berlin tenement block.

Documenta 13 has begun. For 100 days, Kassel will host the work of over 150 artists, scientists and philosophers from 55 countries. A photographic tour offers a first impression of the works.

Zaha Hadid: High-risesHamburg: Lost PlacesBasel: Art and designMunich: L’Architecture Engagée3sat: Konstantin Grcic

Paola Antonelli is a design critic and curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Untiring in her enthusiasm, she tells the world why design as part of everyday culture has earned a permanent place in the MoMA.

What attitude do the Germans have toward their homes? This is an interesting question, which sociologist Alphons Silbermann pursued in his 1989 study “Neues vom Wohnen der Deutschen”. It is now to be updated with “Deutschland privat”, which has shown many German homes to be in almost perfect condition. Leo Lübke, the commissioner of the study, is delighted at the Germans’ affirmation of furniture as a cultural asset.

Ingo Maurer, Enzo Mari, Eero Aarnio – they all belong to a group of designers who were born in 1932 and by tenaciously advancing their own ideas have succeeded in creating sensational works. A consideration of the 1932 designers.

Zurich: The Swiss TouchBerlin: DMY 2012New York: Art of Another KindKassel: Documenta 13Munich: Image Counter Image

British photographer and author Alex MacNaughton goes out into the urban jungle and tracks down people marked by life and asks them to reveal their skin to him. They proudly present the images on their skin and tell him their stories too.

She was born and grew up near-by, and then studied architecture. So who else could be better suited than Jolanthe Kugler to write an architectural guide to the Goetheanum hill. She manages to offer a systematic overview of the 170-odd houses in the Anthroposophical Colony, but in the process neglects to give greater depth to the specifics of the individual buildings.

Simple elements that make planning and construction much easier – architects have been looking into the possibilities afforded by modular construction for quite some time now. What do these modules require in order to fulfill the basic functions of a living and working space and simultaneously remain adaptable in their implementation? The exhibition, “Architekturteilchen”, at Cologne Museum of Applied Art takes a closer look at this question.

London: The Historical BoxNRW-Forum: Polaroid RevivalHFF Munich: Women in FilmDessau: Marcel BreuerBielefeld: Sou Fujimoto

He conquered America’s inner cities with the old technique of the Catalan vault: Spanish engineer Rafael Guastavino. Today his works are experiencing a revival. Nora Sobich met Guastavino expert John Ochsendorf for a chat.

About 70 percent of the world’s population will in future live in megacities. For the Audi Urban Future Award 2012 six architectural offices are casting an eye over the metropolitan regions of Boston/Washington, São Paulo, Istanbul, Mumbai, the Pearl River Delta and Tokyo – and coming up with new ideas for developing mobility in urban space.

There’s a very close relationship between making architectural models and photography. A surprising discovery for Oliver Elser, curator of the exhibition “The Architectural Model – Tool, Fetish, Small Utopia”, at the Deutsches Architekturmuseum, Frankfurt. An interview by Nina Reetzke.

Zürich: Urban jewelryAedes: Future City LabLondon: Biennial of Moving ImagesDAM: The architectural modelNew York: Graphic design

What is the difference between light and lighting? With “Verto”, Naoto Fukasawa has designed a luminaire for Belux that is based upon the principle of reflection. Nina Reetzke met the Japanese designer for a chat.

As an historical institution Bauhaus may be known across the globe yet its profile remains unusually vague all the same. No wonder. After all there were three different colleges, in three different locations with three different directors. A new travel book now attempts to draw a detailed map of the school’s checkered history.

In “Colour One for Mini” Scholten & Baijings have created an installation, that conceptually challenges common conventions in surrounding the car. The Dutch designer duo dissected a “Mini One”, revamping the individual parts with new colors and textures. The outcome created a space where our associations with the past and future of the automobile were free to run wild.

Bright neon colors and subtle pastel shades, uninterrupted and plain – several color contrasts are clearly emerging in home furnishings. Photographic evidence from this year’s Salone del Mobile.

Atelier Brückner: Staged spacesDarmstadt: A House Full of MusicGuggenheim Bilbao: David HockneyHannover: Made in GermanyWeil am Rhein: Rietveld Retrospective

Historical settings and paintings formed an atmospheric backdrop for exhibitions on Gio Ponti, Venini and Foscarini during the Salone del Mobile in Milan.

Since April 2007 the “News & Stories” team has been reporting on everything that high-quality design stands for. In this way in the course of the five years they have created an extensive archive of texts and images from the areas of design, architecture, art and culture.

The “Hallingdal 65” exhibition by Kvadrat that was held in Jil Sander’s showroom during this year’s Salone del Mobile presented conceptual designs by young designers created using a textile classic by Nanna Ditzel. And Hansjerg Maier-Aichen was in charge of selecting participants from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Text by Sandra Hofmeister and interview by Markus Frenzl.

Milan’s Salone del Mobile is like a window on the future. A first glance reveals: Plants are moving back indoors, while furniture is stepping out for some fresh air.

For one week a year, during the Salone del Mobile, Milan becomes a fairground, springboard and experimental lab all rolled into one. But with a little luck, there is indeed a small piece of paradise to be found somewhere in this rowdy setting. Taking a systematic approach to the fair won't help you here, but a passion for discovery just might.

While we continue to digitally network ourselves ever further, home sweet home is largely still an analog island. Yet there are many arguments in favor of connecting the various technologies in our homes. Light+Building featured systems and ways to technically organize the interaction of lighting, heating, communications and household appliances.

Bauhaus: Art as LifeMoMA: Ecstatic AlphabetsMunich: SonderfARTMAKK: Architecture particlesBasel: Jeff Koons

How to avoid buildings aging owing to the facility technology and stop the lifecycle of the infrastructure defining construction cycles? Questions such as these were debated by Saskia Sassen, Bjarke Ingels and other experts at the Zumtobel Expertenpanel during this year's Light+Building.

This year, those who wanted to see innovative kitchen design, were not restricted to the Milan trade fair grounds but had to traipse around the showrooms scattered across the city.

The exhibition "Building the Revolution" at Berlin's Martin Gropius Bau presents a range of Soviet art and architecture from the period 1915-35. The geometric idiom typical of these works lends the art an architectural feel as expressed in names such as "Painterly architecture".

Domus, the renowned architecture journal, and ECAL, the Swiss University of Art and Design, joined forces in Milan to present exhibitions reflecting on design in an open collective and its promotion via international networks.