without boundaries : the glass pavilion : toledo museum of art : sanaa architects : photography iwan baan

opened in 2006, the glass pavilion is home to toledo museum of art’s world-renowned glass collection, featuring more than 5,000 works of art from ancient to contemporary times. the 74,000-square-foot building also includes galleries for special glass exhibitions, artist studios, demonstration areas, and spaces for education, visitor relaxation, and special events. the glass pavilion is, in itself, a work of art. all exterior and nearly all interior walls consist of large panels of curved glass, resulting in a transparent structure that blurs the boundaries between interior and exterior spaces. designed by tokyo based SANAA architects  . all photos iwan baan                                                                            .

hidden collection : furniture design : tools inlays : studio formafantasma

andrea trimarchi and simone farresin are  studio formafantasma – two italian designers based in eindhoven, the netherlands. the collaboration between the two started during their BA in communication design, illustrating books and magazines. their interest in product design developed on the IM masters course at design academy eindhoven, where they graduated in july 2009 with a thesis based on traditional sicilian folk craft.

formafantasma’s work explores such issues as the role of design in folk craft, the relationship between tradition and local culture, critical approaches to sustainability and the significance of objects as cultural conduits. they identify their role as the bridge between craft, industry, object and user and seek to stimulate a more critical and conceptual design dialogue through their work.                .

somewhere i would like to live : photography : södrakull frösakull : mikael olsson

mikael olsson via somewhere i would like to live                                                                                 .

out in the open : architecture : meme meadows experimental house : kengo kuma & associates : japan

meme meadows experimental house by kengo kuma & associates  text : dezeen

this translucent cabin by architects kengo kuma and associates is an experimental house in hokkaidō, japan, designed to test the limits of architecture in cold climates. kengo kuma and associates were inspired by the traditional architecture of the indigenous ainu, whose “chise” style buildings clad with sedge or bamboo grass hold in the warmth of a central fireplace that is never allowed to burn out. ”the fundamental idea of chise, ‘house of the earth,’ is to keep warming up the ground this way and retrieve the radiation heat generated from it,” say the architects. the experimental house was constructed around a coated larch frame and it has a thick layer of polyester insulation sandwiched between the polycarbonate cladding of the exterior and the glass-fibre fabric of the interior. this insulation was made using recycled plastic bottles and it allows light to pass into the house through the walls. ”without relying on any lighting system, you simply get up when it gets light, and sleep after dark – we expect this membrane house enables you to lead a life that synchronises the rhythm of the nature,” the architects add. As the first experimental house completed for the meme meadows research facility, the building will be used by the environmental technology institute to test how different factors affect the thermal qualities of its construction. the internal lining can be removed for experiments, while a timber-framed sash window will also be examined. the project was completed with support from the tomonari yashiro laboratory at the university of tokyo’s institute of industrial science.                                                                                 .

bosques de luz : josé manuel ballester : photography exhibition : tababacalera : madrid

so by chance on the way to the matadero in madrid, we stumbled upon a poster for and exhibition by photographer, josé manuel ballester. to our luck it was just around the corner. the abandoned tabaco factory in the heart of madrid, had be left in its decaying original state. as we walked into the dark space, in front of us hung a large version of the last supper, without people. and then we thing this was it. but as we walked behind, the exhibition just kept going. it was so beautiful to see these photos, some of them of the space itself, hung in a building that wasn’t perfectly white, and with amazing lighting. i think this was one of the more beautiful exhibitions i have seen in a long time., where the space gave such importance to the content. if you are going to madrid. do not miss it          .

inside out : architecture : antonio teofilo residence : decio tozzi : brazil

antonio teofilo residence : decio tozzi via : somewhere i would like to live                                             .

hk honey : roof top bee keeper michael leung : hong kong

high above one of the world’s busiest and most congested city streets, urban apiarist michael leung runs his crusade for conscious local food, documented in virgile simon bertrand’s inspiring photographs. leung founded hk honey and hk farm as a way of using his background as a product designer to introduce the largely unknown concept of sustainable food to hong kong. Initially starting with just a few hives on the roof of his design studio in ngau tau kok, leung developed both a brand and a responsible community around his lifestyle ideology. “by putting bees in an industrial area we are showing a bit of optimism and that it’s not too late to do something about environmental change,” he explains. “our aim is to get people to know where their food comes from and to source and buy ethically, locally and seasonally.” with hives situated on a number of cafés and design stores throughout the city—including bespoke commissions for louis vuitton and lane crawford—hk honey also creates harvestable roof gardens and promotes the development of inner city green space.

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via : somewhere i would like to live                                                                                                                  .

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cutting edge : design : kamikiri-hocho sakai paper knife : yosuke inui

living with a japanese chef, i know quite well how sacred their knives are. we have quite a few rules in our house, when it comes to using nobu’s knives. we are allowed to use them, but with care.

the thing i love about many japanese designers is the vision for the future, without forgetting traditions and the past. this morning i received a mail from yosuke inui, who has designed this paper knife for morimoto hamono. and this is what he had to say                                                                      .

a good read : design / art : pétrifications by krzysztof j. lukasik

a while ago i received a mail. it was by a young man who wanted to show me his designs. with my love for marble i was quickly intrigued. so from that day we started a conversation. i wanted to find out what was behind krzysztof j. lukasik, and what had lead him to create pétrifications. this is what he told me .                                                                                                                                                             .

museum road trip : madrid to castellón : architecture : mansilla + tuñón : photo : luis asín

text : mansill + tuñón architects  photo : luis asín

on the first of july 1999, five trucks transported five letters from madrid to castellón. the five letters had been built in white reinforced concrete, in the city of madrid. the five trucks were the same, the five letters were different. the drivers carried telephones so that they could attend to the orders of the directors of the action. as they moved through the landscape and the towns, the five letters formed a word. the emergence of a word, an intruder, implies a culturization of landscape through thought. a culturization in motion that leaves no lasting mark. an ephemeral action, limited to four hundred and forty kilometres and ten hours of travel. nature is what a person sees through experience. the task of art is to generate thoughts able to propose new experiences. the task of photography is not to represent or imitate what exists, but to summarize an experience. therefore, the pictures of this travel reveal the process of a different experience –just a few documents are left as a trace that freezes time, catalyses memory and at the same time challenges the disappearance of the ephemeral. the movement of the five letters on trucks must be understood as a “travel with weight”, reminding us of the mass of the earth that claims for itself everything that moves on its surface. the aim of this ephemeral installation has to do with the earth (two ways of colonizing: the gaze and the footprint) and with time (two ways of measuring: distance and movement). the emergence of these intruding letters, before the changing eyes of people, provokes a transformation of the different territories that are crossed by the road. a sort of spatial appropriation through the footprint and the gaze –a material confrontation between the language of the particular and the language of the universal. the continuous and accelerating frictions between the language of the particular and the language of the universal, between simultaneously being one and part of a group, inaugurate the moment of invisibility. the globalisation of culture and the respect to difference call for a wordless consensus. today it is necessary to make ideas invisible, in order to clear the path for an architecture made from the frictions of living as presentation -not representation- of life… the architecture of tomorrow does not ask for forms, but for the marrow of forms, an architecture with a succinct body, just enough to stand up. if something characterizes today’s architecture, it is the architect’s capacity to explore and exploit, with a critical and ironic attitude, preferably with a sense of humour, the apparent restrictions and difficulties of the profession in our time.