The Cool Hunter, Roaming the globe so you're in the know
Hot Pick
July 3 2009
Patrick Tighe, principal of Santa Monica’s Tighe Architecture, may hate space-age references. But, here we go: Tighe’s work for Moving Picture Company’s (MPC) Los Angeles office IS space-agey. With its pod-like central spaces, curving ledges and white drywall expanses, it evokes memories of retro space movies.
But it all fits. The U.K-based MPC is in the business of computer animation, color-grading and digital effects, so you wouldn’t want color, hard edges or natural light to mess with that. MPC is known for its work on the past six James Bond films, Slumdog Millionaire and commercials.
In turn, Tighe’s residential and commercial work is characterized by roofs shooting out at angles, curves sweeping, horizontal planes slanting. Your eye follows these lines easily and accepts the direction. A goal that MPC is most likely familiar as well. - Tuija Seipell
July 2 2009
Paris-based Agence Jouin Manku took on its first large-scale integrated architectural and interior design commission in 2003, when YTL Design Group from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, invited it to design the residence of a Malaysian power family.
Completed in the latter part of 2008, the residence is the ultimate expression of the taste, influence and industrial-scale capabilities of the prominent family whose entrepreneurial activities have shaped Kuala Lumpur’s skyline.
Three generations of the family inhabit the 3,000 square-meter residence designed to accommodate both private and public functions.
The building includes nine bedrooms, two family rooms, a family kitchen and a private dining area, a family library, a game room, a study, a public reception area, a formal dining room, a ballroom, chapel, 21 bathrooms, a swimming pool, two guest suites plus indoor private and guest parking.
The initial sketches exploring the owners’ usage requirements reveal resemblances to the boring stacked-boxes look still so ubiquitous in residential architecture. And while traces of the ”heaped trailers“ syndrome remain in the finished building, this is not the Jetsons, neither are we looking at EPCOT, Tomorrowland or the 1964 New York World's Fair.
We are in the lush vegetation of a posh Kuala Lumpur residential area, and in spite of the boxiness of the structure, an elegant circular softness manages to permeate the sightlines and key details of the building, making it an agreeable part of its landscape.
Inside, prominent examples of this curvilinear elegance include the amazing staircases resembling the inside of a shell when viewed from above, and the round ballroom chandelier of 13,000 custom-designed undulating petals of unglazed cast porcelain biscuit.
The curved walls both inside and out have a functional purpose of providing privacy and enclosing each function gently in its own space. The overall sweeping feel inside the spaces invites the viewer in and creates soft, arching vistas.
The concept consists of three layers: the base for public functions, the ring for guests and the private house for the family.
The inside of the magnificent residence is gorgeous with its high ceilings, large windows and abundance of light. White color and natural wood are dominant elements but they allow the view from the vast, mostly retractable, windows to remain the main visual attraction.
The residence is also a wonderful study of contrasts between inside and outside, private and public, traditional and ultra modern, man-made and natural.
YTL Design Group of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was the architect of record. The Agence Jouin Manku design team included Patrick Jouin, Sanjit Manku, Yann Brossier (architect), Richard Perron (designer). Officina del Paesaggio from Lugano, Switzerland was in charge of the landscape design, and L’Observatoire, New York, USA handled the lighting. - Tuija Seipell
June 25 2009
How far will your need for speed take you? If you’re like many of us, dreams of sitting in the cockpit of any kind of aircraft rolling through the clouds are unlikely to ever happen... until now. The US Air Force has teamed up with Galpin Auto Sports and built the stealth-looking Dodge Challenger Vapor – part muscle car, part fighter jet – all military strategy.
The designers fitted the body of the car with jet enhancements that would even make Batman look twice. Special radar-blocking black paint covers the car, while a stealth exhaust allows it to run virtually silent. A roof-mounted camera detects any type of movement within a quarter mile. Biometric verification via the driver’s thumbprint gives access to the vehicle through gull wing doors.
All that’s left to do now is strap on one of the custom-designed helmets, climb inside the cockpit and take off. Once seated behind the wheel (or wheels, as there is a passenger-side steering wheel as well), the pilot and co-pilot can use an advanced computer-system complete with internet access, a GPS tracking system, exterior proximity sensors, as well as switch on a thermal vision projection on the windshield to track enemy forces through the darkness.
Jumping back to reality, only briefly, the USAF designed the Challenger as a recruitment tool for future cadets. The military planned a Super Car Tour and is visiting various high schools across the US, along with a handful of auto shows to entice young hopefuls into military service. - Andrew J Wiener
June 24 2009
Here at the industry arm of TCH Platinum, we collaborate with some of the world's best companies to help them stand out from their competitors. We specialize in developing ideas to help brands move into the new, niche Cool Age niche.
We also develop ideas to take TCH into the offline space, starting with TreeLife and now our Pop-Up skate park.
This innovative concept sees art, design and extreme sports collide creatively in an awe-inspiring, customised skate park entirely unique in the skating world. Using pop-culture icons and the latest trends, the Pop-Up Skate Park by TCH creates ultra-cool skating environments, designed to garner the ultimate media exposure through their incredible appeal and popularity.
Currently, we are creating two Pop-Up Skate Park themes – Transformers and Space Invaders — both ideal promotional media for high-energy brands that want to attract serious attention.
For Transformers Skate Park, we commissioned Christiann Klaassen and his amazing team from Rockhunter in London to visualize the recreational and promotional space where design, technology and skate culture meet with a cool Skate Park.
This is a fully customizable skating environment, designed for each specific location’s surroundings, and incorporating a range of innovative ramps, bowls, half-pipes and landings.
Two oversized Autobot Transformer robots, impressively positioned at either end of the skate park, signify guardianship of the ramp and those who use it, echoing seamlessly the Transformers film concept of robots protecting humans.
En all-encompassing landscape of illumination and light-projected designs enhance the skating environment. There is also the option of showcasing a range of rotating art works to further emphasize this hyper- real environment.
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Space Invaders, in turn, are arguably the biggest pop-cultural icons of the 80s! The original characters that introduced the world to the realm of video gaming through their pixilated aesthetics, enjoy the unique advantage of multi-generational appeal. Globally, from children of the 80s through to Generation Y, the public has recognized and appreciated these characters for their cool simplicity.
The Cool Hunter is taking these alien invaders and super-sizing them for their unique skate park. A pair of larger-than-life Space Invader characters frame the two ends of the skating environment. Made from translucent Perspex, these illuminated figures create the visual masthead for the Skate Invaders Park.
The skating surface itself reflects the playing environment of the original 80s game. This design comprises of illuminated alien ships, fighter units and laser beams as seen in the games architecture.
The entire Skate Invaders environment will be visually enticing and provide innovative user functionality for Skate Invaders. Skate Invaders has been rendered by Per Krogsgaard and Jason Idris Alami from What!
If your brand is ready to launch a Pop-Up Skate Park by THC in your city, get in touch.
Mini Cooper by TCH is also another project we'll soon announce online.
June 24 2009
I hate the term ‘comeback’.” That’s Casey Spooner, one half of Fischerspooner, the iconic electro duo who’ve just released their third album (Entertainment) after a four-year gap in recording. “It’s not a comeback because we didn’t actually leave,” implores Casey. He’s right too. Fischerspooner haven’t been hiding after their last album, Odyssey, failed to ignite in the same way that electroclash touchstone #1 did, they’ve just been busy working on other facets of the Fischerspooner universe. “Releasing albums isn’t all we do, we’re performance artists so we could be working on stage shows, theatre pieces, ballets or installations.”
Yet for a duo that can work (successfully) in so many different creative arenas, there is something appealing about the musical side of Fischerspooner that lured Casey and creative partner Warren Fischer back for Entertainment. “I often wonder why we do it,” Casey remarks with a pause for contemplation. “This job can be terrible. I haven’t had a day off since the beginning of the year,” he moans. “But I think, in the end, Fischerspooner as a musical entity offers us a chance to incorporate a lot of different elements and open things up for collaborations. For us, it’s never just an album. There’s a stage show we’ve got to think about and with that comes choreography, costuming, design as well as art and image direction. We’re always thinking of new stuff to do and who we can do it with to make it work right.”
Whatever they’ve done in the last four years has worked, as Entertainment shows off a charismatic and invigorated Fischerspooner. One minute they’re swanning through some pulsating electro (The Best Revenge), the next it’s brooding dance music for androids (Money Can’t Dance) or fractured and futuristic pop (the stunning Danse en France). Entertainment is an album filled with unbridled imagination, but more importantly it’s an album that sees the realisation of all these ideas. “We worked really hard on this record, and we’re proud of it,” Casey says grinning. “I guess I don’t mind too much if people see it as a comeback. It just means that we’ve been through it all. First we were loved by everyone, then hated and now people are excited to hear from us again. I quite like that feeling.”
It’s good to have them back. – Dave Ruby Howe
June 23 2009
The 80s revival wave has swept the cobwebs off many brands, including the quintessentially preppy Lacoste. Gone are the pretty pastels and tennis whites - enter graphic, techno prints as exemplified in their new 'Ibiza' range of neon coloured trainers. Inspired by pixellated graphics, the graduated-print collection is sure to become a must-have amongst all self respecting creative types. - Lisa Evans
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June 11 2009
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It is fitting that the 70-year-old Frank Gehry ended up re-envisioning the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) for his native city of Toronto. As a boy, Gehry visited the AGO often, and the effect of those visits on him and his future career was important. Gehry has lived most of his life in the U.S., but the AGO remake allows Toronto to reap some of the benefits of his massive talent before it’s all too late.
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One of Gehry’s early sources of career inspiration was the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (1898-1976), known as the father of Scandinavian modernism. The influence of Aalto’s love of gently curving light-color wood, and his clean and airy architectural lines, can be sensed at the newly refurbished AGO. Whether or not Gehry thought of Aalto when he designed the spiraling plywood-faced staircase for the main entry hall is irrelevant, but the feel of the space is decidedly Aalto-esque. To those of us who love the work of both architects, the newly transfigured AGO is simply fabulous. - Tuija Seipell
June 10 2009
If square wheels were even slightly workable, Danish designer Michael Ubbesen Jakobsen would have used them in his Bauhaus-inspired BauBike. The pared-down bicycle is designed around the geometric shape of the square, and its main raw materials are minimal: some metal and leather. The bike has the same astonishingly classy vibe as Marcel Lajos Breuer’s Wassily chair, a Bauhaus design icon Ubbesen Jakobsen most likely studied during his education at Southern Denmark’s respected design school in Kolding. From the small touches, such as the BauBike-embossed leather strips that wrap around the handlebars, and the gorgeous springs under the austere saddle, it is easy to see that Ubbesen Jakobsen is a meticulous designer, a serious tinkerer and, at least in the case of BauBike, an elegant minimalist not afraid to have some fun. So far this year, BauBike has appeared at the Salone in Milan and at the DMY International Design Festival in Berlin We are not yet clear when and how we can get our hands on one — equipped with the second saddle accessory — but we are hopeful it will be soon. - Tuija Seipell
June 9 2009
Welcome to Matt W Moore's world. His retro, abstract inspired graphics with a steely, graffiti-edge have seen this young Portland-based artist's work traverse the globe. Moore's vast commercial portfolio includes gigs for mega brands including Burton, Nike, Wired, Citroen, Vodafone and many others. Fascinated with symmetry, geometry and saturated colour, he creates retro-spirited, abstract graphics with a wild, graffiti edge.
A process of experimentation led to Moore's lauded signature "Vectorfunk" style of digital illustration, inspired by abstract geometry, vibrant colour combinations, dynamic compositions, depth and contrast. He also works across the spectrum of design and art disciplines - from canvas paintings to textile/apparel design and to logo/identity work. His typography, type treatments and icons are featured in his annual monochrome series, and in a comprehensive solo book called Vectorfunk by ROJO. - Lisa Evans
The Mini Cooper has been created for a TCH Special Mini Cooper project which we will unveil soon.
June 8 2009
Mecanoo Architects is designing the city hall and central train station for its home town of Delft, in the Netherlands. The top level will be glass-ceilinged, and even the underground levels will have a feel of transparency and light. Vaulted ceilings, archways and a strong use of white and blue will lighten the visual weight of the complex that will include a 30,000 square-meter public hall. The four-year construction will begin next year.
The Dutch-born and educated architect Francine Houben established Mecanoo Architects in the mid-80s. Mecanoo has since completed an incredible variety of public and private projects, including retail stores, theaters, hotels, libraries, museums, chapels, residential neighborhoods and parks. Houben’s focus on ”sensory beauty,“ color and light has produced many spectacular buildings in Europe and around the world. Most recently, Mecanoo won the competition to design the new master plan for a central business district in Shenzhen, China. The district will include 8,000 houses and 400,000 square-meters of commercial and cultural facilities. - Tuija Seipell
June 4 2009
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TreeLife launches in Sydney - Summer 2010
We are excited to announce that our first offline event, TreeLife by The Cool Hunter, will be unveiled in Sydney's iconic Hyde Park and other landmark satellite venues including Martin Place and the Sydney Opera House.
"Treelife is a brand new free event, launched here in Sydney before going to London and New York," says Sydney Lord Mayor, Clover Moore MP. "This event will showcase innovative and creative sustainable architecture, and illustrate that green can co-exist with urban city life."
The world's first major public exhibition of 'green design' treehouses, TreeLife will bring the biggest names in international architecture, design and art into the one public place for the first time.
The Sydney launch of the event will showcase cutting edge green and sustainable design set in beautiful Hyde Park, one of Australia's most iconic and highly trafficked public spaces located in the heart of the city.
Life in the trees
Treehouses have become creative eco-statements in the design world. They allow people to literally be "in" nature and peace above the stressful street level of life. The Cool Hunter will invite top local and international architects, artists and designers to design for the event a modern treehouse, created from sustainable and recycled materials
Global program of events:
To celebrate the incredible temporary environment created by TreeLife, the exhibition will host a program of events that will vary from city to city.
Art-life: Green-themed, organic art installations placed around treehouses including topiary.
Silent Cinema: Public, open-air "silent" movie screenings using wireless, sound-proof headphones.
Free bikes at each satellite venue for people to move from site to site in an eco-friendly manner
Hi-Tea: Refresh in the TreeLife High Tea Room
The Green Room: An off-site sister hospitality venue
Sleep overnight in a treehouse: The ultimate tree house experience.
Illuminating TreeLife at night: LED installations and nightly LIGHT SHOW
Rollerdisco: A 70s "rollerskate" rink.
Eco-stage: Artists will perform amongst the installations on the green-powered Eco-Stage
The Ecotarium: A showcase of green technology.
Graphic Art exhibition: 100 TreeLife posters designed by 100 of the world's top graphic illustrators
Sponsorship opportunities click here
June 2 2009
While most of us must accept sitting just AT our regular desks, the creatives at Hamburg’s Syzygy agency get to sit IN their swanky, new desks. Thinking up ads and interactive campaigns for clients such as Chanel, Mercedes-Benz, Mazda and Fujitsu, will most likely go a whole lot smoother when your workplace is custom-designed for you.
The office of Syzygy Hamburg (they also have offices in London and Frankfurt) was created by Christoph Roselius and Julian Hillenkamp, the two founders of eins:eins architecten in Hamburg.
The sleek, white bullpens are not as inflexible as they may seem. On the contrary — the various configurations are endless, but the desks always join together and form a whole. This allows for close cooperation and reinforces the feeling of everyone being in the same boat. The flexible desks also make it possible to turn tight and tough-to-utilize spaces into productive working environments.
Syzygy’s staff is lucky in other ways, too. Their cool office is located in the central part of Hamburg, near the city hall, the Binnenalster artificial lake, and the upscale shopping promenades of Jungfernstieg and Neuer Wall. Seems unfair, doesn’t it? -Tuija Seipell
