Let’s just all rewind the movie of our lives a bit and go back to school. We at Coolhunter are thinking of heading to University of London’s Birkbeck College and finding our way to the classes at its Film & Visual Media Research Centre.
You cannot tell from the outside that the odd set of buildings at
London’s Gordon Square offers anything remarkable at all. The older
building does have a pedigree – it is the former home of both Virginia
Stephens (later Woolf) and economist John Maynard Keynes. The drab
1970s extension to the building does not even deserve another look.
Except inside.
Award-winning London-based Surface Architects won the competition to
create within the buildings the permanent home of the Film & Visual
Media Research Centre. Surface transformed the basement, ground floor
and the extension into a unique state-of-the-art 80-seat cinema
auditorium, surrounded by a media study suite, seminar rooms and
offices.
Ian Christie, Birkbeck’s Professor of Film and Media History, describes
the exciting new building “...the new cinema auditorium – already
being referred to as ‘The Screen on the Square’ – is as soberly
dedicated to ideal screening conditions as the surrounding break-out
spaces and stairway are an exuberant display of pure form and colour.
In fact, Surface’s extraordinary projection of intersecting cones has
various filmic associations: the jagged angles recall the Expressionist
set design of The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, an influential German film of
1921; and the lurid colours evoke Andy Warhol’s silkscreen portraits of
film stars.”
Key players at Surface are Richard Scott, who formed it in 1996, and
Andy MacFee, who joined Surface in 2001 as director. Both have worked
with Will Alsop and other notables. Surface is also one of 47 practices
worldwide selected to work on the Athlete’s Village for the London 2012
Olympics. By Tuija Seipell
For some time, designers, architects and builders
all over the world have tinkered with the idea of turning excess
standard shipping containers into living quarters. Some of the
incarnations of the lowly metal box are downright chic, including
artist-architect Adam Kalkin’s Quik House for which he apparently has more orders than he can handle.
But
these metal containers have also drawn the attention of some leading
brands that have started to use the eye-popping ideas to full
advantage. Holiday shoppers milling about the Time Warner Center in New
York will have a fabulous chance to experience one of these soon.
Between November 28 and December 29, 2007, they can rest, relax and sip
a perfect cup of illy espresso in one of Kalkin’s creations, the
temporary Push Button House cafe that the Trieste, Italy-based illycaffè will install there.
The
European premier of this concept by Alan Kalkin and illy took place at
the 52nd Venice Biennale where illy continues to partner with the
Fondazione La Biennale di Venezia by providing the visitors each year a
space to relax and enjoy their complimentary espresso. This was illy’s
fourth year of establishing the refreshment area at the Biennale but
the Push Button House version created an unprecedented buzz.
With
the push of a button, the house opens in 90 seconds like a flower and
transforms from a compact container into a fully furnished and
functional space with a kitchen, dining room, bathroom, bedroom, living
room and library. All materials used in the Biennale house were
recyclable or recycled. As Andrea Illy, chairman and CEO of illycaffe,
has been quoted as saying, illy was initially interested in Kalkin’s
idea as an examination of “home as one continuous mouldable surface, a
relief against which human activity would pop out.”
Kalkin’s
concepts have proven to be adaptable to many circumstances. His company
has developed container-unit projects for everything from
disaster-relief housing to luxury dwellings (pictured below), and for
promotional purposes such as the illy cafe. By Tuija Seipell.
Though born Canadian, Patrick Cox seems to have thoroughly absorbed the British birthright of effortless punk in his designs. Cox first defected to metropolis London at the impressionable age of 20. He then studied shoe design at Cordwainers College at Hackney in London. Two years later, Cox released his very first shoe collection in 1985.
Since then, Cox has opened several eponymous boutiques: one in London, two in Paris and one in Lyon, France. The designer released a diffusion line, "Wannabe," was awarded the British Fashion Council. "Accessory Designer of the Year" in 1994 and 1995, and has been praised in the fashion scriptures of Vogue, Glamour, Elle and Harper's Bazaar, among many others.
Cox's most recent collection for the Fall/Winter 2007 collection displays his signature pairing of cheeky and classic. The Triziana pump features a gold weave construction that belies the funky metallic gold base, finished with a snooty turned-up-toe. Likewise, Cox' men's collection walks the fine line: "his take on the traditional brogue is remarkably restrained. His only concession to quirkiness? The metallic gold coloration underlying the toe pattern," says men.style.com.
Regardless, there's an undeniable affinity for sequins and shiny patents. In fact, Cox conceded that the current women's line was a nod to the sparkly Garland duds of Oz fame. But spindly, delicate, Choos these are not. As Cox divulged in UK's Times, "I don't like women teetering around on little spindly stilettos. I like a more aggressive spiked heel. It's not pretty and twee." By L. Harper
They used to say ‘a light bulb goes on in your mind’ when knowledge happens. The Danish architects at 3XN already realise the sun is the true source of knowledge – providing fuel for each global system. Imagine the power more sunlight can provide young minds hard at work in their schools.
Orestad College (upper school) opened this year just south of central Copenhagen in the development area of Orestad. The superstructure of the building is formed by four boomerang-shaped platforms that rotate over four floors and remain open to one another allowing for a seamless interconnection of space throughout the school. This open, high central hall, known as the X-zone is linked by a stairway that helps promote interdisciplinary communication and cooperation among the various teaching and study spaces.
Transparent glass louvres automatically rotate on the exterior of the building allowing light in and providing an array of colours to the interior environments. By manipulating the sunlight the entire student body becomes aware of the passing of time and the changing of the seasons as the school year progresses.
Sustainability for education can certainly begin with the design of the school itself, and 3XN has successfully integrated the traditional Scandinavian aspects of functionality with clarity and beauty in form. By Andrew J Wiener
Walking past a series of drab estate agent windows doesn't really make you want to part with your hard earned cash. Even if you are looking to move out.
That's why estate agents Hotblack Desiato – depicted as a keyboard player in the cult sci-fi novel, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy – decided to spruce up their Islington offices in London.
These little clusters of property were inspired by the revival of cubism within architecture. The 3-D squares created by designer Paul Crofts are set at varying depths to create an almost pixel like installation that spills over onto the adjacent wall inside. Which makes poking your nose round other people's houses that little bit sweeter. By Matt Hussey
If you’re like us, you sometimes get that nostalgic feeling for picking up the phone your mum had in your kitchen growing up. But in the constant struggle to find a phone small enough so you can’t see it in your pocket when you leave the house, you probably forgot how comforting it was to cradle a phone between your ear and shoulder and talk for hours.
Now YUBZ has designed a USB Skype phone for computers and mobile phones. YUBZ TALK ONLINE works with most PC’s and Mac’s (US$44.95) because it comes with VOIP plug-and-play technology in black, red, white and yellow. For the same price you can also get the YUBZ TALK MOBILE in 10 different colours. It’s designed to attach to most mobile phones. By Andrew J Wiener
The stark XXS Shop for Mobile Gadgets opened earlier this year in
Hamburg’s Innenstadt, at Spitalen Hof 8. It is a minimalist showroom by
Hamburg-based Spine Architects
for Etronixx-Trading GmbH. The store is void of practically everything
else but white surfaces and the merchandise itself. Mobile gizmos
appear almost suspended in air, as they rest in small slots within the
white expanse of built-in cabinetry that encircles the entire space. It
is an excellent example of forcing the customer - in a pleasant way -
to focus on the products, not on the props.
Spine is a German-English partnership that started between Boris Bähre,
J'orn Hadzik, Jan Löhrs and Neil Winstanley in 2001 when they won one
of the prizes awarded in the international design competition for Rabin
Square in Tel-Aviv, Israel. They are known for their work in several
areas, from housing to public places to TV shows, private homes and
shops. In September, Spine Architects opened an office in Menlo Park,
San Francisco. By Tuija Seipell
Artist Bruno 9Li is an artist of extraordinary talent, who works and lives in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Bruno's work is inspired by alchemical imagery, his surrounding neighbourhood and the Art Nouveau period and feature amazing ink on paper works which are remarkably unique. The work is incredibly vibrant even though only a handfull of colours are used. Bruno's work seems to re-use the same colours in his latest range. This in no way limits the variety of the work itself, as each piece is wonderfully unique. Geometric form coupled with an illustrative foundation is the springboard for this work.
In its large format scale, his works are illustrative and almost comic like in their colourful representation. By Andy G
Back in May this year, we told you about a little shop in New York called Pong (pictured below). A tiny table tennis parlour that you could hire out and film your slide into sporting greatness. What we also mentioned was after three months, Pong would be gone in favour of something else.
And the time has come for it to be replaced, by a Drive-in theatre. What was formally a sporting arena, is a cinema fitted with a 1965 Ford Falcon convertible and widescreen. Starting with films from 1960 and progressing chronologically each night, DRV-IN speeds through four decades of cinematic achievement.
With seating for six and a full concession stand, where else in Manhattan are you going to relive all those crappy B-Movie moments you saw when you were a kid? By Matt Hussey
Many architects struggle when faced with the possibility of compromising their own vision for that of a client’s. Ingo Pott and his practice’s multidisciplinary approach however, invite the minds of creative professionals in hopes they may provide additional stimulus in designs. Every aspect of their body of work centres around the philosophy that cultural exchange generates creativity.
House W considers the changing needs of a growing family by including space to come together and space to spend individually. Pott Architects tend to draw from an eastern mentality with respect to time and place. Both the structure and the surrounding environment are treated as one, and effectively, the design for each private house, including this one, could not be constructed anywhere but it’s present setting. Architect Urlich Hamann effortlessly placed the house in the surrounding environment, and perhaps established a design philosophy carried through in subsequent projects.
One such project, House L, is sited in a wooded site on the slope of a hill. Leaving work and the city behind was the family’s primary objective when choosing this serene environment well outside Berlin. Following through with a commitment to integration in the surrounding, the interior and exterior space blend into one.
From within, large open spaces framed in sweeping glass sheets allow for a heightened awareness of the passing of time. Both subtle and dramatic differences in light as the day gives way to night, as well as the changing of the seasons seamlessly synthesise man and nature. Completed in 2006 by HamannPottArchitekten (now Pott Architecture) and architect, Urlich Hamann, the sustainability of House L provide various ecological considerations as well, including a minimum demand on resources. By Andrew J Wiener
You are in Stuttgart and in need of a cool party space. Or maybe you
just don’t know what to do with your spare old house. Either way,
you’ll want to connect with the Berlin-based trio of architects
—Thorsten Blatter, Andreas Blödow and Georg Schmidthals — at and off . These guys have just reclaimed an old house in Stuttgart and created Die Blaue Caro (German for Blue Diamond), an ever-changing temporary club.
They call it a kitchen club and, on last look, it did indeed resemble a
kitchen slightly. Here’s how it’s done: Use blue and white tile samples
for wall and floor coverings, position cool objects on tiny shelves
jutting off the tile walls, crank up the superior sound system (by
Logitech) and invite some fun people to your funky kitchen, which of
course is the place where all good parties start and end anyways. Each
event alters Die Blaue Caro space, an idea that is typical of and off.
They use found objects and eclectic combinations of styles, and they
want the spaces constantly converted and rearranged. So, check out Die
Blaue Caro now, while it’s still a kitchen. By Tuija Seipell
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