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THE GREAT INDOORS
Nº125 NOV — DEC 2018
HIGH-DENSITY HOUSING How we will live tomorrow
PORCELAIN SURFACES FOR CREATIVE DESIGN Milan
Moscow
New York
florim.com
FRAME 125
Contents
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20
13 OBJECTS
Martin Rijpstra, courtesy of Koen Steger and Pyrasied
The future of on-demand design, indoor lighting for people and plants
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20 PYRASIED
Three designers objectify plastic
27 DORNBRACHT
Lex de Gooijer’s balancing act
29 THE CHALLENGE What’s next for cohabitation? Five creatives answer the call
42 WAKIMUKŪDŌ On togetherness
46 THOM MAYNE ‘The world is not here to produce my architecture’ 52 SIBLING ARCHITECTURE Party of five
Christine Francis
45 PORTRAITS
34
58 BETHAN LAURA WOOD Dressing up for the occasion
68 RACHEL WHITEREAD Casting director 74 TOBIAS GRAUW Putting his HQ in the spotlight
Courtesy of Job van den Berg
61 BARBER OSGERBY Two men, three companies, five milestones
4
FRAME 125
Michael Stavaridis
81 SPACES
From members’ clubs to nightclub-inspired retail
124 MINOTTI
70 years and counting
131 FRAME LAB Living 132 Cities that stack up 138 Kwong Von Glinow deals with density 144 Octane raises the serviced- apartment stakes 148 O-office builds a sandwich community 152 Cube Haus makes it fit
134 86 Patrick Bingham-Hall, courtesy of WOHA
156 NEOLITH
Set in sintered stone
158 DOMOTEX
Create’n’Connect
163 REPORTS Kitchens
171
Experiential dining and culinary wizardry
Courtesy of Marqqa
176 IN NUMBERS
Leon Laskowski’s All In task light in facts and figures
6
COLOPHON
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Translation InOtherWords (Donna de Vries-Hermansader) Contributors to this issue Kirsten Geekie – KG Will Georgi – WG Grant Gibson – GG Leo Gullbring – LG Harry den Hartog – HdH Enya Moore - EM Shonquis Moreno – SM Cathelijne Nuijsink – CN Simone Reynolds – SR Anna Sansom – AS Jessica Renée Smith – JRS Jane Szita – JS Lauren Teague – LT Angel Trinidad – AT Cover Detail from X+Living’s Neobio Family Park in Hangzhou (see page 104) Photo Shao Feng Lithography Edward de Nijs Printing Grafisch Bedrijf Tuijtel Hardinxveld-Giessendam
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8
EDITORIAL
How to make livable cities UNTIL RECENTLY I was looking for a new home for my family. I’ve experienced first-hand the extreme buoyancy of the housing market in Amsterdam. Practically every month the price per square metre goes up a notch. If you put up your home for sale, within a week you’ll have hundreds of interested parties lining up to view the property. The asking price is just a starting point, outbidding standard fare. Amsterdam isn’t on its own. Despite their enormous appeal, world cities such as London, Tel Aviv and Hong Kong can no longer meet the demand for housing. As a result, prices rise, too many homes become vacant investment objects, and the situation deteriorates rather than improves. How can large cities break out of this vicious circle? More and more architects are addressing that question. In this issue’s Living Lab, we present some of their promising proposals. Examples are MVRDV in Amsterdam and WOHA in Singapore, who suggest multifunctional high-rise. Think of towers that offer not only apartments but also space for offices, retail shops, hospitality enterprises, medical facilities and greenery, lots and lots of greenery. Plants are the focus of Stefano Boeri’s Vertical Forests, for instance, residential towers now sprouting in cities far beyond the architect’s native Milan. Young architecture practice Kwong Von Glinow provides existing buildings with clever architectural interventions and proposes a mix of vertical living complemented by ample communal spaces. The idea is to combine diversity and high density to achieve a healthy and sustainable living environment.
The youngest generation of creatives takes a totally different approach. This issue’s ‘The Challenge’ shows that their interests lie in intangible, psychosocial concerns such as loneliness and inclusivity. Their tools are not architectural in nature and, in many cases, are immaterial. They look for answers in (medical) technology – apps, light fields, nutritional supplements – in an effort to solve housing problems. It seems impossible to steer urbanization in the right direction without accepting a high density of buildings. The difficulty lies in maintaining a human scale while integrating both mobility and nature. Intelligent architecture will be the hardware for cities of the future. I’m talking about energy-saving – literally green – buildings with extensive facilities aimed at serving a variety of lifestyles. Vertical cities within cities. But who will develop the software for making and keeping increasingly dense housing areas livable? How can we prevent loneliness and isolation? How can we guarantee inclusivity and privacy? How much do we leave to the market? Architecture isn’t the whole solution. Technology plays a role as well. The rest has to come from good education, responsible upbringing and proper governance. A challenging mix. By the way, our new home, on the outskirts of Amsterdam, is in a multifunctional apartment complex that’s part of an area marked for new urban development. Looks as if I’ve become a research subject in the ongoing discussion about how cities ought to grow. ROBERT THIEMANN Editor in chief
BetteLux Oval Couture Steel can wear anything
Design: Tesseraux+Partner www.bette.de
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CONTRIBUTORS
‘When I arrived for my shoot with Rachel Whiteread at the NGA, her exhibition was in the process of being installed. It felt surreal to be able to move around the space freely, with freshly unboxed works scattered around. And Rachel, of course, was an absolutely wonderful subject.’ JUSTIN TYLER GELLERSON
Based in Washington, DC, the political heart of the United States, photographer JUSTIN TYLER GELLERSON strives to capture the American condition in his work. His portraits and landscapes reveal what’s happening in urban, rural and suburban USA. Gellerson’s images have appeared in key American newspapers and international cultural magazines, including The Washington Post and The New York Times. When not making pictures, he can be found playing pinball or drinking coffee. His portraits of English artist Rachel Whiteread are on page 68. A recent graduate of the DAE in Eindhoven, where she followed the Master’s Programme Design Curating and Writing, Vancouverite KIRSTEN GEEKIE now lives and works in Amsterdam. Research carried out while she was a student at the DAE targeted the ways in which design influences urban areas and impacts a city’s social health. On page 118, Geekie discusses the resurrection of disco-inspired spatial design.
Melbourne photographer CHRISTINE FRANCIS specializes in interiors, architecture and design. She greatly appreciates diversity and collaboration in her work, a preference that shines through in her images. Francis’s academic background is in visual communication, and her photographs and digital images have featured projects in Australia and abroad. For this issue, she visited Sibling Architecture. The results are on page 52. American photographer MATT HAAS, who has offices in Chicago and Milwaukee, doesn’t like to be tied to one genre. His photography centres on portraits and lifestyle settings yet encapsulates many different realities. While documenting his projects, Haas builds up a rapport with his subjects in an effort to tell a bigger story. His portraits of the duo that make up Kwong Von Glinow are on page 138.
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Nick Dunne, courtesy of Seray Ozdemir
RAPID MANUFACTURING accelerates on-demand design. INDOOR GREENERY enjoys a light treatment. The corridor sparks SOCIAL INTERACTION. Discover new directions in the world of products.
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OBJECTS
MANUFACTURING – A growing revolution in robotics is enabling brands to adopt automated manufacturing systems that proved difficult to implement in the past. Now that artificial intelligence and enhanced robotics are able to handle soft, malleable fabrics, our understanding of product design is being revolutionized. The latest systems go beyond industrial mass production to include rapid manufacturing. Today, a single pair of trainers can take up to 18 months to go from concept to end product, according to executive search firm Boyden. When we stop to consider that more and more consumers expect tailoring options and prompt delivery, we realize how important it is for brands that want to stand out to provide a fast service that enables shoppers to personalize their garments. Advances in speed and personalization are evident at the Adidas Speedfactory – facilities are located in Ansbach, Germany, and in the US city of Atlanta – where footwear
is made using robotic cutting, 3D knitting and additive manufacturing. Machines for these various operations can be reprogrammed to respond to cultural shifts without the need to retool the factory or retrain workers. To demonstrate just how efficient the Adidas Speedfactory is, the brand created a collection of running shoes inspired by major urban cities around the world and the runners that live there. Taking into account the specific requirements of athletes in each city, Adidas bases the designs on terrain, weather and biometric data. This form of data-gathering has the potential to allow brands to reconfigure and alter products on demand. In their quest to offer consumers highly functional objects, companies could adapt shoes, sportswear or entire collections by altering shape or weight when confronted with changes in climate, for example. In addition to wearables, rapid manufacturing will have an impact on domestic environments and their furnishings. Experi-
menting in another field, which also addresses place-making, is MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab, which uses a technique called rapid liquid printing. The process turns out large customized products with complex shapes, internal chambers and intricate surfaces. Within a matter of minutes, rapid liquid printing – reliant on a robot in a tank of gel suspension – can produce large functional items. Currently, the only limitation to rapid liquid printing is the printed object’s physical scale, which can be only as large as the tank containing it. However, Self-Assembly Lab researchers believe that applications will become exponentially greater and include things like portable shelters, automotive designs, furniture, interiors and skins. It’s clear that a burgeoning revolution in robotics and material innovation is facing a virtual explosion thanks to rapid manufacturing and responsive automated systems developed to produce objects on demand. – JRS
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What RAPID MANUFACTURING means for the future of on-demand design
Produced at the Adidas Speedfactory are running shoes whose designs are geared to the unique conditions of different cities around the world and the runners living in those urban areas. Factors include terrain, weather and biometric data. adidas.com/speedfactory
Exhibiting at the Patrick Parrish Gallery in New York, Liquid to Air: Pneumatic Objects was a collaboration among Self-Assembly Lab, MIT and Christophe Guberan. The series of liquid-printed lights, vases and vessels, currently available for purchase at the gallery, features complex shapes rendered in various thicknesses that reveal the inflatable material’s level of translucency-slash-opacity. selfassemblylab.mit.edu christopheguberan.ch
THE
Courtesy of Common Accounts
THE FUTURE OF COHABITATION In the lead-up to each issue, Frame challenges emerging designers to answer a topical question with a future-forward concept. As urban areas grow outwards and upwards, the cost of inner-city living becomes equally inflated. In order to stay central while avoiding social isolation, various groups of people are opting to share the load. Today that means everything from self-sufficient communes to co-housing models, but how will cohabitation look in the future? In line with this issue’s living-themed Frame Lab (see p. 131), we asked five makers to come up with possible solutions.
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An illuminated slate on the back of a smartphone, Stateslate allows for a playful interpretation of passive communication.
FUTURE OF COHABITATION
Nยบ 5
Slated for Interaction
Streamlining human interaction in tech-filled public spaces, OOOF helps smartphone users to connect or simply cooperate with like-minded strangers.
THE CHALLENGE
Let’s talk about nonverbal communication. FLORIAN AMOSER: Whether we like it or not, we often communicate with colleagues or friends by text message, social media or mail. It’s increasingly rare to have face-toface conversations. What’s more,objects now have so many functions that they communicate less and less with those around us. A newspaper or book may signify a specific interest or position of the person reading it, for example. It’s become quite hard for an onlooker to interpret the intentions of someone using a multifunctional device. Can you give another example? LISON CHRISTE: If I’m writing a letter, you can see exactly what I’m doing. If I’m writing a mail on my smartphone, you don’t know whether I’m composing a message or chatting to a friend on social media. How do you want to change this? PIETRO ALBERTI: We propose a simple augmentation of the smartphone that allows for a playful interpretation of passive communication. It’s called the Stateslate: an illuminated slate on the back of the smartphone that’s integrated into a protective smartphone case. By analysing a user’s interaction with the smartphone, the Stateslate reveals his or her state of mind and activity. How? LC: A 3D system translates the user’s state of mind into a colour. The system’s various axes range from active red to passive cyan, from accessible blue to unavailable yellow, and from stable green to creative purple. Different apps might trigger different
Ooof’s interest in the intersection of technology and social interaction led to Frame’s selection of the Lausannebased studio – a joint venture of FLORIAN AMOSER, PIETRO ALBERTI and LISON CHRISTE – for ‘The Challenge’.
states – mail could automatically trigger a yellow or inaccessible state – and different behaviours: fast app switching would move the user’s state on the cyan-red axis, time spent in an app would move the state into a green-purple dimension, and the type of app would change the state along the blueyellow axis. Would this bring people together or keep them apart? PA: Both. There are times when you’re in a public space and just want to be left alone, even though you’re sitting next to someone. Boarding a train or a bus, for instance, you can head to the corner where others using Stateslate display the same state as yours. Together as a group, you could dynamically create a ‘silent zone’. We think this is much better than the enforced silent zones used in public transport. If you’re doing something less important – checking social media or reading an article – the colour system would signal to those nearby that you’re up for a chat. It’s an interesting way to interact with strangers. Can someone tap in to chat via their own smartphone? FA: No. We think people should interact in the real world and not sit next to each other and communicate through a device. Ultimately, it’s real physical interaction that makes people happy, not virtual chatting and not reading or replying to mails. Our proposition is just a slate that clarifies your intentions and your accessibility. We believe community living should be more like Tinder and less like Chaturbate. – WG ooof.ch
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Andrew Meredith
BETHAN LAURA WOOD cycles to the strings of a cello. RACHEL WHITEREAD gets concrete. BARBER OSGERBY proves that one plus one is three. THOM MAYNE discusses his metaMorphosis. Meet the people. Get their perspectives.
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PORTRAITS
A DAY WITH
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London Night Owl 8 a.m. BETHAN LAURA WOOD: There are two things I’ll get up early for: a flight and a flea market. Otherwise I reluctantly wake around eight. Physically rising from bed happens later, after I’ve had some quiet thinking time. I live in an Art Deco-style building, a former showroom for electrical appliances. It looks a bit like a slice of Miami plonked itself in East London. If I’m working at the studio – it’s kind of halfway between Clapton and Leyton – I throw on whatever I have lying around and cycle there. It’s a nice route, mainly via cycle lanes and through parks – an enjoyable, decompressing ride. If I can take a half-day off, I head to one of my favourite markets, like Spitalfields, in which case I dress up. Part of the pleasure of getting ready is having no time limit. I don’t look like this when I go to the studio; being there is about the work, not about me. At the market, am I looking for things for myself or to inspire my work? It’s so intertwined now, and a lot of my projects can be traced back to things I found at one of the market stands. I used to have an issue with what I make versus what I like, but I’ve become more confident with the crossover. Jurgen Bey and Martino Gamper [Wood studied under the two designers at the Royal College of Art] taught me to celebrate my perception of colour – to use it in what I do. 10 a.m. The studio opens. Sometimes it’s just me and my studio manager, Dan, who started earlier this year. Before that there was Danae; we grew the business together. She moved to Mexico after three years with me but recently returned to work on a project with us. Two others started only a week ago, and I also work with an external designer. Sometimes it’s just me; sometimes I have an entourage. Both ways are nice.
The intertwined nature of BETHAN LAURA WOOD’s flea-market finds colours her daily life and inspires her work. Words
TRACEY INGRAM
I’ve had to learn how to hand over certain elements – and a degree of responsibility – in order to broaden my horizons. Although my practice has become quite diverse, set-design projects lead to requests for more; handbag designs do the same. There’s a lot of cause and effect. Most of my projects are collaborations with specialists. I had to find the best way to communicate with various people from various fields – experts in the likes of glass, metal, waterjet cutting. Take Pietro [Viero], for example, who works with me on handblown Pyrex-glass pieces. My Italian may have plateaued at ciao, but after working together for years we have an understanding that transcends language. We can build a cooperative narrative, which is visible in our results.
Portrait
ANDREW MEREDITH
nothing really exists outside of it. But after I finish a project or hand it over to a producer, I search for input elsewhere. I might pop along to a gallery opening or grab a bite to eat. I cycle home unless it’s very late or very wet, when I might press the dangerous Uber button. My studio is lovely by day, but the area is pitch-black at night. Unless I’m working, my evenings are pretty quiet. When you have intensely social windows during the year – like Salone, for instance – you appreciate the opposite.
1 p.m. Lunchtime. There’s nowhere to eat nearby, so we cook something together. I’m not the most energetic of chefs; I rely on the others to bring in the flavours. If I’m at Spitalfields, as I am most Thursday mornings, I grab a bite there after a wander and a natter. Following a morning at the markets, I usually pack in meetings during the afternoon.
1 a.m. Bedtime is around one in the morning, perhaps a little later. I’m quite the night owl. If I’m left to my own devices, I prefer to work late at night – fewer e-mails and phone calls that way. While working, I like listening to films and documentaries. I enjoy the sound of them much more than any music. Some I play over and over again – Picasso: Magic, Sex, & Death is a favourite. I can immediately call to mind its aggressive cello music if I think of the film. Sometimes, since I’m alone in a big warehouse, I play the building at its own game and put on The Exorcist. It tends to freak people out if they happen to drop in. ●
7 p.m. I stay at the studio until seven or eight, or even past midnight, depending on the project. When I’m in the middle of something big,
Wood’s largest work to date, a fantastical and immersive experience created in collaboration with Maison PerrierJouët, will be on show at Design Miami/, open 5-9 December 2018 bethanlaurawood.com
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PORTRAITS
Everyone Together
INTRODUCING
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SIBLING ARCHITECTURE advocates a more inclusive approach to spatial design. Words
ENYA MOORE Portrait
CHRISTINE FRANCIS
The Sibling directors (from left to right): Nicholas Braun, Amelia Borg, Jane Caught, Qianyi Lim and Timothy Moore.
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PORTRAITS
WHAT I’VE LEARNED
‘Architecture has the power to reshape who we are’ From a tortured Borromini to ‘LA bad boy’ to negotiator, THOM MAYNE expounds on architecture’s role in influencing behaviour, including his own. Words
LEO GULLBRING
Portraits
CARMEN CHAN
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AURA COLLECTION By Yonoh Aura Lamps are the centre of attention because of the innovative characteristics of the material. It is the lightness and the organic movement of the chains that allows to play with the volumes creating perfect tubular effects by which the light diffuses, generating the characteristic “aura� effect.
Photo by Jordi Anguera
Photo by Pere Queralt
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Shao Feng
LUXURY RETAIL shifts into laid-back mode. CO-WORKING gets culture-specific. NIGHT FEVER makes a comeback. MEMBERS’ CLUBS on the wane? Step inside the great indoors.
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RETAIL
An eyewear store merges Lithuanian history with the future of retail
VILNIUS – How does an optical retailer who wants to transcend mere commercialism with its store redesign manage to weave itself into the history of a storied medieval city? According to architects Petras Išora and Ona Lozuraitytė, the answer lies in the ‘superimposition of previous public space, Soviet stratigraphy and today’s ecology’. Their ideas pervade an experiential retail interior in Vilnius, created for Lithuanian optical company Friends & Frames. Lozuraitytė talks about meeting the client, who requested a location strong enough to bear the label ‘city landmark’. Together they developed the concept of an interior that would work as a ‘city event’ or a ‘city play’. It was to be a dynamic destination, an integral part of the town, and to have ‘an atmosphere similar to a gallery’. Swathed in metallic blue paint and bedecked with an ‘independent ecosystem’ of spindly plants, the store’s towering centrepiece refers to one of the city’s only public wells, constructed in the Middle Ages and destroyed in World War II. Išora + Lozuraitytė, the duo’s interdisciplinary studio, sought to reclaim the public nature of the well with a narrative that connects past and future. The space is clinically postindustrial: a collection of high-end glasses juxtaposed with exposed-concrete walls is mirrored in both the reflective ceiling and a high-gloss epoxy floor. The studio’s intent to provide the interior with a ‘liminal’ treatment of materials and decoration is rooted in the premise that the ‘aesthetic position derives from the need’. All furnishings are recycled objects playing reimagined roles. While set in a historical and local context, Friends & Frames tries to remain relevant in a digital age. Išora + Lozuraitytė is aware that physical stores need to focus on experiences and narratives to draw consumers away from the comfort of home and the convenience of apps. – LGM ail.lt
111 SPACES
Darius Petrulaitis
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SPACES
HOSPITALITY
Shao Feng
Is this the shopping mall of the future?
HANGZHOU – Neobio is making a name for itself in China’s hospitality scene. In its candy-coloured Shanghai restaurant (Frame 121, p. 110), kids can run riot in the playground in full view of their dining parents. After crafting the brand’s first veritable wonderland of colour, pattern and form, designer Li Xiang of X+Living was called back for the second fantasy-filled instalment: Neobio Family Park in Hangzhou. This time Xiang had 16 times more square metres – and an unusual shopping-mall setting – with which to play. The intention was to take advantage of Hangzhou Star Avenue’s steady stream of visitors to resolve the location’s typically low theme-park turnout in the off season.
The developer cleared the mall’s 8,000-m2 atrium prior to construction, allowing X+Living to redefine the area’s function from the ground up. Xiang says the result ‘explores the layout of shopping malls in the future’. She believes that while people are increasingly favouring the convenience of online shopping, the internet is no substitute for social destinations such as restaurants, cinemas and locales for family activities. ‘Experiential places that are integrated with retail are a win-win solution and must become an offline business trend in China.’ She sees the connection already taking hold in the retail sector, where services and experiences are the new merchandise, and is convinced that »
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SPACES
93
SHOW
Shenme Li, courtesy of Atelier Tree
Fast, affordable and reusable: Atelier Tree rethinks the trade-fair stand
BEIJING – During a three-day trade fair at the National Agricultural Exhibition Center in Beijing, Atelier Tree’s temporary pavilion – a showcase for TF.33 fashions – was a textile-like destination in its own right. The designers opted for ordinary, off-the-shelf materials – hollow concrete blocks, flexible aluminium-foil ducts, polycarbonate panels and square steel tubes – as both structure and decor. The sustainable result allowed them to slash the budget and construction time (under 16 hours).
The reusable, recyclable pavilion put the nobility of its industrial components on display, while forming a high-contrast frame for the client’s delicately textured handmade garments. ‘We chose the most common finished industrial products and construction materials,’ says Casen Chiong, Atelier Tree’s chief architect and founding partner. ‘These products are widely used. Normally, hollow concrete blocks are hidden within masonry, polycarbonate panels are used in »
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ALCHEMIST, MIAMI
Rene Gonzalez Architect dressed down the fourth boutique of the Alchemist chain. To pay tribute to the city’s brightly saturated landscape, the studio asked industrial designer Germans Ermičs to create the mirrored glass whose orangeto-blue gradations enhance the store’s cash desk. renegonzalezarchitect.com germansermics.com shopalchemist.com
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Michael Stavaridis
SPACES
RETAIL
How luxury retailers adapt to the millennial mindset
FUELLED BY an understanding that conspicuous markers of luxury have become outdated, retailers are altering their strategies in an effort to appeal to a more inclusive audience. Historically, quality brands based their identities on exclusivity, prestige and impeccable service, while maintaining a dignified distance between themselves and their customers. Today, as a millennial state of mind that transcends age and borders comes to the fore, such brands are facing an uphill battle with consumers who don’t necessarily think a high-end heritage brand is desirable because it has a high price tag. A recent Ypulse survey found that younger consumers – some 81 per cent of those between the ages of 13 and 34 – agree that showing off expensive purchases to viewers on social media is not cool. The next generation of well-heeled consumers will not hold old codes of luxury close to their hearts and will be put off by retail environments that lack any real substance. Gone are
the traditional trimmings of posh boutiques – the contrived placement of security staff, a pretentious presentation of merchandise and a stuffy atmosphere. To capture the attention of the more laid-back consumer, retailers are exploring new ways to communicate their values in relaxed, youthful surroundings. Signifying the future direction of luxury retail, Tiffany & Co. opened its Tiffany Style Studio in London’s Covent Garden last summer, allowing shoppers to get to know the brand and its products in a playfully casual environment. A far cry from the banal atmosphere of a conventional jewellery store, the interior includes Instagrammable walls and a perfume vending machine, a decided shift from formality to ingenuity. ‘We’ve integrated uniquely playful displays that reflect the wit and humour of Tiffany design to create a one-of-a-kind, experiential destination,’ says Richard Moore, vice president at Tiffany & Co. as
well as creative director of store design and creative visual merchandising. The company’s Covent Garden location has not only a distinctive design but also an ongoing programme of events – style sessions, performances, installations and animations – that bring the store to life. The current anti-luxury approach is evident in Miami, too, a city known for its Art-Deco colours and to-the-max design culture. Alchemist – a chain of shops that carry labels such as Balenciaga, Vêtements and Fear of God – has dressed down its fourth boutique. Rene Gonzalez Architect installed a cash desk covered in orange and blue mirrored glass, courtesy of industrial designer Germans Ermičs. It acts as a centrepiece in a space with clean concrete flooring, gallery-like white walls, and customized steel clothing racks and shelves. Storytelling is becoming a key pillar for the success of a brand, as digital-first consumers seek to mimic their online experiences. Global consultant Accenture claims that over 40 per cent of Generation Z are buying more than half their apparel online and predicts that a quarter of US shopping malls will close by 2022. Warning to quality brands: it’s time to up your retail game. Attempting to compete with online stores, Gucci’s new SoHo store in New York City employs retail associates who are hired for their ability to tell Gucci’s story. Instead of a parade of intimidating black-suited security guards on the street, shoppers entering the 930-m2 space find sneakers, handbags and fashions; exposed brick walls; »
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Rungkit Charoenwat
Living
It’s predicted that by 2050, 70 per cent of the world’s population will live in cities. Since many metropolises are already bursting at the seams, accommodating such growth demands new modes of habitation. Should we build UPWARDS OR OUTWARDS? How can we live COLLECTIVELY without sacrificing individuality? How can PUBLIC SPACE best serve its modern-day demographic? Facing these questions and many more, a number of today’s architects are dreaming up futureproof housing solutions.
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Is up the only way to go?
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Urban living is set to get even denser. Does this mean entire cities will have to REACH FOR THE SKIES? Words
TRACEY INGRAM
GOOGLE THE PHRASE ‘moving out of cities’ and you’ll get a string of recent articles that claim a mass exodus from metropolitan areas to the comparative calm of the suburbs. Then try another search: ‘returning to cities’. An equally long list includes such headlines as ‘The UK’s rapid return to city centre living’ (BBC) and ‘New census population data shows a return to cities’ (D Magazine). One thing is certain, though: there are more of us than ever before. The world’s population is predicted to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, by which time 70 per cent of people are expected to live in cities. Urban areas will need to expand in one way or another.
High density isn’t the enemy
Norm Li, courtesy of UNStudio
The term may call to mind traffic jams, crowding, pollution and chaos, but ‘high density’ doesn’t have to be negative. ‘Intensifying the city offers more sustainability, more services, more life,’ says Winy Maas, cofounder of MVRDV and founder-slash-director of The Why Factory, a research institute for the future city. Richard Hassell echoes those sentiments: ‘High density means fewer people commute long distances by car, which translates into
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lower emissions and more time spent doing things you enjoy. It also means you have a vibrant community at your doorstep.’ The architect cofounded Singapore-based firm WOHA with Wong Mun Summ. Together, they design structures that proactively encourage self-sufficient cities. Zef Hemel, professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Amsterdam, also sees the positive side. He foresees cities that feel more like congresses and festivals – events that bring people together. Plus, he says that ‘you need congestion for servicing all amenities’.
The new ‘serviced’ apartment
During the 20th century, most housing was separated from activities such as working, recreation and mobility. We can no longer think in this way, says Hemel. ‘It’s not about zoning any more. Everything is combined. Cities need conviviality, whereas residences have typically been about peace and quiet. The issue is livability.’ Raising the idea of vertical cities as a possible solution to the problem, Hemel mentions a recent trip to Prague. ‘I saw beautiful examples of huge 19th-century buildings that combined shopping malls, office spaces and residences. They were surrounded by public space and had a real urban feel. Something went wrong in the 20th century. We started suburbanization. Imagine if we would rebuild our cities with huge housing blocks that blend various functions.’ MVRDV is already moving in this direction. Valley in Amsterdam is part of the city’s ten-year plan to transform the international business district – a place dominated by a monoculture of men in suits – into a more livable urban quarter. Combining homes, offices, retail, hospitality and public green space within one project ‘creates an overlap between otherwise discrete neighbourhoods, allowing people and economies to mix’, says Maas. ‘The fact that developers are open to discussing such a rich variety of programmes – and that companies are interested in occupying them – shows how much more comfortable people are with diversity and intensity »
Many eco-aware architects are proposing residential buildings covered in plants to make high-density cities healthier and more livable. Green Spine is a competition-winning project by UNStudio and Cox Architecture for a site in bustling Melbourne.
Ewout Huibers
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solving structural problems, such as how to make and arrange units. Again, very recognizable. People could point up and say: I am in the circle or I am in the square. Towers within a Tower uses high-rise living to foster a sense of community. At the same time, the project questions how we should share space. How can designers or architects support the building of new communities? AVG: It’s definitely a challenge to create private space that also makes room for shared space. With both of our multi-family housing projects, we started out by evaluating what is good in typical apartments and what could be improved. One of the things we noticed right away is that corridors take up a lot of space but offer very little besides access. We wanted to remove the corridor and replace it with something – a ‘space’ or a ‘place’ – that could be shared by the residents. We achieved this goal in our design of Towers within a Tower by incorporating shared or ‘between’ spaces for hanging laundry, cultivating a small urban garden or simply getting together with neighbours – it’s more like a pavement than a corridor. As designers we can re-evaluate elements that don’t speak to internal necessity. Everything we build should be like a place in the future, where space is lacking. ● kwongvonglinow.com
THE TABLE TOP APARTMENTS A proposal for New York City, The Table Top Apartments is a complex for living and sharing space, horizontally and vertically, through communal balconies and courtyards. Adaptable to sites of different sizes and to neighbourhoods with different housing needs, the apartments feature a system of modules that can be combined to accommodate various lifestyles. The project reflects KVG’s assertion that ‘diversity paired with density makes for a healthy and sustainable living environment’.
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Homes in a home Aimed at time-poor professionals, OCTANE’s serviced apartments offer hospitality-infused urban living. Words
CATHELIJNE NUIJSINK
TRAFFIC CONGESTION is a growing nuisance for office workers employed in the heart of Bangkok. ‘Commuting between home and work can take three to four hours a day,’ says developer Suppanee Wichitpavan of Hachi Apartment, pointing out the ‘work loss’. With 20 years of experience in real estate, the 50-year-old businesswoman decided to introduce an unprecedented type of housing to the Thai capital. The site available to her – in Bangkok’s central business district – was too small for an ordinary condominium, too complicated for a hotel and too expensive for conventional apartments. She opted for a building that houses 34 luxury serviced apartments with hotellike amenities. Her target group is composed of salaried people from 25 to 40 years of age with mid-high incomes: a demographic known to enjoy the benefits of a hotel and quality urban living, while displaying a taste for design. ‘Generally speaking, developers ignore aesthetics and rarely hire architects,’ she says, ‘instead commissioning cheap contractors to make the drawings’ – in their
haste to get to the payback period of the investment. Wichitpavan expresses her disappointment in the visual pollution caused by condominiums. Close to public transport and designed with care, the fully furnished Hachi Apartment units include services such as weekly roomcleaning. The area’s good infrastructure is another perk. Wichitpavan sees Hachi Apartment as ‘one of the highest assets’ for busy office workers tired of commuting. To realize her aesthetic dream, Wichitpavan commissioned young architecture firm Octane. In response to a brief that requested ‘a building with a lovely visual for pedestrians’, Octane concentrated on the meaning of the building at the neighbourhood scale. Rather than providing potential residents with the idea of merely renting a room, they envisioned passers-by viewing the building from the outside and seeing it as a house. The next step entailed experiments with iconic house forms, which they used as a tool to organize the design of the façade. Thawin Harnboonseth, Octane’s 28-year-old design »
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director, explains that the gable shape makes the building ‘recognizable as a house’. He speaks of ‘the beauty within the simple geometry’. Harnboonseth welcomes the multiple uses of the gable, saying that they encouraged him to search for yet another application of the form. Mounted on a grid structure, the building’s gabled ‘balconies’ visually protect the residents from outsiders’ eyes. Projecting at different distances from the façade, they also create a lively look that distinguishes the apartment building from boring housing blocks and residential towers constructed elsewhere. The homely concept was also applied to the design of the interior. A combination of materials and patterns in various woodgrains ‘make you want to relax’, says Harnboonseth, while ceiling heights kept to a human scale of 2.60 m match the proportions of the 26-m2 rooms. A soft warm lighting scheme conveys the architects’ notion of ‘emotional design’. In the building’s circulation areas, tiny spotlights embedded in black walls draw attention to the building’s woodgrain flooring. Bright white walls in the apartments make these spaces visually larger, especially in
contrast with certain black-walled corridors. Hidden light sources increase the feeling of depth. Timber stairs seem to float against a black background. A kitchen is absent from the floor plan, technically making the building an ‘aparthotel’ rather than a container for serviced apartments. Smallish rooms, in combination with the expected lifestyle of potential residents, gave the architects a reason to leave out even a kitchenette. Harnboonseth says that cooking Thai food is a complex task. ‘Bangkok employees prefer to buy ready-cooked food outside and have more hours of sleep, particularly in an area that offers plenty of street food.’ Wichitpavan predicts that the conveniently located Hachi Apartment, with its contemporary design and ‘well-heeled facilities’, will set the trend for a new kind of urban living. ‘Tenants with mid-high incomes aren’t millionaires,’ says Harnboonseth, ‘but they do have a taste for living well in a beautifully designed environment.’ ● facebook.com/Octane.architect
To give Hachi Apartment residents the feeling of renting a house rather than a room, architecture firm Octane used an archetypal gable shape for the building and its balconies.
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Kitchens
Brands explore the many faces of EFFICIENCY. The OPEN-PLAN model linking cooking and living continues to grow. Designers take to the kitchen to HEAL communities. Discover what’s driving the business of design.
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REPORTS
PANORAMIC EXPERIENCE Cooking equipment takes CENTRE STAGE as consumers look for wholesome innovation. In the past, predictions of the future did not omit the sort of food humans would eat and how they would eat it. Forecasts in the 1920s and ’30s imagined people in the 21st century swallowing complete meals in pill form, no garnish. Today, although it’s hard to fathom a capsule replacing the universal allure of a piping-hot pizza, we are
looking for innovative experiences that highlight how we eat. We want to play the part of keen observer, as well as the role of amiable participant. As the divide between back of house and front of house in present-day restaurants shrinks, our senses – sight, smell, sound, taste and, in some cases, touch – tell us that a good meal is nothing short of magic. With technological advancements extending to the world of food, dining out becomes a new kind of experiential spectacle, performed on a new stage with new props in a display of sheer culinary wizardry. – LGM
Raitt Liu
For Uniuni Coffee’s new shop in Nanjing, China, Shanghai studio Dongqi tore down the curtain between stage and backstage to produce an open, fluid space that makes the baristas’ work the focus of attention. Suspended from a structure of red-sprayed steel tubing are curvy bar counters that hold a paraphernalia of utensils – or props, to continue the metaphor – all ready for the coffee-making show. Electric and water supplies positioned above the tubing combine with exposed pipes and wires to further the ‘performance’. dong-qi.net
KITCHENS
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To launch Dialog Oven – an intelligent appliance that uses electromagnetic waves to respond to the texture of food – Miele developed a multimedia installation that offered visitors a 360-degree experience. The brand’s Creating New Dimensions exhibition in Milan culminated in an event that allowed the audience to see the revolutionary product in action: Dialog cooked a fish fillet to perfection, for example, while an enveloping ice block remained frozen. miele.com
Joan Guillamat
Courtesy of Miele
Chris Sanchez
Restaurant Cocina Hermanos Torres in Barcelona emerged from the Torres brothers’ wish to offer a unique gastronomic experience: ‘More than a restaurant with a kitchen, we’d like to create a kitchen with a restaurant.’ Carlos and Borja Ferrater of studio OAB transformed a former industrial warehouse into a desirable destination. Kitchen islands in the middle of the interior invite diners at surrounding tables to view their food being prepared. ferrater.com
Tired of munching on expensive and uninspiring sandwiches day in, day out, four MIT graduates put their brains to work and added a techno twist to fast casual dining: ‘Spyce is the world’s first restaurant featuring a robotic kitchen that cooks complex meals to order.’ Led by the culinary talents of Michelin-starred chef Daniel Boulud and executive chef Sam Benson, Spyce dishes up wholesome, inexpensive meals (starting at US$7.50) in three minutes or less. spyce.com
THE NEXT SPACE Join us for two days of talks, discussions, exhibitions and workshops to explore the future of spaces. Upskill, network, grow. Get your tickets now. 20-21 FEBRUARY, 2019 WESTERGASFABRIEK AMSTERDAM
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