New York City-based architecture firm LEONG LEONG designed a temporary installation – TURNING PINK W in New York's Chinatown.

The cave-like space is a result of blending four shapes into a topological environment. The walls of the gallery are lined with mirror to transform the spatial figure into a field of reflections.

LEONG LEONG

Turning Pink W, image courtesy LEONG LEONG

Turning Pink W, drawing courtesy LEONG LEONG

+ Project description courtesy LEONG LEONG

TURNING PINK W

The temporary installation for the W/ Project Space in New York's Chinatown completed by LEONG LEONG is the latest in a series of projects that explore the translation of a legible figure into a continuous visual field. From the street, the installation appears as a glowing, enigmatic box, its contents and purpose unknown.

Once inside all reference to the boundaries of the gallery are obscured by a five-sided figure made of rigid building insulation. The cave-like space is a result of blending four shapes into a topological environment. The walls of the gallery are lined with mirror to transform the spatial figure into a field of reflections. All material used in the installation will be recycled in the construction of an artist residence in New Jersey designed by LEONG LEONG.

The installation is sponsored by 3.1 Phillip Lim and Pabst Blue Ribbon.

+ About LEONG LEONG

LEONG LEONG is an architecture firm based in New York City founded by brothers Dominic and Chris Leong. Their work includes the highly publicized 3.1 Phillip Lim stores in Seoul and Los Angeles, the renovation of the 3.1 Phillip Lim flagship in New York, and the Opening Ceremony boutique at the Ace Hotel in New York. Most recently LEONG LEONG was selected as a winner of the New Practices 2010 Competition by the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. This award recognizes the new generation of emerging architects in New York City.

+ For more information please visit www.leong-leong.com + www.withnyc.org

+ All images courtesy of LEONG LEONG

OR², is a new installation designed and developed by Orproject recently. OR² was constructed for the London Architecture Festival in front of the Italian Cultural Institute. It is on show at Belgrave Square until the 4th of July.

OR2 at the London Architecture Festival, image courtesy Orproject

+ Press release courtesy of Orproject

OR2 LIGHTS UP BELGRAVE SQUARE

OR2 at the Italian Cultural Institute, Belgrave Square, London, 24-06-2010 ~ 04-07-2010.

We are pleased to present OR², a new installation by Orproject, a London based practice of the architects and designers Francesco Brenta, Christoph Klemmt and Laura Micalizzi.

OR² is the further development of OR, a single surface roof structure which reacts to sunlight. The polygonal segments of the surface react to ultra-violet light, mapping the position and intensity of solar rays. When in the shade, the segments of OR² are translucent white. However when hit by sunlight they become coloured, flooding the space below with different hues of light. During the day OR² becomes a shading device passively controlling the space below it. At night OR² transforms into an enormous chandelier, disseminating light which has been collected by integrated photovoltaic cells during the day into the surrounding areas.

Special software components have been developed in order to create the shapes and to generate the cutting schedules. The individual elements were then automatically numbered and water jet cut. OR structures are the first ones to employ photo-reactive technology at an architectural scale, exploring its applicability to the fields of construction and design. The beauty of OR² is its constant interaction with the elements, at each moment of the day OR's appearance is unique.

The installation has been specifically designed and erected for the Italian Cultural Institute as part of the London Festival of Architecture.

+ About Orproject

Orproject is a London based architecture and design practice set up in 2006 by Francesco Brenta, Christoph Klemmt and Laura Micalizzi. The work explores advanced geometries with an ecologic agenda, the integration of natural elements into the design results in an eco-narrative unfolding into the three dimensional space.

+ For more information please visit www.orproject.com.

+ All images courtesy of Orproject

UK-based designer Sean Gair has recently designed a new landmark for Aldgate international competition.

Global Information Network Amplifier, rendering courtesy Sean Gair

Global Information Network Amplifier, rendering courtesy Sean Gair

+ Project description courtesy of Sean Gair

Global Information Network Amplifyer [GINA] was concieved through the exploration and desire to embody the pride London boasts with its hosting of the XXX Olympiad in the summer of the year 2012. The structure will contain hundreds of fluctuating 'trend pods' that will ultimately hold and represent the global interests of 2012 and the Olympic aspirations of nations all over the world.

Global Information Network Amplifier - Trend Timeline, diagram courtesy Sean Gair

Social networking traffic and real time global interests will be monitored using simple online applications and proportionally quantified into litres of volumetric helium gas. Consequentely each popular keyword often in the form "#Olympics" will be allocated its own pod, and sister keywords within similar topics will be clustered in close proximity to each other.

Global Information Network Amplifier, diagram courtesy Sean Gair

Epitomizing the City's regeneration of the area of East London and serving as not only a functional amenity for providing information through a real time visualization, the intervention will also act as a transient moment of spatial/geographic interaction, organizing ones knowledge of their local and global environments. It is believed that through creating a habitable diagramatic architecture, GINA will act as a thriving 'data signpost' reinforcing the distinctive character of the Aldgate site. GINA would bring the street to life before, during and after the olympic and paralympic games.

+ Project credits / data

Architect: Sean Gair
Project: Global Information Network Amplifier | 2010
Program: A New Landmark for Aldgate international competition
Location: Aldgate, East London, England, UK
Client: The Architecture Foundation
Project Team: Sean Gair, Sandra Perez
Project Coordination: Sean Gair

+ All images and drawings courtesy of Sean Gair

Dutch design studios i29 interior architects recently has completed the interior project in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Image courtesy i29 interior architects

+ Project description courtesy of i29 interior architects

This single-family apartment for four people is situated in a stately building in southern Amsterdam, NL. The original structure, with rooms for staff, a double hall and long hallways with lots of doors has been transformed into a spacious, transparent dwelling full of light and air.

Image courtesy i29 interior architects

A kitchen in combination with cabinets from floor to ceiling has laser-cut front panels, all spray painted white. This pattern results in a dynamic mixture of open and closed cabinets, the holes also function as integrated handgrips. The transparency of the object's skin gives depth to the volume which is complimented by furniture like the Grcic chair one.

Image courtesy i29 interior architects

An atrium with open staircases brings natural light from a large roof light into the living area. Along the open staircase a wall of two stories high is covered with clear pine wood, and connects the two levels. Upstairs the master bedroom is situated next to a large bathroom with a finish of structured tiles from Patricia Urquola, glass, and wooden cabinets.

+ Project credits / data

Design: i29 | interior architects
Location: Rooseveltlaan, Amsterdam
Area: 150 m2
Contractor: Smart Interiors
Interior builder: Kooijmans interieurbouw
Material: grenenhout, witte epoxy vloer, wit spuitwerk, LG Himacs, glas
Furniture: Chair one, Magis Constantin Grcic / Loop stand table, Hay / Glo-Ball lights, jasper Morrison, Flos / maatwerk keuken & kasten
Photo: © i29 l interior architects

+ About i29 | interior architects

Founders:
jaspar Jansen (1970) & Jeroen Dellensen (1972)

Education:
jaspar Jansen: Rietveld Academy
Jeroen Dellensen: School of Arts Utrecht

We are Jaspar Jansen (1970) and Jeroen Dellensen (1972) In '01 we joined forces and a year later i29 l interior architects was born, a creative and versatile interior design studio. Our aim is to create intelligent designs and striking images. Space is the leitmotiv,the result always clear, with a keen eye for detail. Our approach is practical yet based on strong ideas articulated in clear concepts. We try to get to the core of things but keep it looking simple. Our clients are open minded and involved. It is most important to us to enjoy the process together and to get everything out of it!

We are not alone in our voyage. In a short period of time many projects have been realized for a wide variety of clients, both private and business. We've been nominated several times for awards like the Rotterdam Design Award, dutch design awards, LAI awards and The Great Indoors award. We won the Dutch Design Prize for best interior design and The Great Indoors Award for best office design. Our projects have been published in (inter) national magazines and books.

jury rapport The Great Indoors Award 2009 / interior design firm of the year:
“The fact that this firm has been nominated twice before, in the categories Concentrate & Collaborate and Serve & Facilitate, illustrates the convincing power of the projects of i29 Interior Architects. In the jury's eyes, this firm shows how capable it is of linking architectonic components with intensive studies of surfaces that gain maximum impact through the use of a colour or typography. This firm represents a method in which architecture and interior architecture come together in a model combination”.

jury rapport The Great Indoors Award 2009 / concentrate&collaborate: (office 03)
“Temporality and sustainability are concepts difficult to reconcile. This is an observation that certainly holds true for the interior, and raises an important question for the future, given that many interiors do not last longer than five years. This design for a temporary office seems to have formulated an answer to the call for identity and the demand for sustainability. With this simple manoeuvre, by which all individual elements are connected by the colour black and a simple zoning system, i29 Interior Architects formulates an intriguing answer to this demand, and presents an outstanding case study”.

jury rapport The Great Indoors Award 2009 / Serve&Facilitate: (school 03)
After years of disqualification based on typology, suddenly the school seems to be once again the focal point of interest of architects and interior designers. The level of interest has led to an interior architecture that revisits the interface of optimum education and an optimal spatial environment. The jury was deeply impressed by this project by i29 interior Architects and Snelder Architects, in which they see an extraordinarily mature touch that articulates a variety of spaces in a remarkably focused way. But at the same time, the interior manoeuvres used in this project demonstrated a focused specificity in both the unique furniture designs and the service of the school's educational mission. The jury appreciates the way in which every aspect of the interior design was approached to produce a clear image vocabulary.

+ All images and drawings courtesy of i29 | interior architects

The spanish studio A-cero has designed the contemporary and clean line furniture series ALMA and REST. REST includes an armchair, a couch and a table made of modular structures, and ALMA is the new vases collection. The both series are designed by A-cero’s director Joaquin Torres and his partner Rafael Llamazares, for Vondom Furniture Company.

+ Product description courtesy of A-cero

ALMA, image courtes of A-cero

ALMA

ALMA is the new vases collection designed by the A-cero Architecture Studio´s director Joaquin Torres and his partner Rafael Llamazares, for Vondom Furniture Company.

They were inspirited in nature in order to design this original and innovative set. The stylized forms of ALMA seem plant stems that climb from the ground working as flowers and sheets stands.
With ALMA, A-cero offers a new decoration concept without never leaving aside the practicality. Indeed, these flowerpots holders can be installed in interior and exterior spaces and they hold in great conditions, even under the most extreme temperatures.

Furthermore, you can find these pieces with several sizes and colours, and with a built-in lighting system. for any interior or exterior space.

This vases set is made by moldeo rotacional, a semi-handmade and slow process that guarantees the maximum quality of the product and takes care of all the details.

Slender, dynamic, elegant and light lines create ALMA as an ideal vases collection for the avant-garde architecture, as the A-cero one.

REST, image courtes of A-cero

REST

Simplicity shapes, pure lines and modern design are the concepts that sum one of the last collections up of exterior furniture collection designed by the A-cero architecture studio´s director Joaquin Torres and his partner Rafael Llamazares, for Vondom Furniture Company.

It is a set inspired by the Origami, Japanese art based on the paper folded in order to obtain varied forms figures according to the philosophy "Less is more".

REST includes an armchair, a couch and a table made of modular structures. This gives freedom to the owner who can adapt them according to his needs and space.

The skill of used manufacture is the moldeo rotacional. It is a question of a semi-handmade and slow process that guarantees the maximum quality of the product and takes care of all the details.

REST shows their authors´ aims that always are looking for elegance and beauty, as well as their entire adaptation to the clients.

From a few pronounced, dynamic, elegant and light geometric forms, there is born this collection that provides the maximum comfort to the user and integrates into the avant-garde architecture thanks to its contemporary design.

+ Design: A-cero

+ All images courtesy of A-cero