Spout Lamp By Jan Schreiner

An interesting lighting design - mixing plumbing and electrics

See more here

Bruno Cals View of the Urban Landscape

Fashion model-turned-photographer Bruno Cals knows a lot about glamor and style, but now he’s discovering beauty in other forms. Over the past two years, the Brazilian artist has created a series of photographs of the facades of contemporary architectural gems from a skewed point of view. Looking straight up the surface of modern skyscrapers, Cals composes pictures that look more like surrealist landscapes than depictions of buildings. See and read more here

A tasty form of branding

Massimo Gammacurta's logo lollipops are brought together in a new book, a sickly sweet collection of corporate iconography rendered in brightly coloured sugar...

Gammacurta first distributed his special lollipops over the internet, as an art experiment, and they were picked up (licked up?) by numerous bloggers. Read More in Creative Review

IBM asks 'How has the nature of leadership changed in the new economic environment?'

In their global annual survey of 1,500 business leaders IBM has looked at how leadership has changed in the post credit crunch economy. One result is that 'Creativity' is an essential quality for any leader.

'For CEOs and their organizations, avoiding complexity is not an option — the choice comes in how they respond to it. Will they allow complexity to become a stifling force that slows responsiveness, overwhelms employees and customers, or threatens profits? Or do they have the creative leadership, customer relationships and operating dexterity to turn it into a true advantage?  

Today's complexity is only expected to rise, and more than half of CEOs doubt their ability to manage it. Seventy-nine percent of CEOs anticipate even greater complexity ahead. However, one set of organizations - we call them "Standouts" - has turned increased complexity into financial advantage over the past five years.  

Creativity is the most important leadership quality, according to CEOs. Standouts practice and encourage experimentation and innovation throughout their organizations. Creative leaders expect to make deeper business model changes to realize their strategies. To succeed, they take more calculated risks, find new ideas, and keep innovation in how they lead and communicate.'

To find out more you can register and download the survey results here.

Stunning Mountainside Eco-Hotel

Architect Matteo Thun has designed a striking eco-friendly hotel to be located on a mountainside in the National Park of Stelvio in the Italian Alps. It is composed of a series of underground buildings linked by undulating green roofs and takes advantage of passive design principles and ground-source heat pumps to conserve energy. The construction of the units, the way the units are situated on the site, and the materials used have all been carefully considered to minimize the complex impact upon the environment. Read more

Oldest international stadium in the world reopened in Dublin

Lansdowne Road stadium in Dublin has reopened as the Aviva Stadium. Apparently it hosted its first game of rugby in 1878 and has been redesigned by global architects Populous and Dublin-based architects Scott Tallon Walker.


The design has been created to be sensitive to its surroundings with the North and South ends featuring dramatic dips to allow light to the houses behind. Sustainability was an important consideration in the design with many features including water collection to irrigate the pitch.

Clerkenwell Design Week starts Wednesday

The first Clerkenwell Design Week will start on Wednesday with design events and exhibitions across the Clerkenwell area in London. With many showrooms and studios holding events and the good weather to hold it is set to be a very hectic week with many inspirational products and designs to view. Read More

Solar Arch: Scalable tunnel generates renewable solar energy

Conceived by designer Tyson Steele, the “Solar Arch” is a scalable tunnel for rural roads that other than producing renewable solar energy to power off-grid highway lighting also supplements electricity demands in neighboring areas. To add mote, the scalable tunnel reduces icing during winter and keeps the road cool in summers. Developed in compliance with AASHTO Standards for US interstate bridges and passageways, the arch touts a ground clearance of over 18 feet and has a width of 40 feet, with each section measuring 10 feet in length. The Solar Arch also comes in a longer version, with lined troughs on either side, which apart from packing topsoil into the outer supports to increase its insulation properties helps in reducing its visibility as well. Read More

Design Blog

10 modular bicycle stands designed for better cities

With increasing traffic on city roads, bicycles or bikes have once again emerged as a popular and the fastest mode of transportation in urban environment. Bikes provide brisk commutation on cramped city roads, but without proper licensing and unavailability of apt parking slots, bike thefts are a common snag everywhere. Have a look at some most innovative bike stands that other than providing a safe parking slot for your bike also become multifunctional object to meet the altering needs of modern public places. Read More

Design Blog

University of Karlsruhe designs an experimental housing, the 'Roll It'

A joint venture of different departments of the University of Karlsruhe, the “Roll it” is an experimental house that offers modular space inside a minimal housing unit. Separating the house in three different sections, i.e. a bed and table, an exercise cylinder and a kitchen with a sink, the flexible unit presents an outer shell with the four support rings over a rigid inner shell, enveloped by a translucent membrane that also works as advertising space. Read More

The Design Blog

Sideris House in Larissa, Greece by Christina Zerva Architects

This three level house designed by Christina Zerva Architects is located in a suburb of Larissa, Greece.The building consists of several different volumes which play with space.The configuration of multi -flight staircases which combine a series of steps and rest areas, predominate the facade of the building as well as the inner space. Read More

Source: http://bit.ly/9FEyBg

2010 RIBA Award Winners by various

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) today announced the winners of the 2010 RIBA Awards. RIBA Awards for architectural excellence will be presented to 102 buildings in the UK and Europe (93 in the UK and nine in the rest of the EU). View full entry...

Source: http://bit.ly/defRXh

An interview with Brazilian designer Brunno Jahara

Six years ago Brunno Jahara left Brazil to pursue a design career in Europe. Six months ago he moved back. His decision -- purely professional -- was inspired by the fresh new creative energy he experienced while on a quick vacation back to Sao Paolo. Today Brazil, says Jahara, is a land flowing with design opportunity. See more of Brunno Jahara's designs . Read More

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Roller Buggy concept grown up kids would love likewise

Getting around with your little one in a pram could prove to be exhausting at times. Taking your pain into consideration, Valentin Vodev has come up with an innovative idea of a combining an ordinary pram with a scooter. Read More

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Schools, museums and public loo: 2010 RIBA architecture awards unveiled

Schools triumph in the architecture industry's annual awards – as does a bus drivers' toilet in Dagenham

Source: http://bit.ly/9Mx23y

Mixcoac House by Frente Arquitectura

Preserving only the street front façade, Frente Arquitectura demolished an old building to make way for a low-budget replacement in chaotic Mexico City. Read More

Source: http://bit.ly/cKVOAu

Salt Museum by Malcotti Roussey Architectes + Thierry Gheza

Use of steel is a reference to the other building, overlooking the river and built to contain a casino, restaurant and auditorium on the site of another old salt works which was destroyed in the Second World War. View full entry...

Source: http://bit.ly/btCc6j

Environmental Unit Headquarters and Public Spaces in Zaragoza, Spain by Magén Arquitectos

Magén Arquitectos’ building houses the Forestry and Natural Areas Section of the Environmental Department of Zaragoza City Council.The building is situated in the built-up area of the city centre, next to the Almozara bridge and accompanies the Ebro river on its way through Zaragoza.The site has considerable differences in level; about five metres between ... Read More
Source: http://bit.ly/bXqvHd

Perfect Storyboard Seating by Durfee/Regn

An object defined by creating a surface at the height of the knee, at the ideal angle for sitting. Echoing the old style of transporting books with a strap – an exhibition of literal and literary attachment to ideas – this object can be host to a personal library. View full entry...

Source: http://bit.ly/9OeCMx

RIBA grant awards to educational buildings before cuts arrive

The Royal Institute of Architects have handed out 93 prizes to 17 new educational buildings before new government cuts bite

In what may be the last hurrah for public buildings before government spending cuts bite, prizes for architectural quality were awarded to 17 new school and university buildings by the Royal Institute of British Architects today.
From a £27m art and design academy at Liverpool John Moores University to a multicoloured glass extension at Clapham Manor primary school, education buildings won almost a fifth of the RIBA's 93 awards in a feat that may not be repeated for a generation after the government ordered a moratorium on new plans for school buildings.
The new education secretary, Michael Gove, recently clashed with architects when he accused them of "creaming off cash" that should have been going to the frontline.
The RIBA roll of honour also reveals the damaging effect of recession on architectural opportunity: instead of the stadium, airport and museum projects of previous years, the 2010 list features more modest projects, including a bus drivers' toilet in Dagenham and a black-clad electricity sub-station on a 2012 Olympic site in east London. And, with house building falling to an 87-year low, just three housing schemes were granted awards.
Many of the country's leading designers, including Zaha Hadid, David Chipperfield and Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners, won accolades for buildings elsewhere in the EU rather than at home. Hadid's expressionist angles and curves were reserved for Rome's museum of 21st-century art, MAXXI, while Lord Rogers, widely regarded as one of the world's leading modernists, designed a new headquarters campus for a Spanish technology company in Seville.
"The RIBA awards reflect not only the state of British architecture but also that of its economy," said Ruth Reed, the institute's president. "In the midst of the deepest recession in the awards' 45-year history, this year demonstrates that, although times might be hard for architects, there are still great buildings being built throughout the country and overseas. The RIBA awards always give an opportunity for gem-like small projects and less established practices to shine through, and this year is no exception. Far from being a size prize, the RIBA awards are for buildings that offer value to people's lives."
The memorial in Hyde Park to the victims of the 7 July 2005 bomb attacks on the London transport network, by Carmody Groarke, also won and is considered by some as a possible contender for the shortlist for the £20,000 Stirling prize for building of the year, which is drawn from the RIBA award winners.
Ellis Woodman, architecture critic at the newspaper Building Design, said that other strong Stirling prize contenders included the Nottingham contemporary arts centre, the new British embassy in Warsaw, the Neues Museum in Berlin, Christ's College school in Guildford and Hadid's MAXXI museum.
The Oregon-born architect Rick Mather won most awards, gaining four. Other winning buildings included a new home in Bristol for Wallace and Gromit's creators, Aardman Animations, and a cluster of foil-clad small-business units, which look like cybermen helmets, designed by Thomas Heatherwick, in Wales.

Robert Booth

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 |

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