Am Anfang war der Pneu - first there was air - so hypothesised the German architect and master of lightweight construction Frei Otto: a conviction which led him to spend a large part of his career attempting to reduce architecture back to its natural origins and build a permanent structure "constructed" solely from air. And although he never realised his dream of material-less construction Frei Otto did develop a couple of very interesting studies, including the 1971 Arctic City project which
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1989. A year of social, culture and political upheaval whose effects are still being felt today. The Berlin Wall falls. George Bush is sworn in as 41st President of the United States of America. Nirvana release their debut album Bleach. The Poll Tax is introduced in Scotland. The first episode of The Simpsons airs. And while not wanting to over dramatise the situation, yet clearly and deliberately doing just that in the interests of an introduction, 1989 also saw the opening of the Vitra Design
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Erected in 1927 in context of the Deutscher Werkbund exhibition "Die Wohnung" the Weißenhofsiedlung in Stuttgart aimed to achieve "…. a reduction in house construction and running costs, in addition to a simplification of housework and a general improvement in living standards" But did it? Or is it just a collection of buildings by Max Taut, Hans Poelzig, Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, Mart Stam, Peter Behrens and their ilk? A chance for a close connected group of modernists to show off?
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Just as the devil has the best tunes so does nature posses all the best structural forms. Consequently engineers and designers have long looked to nature for inspiration, the results being as varied, mundane and ultimately important as Velcro, turbines and even train noses. The secret of course is knowing where to look. The early "bird men", for example, thought flight was all about flapping. It isn't. It's about air flows, keel-shaped sternums and hollow bones. Once that had been understood
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The inescapable chill in the morning air and the deep-seated boredom in the eyes of school aged children can only mean that summer is, ever so slowly, coming to an end. And just as spring beckons life to return in the natural world, so to does autumn herald a revival of activity in the unnatural world of museums and galleries. Consequently, whereas in August we only managed to find three architecture and design exhibitions to recommend, for September we have seven! A Magnificent Seven who
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Parallel to the exhibition "Aus allen Richtungen" at the AIT ArchitekturSalon in Cologne and its exploration of 30 young German architects relationships to their profession, the Johannesburg Museum of African Design presents examples of how 12 young German architects transform this philosophical relationship into tangible projects. Focussing on projects realised since 2004 outwith Germany the exhibition presents projects by a dozen young architects/architectural practices which in the words of
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When we stated in our 5 New Design Exhibitions for August 2014 post that there were only three exhibitions opening in August worth recommending, we were, it would appear, being somewhat hasty. On Thursday August 21st the exhibition Aus allen Richtungen. Positionen junger Architekten im BDA opens at the AIT ArchitekturSalon Cologne. Presenting works by some 30 young German architects Aus allen Richtungen is a touring exhibition in which each architect and/or architectural practice is given an
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As previously noted in these pages the (hi)story of modernism is largely one of successful male/female partnerships, the most famous questionably being Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich or Le Corbusier and Charlotte Perriand in the main period of inter-war European modernism and Charles and Ray Eames in context of the post-war American adaptation. Yet it is also a (hi)story with only very few identifiable female leads. From the examples above Lilly Reich, Charlotte Perriand and Ray
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As we noted in our 5 New Design Exhibitions for July 2014 post, July and August tend to be quiet months in the world of architecture and design exhibitions. If evidence to back up our claim were needed, our 5 New Design Exhibitions for August 2014 recommendations features architectural photography in Cologne, Portuguese interior design in Lisbon, interface design in Sydney....... And that's it. That's all that is opening this August. And one of them opened in late July. But less is famously
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One of the most mundane, yet important, aspects of any designer or architect's training is sketching existing buildings and products. Observing. Studying. Forming. Learning. Developing. Hans J Wegner, for example, drew, drew and redrew the furniture in the Danish Design Museum Copenhagen, Louis I. Kahn spent his formative years sketching the ruins of European churches and cathedrals, while a young Le Corbusier regularly crossed the Swiss-Italian Border to undertake study tours of locations
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Since the beginning of July the Weissenhofsiedlung in Stuttgart has been one building richer with the official unveiling of the so-called B10 Active House by Stuttgart based architect Werner Sobek. Realised in collaboration with the Stuttgart Institute of Sustainability in context of the Schaufenster Elektromobilität - Electric Mobility Showcase - research project, the B10 Active House goes beyond normal passive house standards and has been designed to enable it to utilise renewable energy
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"Weltstadt – Who creates the city?", we wrote in our review of the eponymous exhibition at the Deutsches Architektur Zentrum, DAZ Berlin, "is about promoting a dialogue, of encouraging discussion and for all about motivating each and every one of us to think about our own communities and our own cities and to consider what could be improved. And for all how." Practical examples of just how projects to achieve such could be organised and what they could, potentially, achieve can currently be
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Popular opinion is that old buildings deserve be preserved, restored, used and loved. Popular opinion however has a very singular and narrow definition of "old." A definition normally based on a simplified, generic, understanding of visual beauty rather than age or historical relevance. Something that means a lot of 1950s buildings are all too often classed as meaningless post-war quick-fixes. And so ignored. Allowed to fall in disrepair. Demolished. Munich based photographer Hans Engels
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Tradition being the predictable beast that it is, July and August tend to be quiet months in the design universe – most everyone taking themselves off to their Gîtes, Dachas, Ferienwohnungen, Vakantiehuis and lakeside bungalows for a few weeks of quiet reflection ahead of the autumn trade fair and design week season. Most. But not all. A few hardy souls remain, stocking the furnaces of creative culture with architecture and design based exhibitions intended to inspire, excite and entertain.
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As we noted in our original post on Niek Wagemans' nachBAR project for the Dutch Embassy in Berlin, we sadly had to depart Berlin before construction was finished. "What we’ve seen so far however impresses.", we noted, "And we can’t imagine our position will change dramatically." It hasn't. A delightfully compact, well proportioned and very welcoming object, nachBAR proudly presents it origins and with its sheet steel cladding and rounded edges radiates something of the aura, and arguably
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Back in 2011 we took umbrage at the fence surrounding the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein and so, taking up Ronald Regan's mantle, issued a challenge to Vitra's Chairman Emeritus Rolf Fehlbaum "Mr Fehlbaum! Tear down this wall" we demanded, "Or at least move it a little. Please" And Rolf Fehlbaum listened. And has indeed moved it a little. Thank you!1 However, being a much more enlightened man than us, Rolf Fehlbaum thought further and not only took the opportunity thus created to invite
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With their high walls, locked gates, uncooperative guards and more video cameras than your average broadcasting company need to cover a simple football tournament in South America, embassies aren't, generally speaking, the most welcoming of places. A small piece of another culture they may be, but never a piece of another culture that appears particularly interested in interacting with the neighbours. To demonstrate that alternatives are possible, that embassies can be a focal point in a
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Should the 2014 football World Cup final see Italy meet Brazil that would, arguably, be a more than fitting celebration of the 100th anniversary of Italo-Brazilian architect, artist, designer and author Lina Bo Bardi. However, because football's fickle fate cannot be relied upon the Deutsches Architektur Zentrum, DAZ Berlin are currently staging the exhibition "Lina Bo Bardi - Together", an equally fitting tribute to Lina Bo Bardi and her work. Born in Rome on December 5th 1914 Achillina Bo
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We can't rule out that our interest in the project zTuA by Hochschule Rosenheim students Marko Steininger, Martin Winkler and Fabian Steiner is a direct consequence of the current situation in the (smow) blog HQ. That our professional opinions are being influenced by personal circumstances. We hope they aren't. But can't rule it out. zTuA is an acronym of "zwischen Tür und Angel" - "between door and hinge" - a nice German idiom that refers either to a necessary urgency, to being in the
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If etymologists are to be believed the name "June" is derived from the Latin word iuniores - younger, so junior - a word that has also given us Juniperus. And Juniperus communis gives us the juniper berries that give gin its magic. And what is an exhibition opening without gin? And so what better month to visit an exhibition opening than June? Our five picks from the new June 2014 offerings features Swiss garden design, Spanish food design, Italian abstract design, Finnish modernist design
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Parallel to the exhibition Fernsehgeräte the Neues Museum Nürnberg is also presenting "Unschärfe" - Out of Focus - an installation by Nürnberg architect Matthias Loebermann created in cooperation with students from the Institut für Architektur und Städtebau at the Hochschule Biberach. Whereas fuzziness, blurring and an irritating placing of focus is a tried and tested process in painting or photography - something we demonstrate neigh on daily - in architecture it is a little used phenomenon.
read moreOver the weekend June 6th - 9th the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam is hosting the exhibition "Supermodels - 100 Years of Dutch Design and Iconic Architecture" Conceived by Amsterdam based design agency Concern as a response to the question how best to present the variety of Dutch design and architecture in a representative yet compact touring exhibition format, Supermodels presents scale models of important and/or iconic examples of Dutch architecture and design. Premièred at Milan 2014
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Until August 24th the Swiss Architecture Museum, SAM, in Basel is staging "Fritz Haller. Architect and Researcher", an exhibition devoted to one of the most important architects and architectural theorists of the 20th century, albeit one who is all too often overlooked and misunderstood. Or simply known for his USM modular storage system. Born in Solothurn, Switzerland in 1924 Fritz Haller trained as an architectural draughtsman before undertaking a series of jobs in architecture firms
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When Erich Mendelsohn's new Schocken department store opened in Chemnitz in 1930 Wasmuths Monatshefte für Baukunst, one of the leading architecture periodicals of the age, were unsparing in their praise "With his new Schocken department store in Chemnitz Erich Mendelsohn has achieved a new peak in his creativity", they announced.1 With the conversion of Mendelsohn's construction to the new Staatlichen Museum für Archäologie Chemnitz - the State Archaeology Museum in Chemnitz - the responsible
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