VitraHaus by Herzog & de Meuron

Here are some photographs of the VitraHaus by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, which has opened at the VitraCampus in Weil am Rhein, Germany. Designed to display the furniture brand’s Home Collection, the five-storey building consists of stacked volumes with pitched roofs covered in charcoal stucco. Each gabled end is glazed and cantilevers outwards up to five metres, creating the impression of a pile of houses.

Internally, spiral staircases connect the intersecting white-painted interiors. The VitraHaus project joins existing buildings on the Vitra campus by Frank Gehry and Tadao Ando.

Bermuda Triangle of Productivity

This Bermuda Triangle of Productivity by Fuchsia Macaree made me chuckle.

It’s a bookshelf? It’s a desk?

Trick by Sakura Adachi, designed for Campeggi, is a book case that turns into a table with two chairs. 

erosion and weathering on the printed word

This typographic print is third in a series of three, each of which explores the effects of erosion and weathering on the printed word.

The text itself is taken from a 1971 essay on experimental typography by the German designer and typographer Wolfgang Weingart, and is set in the Univers typeface. Univers was designed from 1954-57 by Adrian Frutiger.

Race Tracks Of The World

Race Tracks Of The World is a supercool wall decoration for the Formula 1 fan in you. (Or someone like me that just simply loves the visual quality and overall concept.) They are made from high quality Baltic birch plywood and matte black Formica. You can select from almost every track around the world. The average size is 36″ square depending upon the track shape. Cool? Definitely!

M/Y Biscuit 95’ by Filippetti Yacht

If you’re the kind who has good sea legs and you’re a fan of Italian contemporary design, you’ll love this over-the-top luxury yacht. It puts most houses to shame.

The 30-meter M/Y Biscuit 95’ is a collaboration with yacht builder Filippetti Yacht and Hot Lab, an Italian yacht interiors company.

The yacht has two decks as well as a sunbathing area, two cabins and a crew area. The master bedroom includes a leather floor, no expense has been spared! In the living area, you’ll find an oversized Moroso sofa and armchairs, and a Poltrona Frau coffee table. The living room area features a painting by artist Paola Di Iusto. In the dining area, there’s a 10-seat Saarinen table with Moroso armchairs and even a wine cellar.

Even the kitchen area is stocked with high-end components from Gaggenau including two refrigerator-freezers, a microwave, washing machine and coffee machine. There is a grill as well. Starboard, there are two sofas for dining or relaxing and can even be converted into a sunbathing area.

the 'fake' swimming pool

Initially conceived of 12 years ago, the 'fake' swimming pool by Argentinian artist Leandro Erlich, known for his illusion-like installations, has been featured at various museums around the world. In 2001, it was featured at the 49th Venice Biennale in Argentina. In 2004, it found a permanent home at the 21st Century Art Museum in Kanazawa, Japan. In 2008, the fake pool was set up for a 2 year installation at MoMA's PS1 Contemporary Art Center. And as of December 2010, the pool was being installed in the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, Australia.

Miami Beach SoundScape park

Here are some photos of the Miami Beach SoundScape park by Dutch landscape architects West 8, located next to Frank Gehry‘s New World Centre  in Miami Beach, Florida.

The New World Symphony

The New World Symphony’s orchestral academy designed byFrank Gehry opened yesterday in Miami Beach, Florida.

The Domino Clock

Challenging Expectations. While the idea itself is pretty straight forward, it challenges the assumptions we make about familiar objects. "People have a lot of immediate associations with everyday things, especially iconic ones," says Joe Sullivan, industrial designer at Carbon Design Group, a Seattle-based product development consultancy. "It’s interesting to play with these expectations. In this case, we’re taking a well-known object out of its normal context and giving it new capabilities, allowing it to function as something completely different."

The numbering scheme on dominoes and dice developed as a way to represent numbers that’s immediately recognizable, so in a lot of ways it makes perfect sense to use it as a time piece," explains Sullivan. "Everyone gets it, but the fact that we’re not used to seeing it in this context makes it unexpected at the same time. It’s this shift in context that gives the concept a twist."
A more detailed explanation and video demonstration of the Domino Clock proof of concept prototype is available on Carbon’s site.

Living Kitchen Show

There are people out there who know kitchens, but not like Susan Serra, CKD, CAPS, author of thekitchendesigner.org and scandinaviankitchens.com. She curated this lovely kitchen design trends roundup for us from the 2011 LivingKitchen Show in Cologne, Germany.

The intricate and modern lace work of the Gutmann Arte hood is functional beauty with a sculptural quality.

By Blanco — Foreground: Stunning integrated stainless steel countertop and sink. Note the thin (great new look) countertop, chic drain cover and seamless design. Background: Cutting board in slotted section at right of sink slides into sink section to a) conceal sink mess when entertaining b) serve as extra counter space c) serve as cutting board over the sink (it is in two pieces).

Trend Alert: Thick countertop sections, a mix of natural materials with greige and/or strongly textured laminates (faux wood) as seen in the oven section. Greige is the neutral color story from lights to darks.

New technology by Hettich — MOVE THE BURNER LOCATION WHERE YOU WANT IT! It’s developed for appliance manufacturers and changes cooking forever!

RAF Bempton bunker in Yorkshire, UK

Leeds Metropolitan University graduate Charlotte Wilson was awarded Best in Show at London graduate show Free Range this year for her proposal to convert a bunker into a museum. The existing RAF Bempton bunker in Yorkshire, UK is built into a cliff-side and would be be transformed into a museum celebrating the role of women during war. The bunker would be dug out in areas to reveal its three metre-thick walls and create a series of courtyards open to the air. A glazed roof over one section would have water flowing over it and down a wall etched with the names of pivotal women from past wars. Part of the bunker would protrude out of the cliff to create a viewing platform over the sea.



“Situated within a unique cliff side location in Bempton lies the RAF Bempton bunker. Disintegrating and of great historical interest, it is proposed the site will be sensitively renovated and reclaimed.
‘Women . War . Peace’ will be a new and exciting war museum with the pure focus of Women and War. Journeying through the exhibition will illustrate the compassion, realism, horrors and bravery seen and felt through the eyes of women during war time, both on the front-line and behind the scenes. This museum interrogates the creativity of learning through emotional and experiential spaces and details.


The bunker accommodates four main stages, Past, Present, Reflection and Remembrance; This experience will house the stories of Women from 1914 to 2000 through interactive stations, silo spaces and archived resources with the experience being of an intimate nature. At the heart of the exhibition is an interactive time line structure which contains an immersive eerie environment within it’s walls reminding the visitor of ‘absence’. This structure is impertive as a collective point and a place to delve deeper into the information.

Should I work for free?

This one is also from Swissmiss,  Jessica Hische put together this flowchart answering the question “Should I work for free?“

Soap Flakes

Just discovered this via Swissmiss and it is genius: created by Swiss designer Nathalie Staempfli, these two soap dispensers shave bars of soap into flakes so you don’t use more than you need and bonus: you don’t ever need to touch the bar of soap!

Porto Maravilha

Today I had a meeting with a group from Columbia University (MSRED), the future Real Estate Developers in America. When we are in school there are just so many opportunities to see and do new things...I really miss it sometimes! Actually not really a meeting but we went on a tour of Porto Maravilha! They met us at my work and we went to Pier Mauá, where the future Museu do Amanhã from Santiago Calatrava is going to be built. The museum is dedicated to science and technology and should be ready by the end of 2012.   

Withings blood pressure monitor for on your iPhone

Developers at Withings has come up with a scale that interfaces with iPhone to help users get health updates on their mobile gadgets and stay fit and healthy all the time. Capable of tracking the weight of users to tweet on their cellphones, the new medical gadget also helps them monitor their blood pressure on their iPhone. Plugging at the bottom of the iPhone into the sync port, the gadget stores readings from the special cuff to an app running on the device to allow the users keep a close eye on their health. All the users need to do is sit still to let the cuff with a small pump do all the inflating and deflating. Moreover, you can share the readings on Google Health and Microsoft HealthVault for archiving and sharing the data or reading with health experts. Priced at about $129, the device will reach the stores by the end of this month. 

State of the Obvious

UK design firm Mash Creative has created a series of objects — State of the Obvious (S/O/T/O) — in which each item’s design is a description. Consisting of tote bags, notebooks, shirts, mugs and posters, each product defines its own brand.

Light Butterflies

During the Milan International Led Light Festival, Chiara Lampugnani Design created an installation called Light Butterflies on Paolo Sarpi Street and Canonica Street. It´s cute but nowhere near torino´s luce d´artista! I guess I just miss it!

M.E.A.T. America

I saw a while ago a post about Dominic Episcipo's United Steaks of America, the off-kilter and meaty series has expanded into a full-on exhibition now titled M.E.A.T. America...which is fun, funny, and clever all wrapped up in one meaty package. The exhibition promises to be an eye-opening and artery-closing tour of the American spirit {and vegetarians are welcome!}.

{photos by Dominic}

Elastic Co. Releases The Google 2010 Pillow.

Each year, Elastic Co. creates a throw pillow that features some of the top Google search terms of the year.

The natural army duck cotton canvas has the text printed in black silkscreen and the pillow is filled with 10% Down and 90% Feathers. It also features the Elasticco stamp on the back.


Google pillows from previous years:
2005 to 2009: