Products
Nigel Coates' Milan 2013 Review
This year’s Milan Furniture Fair once again flaunted the superiority of the Italian design industry
Architecture for Dogs
Architecture for Dogs asks world-class architects and designers to work at the canine scale
Monograph of Emre Arolat Architects Istanbul, Turkey
Exploring the essential ethos, approach and ‘quest for awareness’ behind the work of Emre Arolat Architects
Barcelona-based CODINA's woven wire cloth
CODINA specialise in the manufacture of woven wire cloth, a hard wearing and dynamic material that has provided the Film Theatre of Catalonia with a unique blend of privacy and opacity
AR Products – Formica's vibrant new panelling system
Responding to the demand for decorative, lightweight and robust rainscreen cladding, VIVIX® exterior facade panels have just been launched on the UK market
Miele at Taymouth Castle in Perthshire
With their linear design and minimalist styling, Miele kitchen appliances have a distinctive appeal. Symmetrical proportions and high-quality materials convey a sense of style and refinement
FSB presents holistic design for doors and windows
Truly memorable architecture is informed by innovative thinking that permeates all aspects of design, from the initial concept down to the smallest detail. And details can be crucial. For instance, the shape, colour, proportions and material chosen for door and window hardware can impact profoundly on a building’s overall appearance
BEGA - The LKH Klagenfurt
The concept of the new clinic is based on the needs of patients and staff. The plan provides rapid access to all specialist departments, which can thus work efficiently on an interdisciplinary basis
Mediamesh - GKD World Wide Weave
Three years after the installation of New York’s first Mediamesh facade at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, the Big Apple now has its second transparent media wall at the Port Authority Bus Terminal
Kerto laminated timber by Finnforest
Finnforest, one of Europe’s leading timber product companies, supplied the elements of the Metropol Parasol, a new urban landmark in Seville. Photography by Hufton and Crow
American White Oak by Rudy de Keyser
Flooring at the Museum aan de Stroom has been installed in high quality American white oak
MDT-tex. Palazzo Isimbardi Milan, Italy
A typical Milanese palazzo rarely reveals its full splendour to passers-by on the street
Individual Design made easy with ALUCOBOND
ALUCOBOND® offers architects and designers unlimited opportunities for innovative and individual designs.
Chassis Chair by Wilkhahn
Launched at the Milan Furniture Fair earlier this year, Wilkhahn’s new Chassis chair is the typically innovative outcome of a collaborative and cross-disciplinary design process. Working in partnership with Munich-based furniture maker and industrial designer Stefan Diez, Wilkhahn has created a tautly honed multi-purpose chair that not only embodies the enviable sleekness of contemporary sports cars, but also exploits the precise and progressive technologies that are used in their manufacture.
The latest in lighting design from the Milan Furniture Fair
Origami-like designs, a modular approach, and an emphasis on energy efficiency - the AR highlights the key trends in lighting design at the Milan Furniture Fair
Solar panels by Sanyo
Photovoltaic technology has become increasingly important in the quest to develop renewable sources of energy. It is also becoming increasingly sophisticated. In 1980, Sanyo was the first company to mass produce amorphous solar cells and the company’s latest development capitalises on over 35 years of experience in photovoltaic design and manufacture. The intention is to marry attractive design with truly sustainable performance
Tile of Spain Awards
Celebrating the most innovative use of ceramics in architecture, interiors and student work, the Tile of Spain Awards have become a much anticipated annual event in Spanish architectural circles. Chaired by Alberto Campo Baeza, this year’s jury judged 146 entries, including the Institute for Higher Education Jaume I in Ontinyent.
The Martin Exterior 400 Range - Expanding your outdoor design options
The outdoor installation market now has the best combination of powerful, compact and energy-efficient LED light fixtures to date – the new Exterior 400 Range from Martin Professional
The latest launches and new product development from the ISH Bathroom Fair in Frankfurt
The AR looks to the design trends emerging at Frankfurt’s ISH Bathroom Fair
The New Formica Collection
Neil Sookee, design director of Formica Group, discusses the development of the latest collection of decorative laminates
The Stockholm Furniture Fair provides a bracing and sensuous whiff of the best Nordic design
The AR casts a critical eye across design trends emerging at this year’s Stockholm Furniture Fair
Woven Metal Mesh Systems by GKD
German manufacturer GKD is the leading global supplier of architectural woven metal mesh
What's happening in lighting design, with contributions by SANAA and Louis Poulsen
The AR casts its eye over the latest new lighting fittings and tracks some fascinating and offbeat trends in the application of materials and forms
A preview of the London Design Festival
The London Design Festival communicates a crafty use of materials and suggestive silhouettes
Highlights and key trends from the Milan Furniture Fair
Geometric designs, a touch of gilt and handcrafted styles - Will Hunter highlights the key trends and stand-out pieces from the Milan Furniture Fair
Buildings
Wa Shan Guesthouse, Xiangshan, China by Wang Shu
Drawing on traditions of scholarliness and non-conformity, Wang Shu’s new guesthouse for the China Academy of Art adds to the remote campus neighbourhood that he has been building for over a decade
House in Alcobaça, Portugal by Aires Mateus
Transmuted into a spectral abstraction of its former self, a ruined house in Alcobaça comes back from the dead
London Schools Part Two: Central St Martin's by Stanton Williams
At the centre of the vast King’s Cross regeneration project, the new home for Central St Martins is a bold gambit in an emerging urban landscape. Bringing together all the disciplines for the first time, the college is learning from its first year in a building that hopes to support continuous creative evolution
HOUSE IN HOKKAIDO, JAPAN BY KENGO KUMA
A prototypical house by Kengo Kuma updates an ancient approach to living through the severe winters of Japan’s northernmost island
Ripon Chapel, Oxfordshire by Niall McLaughlin Architects
Its delicate arboreal structure wrapped in an armature of stone, Ripon College's new chapel is a subtle synthesis of nature and the sacred
ARTFUL ASSEMBLY: SCHOOL IN TAMA, TOKYO BY KENGO KUMA & ASSOCIATES
In applying historic Japanese building techniques to contemporary projects, Kengo Kuma orchestrates a synthesis of modernity and tradition, but does this approach go beyond an aesthetic level?
Contemporary Art Centre, Spain, by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos
Drawing on the richness of Islamic forms and geometries, Nieto Sobejano’s new art centre in Córdoba reinterprets ancient motifs through contemporary materials and spatial relationships
POROSITY BLOCK, CHENGDU, CHINA, STEVEN HOLL
The ‘sliced porosity’ of Steven Holl’s latest Chinese mega-project is a graphic presence implanted in the pulsating heart of Chengdu
MUSÉE DU LOUVRE BY SANAA, LENS, FRANCE
Despite its trophy architecture, the Louvre’s new provincial outpost raises questions about its wider mission of decentralising high culture
London Schools Part One: Royal College of Art by Haworth Tompkins
The first article in the London schools series, Will Hunter reports on the social and pedagogical agendas shaping the RCA’s latest changes
TOKYO GARDEN and HOUSE BY RYUE NISHIZAWA
Designed by Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA, this house of floating concrete planes and glass walls contrives an ascetic domesticity tempered only by nature
Book Mountain: MVRDV's Library in Spijkenisee, Rotterdam
The short shelf life of this Dutch library’s collection enabled MVRDV to turn the spines out to face the town and invite in its inhabitants
BANQUETING PAVILION, RESTAURANT LES COLS BY RCR ARQUITECTES, GIRONA, SPAIN
Using banal materials to poetic effect, this dining marquee sits between architecture, landscape art and minimalist sculpture
ST JOSEPH'S UNIVERSITY, BEIRUT, LEBANON, YOUSSEF TOHME & 109 ARCHITECTES
Behind its austere concrete exterior, this university in Beirut recreates an idea of Lebanese public space in a city still healing after war
Ghent market hall by Robbrecht en Daem and Marie-José van Hee
Market Values: Ghent’s historic urban realm assumes a new resonance through this thoughtful proposition about civic culture
Champigny Socialism: Edouard François's Social Housing in France
In a communist suburb of Paris, Edouard François’s social housing cunningly conflates archetypes of individualist and collective living
Perot Museum of Nature and Science by Morphosis, Dallas, USA
Rising above the distracting blare of its surroundings, the new Perot Museum is an eloquent paean to the cosmic and geological forces that shape our planet and buildings
The Royal Academy of Arts extension by David Chipperfield, London
The Royal Academy and the former Senate House, which have stood back-to-back in sulky animosity for 150 years, are now set to be finally united
Broad Art Museum by Zaha Hadid Architects, Michigan, USA
Exploring ideas about fabrication, craft and display, Zaha Hadid’s latest art museum is a compelling, site-specific art work in itself
The Parrish Musuem on Long Island by Herzog & De Meuron, USA
Synthesising allusions to the vernacular with contemporary abstraction, the new Parrish Art Museum encapsulates the changing dynamic between art, landscape and architecture
The Soane Museum Refurbishment by Caruso St John, London
In the latest chapter of the Soane Museum, Adam Caruso discusses the process of introducing contemporary elements for display into an eccentric historic palimpsest
A masterplan for China, XJTLU University Suzhou
Speakers from over 20 countries contributed to an exciting, critical and unfettered debate about the future of development in China
M Building Housing, Stéphane Maupin, Paris, France
Highly Commended in the ar+d Awards for Emerging Architecture, The M Building manages sight-line constraints with panache, creating a village within the city
Recycled Brick School, Tongjiang, Jianxi, China
By reusing bricks collected from the ruins of a previous school, the designers offer an example of true sustainability in a rapidly developing country
Optical Glass House, Hiroshima, Japan
A glittering facade of suspended glass blocks veils Hiroshi Nakamura’s winning entry to the ar+d Awards for Emerging Architecture
Open City: Ex Cárcel Parque Cultural by HLPS in Valparaíso, Chile
An excitingly muscular adaptation of an old prison – where Pinochet’s victims were once tortured – gives the Chilean port of Valparaiso a new cultural centre
Tokyo Storeys: Tourist Information Tower by Kengo Kuma, Tokyo, Japan
In a formerly shabby area of downtown Tokyo, a tourist information tower, with traditional wooden elements referring to a local temple, offers visitors new perspectives over the city
Blue Steel: MOCA by Farshid Moussavi in Cleveland, Ohio
Crystalline form and shimmering materiality combine in Farshid Moussavi’s stunning new Museum of Contemporary Art for Cleveland, Ohio
I Mosaici School, Herman Hertzberger in Rome
Roman Type: Lying low in a Roman suburb, Herman Hertzberger’s I Mosaici school offers a flexible new alternative to traditionalist Italian pedagogy
School of Architecture, Umeå, Sweden, Henning Larsen Architects with White Arkitekter
Despite its evident scenographic qualities, a new architecture school in Sweden’s high north lacks a fully expressive connection with its commendably holistic approach to pedagogy
