Split and Line by Maigrau

German designers Maigrau have won the Blickfang Design Prize, awarded at the Blickfang design show in Stuttgart last week, for two new products launched at the fair.


Line (top image) is a shelf, or “wall installation”, while Line (above) is a presentation bowl.


Maigrau is a new design brand headed by designers Alex Stamminger and Nik Back.

Here’s some info from Maigrau:


The German design brand ‘maigrau’ has launched its new products at the design fair ‘Blickfang’ in Stuttgart and has immediately received the ‘BLICKFANG design price 2008′ in gold.

These products designed by Alex Stamminger and Nik Back are available via www.maigrau.com.


’split’

The presentation bowl ’split’ from laser-cut aluminium captivates by its reduced geometrical form.
Its elegant appearance offers the ideal presentation surrounding for your tiny favourite objects.
The refinement allows for a stressable and food-genuine surface.
’split’ can therefore even be used as a fruit bowl.


‘line’

The wall installation ‘line’ represents a tray surface in a minimalist form and inspires by its ease.
The aluminium plate was anodized to get a high-quality and durable surface.
To meet your requirements, the individual elements can be combined to create ensembles on the wall.

‘line’ is available in one depth and two different lengths.

Skew bookcase by Smånsk



Stockholm Design Week: Swedish designers Smånsk showed a prototype of their Skew bookcase at the Greenhouse young designers showcase at the Stockholm Furniture Fair last month.



The bookcase consists of identical modular components that are stacked facing alternate directions to create sloping shelves.



Smånsk are currently seeking an appropriate manufacturer for the design.

Here’s some information from the designers:

Skew Bookcase

Sloping shelves mean you do not have to arrange the shelves in various heights as with ordinary bookcases. There are room for binders at the high end of each shelve and pocket books at the low end.


All parts of the bookcase are identical. To assemble it you just rotate the parts and place them on top of each other. The identical parts provides easy manufacturing as well.

Tour Signal shortlist


Five architects, including Studio Daniel Libeskind (above and below), Ateliers Jean Nouvel and Foster + Partners, have been shortlisted to design Tour Signal, a high-rise building at La Défense business district in Paris.


French architects Jacques Ferrier Architectures and Wilmotte et Associés SA are also shortlisted.


The shortlist was announced at the MIPIM property fair in Cannes last week. Above: Jacques Ferrier Architectures.


Above: Ateliers Jean Nouvel



Above: Foster + Partners


Above: Wilmotte et Associés SA

Here’s some info from competition organisers EPAD:

The La Défense business district is at a turning point in its development. The prime centre for European business must continue to assert and strengthen its place among the great international business districts.

With the establishment of the La Défense Renewal Plan, EPAD has undertaken a strategic and prospective study with the aim of sustainable development and architectural innovation, two aspects which play a full part in its economic attractiveness.

Therefore, in July 2007, EPAD launched an international call for projects for the construction of the Tour Signal, which forms an integral part of this plan. It is a question of exploring the organisational, programmatic, technological and aesthetic proposals that might extend and enhance the special characteristics of La Défense. Due for completion in 2015, the Tour Signal will symbolise the renewal of La Défense. This new high-rise building will add a Very High Emotional Quality to the previous symbolic and historic architectural constructions in the La Défense district, such as the CNIT and the Grande Arche.

For this call for projects, EPAD deliberately did not impose a site. The candidates were thus able to choose their sites either from among the entrances to the business district (South Gate and West Gate), either from sites subject to demolition operations. The Tour Signal will thus endow the business district with a new landmark.

Today at MIPIM, the Tour Signal project is moving into its second stage, with the disclosure of the identity of the 5 fi nalist projects that are competing for selection of the winning project, which is planned for the end of April 2008.

Small houses BedUp


Small houses don’t have much room, right? so why not pull your bed up so you could change that small room and use that extra 4 sq. meters house space during the daytime.

The Bed’Up is a hide-away bed offering a real sense of space and comfort, especially in small houses. Keep it up at daytime and lower it down at night time. When you go to sleep the board stops at the height that you have previously chosen placing the bed in a certain distance from the ceiling in order not to suffer any inconveniences.

St Paul’s Way by Fashion Architecture Taste


Here’s a third project by architects Fashion Architecture Taste (FAT) - a design for a 19-storey residential tower beside Mile End Park in London.


The project has just been submitted for planning permission.


Here’s some info from FAT:

Fat have submitted a proposal for a mixed-use tower for planning approval on a brown-field site at the southern end of Mile End Park, London. The landmark building is conceived as a ‘green gateway’ to Mile End Park.

A vertical garden on the east elevation integrates the building into the park and vice versa. The proposed 19-storey mixed-use scheme comprises of 27 mixed tenure residential units, together with a ground floor restaurant/café.

The design uses a patterned lattice framework both as a structural component and as a means of modulating the scale and relationships of the buildings facades - like an Arts and Crafts version of High-Tech which contributes to the skyline of east London.

Passive Houses by Kjellgren Kaminsky


Swedish architects Kjellgren Kaminsky Architecture have designed a series of four prefabricated low-energy houses.

The Passive Houses, which were presented at the Hem & Villa housing fair in Malmö, Sweden earlier this month, are well-insulated homes that require minimal heating.



“Passive houses are extremely well-insulated buildings that are largely heated by the energy already present in the building - people and our household equipment generate a lot of energy,” says Joakim Kaminsky of Kjellgren Kaminsky Architecture. “Now we will make these buildings achievable for everyone.”


Here are some short descriptions of each house from Kjellgren Kaminsky Architecture:


VILLA SADELTAK (above and below)
AREA: 160m²
BEDROOMS: 4

We are just moving into our new house. In the area theres a mix of old and new buildings. We wanted our house to fit in among the others, but still have a modern touch. Now when the house is built it looks as if it where a younger relative to its neighbours. The main characteristics are the same; the volume of the house with its ridged roof, the plaster facade and the pan tile but if one looks closer there are many differences as well. White plain plaster in combination with black plain pan tiles gives the house a minimalistic monolithic volume. The windows are positioned to support a modern floorplan.




VILLA VY (above and below)
AREA: 200m²
BEDROOMS: 3

Our whole family lies on the couch playing. We are in what we call the living room, bur really the whole bottom floor is one big room. There are no here doors, instead the rooms float into each other seamlessly. It makes the house seem bigger than it really is. On the upper floor are our bedrooms. Right now we use one of them as a working room, so there room for the family to grow. In a couple of years we will probably have moved the computer to the hall outside, there’s a built in work place for it with a view.

Did you know that you can lower your energy consumption by placing bookshelves and wardrobes by the facade? They will work as an extra layer of insulation and save both energy and money. That’s why all the storage are placed along the facades in this house. Between the shelves and wardrobes there are high windows giving contact to the nature outside and letting in light.


VILLA ATRIUM (top images)
AREA: 160 m²
BEDROOMS: 2

The autumn is closing in, but its still warm in the sun. Its Sunday morning and I’m reading the newspaper in the kitchen. From here I can see almost the whole house. The kitchen and the living room form one big open room. From there two corridors running along the atrium connects it with the bedrooms. If I look into the atrium I can see the doors to the bedrooms on the other side, there our kids are still fast asleep, they stayed up a bit too long yesterday watching movies in our home cinema. On the middle of the atrium stands an apple tree. The apples are ripe and looks like red Christmas balls on the tree. I walk out and start picking them, today the whole family will have apple pie for breakfast!


VILLA VINKEL (above and below)
AREA: 150 m²
BEDROOMS: 4

I sit in our living room looking out. It almost feels as if I’m outside. The room forms a large open space together with the kitchen. Its formed as an L that protects our garden and offers a view over the endless fields outside. In the middle of the space there’s a piece of furniture containing the kitchen, wardrobes, storage and the dining table. One can walk around the piece. On the backside of it there’s the bedrooms with storage and bathrooms close at hand.

House in Sendai-Kasumi by Kiyonobu Nakagame

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Japanese architects Kiyonobu Nakagame have updated their website, showing work including House in Sendai-Kasumi.

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The house, overlooking the city of Sendai, was completed in September last year.

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Here’s some information from Kiyonobu Nakagame and Associates:

The house sits on the hill top that overlooks the city of Sendai, situated within the area called Yakiyama offering magnificent views of cliffs that rise from the Hirose River running at the bottom.

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The site has an elongated configuration in a North/South orientation, adjoined by existing houses on both sides.

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The site planning was conceived in relation to the density of neighboring houses and consisted of the elongated volume placed along the site and the large garden adjoined to it.

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While the site descends towards the cliff side the house volume is lifted up, creating the gap between them in which the garden, the living room and even the marvelous view of Sendai integrate with each another and become a large unified site as a whole.

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In terms of HVAC, we contrived effective heating systems. Although Sendai is not fully a cold district adequate heating devices were still necessary, considering the frequent strong north winds blowing up the hill. Hydronic radiant floor heating was applied to the entire floor area in the large room on the 1st floor. Furthermore, hydronic heating is also provided on the walls in each room, creating comfortable spaces with the radiant heat.

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Location: Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture
Architects: Kiyonobu Nakagame & Associates
Engineers: Kanebako structural engineers
General contractor: Prolog
Completion date: September, 2007
Photographs: K.Torimura

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