SHIV TEMPLE

Indian vernacular architecture is the informal, functional architecture of structures, often in rural areas of India, built of local materials and designed to meet the needs of  local people. Indian vernacular architecture has evolved organically over time through the skillful craftsmanship of the locals. Despite the diversity, this architecture can be broadly divided into three categories: kachcha, pukka, semi-pukka. Shiv Temple, projected by Sameep Padora and associates, is a contemporary interpretation of temples, merging the symbolism and form of the vernacular while integrating the natural landscape. The building has been constructed
with locally sourced basalt and the ceiling culminates with an open skylight. Everything contributes to let the light cover up mind soul and heart of the visitors.

Author : Francesca Querci

VAASTU SHILPI SHASTRA: INDIAN INTERIORS

 

The method of designing buildings that are in harmony with Nature is rooted in the ancient Indian science of Vaastru Shilpi Shastra. The origin of this highly evolved science can be traced to one of the four ancient Indian Vedas – the Atharva Veda that was widely applied in most historic monuments which stand tall and strong even today. This mystic science is being rediscovered by modern architects and is being increasingly employed today.There have been claims of immense wealth and personal health within days after making structural changes in one’s residence as advocated by Vaastru Shastra. Though this may be viewed with suspicion, the basic tenets appeal to the scientific mind as building designs recommended do in fact improve air circulation and natural lighting. This in turn improves the health and behavior of the occupants. These are the main rules to build in Vastu philosophy :

1. The area of the building in square feet if divided by 8must leave a reminder on either 1,3,5 or 7. 2. Old buildings that are damaged by a natural calamity like fire, lightening, rain etc are to be avoided.  3. Never acquire a house in which a suicide has taken place or a new born baby died or a pregnant lady expired. 4. Should be sufficiently away from trees whose roots candamage the foundationDoor/windowsThe main entrance /door must be from the North or theEast.5. An entrance from the West or South –West is extremely bad.The number of door and windows must each be an evennumber. 6. Columns and beams must also be an even number.

For a happy, healtier and stronger life.

Author : Francesca Querci

OFFICINA ROMA

OFFICINA ROMA is an experimental building practice. It is constructed on the grounds of
MAXXI
in Rome, entirely out of recycled materials, within a week long workshop with some high school students from all over the country. It looks like a villa but it’s not made of concrete, it is entirely built out of trash. Inside there’s a sleeping room, a kitchen (built out of old bottles) and a work shop in the centre of the structure. The project has been realized by raumlaborberlin a working team of archtects and designer which investigated strategies for urban renewal. As they declare “The OFFICINA ROMA radiates an atmosphere of urgency; a turning point. It talks about the essential necessity to question our lifestyle, based on individuality, completion (competition), growth and exploitation of natural resourses. Although situated in the very dynamic and exclusive garden of the MAXXI, the design speaks of deadlocks, interdependencies and the need for more fundamental and tougher negotiations over privileges in our future society.”

 

MAXXI
Strategies for Architecture, City and Planet

1 December 2011 – 29 April 2012
in context of the exhibition RE-cycle


Author : Francesca Querci

DANSK MOBEL KUNST

Dansk Mobel Kunst, based in Zurich and Paris, is a gallery specialized in hunting, stocking, and offering the absolute highlights of Scandinavian furniture. Klaare Klint, Poul Henningsen, Alvar Aalto, Arne Jacobsen, Grete Jalk, Bruno Mathsson, Verner Panton are only few of the treasures contained in this marvellous space that I had the fortune to know in Miami Design Fair two weeks ago. Danish furniture designers have traditionally stressed the function’s aesthetic expression and for this reason had been labeled “The Functional Tradition”.  DMK  is a leading authority in Danish historical design from 1920–1970, with particular emphasis on rare modernist furniture and lighting. Simply one of the best spot for deisgn collectors and not only.

http://www.dmk.dk/

 

 

Author : Redazione

LOFT IN NEW YORK BY UNSTUDIO

Lofts are a type of residence that originated when warehouses back East were converted into apartments and condominiums. They areoften  located near downtown and have precise features:  very high ceilings (sometimes 20-foot tall), exposed pipes, ducts in the ceiling, a great room floor plan, floor to ceiling windows, exposed interior bricks, stained cement floors even in luxury homes, metal stairs,  handrails, stainless steel kitchen appliances and modern/contemporary furnishings. The loft pictured above was projected by UNstudio  and mediates between an art gallery and a living space. The main walls and ceilings flow through the space creating hybrid conditions in which exhibition areas merge into living areas while an exhibition wall blends into led illuminated library shelves on one side and a display case  on the other. A great project made by a super great studio, a “royal” loft to take as a model.

UNSTUDIO.COM

Author : Francesca Querci

I WANT TO LIVE..

..in a (such romantic) tree house in Brooklyn.

This house is from Alexandra Meyn, architect. I found her works online, roaming in the net. About herself she says “My specialty and creative ambition lie in the ability to move between various fields, disparate perspectives, and multifarious processes to arrive at the symbiotic synthesis of design.  An artistic foundation roots an informed aesthic while allowing the conceptual nature of a project to evolve intellectually as well as emotively.  Developed hand drawing and rendering skills are emphasized in the design process.  Formal Business Management training generates focus on the frontier of market interests and hence, influences and potentially increases the longevity of a design’s lifetime.  Finally, Interior Architecture & Design create a threshold by which to most effectively mix my past skills, pursuits, and passions into the evolution of space and the human experience thus within.”

Author : Francesca Querci

EX LIBRIS

Two semi-circular structures flow outwards in three angles, each comprised of several metal poles. Shelves are constructed from reused studio boards and drawing tablets from The Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design situated in Jerusalem. This bookshelf  have the capacity to house up to 20,000 books permitting a certain search in fluidity. It  is a sculptural installation entitled ‘Ex Libris’ by Chanan de Lange, a lecturer at Bezalel , who revisit  the personality and form of raw materials in order to promote humanity and accessibility.  Another great example of  sustainable design that needed to be highlighted here at Elitism.

http://www.delangedesign.com/

 

Author : Francesca Querci

BE FUN ARCHITECTS

That’s what I call a perfect balance between design and fun. It’s a project by BE-FUN DESIGN + EANA Architects and it’s called “indoor/outdoor”. A small two-storey dwelling for a couple in shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, Japan. White, clear, simple. Perfectly fitted in the japanese style, this house is composed by a vertically-open communal area that is topped off by a rock-climbing cove. Big windows, wide space but only apparently:  this house is  a 36 mq2 placed and ,as you can see, there’s a vertical shove in height and it’s like you are inside of the bowels of the earth. Playful, joyful this architecture add some humour and pureness to the everyday life.

http://be-fun.com/

Details »

Author : Francesca Querci

JAMES DYSON AWARD 2011

And the winner is.. The Airdrop irrigation. The concept is a response to poor agricultural conditions in periods of severe drought. Extensive research into droughts revealed an increase in soil evaporation and trans-evaporation (plant and soil) due to the increasing temperatures. Airdrop Irrigation works to provide a solution to this problem. Moisture is harvested out of the air to irrigate crops by an efficient system that produces large amounts of condensation. A turbine intake drives air underground through a network of piping that rapidly cools the air to the temperature of the soil where it reaches 100% humidity and produces water. The water is then stored in an underground tank and pumped through to the roots of crops via sub surface drip irrigation hosing. The Airdrop system also includes an LCD screen that displays tank water levels, pressure strength, solar battery life and system health.

Author : Francesca Querci

DESIGN INTERVENTION

“Design Intervention constructs custom and handmade furniture.
Each piece is made one by one.
No assembly lines. No mass production. No shift changes.”
How would you define design nowadays?
What I love most about design now is how it has transformed into something much broader. Broader because it is not confined into the margines of what someone else is telling you looks good. Magazines, blogs, books, etc provided a lot of inspiration for people from people in all areas of life. It inspires others to take the reigns for themselves and create a space where they feel comfortable. A space that tells a story and has some character. I love seeing those manifestations.
Is there a trend or a style that has affected your work?
I get inspired by so many things, Books are huge for me. Old movies too because they have a quality about them that is so foreign to modern films. Films like The Apu Trilogy (Pather Panchali) completely transfix me.
Fashion is always such a wonderful place to find inspiration, from books about the past street fashion of Harajuku to the current runway designs, the inspiration is endless. But above all wood inspires me. It’s this amazing living thing. I really have a great respect for it. Which is why we make everything individually, one by one and made to last an eternity.  
Details »

Author : Francesca Querci

MILANO DESIGN WEEKEND 2011

“Diamoci del tu. Dialoghi fra arte e design”: is the theme of the second MILANO DESIGN WEEKEND, the extraordinary event jointly organised by Mondadori and RCS Group to support companies in the furniture business, an Italian industrial sector well known for its excellence. Also dedicated to Milan, a design capital, the event, which after the huge success of the first edition, is back this year from 6 to 9 October; four days of shopping, with integrated features of
design, art, architecture and music. An exciting occasion, open to everyone, which aims to spread a contagious desire to discover, learn and explore that will transform the city into an exemplary catalyser of creativity.
MILANO DESIGN WEEKEND has also obtained the patronage of the Culture, Expo, Fashion and Design Department of the City of Milan and the Architects’ Association of the city and province.
The event also has the support of some of the city’s most significant cultural institutions, including the Triennale Design Museum, the Museo del Novecento and the Case Museo di Milano circuit. Also taking part for the first time is the Conservatorio di Milano. MILANO DESIGN WEEKEND is an event that brings together the worlds of production, distribution and media to create an extensive communication platform able to respond to the demands of increasingly wellinformed and demanding consumers. It is also a unique initiative in Italy involving the joint participation of the Mondadori and RCS groups, with their large networks of titles dedicated to interiors, working together on a
project in support of the market and distribution. The event also provides a big boost to the growth of the culture of living, a perfect demonstration of a new way of thinking about publishing and communication.

http://www.milano-designweekend.it/

Author : Francesca Querci

KAREN RYAN AND HER SUBTRACTED DESIGN

Chair Project – Karen Ryan

Karen Ryan is a contemporary British designer. I was roaming in the net  and found her unbelievable works. She speaks through a kind of design that I really love. It’s a handmade design, the one based on subtraction. I’ve read her description of the SIT CHAIR PROJECT and discovered her genuine spirit of renovation and her contemporary way to intend the meaning of the word  design: “The  sit chair project is an alternative response for london design week 2011. I have taken two chairs one from my dining table and one from my bedroom, both of which had been previously discarded. I designed the sit brand for the use of these chairs, the brand identity is hand stamped upon a newly prepared surface area on each individual chair. through mass consumerism we are used to looking at design as objects of desire fed by what is fashionable and are own delusions of need. I want to divert that gaze and alter the sense. I am taking both ‘sit’ chairs out onto the streets and photographing people sitting on them with my mobile phone. I consider the ‘sit’ chair project a relevant design and comment on contemporary functional design today”.

Details »

Author : Francesca Querci

DOUBLE HAPPINESS FOR TODAY’S -EASY- LIVING

 

 The Double Happiness installation, as a piece of urban furniture, allows the reactivation of different public spaces and enables inhabitants to reappropriate fragments of their city. It’s a swing set, high as a billboard, meant to take people out of their superficial worlds and minds. You can test your limits, play with or without fear, experience new sensations and try to touch the sky with your fingers. Is it enough for you?  Spaces, buildings and objects show themselves to be platforms for the intersection of the individual body and the collective body in their use. Each project represents a concept that subverts the social context, in which seeing is experimenting beyond submission to the dichotomy of the rules that normally mark out public space and private space. Didier Fiuza Faustino gets us to enter a physical dimension whose body is the atom, and whose architecture the interface. I’ve known his work since i was a student and i’ve always look at him as a deep introspective architect, cause he tries to examines our senses and their extensions in a global view. He’s attached to precariousness and that’s why  his role and his projections brings him into a state of impermanence.

Didier Faustino is an architect, an artist and founder of  Mesarchitecture. which is notorious for installations that mix performance, electro-punk, Sci-Fi and architecture. Aseries of five new installations by DIDIER FIUZA FAUSTINO is actually on view at the Calouste Gulbekian Foundation, Lisbon .

read more on :

didierfaustino.com

mesarchitecture.org

gulbenkian.pt

Photo bove : DOUBLE HAPPINESS. 2009. 6,4 x 3,7 x 6,6 m Billboard and swings mix, steel ladder, steel lattice platform, protective nets on steel structure. Urban reanimation device. Shenzhen-Hong Kong Bi-City Biennial of Urbanism and Architecture © DIDIER FIUZA FAUSTINO

Author : Francesca Querci

WUHAO! CURATED SHOP IN BEIJING

Isabelle Pascal is a talent scout, a gallery director, an  entrepreneur and above all,  Wuhao’s director.  If you don’t have an idea on what Wuhao is, well, just think about a very big place where talented young chinese artists and designers expose their work. Just to mention a few: Wang Kai Chuan, Xiao Tian Yu, Su Chun Rong. Maybe nobody knows them but that’s the point.  Pascal is now working with emerging and  their exclusive creations to introduce some fresh and new to the world. For this reason she is considered  every artist’s dream. On display are jewellery, accessories, unique tailored dresses and other marvels. Details »

Author : Francesca Querci

PARIS DESIGN WEEK – 12/18 SEPTEMBER 2011


THE FIRST PARIS DESIGN WEEK
“Paris’s vitality, the quality of its professional network, its design education, and its sparkling creativity and cultural environment make it a one-of-a-kind international focal point for attracting global talents in search of development and innovation opportunities in the design
and lifestyle sectors. With the goal of bringing together and federating those talents with a major annual event in the same spirit as the MAISON&OBJET trade show, SAFI is launching PARIS DESIGN WEEK, from Monday September 12 to Sunday September 18, 2011. Inspired by
events held in London, Milan, Tokyo and Moscow, Paris is preparing to experience an international-scale event with an assertive identity, which includes trade events and ones geared for the general public. “

Author : Francesca Querci

D.O.T.S


D.O.T.S is the acronymous of Design Office Takebayashi Scroggin .Akari Takebayashi is an Instructor of Architecture at the University of Kentucky College of Design, Jason Scroggin is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Kentucky College of Design. Design, architecture and furniture : these are the field of their work. Conceptual in a way that makes me think about armony and lightness, i found one of their work in particular really interesting: ” MASSIMALS “ .It’s a set of 1:1 design objects that serve as prototypes to examine how physical form can engage the public realm. These constructs are abstractions of animal forms built in the manner of massing studies produced in an architectural design practice. Like massing models, they are volumetric, devoid of details, and fabricated from one material such as chipboard, polystyrene foam, and foam core. The suggestive forms and their specific arrangement imply docile behavior similar to animals in a petting zoo augmenting the way visitors approach and engage built form.
D.O.T.S are here

Author : Francesca Querci

UNICITA’ D’ ITALIA – ROME

Yesterday night, Elitism was at the special opening preview of Unicità d’Italia. The exhibition is on half a century of Italian history through design excellence. The exhibit that opens today to the public, will be divided  into two locations, Palazzo delle Esposizioni and Macro Testaccio Pelanda. It  sets up all items awarded in the decades of the Golden Compass Award, presented in a creative journey from 1961 to today. 
The exhibition is part of the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy and it features 75 items and  focuses on different issues (from leisure to work).

http://www.unicitaditalia.it/

Author : Redazione

STELLA + CALATRAVA

“Stella & Calatrava: The Michael Kohlhaas Curtain”. That’s what you will see on the 14 of August at the New National Gallery in Berlin, Germany. The installation combines a 98-foot mural by the artist with a sculptural steel frame by the architect to create one massive, looming ensemble. Says Calatrava, 60, “The beauty of this installation is that it plays with the human scale, incorporating the spectator into the painting as well as into the sculpture… By putting the canvas inside of the sculptural ring and enclosing it, you almost get an infinite dimension because there is no beginning and no end.”

Author : Francesca Querci

CUALQUIER VERDURA – BUENOS AIRES

Are you in search for something different? The answer is Cualquier  Verdura. These two words literally mean any vegetable, or generally anything.
It’s the day before our departure. Volver a Italia. Que pena.
It’s cloudy but warm and our mood is silky. We are delighted by a stroll in the area we loved the most during our sejour in Buenos Aires: San Telmo. It’s so bohemian that our imagination runs wild. Our curiosity is endless, we can’t have enough of vintage shops, tango dancers, Plaza Dorrego with its playful market, the kindness of people, the bio bocadillo we just had. Our stomach has a cranny due to a liter of Seltz water we have just drunk. But we jolly good walk up and down.
We make a left on Humberto 1º 517 and it comes as a feast to our eyes this beautiful 1900 building with a the store you can’t miss: Cualquier Verdura!
A magical and creative spot. Packed shelves, vintage clothing, kitchen items, designer goods, clocks, vinyl, kitch stuff, house furniture store, whatever you can name, you find it there! Everything is for sale except a little fish in a bowl. Looking like a styled home, a wonderland where you can never have enough. Violeta, the owner, runs the store and is so kind to let us take some pictures.
Everything you can buy is tagged with a price: ivory for “antique”, white for “new”, light blue for “made/designed in Argentina” and orange for “we’re sorry to see it go”.
Simply fantastic.
We both left our hearts there..me? on an alarm clock and a Lego sculpture, Isabella on a always Fly Figas bag!

Just browse, browse browse..
www.cualquierverdura.com.ar/

Author : Francesca Querci

ELIO FERRARO VINTAGE


Elio Ferraro is one of Italy’s greatest collectors of all vintage  pieces. He always combines and mixes exquisite pieces of fashion design of the ’50 ‘s and 60′s with extreme taste and harmony. Florence, Rome and London are the cities where you can find Elio Ferraro’s boutiques. Yes, I mean. I feel that I can’t call these places merely ” shops ” . ” Specialized in fashionable & elite items” , this should be the subheading of these places. Fornasetti, Roberta di Camerino, Cardin.. Just think about something unique and rare, and you are gonna find it there.

Details »

Author : Francesca Querci

MARNI – TEMPORARY GARDEN

During the 2011 Salone del Mobile, the courtyard of MARNI’s Milan flagship boutique on via della Spiga will become a green parlour. Inspired by the Italian metropolis of yesteryear, plants traditional to Milan’s public parks and private gardens will become part of a special landscaping. Bushes and trees, medicinal and kitchen plants will gather in the city’s center creating a temporary garden. Details »

Author : Francesca Querci

RIVA LOFTS – FLORENCE by Claudio Nardi Architects

Claudio Nardi creates architectural projects, for government offices and private clients, in Italy and, above all, abroad. Most of his projects deal with the theme of trasformation, the relatioship between innovation and history, between form and function, between “product” – in the broadest sense – and comunication, involving, every time, a deep study, not only in his own sphere of specialization: every project, even an interior, is to a large extent developed through the use of light, sensitive materials and peculiar combinations of surfaces, volumes solids and open spaces in mutual relatioship. Details »

Author : Francesca Querci

SHOP SAMAN

During Salone del Mobile 2011 Shop Saman will host the exhibition “CERAMICA RACCONTI ILLUSTRATI” (Illustrated Tales through Ceramics) based on an idea of Susanna Brandolino.

Using ceramics as their drawing board, four illustration artists tell short tales blending together poetry, colours and materials.
Details »

Author : Francesca Querci

ART + DESIGN + TRADITIONAL BRICKS

100 TRADITIONAL BRICKS made by 100 artists : Sun Mi AHN, Hiro ANDO, Paul ANDREU, André Pierre ARNAL, Victor ASH, Virginie BARRE, Anne et Patrick POIRIER, Pol QUADENS, Franck SCURTI… Every single brick will be sold at auction to benefit Ecoles du Monde a charity that build school in Madagascar.

Author : Francesca Querci

SERVOMUTO

SERVOMUTO was born in 2007 to manipulate lampshades.
Old bedside lamps, dusty chandelier, lamp covers from the grandmother’s house, are reassembled with remnant of blankets, oversized braids, randomly found objects or things that were thrown away, forgotten or rejected.
Classical living room fabrics are contaminated by neo-gothic prints à la Aubrey Breadsley and by military memorabilia of the Red Army. Excess, contrast and alteration, going through the hands of an anarchist upholsterer, bring light to “the good things of bad taste”.
Unique pieces, proudly hand-made, by more than one pair of hands, in Italy.

Author : Francesca Querci

KING’S DESIGN HOUSE by LUCA NICHETTO

Luca Nichetto was born in Venice in 1976, where he studied at the Art Institute. Afterwards he attended the IUAV, the University Institute of Architecture of Venice, where he graduated in Industrial Design. He began his business career in 1999 by designing his first products made of Murano glass for Salviati. He has held workshops in various Italian and international universities and he has taken part in exhibitions in Europe, in the United States and Japan.Today, Luca Nichetto works for various international companies, such as, Bosa, Casamania, Ceramiche Refin..

“Luca Nichetto’s most recent collaboration with the prosciutto manufacturer King’s is focused on crafting a corporate image for the company’s high quality Prosciutteria brand. This corporate image includes the design of the brand’s logo as well as the tools and salespersons’ clothing, aprons, hats and as well as a line of utensils.”
 
King’s Design House by Luca Nichetto 

April 12, 6PM – 9PM

Superstudio Più, via Tortona 27 – Milano
 

Author : Francesca Querci

SALONE DEL MOBILE 2011, SKITSCH

The SKITSCH collection has had a strong image since the beginning, however, it is now expanding, maintaining its very own aesthetic touch and accessibility. The varied skilled and talented team of designers is growing, adding two young Italian designers, Alessandro Dubini and Marco Dessi. New projects have been created to fill the typological gaps, further completing the collection and its efficiency.  Details »

Author : Francesca Querci

PREVIEW of MATHEUS ROCHA PITTA

Matheus Rocha Pitta

Sprovieri presents Provisional Heritage, the second solo show in the UK by the young, award winning Brazilian artist, Matheus Rocha Pitta, at the gallery new space at 23 Heddon Street. Provisional Heritage is a result of the artist’s incursion into an abandoned warehouse in East London a couple of weeks before its demolition.

preview 10 mar, 6 – 8 pm
exhibition 11 mar – 30 apr

23 heddon street
london w1b 4bq
t +44 (0)20 7734 2006
tue – sat 10 – 6 pm

 

Author : Francesca Querci

LA MALMAISON @ CORSOVENEZIAOTTO – MILANO

VITTORIO CORSINI_Senza titolo_1989-2009_stampa su carta fotografica_cm50x70

Vernissage: Thursday, March 10, 2011 6.30-10 pm
On View: March 10 – May 28, 2011

Featured artists include:  Nicola Bolla, Vittorio Corsini, Pasquale Di  Donato, FRP2, Aldo Mondino, Giorgio Morandi, Anja Puntari, Salvo, Ornela Vorpsi, Erwin Wurm.

curated by : Gianni Romano

CORSOVENEZIAOTTO – C.so Venezia, 8
20121 Milano – 
T:02-36505481/82
 F:02-36505492
 www.corsoveneziaotto.com

Author : Francesca Querci

BRIGHTON RESIDENCE by DAVID HICKS

David Hicks is an award winning architect based in Melbourne, Australia. His superb work in interior design caught my eye. After contacting him, he gave me a description  of one of his projects. This is how he describes one of  his works , a residence in Brighton:

The loft is structured like an open space and flow of this house makes it a delight to be within.
Ample glazing providing light filled rooms that flow from inside to outside give a great sense of open space. The existing architecture of the house, originally built in the 60’s, was retained and used as inspiration for new insertions. The house has a very calm and livible sensibility as well as being open to its surroundings while remaining private.
Details »

Author : Francesca Querci