Books: London Unfurled by Matteo Pericoli

London is divided and united by its river; one of few cities in the world to find its essence in two profoundly different, yet nearly touching, urban characters. So the Thames provides the perfect vantage point for telling the most comprehensive story of this complex city.

Arriving with little previous knowledge of London, Matteo Pericoli made an intensive 20-mile journey along the river, from Hammersmith Bridge to the Millennium Dome and back again. Over two years later, he leaves behind the most astonishing document of his journey: two 37-foot-long pen-and-ink drawings depicting the city’s north and south banks. Each drawing presented on one side of this beautiful single-sheet accordion-style book — is rendered with loving and essay-like detail, revealing a distinct profile of London in all of its diversity: a dozen boroughs, nineteen bridges and hundreds of buildings, including the Houses of Parliament, Tate Modern, Battersea Power Station and Millennium Wheel.

London Unfurled: Matteo Pericoli, with essays by Will Self and Iain Sinclair, Published by Picador, iPad Version, Buy it here: Amazon

Cronotime Desk Clock by Pio Manzù

The Cronotime clock was designed by Pio Manzù as a promotional item for Fiat, later produced by Ritz-Italora in 1966. It was re-issued by Alessi from Italy. The shape of Cronotime is toric (part of a circular section ring) totalling a 1/6 of circumference. The shape in turn separated into two equal parts which swivel, allowing you to modulate the direction in which the dial is pointing with respect to the support surface. Part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.

Cronotime by Pio Manzù

Observation Tower in Jurmala by ARHIS Architects

Latvian practice ARHIS Architects has completed the Observation Tower in Jurmala positioned within the Dzintaru park in Jurmala, Latvia. The 38-meter tall structure is enclosed with an open-air cage allowing screened views of the encompassing nature reserve. Lifted on steel pilotis, visitors enter the construct through a discreet stair and continue climbing towards the pinnacle deck positioned at a height of 33.5 meters, exposed and visible from the ground. Twelve balconies capable of accommodating one or two individuals cantilever outside the rectangular faces, allowing a sweeping vista of the landscape.

The metal framework is clad with narrow wooden strips secured with vertical bands of lumber. The transparency of the elongated quadrilateral form maintains a delicate presence, minimally imposing on its natural surroundings. The floors are comprised of an industrial steel grate to maintain an outdoor experience during ascent.

Observation Tower in Jurmala, Latvia by ARHIS Architects, Photography © arnis kleinbergs, via: designboom

Bisiluro Racing Car by Carlo Mollino

More than half a century after its debut, Chris Bangle, former chief of design at BMW, reviews the Bisiluro, the legendary but ill-fated racing car designed by Carlo Mollino for the 1955 Le Mans 24-hour endurance race.

They say that the earliest design language for the primitive is that of repetition and symmetry. Regarding the design of “things that move”, history gives us quite a catalogue of proposals to improve the breed by echoing a form across some sort of bridging element. With names like “twinpod”, “twin-boom”, “twin-fuselage”, “doublehull”, or “catamaran”, the designer’s fascination with mirroring a good idea has been around ever since the Garden of Eden, when God decided two breasts looked seriously cooler than one.

Car Designers owe the origins of their craft to the hull-lofting techniques of naval architects, and while it is true that for centuries there have been parallel-hull designs for boats (from a Tahitian out-rigger to a divided hull that Da Vinci sketched), the real inspiration for modern twin-fuselage wheeled machines are the aircraft of World War II. (To be fair, the twin-boom Fokker M.9 was of World War I vintage.) Pilot and aircraft aficionado engineer Mollino must have been highly influenced by innovations from the War, and perhaps he knew that German engineers had prototyped a Messerschmitt Bf 109Z-1 “Zwilling” with a single pilot flying a two-fuselage fighter. Certainly, the sexy Lockheed P-38 inspired his generation of Car Designers as did the F-82 “Twin Mustang”, which was built from 1946 to 1953.

Read more at domus: The Asymmetric Racer by Chris Bangle, Bisiluro Racing Car, by Carlo Mollino, for the 1955 Le Mans 24-hour Endurance Race.

Hi-macs House by Karl Dreer and Bembré Dellinger

After successfully concluding a variety of HI-MACS® projects, Karl Dreer incorporates the material for his own private house. “HI-MACS® provides the opportunity of creating nearly any design in nearly any building — regardless of unusual weathering conditions, high degrees of moisture or enormous loads. It exceeds the standard material limits.”

An oversized entrance door is flanked by two window frames made out of HI-MACS® Arctic White. Also the grey pedestals are made from the material.

The dining room table is the central feature of the first floor and the link between the living room and dining area. The ability to thermoform HI-MACS® was critical in implementing the designed table.

In the kitchen all furniture including cabinet doors, worktop and sinks are made also from HI-MACS® with a special detail on the front milled cabinet doors.

A fitness and wellness area and family office are located on the upper floor of the left cube. A shower, wash basin, shelves and small seating options made from HI-MACS® are also included here.

 Temperature, lighting and shading of the house are controlled via BUS system — central, but individual. The operation and visualization of all details takes place via touch panels which are installed in every room. This HI-MACS® house exists without fossil fuels and sets standards for environmental protection and efficiency. 
Finishing touches like self-designed garden furniture made completely from HI-MACS® complete this story.

Hi-macs House, by Karl Dreer and Bembré Dellinger, photography by dirk wilhelmy
via: designapplause

Exhibition: Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby: Ascent

Eight new pieces on show, which are the outcome of a collaboration between the [British design studio Barber Osgerby] and the gallery, investigate the structures and engineered forms of moving craft, such as the fine-like shape of wall-mountedbrass structure Foil V.

Corona 800 and Corona 1100 are two large discs which emit light. one is made from mirror-polished brass, while the other is a brilliantly colored red one, each appearing is if they are hovering just off the wall. These are displayed with a vertical wall-mounted, mirror-polished brass panel.

Their exploration and use of transportation structures is very apparent in Frame 1, a large, wall-mounted structure for which Barber Osgerby sought out a British boat builder to make. The British designers love of craftsmanship and attention to detail are evident with Planform Array V and Planform Array H, two chandeliers with 8 and 14 segments respectively. the frame-like portions are covered with handmade Japanese paper that has been hand-stitched into each part.

Exhibition: Ascent by Barber Osgerby (Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby), until November 19th, at Haunch of Venison, London, via: designboom

AIBS by Atelier d’Architecture Bruno Erpicum & Partners

Just like a path or road which comes to a dead end, the land becomes rippled before turning into a staircase which leads you down to the lower bridge from where you can appreciate the landscape in all its beauty. The living areas are enclosed by a single large window frame. The windows also provide protection against the winds. There are also large windows along the patio which is in an enclosed area. The cliff which has an olive tree on top provides a second wall for the patio. Away from view, the swimming pool lies to the side of the building beyond the terrace, surrounded by the natural environment. A number of walls and pillars have been painstakingly erected on the concrete surface and support the floor above which contains the bedrooms. Located at 159 metres altitude, none of the building’s features constitute a threat to nature. Under blue skies the building appears calm and serene whilst in stormy weather it has a striking and tormented air about it.

AIBS, Spain, by Atelier d’Architecture Bruno Erpicum and Partners
Photography by Jean-Luc Laloux

Cobogó House by Marcio Kogan Studio MK27

The Cobogó House, a single family residence designed by São Paulo-based architect Marcio Kogan of Studio MK27 has been nominated for an award in the house category for this year’s world architecture festival. At entry level, a series of perimeter glass doors can be opened to provide a permeable boundary to access the adjacent enclosed courtyard garden. An outdoor veranda with elevated views of the sculpted lake and trees wraps around a facade formed with a continuous and modular interwoven brise-soleil. The organic loops of the high-gloss white material generates a series of penetrations allowing a dappled lighting quality to filter into and naturally illuminate the second floor corridor.

The crisp plaster exterior is contrasted with rectangular bands of vertical wooden planks which visually continue to the ground plane to form the surrounding garden fence. A pervious mesh screen parallel the structure’s outer wall may be slid along a track and closed to protect the interior spaces from the strong afternoon sunlight. At night, the patterned elevation creates the effect of a glowing jewel box when illuminated by the inner bedroom’s ambient lighting.

Cobogó House, by Marcio Kogan, Studio MK27, Photography © Nelson Kon
via: designboom

Fred and Ginger by Roberto Lazzeroni for Poltrona Frau

A soft leather shell, comfortable and protective. A refined and simple easy chair. Neat, essential, and comfortable. Roberto Lazzeroni designed the Ginger chair both as a natural accompaniment to the Fred desk, and as a separate seat.

The swivel version is perfect for a study area, while the fixed model is ideal for a dining table. There is a continual play of references between Ginger and Fred in the design, materials and workmanship. Ginger’s frame is in special rigid, high density, low thickness, moulded polyurethane. It is completely covered by a single layer of 5 mm thick Saddle Leather Extra, in two variants: Dark Brown or Camel.

Fred Desk, Ginger Chair, by Roberto Lazzeroni, for Poltrona Frau

Flipped House by MCK Architects

A 1960’s house has been replaced and reflected by a contemporary version of itself, with a focus that now engages as much on the surrounding garden as it does the panoramic CBD view. The original plan and massing were adapted + literally ‘flipped’ with garden elements to create a more expansive connection from inside to out. Details, fixtures and fittings are sensitive to the original home.

Flipped House, by MCK Architects, Photography by Willem Rethmeier