Slumber Pouf by Aleksandra Gaca for Casalis

Who can resist the charm of these comfortable poufs designed by Aleksandra Gaca? The poufs are made in a three-dimensional elastic fabric and their shapes are highly flexible.

Slumber Pouf, by Aleksandra Gaca, for Casalis

Faculty Club by Shift Architecture Urbanism

Tilburg University has extended its campus with the Faculty Club, a multipurpose pavilion for the academic staff and their guests. Shift Architecture Urbanism took the initiative to reanimate the quintessential quality of the Tilburg campus: strong solitary buildings in the green. The monumental modernism of Jos Bedaux served as a frame of reference. Bedaux designed the first – still the best – buildings for the university in the sixties.

The Faculty Club is designed as a carved-out-monolith, one simple box in which transparency and massiveness melt together. The central restaurant is carved out from the centre, creating a tunnel-effect in the front façade. In order to strengthen its solitaire character the building is lifted from the ground. The height difference is bridged by outside stairs and a ramp integrated within the front façade.

Each façade has only one window. By recessing each window, outdoor spaces are created within the front and rear façades. These mark the entrance in front and form a large covered terrace in the back. The simplicity and plasticity of the three-dimensional window treatment further contributes to the building’s sculptural qualities.

Faculty Club, Tilburg University, The Netherlands, by Shift Architecture Urbanism
Photography by René de Wit

Glassware by Karl Lagerfeld for Orrefors

The celebrated designer Karl Lagerfeld recently teamed up with the Swedish brand Orrefors to create a collection of crystal glasses which include champagne flutes and coupes, coasters, bowls, vases, as well as water and liqueur glasses. Transparent, black or milky white, and sometimes engraved with the KL monogram, the series is sophisticated and elegant.

Glassware, by Karl Lagerfeld, for Orrefors

Skype Offices in Stockholm by PS Arkitektur

The office design is based on the spirit of Skype, how it is a useful and playful tool that connects the world. The in-between shapes of interconnected nodes has given us romboid and triangular shapes that is visible in the flooring and in the design of some of the hard furniture. The playful happy theme in colours and soft furniture comes from the Skype graphics and the Skype cloud logo is reinterpreted as cloud-shaped lighting throughout the office space. The Stockholm office predominately works with audio- and video development and this is manifested in the special made wallpapers with cables, earphones and other devices linked to audio-video technique.

Skype Offices, Munchen Brewery, Stockholm, Sweden, by PS Arkitektur
Photography by Jason Strong, via: Arch daily

………..
Skype offices can install a security camera to monitor suspicious activity.

Lea Ceramiche Presents Dotted Conversation by Patrick Norguet

Lines and Waves are the revolutionary protagonists of the installation conceived by the French designer for Lea Ceramiche. A micro-architecture, comprised of 3 communicating modules, stands out at the centre of the space and with a play on perspectives is surprising in the flexibility of the material covering it: super slim laminated porcelain Slimtech slabs only 3 mm thick. They however allow a large 300x100cm format, produced with advanced Lea Full HD technology which allows all types of decorative designs to be printed on glazed porcelain.

The Lines pattern, a composition of lines and vertical strokes which overlay and follow one another, first of all drawn by hand, then converted graphically by computer into countless punctiform elements, confers vibration, as well as depth, to the surface and intensifies the sensuality of the material through colour variation. Inviting visitors to enter the narrow and quiet passages and become totally immersed amongst the materials. A sensory conversation between design and technology.

Dotted Conversation, 16th – 20th June, Deco Design / Lea Ceramicheby, Paris Patrick Norguet, for Lea Ceramiche

Vienna Way Residence by Marmol Radziner

The Vienna Way residence, designed for a young family, is located on a large, extensively landscaped lot in Venice, California. Floor to ceiling glazing and outdoor living spaces fully integrate the home within the California native landscape. Working within the restrictions posed by the narrow site, the design divides the lot into thirds, with the two main volumes placed on the exterior edges of the property, bridged by a sunken kitchen in the center. The one-story structure to the south houses a great room that combines formal living and dining areas. The structure begins in the front of the property and flows into an outdoor dining patio. A large expanse of glass along the east provides a visual and spatial link to the pool area. The northern structure runs from the back of the property forward, also leading to an outdoor living area, and contains more casual, private spaces, including a family room and an office on the first floor and bedrooms on the second floor. Glazing along the second-story hallway offers views of the green roof (above the kitchen) and tree tops below. The kitchen acts as the hub of the residence, connecting the public and private areas and providing views of the pool, side yard and rear property. From the exterior, the kitchen is shaped by a bronze box that emphasizes its significance and provides contrast to the plaster façade found on the main volumes of the residence.

In addition to bridging the two main volumes, the kitchen is the center of a water-related area that starts in front with a swimming pool and flows through the kitchen and over its green roof, and continues in the backyard’s riparian landscape planted with rushes, reeds, and sycamore trees. These plantings give way to a large play yard filled with buffalo grass and surrounded by oak trees and other California native plants.

Vienna Way Residence, Venice, California, USA, by Marmol Radziner
Photography by Joe Fletcher Photography, via: contemporist

Photography: Centro Niemeyer by Inigo Bujedo Aguirre

Centro Niemeyer is a new cultural complex in Avilés, and is part of an ambitious scheme to redevelop the riverfront. Brazilian architect, Oscar Niemeyer, designed the complex as a gift to the principality.

Centro Niemeyer, Avilés, Spain, by Oscar Niemeyer, Photography by © Inigo Bujedo Aguirre

Ekko Tri Leg & V Leg Base Table from Davis

Ekko ushers a new level of style into conference rooms and personal office spaces everywhere. Its clean, crisp lines and unapologetically simple aesthetics make a bold statement about both modern interior design and the people who incorporate it into their daily lives. New materials and striking architecture make Ekko a much-heralded addition to the impressive collection of traditional conference room options from Davis.

Ekko Tri Leg Base Table, Ekko V Leg Base Table, by Wolfgang C.R. Mezger, for Davis

The Whitehouse Chicago by Bruce Bolander

Los Angeles-based architect, Bruce Bolander, has completed the architectural and design work on the Chicago office of international editorial company The Whitehouse, his third of such projects for the company. Previous projects included the Los Angeles and New York offices of The Whitehouse.

The project hinged on the transformation of the space. The Whitehouse had occupied a set of offices in the historic Courthouse Place building since 1995. Courthouse Place was designed by architect Otto H. Matz and completed in 1893. It was initially known as the Cook County Criminal Court Building and was the site of many legendary trials during the 1920′s.

Even though they appreciated the character of the building and the space with its dark wood from a previous design and historical feeling – especially with their British background – the company was moving in a new and vibrant direction and they wanted their space to reflect their modern outlook.

Light was important to the client, as the current space was very dark. “I focused the design so that the light from the outside came all the way through, which was occasionally as simple as changing the blinds, wall and floor color. In other areas, we cut out some of the perimeter offices to let light in along the large corridors,” said Bolander. “The intention was to try to peel back and get back to the basics of the building, so we uncovered the brick and steel pieces. We also as integrated other stripped-down elements such as vertical wood-paneling as an an additional material that kind of bridges the old and the new.”

The Whitehouse, Chicago by Bruce Bolander

Jean-François d’Or: Golden Child of Belgian Design

Thirty-seven-year old Jean-François d’Or (a name that befits the sunny, luminous quality about him) is considered one of the most talented, prolific and appreciated designers in Belgium.

In 2010, he was chosen to represent his hometown, Brussels, during the national design week (Design September), and a retrospective selection of his works was displayed in one of the shiny spheres of the iconic Atomium. On this occasion, critics praised his “simple, unpretentious, logical objects that appeal as much for their evident, clearly perceptible design as well as their discrete poetry”. “Humble” is quite the epithet for Jean-François d’Or — and he proudly claims the label, turning these words from Belgian poet George Linze into his motto: “A strange phosphorescence covers the humblest objects as if poetry were only what is extraordinary about the ordinary”.

Droog design, Domani, Interni Edition, Konstantin Slawinski, Jongform, Ligne Roset (his terracotta Maternity pot was recently released during the Milan Salone, another landmark in the collaboration he started a few years ago with the Roset group) or The Conran Shop are among the brands his name has been associated with. Lately, he has designed a bed for Magnitude (which was introduced during the Kortrijk fair) and a series of door handles for Vervloet (on display at Maison&Objet in Paris). A large panel which somehow illustrates his versatility, as well as his ability to absorb himself into raw material, whether clay, glass, metal or wood is involved.

Graduated from the renowned La Cambre School of design in Brussels (1998), he started his own studio, Loudor design, five years later. In between, he had managed to achieve a project in New York with textile designer Caroline Ray, then to work in his homeland with star designers such as Maarten Van Severen and Hans De Pelsmacker. Already granted a Henry van de Velde award (Belgium’s most coveted prize in the design field), this deeply grounded young man’s creations are now everywhere, through his brainchild: Loudor design has set up ongoing collaborations with the most prestigious design labels in Europe. A gifted, modern day alchemist, well-named Jean-François d’Or seems to turn everything he touches into gold.

– Elodie Palasse-Leroux
(French journalist Elodie Palasse-Leroux is the founder and editor of Sleek design, launched in 2009)

Bonbonne hanging lamp, Bonbonne floor lamp, Arlequin, Bonbonne, Drop, Mezzoluna, by Jean-François d’Or, Loudor design