Mercedes has produced whole new vehicle for the video game Gran Turismo 6 –but they also built it in the real world. The Gran Turismo concept is said to illustrate “sensuous purity” the emerging Mercedes design language, according to design chief Gordon Wagener. It was shown in gleaming steel at the 2013 Los Angeles auto show.
Stuff is still in my Penneys. [ michael graves ] [jc penny ]
The Bodleian Library at Oxford, which hails back to the Renaissance, was often filled with scholars wearing gowns of the sort today seen only in graduation ceremonies. The furniture tended to match. But a recent design competition, attracting about a hundred entries, has produced a new chair to outfit the library, combining tradition and practicality. The brief asked for a chair that avoids noises, of course. The winner by studio Barber Osgerby (Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby) in collaboration with Isokon Plus, which will build it, was shaped to make long days comfortable and also to avoid squeaking if a tired or restless scholar leans back on it.
It is part of a renovation of the library and replaces a chair designed in 1935. The chair is three legged, a bit round and monk-like in appearance. “The winning three-legged oak chair drew on extensive local knowledge of the library and its cultural setting,” reports Co.Design. The upright spine is said to play off the spines of books on shelves. [ bodleian library ] [ bodleian competition ]
photo> jamie smith
winning design chosen from a shortlist of three by a panel of judges and readers from the bodleian libraries | photo > jamie smith
the shortlisted entries with their predecessors at the v&a museum until 17 november | photo> ben bisek
the short-list, partnerships—Amanda Levete and Herman Miller, Barber Osgerby and Isokon Plus, and Matthew Hilton and SCP Ltd
German car companies are thinking about the cities of the future. Audi has its Urban Initiative, BMW has a multi-year city future project in cooperation with the Guggenheim, now gathered together in a show at the Guggenheim in New York. Volkswagen’s effort to look at future cities is a multi year partnership with the Museum of Modern Art and its junior branch in Queens, PS One, where the company has built the VW Dome, an inflatable hemisphere that looks like some Cold War era radar station. The efforts began in the aftermath of storm Sandy about a year ago. Inside the dome ( photo above ) on Saturday were the latest elements of the effort: presentations by architects and planners addressing an urban future where 75 per cent of the world’s population will live in cities and most will be poor. [ audi ][ bmw / guggenheim ] [ vw / moma / ps1 ]
above> 295-foot JAZZ yacht (left) next to the 420-foot concept yacht | renderings & video courtesy of zaha hadid architects | click > enlarge
Zaha Hadid’s latest is a yacht—five yachts, actually, each of them a variant on a family of boats with a fluid, biological look. Each can also be customized in comfort features and other outfittings by the company of Blohm+Voss, which also did a Philippe Starck design earlier.
420-foot concept yacht
The idea of the Unique Circle Yachts allows for variation of a genotype and its phenotypes. The company says, “Zaha Hadid’s design is malleable to suit the very individual wishes and needs of a potential customer.”
Hadid’s office describes the Unique Circle Yachts this way:
The overall design is informed by fluid dynamics and underwater ecosystems, with hydrodynamic research shaping the design of the hull. The exoskeleton structure of the upper section is an interwoven network of supports that vary in thickness and lend a natural aesthetic to the yacht’s external appearance; evoking the organic structural systems of natural marine formations and connecting the various levels and decks of the ship seamlessly via expressive diagonals.
Whereas traditional yacht designs adhere to a strict horizontal order, this exoskeleton creates an intense connectivity between the various decks and elements of the design. The fluid design language of the master prototype has been applied to the five subsequent 90m variations of the Unique Circle Yachts, creating a design with the highest correlation between the various options.
295-foot JAZZ yacht
main cabin
owner’s cabin
>model of concept
Architect
Zaha Hadid Design
Design
Zaha Hadid
Patrik Schumacher
Design Team Thomas Vietzke, Jens Borstelmann, Daniel Widrig, Sofia Daniilidou, Ben Grubert, Phillip Mecke, Patrick Euler
Naval Engineering Michael Von der Heide, Thomas Sperling
L.O.A > 90.0M (295 FT)
Beam (Max) > 16.0M (52FT)
Draught > 4.2M (13FT)
Speed (MA X) >16.0 KN
Cruising Speed > 14.0KN
Range > 5000 Nautical Miles
Class > Lloyd’s Register
Propulsion > 2X2160 KW | diesel via gearbox to fixed prop
Manoeuvring System > 1 X Bow thruster
1> concept
2> JAZZ
3,4> JAZZ aft
5,6 > main cabin
7,8,9 > owner’s cabin
[ official release ]
The design concept, launched at the latest exhibition of Zaha Hadid’s work at the David Gill Gallery in London, is based around the sculptural form of a master prototype conceived for a 128m yacht. In addition, the Unique Circle Yachts by Zaha Hadid Architects for Blohm+Voss is a family of five individual 90m yachts that creatively explore the design philosophies of the master prototype within the technical requirements of a fully-engineered yacht design.
The overall design is informed by fluid dynamics and underwater ecosystems, with hydrodynamic research shaping the design of the hull. The exoskeleton structure of the upper section is an interwoven network of supports that vary in thickness and lend a natural aesthetic to the yacht’s external appearance; evoking the organic structural systems of natural marine formations and connecting the various levels and decks of the ship seamlessly via expressive diagonals.
Whereas traditional yacht designs adhere to a strict horizontal order, this exoskeleton creates an intense connectivity between the various decks and elements of the design. The fluid design language of the master prototype has been applied to the five subsequent 90m variations of the Unique Circle Yachts, creating a design with the highest correlation between the various options.
The 90m JAZZ yacht is the first of the five Unique Circle Yachts that has been technically specified and detailed by the naval architects at Blohm+Voss. Its lineage from the 128m master prototype is evident, with further technical refinements to address the specifications required for ocean crossings.
In addition to JAZZ, four further 90m yachts have been designed to fulfil the different requirements and individual requests of their designated owners. Each design will vary in layout according to the owner’s preferences.
The design process was very much a collaborative one, with Blohm+Voss and ZHA working together to address the practical challenges of designing a yacht while remaining true to the design language of the master prototype. The resulting designs are the synergy of Hadid’s design vision and the technical expertise of Blohm+Voss, allowing a flexibility and customisation in the eventual design of the yacht.
“As a dynamic object that moves in dynamic environments, the design of a yacht must incorporate additional parameters beyond those for architecture – which all become much more extreme on water. Each yacht is an engineered platform that integrates specific hydrodynamic and structural demands together with the highest levels of comfort, spatial quality and safety.” explained Zaha Hadid.
Blohm+Voss has the proven experience, the in-house technical expertise, and the capacities to offer tailor-made solutions for the most demanding buyers in the superyacht market. The naval architects of Blohm+Voss are forever pushing the boundaries of technology and innovation. In recent years Blohm+Voss has built many of the world’s most prestigious mega yachts. These include the groundbreaking 394-foot “A “designed by Philippe Starck , the “Eclipse”, designed by Terrence Disdale, which at 533 feet (162.5 m) is the world’s second largest private yacht. Other Blohm + Voss superyacht projects include, the “Mayan Queen IV” and the “Palladium”.
Dr. Herbert Aly, CEO and Managing Partner of Blohm+Voss says: “On an aesthetic level, a superyacht is a great design task as everything is customised down to the last detail. A superyacht is by definition an exercise in total design, where every detail is looked at with attention and refinement. In the past, in the era of steam liners, there has been an attempt of utilising ship building elements in architecture. Zaha Hadid and her team have taken this ethos and created a bold new vision and a new benchmark in the design of superyachts.”
Aly adds: “The idea of the Unique Circle Yachts allows for variation of a genotype and its phenotypes, offering a range of possible solutions based on an cognate platform. As a result Zaha Hadid’s design is malleable to suit the very individual wishes and needs of a potential customer which lies at the heart of Blohm+Voss’ approach to yacht design. The strength of the design lies not just in its functionality and form, but also its effortless adaptability.”
Zaha Hadid Architects and Blohm+Voss have transformed yacht design; creating an innovative concept and developing this vision into a fully seaworthy prototype that offers dynamic new possibilities for naval architecture.
[ zaha hadid architects ] [ blohm+voss ]
porsche with meteorite | 2013 > restored 1974 porsche 914 – 390 pound meteorite – steel structure installation at chris burden’s studio topanga california
Many of the pieces in artist Chris Burden’s show at the New Museum in New York called “Extreme Measures” involve balance. He likes to compare and contrast size and weight by linking things with wires and beams. So when a huge crane beside a skyscraper under construction on 57th Street in New York the other day malfunctioned, it seemed as if a Burden piece had escaped and grown large. The street was shut down due to the menace of a 30 ton concrete counterweight from a crane overhead. And 30 tons is actually a pretty small chunk of concrete.
A similar piece from Burden’s show contrasts a 350 pound meteorite with a 1964 Porsche 914 connected teeter totter style in mock measure. Here the contrast is raw material and pristine design, cosmic melt down and Teutonic metallurgy and precision. Burden was well known in the 1970s for performance pieces called Shoot, from 1971, in which he was shot through the arm with a rifle, and Trans-fixed, in which he was nailed to a Volkswagen Beetle, crucifixion style. [ details ]
30-feet-long ghost ship | 2005 > courtesy of the museum
36-foot-tall twin quasi legal skyscrapers | 2013 > courtesy of the museum
transfixed | 1974
BMW’s three year collaboration with the Guggenheim museum explored the subject of the city and established urban labs in New York, Berlin, and Mumbai. Now some of the results are being displayed at the Guggenheim’s building in New York. There are objects, like the water saving park bench from Mars architects, and images, like smart data maps.
MARS architects (neville mars) was commissioned by the BMW guggenheim lab to participate in the think tank’s long-term vision to develop interventions that would benefit our cities and greater urban environments. for their participation, the international firm focused on water concerns, creating an outdoor piece of furniture that collects and stores rainwater through functional cushions
The exhibition also features prototypes of the Water Bench, a project developed during the Mumbai Lab by architect Neville Mars of MARS Architects. Created to address water scarcity and the need for leisure space in Mumbai, the Water Bench collects rainfall for re-use in irrigation and provides public seating. A prototype of the Water Bench is planned for First Park in New York, the original site of the Lab, and six more currently are installed throughout Mumbai.
[ water bench ]
smart map
[ official bmw release ]
Participatory City: 100 Urban Trends from the BMW Guggenheim Lab, an exhibition summing up the experiences and concepts generated during the two-year run of the BMW Guggenheim Lab, will be presented from October 11, 2013 to January 5, 2014, at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. The exhibition is the culmination of the Lab – an urban think tank, community center, and public gathering space – that traveled from New York to Berlin and Mumbai to inspire innovative ideas about urban life and new ways of thinking about cities. Tens of thousands of participants engaged with the Lab’s free public programs, urban projects, and research initiatives, both on-site and online, which informed and helped shape the exhibition. The BMW Guggenheim Lab is a co-initiative of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the BMW Group.
“With the BMW Guggenheim Lab, we have extended our mission beyond the walls of the museum, providing the Guggenheim with new ways to engage directly with the public and demonstrate our commitment to innovation in the fields of architecture and urbanism,” said Richard Armstrong, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation. “The Lab ignited an important conversation about the differences and commonalities of urban environments and the power of cities as idea-makers. The Participatory City exhibition brings together the ideas found along the way, celebrating this journey and showcasing the extraordinary people and places we encountered.”
“With the New York exhibition, the BMW Guggenheim Lab adventure comes full circle. During its travels, the Lab connected people from around the world to address the challenges that so many megacities face today and in the future. Each and every one of these people who actively participated in this project, be it online or on site, are the reason for the Lab’s success,” said Maximilian Schöberl, Senior Vice President, Corporate and Governmental Affairs, BMW Group. “The exhibition allows us the opportunity to reflect on the Lab as a whole to better understand how this thinking will continue to inform urban life.”
Participatory City is organized by Maria Nicanor, Curator of the BMW Guggenheim Lab and Associate Curator, Architecture and Urbanism.
[ exhibition overview ]
Participatory City is inspired by 100 of the most talked-about ideas in urban thinking explored at the Labs in New York, Berlin, and Mumbai. The terms, or trends, featured in the exhibition have been selected from 100 Urban Trends: A Glossary of Ideas from the BMW Guggenheim Lab, which includes a total of 300 terms compiled from the three Lab venues. New and old, established and of-the-moment, these terms all relate to the ways we understand, design, and inhabit cities. Each term references a particular Lab event or experience, highlighting participatory programs, tours, talks, workshops, film screenings, and urban research projects offered in each city. Projections of these terms alongside drawings, sketches, and short videos representing the terms will continuously loop on the gallery walls in an all-digital installation. Videos and images from each of the three cities will bring the Labs to life throughout the exhibition. In addition, a global roster of architects, academics, designers, and artists have created digital responses to the 100 Urban Trends, available at youtube/bmwguggenheimlab
Participatory City examines a wide variety of trends, a number of which address how we interact with cities. These include:
Participatory Urbanism, a concept integral to the programs in New York, Berlin, and Mumbai, in which citizens are empowered to collect data and contribute ideas to urban decision-makers;
Ostrich Effect, a topic discussed in Mumbai that describes how individuals convey their indifference to the harsh conditions of everyday street life;
Collaborative Urban Mapping, an example of a small-scale intervention in an urban environment, which was produced through collaboration and open-source data in Berlin to map elements of the food supply chain;
Suburban Sprawl, representing outward urban growth;
and the concept of Happy City and psychological well-being in urban environments.
Other trends include the 3D Printer revolution that has led to increased Customization; Arduino, hardware developed for operating robots; and urban concepts such as 10,000 Honks, Bottom-Up Urban Engagement, Collective Memory, The New Architect, Eviction, Food Distribution, Gentrification, Infrastructure of Waste and Non-Iconic Architecture, among others.
“Cities are concentrations of buildings, streets, transportation systems, and physical infrastructure, but it is people who are at the center of urban discourse and it is people who, through participation and interaction, continue to make cities vibrant centers for the generation of ideas that shape our world,” said Nicanor. “It is this sense of participation that continues to empower urban progress one idea at a time. Participatory City documents the BMW Guggenheim Lab’s journey to identify some of the most urgent challenges for cities today and the ideas that could help improve them.”
The exhibition also features prototypes of the Water Bench, a project developed during the Mumbai Lab by architect Neville Mars of MARS Architects. Created to address water scarcity and the need for leisure space in Mumbai, the Water Bench collects rainfall for re-use in irrigation and provides public seating. A prototype of the Water Bench is planned for First Park in New York, the original site of the Lab, and six more currently are installed throughout Mumbai.
[ public programs ]
Throughout the run of Participatory City, a series of public programs focusing on a selection of the 100 Urban Trends expand on the issues and projects explored by the BMW Guggenheim Lab.
Fri, Oct 11, 6:30 pm / Urban Data: Michael Flowers and Mayor Bloomberg’s Office of Policy and Strategic Planning
Michael Flowers, Director of Analytics for Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Office of Policy and Strategic Planning, talks about the role of urban data in New York, and how untapped information and data sets can be harnessed to improve the way the city runs.
Sat, Nov 2, 8:30 pm / Happy City: Charles Montgomery
Charles Montgomery, former Lab Team member and author of Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design, (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013), launches his book and presents fun experiments in trust and play, looking into the striking relationship between the design of our minds and the design of our cities.
Sun, Dec 1, 6:30 pm / Rainwater Harvesting: Neville Mars
Neville Mars, architect, founder of Dynamic City Foundation, and former Lab Team member, discusses his interest in design solutions that conserve water and how it led to the creation of the Water Bench, an urban bench that collects rainwater for re-use.
Fridays, Oct 11-Jan 3 (except Nov 29), 3 pm / Film Series: Cinematic Sites
Selected by Paul Dallas, organizer of the BMW Guggenheim Lab’s film program in New York in 2011, this series examines the relationship between the urban environment and cinematic storytelling. The series includes films set in the Lab venues of New York, Berlin, and Mumbai as well as other cities around the world including Cairo, Chengdu, Los Angeles, Recife, San Francisco, Tehran, and Vienna.
Programs are $7, $5 for members and free for students who RSVP. Films are screened in the New Media Theater, Lower Level and are free with museum admission. [ details ]
[ bmw guggenheim lab ]
A co-initiative of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the BMW Group, the BMW Guggenheim Lab launched in New York (August 3 – October 16, 2011) with a focus on the theme “Confronting Comfort;” traveled to Berlin (June 15 – July 29, 2012), with the theme “Making,” emphasizing citizen participation in shaping cities; and finally opened at multiple sites in Mumbai (December 9, 2012 – January 20, 2013), where projects and programs explored the theme of “Privacy.” Participants from more than 160 countries and territories around the world participated in the Lab’s nearly 600 public programs, workshops, lectures, and research and urban projects, both on-site and online. The BMW Guggenheim Lab’s global program concludes with the exhibition Participatory City: 100 Urban Trends from the BMW Guggenheim Lab, on view at the Guggenheim Museum, New York from October 11, 2013 to January 5, 2014. The BMW Guggenheim Lab was curated by Maria Nicanor of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and David van der Leer.
The mobile structures for the Lab were designed by the Tokyo architecture firm Atelier Bow-Wow, including a novel carbon-fiber structure used in New York and Berlin and a set of bamboo structures installed at multiple locations in Mumbai. The graphic identity of the Lab, which included an interactive logo, was developed by Seoul-based graphic designers Sulki & Min. Together with Guggenheim curators, three Lab Teams composed of individuals from a variety of disciplines developed programs specific to each city.
The project’s blog, Lab | Log, features interviews with BMW Guggenheim Lab contributors and includes coverage of the Lab’s activities. The public is invited to join the BMW Guggenheim Lab’s dedicated social communities on Twitter @BMWGuggLab and #BGLab, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and Foursquare, and to subscribe to the Lab’s e-newsletter.
[ about the Lab ] [ 100 Urban Trends: A Glossary of Ideas from the BMW Guggenheim Lab ]
[ bmw’s cultural committment ]
For over 40 years now, the BMW Group has initiated and engaged in more than 100 cultural partner-ships worldwide. The focus of this long-term commitment to culture is modern and contemporary art, jazz and classical music as well as architecture and design. BMW has worked with artists such as Ger-hard Richter, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Olafur Eliasson, Jeff Koons, Zubin Metha, Daniel Baren-boim and Anna Netrebko and commissioned architects such as Karl Schwanzer, Zaha Hadid and Coop Himmelb(l)au. In London, BMW in partnership with the London Symphony Orchestra, hosts the BMW LSO Open Air Classics, a yearly live concert free of charge in Trafalgar Square, and supports Frieze Art Fair. The BMW Group takes absolute creative freedom in all the cultural activities it is involved in for granted – as this is just as essential for groundbreaking artistic work as it is for major innovations in a successful business. [ details ]
The BMW Group
[ the bmw group ]
The BMW Group is the leading premium manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles in the world with its BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brands. As a global company, the BMW Group operates 28 pro-duction and assembly facilities in 13 countries and has a global sales network in more than 140 coun-tries.
In 2012, the BMW Group sold about 1.85 million cars and more than 117,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax for the financial year 2012 was euro 7.82 billion on revenues amounting to euro 76.85 billion. At 31 December 2012, the BMW Group had a workforce of 105,876 employees.
The success of the BMW Group has always been built on long-term thinking and responsible action. The company has therefore established ecological and social sustainability throughout the value chain, comprehensive product responsibility and a clear commitment to conserving resources as an integral part of its strategy. [ details ]
Renault’s Initiale concept car at the Frankfurt motor show is romantic in yet another new way about the city. Its roof is etched with a map of the City of Lights. By Laurens van den Acker. [ details ]
The BMW Group entered a new era in automotive construction today with the start of series production of the BMW i3. The world’s first premium electric vehicle to be purpose-designed for this form of drive system is the result of an all-encompassing development approach targeted at reducing fuel consumption and emissions in urban areas. This is the first time that carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) has been used in automotive volume production. The body structure of the BMW i3 consists entirely of this extremely lightweight and durable material, allowing the extra weight of the batteries for the electric drive system to be cancelled out. By industrializing the manufacturing process for CFRP, the BMW Group has become the first company worldwide to make its use in vehicle production economically viable. This November the i3 will be available for sale in Germany and select European countries with US deliveries beginning 4 > 5 months later.
[ bmwi3 blog ]
On 6 September 2013, Vitra acquires Artek. Two venerable and like-minded bastions of avant garde modern furniture agree to partner. How like-minded? The logos may say it all.
panton chair | verner panton | vitra | 1967 | click > enlarge
stool 60 special edition series | tom dixon, comme des garçons, mike meiré, monocle, mads nørgaard, nao tamura | artek | 2013 (based on 1933 original by alvar aalto)
[ artek ] Artek was founded in 1935 by Alvar and Aino Aalto, Maire Gullichsen and Nils-Gustav Hahl. The business idea of the company was “to sell furniture and to promote a modern culture of habitation by exhibitions and other educational means.” That was the beginning of Artek. The Artek collection comprises design furniture and lighting fixtures by the Nordic masters Alvar Aalto, Ilmari Tapiovaara, Tapio Wirkkala and Eero Aarnio. The latest addition to the portfolio consists of products by Yrjö Kukkapuro. The masterpiece of Kukkapuro, the Karuselli chair, will be re-launched on the market in the beginning of the year 2014. In addition to classics, Artek is also launching new generation design products under the Artek Studio brand. Alvar Aalto’s furniture represents an interpretation of Scandinavian modernism articulated primarily in Finnish birch wood. Wood and functionality are both hallmarks of the Artek collection. The Artek portfolio represents the most comprehensive collection of wooden design furniture in the world. Artek has international sales offices in New York, Berlin, Stockholm and Tokyo. The domestic market accounts for 60% of the company’s turnover, with Artek holding a solid position in the Finnish consumer and contract market. Vitra’s design classics have for a number of years been an important part of Artek’s collection for the Finnish market. Artek operates four stores in Finland, as well as a wide retail network.
[ vitra ] Vitra is a furniture company dedicated to developing healthy, intelligent, inspiring and durable solutions for the office, the home and for public spaces. Vitra’s products and concepts are developed in Switzerland by applying a diligent design process that brings together the company’s engineering excellence with the creative genius of leading international designers. It is our goal to create products with a high functional and aesthetic life expectancy. The Vitra Campus architecture, the Vitra Design Museum, workshops, publications, collections and archives are all integral elements of the Vitra Project. They give Vitra the opportunity to gain perspective and depth in all of its creative activities.<a href="
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