Pen Uno: space grey, gold, silver, rose gold

Pen Uno is a most minimal pen designed by award-winning studio ENSSO to be both a pleasure to write with and beautiful to see. With only 5.3mm (7/32in) in diameter it is one of the slimmest pens ever manufactured, yet it is very comfortable to use because its holding barrel is slightly wider. This barrel also serves as a twisting cap that protects the pen tip when not in use. Pen Uno is precision-machined out of space-grade aluminum and anodized in four distinct colors: space grey, silver, gold, and rose gold.

Pen Uno uses the widely available Hi-Tec-C Coleto gel ink cartridge. This cartridge writes exactly the same as the regular Hi-Tec-C cartridge but it is much slimmer in diameter because it was designed for a multi-color pen system.

Pen Uno is available on Kickstarter until December 18.

Pen Uno

-> Available on Kickstarter until December 18

Jon Sealey, Design Director of Marques and Jordy has submitted proposals to transform Bangkok’s skytrain system.He proposes an elevated bicycle lane coined as “the skyride” which cantilevers from the existing train line structure. “The idea of the skyride is to reduce the congestion on the roads and encourage people to commute to work by cycling.” Explains architect Jon Sealey.

The sky ride offers a 55km of unparalleled cycle root through the heart of Bangkok and the suburbs East to the airport. Commuting times to the commercial centre would be reduced by as much 1.5 hours. “Bangkok is incredibly congested and the sky ride offers a way to reduce traffic and get people cycling.”The proposal also offers an elevated park and a lowline park. The skypark landscape will be designed to reflect the identity of each local community it passes through and features local artworks and much needed public park space through the city. Jon explains “Bangkok is suffocated by concrete high rises. Development over the last 30 years has seen a massive decline in green space in the city. The skypark will provide the people of Bangkok with new accessible areas to enjoy running, walking and viewing the city from an elevated platform.”

The lowline will be a vibrant area for street vendors, markets and green space. Large sphere tent structures will have a variety of uses from housing emergency care units to structures to grow crops for the local communities.​ Read the rest of this entry »

The Urban Skyfarm designed by Aprilli Design Studio is a vertical farm design proposal for a site located in downtown Seoul, right adjacent to the Cheonggyecheon stream which is a heavily populated dense urban area within the central business district. Inspired by Dr. Dickson Despommier’s original idea of “Vertical farm”, the Urban Skyfarm is a prototype vertical farm project which would mainly support local food production and distribution while at the same time contribute to improving the environmental quality through water, air filtration and renewable energy production.

Through lifting the main food production field high up in the air, the vegetations gain more exposure toward the natural sunlight and fresh air while the ground level becomes more freed up with nicely shaded open spaces which could be enjoyed by the public. The bio mimicry of the tree form gives many structural and environmental advantages to form a light weight efficient space frame which could host diverse farming activities. The four major components which are the root, trunk, branch and leaf each have their own spatial characteristics which are suitable for various farming conditions.

While the upper portions provide open to air farming decks for medium based vegetations, the lower portions enclosed by the structural skin provide more controlled environments for solution based leafy productions. During daytime the photovoltaic panels generate electricity to be used for night time lighting and heating to support farming. The Urban Skyfarm creates a mini ecosystem which brings balance back to the urban community.

The Tree-like form creates a strong iconic figure in the prominent location and becomes a symbol of well being and sustainable development. Together with the Cheonggyecheon stream, the Urban Skyfarm will become a nice destination place for people seeking for fresh food, air and relaxation within their busy urban life. Read the rest of this entry »

This undergraduate thesis project by Camden Wade titled Urban Infiltration is a visionary and innovative tower that challenges the typical approach to the high rise typology in Downtown Houston by using “collective design.” In a downtown that lacks formal zoning regulations and, as a result, creates an exaggerated autonomous mindset for high rise development and their primarily office programs, this design takes a paradigm shift with a more holistic approach to the typology and explores how a high rise can be more beneficial to its environment from the large urban scale, architectural scale, and most importantly, the intimate human scale. This project approaches this design issue head on by creating a hybrid high rise that encourages a more sustainable and localized lifestyle through a delicate balance of programs, both public and private, that relate to one another in a more 3-dimensional and integrated way. Read the rest of this entry »

The building site of the Mausoleum of the Martyrdom of Polish Villages in Michniów is undergoing the successive fifth stage of construction works. The Mausoleum’s design envisaged a monolithic sculptural architectural form to give room to a multimedia exhibition which through its shape is to convey the dramaturgy of the historical developments symbolised by Michniów itself. The Mausoleum, designed by the renowned Warsaw-based studio Nizio Design International, is scheduled to be opened in 2016.

Mirosław Nizio’s studio won the competition for the design of the Mausoleum building in 2009. Nizio Design International is the general designer of the Mausoleum responsible for its site development and architectural and interior designs. Also, the studio was tasked to develop the design both in its conceptual and construction phases, as well as to supervise the works from start to finish. In 2011 the design won the European Property Award in the category Public Service Architecture.

The Mausoleum of the Martyrdom of Polish Villages is a project commissioned by the Museum of Kielce Region Countryside with a view to commemorating the victims of the repressions suffered by Polish rural communities during the German occupation. Michniów – pacified on 12 July, 1943 – today is a symbol of all village pacifications that took place during World War II. The site on which the Mausoleum is being built used to be a symbolic place of remembrance dedicated to those tragic incidents: originally, a collective grave of the victims was erected (in 1945), followed by the “Pieta of Michniów” sculpture and National Remembrance House.

The first stage of works on the construction site of the Mausoleum delivered the site fence, services building, and the car park. Also, a number of paths leading to the grave were built at the time. Phase two involved building the underground structures, phase three produced the foundation of the open parts, and phase four, the most difficult so far, resulted in the construction of the essential components of the building. Currently underway is phase five whose objective is to build the approaches from the grave to the Mausoleum building. Read the rest of this entry »

Mimicking the process of sacred behavioural patterns in religious rituals, the Sikh Temple designed by Maria Esteban Casañas at the Bartlett School of Architecture, proposes a syncretic model of architecture that merges the poetic with the functional through ornamental formation. Originating in two-dimensional patterns, the temple emerges through volumetric transformations that morph Sikh sacred geometry into a three-dimensional inhabitable space. The existing Sikh temples are of rectangular nature, however, this proposes a new typology in which the ceremonial routines in the temple dictate its geometry, such as that of circumambulation.

Located in the northwest of London, the Sikh temple is envisioned as part of a religious hub, generating pilgrimage to the site. The pendant drops that form the architecture materially express a religious porous transition, moving from the earthly world to the spiritual one, arriving to deeply intimate and enclosed spaces like glades in the forest, protected for prayer.

The atmospheric qualities rise from the convergence of the ornamental and the formless, the natural and the tectonic. The Gurdwara, absent of figurative representation, must rely on the abstraction of Sikh geometries. Consequently, the project digitally generates sacred forms in the process of abstraction, embedding holy geometries in the temple.

Design: Maria Esteban Casañas
Tutors: Marcos Cruz, Marjan Colletti Read the rest of this entry »

Arnhem Station officially opened on 19 November. The multidisciplinary approach by the architecture firm UNStudio and Arup linked architectural design to human behaviour in a unique way.

With the opening of the new station building the transformation of the area is now complete. Since 1996 UNStudio has collaborated with Arup to achieve an integrated design with distinctive architectural and technical concepts for the masterplan, public transport terminal and underground parking.

Key to the terminal design was a fast and smooth transition between different modes of transport and realizing these modes on a very small plot. Arup contributed significantly to the integration of architecture, structure and lighting. As a result, passengers are guided intuitively and efficiently to the right place.

The terminal has two below-grade levels for bicycle storage and vehicular parking and multiple undefined above-grade levels that contain a spacious entrance lobby, retail shops, offices, service areas and corridors that link the train platforms, local and regional bus terminals, taxi stands, bike storage, and parking.

“The integration of masterplanning, architecture and engineering was major to the design, which could only be realized in an integral team of specialists in design and execution. Every phase of improvements were made and after a span of 19 years, the project is finished. The team is proud and excited!” – Joop Paul, project director Arup

The ‘twist’ and the ‘trumpet’ are carefully designed structural-architectural solutions, using the most advanced computer tools. Together with UNStudio, Arup’s designers created 3D models of the complex terminal shape to ensure correct structural and lighting calculations. Read the rest of this entry »

Synthetic Nature is a collection of prototypes born through holistic architectural design research into the genesis of form and space. The self-organization of matter, conservation of energy, equilibrium and notions of minimal complexity are concepts that drive the creative process – a symbiotic mix of design, art and science. The analogy with the molecular behavior of soap bubbles informs the research, which involves nature-inspired algorithms, mathematical relationships and geometrical constraints. Focusing on periodic minimal surfaces, the design process challenges the concepts of multi-dimensional symmetry and repetition, creating modular continuous surfaces that are infinitely expandable.

The paradoxical character of Synthetic Nature is emerging from the computational side of the design process as well as the artificial materiality of the generated prototypes. Following the biological model taxonomy, the collection challenges the notion of artifact through creating a series of morphological design species. This research explores new spatial qualities, material effects and volumetric intricacy through continuous surface geometries, repetition of cellular components and skin topology systems. The resulting prototypes open-up several opportunities at various scales in architecture, product and fashion design.

“Synthetic Nature is an instance of my explorative research into spatiality, scale and materiality; all with deep roots in my architectural background. The work has transcended those levels by creating artifacts that are interpretable and adaptable to anything from jewellery, fashion, product design and interiors, architecture to fine art. Algorithmic and geometrical concepts generate surface to volume morphologies that are blurring the boundaries between ‘inside’ and ‘outside’, between ‘solid’ and ‘transparent’ or between ‘natural’ and ‘synthetic’ – blended into abstract hybrid species.” Vlad Tenu Read the rest of this entry »

Being surrounded by water. A stunning view of the Mediterranean Sea. The residents of this villa enjoy a maximum holiday experience in their holiday villa. In the long-term they could even transform their holiday home into a place to settle down and grow old happily ever after.

To guarantee a certain level of privacy for the owners, the street side facade looks rather aloof. After opening the door in the wall, the visitor would expect a continuation of the defensive atmosphere, but the effect of inversion is astonishing. From that moment on it surprises you everytime. After the first surprising element – the stepping stones in the water – you enter complete spatial openness. A transparent look is created by applying glass and long sight lines. The water and its reflection in different locations enhance this effect.

The initial dream of the owner was having a plot by the sea. The translation of the dream lead to a design concept of water. A block of water with glass walls – the corners are transparent: no steel construction is applied – is located in the heart of the villa. Next to this swimming pool a channel of water flows along the entire living area – downstairs, as well as upstairs. From the glass staircase you can catch a glimpse of the sea from different viewpoints. The use of stepping stones is repeated on the top floor, where a playful transition of inside/outside is created. On the roof you can experience maximum freedom: using the outside shower while gazing at the sea.

Smooth, hygienic materials with a cool, clean look and feel are combined with warm, organic materials, like wood and natural stone. For warmth, comfort and entertainment there’s a large tailor made cooking island made out of solid Corian, a fireplace, a leather seat that can be transformed into a home cinema system. All technical devices can be operated by smartphones or tablets. Even the lights in the facade, that shine through vertical slits – adding a warm welcoming feeling to the atmospere surrounding the villa in the evening.

Design: 123DV
Description: holiday villa surrounded by water, near the beach
Status: completed in 2015
Surroundings: suburban
Surface: 620 m2 floor surface, 1 hectare land
Floors: 3
Living areas: living room with kitchen, 6 bedrooms, home cinema, wine cellar, gym including sauna, roof terrace, swimming pool
Material: white stucco, white Kreon artificial stone facade, grey tiling, dark grey window-frames
Special: infinity/overflow swimming pool, personal water wells, water channel surrounding the living area, sun panels, Creston domotica, Basalte switches, fireplace, home cinema seat, monolithic Hi-macs cooking island, laundry shaft
Photography: Carlos Caceres Lavergne Read the rest of this entry »

Solar Chapel HoldenManz WineEstate, franschhoek, Cape Town. A project designed by Margot Krasojevic which utilizes the same solar panel technology used on the farm to clad a wedding chapel on the estate. The vertiginous mountains within the estate are reflected in the beton brut primary structure off which the solar panel and holographic filtered panels are suspended. The solar panel arrangement is similar to a butterfly’s wing as the angles are more exposed to the solar rays affording a more efficient configuration of panels. The chapel sits within the vineyard amongst the array of solar screens, with the help of the holographic panes it also concentrates and intensifies the solar energy which can be stored and accessed as and when required. The chapel is used for religious fellowship and is a free standing structure epitomising the duality of the monumental context and the process of wine making. Read the rest of this entry »