Features revealing the design and development of the world’s most innovative building-products.
Recurring themes were aplenty at the 2015 edition of Cersaie, the preeminent international tile and bath show held in Bologna, Italy, each fall. If there was one overarching theme to sum up most of the tile trends observed, it was probably “what’s old is new, again,” though “new twists” was a close second. In either…
The Windy City’s Merchandise Mart is the home of superlatives. When it was completed in 1930, the 4. 2-million-square-foot building ranked as the biggest in the world. Today, it is still Chicago’s number one commercial building. And, within this behemoth, the 650,000-square-foot Design Center is the world’s largest venue of its type, while the separate ground-floor…
Architecture can be defined as a poetic assemblage, a collection of parts that together form spatial experience. Mosaics are similar; multiple small pieces of varied material are combined to form an image. Their application can dramatically transform architectural narratives. Generally understood as interior decoration or art, mosaics are typically made of tesserae, small square stone…
Few manufacturers in the world can boast as long and influential a history as Villeroy & Boch’s. With origins that stretch back to 1748 as a small ceramic manufacturer in Lorraine, France, Villeroy & Boch has also developed a deep, guiding sense of tradition — a tradition of always staying on the cutting edge of…
Take a peek inside some of the new and renovated spaces — from showrooms and a flagship store to des ign studios and event venues — opened by five manufacturers this past season. Artemide, ChicagoThe Italian lighting brand just opened a new Chicago flagship store designed by architecture firm Studio de Bevilacqua. Situated only steps away…
Sinks, soap dispensers, and hand dryers in public spaces are so commonplace that washing your hands typically goes by without a second thought. But, for anyone tracking resources, the germ-conscious, and detail-oriented designers, these mundane systems can pose huge problems. Protruding dispensers make it difficult to get the most use out of a space, and…
Kicking off today, London’s 100% Design promises as always to be a feast for the eyes. If you’re in town for the show, but have a very limited window of time, consider checking these finds — as well as London Design Festival installations — off your list. BUILDING PRODUCTS Alusid ALUSID, Stand EB769100% Design marks…
“Funnily enough, I think Sir John Soane might have liked the Digital Age,” says Robert Stern, Founde r and Senior Partner of Robert A.M. Stern Architects, referring to the neoclassicist architect as perhaps the “first modern architect,” one who had both “a firm grasp of history, especially of Classical Rome” and “a sense of his own…
An owner and design principal of Seattle-based Olson Kundig Architects, Tom Kundig quickly built a r eputation as an innovator in residential design in the 1990s, a reputation that continues well into today. He’s since diversified his body of work to include cultural, hospitality, and commercial projects, all of which share an industrial aesthetic and, a…