L: SANAA’s Proposal for the Art Gallery of New South Wales © Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa, via Designboom; R: Detail of Yayoi Kusama’s Obliteration Room, via Designboom
Wizards of Oz: Japanese modernists SANAA have been selected to design a major extension to the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Their typically minimalistic proposal prevailed over illustrious opponents in an international competition including David Chipperfield, Herzog and de Meuron, and Renzo Piano.
Technicolor Dreamhouse: Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is bringing her famous “Obliteration Room” to the United States for the first time, transforming a classic suburban-style home with a rainbow-colored explosion of colored stickers, each of which can be placed by visitors wherever they please. The installation is part of the artist’s Give Me Love exhibition at the David Zwirner gallery in New York, and runs until June 13.
L: Stephen Fry, Jony Ive, and Tim Cook at the site of the new Apple campus. Photo by Gabriela Hasbun for the Telegraph; R: NetDragon Websoft Headquarters in Changle, China, via WSJ
Ive Done It All: Stephen Fry’s account of a recent visit with Apple’s Tim Cook and Jony Ive (newly promoted to Chief Design Officer) is long but definitely worth reading; the Foster campus bit is towards the end. “I wonder if there is another company in the world whose lead designer fashions the patio furniture used by the employees, the vitrines in the retail outlets, the flow of an image swiped on a screen, the bevelling and sweep of the curve of a telephone and the packaging of a watch strap.”
To Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before: Speaking of spaceship architecture, there’s a Chinese office building shaped like the Starship Enterprise. That is all.
L: “The Collectivity Project” via Archdaily; R: Pterodactyl by Eric Owen Moss Architects, Via ARCHITECT Magazine
LEGO on the Line: Architects will be in heaven in Manhattan’s meatpacking district this summer, as two of their favourite things are brought together: The High Line and LEGO. Artist Olafur Eliasson’s installation “The Collectivity Project” will allow the general public – and some very high-profile architects working in the area – to build their own visions from plastic bricks along the famous elevated park.
Prehistoric Design: Aaron Betsky of ARCHITECT Magazine conducted an in-depth interview with architect Eric Owen Moss on his recently opened roof-top addition in Culver City, entitled “Pterodactyl”. It may share its name with an ancient flying dinosaur, but this outlandish intervention is modern in the extreme!
L: Grid Alternatives installing PVs in California, via SFGate; R: St. George Wharf Tower in Vauxhall, London, via Archdaily
California Sun: Oakland-based nonprofit Grid Alternatives is aiming to make green technology accessible to the masses, using cap-and-trade funds to provide free solar panels for low-income families across the Golden State. The plan should see around 1,600 homes fitted with photovoltaics by the end of 2016.
Tall Stories: Residential specialists in London have whipped up a storm of debate with a new 10-point strategy to solve the UK capital’s ongoing housing crisis, which also aims to halt the current explosion of high-rise buildings across the city. The recommendations include the promotion of street life, resisting “hyperdensity,” and making service charges affordable for all. Admirable aims, but easier said than done…
Detector Gadget: The jury’s still out on smart appliances, but the new Halo Smartlabs Smoke Alarm is a promising new contender. The networked device can not only distinguish between different kinds of fires but also keeps track of natural disasters in the immediate vicinity, as well as more mundane threats such as carbon monoxide. (Hat-tip to Gizmag)
SNAP by Maria Roca and Erika Biarnes, via Design Plus
Bits and Pieces
Freestyle Furniture: Spanish designers Maria Roca and Erika Biarnes have devised ‘SNAP,’ a set of flexible, clip-on legs that can transform any flat object you can find into a tabletop or bedside cabinet. The former architecture students’ design inspiration was simple — they started out playing with a deck of cards and some paper clips.
Fragments of Futurism: Furniture designer Enrico Marone Cinzano spoke with Cool Hunting about his unique pieces, which are inspired by nature, aerodynamics, and biomimicry. The industrial designer plans to move into architecture next, posing the tantalizing question: “Could you imagine a building that looks like my table?” We can Enrico, and we can’t wait to see it…
Watch and Learn
“Without sight, but not without vision”: The AIA continued its “Look Up” campaign with the extraordinary story of Chris Downey, founder of Architecture for the Blind. In this fascinating video, Downey explains how architectural design and the built environment can be perceived and embraced by blind people, including his pioneering “braille blueprints.” Essential viewing.
Top Image: Yayoi Kusama’s Obliteration Room, via The Guardian
