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Leading lights: current and future applications for new lighting technologies
Few aspects of product development have seen more innovation in the past decade than lighting design. Legislation and consumer demand have hastened the evolution of energy efficient solutions and programmable software now enables infinitely customisable lighting scenarios. Architonic examines some shining examples of products and projects that demonstrate the diverse and unusual possibilities offered by these new technologies.
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Fair Preview: CERSAIE 2011 Bologna – the leading international exhibition of ceramic tile and bathroom furnishings
Cersaie offers not just a comprehensive overview of the variety of ceramic surfaces available on the market but also of the latest developments in the bathroom field. In Bologna at the end of September visitors will be able to discover the latest products, manufacturers, material surfaces and technologies on a site measuring 176,000 square metres.
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High Performance Spaces: concert halls and opera houses that hit the right note
If music be the food of love, then where better to dine out than a world-class concert hall or opera house? Here, Architonic examines a number of recently completed architectural projects that perform as hard as the artists who take to their stages. Play on.
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The Very Fabric of Architecture: textile use in construction
Most people have at one time or another spent the night in a tent and have benefited from the protection provided by its fabric, while at the same time enjoying the sensation of being separated from nature by nothing more than a thin shell. Textile forms of habitation have a long history going back to palaeolithic times and represent an archetypal form of building which has endured to the present day. Textiles are light, easy to convert or dismantle, and they provide protection against wind, ultra-violet rays and rain.
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Keeping It Real: Claus Mølgaard
Behind every great design there's a great designer. But, more often than not, there are a number players involved. Meet Claus Mølgaard, the go-to Danish design engineer whose work on products for the likes of Ron Arad and the Bouroullec Brothers reminds us that design is an iterative, and often complex, process, as much as a finished product.
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Exhibition: GRAFT Architects – Distinct Ambiguity
To graft is a way of rethinking the seemingly irreconcilable. On this basis, Gregor Hoheisel, Christoph Körner, Lars Krückeberg, Wolfram Putz and Thomas Willemeit have developed complex fusion methods and reinvigorated the contemporary discourse of design and architecture under the label GRAFT architects for over 13 years.
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Plastic - the mouldable material of modern chairs
In the visual arts the term 'plastic' is used for any form of creation involving a medium that can be sculpted or moulded, but it is also the term for a type of material that revolutionised the twentieth century. Using a number of plastic chairs as an example Architonic outlines the metamorphosis of this item of furniture which more than any other is deeply involved in cultural history...
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Hole Lot of Sense: smart uses for perforated façades and partitions
Perforated walls, panels and screens have been used for centuries as a way to control the level of light entering a building or to offer privacy to the occupants. The functions of perforations have remained largely the same, but the materials and methods of manufacture have altered considerably. No longer cut or carved by hand, developments in computer-controlled technologies mean that detailed patterns can now be quickly and easily etched into various materials for interior or exterior use. Architonic looks at some recent projects demonstrating the contemporary effects that can be achieved using perforated materials.
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Bricking It: innovative applications of man’s most trusted material
Brick is one of the most ancient and familiar building materials known to man, and its strength, character and flexibility of use continue to attract architects working on innovative contemporary buildings. Architonic examines some key projects that demonstrate the benefits of building with brick.
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48th IFLA World Landscape Architecture Congress 2011
Professor Kongjian Yu, founder of Turenscape Landscape Architects, is one of the world's leading landscape designers. He gave a revolutionary lecture at the IFLA congress in Zurich, entitled 'Reinventing the good earth'.
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So PoMo! – 'Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970–1990' at London's V&A Museum
It's forty years since the love-it-or-hate-it, style-driven phenomenon that was postmodernism first emerged in architectural practice, soon manifesting itself in design, art, fashion and music. The V&A's major new show, 'Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970–1990', examines its vibrant, playful forms and, sometimes contradictory, meaning.
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Kindergarten Design Grows Up: contemporary nursery-school projects
A number of recently completed kindergarten projects have proved that designing user-centred environments for the more diminutive among us shouldn't be at odds with creating highly expressive structures. Architonic takes a look at a selection of nursery schools with a grown-up ambition.
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How Many Designers Does It Take to Change a Light Bulb?: Samuel Wilkinson
When young British designer Samuel Wilkinson set out to redesign the standard low-energy light bulb, with the aim of making it work just as hard aesthetically as it does environmentally, he was in for a long trek. Journeying beyond the safe and familiar territory of the archetype is seldom easy, particularly when you have to develop a new set of manufacturing methods to realise your product. In conversation with Architonic, Wilkinson sheds some light on his award-winning 'Plumen 001' bulb.
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Architonic and Material ConneXion join forces
The expertise of the New York-based global materials consultancy now on www.architonic.com
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Designer Portrait: Rich, Brilliant, Willing
Rich Brilliant Willing – even if the name of the design studio run by Theo Richardson, Charles Brill and Alexander Williams has a slightly ironic touch, it is an accurate characterisation of the trio – they are rich in ideas, their designs are brilliant and they are always willing to create something new and extraordinary.
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Exhibition: «Hannes Wettstein, 1958–2008»,
Hannes Wettstein is considered one of the most significant and innovative designers of our times. His most important works will now be displayed in an exhibition - put together by Studio Hannes Wettstein, presented by Institut gta...
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Exhibition: Now. Perceptions of Time and Contemporary Design
Welche Form hat der Gegenstand, der uns das JETZT zeigt? Wie sind die Dinge beschaffen, die uns in diesem Moment umgeben? Welche Schlüsse lassen die uns umgebenden gestalteten Dinge auf unsere Zeit, unseren sozialen Status zu? Und wieweit werden wir durch die uns umgebenden Gegenstände vielleicht sogar selbst geformt?
Antwort auf all diese Fragen will uns die Ausstellung „JETZT. Zeitempfinden und Gegenwartsdesign“ im Marta Herford Museum geben...
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When We Were Modern: Kenneth Grange at the Design Museum
A retrospective of the work of industrial-design master Kenneth Grange at London's Design Museum celebrates the prolific designer's contribution to shaping British material culture, while encouraging us to think about the purpose and responsibilities of product design today.
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Sporting Chance?: the challenge of legacy-building in international stadium design
As the cost of hosting major sporting events continues to rise, the need for something positive to be left behind once the fun and games are over becomes ever more vital. Architonic examines past and future events and the differing approaches to planning, designing, adapting and repurposing venues and infrastructure in order to create a medal-winning sporting legacy.
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The In-Betweener: matali crasset
She may elect to spell her name all lower case, but matali crasset's work is big on concept and ambition. Yet, the Paris-based designer, who's collaborated with the likes of Established & Sons and Pallucco, insists she's not that interested in products in themselves. Une contradiction? Pas du tout. Architonic invites you to read on to find out why.
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