Indice dei contenuti per January/February 2021 in AZURE

1 ABLE Simple lines and rugged materials are combined with Able, designed by Davide Vercelli. Hardy enough for commercial spaces, the vanity can be fitted with one of more than 100 washbasins in nine colours. It’s available in two sizes (80 and 100 centimetres), with five wood surfaces and matte black or grey bases. scarabeoceramica.com 2 LUV The palette for the Nordicinspired Luv series by Danish designer Cecilie Manz has been enhanced with an Almond satin matte finish, a warm neutral that complements the furniture’s rounded-edge profile. New washbasin and vanity sizes, surface materials and upgraded smart mirror technology have also been added to the line. duravit.us 3 TERRA Debuting with eight vanity styles, Bemma (Wetstyle’s new sister company) celebrates craftsmanship with dovetail construction, soft-close drawer glides, Carrara marble surfaces…

With designers, everyday life has a habit of finding its way into their work. For VSHD Design’s Rania Hamed, it was a trip to the Canadian Centre for Architecture that, in part, inspired her recent facility for Dubai’s Warehouse Gym. In Hamed’s third location for the chain, the Montreal- and Dubai-based interior architect took the vivid lines and primary hues favoured by Italian legend Ettore Sottsass (whose work had been on view at the CCA) as a starting point for the airy change rooms in the 1,230-square-metre Springs Warehouse Gym. “We always try to design the changing room with an element of surprise,” says Hamed. In a departure from the subterranean ambiance of the exercise area, white on the upper portion of the walls and ceilings and a dado of…

A fixation on Mexico’s built heritage — the artisanal and vernacular construction techniques, the masterful local interpretations of modernism in the 20th century — has been a common thread in the work of many of the country’s top contemporary architecture firms. As noble as this attention to tradition may be, however, it isn’t especially alluring to Pablo Pérez Palacios, founder and director of Mexico City–based PPAA. “I certainly appreciate the intention of reinterpreting a local style,” says the architect. “But to me, it’s far more interesting to design based on concepts, rather than historical references.” That’s exactly what Pérez Palacios has done with his studio’s latest project, Carrizal, a 2,022-square-metre residential complex in a southern part of the capital. Consisting of eight single-family dwellings — each of which contains three…

Completed in 2000, the multi-purpose Sri Aurobindo World Centre for Human Unity is an open-air gathering space for the residents of Auroville in southern India. The circular stage, sheltered by a thick concrete canopy supported by eight radial pillars evoking a banyan tree, is surrounded by a shallow stream of water with a trio of tiered sections orbiting its perimeter. Conceived by architect Anupama Kundoo nearly a decade after she relocated to the experimental township, it’s among the many community-minded projects that fill the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art’s current exhibition “Anupama Kundoo: Taking Time.” The fourth in the Danish institution’s ongoing series “The Architect’s Studio” (previous subjects included China’s Amateur Studio, ELEMENTAL of Chile and Tatiana Bilbao’s eponymous Mexico City atelier), “Taking Time” centres on the temporal and civic…

Watching Beyoncé’s visual album Black Is King this summer, Studio Anansi founder Evan Jerry recognized a kindred creative spirit. “She’s trying to go back to the root of Blackness,” he says, “but also asking: What if Blackness had the opportunity to move forward within its own context, without being imposed upon by colonialism?” That potent question has been the focus of Jerry’s design studio (its moniker a nod to the spider deity of storytelling from West African and Caribbean folklore) since he combined his interior design career and artistic pursuits into a solo practice in 2018. Sure enough, Studio Anansi’s first collection — a series of handcrafted wooden vessels launched through New York design gallery Love House in August — celebrates Black heritage while also reflecting a modern, global sensibility. (A…

SYSTEM 900 This made-to-measure series for private residences, assisted living centres and other public facilities includes cast-mineral sinks with integrated grab handles and side storage compartments, hinged and L-shaped support rails, shower seats and more. Enhancing their versatility, new matte finishes (dark and light grey, white and black) have been added to the existing stainless steel and chrome offerings. hewi.com PROFILO SMART A modular aluminum track forms the basis for this customizable system: Installed horizontally or vertically on the wall, the beam can be equipped with support arms for toilets, shower seats, LEDs, power ports, shelving, towel racks and more; a square or rounded cover conceals the rail and hooks. The system is suitable for private residences as well as healthcare, hospitality and other commercial spaces. profilosmart.com TUCK SHOWER SEAT…

“There must be quite a few things a hot bath won’t cure,” Sylvia Plath once wrote, “but I don’t know many of them.” It’s a sentiment shared by many; therapeutic bathing has been woven into cultures and customs for centuries. While rituals surrounding the act of bathing can range from public to deeply personal, almost all involve an atmosphere of relaxation and healing. For some, that involves candles and soft music. For architect David Montalba, it meant creating a space dedicated solely to the physical tub — a custom Japanese-style teak soaker made in Alaska — and with a strong connection to nature. Situated in a courtyard on the second floor of Montalba’s recently completed three-storey new-build in Santa Monica, California, the bathtub is open to the sky and flanked…

Working out of Lima, Peru, Sandra Barclay and Jean Pierre Crousse have redefined the architectural possibilities of their Latin American milieu. The pair, who operate as Barclay & Crousse, returned to their native country in 2006 after spending 17 years in Paris, where they had designed a number of social housing projects. What the husband-and-wife team encountered back home was an unparalleled freedom to create a more expressive architecture — one defined by a temperate climate, an arid landscape and the mountainous topography of the Andes — in a country with a political atmosphere that has long been volatile. (Just this past November, its Congress voted to impeach President Martín Vizcarra, whose successor was in turn compelled to resign only a few days later.) In the context of this dual…

Originally trained as a dental technician, Viennese designer Marco Dessi has since ditched moulds of teeth for collaborations with brands like Wittmann, La Manufacture and, most recently, renowned 200-year-old outfit Thonet. In addition to furniture, his eponymous studio also conceives entire spaces, including an in-progress interior scheme that borrows from the oeuvre of Italian architect Carlo Scarpa. It’s this interest in the past, Dessi tells Azure, that has not only guided his practice over the past decade, but informed the choice of companies he works with as well. Following are a few lessons gleaned from a designer who always keeps an eye on tradition. 1 Engaging with the past takes time. Working with established companies like Thonet, it’s not a sprint; it’s a marathon. You work on a product and,…

Few firms are as adept at remastering historic buildings as Herzog & de Meuron. From the Tate Modern in London to Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, founders Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron have proven time and again that strategic preservation is as innovative — if not more so — than new construction. Their latest project, an update to Switzerland’s Stadtcasino Basel concert venue, is no exception. Dating back to 1876 and situated along the southern periphery of their hometown’s Cultural Mile, the complex is home to one of Europe’s oldest and most acoustically prized music halls. Herzog & de Meuron’s challenge was to wipe clean the patchwork amalgam of previous renovations and replace it with a single coherent facade. Rather than adding an anachronistic extension in a contemporary style, however, the architects…

Avoid unnecessary interaction “Just as the iPod changed music and 9/11 changed air travel, COVID-19 will forever change bathroom design,” predicts Jon Dommisse, director of strategy and corporate development at Bradley Corp. For the past 11 years, the century-old Wisconsin-based commercial bathroom product manufacturer has been conducting public surveys to gauge the needs of its industry. With the most recent outreach, 91 per cent of respondents stated that touchless faucets, soap dispensers and dryers were of the utmost importance in public washrooms — a number far above what the company had seen pre-pandemic. The third iteration of the brand’s Next Generation WashBar, a three-in-one unit that dispenses soap, water and warm air for drying (above), meets these newly emphasized concerns and also helps to limit people’s movements as they navigate…

NUMI 2.0 INTELLIGENT TOILET With an unconventional shape and ambient illumination around the base and back, the Numi 2.0 takes kitting out the bathroom to another level. Its corresponding Kohler Konnect app can play music, preheat the seat, program sanitization and auto-flush using two water-efficient settings. Equipped with Amazon Alexa, the unit can also check weather, traffic and other news, all through voice-command, the app or internal sensors. kohler.ca DANDY PLUS For his first collaboration with Scavolini, Italian architect Fabio Novembre reimagined one of the brand’s classic designs not only by softening its edges and adding colourful accents, but by updating it for a wireless world as well. The central feature of Dandy Plus (which also includes modules for the kitchen and living room) is its Task Bar with a…

And the winners are… New York’s Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum announced the nine winners of the 21st annual National Design Awards in early October. “From shaping our parks and buildings to transforming the creative infrastructure and the ways we tell our stories,” said interim director John Davis, “the remarkable work of this year’s winners demonstrates the power of design in everyday life.” Among the recipients were international architecture studio Snohetta, Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary designers DLANDstudio, Denver-based nonprofit design consultancy Catapult Design and American firm OJB Landscape Architecture. The annual Belgian design and interiors exhibition Biennale Interieur named Ghent-based designer and Livable founder Sep Verboom as the 2020 laureate of its prestigious Designer of the Year award. Since founding his practice in 2015, Verboom has become known for community-engaged work that…