Table of contents for March/April 2019 in AZURE

MARS Case Prototype The final frontier. Galaxies far, far away. The adventure of outer space and the untold mysteries of the universe have been inspiring works of film, fashion, literature, art and architecture for eons. Among the latest: Beijing firm Open Architecture recently dreamed up this 12-square-metre house prototype designed for a Walden-like escape to Mars. Stripping modern living down to its bare essentials, MARS Case packs a kitchen, a bathroom and mechanicals into a lightweight, 4.8-square-metre service block. One wall drops to the side, releasing a second, inflatable module. The spherical living space inside features an adaptable surface that transforms from a hard floor to a soft king-sized bed at night. openarch.com Anicorn x NASA This past fall, Hong Kong watch brand Anicorn teamed up with NASA to launch two…

Given the threats posed to urban infrastructure by climate change, resiliency has become as much of an objective as economic development for major cities such as New York, which experienced ruinous tidal surges when Hurricane Sandy struck in 2012. To mitigate such damage in the future, the U.S. metropolis has made flood control a key aspect of its planning strategy, especially when it comes to new parks. Among various design proposals in the works is a scheme by Bjarke Ingels Group and others to safeguard Manhattan’s southern tip with a 16-kilometre-long green space dubbed BIG U (aka the Dryline). Across the East River in Queens, meanwhile, Hunter’s Point South Park, recently completed in a formerly industrial area of Long Island City, is being heralded as “a new model of urban…

For the new incarnation of his award-winning Noma restaurant in Copenhagen, which goes by the moniker Noma 2.0, chef and co-owner René Redzepi wanted to create something akin to a home. Local firm Bjarke Ingels Group was in charge of the overall design for the cluster of buildings, set village-like on a striking location near the famous autonomous neighbourhood of Christiania. On first impression, BIG has abandoned its trademark diagrammatic design approach in favour of a gentler, more perceptive one. But in reality, the one who transformed the seven-building addition to a protected former military warehouse into Redzepi’s desired “home” was David Thulstrup, brought aboard to handle the interiors. A rising architecture star, he is known for his aesthetic blending modern simplicity with traditional techniques and rich materiality. To pull…

Glass Masters SETTING THE TONE To communicate a design college’s distinctive identity, California’s Darin Johnstone Architects turns to the work of a famous alum – plus specialty printers and installers When Darin Johnstone Architects designed the Bruce Heavin and Lynda Weinman Alumni Center for Pasadena’s ArtCenter College of Design, the team found inspiration for two standout features – a dazzling glass curtain wall in a colour gradient and a massive interactive screen – among the school’s alumni. The glass curtain wall separates the conference centre and lounge from the elevator lobby and incorporates the school’s iconic motif: an oversized dot. To establish the tonal field for the translucent colour-screened film applied to the glass, the team referred to the poster for the classic 1966 surfing doc The Endless Summer, a…

Refashioning the future of fabric Kvadrat, the Danish textile manufacturer, has long been known for the high quality of its fabrics. Now it’s seeking to redefine the category altogether, pushing the limits of technology to create industry-leading products and eliminate waste. Exhibit A: Re-wool, a collection made with 45 per cent recycled wool – the repurposed scraps left over from Kvadrat’s yarn spinners in Britain. The palette – a rich array of luminous blues, greys, golds and other hues – was developed by Danish designer Margrethe Odgaard, who based her colour choices on a “Nordic spectrum” and aimed for a lustrous effect. “Specifically,” says Odgaard, “I focused on finding the right balance between warp and weft. I thought of shimmering pearls on a recycled woollen base. It was important to…

What was the most memorable part of your assignment for this issue? ANDREW BRAITHWAITE Writer, “Fjord Focus” (page 033) I visited Seattle’s Nordic Museum during an epic road trip from San Francisco to Vancouver Island. After touring the museum, I met my wife for a memorable foodie crawl through the city’s Old Ballard neighbourhood: dinner at the Walrus and the Carpenter, local craft brews at the Noble Fir, a tiki nightcap at the Hotel Albatross bar. Good thing I’d taken copious notes before we started drinking! What product designer are you most excited about right now? YUKI SUMNER Writer, “We Work with a Light Touch” (page 068) I just saw these beautiful little portable ceramic heaters, designed for off-grid communities by Mexico’s Estudio äCo. I thought that the design was…

FROU FROU BY YO2 A whitewashed background plays foil to inky black and pastel pink geometric shapes in this flooring by Cyprus-based YO2. The seemingly random patterns (there are four) are available on 150-millimetre-wide planks with a tongue-and-groove locking system. Made from oak with a spruce core, Frou Frou was influenced by a desire to add an artistic quality and touch of ornamentation to a room. yoyo-designs.com ENGINEERED HARDWOOD BY SHAW CONTRACT Part of the Engineered Ply-Core hardwood collection, Bespoke Oak incorporates a wire-brushed surface technique on the veneered face to enhance the grain’s visibility. Intended for such moderate traffic areas as workspaces, light retail environments and private residences, the planks are constructed by layering thin strips of wood in alternating directions to build dimensional stability. One of five styles…

ROUND MURAL BY TRES TINTAS Reminiscent of giant rain-drops cascading down a windowpane, this design by Patricia Urquiola instills a sense of movement. Expressing her trademark mastery of colour, the nine wallpapers and five murals in the collection to which Round belongs are available in a spectrum of shades. Made from a non-woven material, the coverings are washable and fireproof. trestintas.com JET SETTER BY YORK WALLCOVERINGS A Mylar surface coating gives this Type II commercial wallcovering a smooth-textured finish that is also impact-resistant and easy to clean. Part of the Design Gallery Inspired Art collection (distributed by Levey Industries), Jet Setter is distinguished by eye-catching chalk-blue lines that run through the otherwise two-tone prismatic print. leveyindustries.com ARROW BY CARNEGIE One of three standard patterns in the Xorel No Match series,…

It’s the end of monsoon season in Nepal and the road leading to Jan Kath’s rug-making facility on the outskirts of Kathmandu bears the bruises of heavy rains. Marred by jagged rocks and knee-deep pits of mud, the city’s roads are constantly claiming tires. I notice with some alarm that the low stone bridge we’re crossing looks partially collapsed, but as Kath nudges his 4×4 around a pair of cows blocking the road, he exudes a Zen-like calm. He grew up in Germany, but he learned to drive in Kathmandu, he tells me. Everywhere else on earth is easy by comparison. Passing through the factory gates into the central courtyard, I see a woman sitting to one side combining skeins of wool, silk and nettle thread into brightly coloured balls;…

“A scarcity of me ans forces you to respond with an abundance of meaning” The two slabs of shuttered concrete rising from a podium on a rocky stretch of Chile’s coastline some 250 kilometres north of Santiago are acutely enigmatic – at least initially. Are they a memorial of some kind, perhaps to mariners lost at sea? Or to the victims of an earthquake in this seismically unstable land? In fact, they comprise a weekend house designed by Alejandro Aravena, the first of 16 such residences a developer has commissioned from eight Chilean architects and eight from Japan. Like the Sea Ranch community in northern California, where designers also took their cues from a rugged coastal site, the so-called Ocho Quebradas development is not for timid souls. As Aravena notes,…

In 1955, Sloan Wilson published The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. The novel, in which a World War II veteran ascends and then quits the corporate ladder, synonymized American-style capitalism with a devil’s bargain. That same year, a young German architect named Dieter Rams began work in the design department at a little-known consumer products company called Braun. While Wilson’s protagonist stepped off the hamster wheel, Rams built a better version of it. His early Braun projects, such as the SK4 record player and the pocket-sized T3 transistor radio, had a minimalism and intuitiveness that almost justified wartime destruction: They suggested that something wonderful might flourish in its place. By the 1970s, when his simultaneous career at Braun and Vitsoe had produced scores of products and a class of…

In the age of search engines and smartphones, what do we need libraries for? According to architect Craig Dykers of Snøhetta, we need them for the same reasons we always have. “The library has existed for thousands of years, and for much of that time, books hadn’t even been invented as a way of storing knowledge,” Dykers says. “So we must understand that books are not the only value a library has to offer; they also have social value, as places to gather and exchange knowledge.” The space around us proved his point: Dykers and I were standing in the vast atrium of the new Calgary Central Library, which Snøhetta recently completed in collaboration with Canadian firm DIALOG. A six-storey wood-lined atrium and stair stretched above our heads. “It grabs…

PERCEPTION COLLECTION BY ANTOLINI Installed at increasingly steep angles, these floor-to-ceiling vertical slats create an optical illusion as one passes by: A wall that initially reads as solid subtly transforms to reveal an image behind, which once again recedes from view. A wide range of stone types from the Italian manufacturer’s collections can be used to create the installations. Images can be customized to suit any environment, though a muted palette offers a fantastically subtle impression. antolini.com B-FISH BY SALVATORI Expanding on his Raw series of surface treatments, Piero Lissoni developed four new textures, including B-Fish. The thin, baton-like protrusions can be arranged in uniform, staggered or herringbone patterns to introduce varying degrees of depth – a quality that is further emphasized by how natural light plays off the surface.…

Lounge Collections 1 Mozaix Lounge A basic grid forms the foundation for this customizable collection. Four sizes of cushion increase the flexibility, and the feet are set back under the platform to give the pieces a floating appearance. Materials Oiled mahogany, quick-dry outdoor foam Colours More than 50 fabric options Manufacturer Royal Botania, royalbotania.com 2 Solanas Argentinian architect and designer Daniel Germani conceived this collection that features curved profiles, perforated mesh backs and sides, and tables with durable Dekton by Cosentino surfaces. Materials Powder-coated aluminum, polyurethane foam rubber, waterproof fabric Colours Twelve, including sand, bronze, anthracite, olive green and red-orange Manufacturer Gandia Blasco, gandiablasco.com 3 Serpentine Originally an armchair designed in 2010 by Eléonore Nalet, Serpentine has relaunched in new materials and with a settee version. Materials Aluminum with epoxy-polyester…

Pattern and Colour 1 Privacy Screen An easy-to-clean alternative to fabric curtains for healthcare facilities, Skyline Design’s CAMAflage Glass offers privacy and safety. The line includes three nature-based patterns that can be combined with an optional dignity layer for a spectrum of visibility. skydesign.com 2 3D Surface Featuring recessed and protruding 3D surfaces, Nathan Allan’s Convex Circle Textured Glass is available in colourless versions as well as tinted finishes, such as Cognac (shown). The panels are sold in both tempered and laminated formats for balustrades, cladding, doors, windows, lighting and more. nathanallan.com 3 Chromatic City Graphic texture and opalescent finishes meet in Sensitile’s SLANT Imprint line of resin surfaces. Off-the-shelf options include a waffle-like surface in iridescent Dusk or Dawn shades; custom iterations and a glass version are also available.…