Índice para July - August 2015 em AZURE

CUTTING-EDGE COUTURE and technology come together at the Maison Margiela boutique, in Milan’s über-chic Montenapoleone district. Now headed by the impossibly eccentric John Galliano, the fashion house is famous for being experimental with its interiors. The predominantly white flagship store opened in April during Milan Design Week, and the results are dramatic. Draped like a curtain over the elevator and covering the floors and countertops, a faceted finish wraps effortlessly from surface to surface. But what is it? Imagine a material as delicate and flexible as fabric but as rigid as wood. Imagine it used as cladding inside and out, or to craft objects and furniture without a single screw. It sounds futuristic, but it’s not. Wood-Skin is the brainchild of four young multimedia designers and architects from local creative…

The coolest concepts, products and materials for reimagining the bathroom 1 RUG HOME BY CERAGRES The latest line from Ceragres of Montreal features linear, checkered and zigzag patterns, in neutral shades, across 41-by-82-centimetre rectangular and 61-centimetre square floor tiles. ceragres.ca 2 TIERRAS BY MUTINA Patricia Urquiola’s earthy tiles are made from various types of lava, terra cotta and clay, using a dry-processing system with minimal water waste. Available in six colours and eight sizes. mutina.it 3 UNIKA BY ABK Resistant to thermal shock, frost, chemicals and staining, Unika comes in several formats and finishes, plus five neutral shades that can be mixed and matched with other styles in the ABK family. abk.it 4 SUNSET BY SALONI CERÁMICA This series offers the look of individual tiles without the painstaking installation. Available…

1 AIRBLADE TAP BY DYSON British designer James Dyson incorporated high-speed dryers into faucets, allowing handwashing and drying to happen in the same place. Time-saving and eco-friendly, they also eliminate hazardous wet floors between the sink and the wall dryer or paper towel dispenser. dysonairblade.ca 2 SMART WATER BY DORNBRACHT This app and display records personal preferences across bathing rituals, filling tubs to pre-set temperatures and levels, and creating personalized shower programs for family members. The sink also features a foot sensor for hands-free control. dornbracht.com 3 LOGICA TWIN BY EFFEGIBI Marrying Finnish sauna with Turkish hammam, Talocci Design’s Logica Twin consists of two compact spaces – with different technologies and materials, according to their individual functions – linked by a central shower area. effegibi.it 4 HIDDEN DRAIN BY LAUFEN…

WHAT THE JURY SAID: “This student is thinking about future design in a surreal, super-professional way. He is sticking his neck out, and that’s why we’re giving him an A+ Award.” – WINKA DUBBELDAM M&N DESIGNERS: DANNY JENS KARAS WITH LUKE BLONSKI, REBEKAH BUKH BINDER, ANDREW CHEU, ANDREW PETRAKOS AND AJ ROSALES SCHOOL: SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE (SCI-ARC), LOS ANGELES A RECENT GRADUATE OF the master’s of architecture program at SCI-Arc, Danny Jens Karas has a vision for how the buildings of the future could look, and how they might be built. It’s the stuff of science fiction. He is a masterful artist, rendering prototypes with his team that are fully interpreted 3-D models, and videos that show Mad Max-ian structural components assembled and disassembled in mid-air. Our jury…

RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE 1 TOWER HOUSE On a wooded site in the Catskills stands are markable mirrored house shaped like a tree, the three bedrooms forming a sturdy trunk. Nine metres above the forest floor, a cantilevered volume contains a kitchen and living space that overlook the treetops. It’s the kind of gesture you might expect from an architect designing for himself and his family – in this case, Peter L. Gluck of Gluck+. The yellow stairway servicing the bedrooms and baths doubles as a stack vent to optimize passive cooling. In winter, energy usage can be cut in half by sealing off the core functions from the rest of the house. // Location: New York, U.S. Firm: Gluck+, U.S. Team: Peter L. Gluck, Thomas Gluck, David Hecht, Marisa Kolodny and…

1 Beat by Andreu World Beat can be used as an ottoman or a side chair, lending warmth and coziness to otherwise sterile offices. Available in three sizes, upholstered in numerous fabrics and leathers. andreuworld.com 2 Pilot by Knoll Barber & Osgerby’s Pilot chair is defined by its slim silhouette, which features a seemingly cantilevered seat. It can be covered in fabric or leather and comes in high- and low-back models. knoll.com 3 Eiffel by Skitsch by Hub Design Pagani Perversi’s extruded aluminum table, offered in six sizes, is available with fixed or foldable legs in a bevy of colours. hub-design.eu. skitsch.com 4 Variable by Teknion This height-adjustable plastic swivel chair with an integrated tilt back is ideal for touch-down zones, training and lecture rooms or casual workstations, where the…

EL DORADO In 2013, this firm from Kansas City, Missouri, earned a Best Residential Architecture win for its Echo Ridge Duplexes. As well, it took home awards of merit for a pedestrian-friendly bridge and the expansion of a century-old brewery. Last year, El Dorado paired with Habitat for Humanity to create a hyper-sustainable prototype home. It promotes energy conservation with inviting outdoor living spaces that encourage residents to spend less time indoors using electricity. eldo.us MCGREGOR COXALL Our first Best Landscape Design winner, back in 2011, just completed the second phase on the Glenorchy Art and Sculpture Park in Tasmania. Adjacent to the town’s Museum of Old and New Art, the site curves around Elwick Bay; it features reclaimed seawall piers as seating, and vibrant plantings reflected in a glassy…

Our jury of five international experts had the Herculean task of selecting 19 winners and 47 finalists from a record-breaking 720 submissions, coming in from around the globe. Their picks for the fifth annual AZ Awards inspired, engaged, and challenged convention. We are also proud to introduce the Social Good Award and the Environmental Leadership Award, two new categories that celebrate those gifted and daring talents who are finding brilliant ways to problem-solve through the power of design. THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS…

TOIGETATION LOCATION: BAO LAC, VIETNAM FIRM: H&P ARCHITECTS, HANOI, VIETNAM TEAM: DOAN THANH HA AND TRAN NGOC PHUONG WITH CHU KIM THINH, CHU VAN DONG, PATRICIA ERIMESCU, HOANG HUU NAM, LUC VAN TU, NGUYEN HAI HUE, NGUYEN THI XUYEN, NGUYEN TRI THANH, NGUYEN VAN MANH AND VO QUYNH THU WE MAY TAKE PLUMBING for granted, but 15 percent of the global population still lives without toilets. In Vietnam, up to 88 percent of rural schools have no sewage facilities. That’s what makes Toigetation such a life-changing accomplishment. Sited on a hillside in northern Vietnam, the washroom – which contains showers, toilets, urinals and washbasins – was constructed to serve 485 children from the nearby Son Lap School in Cao Bang province. H&P Architects, a firm based in Hanoi and run…

EACH YEAR, WE HEAR RUMBLINGS that Milan Design Week has grown too big, its focus too market driven, that there is more hype than good design. Some of that is true. Besides the fair itself, which attracted over 2,000 exhibitors and some 310,000 visitors this year, hundreds of off-site displays fill spaces in various city districts. It’s a foot-blistering event, but I subscribe to the Marcel Wanders school of thought: that Milan is one giant celebration, intended to wear you down while getting your creative juices flowing. Wanders, creative director of Moooi, is one of the biggest names connected to Milan Design Week. Off site, his brand filled a warehouse with stunning furniture vignettes, this year highlighting the launch of Moooi Carpets, a line of jaw-droppingly beautiful rugs that employ…

1 Steeve by Arper With its slim profile, Jean-Marie Massaud’s modular Steeve system suits both commercial and residential applications. Customizable in an array of fabrics, leathers and finishes, the versatile components – bench, armchair and sofa – can be arranged in multiple groupings. arper.com 2 Alfi by Emeco Jasper Morrison’s pared-down threeseater bench with a high back is made from reclaimed and sustainable materials, engineered for comfort and strength. The collection consists of the bench, a lowback style and stand-alone chairs and stools, in an earthy palette of sand, dark brown, dark grey, green and red. emeco.net 3 Regard by Steelcase This system suits waiting areas in health care environments, libraries, cafés, educational institutions and offices. Integrated power and privacy options – such as dividers, screens and planters – are…

Britain’s varied coastline is the ultimate border, a line often literally drawn in sand, at once beautiful and harsh. Lincolnshire’s North Sea strand is an unbroken 80 kilometres of sand dunes fronting salt marshes, lagoons and wet grasslands that support major bird migrations. And boy, does the wind blow. So much so, these coastal waters host one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms. The Wind Tower, by London architects Rhys Cannon and Matthew Springett, responds to this extreme environment as part of Structures on the Edge, a publicly funded project that has commissioned several seaside installations, including a salt lick observation deck and a whimsical cloud-watching platform. Signalling the idea of being on the edge, the angular sky-blue tower juts upward from a berm that protects the low-lying land…

IN AN AGE OF signature museum buildings that resemble large-scale sculptures, the new Whitney Museum of American Art is an anomaly. Designed by Renzo Piano, it rises as a hulking mass at the southern tip of the bustling High Line Park, where Manhattan’s Meatpacking District meets the Hudson River. From the outside, it’s no jewel. The 20,500-square-metre, nine-storey structure, which cost US$422 million, has been compared to a hospital, a factory, a power plant and an oceangoing freighter. But stepping inside feels like cracking open a geode, as the tough exterior gives way to a welcoming environment of unexpected beauty. When you approach from Gansevoort Street, as most visitors will, the base of the building peels upward to reveal an expansive glass-walled lobby. From there, four elevators – with interiors…

With the recent opening of a Los Angeles office, Beijing architect Ma Yansong, 39, has at last put down roots east of the Pacific. He does not, however, arrive as a perfect stranger. Ma is the quixotic, imaginative author of Absolute, the foxily curvaceous residential towers that put the Toronto suburb of Mississauga – and him – on the architectural world map. A current rumour (which he won’t discuss) suggests that he will soon craft another high-rise in the area. Be that as it may, Ma’s poetic meldings of nature and modernism in his dramatic, landscape-scale Chinese projects make him an artist worth watching – especially now that he has positioned himself to take on the North American market from the inside. What kind of work do you hope to…

VOLKSWAGEN INSTANT OFF-ROAD KIT Marketing firm Soho Square’s tongue-in-cheek survival kit – complete with fake blood, mud, bugs and bandages – was designed for the Middle Eastern launch of the rugged Touareg SUV. vw.com BIONIC BAR Makr Shakr, a robotic bartender that mixes cocktails and takes drink orders through an app, is the brainchild of Carlo Ratti. The architect and MIT professor developed the system pictured for a new cruise ship. makrshakr.com CELESTE BY ZIIIRO Inspired by the northern lights, Celeste’s constantly changing hues – an effect achieved through two revolving transparent discs – indicate the time of day, in place of traditional hands. Available in three colour palettes. From $240, ziiiro.com TI.VEDO LAMPS Two energy-saving light bulbs lend Matteo Ugolini’s matte ceramic owl lamp its wide-eyed gaze. Created for…

WHAT THE JURY SAID: “Everyone on the jury was enraptured by what one could experience swimming in this complex. The light conditions alone are absolutely stunning.” – BRENDAN MACFARLANE LIEPĀJA THERMAL BATH LOCATION: LIEPĀJA, LATVIA FIRM: STEVEN CHRISTENSEN ARCHITECTURE, SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA, U.S. TEAM: STEVEN CHRISTENSEN WITH CORI GUNDERSON, INGRID LAO AND DEVON MONTMINY INSPIRED BY THE DOMES that cap the majestic Roman baths, this masterful vision for a thermal spa bridges past and future – an aim that goes hand in hand with the project’s site. Liepāja, perched between the Baltic Sea and a lake in western Latvia, is known as “the city where the wind is born.” When excavations uncovered thermal springs with high levels of wellness-inducing minerals and salts, the bustling city hosted a competition for a…

MEMORY OF THE ARCTIC LOCATION: LONGYEARBYEN, SPITZBERGEN, NORWAY TEAM: SOFIA CEYLAN, KATHARINA LAEKAMP AND LEONIE OTTEN WHAT THE JURY SAID: “What I love about this project is that it’s extremely seductive, yet it uses a toned-down, simple language – a marvellous piece of architecture that reflects its purpose and function.” – BRENDAN MACFARLANE IN AN AGE WHEN MELTING ICE CAPS have become inevitable, it is both tragic and necessary that efforts are underway, at least in theory, to preserve climatic records of the past hundreds of millennia. Sofia Ceylan, Katharina Laekamp and Leonie Otten, architecture students at the Technical University of Berlin, decided to site their concept for preserving ice cores in the North, intuitively grasping the irony of building an archive in the very place where the substance they…

WARNING: MILAN’S OFF-SITE program may induce an acute case of FOMO. Did you catch Tom Dixon’s band performing at Designjunction? Did you get your turn on Caesarstone’s swing set in a palazzo once owned by Napoleon Bonaparte? Even if you couldn’t conquer every event, with almost 400 design happenings around the city, everyone came away with a magical experience – or 10. One inspired installation, staged in the courtyard of Viabizzuno, invited guests to walk through seven internally connected weathered steel silos. Within, one fantastic lighting scenario after another played out, including Cubo Doccio shower heads raining down illuminated water. Viabizzuno also showcased a chic assortment of interchangeable fittings for the N55 light, by such architect-designers as Kengo Kuma and Peter Zumthor. The eco- innovative unit comes with an electrical…

Zola No Compromise ZNC is the first thermally efficient window to receive Passive House certification in both Germany and the U.S. The premium version boasts four panes of glazing for an insulated window R-value of 15 and a tilt-and-turn feature with a concealed hinge. Sizes range up to five feet wide by nine feet high, in a powder-coated aluminum exterior finish; and a wooden interior frame, now available with a clear topcoat for a more natural look. zolawindows.com HeartWood Fine Windows and Doors The FoldUp looks like a traditional double-hung wooden window, until it opens with its patent-pending hinge mechanism. Located at the middle rail, the component allows the window to fold inward and slide up on hidden tracks. Recommended for residential and light commercial applications, it can be crafted…