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After working as a craftsman at a resin production company, Laurids Gallée became curious as to how far he could push the material through its abilities and his skill as a designer. The Metropolis corner desk and stool were his first commission, for a young couple’s Parisian apartment. It’s fitting that the furniture pieces, destined for The City of Light, have been designed to collect and reflect surrounding light, creating a beautiful highlight within the interior of the transparent polymer resin.

Gallée shares that these are the first pieces in a new series he’s working on. The name – Metropolis – is derived from Fritz Lang’s 1927 film, and you’ll find further inspiration in the repetitive structures that were integral in the masterpiece. “The aim was to create using a material that reflects the rhythm of modern architectural construction, something created out of many individual building blocks, like bricks or tiles,” he added. The transparent quality highlights the desk and stool’s interior anatomy, creating a different pattern from every angle that results in a prismatic effect. “This material is the base of the project, and the range of possible applications is wide. For now, the focus is on building simple pieces of furniture. Other pieces are already in the pipeline, they’re just waiting for a client.”

To learn more about the commissioned Metropolis desk and stool, visit lauridsgallee.com.

Dezeen Showroom: soft light filters downwards from the Ginger bollard floor lamp, which Joan Gaspar has designed for Spanish brand Marset‘s outdoor lighting collection.

The Ginger bollard light is crafted from aluminium and can be hidden amongst greenery or used to illuminate paths and driveways.

It was designed by Gaspar, Marset’s in-house designer, as an extension of the lighting brand’s existing Ginger collection, which previously only featured indoor lights made from wood.

The Ginger bollard comprises a slender stem crowned by a curved, overhanging shade that emits a soft and non-invasive light.

According to Marset, its slim, sculptural form was developed to look “beautiful even when off”.

Aluminium was used instead of the wood typically featured across the Ginger collection to ensure its durability. The design is available in three different heights and a black or warm, rust-brown finish.

Alongside the bollard-style light, the updated collection also introduces a lamp post and wall sconces.

“We want our product philosophy to be close to these outdoor spaces, closer to landscaping. But in the end, our products are part of a whole,” explained Marset.

“We believe that it would be best not to treat interior lighting separately from exterior lighting, at least in terms of the basic principles. This is our intention: to influence the whole.”

Product: Ginger bollard
Designer: Joan Gaspar
Brand: Marset
Contact: press@marset.com

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Architecture firm Perkins and Will plans to revive a vacant 1970s office building in Alaska by stripping it back and re-cladding it with an angular, glazed facade that mimics a glacier.

The overhaul of the nine-storey Key Bank Plaza office, located in Downtown Anchorage, follows the abandonment of the building.

In 2018 a 7.1-magnitude earthquake structural damage that rendered the building unsafe.

Alongside a contemporary facelift, Perkins and Will will revamp the office’s interiors and introduce improved seismic reinforcements and building services.

“We are excited to breathe new life into the former Key Bank Plaza building, which was one of approximately 750 buildings damaged by the 2018 Anchorage earthquake,” explained Perkins and Will Erik Mott.

“The repositioning will not only provide modern amenities to future tenants but will also serve to revitalise downtown Anchorage.”

Though hundreds of buildings were damaged in the earthquake, Key Bank Plaza was the only commercial building in the area forced to close. Its reopening is currently slated for 2022.

According to Perkins and Will, the overhaul is the first construction project to be carried out in Downtown Anchorage in a decade and it is hoped to spark further developments that will reinvigorate in the area.

The main part of the renovation will involve the stripping back of Key Bank Plaza’s existing precast-concrete cladding and replacing it with 40,000 square feet (3,700 square metres) of sleek, angled curtain walls.

While introducing more daylight inside the building, this floor-to-ceiling glazing is designed to give the building a glacial appearance that “pays homage to Alaska’s natural wonders” according to the studio.

Inside, Perkins and Will will introduce contemporary mechanical, plumbing, and electrical systems along with a new stair tower and elevators.

It will also be fitted out with radiant heat technology and six new skylights which are hoped to improve the interior environment during dark, snowy winters.

The renovation will be complete with the planting of native, drought-resilient plants, and improvements to the hardscape surrounding the building.

Perkins and Will is an international architecture practice that was founded in 1935 by Lawrence Perkins and Philip Will. Its redesign of the Key Bank Plaza is being carried out by its office in Seattle.

Elsewhere, the studio is also currently developing the EU’s European Commission offices in Brussels, and in Vancouver, it is designing well as the “world’s tallest hybrid wood tower” that will marry laminated wood with concrete.

The post Perkins and Will redesigns earthquake-damaged Alaska office to evoke glacier appeared first on Dezeen.

A bright pink arch and a giant seashell are among the winning designs for Toronto‘s annual Winter Stations programme of temporary beach pavilions.

For this year’s competition designers were asked to include social distancing measures, while the construction timetable has been pushed back due to the pandemic.

Other winning designs for Winter Stations 2021 include socially-distanced benches shaped like a computer loading symbol, a wooden pavilion filled with tree saplings and a windbreaker hugging a lifeguard post.

Now in its seventh year, Winter Stations invites architects and designers to create seaside follies to help residents enjoy the beach during Canada’s long harsh winters.

Four designs – ARc de Blob, The Epitonium, THROBBER and From Small Beginnings – were picked from over 400 entries this year, along with a fifth design from a new student category.

“Winning installations responded to the theme of refuge, which invited designers to reflect on the ongoing pandemic and consider what refuge means to each of us: a shelter, a place of comfort and security, a sanctuary,” said the organisers.

“The design brief also asked designers to anticipate a more socially distant exhibition than year’s passed.”

ARc de Blob was created by Austrian and UK team Aleksandra Belitskaja, Ben James and Shaun McCallum. A colourful mashup of traditional and futuristic architecture, the pink and yellow arch will contain a sheltered bench for people to sit in.

It will be accompanied by an app to allow visitors to Winter Stations 2021 to experience it in Augmented Reality (AR).

The seashell-shaped pavilion is called The Epitonium, after a kind of sea snail that has a protective spiral shell covered in ridges.

Designed by Iranian team M. Yengiabad, made up of Shahed M. Yengiabad, Elaheh M Yengiabad, Alemeh M Yengiabad and Mojtaba Anoosha, this Winter Station is meant to represent one of nature’s beautiful refuges.

German team Heidundgriess, made up of Alexandra Grieß and Jorel Heid, designed their pavilion to look like a computer loading animation. It’s called THROBBER, after the technical name for animated graphics software uses to show that something is loading or buffering such as the rainbow pinwheel used by Apple.

THROBBER will have ten rainbow-coloured covered seating compartments separated by side panels, so people can sit while socially distanced while they wait for the pandemic to end.

UK team Jack Leather and Charlie Leather also looked to a brighter future with their pavilion From Small Beginnings. Shelves of stained timber surrounding a bench will be filled with spruce tree seedlings that can be planted out into a forest after the end of winter.

Embrace is the design from the winning team of students from the Bachelor of Craft and Design Program at Sheridan College. Colin Laplante, Grace Im, Ziyu Li, Brayden Popke, Nicole Ruiz and Reem Yunis will build a sinuous windbreaker that hugs a lifeguarding chair.

Construction on Winter Stations 2021 has been delayed due to provincial lockdowns due to coronavirus, but the organisers are working with local officials to get them built once restrictions are lifted.

“Our plans and contingencies are in place and we are committed to launching the installations sometime this year,” said RAW Design co-founder Roland Rom Colthoff.

“If that means postponing our event until restrictions ease, we might need to call them ‘Spring’ Stations, and bring safe, outdoor experiences to our city.”

Winter Stations was founded by RAW Design, Ferris + Associates and Curio. Last year’s designs were interactive and included a climbing frame and a bouncy castle.

Project credits:

Winter Stations 2021 partners: The Distillery District, Beach BIA
Sponsors: Ontario Association of Architects, Minto Communities, MicroPro Sienna, Context Development, RioCan, Urban Capital, Demirov Group, Parallax, Westdale Properties, Bousfields, kg&a, Sali Tabacchi Branding & Design, Meevo Digital

The post Socially distanced Winter Stations 2021 beach pavilion designs revealed appeared first on Dezeen.

Lighting is a very important part of interior design and is often overlooked. This spacious apartment in Stockholm demonstrates how skillfully selected chandeliers, pendants, lamps can create an incredibly cozy atmosphere in the house. The interiors themselves here are very elegant and aesthetic, but easy and pleasant light from different sources envelops the spaces in a warm and inviting shell. You would agree, that this is especially important during the cold season.

Запись Elegant Scandinavian apartment in cozy evening lights впервые появилась PUFIK. Beautiful Interiors. Online Magazine.