D a magazine issue 91 2016 by ANDHWW

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iN THIS ISSUE Universidad de La Laguna’s new Faculty of Fine Arts in Tenerife (Canary Islands), Spain, is located in a heterogeneous area adjacent to the island highway and on the periphery of the university campus. GYP Architects’ main challenge was to create a link between the new faculty building and its surroundings, by working with the open public spaces and to increase the synergies between the academic complex and its urban context. The new building presents itself as an extension of the campus’s public space, while creating an autonomous interior landscape of its own; a skin of suspended concrete slats adopts a curved shape that develops on the different levels, protecting and wrapping the open space of the building p18 LAUD Architects’ Frankel Avenue House, Singapore, is designed with a perfectly formed pitched roof, and is built from stark off-form concrete that is both aesthetical and functional. A ‘[concrete] sheath’ runs through the whole house to form a very simple geometric form; this shell comes down and stops short on one side of the house where it exposes the living and dining spaces to the poolside; a clearly articulated rectangular box clothed in pinewood timber panelling cantilevers from the concrete shell on the second storey over the dining area. The house is a simple exploration of various materials that are kept as natural as possible – timber, concrete, or steel is always shown as it is rather than covered up p28 Archicentre’s Clay Roof House in an old suburban neighbourhood in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, standing three storeys high with a refreshingly simple and uncluttered plan, provides succinctly for the function of residence and is a polite reintroduction of an old house among its neighbours. Designed entirely based on a self-sufficient water harvesting system, the water storage tanks provide a network of filtered water throughout the house. Apart from its internal network of pipes and drainage that is invisible to the street, one highly visible marked difference for this box-house is the front verticalscreen facade of clay roof tiles that were salvaged and re-used from the old house p36 Mexican practice Taller Hector Barroso’s S House in Mexico City for a young family with three children is located in a difficult site – being largely bordered by many houses close by and on terrain that is abrupt and hilly. The architect’s solution was to create a cluster of three rectangular blocks, arranged in a seemingly random manner as if by the hands of children at play; the main focus of this design was on orientation and light, with the spaces divided into three different all-white volumes to obtain as much light as possible. The result is an exciting and adventurous architectural journey that is crafted through the melding of indoor and outdoor spaces, and the respective spatial, climatic and emotive nuances that follows p44 Gallery & Co at the National Gallery Singapore is designed as a ‘fun and welcoming’ space, where display pedestals are strewn about like island clusters; by glass windows, stepped drawer units, awash in sunlight, appear glacial white, not unlike ice shelves. On the other side of the long linear layout, in sharp contrast, towers the black partitions – steep, leaning cliffs forming a range of moving mountains. It is landform origami, as its lead designer Yah-Leng Yu of Foreign Policy Design Group points out, ‘a return to elementary shapes, to the basics of dots and lines’ p68

iNSIDE IS S U E 0 9 1 . 2 016

spin 12 | WOHA’S ‘GARDEN CITY MEGA CITY’ EXHIBITION AT THE SKYSCRAPER MUSEUM, NYC 14 | ALEJANDRO ARAVENA CURATES THE 15TH VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE 16 | CALATRAVA’S OCULUS AT THE WORLD TRADE CENTER TRANSPORTATION HUB, NYC

wide\angle 18 | THE RAMP AS LEITMOTIF The new Faculty of Fine Arts (Facultad de Bellas Artes) at the Universidad de La Laguna in Tenerife, Spain, by GPY Architects

habitat 28 | WELL PITCHED The Frankel Avenue House by LAUD Architects is a modern, abstract and well-conceived take on the archetypal pitched-roof building form 36 | SOUND OF MOVEMENT The Clay Roof House in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, by DRTAN LM Architect, is screened by a facade of uniquely composed roof tiles re-used from the former house 44 | CRAFT, POETRY AND REASON The playful and evocative architecture of the S House in Mexico City by Taller Hector Barroso is actually a pragmatic resolution to difficult site conditions 52 | AN OPEN STAGE The frame house by Atelier M+A is a simple construct that captures not only views of greenery and sky, but also embodies the homeowners’ desire for flexible and open communal living 58 | SKY LIFE American architect and designer David Rockwell creates showflats and public areas for SKY, a luxury 71-storey residential tower at the edge of Manhattan’s notorious Hell’s kitchen in New York City

dine 64 | IN THREE MOVEMENTS Designed by London-based Universal Design Studio, with Sacha Leong as lead designer and artist Dawn Ng as creative director, Odette translates chef-owner Julien Royer’s culinary philosophy into one of the most beautifully orchestrated spaces at the National Gallery of Singapore

shop 68 | WONDERLAND OF SHAPES & PATTERNS Starting with a clever graphic scheme, Foreign Policy Design Group’s Gallery & Co engages in playful exchange with the national monument it is housed in 74 | RICHLY ENHANCED Singapore’s illustrious interior designer Peter Tay has redesigned Space Furniture’s Maxalto showroom, bringing to life his vision for the new space with the brand’s signature pieces, personalised with special memorabilia Cover from photo by Filippo Poli (pg 24)

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iNSIDE dfusion 77 | BRAND NEW Space Furniture adds to its repertoire of exclusive high-end furnishings a new design brand called ‘SP01’, a very trendy collection of contemporary furniture of international appeal 82 | ZERO SHARP ANGLES Maiori Design’s Huggy series of aluminium furniture by Antoine Lesur, recently launched at M&O Asia 83 | SWEET TREATS Lasvit’s Candy collection by the famed Campana Brothers is designed to evoke the look of sugary treats 84 | FLOOR ART FROM NATURE The Rug Maker’s collection of The Tropicals, created in collaboration with design collective Outofstock, recently launched at M&O Asia 86 | A FOREST OF 100 COLOURS ‘Bunshi’ installation in Paris and Tokyo by French architect and designer Emmanuelle Moureaux for the Wood Furniture Japan Award 2016 exhibition 90 | TEASING ALL THE SENSES Some of the installations, based on the theme ‘Senses – the Art and Science of Experiences’, in the fifth edition of SingaPlural at 99 Beach Road, the anchor event of the annual Singapore Design Week

beat 96 | UNDER THE BLEACHERS TOO Some of the installations in the fourth edition of Singapore’s biennial lighting festival at Marina Bay, based on the theme ‘In Praise of Shadows’ 100 | LIVELY INTERVENTIONS This year’s Lively Architecture Festival (FAV) in France at Montpellier and La Grande-Motte features architectural interventions at 19 specific sites under the theme ‘Innovate’

browse 102 | UNCOVERING WIT Brand consultancy The Partners and publisher Phaidon Press have launched a new edition of one of the most influential books in design and branding – ‘A Smile In the Mind’

pulse 106 | VIDEO CONFERENCE ‘Video Conference: Co-Optive’, a live video performance at ArtScience Museum by Urich Lau, in collaboration with Teow Yue Han online visual streaming from London, and Marcel Gaspar flying a drone with video transmission 110 | ODYSSEY: NAVIGATING NAMELESS SEAS An exhibition of works at the Singapore Art Museum invites visitors into Earth’s watery realms as seen through the eyes of contemporary artists iNTRO 06 | CATALOGUE 111 to 119 | SUBSCRIPTIONS 120

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1\\ Upcoming book by Patrick BinghamHall, London: Pesaro Publishing, 2016 1

2\\ Oasia Downtown, Singapore, 2011-2016 (photo by Patrick Bingham-Hall) 3\\ SkyVille @ Dawson, Singapore, 2007-2015 (photo by Terence Chew) 4\\ PARKROYAL on Pickering, Singapore, 2007-2013 (photo by Patrick Bingham-Hall)

vertical ecosystems WOHA’s first major exhibition in the United States has opened at The Skyscraper Museum at 39 Battery Place in New York City. From commercial mixed-use to hospitality and social housing, ‘GARDEN CITY MEGA CITY’ (Mar 23 to Sept 4) presents 12 of the Singapore-based firm’s most recent vertical ecosystems, showing how the skyscraper is interpreted as a prototype for hyper-dense, green urban living. Featuring architectural models, videos and renderings, the show contextualizes the firm’s towering endeavours as a stunning contribution to skyscraper design and a radical response to the Asian megacity. WOHA’s projects – in Singapore, Bangkok and China,

5\\ WOHA’s founding directors, Wong Mun Summ and Richard Hassell

among others – address issues such as rampant population growth, preservation of tropical biodiversity, and the desire for lively community spaces. With airy pathways functioning like living social networks and porous façades of tropical vegetation, GARDEN CITY MEGA CITY makes the challenges of the emerging metropolis feel less like structural hurdles and more like stimuli for creative solutions. At a time of climbing urbanization rates and alarming climate change, WOHA’s future prospects for vertical villages serve as an enlightening template for architects, designers, and engineers, as well as developers and investors – all those concerned with the future of our cities.

The exhibition was initiated by the director of The Skyscraper Museum, Ms Carol Willis. Founded in 1996, The Skyscraper Museum is a private, not-for-profit, educational corporation devoted to the study of high-rise buildings, past, present, and future. Through exhibitions, programs and publications, the museum explores tall buildings as objects of design, products of technology, sites of construction, investments in real estate, and places of work and residence.

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reporting from the front The theme for the 15th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice (May 28 to Nov 27) at the Giardini and the Arsenale is ‘REPORTING FROM THE FRONT’, curated by Pritzker Laureate Alejandro Aravena, who was inspired by a photograph of an old lady on an aluminium ladder taken by English novelist and travel writer Bruce Chatwin (1940-1989). In his trip to South America, Chatwin had encountered the old lady walking the desert carrying the ladder on her shoulder; ‘it was German archaeologist Maria Reiche studying the Nazca lines. Standing on the ground, the stones did not make any sense; they were just random gravel. But from the height of the stair those stones became a bird, a jaguar, a tree or a flower,’ said Aravena. ‘We would like the Biennale Architettura 2016 to offer a new point of view like the one Maria Reiche has on the ladder. Given the complexity and variety of challenges that architecture has to respond to, REPORTING FROM THE FRONT will be about listening to those that were able to gain some perspective and consequently are in the position to share some knowledge and experiences with those of us standing on the ground...

1\\ Thematic sketch by Alejandro Aravena 2\\ Alejandro Aravena and Paolo Baratta (photo by Giorgio Zucchiatti) 3\\ Some of the exhibition venues in la Biennale di Venezia

‘Our curatorial proposal is twofold: on the one hand we would like to widen the range of issues to which architecture is expected to respond, adding explicitly to the cultural and artistic dimensions that already belong to our scope, those that are on the social, political, economical and environmental end of the spectrum. On the other hand, we would like to highlight the fact that architecture is called to respond to more than one dimension at the time, integrating a variety of fields instead of choosing one or another. ‘REPORTING FROM THE FRONT will be about sharing with a broader audience, the work of people that are scrutinizing the horizon looking for new fields of action, facing issues like segregation, inequalities, peripheries, access to sanitation, natural disasters, housing shortage, migration, informality, crime, traffic, waste, pollution and participation of communities. And simultaneously will be about presenting examples where different dimensions are synthesized, integrating the pragmatic with the existential, pertinence and boldness, creativity and common sense.’

Said Paolo Baratta, President of La Biennale di Venezia: ‘Several previous Biennale’s Exhibitions have seen us deplore the present, which seemed to be characterised by increasing disconnection between architecture and civil society. Previous Exhibitions have addressed this in different ways. This time, we wish to investigate more explicitly whether and where there are any trends going in the other direction, towards renewal; we are seeking out encouraging messages.’ The exhibition includes 62 national participations in the historic Pavilions at the Giardini, at the Arsenale and in the historic city centre of Venice. Five countries are participating for the first time: Philippines, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Seychelles and Yemen. The International segment will be laid out in a unitary exhibition sequence from the Central Pavilion (Giardini) to the Arsenale, and includes 88 participants from 37 different countries, 50 of them participating for the first time, and 33 architects under the age of 40. Additionally are three Special Projects – ‘Reporting from Marghera and Other Waterfronts’ will be shown at

Forte Marghera in Mestre, Venezia. Curated by architect Stefano Recalcati, this exhibition will analyse significant projects for the urban regeneration of industrial ports, helping to fuel the debate on the conversion of production in Porto Marghera; in the Applied Arts Pavilion at the Sale d’Armi in the Arsenale is Victoria and Albert Museum of London’s ‘A World of Fragile Parts’ curated by Brendan Cormier; also at the Sale d’Armi is a pavilion dedicated to the themes of urbanisation, ‘Report from Cities: Conflicts of an Urban Age’, that focuses on the relationship between public spaces and private spaces, curated by Ricky Burdett.

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source: www.swiss-architects.com

calatrava’s oculus New York City’s World Trade Center Transportation Hub, distinguished by its colossal sculptural form of a bird taking off in flight, has opened its main hall to commuters on Mar 3. Designed by Santiago Calatrava, commissioned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the steel ribs-and-glass ‘Oculus’ is the centrepiece of the on-going development that incorporates multi-level retail and dining spaces. The concourses emanating from the Oculus link the entirety of the site above and below grade, with an additional 290,000ft2 of multi-level

retail and dining space, making the World Trade Center a destination location as the focal point of the entire Lower Manhattan District. With its total floor area of about 800,000ft2, the Hub is the third largest transportation centre in New York City, rivalling Grand Central Station in size. It is expected to serve 250,000 commuters daily, conveniently connecting 11 different subway lines, the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) rail system, Battery Park City Ferry Terminal, the World Trade Center Memorial Site, WTC Towers 1, 2, 3, and 4, the World Financial Center

source: divisare.com

and the Winter Garden. It represents the most integrated network of underground pedestrian connections in New York City. Calatrava designed the station in 2004, which was originally budgeted at US$2 billion, but the complex project had taken more than a decade to complete and cost nearly US$4 billion, hardening criticisms and drawing a mixed bag of press reviews. Seemingly oblivious to all that media cacophony, streams of visitors and commuters alike, awed by the breath-taking structure, are availing themselves photographically to the soaring cathedral space, simply enjoying the Oculus’ uplifting spectacle of skyward views. Trains have begun using the hub since mid-2015, while many areas of the project are still inaccessible. The scheme aims to be fully operational by end-2016.

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the ramp as leitmotif text and photography by Filippo poli | plans and drawings courtesy GpY Architects

The new Faculty of Fine Arts (Facultad de Bellas Artes) at the Universidad de La Laguna in Teneriffe, Spain, is located in a heterogeneous area, adjacent to the island highway and on the periphery of the university campus. GPY Architectsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; main challenge was to create a link between the new faculty building and its surroundings, by working with the open public spaces and to increase the synergies between the academic complex and its urban context

t is not often that you walk through the entrance of a building to find yourself in an open space â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s protected fragment, silent and apt for concentration and study. The faculty of Fine Arts in La Laguna, work of GPY architects, is based on a complex circulatory system created by the use of ramps, stairs and a large elevated platform, which permits access to all of its surrounding spaces. Externally it is presented as a building/ infrastructure and internally it discloses itself as a landscape/ prolongation of public space with an intimate dimension. The plot is located on the edge of the university campus of Guajara, in one of the last remaining green areas in the constructed continuum that extends from Santa Cruz to La Laguna, a complicated location, found between infrastructures, roundabouts and bridges, all of which the building perfectly communicates with. The entrance, beneath a porch of minimum height, is the evidence of a dazzling change of perspective: undulating lines delineate a large patio/plaza that branches off into five directions, four of which are on the same level and one that leads downwards to the gardens by means of a ramp/ walkway, ending at the lower level of the plot. The ramp is the leitmotif of the project and accompanies the visitor on a slow descent. With its curved shape, the ramp forces a conscious awareness of the passage towards a new spatial experience; consisting of sinuous curves, materiality and aesthetic which in the tradition of buildings/pathways

cAmPUS oF GUAjArA, UniverSiTY oF LA LAGUnA

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reminds one, through its gestures and capacity of inserting and integrating itself into the site, of Sverre Fehn’s project for the Hamar Museum. The gardens located at the -1 level, where the ramp ends, have suffered most in the budget cuts that have affected many public works in Spain in recent years. Conceived as a natural space controlled by the designers, the gardens have remained with little more than a few green bushes, which will grow in the following years, and some palm trees. The geometry of the gardens and the contrast of the black volcanic stone with the grey cement, have managed to salvage the quality of this space of peace and rest. The pathway of the concrete platform that surrounds the gardens is at a slightly higher elevation, inviting its use

by students not only as a passage way to the classrooms, but also as a bench to sit on and enjoy Tenerife’s climate, whilst above the cantilevered overhang serves to protect the space from weathering and direct light. Throughout the day, the sun radically changes the contrast of light and shade underneath the upper plaza and the three large emptied cylinders around which the building is constructed. The texture of the bush-hammered concrete, which hides the traces of its construction, highlights the shadows and increases the materiality of the entire complex. Meanwhile, the U-Glass walls allow for uniform illumination of the teacher’s offices. The classrooms, accessed along the passage of the interior distribution, receive direct light from the exterior and the majority of them are modular, with the possibility of increasing their space due to the presence of foldable screens.

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FAcUltY oF FiNe Arts, UNiVersitY oF lA lAGUNA location campus de guajara, la laguna, tenerife, canary islands, spain built area 32,260m2 site area 54,503m2 architect gpy arquitectos project team Juan antonio gonzález pérez, urbano yanes tuña, constanze sixt collaborators José Juan aguilar ramos, attenya campos de armas, carhel chaves, Michel correa dos ramos, raquel guanche garcía, María elena lacruz alvira, Juan luis Marichal hernández, Vanessa Mayato antón, José luis novo gómez, laura pérez rodríguez, Michela pestoni, alessandro preda, rubén servando carrillo, gabriel walti technical team luis darias Martín (asat), héctor gonzález niebla (asat), Juan luis Marichal hernández, José Ángel yanes tuña, Miriam hernández pérez model Katarzyna billik, José luis gonzález doña, andrzej gwizdala consultants Fhecor ingenieros consultores, gpi ingenieros, servicio de ingeniería del terreno (ulpgc), poa Jardinería awards german design council iconic awards, 2015: best of best chicago athenaeum international architecture awards, 2015: winner waF world architecture Festival, 2010: Finalist (Future projects, education)

The spaces created for the art workshops, located at the -1 floor, are double in height and have semi-private patios that are shared with the adjoining classroom. Large sliding iron gates can visually unite the two spaces; from the patios the exterior space can be accessed, conceptually leading you into a garden, the plans for which unfortunately have remained solely on paper. The large spaces created for common use between the faculty and the city, such as the exhibition hall and auditorium, are located beside the tramline that connects Santa Cruz to La Laguna; a groove in the exterior wall permits access to the curved pathway that accompanies the visitor into a landscape created with strips of cantilevered concrete, smooth and rough textures, and

the view of a small courtyard which serves as a lung to the surrounding spaces. In 2015 the project won the International Architecture Awards by The Chicago Athenaeum that recognizes the extensive experience began in 1997 by GPY Architects (Juan Antonio González Pérez, Urbano Yanes and Constanze Sixt), who never fail to merge both practice and teaching, generating projects with high spatial complexity that adapt well to the cultural and educational facilities which are the main focus of the three partners. The faculty is not the first major project realised by GYP, who have always strived to create spaces with a powerful relationship with both the landscape and the abrupt force of Tenerife’s climate. The undulating lines of the campus building give the impression of being drawn by the strong winds here, relentlessly changing the skies and the light that bathes this new jewel of the island.

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well pitched BY Luo Jingmei | images courtesY Laud architects photographY BY meLvin h J tan

The Frankel Avenue House by LAUD Architects is a modern, abstract and well-conceived take on the archetypal pitched-roof building form

he primordial house form, with a clearly articulated pitched roof rendered in a singular material, and simple cutout openings has been a popular parti used by architects in the last few years. Perhaps it is a backlash to the complexity of architectural gymnastics encouraged by the easy availability of advanced computer technology. Or maybe, a deviation from the too-common flat-roof, Bauhaus Modernist form. Whatever the reason, it has become a trend worldwide, as seen in many houses frequently published, not least Herzog and de Meuronâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s iconic VitraHaus in Weil am Rhein, Germany. In Southeast Asia though, this form is highly relevant. For many centuries, traditional house forms has made used of the pitched roof, which is highly functional for draining away tropical storm water quickly. One architecture firm that has recently made use of this parti is Laud Architects. The Singapore-based firm, helmed by partners Lau Tse Kit Joseph, Ho tzu Yin, and Melvin H J Tan, is known mostly for its portfolio of religious buildings, but it also designs houses and other commercial typologies. The project in question is the Frankel Avenue House. An aerial photograph shows the pitched roof as sitting quite at home in the residential neighbourhood of pitched roofs. The only difference is that the former is built from stark off-form concrete while the neighbours use primarily sienna-coloured terracotta roof tiles popular in the 80s and 90s. The concrete shell is both aesthetical and functional, says the architect-in-charge, Melvin H J Tan. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The idea is that we have this [concrete] sheath that runs through the whole house to form a very simple geometric form. The

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FranKeL avenue house location completion gFa architect project team builder structural engineer m&e engineer quantity surveyor landscape interiors

Frankel avenue, singapore Nov 2014 590.69m2 Laud architects pte Ltd melvin h J tan, toh minghui, Bow pisamai Vaidhayakarn, cherie ann Zabala chuan Lim construction pte Ltd Ktp consultants pte Ltd hpX consulting engineers pte Ltd Langdon & seah singapore pte Ltd coeN Design international pte Ltd tulsi grover/ong&ong pte Ltd

shell comes down on one side of the house and stops short on one side where it exposes the living and dining spaces to the poolside,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; he explains. On the other western front, the concrete wall falls all the way to the ground, to shelter the residents from the strong western sun. A clearly articulated rectangular box clothed in pinewood timber panelling cantilevers from the concrete shell on the second storey over the dining area, while on the attic level, the box of the walls extend upwards to contain an open terrace. Proportions of the pinewood panels are kept similar to the concrete formwork for consistency. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The house is a simple exploration of the various materials. We basically tried to keep everything as

natural as we could. Timber, concrete, or steel (as used for framing and interior elements) – it’s always shown as it is rather than covered up,’ says Tan. Though simple, there is also an attempt at experimentation with the materials. For instance, Tan points out, a brick wall at the back elevation of the house has an interesting pattern that is derived from a Morse code pattern of the homeowners’ names, as suggested by the homeowners themselves. This play of brick is continued in the boundary walls, though in simpler patterning. The spatial programming of the house is straightforward, with some clever and artistic injections: an entrance portal with a marble seat leads into the living area and dining area that share a view of an external koi pond and the swimming pool beyond. This is followed by the powder room, kitchen and services, framed by an enchanting view of a rear bamboo garden that can be seen from the front of the house. Behind the entrance portal, a door opens functionally to generous shoe

cabinets. This links to the study can also be accessed from the living area, and which comes with a floor-toceiling window view of the garden. Thus, in just the first storey alone, the inclusion of sceneries of nature allow for a seamless indoor-outdoor relationship that makes this house an ode to living in the tropics. On the second storey, the master bedroom is located at the front of the house, while the other end contains a bathroom, the two children’s bedrooms and a playroom. The playroom is located in the timber box that hovers over the swimming pool. Circular cutouts punctuating timber façade panels are an ingenious way to allow in natural light and ventilation without compromising on the clarity of the box form from the exterior. Meanwhile, the attic contains an entertainment space that is delightful for its expression of the pitched roof on the interior, the open roof terrace above the hovering timber box, and a guest room. Downstairs in the basement is a gym, with a view through to the swimming pool via a large cut out that allows in quite a bit of natural light into the space. The staircase linking all these stories is created from folded metal plates, punctuated with circular holes and capped by a skylight to bring light all the way down to the basement. This vertical circulation element is bound

by off-form concrete walls. These are the only such walls in the interior, designed deliberately to inject a sense of the exterior architecture, points out project architect Toh Ming Hui; other walls are finished in white paint. Thus, for instance, in the master bedroom, the cool, luxe feel of the marble countertops juxtapose interestingly with the rough, industrial texture of the concrete wall. Another key element defining the house is its front façade, which features an unusual screen created from a screen of ‘abacus beads’ made of rounded stones strung on wire, and coated lushly with a green wall. This is a privacy screen, shielding the master bedroom from the main road. A rectangular balcony protrudes through the green, made from rusty brown-painted mild steel. From the interior, the soothing panel of green creates a relaxing, calming ambience. Another aspect that stands out in this house is the well-detailed elements in the interior. These were designed by Tulsi Grover, Senior Design Manager of ONG&ONG Interior Design, and his team. For instance, bathroom counters in the typical baths are elegant, crafted boxes in translucent marble that echo the clean language of the architecture. Air-conditioning services in the ceiling are concealed within slim slots. ‘There is no inherent concept but what we have tried to achieve is

simplicity and purity in the interior architectural elements. With the use of tactile materials, such as black raw mild steel panels (in the joinery), unfinished timber planks, polished marbles, white walls, etc, we have maintained a subtle transition between architecture and interior design,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; he elaborates. Custom-designed elements are key to providing this seamless experience, he adds. For example, a black shadow gap in the floors, walls and ceiling renders a floating effect to these elements. The interior doors are also designed with concealed pivoted hinges and follow the finish of the walls to be visually perceived as one element. A committed design team, coupled with a designsavvy couple (the homeowners are architecturally trained and very open-minded) has led to a project that is as well designed in all aspects â&#x20AC;&#x201C; visually, physically, materially, emotionally â&#x20AC;&#x201C; without simply buckling trends.

habitat

sound of movement BY Chris Low | PhotograPhY BY Lin ho

Archicentre’s Clay Roof House in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, features a first-ofits-kind reuse of the original terracotta roof tiles from the demolished old house – ‘as a lattice screen of animated stone that swivels with the undulating wind, creating a triple corresponding effect. The outer skin or cladding of lattice clay brick work also acts as a solar shield, but more so a permanent screen for privacy that has a visually aesthetic membrane-like look.’

o date, one of the simplest paradoxical wind accessory is the wind chime. A good wind chime captures the sound of wind, before it can even be felt. With the slightest tilt and quiver a tingle sounds through air. The sound it produces, suggests the movement of wind, yet it does not measure the amount of movement. There have been ill-constructed wind chimes in my personal collection, that sway in the wind, almost patronisingly, without making a faint vibration of song. From these, I can ‘see’ the wind but am unable to ‘hear’ the wind. Movement and sound, they possess a wonderful relationship that suggests the presence of each other.

When we look out of our air-conditioned rooms through the window and see the languid swaying of large raintrees during this month of March amidst the high heat, we hear nothing. Yet we instinctively imagine the rustling of leaves that sweep across in waves. When we listen to the tribal drums of an African chant, we can picture the rocking of shoulders and raising of arms in dance-like salutations.

house of clay roof tiles This link between memory and the present, the familiar and the suggested is dotted like spatial clues in this Malaysian house in Petaling Jaya. Built on a small plot of land in an old suburban neighbourhood, the house tries to

assume a quiet presence by adopting a simple cuboidal form. Originally a single-storey pitched roof house, its condition was too dilapidated to be restored. This new house stands at three storeys high, with a refreshingly simple and uncluttered plan. It provides succinctly for the function of residence and is a polite re-introduction of an old house among its neighbours. The first two floors are used for residential living while the third is primarily a storage floor for water tanks and services. Designed entirely based on a self-sufficient water harvesting system, the water storage tanks provide a network of filtered water throughout the house. This is one of the hallmarks for green architecture – to be energy and resource conservative building. Apart from

ExisTing HousE

CLAY rooF hoUsE location Section 11, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia completion Dec 2015 built-up area 6,950ft2 land area 5,570ft2 architect DrtaN LM architect C&s engineer Perunding L&W Sdn Bhd contractor ELBt Builder Sdn Bhd

oPERAblE RECyClEd ClAy Roof TilE ‘bRisE-solEil’

fRonT ElEvATion

gRound flooR PlAn

sECTion A-A fiRsT flooR PlAn

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its internal network of pipes and drainage that is invisible to the passer-by, one highly visible marked difference for this box-house, is the clay roof tiles. These clay roof tiles, like the new concrete box, have re-introduced itself as a building material. No longer serving as a roof-covering but now as a vertical screen facade, the existing 50year old clay roof tiles have been salvaged with care and determination from the original old pitch roof before demolition took over. As part of a continuing effort by DRTAN LM Architect, the re-use of existing materials is one of the firm’s methods to practise adaptive reuse that is both efficient and direct. This way of building sustainably reduces the amount of aborted materials, and in the instance of readapting the clay roof tiles as a façade cladding, there is minimisation of acquiring new materials to create a screen façade. As a roof finish, clay tiles are effective in absorbing much of the heat from the sun, acting as a shield that keeps the heat away from the inner sanctum of a house. With its heat absorbent properties, the clay roof tiles are

now re-employed for the same purpose – to absorb heat from the Westerly sun that beats against the façade of the new house. This way, the designed openings and windows in the new house could be enjoyed without compromise. With each clay tile attached to a steel rod that turns freely, the terracotta façade metamorphoses into a moving façade, that ‘dances’ with the wind. Although it makes no sound, unlike a wind chime, the movement of wind is characteristically captured by the ‘displacement’ of each tile. Turning themselves to face the wind, the façade of the clay tiles is then an imprint pattern of the passing wind. Movement solidified. Keeping to beat with the adoption of old materials and the adaptation into new form, the interior of the house is peppered with traditional elements and suggest an earlier existence, now renewed. Sourced over the years, a set of old Chinese teak doors finished with a copper green patina is suitably re-designed as a spatial divider to accord some privacy to the study space on the first floor. Exposed brick is used as a wall finish, suggesting the original construction of the house. There is an interplay of exposed brick in alternating directions enclosing a double volume living room space, that sets off an interesting complement of rhythmic openings and tradition against the clay tile façade on the adjacent side.

The side profile of this box house is a double pitched concrete wall that calls to mind the traditional gabled end of a pitch-roof. This concrete wall, is semi-enclosed by the clay screen façade, establishing comfortable existence of new built and the memory of tradition. This semi-enclosed façade is also a welcome relief in the clay screen. With such an extensive presence, the terracotta tiles though arranged to let in slivers of light does form a formidable presence if turned fully planar. Perhaps, then following life’s simplest rules of thumb, it is best to leave things entirely to nature. And what it that means for this clay house, is to best let the clay façade dance freely with the sound of the wind.

habitat 44

craft, poetry and reason BY Luo Jingmei | PhotograPhY BY moritz BernouLLy and rafaeL gamo

The playful and evocative architecture of the S House in Mexico City by Taller Hector Barroso is actually a pragmatic resolution to difficult site conditions. It also results beautifully crafted sceneries both inside and out

he S House, designed by Mexican practice Taller Hector Barroso, has the type of site conditions that would usually be viewed as obstacles. In the hands of an artful architect, these obstacles become opportunities to create architecture that is unique. Located in Mexico City for a young family with three children, the house is largely bordered by many houses close by, threatening the loss of privacy. The terrain is also abrupt and hilly. Architect Héctor Barroso Riba’s solution appears as a cluster of three rectangular blocks, arranged in a seemingly random manner as if by the hands of children at play. ‘Our main focuses was orientation and light. The

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

SECOND FLOOR PLAN

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S HouSe, meXiCo City site area completion architect project team

900m² 2015 héctor Barroso riba diego rentería Silene rivera ianney Watine

site was a bad one, so we divided the program in three different volumes as to obtain as much light as we could. The white concrete helps by reflecting natural light into the indoor spaces,’ he says. ‘...we focused on the way the indoor spaces would dialogue with the exterior, how the light reflects on the materials, so as not to end up with big spaces that had little to do with human scale. It is a complicated site, so we tried to exploit as much as we could the natural light.’ The result is an exciting and adventurous architectural journey that is crafted through the melding of indoor and outdoor spaces and the respective spatial, climatic and emotive nuances that follows, with gardens, patios, terraces and a pond weaved among the architectural programs. As the architect’s project

statement describes, ‘From these gaps, connections are born among the three concrete blocks, materialised by slabs, stairs, bridges and corridors. These transparent connections allow wandering – a promenade architecturale – through the three interior volumes in a continuous and intense relationship with the exterior, blurring the limits between both.’ In terms of programmatic arrangement, the garage and serviced spaces are tucked in a basement level that fronts the street. The first storey holds the key common spaces while general bedrooms are mainly located on the second storey. On the third storey is the master bedroom suite, which overlooks a lush rooftop garden atop one of the blocks. Poetically, the architect describes

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this element as the ‘fifth facade – an intimate perimeter of vegetation as an end point to the trajectories and sequences of the house, inviting the user to slow down and pause.’ The roof top garden also allows for a certain level of privacy, which a large ground-storey garden might not. Large, strategically placed windows and sliding doors introduce plenty of natural light into the interiors. In the more private spaces, window openings are tapered, creating sheltered balconies for the occupant and also interesting accents that lend a more three-dimensional reading to the facade. The dialogue between indoors and outdoors are not only between interior spaces and external elements.

Unique architectonic patterns created by the architect also allow for subtle architectural play. For instance, the shape of a staircase going from a second-storey bedroom to the master bedroom suite above is articulated clearly, and this stepped motif reflected in a length of stone steps on the ground below; the lines and imperfect beauty of the off-form concrete formwork continues that of the timber from recovered wood sleepers that is applied to the balustrade and facade accents. In this project there is a balance of the rough and the refined, the quiet and the spectacular. Clearly, this reflects the creative spirit of the architect. Says Riba, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;We believe that architecture should be about materiality, textures, atmospheres, and should belong to its site and context. We are interested in light, and how it affects and dialogues with architecture.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; An honest and clear way of

expressing architecture is what guides the firm, which was started in 2010. His daring reflects the young generation of architects in Mexico. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I believe that Mexico is going through a good architecture period. A lot of diversity is seen today; the young generation is very enthusiastic.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Unfortunately, he adds, this positivity is limited to private projects, as public architecture requires a lot more work in order to reach the quality as projects such as Ribaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s S House. It is a start, however. The S House is an example of a well-formed architecture that resolves site issues creatively, and is filled with interesting, arresting spaces for the daily rhythms of living.

habitat 52

an open stage BY Luo Jingmei

| PhotograPhY BY RobeRt Such

The Frame House by Atelier M+A is a simple construct that captures not only views of greenery and sky, but also embodies the homeownersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; desire for flexible and open communal living

telier M+A was established in 2009 by Masaki Harimoto and Ng Ai Hwa. The couple spent several years in Tokyo, working for Kisho Kurakawa Architects & Associates (KKAA). Harimoto had worked in Singapore on the Fusionpolis and Singapore Flyer project while Ng focused on the firm’s international projects. Setting up their office in Singapore, Harimoto and Ng have had to manage a shift in project scale from designing large-scale projects to small houses and HDB interiors, as well as some retail and office interior projects.

Over the years, they have developed a recognisable design language that can be described as a clean, minimal palette with a strong connection to the elements. This is particularly important for them, working in Singapore, as ‘only in the tropical countries can one truly enjoy the merging of outdoor and indoor spaces,’ says Harimoto. A recently completed project that showcases these aspects is the Frame House. Like many such typologies, the original 50-year-old terrace house features a deep interior that lacks sufficient natural light. One of Atelier M+A’s key tasks was to open the house up and inject it with natural light and ventilation, making it ideal for easy tropical living. A key datum in many of their projects is the courtyard, and here it is allocated next to the dining area, on a first storey that is designed to be extremely fluid. The dining room opens up to the courtyard, as does a guestroom while the kitchen opens up to the dining room. The abundant use of sliding glass doors accentuates the sense of openness both physically and visually. Functionally, the courtyard becomes an extended communal space for larger crowds during gatherings and parties. ‘The neighbourhood comprises of dense two-storey terrace houses with several redevelopments rising up to three stories…the internal courtyard brings one’s attention inwards and allows one to rest, contemplate and watch the sky from the interior,’ Harimoto expounds on the importance of this datum. ‘We always feel amazed at how cool one feels when in the internal courtyard of a traditional shophouse in Singapore,’ he says on the local reference.

Interestingly, the guestroom also opens up to the dining area. It was a response to the homeowners’ request for a multi-functional guestroom. ‘On its own, the room provides adequate privacy as a guestroom or a separate reading space. When the room doors slide open, the space merges with the living and dining into a continuous space,’ explains Harimoto. A longitudinal staircase is situated along one of the houses’ party walls, enabling the main space to be free of services. This vertical access, with open risers and minimal structure, is also designed for both light penetration and lightness of touch.

photos by Masaki Harimoto

SecTion X-X’ 1F PlAn

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2F PlAn FRAme houSe location site area floor area completion architect project team

Upper thomson, Singapore 143m2 191m2 2015 atelier M+a Masaki harimoto, Ng ai hwa

The courtyard, the open staircase – these are elements the design team has integrated in order to ‘provide relief to the confined spaces with [their] void and emptiness,’ says Harimoto. ‘While we tried to fit in all the functional requirements within the tight site, we also wanted to include some form of balance.’ Some of these features are made possible due to the uniqueness of this particular plot. Explains Harimoto, ‘It was a corner terrace house converted into an interterrace house. The first storey is an inter-terrace space with walls spanning between two party walls while the second and third stories are set back from the boundary

3F PlAn

like a corner terrace house.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; What this means is that the bedrooms above are privy to an entire long elevation of window openings. Additionally, the first storey courtyard enjoys an unusual amount of natural light and ventilation as the second and third storey walls above recede. Meanwhile, in the front of the house, an extended car porch roof provides the homeowners with a sheltered patio space on which to enjoy the outdoors. Here, sliding glass doors rather than conventional opaque swing doors continue the open experience. Another key design aspect of the Frame House can be found in its name. Several framing elements define the architectonics of the home, the most evident of which is in the front faĂ§ade where a blackened aluminium frame extends beyond the wall and window line. Along the longitudinal elevation, the other window openings continue this blackened steel framing language.

photo by Masaki Harimoto

‘We acknowledge the heavy rainfall Singapore receives every year, and while the big frame on the front façade and the frames around the window openings act as part of the architectural statement, they are primarily aluminium window sills protruding from the wall to shield the rainwater away from the window and wall [surfaces],’ explains Harimoto. The idea of ‘framing’ is also extended to the idea of capturing views, be it picture cutouts of sky or greenery through the windows, or even from the courtyard space looking upwards. In light of the theme, the architects have also managed to create a ‘framework’ for the homeowners to live out their lives. The first storey is an open space designed for the best of flexible, communal living; the second and third stories are more enclosed, designed as private respites for individual family members.

habitat 58

sky life BY Rebecca Lo | images courtesY The Moinian GRoup photographY BY ©ines LeonG/aRchphoTo renderings BY VisuaLhouse

David Rockwell creates showflats and public areas for SKY, a luxury 71-storey residential tower at the edge of Manhattan’s notorious Hell’s Kitchen in New York city

he section of Manhattan bordered by 34th Street, 59th Street, Eighth Avenue and the Hudson River has historically been home to Irish immigrants. No one really knows definitively who coined the nickname Hell’s Kitchen for the community. Yet for more than a century, it was an apt description for the derelict living conditions in this slice of Midtown. Due to its proximity to Broadway, it inevitably became the haunt for struggling actors and performing artists. Over the past quarter century as Manhattan’s real estate prices soared, Hell’s Kitchen has been gentrifying into a trendy place to live while retaining some of its grittier characteristics. One of the first developers on the scene was The Moinian Group. Along with assets in Dallas and Los Angeles, The Moinian Group has been sprucing up Manhattan’s downtown and West Side with mixed use developments that combine live, work and play all in one complex. For SKY, a 71-storey residential tower situated at the hub where Hell’s Kitchen meets the Hudson Yards District, Moinian looked to Goldstein Hill & West for the contemporary architectural shell and David Rockwell for interior design of its lobby, amenities and two typical showflats. The founder of New York City-based Rockwell Group is perhaps better known for his hospitality spaces — in particular, his long association with celebrity chef

Nobu Matsuhisa and creations for Buddha Bar. At SKY, he envisioned a home that would suit a new breed of urbanites: well heeled, well travelled, well connected and who want to live at centre court. Although all of the 1,175 units are rental only, 234 have been reserved for tenants with income below a specified level. With many New Yorkers priced out of the Manhattan property market, many are opting to rent instead. Yet Rockwell

understands that affluent renters also want to have their cake and eat it, too. To that end, Moinian Group allows committed tenants to choose if they prefer Dusk or Dawn colour palettes for their Vue Penthouse Collection, studio, one- or two-bedroom unit, just as if they were potential homeowners of the flats. ‘The Dawn option features light oak kitchen cabinets and plank flooring, while the Dusk cabinets and flooring have a walnut finish,’ explains Rockwell. ‘A custom marble top kitchen island, a white Parapan wrap that frames a wall of white lacquer storage cabinets, and asymmetrical Arki handles from Frost add to the kitchen’s clean aesthetic. The apartment corridor walls

are wrapped in Groove-V Out of Sight, a wallcovering we designed for Maya Romanoff. It is made from a custom material with corrugated flutes embossed with a linear pattern, and creates a highly tactile surface. The corridor carpet is a custom ombre pattern. The bathrooms have visually striking elements, including showers with vertical striped tiling that runs from the wall to the floor, sculptural surface mounted basins and custom vanities composed of mirror black steel with walnut drawers.’ SKY commands sweeping panoramic views of the Hudson River, Midtown and Central Park beyond through full height glazing with a chair rail height mullion that runs horizontally across every floor. Along with offering more rental units in one single tower than any other property in New York, SKY also offers 20,000ft2 of retail and F&B therapy at its podium base. The building contains amenities previously unheard of in rentals, namely the 70,000ft2, membership-only Lifetime Athletic at SKY; two zero-edge outdoor swimming pools; a 60ft indoor swimming pool; a water club with Turkish hammam; a regulation size indoor basketball court; a spa and a health-oriented café. All of these facilities were designed by Rockwell Group. Arguably, the showflat designs captivate most, with Rockwell’s signature play on materials to give each room a contemporary interpretation of luxury.

RESIDENCE S FLOORS 12-49 1 BEDROOM

RESIDENCE M FLOORS 14-49 STUDIO

RESIDENCE U FLOORS 14-49 1 BEDROOM

RESIDENCE A FLOORS 23-47 2 BEDROOMS

1\\ Floor plans of SKY apartment units 2\\ Third floor swimming pool and recreational facilities, floor plan 3\\ Indoor swimming pool and spa, floor plan

For any potential tenant who falls in love with Rockwell’s choices for the showflats, there is a detailed showflats brochure that allows them to easily find and purchase the BoConcept Osaka sofa, Flos Lampadina table lamp or Avenue Road Bell coffee table that they adore. ‘The layouts were inspired by modern urban lofts,’ says Rockwell. ‘The kitchen opens up to the living area. It is designed to serve a space for prep and cooking, and a casual area for dining with family and friends. The living area and bedrooms are clean, streamlined spaces, allowing residents to personalise and configure them to fit their lifestyle. For the model apartments, we selected simple, elegant furnishings with a few quirky accents, including a puffer fish print wallcovering for an entry, a chandelier with a custom vinyl ceiling graphic to create the illusion of a shadow in one of the kitchens, and a live edge headboard in a master bedroom. They are timeless yet modern interpretations of luxury, with furniture and finishes that are eclectic mixes of clean lines, neutral hues and playful pieces.’

dine

in three movements BY Yvonne Xu | IMAGES COURTESY oDeTTe | PhOTOGRAPhY BY Jovian Lim

Designed by London-based Universal Design Studio, with Sacha Leong as lead designer and artist Dawn Ng as creative director, Odette translates chef-owner Julien Royer’s culinary philosophy into one of the most beautifully orchestrated spaces at the National Gallery of Singapore

‘T

here is an aerial sense of musicality in what Julien is doing in his kitchen and what happens between diners and service staff in the restaurant. All these hundreds of pieces coming together in an orchestra of motion. I wanted to translate that perennial dance into the artwork and explore materials with a range of textures and weights.’ -Dawn Ng Named after the chef-owner’s beloved grandmother and muse, Odette, the French fine-dining restaurant at National Gallery of Singapore, is fittingly feminine. It is dressed in shades of blush and dust – in full-length curtains dropped from high ceilings, and in skirtings and upholstery draped over curved forms – with a touch of nickel and brass in the planter bases and light scones that give it an elegant polish. The palette is masterfully controlled, as perfect as a set, and much can made for the case of culinary arts and staged performances. But beyond beauty and refinement, there is something moving about the space. Even in pictures, the atmosphere seems exquisitely tempered: a composition of light and lightness.

oDeTTe ReSTauRanT, naTionaL GaLLeRY SinGaPoRe

Odette has 12 tables, mostly circular booths that sit two to four diners intimately. A quadruple banquette is placed before the glass-enclosed kitchen that’s been set up as a stage during service. The arrangement, as well as the Palladiana marble floor (with pink grouting, no less), recall the classical order and harmony of the architecture it is housed in. Curved screen panels, lined up along walls, further soften the edges of the space which once served as the workaday registration room of the former Supreme Court. While polite, Odette is a modern and fresh take on fine dining. Here, the chandelier, the age-old centrepiece of the fine dining establishment, takes the form of a Calder-like mobile. This aerial installation is a part of ‘A Theory of Everything’, a collage collection of imagery created by artist Dawn Ng, who also oversaw the creative direction of the restaurant. Ng had spent months studying Royer at work in his kitchen, photographing ingredients like scallops, amadei, pigeon and black truffle. She had then magnified the photos, and ‘deconstructed’ them into abstractions that highlight the textures, colours, and beauty of the ingredients. For the installation, the

completion total floor area creative director/artist design team

2015 290m2 Dawn Ng Ani Chepakova, Jason holley, Sacha Leong

imagery is transferred on to materials like oak, polyfoam, brass and paper, shaped and folded into sculpture, then balanced as a surreal sea of abstract, floating shapes swept into flight. Odette’s brand colours of skin, blush and dust were also picked up from these images. Odette is conceptually strong and beautifully translated. It might be said that the aerial assemblage embodies its spirit – in that as in cooking or in a dinner service, an orchestration is at work too when chef, artist, and designer come together. This is wonderful effort, a work of art – fitting, of course, of the institution it is housed in.

Odette chef and owner Julien Roye (photo by Suasti Lye)

shop 68

wonderland of shapes & patterns By Yvonne Xu | Images courtesy Foreign PolicY Design grouP

Starting with a clever graphic scheme, Gallery & Co engages in playful exchange with the national monument it is housed in

allery & Co might be a kind of wonderland. In this space, display pedestals are strewn about like island clusters; by glass windows, stepped drawer units, awash in sunlight, appear glacial white, not unlike ice shelves; on the other side, in sharp contrast, towers the black partitions – steep, leaning cliffs forming a range of moving mountains. It is landform origami, and, as its lead designer Yah-Leng Yu of Foreign Policy Design Group points out – ‘a return to elementary shapes, to the basics of dots and lines.’

Yu wanted the space to be fun and welcoming, for its shapes and colours to recall the familiar wooden blocks and colour wheels of childhood. It’s the idea of play, a play on the notion of ‘high art’ – that art, at its highest, at its best, is created from the ‘basics’ of the dot and the line, of the colours blue, yellow, and red. Yu also believes that Gallery & Co should offer a friendly, light-hearted visitor experience; this provides a crucial counterpoint to the sombre but sometimes distancing character of a national institution. It is a good starting point. Inherent in the buildingblock toolkit is its creative and generative potential: not least, in geometry, points, lines, surfaces, solids, and

gAllerY & co, nATionAl gAllerY singAPore total floor area completion client design project team

800m2 Nov 2015 By andco Pte Ltd Foreign Policy Design group arthur chin, yah-Leng yu, Liew Liquan, Vanessa Lim, Hafizah Jainal, elita ong, choo min, Natasha Pricilia, Keira Lin contractor Kingsmen Projects Pte Ltd

left winG layout plan

volumes can be permutated and iterated limitlessly. It is a muscular tool, applicable not just in 2D, but also in product design (merchandize) and in interior space (the polyhedral blocks). Visual graphics gains a physicality. Such exercise is imaginably very fun for the designers, and the result is rewardingly functional too. The display pedestals, for instance, are wrapped in vinyl skins that can be easily changed with new graphics to suit new retail and exhibition themes. Having modular islands and partitioning shelves that slide open and close to create alternative circulation paths means the space is flexible and ready for event needs. The landscape is ever-changing. It moves between shopping and food offerings, walking and stopping. Interior elements shape-shift, patterns and volumes grow to supersize or shrink to miniature, display surfaces

riGht winG layout plan

step up and rails turn down. The detailed observer will be rewarded with discoveries of subtler quirks and whimsy: some of the table legs and clothes rail are set oblique, for example, or that the hexagonal floor tiles, laid scrambled, can actually be aligned into patterns. Indeed, this is space of twists and turns, where iridescent waves play against a black and white grid wall, and the moody book and stationery section broods side by side the cheerful children’s play area. The space is plotted with surprises, not unlike an adventure tale. In fact, the design has all the tropes of a Carrollian wonderland, including its characteristic subversions. Perhaps the boldest move in the entire undertaking is Gallery & Co’s logo, which plays off that of National Gallery’s – as ‘a version’ or a ‘sub-version’ of. National Gallery’s logo is an abstract representation of the two buildings it is housed in, and as its designer Chris Lee suggests, the two blocks are open to reading – they can

be two building blocks, two dialogue boxes, two platforms, two plinths or two spaces for visual arts. For Yu, Gallery & Co’s brand story layers meaningfully on these Reductionist blocks. The museum store identity rightfully builds upon that of the museum’s. ‘Also, & Co is about collaboration and exciting possibilities in partnerships*,’ Yu adds. ‘Our first partnership is with the National Gallery. You see, the word “gallery” is in the first box. We want this to be a dialogue, a conversation.’ If this space was indeed a dialogue with the establishment or the established (the art, the museum, or the museum shop typology), what Gallery & Co offers is clever banter. *& Co is a lifestyle and design partnership between Foreign Policy Design Group creative directors Yu Yah-Leng and Arthur Chin, hotelier and restaurateur Loh Lik Peng, and Alwyn Chong, managing director of cosmetics and fragrance distributor Luxasia. Gallery & Co is & Co’s debut project.

shop 74

r i c h ly enhanced story and images courtesy Space Furniture photography by John heng

Singapore’s illustrious interior designer and President’s Design Award winner Peter Tay has redesigned Space Furniture’s Maxalto showroom, bringing to life his vision for the new space with the brand’s signature pieces, personalised with special memorabilia

n the revamped showroom, Maxalto’s collection of furnishings are accessorised with an assortment of curios and other complements handpicked to complete the lush displays of living, dining and bedroom settings. Said Tay: ‘I want to celebrate the rich tradition and multi-faceted qualities of Maxalto furniture, as well as bring together the essence of the individual in the design...’ Among the complementary decorative pieces in the displays are hard-to-come-by pieces such as the Valentine Typewriter, a much-prized vintage by the legendary Ettore Sottsass, taken from Tay’s own archive ‘to lend an air of authenticity to the vignette of a well-travelled soul at the pinnacle of life who appreciates the finer things’. ‘Maxalto, to me, encapsulates ultimate sophistication, fine craftsmanship, and timeless elegance. I want to highlight these qualities at [the] new showroom, and create the feeling of moving through a series of spaces [inside the home] of an accomplished and well-travelled couple with a personal collection of art and memorabilia.’ In the settings are new Maxalto pieces, featuring for instance, the Pathos table with frame in copper and top in Guatemala green marble; Lucrezia sofa in a generous L-shaped configuration, and Dives sofa and chaise longue with Shellac feet and luxurious velvet upholstery. Living areas are cleverly demarcated with the use of rugs, paint, and bookcases as partition that also serves as a focal feature in the centre of room.

Designer Peter Tay at the relaunch of Space Furniture’s Maxalto showroom

The brand was founded in 1976, developing a distinct identity in the specialised production of artisan furniture. Space Furniture’s newly designed Maxalto showroom is also a celebration of its 40th anniversary in 2015. Today, under the direction of the highly acclaimed Italian designer Antonio Citterio, Maxalto continues to explore new materials, finishes, colours and textures to shape an evolving collection with pieces specified in some of the most prominent hospitality projects around the world such as the Aman Canal Grande in Venice, and the Mandarin Oriental and Bulgari Hotel in Milan. ‘Peter has been a huge supporter of the things we do at Space and it is our pleasure to have him on board for Maxalto’s 40th anniversary celebration. We were impressed by his concepts, his spontaneity, and attention to detail and his understanding of the brand’s ideals. Maxalto likewise embraced this collaboration as much as we did. This three-way creative conversation has been a delightful journey for all parties and we look forward to continuing our partnership with Peter in other meaningful ways,’ said Christina Caredes, group CEO of Space Furniture.

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Ling sofa’s frame is made of solid ash with supporting back panels in upholstered and shaped steel. Upholstery structure is multi-density polyurethane foam with Dacron and feather wadding supported on a bed of elastic webbing; available in two sizes, 2.2m and 2.6m

brand new Story and imageS courteSy Space Furniture

Space Furniture has added to its repertoire of exclusive high-end furnishings, a new design brand called ‘SP01’. Conceived in Australia, designed by the renowned Milan-based studio Fattorini+Rizzini+Partners (Metrica) and produced by Italy’s leading manufacturers, SP01 is a very trendy collection of contemporary furniture of international appeal.

T 1

he SP01 team had a very clear vision, to create a new collection based on rigorous design and honest materials. Design integrity and authenticity were key to the brand’s ethos and collaborating with world-class designers delivered the requisite standards. The respected design team of Fattorini+Rizzini+Partners (to be renamed as Metrica) was an essential part of the brand’s development. They bring a unique breadth of skills in both design and product development, experience gained from working with leading brands Arper, Extremis, Armani Casa, MDF Italia, Poliform, Moooi, Cassina and Zanotta, and have been recognised with numerous international awards including a prestigious Compasso d’Oro. To ensure the collection is of the highest quality, SP01 turned to Italy’s leading manufacturers, the same Italian craftsmen experienced in producing for the world’s leading brands. The result is a collection of exceptional

1\\ Etoile side and coffee tables feature a distinct three-legged design that allows for nesting or use as a service element. The beauty lies in the top which sits lightly upon the frame, with a shadow line detail separating the two elements. Available in two sizes, 900mm and 650mm diameters. Timber frames and tops in either timber veneer or acid etched glass. 2\\ A tailored piece, Anita armchair has a sculptured external shell made from two individual parts, a distinctive express joint at the arm then highlights where the two shells meet. Swivel base, dual upholstery option. The shell is made of curved moulded plywood and upholstered in multi-density polyurethane foams. The base is available in natural ash or carbone stained ash, with a steel sub-structure.

78 3\\ Holland is a reimagining of the classic trestle or cavaletto table. Like other pieces in the collection it’s a very independent product that sits well with other timbers and upholstery. This is a table of elegant proportions and beautiful detailing, featuring a sculpted top with chamfered edges and gently rounded corners that float above a beautifully shaped and tapered timber base. Junctions are designed to be seen, a way to celebrate the fine craftsmanship of this piece. It is available in two sizes, 2.2m or 2.8m. Top is made of solid ash, timber veneer and timber particle board. Stretcher rail is made of steel wrapped in timber veneer, and the base frame is solid ash in natural or black stain.

4\\ Smith Table is long and lean with a beautifully shaped timber frame; its apparent simplicity conceals a complex internal engineering that includes a supporting steel sub-frame. The table top which sits lightly on the frame can be of glass or timber, with a subtle shadow line detail separating the two elements. The table is designed for disassembly, so all elements fold down for efficient shipping. Available in 2.2m and 2.8m lengths.

quality chairs, sofas, armchairs, tables and coffee tables of solid ash timbers, sculpted hand-finished wood and an extensive range of detailed upholstery. SP01 began with a conversation between colleagues at Space Furniture, they were discussing what else could be done in the furniture market. Working with the world’s leading brands, they saw how the best created, what was involved in the design, the rigors of manufacture and the quality of materials. They were in a unique position as they learned from the best and understood what was needed. SP01 evolved from this conversation. The team did not want to create a brand which competed with B&B Italia, nor did they want to mimic Vitra – the aim was to create something truly international that would sit beautifully next to any of the world’s leading

5\\ Thomas chair features a bent plywood shell integrated into a solid ash frame. Its solid form with beautiful timber detailing is reminiscent of a graceful Japanese chair or elegant Scandinavian design. Teamed with endless options for upholstery, Thomas will fit seamlessly into any interior. Frame of solid ash; seat can be plywood or upholstered.

7 6\\ A contemporary interpretation of the classic bistro chair, Clarke is a sculpted piece with subtle details, its curves and angles shaping beautifully around the body, a practical chair of impeccable standards. Made of solid ash and available with or without an upholstered seat pad; the chair is stackable, available in a clear or black stain finish. 7\\ Based on the quintessential Italian sofa, Max sofa is comfortable, long and low and generously proportioned. The

bands and complement it. A design that was as relevant in an NYC studio as it was in a central London terrace. It should furnish homes both large and small, Tokyo to Sydney. Honest, approachable, clean and simple â&#x20AC;&#x201C; design everyone can appreciate. SP01 is a new business, managed as part of the Australia and SE Asia design retail group which includes Space Furniture, Poliform, and Kartell. The SP01 team is headed up by Christina Caredes, Group CEO, Matt Lorrain, SP01 Head of Design and Product Development, Leighton Clarke, Group Operations Manager, and Michelle McEwen, Group Marketing Manager. The SP01 collection features the essentials for living and dining â&#x20AC;&#x201C; chairs, dining tables, armchairs, and coffee tables, with the vision to become a comprehensive collection featuring, indoor outdoor and soft contract furniture. The collection has been developed specifically to service both residential and commercial environments. Additional products will be released in 2016. www.SP01design.com

8\\ Lucio Quinzio Leonelli (left) and Robin Rizzini, Managing Partner and Chief Designer respectively, of Fattorini+Rizzini+Partners (to be renamed as Metrica this year). The awardwinning studio works with a diverse range of clients including Arper, Extremis Fendi, MDF Italia, Poliform and Zanotta.

exterior retains a rigid geometry, courtesy of the single shell, the lines of which are accentuated by the subtle tracing of an outside seam detail. Conversely the interior is a melding of plump upholstery into softly curved contours. The result is a sofa of supreme comfort! Available in two sizes 2.1m and 2.5 m; the single-shell frame is of multi-layer timber board. Cushions in multidensity polyurethane, Dacron wrapped and feather wadding; choice of upholstery in fabric or leather.

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zero sharp angles story and images courtesy Maiori/Grafunkt

aiori Design’s Huggy series of aluminium furniture by Antoine Lesur, recently launched at M&O Asia (Mar 7 to 10, Marina Bay Sands), features soft curving lines in precisely proportioned dimensions, while conveying an image of playfulness combined with sturdy design and heavy-duty adaptability. Boasting ‘exactly zero sharp angles’, the bistro-inspired series of forms look like they could have been morphed from a single sketch or idea, from stools and chairs to tables and even a coat stand! Antoine Lesur, a fresh new face among French design talents who has garnered numerous mentions and awards for his projects, established his own design studio in 2012; his work expands across disciplines ranging from product to spatial design. His explorations of form and space ‘are a quest for innovation and order accuracy’. Maiori is available exclusively at Grafunkt

Designer Antoine Lesur

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sweet treats story and images courtesy Lasvit

asvit’s Candy collection by the famed Campana Brothers, designed to evoke the look of sugary treats, is built on their earlier fabric-based Sushi series of furniture but explored and expressed in glass. The brightness of the glass combined with the collection’s palette of colours, as well as the visual aspect of the colourful lines, easily evoke the image of the pieces as candy! Inspired by the colourful sweets sold in popular markets in Brazil, the Campana’s initial concept was enthusiastically received by Czech glassmasters, always ready to explore new techniques and visions. The Candy collection consists of the Sphere chandelier, Ring chandelier and Lollipop table lamp, all exquisitely crafted and produced in hand-blown glass and brass at Lasvit’s production facility in Lindava. All the three models uses G4 LED modul as light source.

available exclusively at Macsk Singapore

1\\ Ring Chandelier, D 1500 × H 800 mm, weight 80kg 2\\ Sphere Chandelier, D 830 mm, weight 120kg 3\\ Lollipop Table Lamp, D 175 × H 410mm, weight 5kg

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floor art from nature Story and imageS courteSy The Rug MakeR/OuTOfsTOck

The Rug Maker’s collection of The Tropicals, created in collaboration with design collective Outofstock, took the team three years of research, experimentation and construction to complete, and was finally launched at Maison & Objet Asia (Mar 8 to 11, Marina Bay Sands)

‘The beauty of the Tropicals collection is not so much the final outcome but its process of creativity that allows anyone to be able to create their own rugs if they are so inspired.’ Wendy Chua, Outofstock

‘t

ropicals’ encapsulates the idea of exploring the micro details of flora and fauna, and the rediscovery of nature in equatorial forests that are flourishing in Singapore yet ignored or taken for grated. Looking into the natural art form of tropical flora, the design team explored Fort Canning Park where they handpicked and examined the foliage found there, discovering multi-layered intricacies of shapes and textures, of hidden hues and striking overtones. We are surrounded by the lush, verdant foliage of our tropical parks and yet, curiously, we barely take notice of them. Perhaps it is the hot weather or the bugs, we take refuge in air-conditioned shopping malls and the underground city mode of life. By taking a lens to the diverse flora,

Colours for the collection are matched with the vibrant palette of tropical nature – in leaves, flowers and tree barks. Each of the six 1.7 by 2.4m handmade rugs is distinguished by its raw and organic design.

quite literally, we hope to recover the awe and sense of wonder that reside in all us deep within.’ Guided by the founders of The Rug Maker, Outofstock Design spent three years researching and examining the craft of rug making. ‘There are few companies from Singapore, in the short history of our country, who have laboured with persistence over a craft. We are grateful to learn from Foong and Freddy, who bring with them three decades of unending passion for the art of rug making. Every single step in the craft process intrigues us, but none more so than the belief that a good product takes samples after samples and only come to fruition with time. Improving on the sample, getting the blending right, the stippling perfect, the colours to match, the technique precise, the types of tuft that complement the design; the process can be likened to aging wine, you know it will only get better with time and patience.’

The sense of wonder that is the life of the collection is both figuratively and literally magnified to delve deep into the intricacies of every specimen. Using magnifying lens – 7x, 14x and 21x – the detailed patterns and textures are observed, deliberated and subsequently selected for the make-up of each rug.

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a forest of 100 colours by TLH | story and images courtesy EmmanuELLE mourEaux | photography (tokyo) by DaisukE sHima/nacasa & ParTnErs ÂŠWFJa2016

‘B

unshi’ (Japanese for ‘ramification’) is the name of this installation by French architect and designer Emmanuelle Moureaux for the Wood Furniture Japan Award 2016 exhibition recently concluded in Paris (N°9 Rive Gauche) and Tokyo (the Spiral, a multipurpose cultural centre in Omotesando). Viewers walking through it experience ‘being in a forest, wandering among a world of colourful branches designed to divide or extend into subdivisions the exhibition spaces’. Composed of 20,000 pieces of coloured paper cuttings, Bunshi is the 11th installation in Moureaux’s ‘100 colors’ installation series, the first of which was

at the Shinjuku Mitsui Building as part of Shinjuku Creators Festa 2013. It took the design team a full month to make Bunshi, in which ‘the collections of colourful small branches diverge and multiply, filling up the hall. Each module is a metaphoric expression of the phenomenon of ramification, which symbolizes the encounters between designers and artisans as their paths intersect and diverge with valuable experiences, leading them to a new path.’ The ‘branches’ appear randomly placed but in fact are perfectly aligned in three dimensional grids. Tunnel-like curving paths weave through the foliagelike hangings, along the edges of which are placed the exhibited items. The atmosphere gradually changes in colour as the path progresses.

In all her work, Moureaux, who is based in Tokyo, typically uses colours as objects to divide space and as a concept to design ‘new atmospheres that evoke emotions...I use colours as three-dimensional elements, like layers, in order to create spaces, not as a finishing touch applied to surfaces. These two elements of colours and layers, inspired by Tokyo, are the basis of my design...’ The Wood Furniture Japan Award recognises ‘the best wooden furniture that represents modern Japan’, and winning entries are selected based on the theme ‘Harmonia - creating in resonance with wood’. www.emmanuellemoureaux.com

Bunshi in Paris (photo by Shoichi Kajino ©WFJA2016)

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teasing all the senses story and photos by TLH

SingaPlural, the anchor event of the annual Singapore Design Week, showcases one-of-a-kind unique works across all creative fields such as art, advertising, architecture, and interior and fashion design. The fifth edition (Mar 7 to 13), which was ticketed this year and likely henceforth in future, located as previously at 99 Beach Road (the former Beach Road Police Station), featured a record number of 71 installations by designers, manufacturers, builders and design schools, based on the theme â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Senses - the Art and Science of Experiencesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Several of the exhibits were designed in collaboration with commercial materialsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; suppliers whose products, for instance, tiles and laminates, were imaginatively used beyond their conventional applications. In the week-long programme line-up were also workshops, talks and tours that saw full turn-outs. Some of the exhibits may be rough on the edges, yet many were intricate and skilfully made, but most were thought-provoking, sensorial and engaging, befitting the design theme.

1\\ Entrance to 99 Beach Road 2\\ Corridors and exhibition spaces inside the old police station blocks at 99 Beach Road 3\\ TILE IT UP by Wy-To Architects and Hafary, an interactive outdoor installation in which a wide range of tiles from Hafary are displayed in different settings of usable, playful structures.

4\\ DOORS by IDCS, SILA, SFIC and Mediacorp. In this installation, a 360m 2 grass patch is transformed into a mazelike arrangement of five pockets of spaces using recycled set props from previous MediaCorp productions. To create the different areas, doors set at various heights are used as entrances and dividers. Each of the five spaces are specifically curated with interactive features to engage a specific sense. Among these features are digital voice recordings with sound effects, containers of aromatic sponges, shrubs and herbs, textured doorways lined with inspirational quotes, tunnelled walkways, all of which are designed to tease and delight the visitorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s five senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste.

5\\ ENGULF by Celine Ng and XTRA stimulates a seascape with form and sound; this highly creative installation ‘highlights the mild, tranquil weave on the “scale” tiles from the Flow collection of BOLON (carpet tiles), which echoes the grace and movement of breaking waves’.

6\\ SCOPE by Lekker Architects and EDL is ‘an oversized kaleidoscope that invites visitors to walk into and inhabit – teasing their sense of sight. The installation draws attention to the many colours and visual textures of EDL laminates and how they create a unique, emotive experience through our sense of vision.’

7\\ AURORA, by Andrew Loh, Tan Sock Fong and Lindis Chi, inspired by the northern lights, recreates a forest of light and fluctuating light casts, using simple materials of cut metal plates and molded glass, and clever, precise mechanisms.

8\\ JOURNEY by M!lk Inc (Tan Eng Liang Dickman) and ADMIRA. The centrepiece is an ensemble of a series of individual cylindrical wheels in different colours and textures which can be spun like prayer wheels. ‘The spinning motion will cause an interaction of colours and demonstrate how the use of different textures can affect the speed of rolling, which can be experienced from the sound effects emanating during the course of spinning.’

9\\ SCALE UP YOUR FEAR by Stickyline, a Hong Kong-based design studio founded by Mic Leong and Soilworm Lai, whose work, typically with paper, transforms twodimensional planes into three dimensional forms. In this participatory installation that ‘plays on the common fear of roaches’, visitors are given pre-cut paper parts to assemble and fold into ‘roaches’ and place these freely in the space. 9

10\\ A GREENER MILESTONE by Kingsmen design team (Gerald Tay, Crystal Chu, Jason Chua, Samuel Lee) is a hanging installation constructed from individual pieces of recycled wood, each piece is written a single statement from the designers on their interpretation of green design. Visitors participate as well by writing their thoughts on wood pieces provided and adding to the installation.

11\\ WHAT I PUT IN MY HEART IS HEAVEN by Alvin Fan/Topos Design Studio is an immersive installation with soundscape that ‘explores the cultural phenomenon of duality in today’s social context. The timber-laid chamber represents our body and soul, and is an interplay between the opposite energies we encounter each day. Its dimly lit ambience and stillness emanates the female qualities of sensuality, empathy, and patience. In the chamber lies a heart, where a juxtaposition of colours and light represents the masculine energies of movement, strength, and focus.’ 12 12\\ A BREATHE RESPITE by Poiesis Studio and Panelogue explores the themes Retreat, Respire and Relate: ‘Using an innovative laminate material, Organoid, the installation creates a novel sensory experience in an interior space. Organic materials such as rose petals or coffee beans are treated with a special technique to retain its appearance, feel and natural scent yet impervious to rot and decay, giving a whole new dimension to home furnishings.’

13\\ BENEATH THE SURFACE by Miun ‘is an interactive conceptual artwork incorporating impossible film as the main medium; exploring what’s beyond the mylar sheet, constantly experimenting with the amazing layers beneath the surface by slicing open, peeling and manipulating the strength and weakness of the impossible film...’ Instant pictures frozen in time are ‘brought to life’ (light up) with the gentle click of a tiny switch.

14\\ A BLEND OF SENSES by Kim Choy and Shibui Furniture Collective offers visitors a ‘feel of the intimacy of working with wood and tools’ with handson experience of sawing, shaving and chopping, to be ‘re-acquainted with the use of our hands in crafting’ while ‘appreciating the wood patterns, grain direction and the growth of the tree’. 15\\ JTHE FISH TANK by Evangelione features a room of floating handcrafted goldfishes ‘to emulate fishes swimming in a fish tank. Visitors experience traversing from being an onlooker outside the tank, to being in the tank as a fish and interacting with other fishes.’ 16

16\\ APPLE 2025 by Zhang Weijin takes the viewer into ‘the possible future through the advancement of technology. In recent years, advances in 3D printing have allowed a wide exploration of materials, such that printable food is now available. Using generative design, information is “absorbed” from an apple into Apple 2025. The installation is a prelude to how the perception of senses can evolve with technology. Food, in the future may not be prepared through traditional means but through the binding of compounds that “feel” and “taste” like the original...’

17 17\\ PRESENCE/ ISOLATION by Paul James and Calvin Pang ‘is an interactive project where audience movement induces changes in the soundtrack being played. The viewer is only confronted by a solitary sculpture – untouchable and isolated – but the participant finds her/ himself engaging in an abstract dialogue through every movement they make.’ 18\\ CHROMATICITY by Monocoque Service Design ‘strips the intricacies of colour theory and its science down to a leaner approach in engaging visitors with this installation. By combining simple physics with the curiosity of the human mind, the installation seeks to explore the manipulation of light and its influence on the perception of colours...’ To encourage participation beyond the visual, visitors are invited to name their favourite hue and shade of colour, as well as write their names on a transparent sticker provided and place this onto that colour on the installation. 19\\ LUMOS by Albert Lee and JiaYing Chew explores the play of light and shadows. Visitors here are encouraged to use their smart phones to illuminate intricate patterns inside specially made kaleidoscopes and to form shapes or images on miniature cityskyline silhouettes.

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under the bleachers too story and photos by TLH

The fourth edition of Singapore’s biennial lighting festival, iLight Marina Bay (Mar 4 to 27, 2016), based on the theme ‘In Praise of Shadows’, the title of Japanese novelist Junichiro Tanizaki’s seminal essay, was a massive fairground that offered a long trail of interactive aural, tactile and visual fun to delighted visitors

urated by Randy Chan, Principal Architect at Zarch Collaboratives, Singapore, and Khairuddin Hori, Deputy Director of Artistic Programming at Palais de Tokyo, Paris, the 25 interactive as well as stand-alone sculptural installations that livened the boulevards and open spaces skirting Marina Bay waterfront were created according to the given theme to ‘challenge the obsession that brighter is better and seek to reframe perceptions of light and sustainability’. The curatorial team had hoped to ‘inspire artists and festival-goers to re-imagine and reconsider

1\\ ‘WHAT A LOVING & BEAUTIFUL WORLD’ by teamLab (Japan), presented by Marina Bay Sands and Panasonic, animation graphics projected on the facade of the ArtScience Museum. Viewers were invited

to participate in the colourful multi-sensory experience by ‘swiping’ Chinese characters onto the artwork using a web application on their smart phones, resulting in continuously evolving images in the projection for everyone to see.

4\\ LAMPSHADE by Snøhetta (Norway). ‘Lampshade is made of simple bamboo structures covered in photovoltaic cells to prevent sunlight from entering its interior in the day, while lighting up intensively at night with solar energy enough to power a thousand lamps. The installation challenges the perception of artificial light as an element that is dependent on its energy source, and invites visitors to discover links in harnessing sunlight and the eventual electric light. Made to be both socially and environmentally friendly, the lamps used in this installation will be donated to off-grid communities after its display while the bamboo structure and its light fixtures will be recycled as construction scaffolding.’ Light beams in the background above are part of ‘MARINE CONSTELLATIONS’ by Lumen Artistry and Laughing Stars (Singapore and Japan), a light performance that ‘seek to portray the relationship between light, our urban fabric, and the observer. Beams of lasers link the familiar skyline of Marina Bay, as if creating a new constellation in the cityscape for visitors to trace...’

2\\ BOLT by Jun Ong (Malaysia). ‘Inspired by the form and behavior of lightning, the installation comprises an intricate network of LED tubes resting on steel legs that flare up when touched. Bolt not only mimics the ethereal nature of lightning, but also allows people to experience direct visceral connections, creating an emotional “spark” that seems to be diminishing in today’s virtuallyconnected world.’

3\\ ANGELS OF FREEDOM by OGE Group, Gaston Zahr and Merav Eitan (Germany and Israel). Comprising five sets of huge colourful wings, this installation – a crowd favourite – ‘seeks to remind visitors of their true selves and to always remain connected to loved ones and those who matter.’

5\\ LIGHTSCAPE PAVILION by MisoSoupDesign (Taiwan), presented by The Fullerton Heritage. Inspired by traditional Chinese lanterns, the installation is made of simple, natural materials. ‘Its bamboo lattice is designed to resemble a traditional lantern and its responsive glow serves to unite people under its canopy. The transparency and subtlety of the pavilion places emphasis and focus on the aesthetical beauty of its surroundings and inhabitants instead of its own self. As visitors move closer to its columns, its glow intensifies, as if to symbolically draw strength from the proximity of a human spirit.’

sustainability issues in a new light and come together to create and sustain a harmonious relationship with our environment’ (press statement). For the first time, more than half of the festival artworks were designed by local artists and students. Among these were TERRA.GLIMMER by NUS’ School of Architecture and the Built Environment and Singapore Polytechnic; inspired by Japanese Zen gardens, the installation consisted of a bed of pebbles painted with phosphorescent paint, to encourage thought on ‘the reliance on fossil fuels to illuminate cities, the overabundance of urban bright lights and the urgent need to continue seeking alternative lighting sources’. SONICtower by sound-media artist Zulkifle Mahmod comprises four zones of 320 solenoids and LED lights that create a rhythmic sound-and-light scape within the 15m tower’s scaffolding. THE CLOUD by Kenny Hong is a cloud-like installation that symbolised ‘the guidance and protection of the community’. Co-created with A*STAR, the sculpture’s form is made of a flexible material that ‘allows it to be cut and curled, and with the thinness of the electroluminescent lighting, makes it possible to create a visual interaction of curvilinear planes. It gives the effect of swirling movement of a supernatural cloud...’ ‘The curation of the festival considered the conventional perception of light and beauty in the context of a cityscape,’ said co-curator Randy Chan. ‘Each

6\\ THE CLOUD by Kenny Hong (Singapore), co-created by A*STAR, under the Seating Gallery. Resembling a ‘cloud’, the installation symbolises ‘the guidance and protection of the community’. ‘The flexibility of the material allows it to be cut and curled, and with the thinness of the electroluminescent lighting, makes it possible to create a visual interaction of curvilinear planes. It gives the effect of swirling movement of a supernatural cloud. In this technology created by A*STAR, electrically functional inks are deposited on materials such as plastic or metal foil, giving rise to sleek dimensions and an aesthetically pleasing, uniform diffused light.’

7\\ DANDELION by Supermachine Studio (Pitupong Chaowakul, Thailand) is ‘a lowfi interactive sphere consisting of 320 3D-printed flip panels and a singular light source installed at its core, projecting shadows on surrounding surfaces. Visitors are invited to open and close the panels to create different configurations of light and shadow.’

artwork was selected for its strong message and unique perspective. The ensemble of artists for this edition is very diverse, and their artworks carry poignant narratives that we hope will inspire introspection and new ideas for positive change in every festival-goer.’ Said Jason Chen, Festival Director and Director for Place Management, URA: ‘It has always been our intent to grow the festival with greater involvement from the local community. We are glad to see an many local artists coming on board to

showcase their artworks and support the sustainability cause, and we hope to attract more in the coming years.’ In spite of the festival’s abiding serious message for the environment, the daily streams of visitors who came to see the 24-day iLight exhibition, including many tourists and holiday makers, were more drawn to the interactive fun in some of the installations and happysnaps opportunity in most, indulging in it all as street entertainment in the already spectacularly lit Marina Bay

8\\ UNSEEN: TOUCH FIELD by Alecia Neo (Singapore). ‘Unfolding like an endless topographical illustration within a floating tunnel, “Unseen: Touch Field” depicts the cityscapes of Singapore and Taipei as a drawing that is meant to be “seen” in the dark, using the touch of the hand instead of the gaze of the eye. The work invites visitors to experience the reality of visuallyimpaired individuals. The installation is based on an ongoing series of work Neo first undertook with blind and sight-impaired participants from the two cities, where the artist collaborated with the participants to create photographic self-portraits and images of their surroundings. These were subsequently rendered into the “braille drawings” of Touch Field. Bereft of sight, the body adjusts to heighten other senses like touch – it is this human ability to adjust in the face of challenging conditions that is a characteristic shared by many, showing that people are more alike than we often believe to be true.’

9\\ FISSURE by Ong Kian Peng (Singapore), is a light sculpture that takes the form of a polyhedron that has been cut into half. ‘Light permeates through its centre, taking form in a fluid scanning motion that changes over time. When visitors place their palms on the two pedestals, the sculpture visualises their heartbeats which start off as individual pulses but synchronising over time and transforming into a unique visual light sequence. Influenced by the conflicted state of the world today, Fissure speaks of the possibility of coming together to make a difference.’

built-scape. Of no less interest were a scatter of carefully placed exhibits under the bleachers (Seating Gallery) facing The Float @ Marina Bay that, ironically, stood out more for their contrast to the existing unpolished conditions of the location. Perhaps future editions of iLight can be held in the heartlands too?

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Story and imageS courteSy Festival des architectures vives

1\\ SABLE Y EST by Ariane Francescato and Julien Pinard. The idea of this work is that architectural innovation is not about creating something new but ‘primarily in the renewal of the existing’. Reinterpreting an earlier work they did for FAV 2009, black and shiny cones of varying sizes are placed on a floor of sand. Visitors walk between or over the cones as they negotiate their way through this peculiar landscape.

his year’s Lively Architecture Festival (FAV) in France at Montpellier and La Grande-Motte (June 14 to 19 and June 18 to 26, respectively) features architectural interventions at 19 specific sites under the theme ‘Innovate’. The annual event, Montpellier’s 11th edition and the fourth at La Grande-Motte, sets out not only to highlight the work of a younger generation of architects, landscape architects, urban planners but also to discover lesser known urban areas – especially enchanting private courtyards which are usually hidden from public access. Through their interventions in the form of ephemeral small-scale projects, the 18 creative teams and one invited university will present installations specific to each place, and reveal an intimate relationship between contemporary architecture and heritage sites. One of the FAV teams (comprising Gabrielle Vinson, Quentin Devoyer and Edwin Toledo) will also be participating in Concéntrico, an architecture and design event in Logroño, Spain, created by Javier Peña Ibañez, which takes place from April 28 to May 1. www.festivaldesarchitecturesvives.com

2\\ [ IN N’ OVER ] by Maxime Derrouch, Typhaine Le Goff and Emeline Marty, features flocks of origami birds hovering over a mirrored floor. The ‘innovation’ element in this composition ‘refers to the notion of experience, the need to look back. The floor reflects the flight of birds and the sky. They become the opposite of that future facing up, and the past experience lies under our feet...’

3\\ VEINTICUATRO by Maria Victoria Cresta, Giovanna Giampetruzzi, Lucas Torres Aguero, Soledad Lanus and Marcelo Gurdo Ariel (team from Buenos Aires, Argentine) is a reinterpretation of the sculptural water fountain. The inside of a box, which one can enter, is ‘bathed by water’ to evoke rain, ‘the joy of summer...inviting us to daydream to the sound of water’. ‘But the piece also contains a layer that we [don’t see at first], a hidden choreography that we might easily miss. In doing so, it emphasizes the idea of multiple simultaneous realities and proposes us to go deeper, beyond the apparent to experience the subtle and make the invisible visible to those who so wish...’ 4\\ PARADIGMES by Judith Chatain, Gabrielle Doublet and Audrey Farinole. ‘Understanding and tolerance are fed by exchange, communication and sharing. During the Festival des Architectures Vives, the courtyard is open to everyone. Usually passed by, it here becomes a place to develop sociability and communication between people.’ In this installation, the courtyard ‘becomes an open-air library; the visitor can walk through an installation of scrolls. They can write their thoughts on the scrolls, taking time for reflection, sharing and transmission, and may contemplate those of others. Once a message is written, it can be brought to life by setting the scroll in motion, spreading the words through the air. The installation changes a spiritual object into a generator of optimistic thoughts. A new paradigm is born.’

5\\ THIN GREEN by Belle Ville Atelier d’Architecture (Ilan Bitoun, Vincent Imfeld, Alexandre Ferron, Anthony Le Page and Lucile Nicosia) ‘is a project giving the visitors the opportunity to live an immersive and educational experience. The goal is for visitors to push open a door to find a green oasis [within that offers] a refreshing break... The installation allows them to experiment and quantify the efficiency of a natural cooling system. Plants and a water-based misting system, the evapotranspiration of the leaves, and the natural water retention of the soil, all combine to cool down the temperature within the courtyard.’ 6\\ GREEN WASH by Atelier MAP (Gabriel Lacombe, Jean-Philippe Di Marco and Carlo Tadeo)(team from Vancouver and Montréal, Canada). ‘Innovation in architecture has many facets, one that allows integration of new technology, one that pushes new ideas and another ones that mirrors newness to the public eye. The latter is unfortunately the one that is more often conveyed. It is a symbol used to promote “new architecture” and to sell brands. A good example of that misleading process is the green roof. Nowadays it is used in power selling of residential and commercial architecture. This practice is sold as the only ecological and sustainable option, quickly sweeping away any other consideration for new ways of thinking green architecture. The project suggests that spontaneous methods of building are not so innovative. Trying to investigate this, Green Wash showcases a green roof without its supporting building. It proposes that we stop for a moment and understand the relation between the ground and the roof, offering a brand new perspective on this “innovation”.’

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uncovering wit by Yvonne Xu | book images courtesy The ParTners

Brand consultancy The Partners and publisher Phaidon Press have launched a new edition of one of the most influential books in design and branding – ‘A Smile In the Mind’. The book highlights how witty thinking powers some of the world’s biggest brands and most memorable marketing campaigns, seeing humour and intellectual playfulness as the shortest distance between brands and their audiences

Smile In The Mind: Witty Thinking in Graphic Design has been hailed as the ‘closest thing to a bible for wit and cleverness.’ (Armin Vit) It was originally published in 1996 as a sourcebook and instructional manual showcasing witty design as employed by some of the world’s most successful brands and marketing campaigns. The newly released edition is co-authored by The Partners’ Greg Quinton and writer Nick Ashbury. Given a new florescent orange cover and extensively revised with more than double the number of examples of the 1996 version, this book is bigger, brighter and even more brilliant. A Smile In The Mind: Witty Thinking in Graphic Design is a winning book in virtue of its subject. The bulk of the 271-page tome is packed with examples of wit culled from the most brilliant minds in the business.

Illustrations for wedding invites and typographic design for a dinosaur skeleton exhibition share the page with legendary classics such as a Paul Rand rebus and a Lindon Leader negative space, making the compilation an excellent, meritocratic show-and-tell. But A Smile does not just deliver visual punch lines, it is also deeply investigative and analytical. Wit is a leap in thought. It’s a synaptic job. Both its creation and delivery are intellectual processes. The best of it makes delivered messages stick in the mind. Wit’s territory is undoubtedly cerebral and A Smile dissects it like it is performing brain surgery. If there was a flash of insight where does it light up? What clicks when the penny drops, so to speak? How does wit actually work? What are its pathways?

A Smile goes about all of these in an organized way. It opens with ‘The Case for Wit’, uncovering the structural underpinnings of wit. Techniques of wit then come under ‘Types of Wit’ including ‘Trompe L’oeil’, ‘Puns and Rebuses’, and ‘Pairs’. In following sections ‘Wit in Practice’ and ‘Wit in the World’, illustrative examples are presented grouped according to application (posters, data visualisation, packaging, etc) and sector (retail, travel, politics, etc). A Smile closes with a valuable ‘How I Got The Idea’ section where 23 designers answer the posed question. Continuing the investigative mode of its introductory pages, the book now focuses through the lens of the designers. Still on the trail of the origins of the witty idea, it asks the designers to retrace their creative ootsteps.

Greg Quinton, co-author and Executive Creative Director, The Partners

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‘Ideas come from under a rock at the back of my head,’ shares the New Zealand based Dean Poole. ‘The idea is already there, but I have to uncover it.’ In a rather Japanese way, Shigeo Fukuda’s ceremonial ritual includes first washing his hands with soap, and then sharpening ten or more pencils with a cutter knife. Milton Glaser does not know how he gets ideas. Readers, not least designers, will value the honesty shared in these essays. They will feel relieved to learn, for instance, that deadening deadlines and overworking are common problems: ‘You cannot insist on getting an idea by two o’clock.’ (Milton Glaser) ‘It is possible to labour too much for an idea.’ (Jim Sutherland) They will read about the roadblocks and deadends, about the pressure that beset even the best: ‘I thought that the poster for America’s most progressive design competition, the One Hundred Show, would be the ultimate easy problem to solve: no restrictions whatsoever, an audience of other designers, nothing but commonality. How could I help but be brilliant? But people crash and burn on jobs like that. I was frozen by it. I put it off repeatedly, even when I was pestered to make decisions about colours and size. Then the organization pleaded with me to produce at least my statement as chairman to go on the back...’ (Michael Bierut)

But they will also find instruction on how to get out of the rut and pursue excellence: ‘I tend to have several jobs running at one time, and flip from one to another. When I was doing book jackets for Faber, I would do six simultaneously, putting the six briefs on my table in a row. It stopped me from wasting time worrying about just one. One problem helps me with another.’ (John McConnell) ‘Being a perfectionist means I feel quite ill if a job goes out that I’m not happy with. On occasion I’ve asked the client to send back the artwork on some pretext or other, and I do it again. The reason might be just that I picked the wrong yellow. I can’t just say “oh, that’ll do”, whether the job is for a palace or a garage – it’s against my nature.’ (Alan Fletcher)

Wit can come as a flash of brilliance or from repeated failures, and as these anecdotes reveal, its processes can be dignified or somewhat desperate. It is playful irony, perhaps, that even as the book was premised on the success of wit, it is these shared sympathies that ‘make the connection’, as it were, and really make us smile. ‘A smile is the shortest distance between two people.’ (Victor Borge).

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video conference BY SuSie Wong | images courtesY BetWixt FeStival 2016 | photos BY olivia KWoK

Urich Lau, in collaboration with Marcel Gaspar and Teow Yue Han, ‘performed’ a work in a medium that is new technology-based for the Betwixt Festival this year. With live feeds and streaming, there was a sense of chatter between the end-points of the medium that straddle the globe, between London – studio of Yue Han, and Lau at the Art Science Museum

onversations in the group chat ask questions pertaining to whether digital or virtual ‘life’ with its capacity for memory (or systems of data feeding) makes a ‘living thinking life form,’ a perennial existential discussion whenever technology is mentioned. Is this a performance? Audience sits and stands, watching as the perpetuators of this virtual space continue to feed their connections. A drone propelled by Marcel Gaspar flies around in mid-air; drones becoming the hottest gadget that changes the way we view the world, changing our idea of landscapes. For this event, through its camera, the audience sees images of themselves

projected live on the walls. The audience is a witness to the expansion or is it shrinkage of the world-space. We are already adept at these conduit connections, to this brave new culture. The event merely reiterates it for us. Lau is one of the few emerging artists in Singapore whose work catches the digital, online, network stream of our consciousness today. He was a Sovereign Asian Art Prize finalist in Hong Kong in 2013-14. SUSIE WONG: You have quite a number of elements in the work Video Conference: Video projections, VJ, live video, live sound, online live video streaming via USTREAM. As a Video Jockey on the console, you are like a conductor in an event,

Video Conference: Co-Optive – a live video performance at ArtScience Museum by Urich Lau, in collaboration with Teow Yue Han online visual streaming from London, and Marcel Gaspar flying a drone with video transmission.

such complexes by other giant browser and web hosting companies. Whether they are data in your emails, social media accounts, or contents on every single webpage, these are still tangible items that need storage in physical spaces. And with the prevalence of data capturing devices like smartphones, more images, videos, texts, and caches are saturating in somewhere invisible to the users. And what ultimately is the relevance of authorship for these data? Is it even possible to trace the datafootprint over time in transferring and sharing? So I think the future is already here.

audience sitting or standing around and regaled or blasted with images, and projections of screens, in particular the live chat. How much are you in control or not in control of what is happening – in other words, is there a script, a kind of programme? URICH LAU: I don’t see ourselves working in a script or programme, but more in a structure – where there are a sequence of steps for a singular action or station to take place, which the collaborators and myself have taken under our control. I have foreseen these would be chaotic and overwhelming but somehow it would reflect how we are slowly evolving into multi-tasking creatures. We wouldn’t exactly present the work in a linear way but it should be progressive. We wouldn’t actually ‘perform’ because each station required a certain action.

We control the beginning and the ending, but we let accidents and improvisation happen during the course. Driven by what you perceive as ‘concepts of the perpetual imaging saturation in the digital realm, the ‘copy & paste’ culture in the contemporary notions of appropriation, and the forgotten burden of how much data that we generate as we deemed as ‘recording and information in our everyday life’, are you projecting a future, or is this our present? I remember reading a newsfeed about Google running a huge complex of servers and drivers in a cavernous hangar situated in some barren landscape, that prompted me into thinking about the amount of ‘junk’ we produce everyday in cyberspace. And there are many of

Are you a fan of Sci-fi, and if so, which is your favourite? Along this line, I note that in the live chat, questions of existence (proof of) and being disembodied, were expressed. Am I a fan? Yes sort of, for only some movies and stories. Perhaps the one that got me really interested in sci-fi was Ghost in the Shell (Masamune Shirow, 1995). And yes, the live chat between Yue Han [in London] and myself, was appropriated from a scene in the movie. As I got more interested in the topics of technology in relation to the subject of human interactions and ensuing dilemma, I got more drawn to universal concepts from old classics like Frankenstein (Mary Shelley, 1818) and Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927). Frankenstein set a precedent and is considered the first work of science fiction, which should consist of 3 factors: be grounded with a valid scientific research; as a prediction of what could be possible in the future; and offers a humanistic critique on issues in technology and science. So from these notions, a common activity like talking over the Internet with live-streamed visual, would actually reflect on old imaginations of the past on how we could communicate with each other with fewer limitations over time and

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We were thinking in terms of the situation of how videos or images are captured all the time and viewed through one of the most monotonous of image-making techniques in contemporary life, which is video conferencing. And some of our collaborative techniques are on live-streaming and transmission in visuals and sounds. The online chat was deliberately conceived to show both Yue Han and myself ‘acting’ out a conversation, and showing the goings-on in our respective spaces with people (audiences) coming in and getting captured in the webcam. Yue Han has invited his audience to his studio, and it was intended for a more casual setting where the audience could log into the Google Hangout platform that they could also had their images shown. Whereas I intended another approach in capturing the audience here in Singapore by setting up 4 closed-circuit cameras, in addition of a flying drone controlled by Marcel. You could say it is a dichotomy between the active and the passive, the voluntary and the involuntary. I think the strategies in engaging audiences could be more than the usual mutuality of both parties (artist and audience). I like to be more in control.

Betwixt Festival was a 6-day festival (Feb 25 to Mar 1) at the Art Science Museum. Founded by SpangLei (Serena Pang and Wen Lei), it addresses the ‘gap between technology and art, answers the questions about lies in this interstice, and present the interstices of the different aspects of our world through digital, interactive art.’ (2016.betwixtfestival.com)

space – especially when the telephone was first invented. And with the communication technology now, could we actually be more humanly expressive and intuitive? I would paraphrase with this line I read before: the most successful technology is when the user doesn’t even notice that it (technology) is there when using it. Indeed, we can dig up all sorts of references that raises such ontological questions. Tell us more about the videos you played – were these live-streamed. The connections made, or the live chat conversations that were part of the event. I noticed that there were also people who were in the ‘conversation’ who were very physically active – moving, stretching, in fact measuring the span of the bodies to the camera’s shot – for me, it exacerbated that they were actually confined to the camera. As audience, we were very passive. But we became unwitting participants when we were ‘shot’ as well by the drone, and our images (as an audience) were projected. The use of the drone, I understand is by Marcel Gaspar. How did you envisage our part in this event?

Tell us more about your practice; I recall you began your early practice with installational art. How did you develop this interest in digital technology, along with all its consequential instruments? Would you share some early works? In my early practice, I work with painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture and installation art. I even did a performance art event. I think it’s after my Masters that I really explored the video medium. It was about combining video with my early practice in those art forms. I was looking for unusual ways to work with, sometimes in a seemingly unethical or uncomfortable way. For the viewers at least. Like, how to provoke the viewers’ notion of time, perception and perspectives when looking at my work. I always tell myself not to make ‘safe’ or conventional works, I don’t want to entertain the audience. I hope to leave the audience with an empathetic outlook on art, like artists who search the meaning of art in society. I use technology in my work, primarily it’s out of pure interests. I’m a self-professed geek. I like to experiment and with various software and hardware. I like old and new technology. And everyone uses some form of technology whether they like it or not, that is today and the future.

PARIS / SEPTEMBER 2-6, 2016 PARIS NORD VILLEPINTE

BE HIGHLY INSPIRED IN PARIS

WWW.MAISON-OBJET.COM

INFO@SAFISALONS.FR SAFI ORGANISATION, A SUBSIDIARY OF ATELIERS D’ART DE FRANCE AND REED EXPOSITIONS FRANCE / TRADE ONLY / DESIGN © BE-POLES - IMAGE © DR - ZIMINDMITRY

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1\\ Algahest by Pratchaya Phinthong, 2012; moveable window made of acrylic enclosing sand, water, and air, large acrylic canvas painting (photos by Marc Domage, courtesy gb agency)

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2\\ A Short History of Man and Animal by Richard StreitmatterTran, 2015; wood, iron, unfired porcelain clay; dimensions 100 x 160 x 70cm (photo courtesy of the artist)

ODYSSEY: NAVIGATING NAMELESS SEAS Singapore Art Museum June 4 to Aug 28

eaturing commissioned artworks, artist loans and works from the Singapore Art Museum collection, Odyssey: Navigating Nameless Seas invites visitors into Earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s watery realms, as seen through the eyes of contemporary artists. Through the centuries, over numerous expeditions, and with ever-increasing sophistication in science and technology, humankind has sailed the seven seas and plunged into the very depths of oceanic trenches. Yet there remains much to be discovered of this alien world. ODYSSEY: NAVIGATING NAMELESS SEAS is where artists delve into the unfathomable depths of the oceanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mysteries, and also think through the tempests that batter our sails on this journey through life. Riddled with twists and turns, where will our explorations take us? While we seem to know more and more about the world around us, to what extent does it give us insights into human nature? To what ends our endless discoveries?

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Space Furniture 77 Bencoolen St Singapore 189653 t: +65 6415 0000 e: contractsales@spacefurniture.com.sg Lot 3-12 Intermark Mall The Intermark 348 Jalan Tuk Razak 50400 Kuala Lumpur t: 603 2166 2212 e: info@spacefurniture.com.my www.spacefurniture.asia

luxe appeal The diversity in the brands represented by Space Furniture is reflected in the wide collection that is able to fulfill any design intent and fit into any projects. The sought-after collection can be found in local context as well as within high profile international projects, in a myriad of environments from luxury boutiques and multi-brand retail stores to iconic restaurants and office spaces.

B&B Italia El chair by Antonio Citterio

Space Furniture continues to provide high impact, innovative and original solutions for all contract fitouts; here are some recently-completed F&B projects. The interior of Bennelong restaurant by Tonkin Zulaikha Greer

Bennelong RestauRant Designed by one of Australia’s most inventive architectural firms, Tonkin Zulaikha Greer, the refurbishment of the Sydney Opera House’s Bennelong restaurant opened in early July 2015. Restaurateurs The Fink Group briefed TZG to design the restaurant with a series of levels to celebrate the architectural history of the Sydney Opera House. “The last thing anyone wanted to do was shoe-horn a restaurant into Bennelong,” says Director of the Fink Group, John Fink. “We wanted to build and operate a restaurant that is true to Bennelong’s original purpose and seamlessly integrates with the fabric of the World heritage-listed Sydney Opera House and Jørn Utzon’s vision on a day-to-day basis.” Maxalto Acanto and B&B Italia El chairs from the Space collection are supplied for the restaurant. Sydney Opera House where Bennelong Restaurant is situated

WhitegRass Situated at the iconic location CHIJMES, Whitegrass is chef-owner Sam Aisbett’s first restaurant venture. Aisbett is no stranger to the scene though. Three years as Head Chef at award-winning restaurant Quay in Sydney and two years as Sous Chef at the highly-reputable Tetsuya’s in Sydney, it is no wonder that Whitegrass has already received rave reviews for its modern Australian dining experience. Whitegrass’ interior is by Takenouchi Webb who are themselves well-versed in F&B projects having designed for The White Rabbit and Black Swan. Carefully-considered in every detail from the soft and soothing colour scheme to the wallpaper selection, Roll & Hill lighting from the Modo and Odds & Ends collections were chosen to enhance the overall ambience.

Emeco, Flexform, Flos, Gebruder Thonet Vienna, Giorgetti, Kartell, Maxalto, Moooi, Poliform, SP01, Varenna by Poliform, Verpan, Vitra and more. Check out spacefurniture.asia for more details.

Photo: Jovian Lim Photography

Space carries a wide range of brands including Arflex, Artek, B&B Italia, Carl Hansen & Son, ClassiCon,

Roll & Hill Modo table lamp by Jason Miller

Roll & Hill Modo chandelier by Jason Miller

The interior of Whitegrass restaurant by Takenouchi Webb

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K i t c h e n c u lt u r e 2 Leng Kee Road #01-02/05/07/08 Thye Hong Centre Singapore 159086 t: +65 6473 6776 e: info@khlmktg.com www.kitchenculture.com

Copper Craze Copper is currently celebrating a big comeback and we can see it clearly in these new launches by Rational and Küppersbusch. rational: the new SuperStarS Presenting a new timelessly elegant colour, Rational’s white and copper combination launches itself afresh and in terms of versatility and variability proves more effective than ever before. A new dream team thus emerges, providing trendsetters on the furnishing front with inspiration for designing stylish kitchen diners.

Many consumers dream of owning a white kitchen because this timeless classic colour is a true allrounder that never goes out of fashion. It evokes positive associations, such as lightness and perfection, transparency and transcendence, purity and clarity, impeccability and resolve. Boasting lustre and versatility, copper - the new superstar in the furnishing firmament – also scores highly. This popular precious metal is quite literally making a gleaming comeback and impresses on account of the diverse range of both its appearance and application options: from high gloss to matt, brushed or smooth, in attractive shimmering nuances, such as rosé gold, vivid orange and red gold through to warm brown

hues. And over time copper becomes even more unique and beautiful, thanks to its naturally forming patina. This all-round talent offering virtually endless combination possibilities proves that white is anything but bland and boring. What’s more, white lights up everything around it, making even small kitchen spaces appear more open, spacious and imposing. And when combined with other materials, such as highgrade woods or natural stone and glass, comfortable kitchen diners can be created in an array of different styles: modern-urban, timelessly elegant, classic, nostalgic, vintage look or even shabby chic!

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KcrOOM (a subsidiary of kitchen culture) 2 Leng Kee Road #01-07 Thye Hong Centre Singapore 159086 t: +65 6473 6770 e: info@kcroom.com.sg www.kcroom.com.sg Küppersbusch copper edition Kitchen experts will already be familiar with the principle from Küppersbusch’s individual concept: when selecting their appliances, you can choose between a black and a white design. In addition, this award-winning oven can give your kitchen a very special look with coloured handles and decorative panels. Now Küppersbusch is also offering these panels in its new copper colour. The Copper

Edition is also being complemented by customisable island and chimney cooker hoods, a free-standing fridge and warming drawers. The elegant metal conveys warmth and can be combined with many different colours. This makes copper the perfect finish or accent colour for every kitchen. Küppersbusch is featuring this trend in its Copper Edition and launching a Copper design kit for selected built-in kitchen appliances. All products from the Copper Edition are now available.

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Bravat Singapore p t e Lt d 1 Commonwealth Lane #01-10/17 One Commonwealth Singapore 149544 t: +65 6659 1868 f: +65 6659 1968 e: sales@bravat.com.sg www.bravat.com.sg

GINA by brAvAt Inspired by the feminine form, the GINA range of bathroom ware from Bravat fuses the essence of contemporary and professional creation with soft lines and colours to describe the woman of the 21st century - modern, refined, tender, elegant and fashionable. With its fine textures and stylish design, the GINA series injects fashionable elements into any bathroom space. The eye-catching yet soothing form factor would bring pleasure to your senses as you soak your fatigue away after a long day while allowing your imagination to take you to another realm. Made durable, this stunning timeless masterpiece comes with a high-density ceramic body vitrified by a high temperature of more than 1,200 degree Celsius for 24 hours. In fact, Bravat is also one of the few manufacturers that utilises this process in its production which makes the GINA bathroom collection long-lasting for many years. You can also be assured that its beauty will remain unchanged through its use with its nano-coated glazing that gives shine and lustre.

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SPIN 994 Bendemeer Road #05-01 Singapore 339943 t: +65 6298 1038/0948 f: +65 6298 0780 e: enquiries@spinfans.com www.spinfans.com.sg

Spinning to SucceSS This spring, Spin will be releasing an additional size 42” - to the suite of fans. This new size would allow SPIN fans to be placed in smaller spaces such as balcony, dining area, bedrooms, patio and more; while giving it a minimalist look still. With an emphasis on the sleek silhouette and reduced forms, SPIN also excels in the area of functionality such as the 6 speed Forward and Reverse rotation for the desired wind delivery. In addition, SPIN fans are equipped with an “N” mode for natural airflow. Looking for a lighting solution too? SPIN fans can be paired with its own range of LED light kits. Featuring 3 tones - day, cool and warm – the 19w LED lights are able to adapt to the different times and moods of the day while providing sufficient illumination. Pairing state-of-the-art ceiling fan designs and a new generation of DC motor, SPIN aims to redefine ceiling fan aesthetics while maintaining smooth wind delivery and motor capabilities. Since 2008, SPIN has been manufacturing DC motors for ceiling fans, and through constant innovative research and development, the brand has now engineered a highly advanced DC motor like no other.

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Maison & objet asia 1 Changi Business Park Crescent #06-01 Plaza 8@ CBP Tower A Singapore 486025 www.maison-objet.com

A New HigH The third session of Maison & Objet Asia showed how on-point the move to reposition the show was. From 8 and 11 March, a whopping total of 7,179 visitors strolled around the aisles of the new art of living gathering in Asia – of which 62 per cent were key industry players. Real estate developers, hoteliers, restaurateurs, and interior designers worked, found inspiration, and communicated with one another through this oneof-a-kind platform at Maison & Objet Asia which brought together knowledgeable exhibitors, an Interior

Image Courtesy of M&O ASIA / AMARANTHINE PHOTOS

Design and Lifestyle Summit with 20 high-flying talks and lectures and a showcase exhibiting the region’s rising talents. Furthermore, the increasingly highly qualified visitors were a testament to the new move to reposition the show in a direction angled at higher quality and expertise. Proof of this could be seen in the proportion of interior designers on hand, which had grown by 11 per cent over 2015. Showing for the first time at Maison & Objet Asia, Dornbracht South-East Asia’s executive director Ricky Schulze was thrilled with the new concepts for bespoke design shown by the brand. The distributor lauded the “chance to meet a wide, diverse audience from countries as different as Korea, Indonesia, Dubai, as well as Thailand and the Philippines.”

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C A S A ( S ) P T E LT D 15 Kian Teck Crescent Singapore 628884 T: + 65 6268 0066 www.casaholdings.com.sg www.rubine.it

InnovatIve InventIon The first water heater in the market with a remote control that can pre-set time and save in energy, the Rubine Arch Series Water Heater is truly one-of-a-kind. With seven years warranty given for the tank, this heater features a Japanese anti-bacterial rate of up to 99.9 percent and comes equipped with an energy saving technology that will effectively improve about 20 percent of your hot water output. Available in 15 and 30 litres, this handy heater is also able to pre-set the heat up time from the heater itself and wireless remote controller.

A renowned Italian brand, Rubine offers a wide range of quality product ranging from kitchen sink, faucet, mirror cabinet, shower and bathroom accessories. It is exquisitely designed as a true reflection of your lifestyle. Extensive line of top quality products ensures that there’s something right for your – be it design, space or style. They’re always improving our designs to meet your needs and expectations of a perfect home.

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Digital edition of d+a is now available on iPhone, iPad and Android

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You can now download d+a magazine from the digital magazine store, Magzter.

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TERMS & CONDITIONS: Offer ends 31 May 2016 All subscription payments are inclusive of GST & local postage charges Subscription is non-refundable Subscription requires 4 to 6 weeks for processing once received In the event of a cancellation of annual subscription at any time, no refunds can be given For any enquiries or purchase of back issues, please email to subscription@key-editions.com Key Editions Pte Ltd reserves the right to publish and/or use the details of the entries for future marketing and promotional purposes Should you not wish to receive such promotional material, please email to edm@key-editions.com with the heading “Unsubscribe d+a” Email address given for Magzter cannot be rectified once furnished

d+a 091 apr/may 2016

RETURN ADDRESS: THE SUBSCRIPTION DEPARTMENT KEY EDITIONS PTE LTD 20 Bedok South Road Singapore 469277 Tel: 6445 3313 Fax: 6445 3373 Email: subscription@key-editions.com

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