Yatzer by Hugo Bler

Yatzer Editorial

Yatzer is a global online destination for fine and applied arts. It comprises an explosion of wholly exclusive and unique contemporary resources for anyone searching for inspiration and the absolute crème de la crème from global media coverage! Each and every day, Yatzer features captivating far-reaching news stories, interviews and reviews from the creative world, covering spheres such as design, architecture, travel, art, fashion, events etc. Yatzer was previously founded by the Greek interior designer, Costas Voyatzis, who has been named as one of the 100 most influential people in the design industry by French heavyweight Architectural Digest. Since its initial launch on January 21, 2007, Yatzer.com, now owned by Yatzerland Limited, has been acknowledged as one of the most indispensable sources for design inspiration and is now a point of reference and a much desired forum amongst designers for presenting their work. Yatzer’s traffic has steadily increased by almost 100% year on year, with an average of 350,000 Unique visitors and 1,200,000 Pageviews on a monthly and global basis. We consider it an honour, as well as an official acknowledgement, that in April 2011, the prominent Italian Magazine INTERNI Panorama listed Yatzer amongst the TOP FIVE international design sites. With thousands of blogs and sites linked in to Yatzer.com, the site also represents a reference point for those who want to acquire an overall idea of what’s happening in the creative and ever-changing world of design.

•Design is Love + Love is to Share = Design is to Share•

by Costas

Voyatzis

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Tasty & Yummy

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Issue Special

Look up To

Go & See

Fab. & Fancy

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Index

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“If It Can Be Imagined, It Exists” The Surreal Photography of Madame Peripetie

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photo by Madame Peripetie.

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A new fashion photography book by London-based image maker Sylwana Zybura (a.k.a. Madame Peripetie) is just about to be released by German publisher Seltmann+Söhne. Titled ‘Dream Sequence’, the book contains a series of portraits of imaginary characters, whose features are replaced by flowers or other objects while their bodies are covered with bizarre garments and colours. The book which evolved out of a long-term photography project, has won several awards (including the Double Gold at PX3 2011 in Paris, and an honourable mention at the International Photography Awards 2013 in New York), and has been compiled for costume designers, fashion stylists and everyone who is interested in character design and image building in general.

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photo by Madame Peripetie.

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The motto of the book {If It Can Be Imagined, It Exists} reflects the overall approach used in its creation, since the images it contains plunge straight into a surreal world of mixed references and rampant imagination, all the while staying in touch with “the philosophical concepts of the beautiful and the sublime.” The impressive part of the project however, is that all the objects, compositions, beautiful colours and patchwork aesthetic were achieved not with the aid of digital retouching and editing, but rather live in the studio and on the models themselves, deploying advanced makeup techniques, bunches of real flowers and the clever use of props and camera. As a result, the book is not just a captivating collection of images that are a feast for the eye but also the documentation of an ambitious costume-design and character-building project ‚Äì which, as the images make clear, was a very successful one at that. Sylwana Zybura is a Polish-German linguist and image maker, whose adventurous spirit and visual style do real justice to her assumed pseudonym Madame Peripetie. Her work draws inspiration from surrealism, science fiction and the work of theatre director Bob Wilson. She has worked on and produced many editorials and fashion campaigns for clients such as Topshop, Hunger Magazine and several indie fashion labels. Her book ‘Dream Sequence’ can be pre-ordered from the online shop of seltmann+söhne publishers.

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photo by Madame Peripetie.

DREAM SEQUENCE by Sylwana Zybura Foreword by Sharon D. Lloyd Photography & Creative Direction by Madame Peripetie (Sylwana Zybura) Art Direction by Eugen Laitenberger (Gunee) Distribution: seltmann+s√∂hne Release Date: 15 February 2014 ISBN: 978-3-942831-98-7 Dimensions: 24.3 x 28.5 x 1.5 cm 128 Pages offset printing; 71 colour photographs Hardcover Price: €36 Language: English

photo by Madame Peripetie.

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photo by Madame Peripetie.

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The Cure For Greed’ is an iconic object that sparks an internal and social dialogue on all aspects of ‘greed’, the benefits as well as dangers of this basic and pervasive human behavior. It’s an invitation to reexamine our assumptions and inject them with the type of energy that will ensure new and evolving perspectives. Diddo

Dice Kayek. Photo © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

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“Istanbul Contrast” Couture Collection Wins The V&A’s Jameel Prize 3

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Double-page spread from Dice Kayek’s ‘’Istanbul Contrast’’ book. ‘’Dolmabahçe’’ dress. Photo © Dice Kayek Archive.

A unique fashion project that translates the allure and rich multi-cultural heritage of Istanbul into artistic pieces of clothing has won this years (2013) Victoria and Albert Museum’s Jameel Prize 3, a prestigious award for contemporary art and design inspired by Islamic tradition. This year’s recipient Dice Kayek, is a Paris-based high fashion studio ran by a creative duo from Turkey, the sisters Ece and Ay�e Ege. Dice Kayek’s “Istanbul Contrast” collection was chosen from the near on 270 entries from around the world, making it the first fashion project to win the Jameel Prize. In choosing the duo’s project, the prize judges stated that Dice Kayek’s work “demonstrates how vibrant and creative Islamic traditions continue to be today [...] their translation of architectural ideas into fashion shows how Islamic traditions can still transfer from one art form to another, as they did in the past.” The award ceremony was held on 10 December 2013 at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, UK.

Double-page spread from Dice Kayek’s ‘’Istanbul Contrast’’ book. Photo © Dice Kayek Archive.

The prize itself was conceived after the redesign and redisplay of the V&A’s Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art, which opened in July 2006 and has been running every two years since 2009 - organized by the V&A and the Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives (ALJCI). Designed to complement the Gallery and the V&A collection (one of the most important collections of Islamic art in the world), the prize also provides a showcase function for new art and design that reflects the Islamic traditions of the past on display in the museum whilst engaging with a wider debate about Islamic culture in general and its role today. Organised under the patronage of world-renowned architect Zaha Hadid, the Jameel Prize has been previously awarded to Afruz Amighi (2009) and Rachid Koraïchi (2011).

In addition to the Jameel Prize, the initiative also includes an exhibition of the ten shortlisted entries, all of which, again, are inspired by the diversity of Islamic tradition - here the works on display engage with Arabic typography and calligraphy, social design, video installation and miniature drawings. The Jameel Prize 3 exhibition, featuring the work of its 10 shortlisted artists and designers is currently on display at The Porter Gallery of the V&A Museum, London and will be open through 21 April 2014 (entrance is free). For opening hours and more information please visit the V&A website.

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Ece and Ayse Ege. Photo ÂŠ Dice Kayek Archive.

Double-page spread from Dice Kayek’s ‘’Istanbul Contrast’’ book. Photo © Dice Kayek Archive.

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Photo © Dice Kayek Archive.

Dice Kayek was founded in 1992 in Paris by the Ege sisters, and has since gone on to establish itself as a successful fashion label. It has been a member of the Fédération Française de la Couture since 1994 and its collections are available in more than 30 countries worldwide. The label’s main designer, Ece Ege has received numerous awards for her work, and the studio has been active, not only in the fashion industry (producing two prêt-a-porter collections a year) but in other fields as well: for example, its marble pavilion “Bathing in Light” a contemporary interpretation of the traditional Turkish hamam, was part of Milan’s Salone del Mobile 2013. Raised in Bursa, Turkey, Ece and Ay�e Ege’s aesthetic is deeply rooted in the tradition of their country, and one of their sources of inspiration is of course the extraordinary city that is Istanbul. For Dice Kayek, Istanbul is a city of contrasts, combining elements of the East and West within its multiple layers of history. Their 2010 Istanbul Contrast collection contains 26 garments inspired by the city’s wealth of cultural influences, from Ottomanera royal attire to the golden wings of Byzantine angels seen in the mosaics in Hagia Sophia.

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Double-page spread from Dice Kayek’s ‘’Istanbul Contrast’’ book. DOVE: Off-white silk cotton gabardine tailcoat, formed by overlapping layers of folded pleats, evoking a dove’s tail. Photo © Dice Kayek Archive.

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Double-page spread from Dice Kayek’s ‘’Istanbul Contrast’’ book. ISTANBUL BY NIGHT I. Photo © Dice Kayek Archive.

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Double-page spread from Dice Kayek’s ‘’Istanbul Contrast’’ book. Photo © Dice Kayek Archive.

“We

are deeply inspired by the architectural heritage in Istanbul. The most prominent examples of this heritage have been portrayed in our ‘Istanbul Contrast’ collection, like the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, the Dolmabahçe and the Topkapı Palaces.” Dice Kayek

Before being shortlisted for the Jameel Prize 3, the Istanbul Contrast collection was shown in Paris (2010), Istanbul (2010) and Amsterdam (2011). On the occasion of the current V&A exhibition, a limited-edition book has been released, which tells the story of how the collection was created as well as the inspiration behind it.

Double-page spread from Dice Kayek’s “Istanbul Contrast” book. Photo © Dice Kayek Archive.

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Dice Kayek, Dome 2” dress, 2010. Light-weight cotton organdie folded to echo the ribs of the city’s mosques and palaces’ lead-covered domes. photo © Dice Kayek Archive.

Dice Kayek, “Hagia Sophia” dress, 2009. White satin coat covered with complex, hand-stitched embroidery and ancient glass beads, in patterns inspired by Byzantine mosaics. photo © Dice Kayek Archive.

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Photo ÂŠ Dice Kayek Archive.

Enjoy Responsibly

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A l e x a n d e r M c Q u e e n

Courtesy of Alexander McQueen.

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The 10th Anniversary Of The Skull Scarf

Since its first appearance in Alexander McQueen’s Irere Collection back in 2003, the iconic skull scarf has become a signature item in the fashion house’s accessory range. To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Alexander McQueen has invited British artist Damien Hirst to create a new scarf collection, available both in McQueen boutiques and at AlexanderMcQueen.com from 15 November 2013. The common ground between McQueen and Hirst - apart from both having a long creative career full of delicious controversy and radical thinking- was found in a shared aesthetic vision which combines symmetrical design with ‘‘strong references to the natural world.’’ The anniversary scarf collection consists of 30 one-off designs featuring various insects that together form McQueen’s signature skull shape. The designs themselves were adapted from Hirst’s “Entomology” paintings (2009-2012) in which the artist used insect patterns to create colourful kaleidoscopic images. The release of the anniversary scarf collection is accompanied by a short film created by Sølve Sundsbø, an established fashion photographer and film maker based in London. In the film, female figures move in slow motion like mysterious sea animals or butterflies, wearing dresses decorated with patterns from the Alexander McQueen & Damien Hirst scarf collection.

Courtesy of Alexander McQueen.

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“Food is All About Transformation”

Alex Atala

D.O.M.: Rediscovering Brazilian Ingredients.Alex.Atala. Photo © PHAIDON

text by Marlena Spieler {@marlenaspieler} for Yatzer.com

A couple of years ago I attended a to fall in love with. Each speaker food conference. Held in Barcelona’s enticed us with goodies; as a group surrounding c ountryside, the we burst into happy munching and subject was Taste: how we think murmuring each time we sampled about, develop, and perceive a new round of delicacies. Then flavours. The global gathering saw one person stood up and began to chefs and food scientists sharing speak: Alex Atala. ideas, demonstrating techniques and sampling unique, stimulating He wasn’t yet famous - for either tastes. Among the line-up of chefs his cuisine, ideas, or tattoos but were Alex Stupak who expounded when this soft-spoken, charismatic on his work with WD-50, Joan man began to describe the food of Roca who cooked from his local his homeland, Brazil, to be more (legendary) restaurant Can Roca, as precise, the Amazon, the room well as a contingent from Peru who became very very quiet and still. made a pachamanca (a casserole of Suddenly, listening to his tales and meats baked in an ‘’earth-oven’’) observations, no one wanted to

portrait of Alex Atala by Felipe Araújo / Estadão

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miss a word, an idea, especially not a taste. The taste he brought us was, literally, a hump; from an indigenous South American cow a creature that, like a camel, is humped. We spooned up small plates of this rich, meltingtender and meaty braise; I hadn’t anticipated eating hump: but there it was: delicious. I longed for more. And I thought: I haven’t heard the last from this man and his exotic flavours of the jungle. Flash-forward to 2013 and Alex Atala is the man of the moment;

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his São Paulo restaurant D.O.M. (which opened in 1999, and is short for Deo Optimo Maximo, meaning: To The Greatest and Best God) has arguably changed the face of Brazilian gastronomy. It is currently ranked #6 in the world and September 2013 sees the publication of ‘DOM: Rediscovering Brazilian Ingredients’, published by PHAIDON.

Much sought after on the lecture trail, Atala shares his inspirational observations of Amazonian life and its indigenous cuisine. You can see him speak and share videos online at Design Indaba 2013, on Eater. com, or at the recent MAD 2013 food conference in Copenhagen where Atala, wearing a tee-shirt emblazoned: Death Happens,

many became vegetarians as a result? Who knows. But Atala will be co-organizer of the MAD 2014 food conference. Take a moment to watch his presentations: at once uplifting and inspiring. You will not think of food the same afterwards; you might not think of ANYTHING the same afterwards.

nurture both the environment and useful (and this can be very creatively useful) it is. The key to modern flavours its indigenous people. is looking at, and using, old flavours A huge amount of thought and in new ways.’’[...] Food is all about observations go into each of Atala’s transformation. Take the maillard dishes at D.O.M.. He ponders on reaction in which the cells on the surface of the meat are caramelised to a golden old ideas versus new: brown, creating deep rich flavour. It is “Old ideas can be clever, but put them not new; it is ancient.Yet that browned, together in a more modern way and savoury umami character creates foods they become new ideas, it’s all in the as modern as they are traditional.” utilisation. A newer technology than the smart phone/internet, yet one Chef Atala speaks of the hallmarks becomes used more than the other of world cuisines as “the souvenir because it is needed; It works better. It’s of a place”. Soy sauce, miso and not necessarily when it was invented ginger the souvenir, iconic flavour or discovered that matters - it is how of Japan, mozzarella, tomato and

illustrated the connection between life and whats on the plate by killing a chicken, as, according to Eater.com, audience members encouraged him. Afterwards he cooked up the bird and, according to his principles: there was no waste. This realityshow was an illustration of what meat really is - an animal - and how it comes (or should come) to the kitchen and to our plates. How

D.O.M. Restarurant , S˜ão Paulo, Brazil.

Believing cuisine to be the link between culture and nature, Alex Atala is extremely involved in raising the awareness of Brazil’s vulnerable resources. Working with scientists, anthropologists and organisations, his mission is to

The vegetarian tasting menu. D.O.M.: Rediscovering Brazilian Ingredients.Alex.Atala. Photo © PHAIDON

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basil=Italy while local herbs, lemon and manioc “are Amazonas”. Think of how when you visit a place you leave with the flavours that create the cuisine; whether it’s a geographical location, or going home to visit your family. Each place has these flavours that you add to the simplest of fresh foods and voila: you have the taste of the place and the souvenir of the time+place. The best way “to be global”, he states: “is to be local”. To go back to our roots, to eat and explore the foods we are surrounded with and...yet... use these ancient foods that we may have forgotten, in a multitude of

new ways. He continues to observe our taste and perception of taste as a provocative sensual trigger that make us think. “One flavour”, he observes “can be one thing, and yet it can be another”. “Is it dirty sneakers (trainers) or is it ripe fermented cheese?. The same aroma, yet one way of looking at it is delicious, and the other is disgusting”. He recounts how whilst hiking in Nepal, eating only vegetables, after 15 days he came across a village and smelled barbecue; “it smells wonderful, our mouths salivated, we felt, you know, we deserve a nice piece of barbecued meat”. But it was not a

barbecue. It was a traditional death ceremony, the ritualistic burning of a corpse. And suddenly, this SAME aroma, at once erased the desire for meat. He and his companions were no longer hungry, though they could still smell the fire. Of D.O.M.’s daily tasting menu he shares that: “It is interaction, the possibility to play”... “we give you flavours yet it is how to put them toge ther, yourself and the foods”. Along with the obvious wine and water that are served alongside his dishes, Chef Atala prepares a flavoured water: steeped in the fruits and

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Skate “manteiga de garrafa“ (Brazilian butter), lemon thyme, smoke baroa, broccoli and peanut foam. Photo ©.Alex.Atala, D.O.M.

seeds, aromatics and essences of the jungle…..each taste interacts with the courses served. A sip of the fragrant drink, a bite of the food; each bite is a unique experience that will hopefully also be transforming. (I am reminded of Miguel Sanchez Romera, who introduced flavoured waters at his short-lasting NYC restaurant, Romera; and remember how they were refreshing, thought-provoking, and unique).

Alex Atala’s cuisine is steeped in the Amazon, it is true: but watch the modernistic skills: the mandolin, the artful placing with tweezers, the thought-provoking combination:

these are the hallmarks of contemporary modern restaurants, especially in Europe. Chef Atala explains that he developed his cooking skills in Europe, working in top rated restaurant after top rated restaurant. One day he looked around and thought: “I do not make the BEST French food, nor Italian, nor Spanish…..but I CAN MAKE THE BEST BRAZILIAN food” and so he returned to South America to do just that, and grow his own unique fusion of modern techniques, rooted deeply in the indigenous ways and traditions of the Amazon. He tells stories about how he

incorporates the flavours of the jungle into his food: How once when a fire destroyed much of the forest near his farm, he brought the scent of fire into his food: introducing a taste of burnt wood to obtain an essence of smoke from the tropical rain forest. One of Atala’s favourite and often mentioned dishes is pineapple with ants. Before you think that this is a metaphor, let me stop you: it is pineapple as well as the insects which you might not have previously thought of eating. Insects are, indeed, a subject that

Ants pineapple. D.O.M.: Rediscovering Brazilian Ingredients.Alex.Atala. Photo © PHAIDON

rouses Chef Atala’s attention: “our world’s booming population cannot afford to waste ...If we could eat the parts that get thrown away in our unsustainable world food industry, we could feed the masses... We must eat the entire animal - our grandmothers knew this!’’ He continues that insects are a neglected source of protein. “In the jungle, we eat ants: they taste of lemongrass and ginger; once I was eating a bowl of soup, such deep complex flavour, and I asked the cook: what herbs did you use? She replied: It is the jungle, we use only ants!” He reminds those of us who are hesitant about eating insects that our tinned and packaged foods

are allowed, by law, to include a percentage of insect parts, and that cochineal, the red colouring found in many different foods worldwide, is in fact, an insect dried and used as food dye. Then he mentions honey: not only is that an insect: but it goes through the digestive tract of the bee. “We don’t eat shit, but what is honey?” he asks, in this way constantly challenging what we think we know about food.

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Sweet Potato with yerba mate béarnaise. D.O.M.: Rediscovering Brazilian Ingredients.Alex.Atala. Photo © PHAIDON

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As a chef, Atala is always thinking through new dishes, and yet is often surprised at what works and what doesn’t. “I wanted to serve a beautiful steak, with a

Béarnaise sauce that was flavoured with my local tastes, infused with yerba mate tea, and served with sweet potato cooked in ash. And yet: when I went to taste it, I knew body and soul must be separated: the sweet potato was perfect with yerba mate, but the meat…..was terrible with it all. We had the soul of the dish, but the flesh was not needed! ”

Scallops with coconut milk, aromatic pepper and crispy mango. D.O.M.: Rediscovering Brazilian Ingredients.Alex.Atala. Photo 漏 PHAIDON

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Lightly toasted blck rice with green vegetables and Brazil nut milk. Photo ÂŠ.Alex.Atala, D.O.M.

Heart of palm fettuccine with butter and sage and popcorn powder. Photo ÂŠ.Alex.Atala, D.O.M.

Banana, lime and paprioca caramel ravioli. Photo ©.Alex.Atala, D.O.M.

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As mentioned before how one of Alex Atala’s most iconic dishes is pineapple and ants: And if you think that they are prepared in such a way that they are disguised in a complex sauce: no they’re not. They are served as is. Atala’s dish consists of pineapple, frozen, scattered with ants, also frozen. And rumour has it, the dish is delicious. As to how his new book DOM: Rediscovering Brazilian Ingredients will write this recipe up, will it offer a substitute for the ants? I don’t know. But I do know that this is a man who says: “Trust your ingredients” (this is what got me to the Amazon), the

man who got me to eat hump; so I’m saying: I trust him with my pineapple. And can’t wait for my taste of Alex Atala’s Amazon or at least a romp through its pages. DOM: Rediscovering Brazilian Ingredients profiles 40 Brazilian ingredients such as okra, catupiry, tucupi, and erva mate, along with a narrative that has Atala rediscovering these ingredients as he makes his way through the villages, beaches and deep rainforest of his homeland. The book is 320 pages, 150 of which are illustrated. Published by PHAIDON.

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Green Tomato Gel

(serves 4)

Ingredients

Preparation

• 20 green tomatoes • 15 ml white vinegar • 1 bay leaf • 4 tablespoons coarse salt • 8 g salt • 8 g gelatine sheets

• Using a centrifuge, remove the juice of the tomatoes and strain it into a bowl through a fine chinois lined with a wet cloth. • Season with vinegar and salt. • In a shallow dish, hydrate the gelatine sheets with ice-cold water. • Using a cooking thermometer, heat 1⁄3 of the tomato juice to 60°C (140°F) and add the gelatine, then the rest of the juice. • Place 3 small ladlefuls of the mixture in the bottom of each of the serving plates, and place them in the refrigerator for 2 hours. Presentation • 5 ml extra virgin olive oil • 4 g black salt • 4 g coriander seeds, lightly crushed • 1 orange supreme, the segments divided into 3 parts • basil leaves • fine salt • the seeds of one red tomato • 4 cobs Peruvian corn, toasted • Szechuan buttons • beetroot sprouts • chervil sprouts • celery sprouts • clover leaves • watercress sprouts • purslane • edible flowers, such as borage RECIPE from DOM: Rediscovering Brazilian Ingredients

Green Tometo Gel. Photo ©.Alex.Atala, D.O.M.

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Finish • Take the plates from the refrigerator and drizzle the olive oil over the gel, then sprinkle black salt and coriander seeds over the surface. • Arrange the orange supreme segments on the surface of the gel and garnish with the basil leaves, then sprinkle a touch of fine salt over each piece of orange supreme. • Place the tomato seeds alongside the coriander seeds. • Finish with the Peruvian corn kernels, the sechuan buttons, the sprouts, the purslane and the flowers.

National Assembly Building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Lois Kahn, 1962-83 ÂŠ Raymond Meier

“Even a brick wants to be something”

Louis Kahn

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Lois Kahn, c. 1972 © Robert C. Lautman Photography Collection, National Building Museum.

When I was thirteen years old, while watching “Indecent Proposal” (1993) directed by Adrian Lyne, based on the novel by Jack Engelhard, Woody Harrelson held up a brick and said the phrase “EVEN A BRICK WANTS TO BE SOMETHING” whilst giving an architecture lecture. Today, twenty years later, the “Louis Kahn-The Power of Architecture” exhibition has just given me the chance to discover more about the complex and nomadic life of the real man who talked to this Brick. “If you think of Brick, you say to Brick, ‘What do you want, Brick?’ And Brick says to you, ‘I like an Arch.’ And if you say to Brick, ‘Look, arches are expensive, and I can use a concrete lintel over you. What do you think of that, Brick?’ Brick says, ‘I like an Arch.’ And it’s important, you see, that you honor the material that you use. [..] You can only do it if you honor the brick and glorify the brick instead of shortchanging it.” Louis Kahn. Transcribed from the 2003 documentary ‘My Architect: A Son’s Journey by Nathaniel Kahn’. Master class at Penn, 1971.

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Lois Kahn in front of a model of the City Tower Project in exhibition at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, February 1958. © Sue Ann Kahn.

Lois Kahn working on Fisher House design, 1961 © Louis I. Kahn Collection, University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsilvania Historical and Museum Commission.

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The most important projects of the American architect Louis Kahn are extensively documented in the “Louis Kahn-The Power of Architecture” exhibition which runs until the 11th of August 2013 at the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany. In unfolding Kahn’s architectural oeuvre through a selection of watercolours, pastels and charcoal drawings created during his travels in Italy, Greece and Egypt to name a few, one thing becomes apparent. His skill, not only as an architect but also as an artist and illustrator. The exhibition showcases Kahn’s diverse range of architecture and photographs of his beautiful spatial compositions and buildings which display powerful universal symbolism. Highlights include a four-meter-high model of the Philadelphia’s City Tower (1952-57), as well as the previously unreleased film shot by Louis Kahn’s son Nathanial, who was only 11 years old when his father died.

National Assembly Building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Louis Kahn, 1692-83 漏 Raymond Maier.

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Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, Louis Kahn, 1959-65. 漏 The Architectural Archives, University of Pennsylvania, photo: John Nicolais.

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National Assembly Building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Louis Kahn, 1962-83.

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Directed by Nathanial Kahn, and co-produced with Susan Rose Behr, the film ‘My Architect: A Son’s Journey’ (2003), unveils Nathaniel Kahn’s attempt to learn more about his father’s complex life using the haunting, monumental creations as the medium with which to discover the man who designed them. This is a journey of love, art, betrayal and forgiveness, especially when you realise how rife this man’s life was with secrets and chaos. His marriage to a woman (Esther Israeli), the daughter they had, his long-term relationship with an architect (Anne Tyng), with whom he had another daughter and then a longterm relationship with the landscape architect (Harriet Pattison), who is your mother; add to this the fact that the members of this complicated trio didn’t meet until Kahn’s funeral, and you have all the elements of a script for the perfect drama - which is based on a true story! Thankfully however, with a happy end, as Nathanial in the film, finds the answers he’s been searching for hidden inside Kahn’s magnum opus “Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban, the National Assembly Building” in Dhaka, Bangladesh (1962).

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

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Whilst Nathanial Kahn brings a degree of light upon his own “family’s issues”, the element of LIGHT itself was always his father’s obsession. It was the protagonist of his designs, both inside and outside his buildings and danced across the walls he built, changing continuously throughout the course of the day. Unlike other architects, his palette of materials leaned heavily towards textured BRICK and bare concrete with astonishing facility, creating spaces both highly functional and spiritually uplifting. In 1904, at the age of three, Kahn suffered severe burns to his face and hands marking him for life. Who would have ever thought then

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Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. © Alessandro Vasella, 1970.

that his preferred drawing material would have been charcoal with which he sketched ‘’objects’’ that went on to become some of the most important buildings of the 20th century during the final two decades of his life. Some of these masterpieces include; The Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California (1959); the “Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban, the National Assembly Building” of Bangladesh in Dhaka, Bangladesh (1962); the Phillips Exeter Academy Library in New Hampshire (1965), the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas (1966), and the massive granite-block memorial to American President Franklin D. Roosevelt (designed 1973-74) on the tip of Roosevelt Island in New York’s East River, which was posthumously completed in October 2012.

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“I had this thought that a memorial should be a room and a garden. That’s all I had. Why did I want a room and a garden? I just chose it to be the point of departure. The garden is somehow a personal nature, a personal kind of control of nature. And the room was the beginning of architecture. I had this sense, you see, and the room wasn’t just architecture, but was an extension of self.” Louis Kahn, transcript from a lecture at the Pratt Institute in 1973.

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The cover of the book “Louis I. Kahn - Silence and Light”, © Park Books.

In 1974, Kahn died of a heart attack in a men’s restroom in Pennsylvania Station in New York. He went unidentified for three days because he had crossed out the home address on his passport. He had just returned from a work trip to India. Despite his long career, he was deep in debt when he died. So in answering the question “Can you get to know someone after his death?” the answer lies in the recent interest that Kahn has piqued. Asides from the exhibition at the Vitra Design Museum, Kahn and his legacy live on through a recent publication: >>His lecture “SILENCE AND LIGHT” which he gave on February 12, 1969 at the School of Architecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich is also the title of a book recently published by PARK BOOKS, edited by Alessandro Vassella and forwarded by Indian architect Balkrishna V. Doshi. The lecture is represented in transcripts in five different languages - German, Italian, English, French, and Spanish - as well as a 60 minute audio recording of Kahn giving the lecture in English included on a CD, gives us an opportunity to discover the man’s spiritual understanding of architecture, which goes far deeper than simply constructing buildings.

Library, Phillips Exter Academy, Exter, New Hampshir, Louis Kahn, 1965-72 漏 Iwan Baan.

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Louis Kahn: The Power of Architecture is on show at the Vitra Museum until August 2013. Its next stop will be the London Design Museum in 2014.

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Jewish Community Center, Ewing Township (near Trenton), New Jersey, Louis Kahn, 1954-59. Exterior view of the Bath House with a wall drawing at the entrance designed by Kahn. ÂŠ Louis I. Kahn Collection, University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commision, photo: John Ebstel.

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Alfred Newton Richards Medical Research and biology Building, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Louis Kahn, 1975-65. ÂŠ The Architectural Archives, University of Pennsylvania, photo: malcolm Smith.

The Heydar Aliyev Center

photo ÂŠ Helene Binet.

By Zaha Hadid Architects

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Project name: Heydar Aliyev Center / Heydәr әliyev Mәrkәzi.

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Location: Baku, Azerbaijan. Start of project: September 2007. Completion: May 10, 2012. Client: The Republic of Azerbaijan. Program: Mixed-use cultural center Procurement Design-build. Total floor area: 101,801 m2. Site area: 111,292 m2. Auditorium capacity: 1,000. Photography: Iwan Baan, Hufton + Crow, Helene Binet.

photo © Helene Binet.

As part of the former Soviet Union, the urbanism and architecture of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan on the Western coast of the Caspian Sea, was heavily influenced by the planning of that era. Since its independence in 1991, Azerbaijan has invested heavily in modernising and developing Baku’s infrastructure and architecture, departing from its legacy of normative Soviet Modernism. Zaha Hadid Architects was appointed as design architects of the Heydar Aliyev Center (Heydәr әliyev Mәrkәzi) following a competition in 2007. The Center, designed to become the primary

building for the nation‚Äôs cultural programs, breaks from the rigid and often monumental Soviet architecture that is so prevalent in Baku, aspiring instead to express the sensibilities of Azeri culture and the optimism of a nation that looks to the future.

photo 漏 Hufton + Crow.

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Design concept

inflections modify this plaza surface into an architectural landscape that performs a multitude of functions: welcoming, embracing, and directing visitors through different levels of the interior. With this gesture, the building blurs the conventional differentiation between architectural object and urban landscape, building envelope and urban plaza, figure and ground, interior and exterior.

The design of the Heydar Aliyev Center establishes a continuous, fluid relationship between its surrounding plaza and the building’s interior. The plaza, as the ground surface; accessible to all as part of Baku’s urban fabric, rises to envelop an equally public interior space and define a sequence of event spaces dedicated to the collective celebration of contemporary and Fluidity in architecture is not new traditional Azeri culture. Elaborate formations such as to this region. In historical Islamic undulations, bifurcations, folds, and architecture, rows, grids, or

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sequences of columns flow to infinity like trees in a forest, establishing non-hierarchical space. Continuous calligraphic and ornamental patterns flow from carpets to walls, walls to ceilings, ceilings to domes, establishing seamless relationships and blurring distinctions between architectural elements and the ground they inhabit. Our intention was to relate to that historical understanding of architecture, not through the use of mimicry or a limiting adherence to the iconography of the past, but rather by developing a firmly contemporary

interpretation, reflecting a more nuanced understanding. Responding to the topographic sheer drop that formerly split the site in two, the project introduces a precisely terraced landscape that establishes alternative connections and routes between public plaza, building, and underground parking. This solution avoids additional excavation and landfill, and successfully converts an initial disadvantage of the site into a key design feature.

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photo ÂŠ Helene Binet.

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Geometry, structure, materiality One of the most critical yet challenging elements of the project was the architectural development of the building’s skin. Our ambition to achieve a surface so continuous that it appears homogenous, required a broad range of different functions, construction logics and technical systems had to be brought together and integrated into the buildings envelope. Advanced computing allowed for the continuous control and communication of these complexities among the numerous project participants.

consists of two collaborating systems: a concrete structure combined with a space frame system. In order to achieve large-scale column-free spaces that allow the visitor to experience the fluidity of the interior, vertical structural elements are absorbed by the envelope and curtain wall system. The particular surface geometry fosters unconventional structural solutions, such as the introduction of curved ‘boot columns’ to achieve the inverse peel of the surface from the ground to the West of the building, and the ‘dovetail’ tapering of the cantilever beams that support the building envelope to the East of the site.

The space frame system enabled The Heydar Aliyev Center principally the construction of a free-form

structure and saved significant time throughout the construction process, while the substructure was developed to incorporate a flexible relationship between the rigid grid of the space frame and the free-formed exterior cladding seams. These seams were derived from a process of rationalizing the complex geometry, usage, and aesthetics of the project. Glass Fibre Reinforced Concrete (GFRC) and Glass Fibre Reinforced Polyester (GFRP) were chosen as ideal cladding materials, as they allow for the powerful plasticity of the building‚Äôs design while responding to very different functional demands related to a variety of situations: plaza, transitional zones and envelope.

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In this architectural composition, if the surface is the music, then the seams between the panels are the rhythm. Numerous studies were carried out on the surface geometry to rationalize the panels while maintaining continuity throughout the building and landscape. The seams promote a greater understanding of the project‚Äôs scale. They emphasize the continual transformation and implied motion of its fluid geometry, offering a pragmatic solution to practical construction issues such as manufacturing, handling, transportation and assembly; and answering technical concerns such as accommodating movement due to deflection, external loads, temperature

change, seismic activity and wind this character is gradually transformed by means of lighting that washes from loading. the interior onto the exterior surfaces, To emphasize the continuous unfolding the formal composition to relationship between the building‚Äôs reveal its content and maintaining the exterior and interior, the lighting of fluidity between interior and exterior. the Heydar Aliyev Center has been very carefully considered. The lighting As with all of our work, the Heydar design strategy differentiates the day Aliyev Center‚Äôs design evolved from and night reading of the building. our investigations and research of the During the day, the building‚Äôs volume site’s topography and the Center’s role reflects light, constantly altering the within its broader cultural landscape. Center’s appearance according to the By employing these articulate time of day and viewing perspective. relationships, the design is embedded The use of semi-reflective glass gives within this context; unfolding the tantalizing glimpses within, arousing future cultural possibilities for the curiosity without revealing the fluid nation. trajectory of spaces inside. At night,

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Crystallize a Tokujin Yoshioka exhibition

Tokujin Yoshioka, Tornado 2007 and Swan Lake 2013. photo 漏 MOT / Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.

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Tokujin Yoshioka, ROSE 2013. photo ÂŠ MOT / Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.

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When he was younger, Tokujin Yoshioka wanted to bring a cloud from the skies above down to earth. His current fascination with natural processes and organic structures go to show that this desire never went away. Aptly titled “Crystallize” his latest solo exhibition at the MOT / Museum for Contemporary Art in Tokyo, Japan, includes sculptures and larger installations which expose the otherwise unseen, delicate morphogenetic processes found in natural processes such as crystal formation, and the way prisms and spaces interact with light.

For Yoshioka, the self-generating, self-organising processes found in natural phenomena can be used as they are, not merely as an aesthetic facade that can be copied superficially. His intention is not to recreate nature, but to expose the innate beauty and creative “energy” in it, by making natural processes part of the art itself. As a result, he literally grows his paintings and sculptures as one would grow plants in a greenhouse through the use of a special liquid

which allows natural crystals to grow freely (a transparent pool filled with this liquid, containing a growing colony of crystals is also part of the exhibition that offers visitors a direct encounter with his creative process).

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Tokujin Yoshioka, ROSE 2013, Tornado 2007 & The Rose 2013. photo 漏 MOT / Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.

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Tokujin Yoshioka, Tornado 2007 and Swan Lake 2013. photo ÂŠ MOT / Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.

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In some of his works, he provides the crystals with a base, something to attach themselves to (a flower for his “ROSE” sculpture or thin strings for his “Spider’s Thread” chair). In other works, he allows the crystals to assume their shapes while playing music to them: his “Swan Lake” series consists of crystal structures which grew while exposed to Tchaikovsky’s famous ballet music. The centrepiece of the exhibition however is the large-scale installation “Rainbow Church.” Inspired by the unique ambience of the Rosaire Chapel designed

by Henri Matisse, “Rainbow Church” features a huge window (reminiscent of those seen in gothic cathedrals) which instead of stained glass, is made of 500 crystal prisms — thus creating a diffusion of rainbow rays in the space and an almost religious experience of purity and timelessness.

collections of museums around the world). As a furniture designer, he exhibits at Salone del Mobile every year. He has also been designing store interiors for brands such as Issey Miyake, Swarovski, Hermès and BMW.

The “Tokujin Yoshioka - Crystallize” exhibition will be open to the public Well-respected in Japan and until the 19th of January 2014 at the abroad, Tokujin Yoshioka is an Museum for Contemporary Art, Tokyo. artist and award-winning designer whose work combines design {YatzerTip} : Watch the interview of with architecture and exhibition Tokujin Yoshioka on Japanese NHK installation-art (many of his World. artworks feature in the permanent

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Tokujin Yoshioka, Rainbow Church 2006. photo 漏 MOT / Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.

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Tokujin Yoshioka, Rainbow Church 2006. photo ÂŠ MOT / Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.

New. Powerful airflow.

Now 75% quieter.

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Archist City

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by Fabricio Babina Italian architect and illustrator Federico Babina (who made some waves some months ago with his ‘Archiset’ series of illustrated interiors inspired by famous films) has recently unveiled a new project, this time taking a look at the connection between architecture and the visual arts. Titled ‘Archist’, the project comprises a series of illustrations of imaginary buildings inspired by famous works of art. Beginning with the question: what would a house designed by Dalí or a museum by Miró look like, the resulting images demonstrate

what Federico Babina believes is the “implicit partnership between Architecture and Art.” They sometimes treat the facade as a canvas decorated with a well-known piece of art, while in other cases, they draw inspiration from the artist’s overall output to create an inventive architectural composition. Quite interestingly, and probably unbeknownst to the artist himself, the project also shows how the visual arts world is just as male-dominated as the world of architecture, as only two women (Jeanne-Claude - Christo’s partner - and Anne Truitt) made it onto

Babina’s list of 27 “most popular artists.” List of artists: Keith Haring, Sol LeWitt, Anish Kapoor, Salvador Dalí, Marcel Duchamp, Pablo Picasso, Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Donald Judd, Joan Miró, Mark Rothko, Gerhard Richter, Richard Serra, Piet Mondrian, Ernesto Neto, Ellsworth Kelly, Josef Albers, Antoni Tàpies, James Turell, Frank Stella, Christo and JeanneClaude, Anne Truitt, Lucio Fontana, Tony Smith, Peter Halley, Kazimir, Málevich.

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