Fashion week in NY brought some fresh new ideas for Fall ‘09 including a new collection from Rachel Comey. Her designs take inspriation from vintage styles through modern rock stars like David Bowie. She started her own label after leaving a job at Theory and designing one-of-a-kind meanswear pieces for friends. The label got national recognition when David Bowie wore one of her shirts on The Late Show with David Letterman. She then expanded her line into women’s wear. She is a native New Englander with a sculpting degree from the University of Vermont. She brings her art backgroud with her, as she seems to sculpt the fabric around the body.
So, you think you don’t have enough storage space? Gary Chang, a Hong Kong architect, has all of the modern luxuries one could desire in a 350 square foot apartment. Because of his innovative use of accordion-like wall units, he can create at least 24 different room configurations! Simply by shifting the walls around, he can create a kitchen, library, laundry room, dressing room, lounge with a hammock, and a dining room with a wet bar. Behind one movable wall of shelving is an extra-large Duravit bathtub. A glass shower stall doubles as a steamroom with color therapy and massage and a Toto toilet has a heated seat and remote control bidet. The yellow tinted glass on the exterior creates a mysterious glow in the space and adds plenty of color through the light rather than painted walls. He also has a wall of CDs and a six speaker sound system that lets him enjoy listening to his collection. Mr. Chang uses a hydraulic Murphy bed of his own design, hidden behind a sofa during the day.
Photo: Marcel Lam for The New York Times
Watt is the world’s first sustainable nightclub. Studio Roosegaarde in Rotterdam, Holland, designed the Sustainable Dance Floor which is created by 2 foot square modules made of sustainable materials, a energy harvesting mechanism, software and embedded electronics. Each panel produces up to 20 Watts. The panels are spring mounted and as vabrations are created by a dancing crowd, energy is created to illuminated the colorful LED lights below and supply the DJ console with energy. See it in action @ http://www.studioroosegaarde.net/videos/SDF-Studio.
Average nightclubs use up to to 150 times the amount of a normal household. Club Watt aims to use 30% less! Watt is in the concept materialized about a year ago by a group of Dutch ecological inventors, engineers and investors. Watt is a huge performance space with not just the sustainable dance floor, but also rainwater-fed toilets and low-waste bars. (Everything is recycled.) Its heat is harvested in part from the bands’ amplifiers and other musical equipment. Eco-hedonism is personified here proving that being eco friendly no longer means you have to sacrifice your lifestyle!
http://www.studioroosegaarde.net/
The law firm, Thompson Wigdor & Gilly (TWG) needed a new face. After spending years in an office in the Empire State Building, they moved a block from Union Square in Manhattan. They selected an 8,000 square foot loft space. They felt they needed to connect more directly with their diverse clientele that includes top chefs, and bold names in entertainment and sports. They wanted their space to make a statement about them that was as “dynamic, agressive, independent and successful” as their thinking.
In order to accomplish this, they hired Studio Tractor Architecture of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. They created a stunning reception desk with an electric blue LED panel on the front which mimics the firm’s logo color. Frosted glass partitions the offices, conference rooms, and kitchen-cafeteria area. The glass allows natural light to flow through the space and gives reference to people moving through the space while allowing visual privacy. TWG got the look they wanted to present to clients, along with pleasing effects on the staff.
Scott Browning Gilly, one of TWG’s 3 partners said, “I didn’t foresee the impact on how the office functions, how people approach their jobs and each other and the collegial interaction; they don’t feel like thier punching a clock.”
Photos courtesy of: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/realestate/commercial/11sqft.html?_r=1
Disney recent updated its 1950s vision of domestic utopia for the 21st century. The original house was designed by MIT in cooperation with Monsanto, a company that produced the artificial sweetener, saccharin, until the mid 1960’s. This was the dawn of the ear of thermoplastics when 30% of the company’s output was in synthetic resins and surface coatings. As a result, the home design revolved around using plastics inside and out.
It’s worth noting how times change, when in today’s market, ‘plastic’ is a dirty word and green options and recycled plastics is the name of the game! However, the properties of plastic represented the future to the designers at the time because of it’s pliable, flexible nature which could create an infinite number of forms. The structure was comprised four floating fiberglass-reinforced polyester wings with large thermal-pane windows which was a completely original design.
The House of the Future was advertised as a 100 % synthetic environment in which, in classic 1950’s style: mother and daughter cooked, the son played in his room, and father lounged on a flexible sofa while reading the newspaper or listening to the hi-fi. It is also interesting to note that no one was watching TV. Again, what a change that is from today’s households that are so focused around TV watching and computer use with an on-the-go family of constantly shifting roles. On one wall, a non-operational large flat screen hinted at the not-too-distant future.
Forty years after it was deconstructed, the House of the Future opened it’s doors again in Disneyland’s old Carousel Theatre. In contrast, the hearth of this home was the 100″ digital screen. All picture frames and artwork were displayed digitally and shift imagery depending on who enters the room. The kitchen counter has the ingredients to recipes projected on to it and the bathroom mirror acts like a digitally displayed catalog showing hairstyles, accessories, and clothing suggestions. The children’s room also has a screen that reads books aloud with effects, colors videos, and sounds that correspond to the story.
The overarching idea is the create “interactive immersive experiences” linking technology more seamlessly into our lives.
Kitchen of the future 2008
Kitchen of the future 1959
For the complete article, visit: http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/30147/houses-of-the-future/?page=1