Ars Combinatoria:  is the art of combination, the combining of objects, some of which are markedly different while others are akin, related. Hence the title of the exhibition held at La Pedrera in Barcelona, which is a nod to the combinatory arts developed in the 13th and 14th centuries by the Majorcan philosopher Ramon Llull (known in the English-speaking world as Raymond Lully), which many regard as a precursor of the computer.

A poet of the image, Madoz uses photography as a means to redefine his relationship with his immediate surroundings. His work focuses on the unusual presence of the items he chooses and arranges in intimate settings— which he himself builds—and then photographs in black and white. The air of poetry he thus extracts from these objects means that however ordinary or humble they may be, they are now open to new and varied readings.

Madoz employs a range of different types of objects in his work: the objet trouvé, a found object without any alteration, the manipulated object and the object that he himself invents and makes in his studio.Madoz employs a range of different types of objects in his work: the objet trouvé, a found object without any alteration, the manipulated object and the object that he himself invents and makes in his studio.

In his constant fascination with them, he returns to these objects, transforming them, attempting to establish their various combinations and their initially hidden connections, and exploring visual illusions.

Re-act Now Studio says; Into a white space with floating objects all around, a spectral THING took place inside. Reflections, transparencies, colors are changing continuously as far you are moving. The THING is controlling everything around. A twister of feelings and sensations is taking us apart. Perhaps the THING is trying to communicate. That is why we have to take care what we are saying… Who knows perhaps IT is HUMAN after all!… 

It was the priming intention of having a beautiful open space with a continuous “sea coast feeling”. The white color is almost everywhere. A glass partition cut out the main sensation of “innocence” of the existing space, through its folding trace and through a special spectral film sticked directly on it. 

Designed with an open plan to capture as much light as possible, the predominantly white palette allows it to flow through the open spaces enhancing the floor, ceiling and glass partitions laminated with with 3M Radiant Color Film.

The Apartment H is a very modern and clean home with a feel of living inside an art installation by Olafur Eliasson or in a 1st generation iMac.

The 3M Radiant Color Film product is usually supposed to be used on some small gadgets or promotional products. This 3M film gives through its optical properties a “real life” to the entire space. A continuous change of colors and reflections is perceived by whoever is moving inside the apartment. In the end having a “living” element is the main challenge on a white surrounding.

El Instituto Tecnológico Hotelero (ITH), en colaboración con el estudio internacional de diseño SerranoBrothers, ha demostrado cómo la tecnología actualmente disponible puede cambiar radicalmente la experiencia del huésped. ITH Room Xperience es un prototipo de habitación que cualquier hotel puede reproducir en sus instalaciones, y que combina los últimos avances tecnológicos en un revolucionario espacio, que responde a las necesidades del huésped y de la gestión hotelera.

Firmas como Microsoft, Toshiba, Bang&Olufsen, PayTouch, Roca, y Guardian Glass, entre otras, han participado en este proyecto, en el que se pueden integrar tecnologías, software, aplicaciones, gadgets y mobiliario de última generación, en un revolucionario diseño futurista, que ofrece una experiencia basada en la conexión, la comodidad y la interactividad.

Esta experiencia refleja el programa You Are Not Alone, desarrollado por ITH y SerranoBrothers, basado en el modelo de Hotel de Tercera Generación, que no sólo está integrado en todas sus dimensiones de negocio, sino que además es socialmente responsable con su entorno, medioambientalmente sostenible, hiperconectado e hipereficiente, porque aporta el máximo valor añadido a sus clientes aprovechando todos y cada uno de los recursos tecnológicos que tiene a su disposición.

YANA – You are not alone, es una experiencia en la que la tecnologia encuentra su leimotiv en la creación de un espacio para el disfrute de los sentidos, una vía de interacción con el hotel y con el mundo.

ITH Room Xperience desafía las convenciones de las clásicas habitaciones de hotel que todos conocemos, porque pone en contexto tecnología de vanguardia, pensada para revolucionar la experiencia del huésped y replantearse la gestión del hotel desde la conexión y la proximidad con el cliente.

El catálogo completo de ITH Room Xperience está disponible en la app oficial “ITH Room”, descargable desde iTunes y Google Play.

La Colección “Ubojnia” son símbolos y metáforas que rozan el límite entre la arquitectura y la escenografía

“Ubojnia” es la segunda de una colección de doce partes llamada “XII” y diseñada por Karina Wiciak de Wamhouse. La colección consiste en doce interiores temáticos que serán unidos en estilo y nombre. Ubojnia combina en este caso el diseño con el arte en un interior que no quiere ser fashion, sino llenarse de símbolos y metáforas que rozan el límite entre la arquitectura y la escenografía.

Dentro del interior nos encontramos con un escenario surrealista que nos invita a la interpretación propia, aunque el nombre Ubojnia, matadero en polaco, nos hace un claro guiño hacia la percepción que estamos recibiendo en este espacio.

Sillas de papel que a su vez llevan el nombre “Boceto” nos quieren hacer entender según sus creadores la destrucción propia de los diseñadores y artistas.

Los artistas sin embargo avisan que su diseño y propia interpretación conllevan un toque de humor negro.

Cada mes se creará un nuevo espacio para la colección XII con el fin de representar antes de un diseño de interiores, una imagen con un significado más profundo que puede ser utilizada para cualquier campaña como por ejemplo un cartel o una tapa de cd. Los interiores no son diseñados bajo petición, sino basados en la fantasía del propio autor.

The project was developed as a request of design store MiCasa. It consists of the scenographic customization of the adjacent building to the store, in order to host an art exhibition in its interior.

The translucent corrugated panels were screwed to a wooden frame placed around the building, allowing the lighting mounted around the edges of the facade to diffuse through.

The former house is located beside design store MiCasa and is used as a gallery for design exhibitions. After the concept was defined, the construction lasted approximately four weeks. To start with, we decided where the LED tapes would be placed.

A previous installation we’ve featured at the building consisted of metal tubing and lamps wrapped around the inside and outside.

With the conclusion of the installation of the lighting, the structure was fixated on the walls of the house at a distance of 20 centimeters from the original construction in order to leave a space between the wall and the tiles, making the lighting more subtle and correcting any sort of irregularities that could be present in the surface of the walls.

Lighting projectors and cables hang from the spindly branches of chunky black trees inside this penthouse bar and nightclub in Paris by French designer Mathieu Lehanneur.

Named Electric, the music venue features soundproofed music rooms, an outdoor terrace and a dance floor facing out over the city skyline.

Mathieu Lehanneur collaborated with architect Ana Moussinet to design the interior and added split levels to define different zones.

By day, sofas and trunk-shaped stools can be dotted around the space to form lounge seating areas. By night, these are stored away to open up a ballroom with a rippled DJ booth.

Faceted windows and diagonal panels give texture to the walls in one of the spaces. Others can be used as screens for lighting and video projections.

Impressive by day, magical by night, Electric is a venue which never sleeps. A lounge interspersed with soundproofed modules and an 80m2 terrace, Electric is a space equipped with a mixing console whose ballroom floor provides a new perspective over Paris, integrating the ring road as a perpetually moving graphic foreground facing the metal mesh of the Eiffel Tower.

“If Alice in Wonderland had liked rock this is where she would have spent her days and nights…” summarised Mathieu Lehanneur. Electric, the new cultural platform in Paris, is already an event in itself: a 1,000 m2 penthouse in which the designer has devised a canopy of sound suspended between heaven and earth, monumental electrical braids emerging like pitch black trees.

A huge trompe l’œil window onto the city, surrounded by streams of LED lights, is an ultimate nod to a new Versailles, Electric has already been chosen by We Love Art, and Kavinski for the global launch of his next album, and Ducasse… Meanwhile there are already rumours about the installation of an enormous open-air swimming-pool on the site of the car park this summer.

A result of the high creative demands of the management ensured by curator John Michael Ramirez whose range of artists contributes to the cultural distinction of the venue: Greater Paris has found its centre of gravity.

Arch Group has taken its brilliant idea in the Sleepbox and filled it into an old building to create a hotel. This modular box is a minimalist sleeping chamber. The Sleepbox got its wings  when it was implemented into an airport for tired passengers. Those that wanted somewhere to sleep during layovers or waiting for flights could find serenity in the minimalist boxes.

Today, the same team of architects have created an impressive looking hotel filled with Sleepboxes. Each Sleepbox contains a bed, a lamp and sockets to charge phones. The upper floors of the hotel are filled with regular rooms and Sleepboxes to bed two people and the bottom floors are for individuals. This hotel is a smart solution for areas with large populations.

Arch Group developed the concept for the Sleepboxin 2009 and the first capsule opened at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport two years later, The Tverskaya Hotel Slepping Box.

The building also contains a handful of regular hotel rooms, which were added to the top floor in spaces where the ceiling heights were too low for a Sleepbox.

Sleepbox Hotel has 4 floors. On 1st floor you can find reception, information zone, lobby, individual lockers for visitors and management. Snow-white seamless reception desk with sleepboxish design is made of Corian.

The desk can be seen from the street though glass doors. A visitor finds himself in a futuristic space.

This modern bathroom design infuses the outdoors with one of the most private rooms in your household.
The botanical bathroom design was created by Japanese Naruse Inokuma Architects in collaboration with talented florist Azuma Makoto of AMKK.

The Superlative Space bathroom is built in a way which is very open to the outdoors, resulting in a fresh, airy feel in the space. The overgrown hedges and leaves form a green wall which permeates the space. The natural greenery also create a lush, living wall that is in perfect opposition to the stark, modernized aesthetic of the white bathroom.
The brave bathroom design, which is currently on display at a homewares show, aims to make visitors rethink notions of privacy in their home. How would you feel about using a bathroom this open?

This project is a home in Hawthorn,  Melbourne, designed to accommodate at the various stages of its life, a family, a single person, and a single person with large visiting family. The design concept of this home was to take a perfect shape, the copper sphere, and to remove parts. By selectively removing parts of the sphere, there is the sense internally of being in and surrounded by garden. The spherical shell also provides beautiful internal spaces on the first floor.

We became obsessed with the idea of a garden through the centre of the house. The plan evolved into one with a central living area, ancillary rooms were carefully slung either side providing a graceful union between private and communal in family-life. These ideas were not profound nor without precedent, and could have on their own resulted in a thousand different houses. The dome was an office favourite. And a good rough fit of the setback and programmatic displacement.

The person is a middle-aged single woman, an artist with a large family and circle of friends who often stay over. The place is Hawthorn a middle-class suburb, leafy and picturesque. Our first site visit gave us a strong sense of what this building might become – the large oak tree, the adjacent Victorian Mansion and the site’s location, a hill-top which terminated an easement of tennis courts that swept into the valley below. We sensed an object that could respond to these specific and unusual spatial conditions.

But the idea of the dome as an incomplete puzzle came about after experiments with hollowing and cutting the object. The accidental superimposition of dome and rectilinear plan resulted in a great variety of new domestic interior spaces. Externally we wanted to subtract just enough to hold the original form. We had hope that the revelation of the object after subtraction would be greater and more intriguing than if it were whole. We thought of the puzzle components as 3D pixels. We could scale up and down, bringing some areas into sharper focus. We questioned each compositional moment by negotiating accident & design, abstraction & representation.

The building which evolved had the extreme heroicism of the revolutionary modernist dome house and yet it could also be read as a ruin of the same. Those little things that surround houses, the letterbox, seats, sheds, fence, and lights were subsumed as fragments in the system. They become markers and semi-enclosures of outdoor spaces, both courtyards and forecourt. Internal spaces were divided and colour-coded between two categories – ‘the exterior’ (main living area) and ‘within the dome’ (bleached white).

Rainwater is collected from the copper clad roof by concealed gutters and is stored in rainwater tanks installed under the south desk. The dome house also utilizes solar hot water, a drip garden watering system and double glazing to maximize energy efficiency. These simple sustainable elements have been integrated into the home so as to have minimal aesthetic impact.

Materials Walls: Euroa clay product( black glazed bricks) / Cerdomus Glass tiles, Parbury renderrock, Multitext Multistone, Vitre-panel, spotted gum timber cladding / Cladding: Folded seam Copper / Roof: Folded seam Copper, Butynol membrane roofing / Guttering: copper / Paint: Dulux / Paving: Urbanstone, RockNStone, City Tiler, / Windows: Capral / Doors: Capral

The Dome House, Hawthorn

Location: Hawthorn, suburb of Melbourne, State of Victoria, Australia
Architects: McBride Charles Ryan

Photographs © John Gollings

AGAINST THE GRAIN 

Wood in Contemporary Art, Craft and Design

March 19, 2013 to September 15, 2013

Featuring nearly 90 installations, sculptures, furniture, and objects, Against the Grain: Wood in Contemporary Art, Craft and Design explores some of the most cutting-edge conceptual and technical trends in woodworking today. The exhibition emphasizes the way artists, designers, and craftspeople have incorporated postmodernist approaches and strategies into woodworking—deconstructing vessel shapes, playing on the relationship between function and form, and utilizing woodturning and furniture techniques in the creation of sculpture and demonstrating exciting possibilities through the use of technology.

Nina Brunn, Nest – 2010

The  Exhibition will feature 57 artists and designers with new works by artists Sarah Oppenheimer, Martin Puryear, Nina Bruun, Marc Andre Robinson and Alison Elizabeth Taylor, and by designers Ian Spencer and Cairn Young from Yard Sale Project, and Joseph Walsh. Also included are recent works by influential sculptors Ursula von Rydingsvard and Courtney Smith; installation artists Gary Carsley and Francis Cape, designers Maarten Baas, Sebastian Errazuriz, and Pablo Reinoso; and studio wood artists Wendell Castle, Hunt Clark, Andrew Early, and Bud Latven, among others .

Matthias Pliessnig, Thonet nº 18, 2007

Against the Grain is part of MAD’s ongoing “Materials & Process” series, dedicated to exploring contemporary innovations in traditional techniques and materials, and highlights the tremendous creative energy and fresh thinking that creators are bringing to wood today.

Christopher Kurtz, Windsor Form, 2004

Against the Grain: Wood in Contemporary Art, Craft and Design is organized the Museum of Arts and Design and curated by Lowery Stokes Sims, Charles Bronfman International Curator at the Museum of Arts and Design, assisted by Elizabeth Edwards Kirrane, Assistant Curator at MAD and project manager for the exhibition.