Vibrant New Scottish Currency Illustrated with Influential Women and Abundant Wildlife

During the last four years, the Royal Bank of Scotland launched a democratic project to capture what one collaborator termed “the more ordinary aspects of Scottish identity including otters, midges, mackerel and tweed.” The result is Fabric of Nature, a series of recently released banknotes that feature illustrated wildlife and portraits of some of Scotland’s most influential women. This week, the third installment of the project was released, presenting a new £20 note featuring a pair of bushy-tailed red squirrels.

Author and poet Nan Shepherd is featured on the £5, scientist Mary Somerville is on the £10, and tearoom businesswoman and artist patron Kate Cranston is profiled on the £20. When held up to a UV light, each polymer bill reveals a glowing image of the wildlife, in addition to an English version of Gaelic poetry from Sorley Maclean, Norman MacCaig, and Mark Alexander Boyd that’s visible in daylight. The quotes are scribed by calligrapher Susie Leiper.

A Scottish design studio, Nile, spearheaded the project, with assistance from O Street, Timorous Beasties, Graven, and Stuco. “From the typography to the featured animals, to the bespoke textile backgrounds, every element of every note has a meaning connected with the people of Scotland. The notes are a cultural capture of what is important, and heart felt for us Scots,” a statement from Nile says.

The Scottish redesign is part of a larger movement worldwide to create currency that better captures diversity. In the United States, however, the treasury stalled on releasing a $20 bill featuring Harriet Tubman in 2019, saying the updated design would be released instead in 2026.

For a more in-depth look at the collaborative design process for Fabric of Nature, check out the videos Nile’s site. (via It’s Nice That)

Scientist Mary Somerville is on the £10

Tearoom businesswoman and artist patron Kate Cranston

Author and poet Nan Shepherd on the £5

 

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Melania Trump unveils classical Tennis Pavilion at the White House

First lady of the United States Melania Trump has revealed that a tennis pavilion, which takes cues from the neoclassical style of the The White House, is being built on the grounds of the presidential residence.

Melania Trump, whose husband Donald Trump is US president, revealed on Twitter that construction of the tennis pavilion is underway. The building appears to have been designed in house by the National Park Service (NPS).

"I am excited to share the progress of the Tennis Pavillion [Sic] at @WhiteHouse," she tweeted alongside images of her on site. "Thank you to the talented team for their hard work and dedication."

The project will replace an existing building to the west of the tennis courts

The structure will replace a building that currently houses restrooms and storage space near to the tennis courts on the grounds, which covers over 18 acres (7.3 hectares).

The pavilion's design is "heavily influenced by the White House architecture", according to a report the NPS created for the final review of the project last year. Taking cues from the neoclassical building, which was completed in 1800, the pavilion will be fronted with columns and large arched windows.

"It will use the design of the White House as inspiration and incorporate architectural elements such as a colonnade, large floor-to-ceiling windows and fanlight windows in the facades," NPS added.

Other details include white limestone cladding and a copper roof were also chosen to match The White House style.

The tennis pavilion's elevations are draw from the White House

President Trump, Melania Trump's husband, expressed his love for classical architecture earlier this year in a proposed draft order that would require all new federal buildings to be built in the style.

According to the NPS document, Melania Trump's Tennis Pavilion is intended to provide a more unified connection between two other building projects on site that were designed by previous first ladies.

These include the Kitchen Garden vegetable allotment led by Michelle Obama and the Children's Garden playspace completed by Lady Bird Johnson in 1968.

It is also the first in part of two-stage project to transform the site, located in the south of the garden. The second phase is intended to replace the neighbouring NPS Maintenance Building called the Pony Shed.

The pavilion (C) is intended to provide a more unified connection with the Children's Garden (B) and Kitchen Garden (D)

Tennis Pavilion isn't Melania's first foray into architecture and design. She started an undergraduate degree in architecture at the University of Ljubljana but left the course after her first year to pursue modelling in Milan.

This background came to light after it emerged she falsely stated she had a degree in architecture on her website and was forced to take the site down.

In 2018, it was reported that she also designed a "clean-lined" logo to front her Be Best initiative.

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Fragile Compositions of Perishable Goods Are ‘Hanging By a String’ in Illustrations by Vicki Ling

Hanging By a String, (2020), graphite and colored pencil. All images © Vicki Ling, shared with permission

In her series Hanging By a String, illustrator Vicki Ling explores the fragility and precarity of modern life. Through her towers of perishables, Ling very literally presents instability and catastrophes moments from happening. With a tug or slip of the red string that she wraps around everyday items, her compositions would topple. “We can observe society today has achieved a high degree of economic and technological development, yet we are contemporaneously struggling to keep up with the increasingly fast pace and materialistic nature of life,” Ling says of the project.

The Chicago-based illustrator tells Colossal that the string serves as a visual depiction of the tension that pervades contemporary life and disrupts any chance for complete harmony. Each element of beauty—the blooming florals, elegant edibles, and delicate teaware—is superficially pleasing and a distraction from the impending destruction.

Contemporary lifestyles tend to obscure various crises that spontaneously erupt, from privacy invasions to public health issues and from climate change to personal emotional disorders, etc. Often our preoccupations are so overwhelming that they lead us to conceal our anxiety in oblivion. I’m interested in surfacing that sense of tension and insecurity and raise these issues to our collect(ive) consciousness.

For more of Ling’s perilous projects, head to her Instagram or Behance.

 

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adidas GMR translates real-life football skills into gaming

For the launch campaign, adam&eveDDB hid the technology in stores around the world for gamers and footballers to find.

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Garden with bonsai trees lies at heart of Seattle residence by Stuart Silk Architects

Washington firm Stuart Silk Architects has completed a waterfront house in Seattle, which consists of cedar-clad pavilions organised around a Japanese garden.

The Hidden Cove residence is located on Lake Washington in the city's Washington Park neighbourhood. Built into a sloped site, the home is afforded views of the water and the Cascade Mountains in the distance.

Local firm Stuart Silk Architects conceived the project for a couple who desired a tranquil atmosphere and access to water. The residence also needed to accommodate their unique collection of outdoor plants.

"For over 20 years they had amassed an impressive collection of plants, which they lovingly cared for and painstakingly pruned, consistent with the traditions of Japanese landscaping," the studio said.

"For them, the garden was as important as the home."

In terms of an architectural style, the goal was to create a dwelling that drew upon Japanese vernacular without being too literal.

The team sought to reinterpret Japanese principles "through the lens of modern Pacific Northwest sensibility".

The architecture team responded to an oddly shaped site with four pavilions, one of which is set an angle. Varying in size, the volumes are arranged around a lush garden designed by local firm Land Morphology.

"The garden is divided into two principal rooms connected by a watercourse that falls from the street toward the lake and represents a journey from the mountain to the sea," the team said.

A covered walkway stretches through the centre of the residence and knits the pavilions together.

"The design seeks to merge garden and shelter," the studio added. "The house surrounds the gardens to create an experience that is sanctuary-like and has a sense of stillness and calm."

Exterior walls are wrapped in custom-milled cedar siding, helping the home blend with its earthy setting. The pavilions are topped with low-angled, hip roofs that take cues from traditional Japanese homes. Zinc shingles will develop a patina over time.

The team raised the roofs above the pavilions and created an upper level of glazing to usher in daylight inside.

"To prevent the home from being too dark on the inside, we lifted each roof up on ultra-thin steel posts to create space for a continuous band of clerestory windows," said firm founder Stuart Silk. "Each roof seems to defy gravity."

Within the home's separate volumes, bedrooms and living areas are clearly delineated.

The northern portion of the dwelling contains a garage and kitchen. An adjoining volume houses a living and dining room, which merges with a sheltered terrace overlooking the lake.

The angled volume, which runs along the southern edge of the property, holds a master suite, a guest bedroom and an office suite. A detached pavilion on the west encompasses an art studio, a guest room and a gym.

Throughout the residence, Stuart Silk Architects created large windows that provide views of the inner garden or the landscape beyond the client's property.

"Floor-to-ceiling glass was used extensively throughout the home to frame each unique view," the studio said. "The energy codes were carefully negotiated to make for an efficient thermal dwelling."

Rooms feature neutral colours, contemporary decor and natural finishes such as marble and wood. The team incorporated oversized oak doors with a ceruse finish and pocket doors to help maximise space.

Ceilings are clad in slats of cedar – a material chosen for both its aesthetic and acoustical qualities.

"Each plank is separated by a half-inch to allow sound to be absorbed into the sound insulation in the cavity above," the architects said. "The house is quiet even with lots of people."

Other dwellings in the Seattle area are a home designed by Garret Cord Werner for an avid swimmer and a rentable cottage by Wittman Estes and NODE that runs on solar power.

Photography is by Aaron Leitz.

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Project credits:

Architecture and interior architecture: Stuart Silk Architects
Interior furnishings: Sechrist Design
Landscape architecture: Land Morphology
Construction: Mercer Builders
Structural engineer: Quantum Consulting Engineers
Civil: DR Strong Consulting Engineers
Waterproofing: BEE Consulting, LLC

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