Zach Lieberman and WeTransfer launch in-browser painting canvas, Color Push

Intended as a creative and “meditative moment,” while you wait for files to transfer, users have 90 seconds to make a unique generative artwork.

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Photographer Roberto Conte captures Chandigarh's iconic modernist buildings

Photographer Roberto Conte has captured the geometric shapes of Le Corbusier's weathered concrete buildings at Chandigarh's in his latest series.

Conte's images showcase the clean silhouettes of the buildings found in the modernist utopia, from the UNESCO-recognised World Heritage site of the Capitol Complex to lesser-known examples of Le Corbusier's design.

Le Corbusier's Palace of Assembly is one of the concrete building's in the Capitol Complex

"With this project I want to give both an updated view of the current conditions of some iconic buildings of the history of architecture, and show the public that Chandigarh is also a lot more than the famous Capitol Complex, in terms of architectures and complexity," Conte told Dezeen.

The capital of the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana is the French architect's largest project.

Among the structures captured by Conte are Le Corbusier's High Court and its vibrant coloured walls, Pierre Jeanneret's circular, twisted Sukhna Boating Tower, and the intriguing light patterns of Le Corbusier's Tower of Shadows.

Tower of Shadows is another Le Corbusier design

Conte photographed the buildings at quiet times, putting the emphasis on the architecture rather than its surroundings.

"I checked the position of the buildings beforehand in order to have a better idea about the best possible time of the day for each architecture, according to the current season," said Conte, who is based in Milan.

Conte captured the colourful walls of Chandigarh's High Court

"I tend to avoid the presence of people, even if in India, of course, it's harder than other countries," he added.

"In most cases it has been enough to wait some time in order to find a view where the architecture was the clear subject of the image."

The Sukhna Boating Tower has a twisting concrete ramp around it

Conte has spent years taking photos of modernist architecture all over the world.

"Chandigarh is absolutely one of the most attractive places for a photographer like me," he said.

The Open Hand is a monument by Le Corbusier in Chandigarh

"All in all, Chandigarh – exactly like Brasilia – is a planned city whose masterplan was organised by one of the most important architects of the 20th century."

"The fact that it's located in such a particular context like the Indian one made it even more interesting to me," he added.

Flats for the Members of Legislative Assembly were designed by Pierre Jeanneret

Chandigarh was built after India was violently partitioned in 1947. Lahore was assigned to Pakistan and the Indian side of Punjab needed a new capital.

The city was created by Le Corbusier, Swiss architect Pierre Jeanneret and British architects Jane Drew and Edward Maxwell Fry. It is home to iconic designs including Aditya Prakash' Neelam Theatre.

Pierre Jeanneret designed the Gandhi Bhawan centre

Chandigarh is designed in a grid system and was one of the first planned cities in India.

Roberto Conte started photographing in 2006 and initially focused on Milan's industrial ruins. He has previously documented post-war Soviet architecture in Georgia and photographed Edoardo Tresoldi's Gharfa pavilion in Riyadh.

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Life after coronavirus: how will the pandemic affect our homes?

As people around the world face the realities of self isolation, architect Sergey Makhno predicts how our homes will change once the coronavirus pandemic is over.

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Life after the Covid-19 outbreak will never be the same as before. We are at the beginning of the end, waiting for a new beginning. Planet Earth will break its cooperation agreement with mankind unless we urgently revise our behaviour.

The forecasts appear one by one. Some of them are more optimistic, some not. But almost everyone agrees that, despite a decline of such unprecedented scale, humanity will still find the strength to recover.

Values ​​will change, our lives and habits will change, and our homes will also change under that influence. With that in mind, here are seven predictions for the changes that might occur.

Houses not apartments

High-rise buildings were designed to organise as many people as possible in one place. Health and hygiene were not a consideration. In times of pandemic, it is necessary to reduce contact with everything that is used in multi-storey buildings: elevator, elevator buttons, door handles, surfaces and, above all, neighbours.

After forced self-isolation on different floors above the ground, often without a balcony or terrace, we will all desperately want to have a house. It can be small, but with a courtyard and a terrace where you can have coffee in the morning.

Throughout time, the primary function of the house has been safety. Initially, it served as a hiding place from bad weather and predatory animals. Then, tall stone fortresses were built to prevent the enemy getting in. Today, people need a house that can effectively provide social isolation.

More than an escape from routine and urban chaos, the house now offers a retreat from viruses and infections. Urbanisation takes a step back as we relocate to small villages and city suburbs.

Bunkers better than open-plan

For survivalists – those constantly training to survive a coming apocalypse — there was already a trend for fortified buildings. But now we can expect that trend to become more widespread.

Looking at our real experience, films about the end of the world no longer seem to be so fantastic. The desire to prepare your home for natural or man-made hazards is no longer surprising. There will not only be a garage near the house, but also a hopper, or at least a fortified "minus" floor with a pantry for food and water.

We'll also be saying goodbye to one of the main trends of recent years: open-plan spaces, with the entrance, living room, dining space and kitchen united. In the aftermath of the pandemic, the entrance area will be separated so that we can leave our shoes, clothing and belongings on the street, rather than carry dirt into the living quarters.

Self-sufficient power and water

The buildings of the future will be proud and independent, with their own water supply and heating. Geothermal wells are gaining popularity already. In addition to water, they can partially provide a home with heating.

There will be several other sources of heating to have as a safety net: a stove, a fireplace, a solid fuel boiler, a fuel generator, solar panels. Autonomous mini-stations generating alternative power will become a reality. The goal will be independence from the outside world, minimising risks in the case of a full shutdown.

Satellite internet is currently an expensive and inconvenient service, accessible only to certain individuals and organisations, such as maritime transport, mining and construction companies, and military organisations. In the future, developments for civilian use will be accelerated, offering us very quick access to the internet.

OneWeb and SpaceX were already planning to cover the entire planet with this technology before the pandemic began. OneWeb has already deployed 40 of a planned 648 satellites into the Earth's orbit, while SpaceX's Starlink project envisages the launch of 12,000 satellites into low orbit by the mid-2020s.

Filtration and neutralisation

Water and air filtration systems tend to be seen as an unnecessary addition, easily abandoned in favour of a designer table. After the pandemic the trend will change, as people worry about what might happen if a virus gets into the water supply. To make sure, people will be willing to pay for the excavation, surveys and filtration systems needed to install a well.

Manufacturers of smart home systems will go one step further. Their programs will not only control the temperature of the air in the house, but also its quality and, if necessary, they will automatically clean it. Air from the outside will of course be filtered.

Particularly demanding families may also create a cleaning room featuring antiseptic dispensers. Going through this space will be the only way into the house for deliveries or guests. Additionally, homes will also be equipped with a lamp that generates ultraviolet radiation, which can kill some harmful organisms, viruses and bacteria.

Home as the new office

During quarantine, most are forced to work from home. There will be people who will, on the first day after the quarantine, race to meet colleagues and drink that office coffee. But there will be those who will not want to return to the office.

More attention will be given to the arrangement of the workplace at home. Spatial organisation will change, with the place to work at home no longer a desk with a parody of an office chair and a lamp, slotted somewhere in the corner of the living room or under the stairs. Now it will be a completely separate room with large windows, blackout curtains and comfortable furniture. It will be technically equipped and sound-insulated.

In response, offices will make more effort to win us back. Everything that the top companies have will become commonplace.

Urban farming goes global

It used to be trendy to start small gardens near homes or on balconies, but now it will be a boom. As our grandparents told us, gardening is calming. It is proven that physical interaction with living plants is good for our mental health.

Growing what you eat is pleasant and gives you some freedom from your daily routine, particularly during self-isolation. Quarantine is perhaps the best time to get to know more about indoor gardens – how to grow plants from seeds and create a food ration, even if you live in a multi-storey building. In addition to producing food, indoor gardens can provide oxygen. The trend in phytowalls has been around for many years, but we have not explored the full potential it offers for interior design.

Going deeper is also an option, like in the recent Guy Ritchie film Gentlemen, where marijuana is produced in underground plantations. You could develop an underground basement with a garden, mini cheese factory or a winery. Of course, you need extra equipment here: artificial lighting, water and air filtration, soil fertiliser. But it would be worth it for fresh tomatoes.

Rejection of mass industry

People around the world was struck by photos revealing a new sky over China. After two months of forced abandonment of mass production, they could finally breathe fresh air.

There are many more pleasant discoveries ahead. The new world will be about things that matter. There will be fewer objects and they will be chosen more responsibly. More questions will be asked: are they made of natural materials? Does their production harm the planet?

In addition, governments will have to maintain local manufacturers to restore economic performance. Once you leave export and import, you will no longer be such frivolous cosmopolitans.

Wash your hands, stay at home and let's create a new worthy life that the planet will no longer want to lose.

Sergey Makhno is an architect, designer, ceramist and collector based in Kiev, Ukraine, He is the founder and director of Sergey Makhno Architects. He is also a collector of Ukrainian ceramics, particularly decorative zoomorphic sculptures. He presented his own interior design objects in the 2013 exhibition Life of Ideas.

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A peak into the bookshelf of Sheffield Doc Fest director Cínta Gill

The recently appointed director talks us through the formative books on her shelves, referencing poetry, music, art and, of course, cinema.

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Nuwa is a micro guesthouse in Seoul with just one room

Design studio Z_Lab has included a huge porthole window and sunken bath inside this tiny guesthouse in northern Seoul, which measures under 30 square metres.

Nuwa is tucked down a narrow alley in Seochon, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Seoul's Jongno-gu district.

The guesthouse takes over a traditional Korean home – otherwise known as a hanok – that measures just 29.3 square meters.

It initially had poor insulation and waterproofing, meaning locally-based Z_Lab had to completely gut the structure to make it hospitable enough to host Nuwa.

The interior now plays host to serene living spaces finished in natural tones. One corner accommodates a sleeping nook, where a mattress is supported by a slightly elevated plinth.

An adjacent wall has been punctuated with a huge porthole, giving guests a view of the small landscaped garden outdoors.

The window was also included as a loose reference to wayu, a Korean term for "laying down and sightseeing".

"[Wayu] is a way of enjoying the spirit of entertainment and art," explained the studio.

"Figuratively, it means enjoying paintings or books describing the landscape or historical sites, or appreciating small gardens at home when the time to go out into nature is not possible."

"The round window is not an architectural vocabulary that's frequently used in traditional Korean architecture," said the studio's principal designer, Junghyun Park.

"It was used in the house of several the aristocratic class and women's house in palaces," he told Dezeen.

"We think that a small space like Nuwa is not meant to be a complicated mass design, but give a strong first impression."

Cream-coloured cushions have been placed on top of a timber bench seat to form a cosy reading area in the guesthouse.

There is also a long, walnut-wood table with a rough stone base where tea can be enjoyed.

It sits directly beside a sunken water bath in which guests can rest their feet. Additional wash facilities are hidden behind a door on the far side of the home.

As night falls, woven curtains can be unravelled from the ceiling to conceal guests from passersby.

Z_Lab was founded in 2014 by Noh Kyung Rok, Park Jung Hyun and Lee Sang Muk. Previous work by the studio includes a holiday home made from volcanic stone and a renovated farmhouse that's designed to resemble the body of a whale.

The studio's Nuwa project joins a growing number of single-room hotels that are popping up across the globe to offer more exclusive travel experiences to tourists.

Last year saw the opening of Trunk House in Tokyo – it takes over a 70-year-old geisha house and even has a tiny disco. Antwerp also has the One Room Hotel, which is set inside a skinny 17th-century residence that measures just 2.4 metres wide.

Photography is by Texture on Texture.

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Project credits:

Interior design: Z_Lab
Construction: GRIDS
Furniture: GRIDS
Fabric: Cotone, Ilsin, Sabi
Lighting: 1004 Lighting
Planterior and landscape: Anmadang the lab, Design Studio Dogam
Microtopping construction: Materia Syndrome
Tea and teaware: Sarubia Dabang

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