Here are the best online events and activities to see you through isolation

For April’s Diary, we’ve pivoted online, bringing you a whole host of virtual boredom-busting things to keep you busy.

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Mei Architects perches Fenix I apartments on dockside warehouse in Rotterdam

Fenix I is a steel and concrete apartment block built on top of a warehouse in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, by Dutch practice Mei Architects.

The warehouse, which dates from 1922, was built in the Rijnhaven port district by the architect CN van Groor for the Holland America Line shipping company.

Mei Architects has converted the warehouse to house a group of cultural institutions called Fenix Docks and a multi-storey car park.

Above this building a one-kiloton steel frame supports a stepped concrete housing block called Fenix I, which has 212 apartments on nine floors.

The steel frame separates the new concrete apartment building from the existing warehouse, with galleries and lifts connecting it to the converted warehouse space below.

A central courtyard, with homes around it, sits in the four-metre-high layer between the old and new buildings.

The apartment building has a stepped profile. It rises nine stories above the warehouse facing the Rijnhaven docks, and steps down to four levels  above the warehouse on the opposite side, which faces the Veerlaan district.

The apartments have been designed to be loft-style, with open plan layouts and an industrial aesthetic to match their location.

Fenix I's ring-shaped apartment block has balconies looking down to the courtyard garden on the warehouse roof, with flower boxes and trellis for climbing plants

This inner area feature white concrete and wooden facades, with timber elements that go from light to dark across the levels.

Mei Architects gave the balconies of the apartments metal details to link them visually with the warehouse below.

"The balustrades of the balconies, which surround the entire building, are made of sandwiched glass and so-called 'muse frames' – repetitive industrial steel frame elements, that invite you to lean on it and day- dream," said Mei Architects

"In total no less than 516 muse frames were added to the facade."

The converted warehouse, which was abandoned in the 1980s, is divided in two by a central corridor that serves as an entrance lobby to the apartments above.

On one side of this corridor is home to three cultural institutions – dance company Conny Janssen Danst, the Codarts Circus School and youth Circus Rotjeknor, while there is quayside housing and a parking garage for 270 cars on the other.

The facades of the warehouse have all been restored.

"On the Rijnhaven side, the original warehouse is characterised by brute concrete, the presence of large loading doors, an elongated bulky loading deck and a long letterbox window," said Mei Architects.

"This facade, dating from the 1950s, is restored to its former glory."

On the other side, the facade has been restored to its 1922 appearance.

Its plaster facade has been repaired and the original loading docks rebuilt. Glass walls sit slightly set back in the arches where trains used to pass through on the railway leading right into the dockside warehouse.

Fenix I and Fenix Docks are part of a wider regeneration plan for the Rijnhaven district.

Dutch architecture studio Powerhouse Company has designed a floating timber office complete with outdoor swimming pool that will be moored in the port area.

Mei Architects, founded by Robert Winkel, recently replaced the "ugliest building in Rotterdam" with a golden pavilion for McDonald's.

Photography is by Marc Goodwin.

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Client: Heijmans Vastgoed
Team Mei: Robert Winkel, Menno van der Woude, Michiel van Loon, Robert Platje, Roy Wijte, Riemer Postma, Ruben Aalbersberg, Kasia Ephraim, Adriaan Smidt, Rutger Kuipers, Rob Reintjes, Danijel Gavranovic, King Chaichana, Johan van Es, Jan Hoogervorst, Daam van der Leij

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“Punk posters sold the reality, not some idealised dream”: Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die charts the graphics of punk

Andrew Krivine, collector of punk graphics and author of a new book on the subject, selects six pivotal images in the era’s history and explains their impact.

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Daily coronavirus architecture and design briefing: 2 April

Daily coronavirus briefing: today's architecture and design coronavirus briefing includes converting buildings into hospitals, a public health artwork campaign and an Elon Musk donation.

BDP architect explains how ExCel centre was converted into coronavirus hospital

Converting convention centres into coronavirus hospitals is the most efficient way to increase intensive-care capacity, according to James Hepburn of architect BDP, which helped convert London's ExCel centre into the 4,000-bed NHS Nightingale (via Dezeen).

Elon Musk donates ventilators to New York hospitals

Founder of Tesla Elon Musk was thanked by the mayor of New York for "donating hundreds of ventilators" to the city. However journalists at Financial Times spotted that the machines in photos of the donation are actually just machines for treating sleep apnea (via FT Alphaville – subscription needed).

Museums documenting coronavirus pandemic as it happens

Institutions around the world are gathering surveys, photographs and interviews to help people study the current crisis in the future (via New York Times).

Opposite Office proposes converting Berlin's Brandenburg airport into superhospital

German studio Opposite Office has proposed creating a temporary Covid-19 superhospital inside Berlin's unfinished Brandenburg airport during the coronavirus pandemic (via Dezeen).

Amplifier launches campaign to create public health artworks

Design lab for grass roots movement Amplifier has started an emergency campaign for artists to create works that communicate public health messages or promote mental health during the pandemic (via Amplifier).

London Festival of Architecture launches digital version

After delaying it's annual programme of events due to coronavirus, the London Festival of Architecture (LFA) is launching an online programme. LFA Digital 2020 is launching in June and applications are open for submissions for digital events around this year's theme – power (via LFA).

British American Tobacco working on plant-based vaccine

The makers of cigarettes such as Lucky Strike and Dunhill has said it has a potential coronavirus vaccine in development using tobacco plants (via Guardian)

MIT chemists design drug candidate for Covid-19 cure

A team of chemists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has made a potential drug to treat coronavirus by blocking its ability to enter human cells (via Fast Company).

Oil and gas industry will never be the same again

Coronavirus could stop climate change by killing the oil industry suggest analysts after the pandemic has caused demand for oil to fall through the floor, suggesting peak demand has been reached (via Guardian).

Architects' Journal guide to financial help for practices

The Architects' Journal magazine has published the latest in a series of articles giving advice on the financial aid available to UK architecture practices affected by the country's lockdown (via Architects' Journal).

Keep up with developments by following Dezeen's coverage of the coronavirus outbreak. For news of impacted events, check Dezeen Events Guide's dedicated coronavirus page.

Image is a promotional poster for the Amplifier design contest by Thomas Wimberly.

 

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Becky and Joe are back with more gooey gruesomeness in new idents for Trolli

The directors looked to B-movie horror and Ray Harryhausen’s Creatures for inspiration for the creepy stop motion ads.

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