Live video interview with Klein Dytham Architecture as part of Virtual Design Festival

Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of Klein Dytham Architecture speak to Dezeen live from Tokyo today as part of Virtual Design Festival. Watch the interview here at 2:00pm UK time.

Klein and Dytham are also founders of the PechaKucha presentation format, and the interview follows the live streaming of last night's PechaKucha Inspire The World event.

In the live interview with Dezeen founder Marcus Fairs, Klein and Dytham will discuss the PechaKucha format, in which each participant shows 20 images for 20 seconds each.

Last night's event, the first online version of PechaKucha, featured speakers including designer Yves Behar, former Autodesk CEO Carl Bass, and Dytham.

Klien and Dytham will also speak about their architecture projects and about life in Tokyo.

The interview is the second live conversation in our VDF Screentime series, which launched yesterday with an interview with trend forecaster Li Edelkoort.

Klein and Dytham met at London's Royal College of Art and moved to Tokyo to work for Japanese architect Toyo Ito. They founded Klein Dytham Architecture in 1991.

Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham are the co-founders of Tokyo-based practice Klein Dytham Architecture

Projects completed by their architecture studio include Tokyo's landmark Daikanyama T-Site bookshop, as well as a book-lined "village" of shops, restaurants and co-working space within Amanda Levete's Central Embassy complex in Bangkok.

Dytham, a keen drone user, also appeared as an interviewee in Elevation, Dezeen's documentary about drones and their impact on our future cities.

Virtual Design Festival is the world's first online design festival, taking place from 15 April to 30 June. For more information, or to be added to the mailing list, contact us at virtualdesignfestival@dezeen.com.

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Precht designs Parc de la Distance for outdoor social distancing

Austria-based studio Precht has designed a maze-like park divided by high hedges that would allow people to be outdoors while maintaining social distance during the coronavirus pandemic.

Chris Precht, founder of studio Precht, designed the Parc de la Distance following numerous public, outdoor spaces around the world closing due to the coronavirus outbreak.

"The project started with a couple of questions regarding this pandemic," he told Dezeen.

"What would a park look like and how would it function if it takes the rules of social distancing as a design guideline. And what can we learn from a space like this that still has value after the pandemic."

The park would have numerous routes divided by 90-centimetre-wide hedges to maintain a safe physical distance between its visitors. Arranging the paths in a finger print-shaped swirl pattern creates many routes that can be used simultaneously.

Each of the red-granite gravel paths through the park would be around 600 metres long and circulate visitors from the edge of the park to the centre, where fountains would be located, and back round.

Gates on the entrances and exits to each of the routes, which would take around 20 minutes to walk, would indicate if a route is occupied.

"I see the origin of the design in French baroque gardens," said Precht. "A strong order of plants. Hedges that create geometrical shapes."

"But there is also an inspiration drawn in Japanese Zen-gardens. Circular movements. Raking of gravels that centre around corner stones," he continued.

The park is proposed for a vacant plot in Vienna, where the famous Schönbrunn and Belvedere parks are currently closed.

Although Precht designed the park in response to the current coronavirus outbreak he believes that a social-distance park would be a beneficial environment for cities after the pandemic.

"For now, the park is designed to create a safe physical distance between its visitors," he explained.

"After the pandemic, the park is used to escape the noise and bustle of the city and be alone for some time. I lived in many cities, but I think I have never been alone in public. I think that's a rare quality."

Precht believes that following the pandemic people will appreciate outdoor spaces and seek escapism from the bustle of cities more than before.

"But I think this pandemic has taught us that we need more places to get away," he explained.

"City centres should not be defined by their real-estate, but rather by their real escape. By possibilities that allow us to escape to nature," he continued.

"Instead of banks, traffic and office blocks, city centres should be redesigned by parks, wilderness and plants. The lack of nature is an issue of many urban areas and I hope that the Parc de la Distance can offer an escape."

Precht is an Austria-based architecture studio established by Chris and Fei Tang Precht in 2017. The pair were two of the co-founders of Penda in China in 2013.

Precht has recently designed a modular housing system that could support vertical farms and a modular treehouse that looks like a cartoon character.

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VDF collaborates with Tokyo architecture YouTuber Martin Vermeulen to explore Tokyo's "mysterious urbanity"

Today Virtual Design Festival teams up with Dutch architect Martin Vermeulen of YouTube channel One Minute Architecture to present a selection of his best short architecture movies.

Vermeulen, founder of Tokyo-based Van Der Architects, has lived in Japan since 1995 when he moved to the country to work on Hiroshi Hara's monumental Kyoto Station.

Projects he has completed since then include a 2014 community centre in the earthquake-hit town of Yamada.

He started making videos about six years ago, documenting both his own projects and buildings by other architects around Tokyo.

Exploring Tokyo's "mysterious urbanity"

His One Minute Architecture channel on YouTube now has dozens of videos, including building reviews, how-to guides and personal reflections.

"I first came to Japan in 1992, to work on Kyoto Station," he says in the video he made to launch his collaboration with VDF. "Even after 28 years, I found Tokyo endlessly fascinating, and I enjoy making videos of its architecture, and its rather mysterious urbanity".

His one-minute videos mix factual descriptions, humour, opinion and quirky insights.

"Many tourists visit the Shibuya Crossing," he says of the famous X-shaped pedestrian crossing in front of Shibuya station, which is reputed to be the busiest pedestrian intersection in the world. "But did you know that there is a river running beneath it?"

"Privileged to see great architecture on a daily basis"

"I feel privileged to be able to see on a daily basis great architecture such as Kengo Kuma's SunnyHills, the new Olympic Stadium or my absolute favourite, Kenzo Tange's Kuwait Embassy building."

For his collaboration with VDF, Vermeulen has selected eight of his favourite movies, one of which will be streamed each day for the next seven days, starting with his film about Kuma's timber-clad SunnyHills bakery later today.

Forthcoming episodes include videos about Tange's Kuwait Embassy, Kengo Kuma's Olympic stadium, and Hara's Kyoto Station.

Vermeulen will also present mini-documentaries about topics including fire-proofing techniques in Japan, how natural disasters such as earthquakes and typhoons have shaped Tokyo, and how to photograph architecture.

"So, enjoy Dezeen's Virtual Design Festival," Vermeulen says. "Stay home and stay safe."

About Virtual Design Festival

Virtual Design Festival, the world's first digital design festival, runs from 15 April to 30 June 2020. It is a platform that will bring the architecture and design world together to celebrate the culture and commerce of our industry, and explore how it can adapt and respond to extraordinary circumstances.

VDF will host a rolling programme of online talks, lectures, movies, product launches and more, complementing and supporting fairs and festivals around the world that have had to be postponed or cancelled and it will provide a platform for design businesses, so they can, in turn, support their supply chains.

Find out more here or email vdf@dezeen.com for details or to join our mailing list.

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Daily coronavirus architecture and design briefing: 16 April

Daily coronavirus briefing: today's architecture and design coronavirus briefing includes architecture films chosen by Dezeen readers and hospital gowns made from airbags.

HTA and HOK launch The Industry Prints to co-ordinate efforts to 3D print face visors for NHS 

Architecture studios HTA and HOK have established a nationwide initiative called The Industry Prints to manufacture and distribute face visors made to NHS specifications (via The Industry Prints).

10 films for architecture fans recommended by Dezeen readers

In response to our story highlighting films with interesting architecture to stream during coronavirus self-isolation, Dezeen commenters have recommended 10 more architectural films (via Dezeen).

Graphic Matters distributes positive posters in the Netherlands

Design studio Graphic Matters has distributed 300 posters with positive public service announcements, created as part of the Stay Sane, Stay Safe project, around the town of Breda in the Netherlands (via Graphic Matters).

Ford using airbag material to make reusable hospital gowns

Automotive company Ford has begun making hospital-grade isolation gowns from the fabric usually used to make its airbags (via Quartz).

Lego latest company to start production of face masks

Toy company Lego has modified its machines at its factory in Billund to produce visors for healthcare workers in Denmark. The company is producing 13,000 face visors a day (via Business Insider).

Studio Precht designs Parc de la Distance for outdoor social distancing

Austria-based studio Precht has designed a park divided by high hedges that would allow people to be outdoors while maintaining social distance during the coronavirus pandemic (via Dezeen).

Faroe Islands launches tours using remote-controlled locals

The tourism office of the Faroe Islands has launched an initiate called Remote Tourism that lets people tour the island by controlling a person with a camera attached to their head (via Guardian).

Google's Wing drones deliver essentials during coronavirus pandemic

The Wing drone delivery system developed by Google is being used to deliver toilet paper and medicine to residents in lockdown in Virginia, USA (via Dezeen).

Tokujin Yoshioka shares three-step template for emergency face shields

Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka has created an "easy-to-make" face shield for healthcare workers fighting Covid-19, which attaches to the wearer's glasses (via Dezeen).

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.

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Tokujin Yoshioka shares three-step template for emergency face shields

Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka has created a quick and easy face shield for healthcare workers fighting Covid-19, which attaches to the wearer's glasses.

Yoshioka's template design can be used to create a face shield in three simple steps from a clear sheet of PET or PVC plastic.

Printed on an A3 piece of paper, the template can be placed over the top of a clear sheet of plastic and used as a guideline for cutting around the edge of the shape.

The user can then make cuts into the plastic sheet over the two small lines indicated towards the top of the template on opposite sides.

The two temple arms of the wearer's glasses can then be slotted into these incisions, leaving the glasses protected by the shield as they sit behind it on the user's face.

"I am grateful to the brave and dedicated healthcare workers for fighting the contagious disease," said Yoshioka.

"I'd like to share my quick and simple face shield idea for emergency situation with shortage of medical supplies," he added.

"I hope this can be of any help to healthcare workers."

Yoshioka joins a host of designers and architects also creating pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE) to help replenish the shortages brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. US physician and epidemiologist Michael Edmond has recommended that everyone should try and wear a face shield.

"I believe that if every person wore a face shield when out of their home, we would bend the curve faster and return to normal life sooner," he told Dezeen.

Architecture studio Foster + Partners has designed a laser-cut face shield that can be manufactured quickly and disassembled, sanitised and reused after wearing.

Nike has also created face shields and lenses for air-purifying respirators with materials from its footwear, while Apple has shared its design for face shields made from three pieces: the face shield, a forehead strap and a silicone strap.

Yoshioka's template can be downloaded for free using the following link.

The template includes three different shield sizes: a large size with a height of 250 millimetres (mm) and a width of 265 mm, a medium size of 215 mm by 265 mm, or a smaller size of 200 mm by 265 mm.

The designer's studio has also shared an instruction video showing how to assemble the face shield on its Instagram, Twitter and YouTube channels.

One of Yoshioka's most recent designs was for the 2020 Olympic torch, which he designed to resemble Japan's traditional cherry blossom flower.

The games, however, have been postponed until next year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Set to begin in Tokyo on 24 July, the Olympics will now take place "no later than summer 2021".

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