In the most exotic VDF video message we received, interior designer Natalie Papageorgiadis explains how she found herself stranded in the Maldives as the world went into lockdown due to coronavirus.
Papageorgiadis is the founder of London-based interior design studio Studio Natalie and appears in the video with its managing director Stuart Trevor on an island in the Maldives.
"We've ended up stranded but it's a really beautiful island and it's virus-free," Trevor said. Papageorgiadis and Trevor came to the island for a project and, despite being stranded there, have continued their work.
"We're using our extended stay to research local materials like driftwood and coral that we've discovered in the local village," Papageorgiadis explained.
She has previously designed several residential and hotel interiors including the Park Hyatt India Tower in Mumbai and the Hilton Hotel and Spa in Kyiv.
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Dezeen invited architects, designers, artists and industry figures to record video messages from lockdown and made a montage of 35 video messages to launch Virtual Design Festival.
Virtual Design Festival runs from 15 April to 30 June 2020. It brings 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.
Unparelld'arquitectes has turned four buttresses supporting a party wall in the town of Olot, Spain, into an arched public shelter that aims to "catalyse activity" on the street.
Olot-based architecture studio Unparelld'arquitectes built the arched shelter, named Emergency Scenery, to replace a house that was purchased by the city's government and demolished in 2017 to improve the areas street alignment.
The three arches, which are supported on four buttresses that were built to supporting the party wall of the remaining house, are intended to be used as a shelter and stage backdrop to encourage activity on the street.
"Basically, it is a scenery to achieve a more comfortable atmosphere in the street, and catalyse activity," said Eduard Callís, co-founder of Unparelld'arquitectes.
"It also guarantees the waterproof qualities of the party wall," he told Dezeen. "The work of formal definition is based on completing the existing – buttresses and party walls – linking the new parts with the old ones, with the intention of configuring a unitary final structure."
The structure was created as an alternative to building new paving and protecting the party wall in a more traditional way, that would act as a scenic background to activities taking place on the street.
"In the compact city, we think the facades take responsibility for giving shape and character to the street," said Callís. "This is the reason why we reformulated the initial assignment for a new pavement."
"It was necessary to invest the available budged in the vertical plane," he continued. "Instead of a waterproof metal cladding we conceived a porous facade, in order to offer a scenographic support to urban life and to accommodate events."
The trio of red-brick arches, which stand opposite the Baroque church of Our Lady of the Tura, were designed to be reminiscent of a section through a church.
"It evokes the section of a church, and at the same time and on a different scale, the typical chapels on the facades of the buildings of the old town," said Callís.
"It is also inspired with the work by Sadurni Brunet. He was a decorator, working in the neighbourhood, and specialised in designing sceneries, shops and mangers."
Unparelld'arquitectes also hoped to capture a sense of the domestic building that was demolished and the history of the local area.
"The project is also attentive to the reality, in the way that it completes the existing elements, as the buttresses and the traces of domestic activity marked on the party wall," explained Callís.
"It is a way of remembering that the city is built on its own stratum and gives rise to an agglomeration of past stories. Emergency Scenery is the construction of an unreal, symbolic history that highlights this public space," he continued.
"We played to change the perception of those elements that are present in the town. They are 'as found' elements with a change of meaning."
In several areas patterned glass panels designed by artist Quim Domene have been included within the the arches to recall the city's history of crafts, while on one transparent panel there is a list of old shops that used to exist in this part of Olot.
"The glass panels and the performances in the niches aim to recover the memory of the important role of crafts and commerce in the neighbourhood," said Callís.
"It is an intervention by the visual artist Quim Domene. From left to right, the glass panels reproduce an original design for a hydraulic floor by Sadurní Brunet, two printed fabric designs produced in the local textile industry in the 18th century and the pattern of an existing glass tile in the doctor's house."
Photo is by Roger Serrat-Calvó
Unparelld'arquitectes is an architecture studio based in Olot run by Callís and Guillem Moliner.
Photography is by Jose Hevia, unless stated.
Project credits:
Architect: Unparelld'arquitectes – Eduard Callís, Guillem Moliner Visual artist: Quim Domene Design and construction team: Clàudia Calvet, Xevi Rodeja, Sara Palmada, Sergi Jiménez Structural designer: Amaia López Building engineer: Gemma Planagumà Client: Olot town hall Builder: Construo Construccions Generals
Today's round up of design-related coronavirus stories includes a delay in artist Christo's plans to wrap a Paris landmark in fabric and an invention to open doors with your shoe.
Shoe Pull is a hands-free door handle for your foot
Philip Watts Design has created a metal door handle that sits at the bottom of a door and can be operated with a shoe to stop people transmitting coronavirus particles with their hands (via Philip Watts Design).
Hong Kong airport installs full-body disinfection booths
Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) is trialling CLeanTech booths for staff members, a pressure-controlled environment that reportedly sprays the occupant with sanitiser for 40 seconds (via CNN).
Paul Cocksedge designs social distancing picnic blanket for life after lockdown
London-based designer Paul Cocksedge's Here Comes the Sun blanket would allow people to "socialise safely and confidently" outdoors once Covid-19 lockdown restrictions have been lifted (via Dezeen).
NHS Nightingale wound down after no new patients for a week
Apple considers iPhone update to make Face ID compatible with masks
Because face masks interfere with facial recognition technology, Apple is rumoured to be including a feature in its iOS 13.5 update that will detect if the user is wearing one and take them straight to passcode entry (via Wired).
Calls for bathroom building codes to be reconsidered
Experts in health are calling for a "rethink" of public toilet design codes to make hands-free hygiene devices such as sensor flushes and taps mandatory (via The Guardian).
Survey suggests British would go into lockdown annually to cut down pollution
Market research conducted by Piplsay reports 71 per cent of of people in the UK would support an annual two week lockdown to help the environment (via Piplsay)
10 movies with striking interior design to watch under lockdown
The coronavirus crisis means we're spending more time indoors than ever before, so Dezeen's Natasha Levy has selected 10 films with stand-out interiors that can offer some escape from your own four walls (via Dezeen).
Now in its third year, Dezeen Awards identifies the world's best architecture, interiors and design, as well as the studios and the individual architects and designers producing the most outstanding work. The final deadline for entries is 2 June.
The eight architects and designers will join the live conversation at intervals of 10-20 minutes from countries including the UK, Netherlands and Singapore to discuss their work and the importance of awards.
Moderated by Dezeen's Marcus Fairs, the schedule is as follows:
This conversation is sponsored by Stockholm-based independent design brand Hem.
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 vdf@dezeen.com.
For more information about Dezeen Awards, please email the awards team at awards@dezeen.com.
