Designed by Impact Acoustic's co-founder Jeffrey Ibañez, the Chatpod booths were created to be a room-in-room solution that allows for private meetings or calls to take place within an office.
Top: Chatpod has five models that cater to different work modes. Above: the smallest booths accommodate one person standing
Each Chatpod has a soundproof interior with an integrated power, lighting and ventilation system, while its exterior is designed to absorb the noise created in busy offices and can be finished in a choice of 25 colours.
The booths are designed for a variety of uses and come in five different sizes – the smallest accommodates a single person standing while the largest can seat six people.
Chatpods are available in a variety of colours
The booths are all made in Impact Acoustic's factory in the Swiss Alps from upcycled materials and are designed so that all the elements can be recycled at the end of the pod's life.
About Dezeen Showroom: Dezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen’s huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.
Dezeen speaks to Italian design studio Formafantasma about its new collaboration with Swiss watch brand Rado in a live panel discussion as part of Rado Design Week. Tune in from 4:00pm London time.
Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs will be joined by Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin, the design duo behind Formafantasma, to talk about their special edition of Rado's True Square watch, which was exclusively revealed earlier today in a video filmed by Dezeen at their studio in Amsterdam.
For their design, Trimarchi and Farresin looked to the tradition of closed pocket watches in order to create a contemporary take on a historic watch design.
The True Square Formafantasma by Italian design studio Formafantasma
Called True Square Formafantasma, the watch has a minimal face with a small round window in its middle where the dials sit, harkening back to pocket watch lids, which would often feature a small window for the user to see the time.
Using injection moulding technology, Formafantasma worked with Rado to develop their watch design using the brand's signature high-tech ceramic.
"Working with Rado was engaging because the level of expertise in watchmaking is obviously excellent," Farresin said in the video that we published earlier today.
"For a designer, it is always exciting to work with a partner that can accomplish your ideas and be open to your perspective," he added.
Trimarchi and Farresin founded Formafantasma in 2009 after graduating from Design Academy Eindhoven in 2009.
Their work often investigates materials through their historical context and attempts to act as a bridge between their research-based practice and the wider design industry.
Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin, founders of Formafantasma
Fairs, Trimarchi and Farresin will also be joined by Rado's CEO Adrian Bosshard and vice president of product development Hakim El Kadiri, who will give an insight into the Rado brand and why it chose to work with the Italian design duo.
Adrian Bosshard, CEO of Rado
Joining Rado as CEO in June 2020, Bosshard has previously been CEO to Rado's sister brand Certina for the past 17 years.
Rado Design Week is a week-long collaboration between the Swiss watch brand and Dezeen, which sees the reveal of four unique versions of its True Square timepiece created by a roster of international designers including Formafantasma, YOY, Tej Chauhan and Thukral&Tagra.
Every day throughout the week Dezeen will also broadcast a live conversation between Fairs, Bosshard, El Kadiri and one of the designers. The week concludes with a competition that gives Dezeen readers the chance to win one of the watches from the collection.
The event marks a pivotal moment for Rado, which started out in a workshop in Switzerland's Lengnau district back in 1917. Although the brand often hosts events to launch its new watches, this is its first virtual design week.
We're kicking off our review of 2020 with a look at Dezeen's top eight churches from the past year, including floating, rainbow-topped and timber places of worship.
Built on a canal boat in east London, this floating church is topped with a pop-up roof that recalls an organ's bellows.
UK studio Denizen Works worked with Turks Shipyard and naval architect Tony Tucker to create the chapel for the Diocese of London that can function as both a church and a community hub.
This facetted timber chapel was built as part of an extension to a church in the town of Stroud in southwest England.
Built from a combination of cross-laminated timber panels and glue-laminated structural beams, the form created by Nicolas Pople Architects was intended to invoke the feeling of a gothic cathedral.
Built as an extension to a church situated at the intersection of three valleys within the Black Forest, this triangular tower also serves as a public viewpoint.
The cross-laminated timber tower completes the church, which has a 16th-century gothic choir and a large, tent-like hall built in the 1970s.
Contini Architettura built a church as part of a group of buildings, including a parish hall, sports' clubhouse and changing rooms, around a gravel-filled square in the village of Castel di Lama.
The arrangement of the buildings was designed to recall traditional Italian town centres, while the church has an elliptical main hall.
Local studio Robert Gutowski Architects created a crescent-shaped building featuring skewed angles and whitewashed concrete for the Church of Pope John Paul II in the village of Páty.
According to the studio, the shape of the building was designed to "invite people closer to the holy act" at the altar.
Architecture firm Foster + Partners has developed a proposal for repairing London's Hammersmith Bridge while reopening it by inserting a separate double-decker road raised over the original structure.
An extra deck would allow vehicle traffic to drive over the top of a pedestrian and cycle path, freeing up space for workmen to carry out essential repairs.
The temporary crossing, which wouldn't rest on the bridge, could be built in two parts and inserted across the bridge from both sides to meet in the middle.
Supported by truss structures on both sides, it would allow the bridge, which is currently closed, to reopen to pedestrians and vehicles while repairs are made.
Using the decks as a platform, workers could remove sections of the Grade II*-listed bridge and ferry them away on barges for specialist repairs.
Raised decks would be supported either side and meet in the middle
"We believe that our concept resolves the two challenges for Hammersmith Bridge economically and efficiently," said Foster + Partners head of structural engineering Roger Ridsdill Smith.
"Delivering a temporary crossing quickly, whilst providing a safe support to access and refurbish the existing bridge."
Hammersmith Bridge over the Thames has been closed since 13 August 2020 as it was deemed unsafe. Sensors placed on the bridge revealed that microfractures were developing in the bridge's cast iron pedestals.
Due to decades of unchecked corrosion, the bridge could shatter and plunge traffic into the river at any moment.
Hammersmith and Fulham Council estimated the cost to repair the bridge, which first opened in 1887, would be £46 million just to stabilise it, and £141 million to restore it to a state where it could open to motor traffic again.
Foster + Partner's proposal could prove more cost-effective, allowing the bridge to reopen to the 22,000 vehicles who used it to cross the river in the UK's capital every day.
The lower deck would give workers a safe way to access the original bridge's pedestals, anchors and chains. Removing and repairing elements off-site would be easier, and also cut down on noise and disruption.
"We consider that this approach is practical and viable," said COWI executive director David MacKenzie, the engineering firm partnering with Foster + Partners on the project.
"Our experience is that offsite refurbishment of bridge structures is safer and more controlled, and results in a higher quality final outcome when the structure is re-installed."
Hammersmith Bridge was designed by 19th-century civil engineer Joseph Bazalgette, and was the first iron suspension bridge to span the Thames. The landmark structure is painted green and gold, with monumental towers sporting heraldic crests.
Foster + Partners was founded in 1967 by Norman Foster, three years before Hammersmith Bridge was given its Grade II*-listed status.
Latex can help replace polluting materials such as leather and plastics, according to designers working with the plant-based material.
Despite its fetishistic associations, designers are waking up to its credentials as a sustainable alternative to animal and petroleum-based materials.
This past year saw latex turned into full-body suits by French fashion house Balmain, while young designers Harikrishnan and Fredrik Tjærandsen made headlines with inflatable garments made from the stretchy material.
Designers "starting to realise" the benefits of latex
"Latex has often been related to fetishism, but I think designers are starting to realise that it's a natural fabric which makes it very interesting in today's discussions about ecology and ethical issues," French fashion designer Arthur Avellano told Dezeen.
"It is a noble and natural material that does not kill animals, does not cut down trees and isn't plastic either."
The material has suddenly become highly sought after: in the six months up until March, latex sheeting manufacturer Supatex reported a 40 per cent rise in orders, with an increasing number of clients inquiring about the material's environmental credentials.
Top: Harikrishnan designed latex inflatable trousers. Above: Fredrik Tjærandsen also designed inflatable latex clothing
"Latex is preferable to leather due to the fact that none of the additives is derived from animals," said Nange Magro of latex fashion brand Dead Lotus Couture. "It has a much closer fit and a much higher stretch than leather or PVC."
"I immediately fell in love with it due to the tactile feeling, the smell, the sensation of it," Magro told Dezeen earlier this year.
Latex sheeting has advantages over both natural leather and plastic-based leather alternatives explained Claire Davis, founder of London latex-focused fashion label Hanger Inc.
"Leather is animal skin and vegan leather is essentially a plastic sheet that's going to survive on earth until after humanity has gone extinct," she told Dezeen.
"Latex is the best of both worlds because it's both vegan and biodegradable."
Latex "bleeds out" of rubber trees
Latex is a natural, renewable material derived from the rubber tree. Its production is sustainable and carbon-negative since the trees are not cut down during harvesting.
It is named after the sticky, milky white liquid produced by many plants to protect themselves from pests: when the bark of a latex-bearing plant is damaged, latex coagulates to seal the scar while the bark regrows.
Commercial latex sheeting is derived from the rubber tree, hevea brasiliensis, which is native to Brazil and which is grown in plantations in South America, west Africa and south-east Asia.
Natural rubber latex, which is also used to produce natural rubber, is extracted via a process called tapping. This involves scoring the bark so that latex drips out into a receptacle.
Hanger Inc is turning latex into everyday essentials like T-shirts
"The tree effectively bleeds out," explained Joseph Lewis, head of UK business development at Supatex.
"So you're taking what it has to offer and then leaving it to re-bark and re-heal before you're able to tap it again in a few weeks time."
The natural rubber latex, which consists of natural rubber microparticles suspended in water, is then processed into commercial latex sheeting by reducing the water content and adding pigments and coagulants to create the desired colour, stretch and tear resistance.
"We add things like sulphur and zinc in minimal quantities of roughly half a per cent in proportion to the raw material," explained Lewis.
"These are essential in order to give the [latex] its elastomeric properties, otherwise you'd end up with a piece of [latex] that's very limited in its stretch with poor elongation and breakpoints."
"Perfect alternative to leather"
As designers are focusing on the full lifecycle impact of their products some are reconsidering widely used materials such as animal leather and plastics including polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or polyurethane (PU).
Designers like Davis and Avellano, who first turned to latex for its "visually impactful" texture, are now reappraising the material for its green credentials.
Both designers are independently working to make latex more available as day-to-day clothing by applying it to casual silhouettes like T-shirts or loose-fitting trousers.
Molly Younger tuned latex into a collection of flesh-like bags
"In the beginning, I chose to work with latex for the aesthetic rendering and of course the challenge of finding new techniques to make it wearable," explained Avellano, who has been using the material in his fashion collections since 2013.
"But I realised by experimenting with it that it is the perfect alternative to leather or plastic."
"With a growing need for leather alternatives, latex can start to fill this gap," she said."Natural latex is durable, washable and can be moulded to any shape imaginable, making it an ideal material for many design applications."
Latex can replace polyurethane
The material can also match the textural and performative qualities of polyurethane, which is widely used in footwear and furniture production.
"Latex is the only solution that exists that gives us a similar performance to what you can get from PU in athletic shoes but without it being a crude oil-based synthetic," explained Tull Price, the founder of Australian footwear brand Feit, which uses latex to form the outsoles of roughly 30 per cent of its collections.
"It's really flexible, it's comfortable and durable, although not as durable as hard rubber."
Nina Edwards Anker's Beanie sofa is filled with latex and lentil beans
Meanwhile, architect and designer Nina Edwards Anker has used natural latex in combination with lentil beans to form the filling of her Beanie Sofa.
"Latex is already big in the bedding world in different forms and the furniture industry needs to catch up," she said. "Especially because organic latex is more comfortable than artificial foam."
"It is against mass production and consumerism"
Although Latex has several positive aspects, it can be a demanding material to work with that can force designers to slow down their production processes.
"In terms of construction, working with latex is almost ritualistic," explained Harikrishnan.
"It takes a lot of time, patience and practice, which means it is against mass production and consumerism. It took me 48 hours as a first-timer to create my inflatable trousers."
Harikrishnan's graduate collection went viral online
Even after being processed, many forms of latex remain sensitive to light as well as sweat and oils. This means that the finished products have to be properly maintained. However, this is something Harikrishnan believes is a positive as it means users have to appreciate their products.
"It needs to be treated gently but that also means the material stays biodegradable and will eventually return to its natural form, meaning zero waste or harm to the planet," he said.
Under prolonged exposure, the material becomes brittle and discoloured, meaning that owners need to follow a care regiment of polishing it and applying talc, as well as storing it away from direct sunlight.
"If you're thinking of buying a garment you should be ready to enter a relationship with it for the rest of its life because it is now your responsibility," said Davis.
"I think with latex this is extra true because you really have to look after it, it's only going to last as long as you take care of it."
