Set to be built from mass timber, the 3,000 capacity arena will host the band's virtual reunion tour from 27 May 2022, following the release of ABBA Voyage – the band's first album in nearly four decades.
The six-sided arena, designed by Stufish, will be built on a rarely used coach park next to Pudding Mill station on the Dockland Light Railway.
Designed to be both demountable and transportable the arena has permission to be located in east London for five years.
Venue will see ABBA perform for the first time in 40 years
Although few details of the arena have been released, it has been designed to host a virtual tour that will see ABBA band members performing as "digital avatars" designed by Industrial Light & Magic.
As well as the concert hall, the site will include a box office, stalls, toilets, bars, storage and backstage facilities.
"ABBA's breath-taking arena delivers the perfect setting for ABBA Voyage, offering you a live music experience like no other," ABBA Voyage said in a statement.
"The venue is built around ABBA's timeless music and never-before-seen concert, so you can have the time of your life in general admission or have the option of a seat in the auditorium if you prefer. You can even party in style in your own dance booth."
Alongside the temporary requirement, the report outlines that "the main building would be hexagonal in form, with the massing informed by the geometry of the seating".
Stufish has created other performance venues in locations around the world. On Hengqin Island, China the studio wrapped a theatre in a gold facade, mimicking the form of traditional circus tents.
Dezeen Showroom: the Turn and Turn+ family of lighting is a series of rechargeable and portable lamps that can provide up to 500 hours of light, created by Nao Tamura for Japanese brand Ambientec.
New York-based Japanese designer Tamura created the Turn desk lamp in 2019 for Ambientec. The lamp combines high-tech lighting with detailed artisanal craftsmanship and fine materials.
Turn is characterised by its sleek metal form that contrasts the soft, radiant glow emanating from the light
The Turn collection is designed as a study of contrasts: the elegant metallic forms juxtapose the soft, candle-like glow emitted from the circular shades.
The lamp features an integrated touch sensor, which is activated through a gentle tap on the top of the shade. This enables the intensity of the light to be adjusted or dimmed in order to suit a wide range of activities.
The Turn lamps are cordless, rechargeable, waterproof and dust-resistant
Its cordless design means that the lamp can be used in a wide array of settings including bedrooms, bathrooms, hotels, restaurants, and even outdoors on balconies or gardens. The lamp is waterproof and features an enclosure that prevents dust ingress.
Like its predecessor, Turn+ is carved from a block of robust metals such as stainless steel, brass or black aluminum, which have been selected for their durability. The new addition is also available with the choice of solid glass for its diffuser.
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Digital twins of buildings and cities could become an essential tool in the battle against climate change, according to technology experts.
These virtual replicas – computer models that use live data to create simulations of real-world objects and systems – can reduce the energy consumption of buildings in operation, proponents claim.
They do this by analysing a range of data sources, from heating and air conditioning systems to employee schedules and local traffic flow patterns. By identifying inefficiencies in these systems, digital twins can propose more energy-efficient approaches.
Digital twins can also lower the carbon footprint of new buildings and structures by optimising the energy efficiency of the construction process, and by tracking and controlling the supply chains of materials and products to reduce embodied carbon.
"In the cities, buildings and infrastructure world, I think the big driver for digital-twin adoption is around decarbonisation," said Michael Jansen, founder and CEO of digital twin software company CityZenith.
"Digital twins can help at multiple stages in the process of making a building go from carbon-positive to carbon-neutral," he told Dezeen.
In order to ensure global warming remains within 1.5 degrees Celsius of pre-industrial levels, the global economy needs to become net-zero by 2050, according to the 2015 Paris Agreement on the climate. This means ending all greenhouse gas emissions or negating unavoidable emissions with offsets that capture carbon from the atmosphere.
UK government invests in digital twins
Software developers and tech entrepreneurs predict this will lead to a huge uptake in digital twin technology, as governments and commercial organisations face increasing pressure to reduce their contributions to climate change.
The UK government is already investing. With its Centre for Digital Built Britain, a collaboration with the University of Cambridge, it has launched a National Digital Twin programme to build an eco-system that connects digital twins across businesses, allowing them to more easily share data.
The Centre for Digital Built Britain, supported by the UK government, is building an eco-system of connected digital twins
Sarah Hayes, outreach lead for the programme, believes digital twin technology could play a crucial role in helping cities achieve net-zero carbon emissions.
"[Digital twins] can help us understand the impact of decisions and actions," she told Dezeen.
"If we'd had digital twins 20 or 30 years ago, would we be facing such a climate crisis now?" she said. "Would we have invested in oil and gas in the way we did, if we'd had all the information about the consequences back then?"
"It's about putting that information together, to be able to better understand the big picture; I think digital twins is the route to doing that."
The technology is most commonly used in manufacturing, healthcare and logistics. For example, BMW and Tesla have integrated digital twins into vehicle development, medical researchers are using it to simulate the impacts of different treatments, and courier service DHL is using it to optimise operations in its warehouses.
Architects and designers are also experimenting with digital twins. The technology is being used to test the performance of the world's first 3D-printed bridge, so that the data can be used for future iterations of the design, while Foster + Partners has been using a robot dog to source data for a digital twin of a building under construction.
A recent report from professional services company EY found that digital twins can help to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprint of an existing building by up to 50 per cent, alongside cost savings of up to 35 per cent.
The report refers to case studies that include Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, which tested the use of digital twins to reduce energy use, water consumption, carbon emissions and waste across its campus of over 200 buildings.
Using data from a five-year period, the technology was able to suggest changes to building operations, resulting in a 31 per cent saving in energy use and a carbon emissions reduction of 9.6 kilotons.
Smart building management
CityZenith's SmartWorldPro is one of various digital twin software packages to offer opportunities for carbon reduction through efficient building management.
Developed specifically for the construction and real-estate sector, it can be used to manage the operation of both existing buildings and projects under construction.
Digital twin software packages like CityZenith's SmartWorldPro offer opportunities for carbon reduction
As part of a recent campaign called Clean Cities Clean Future, CityZenith is now offering its software to a selection of cities at no charge, with the promise that it can help them to reach net zero by 2050.
A pilot project will see the technology used to cut operating costs and carbon emissions at Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York.
"Digital twin technology could play a central part in decarbonising our built environment," wrote Jansen in a recent article for the World Economic Forum.
"Building owners, city planners and governments can use digital twins to track, manage and minimise emissions from both new and old buildings, as well as during construction," he said. "[They] can also predict traffic flow, or control individual room temperature."
Cityzenith will show how digital twins can help reduce carbon emissions with a project at Brooklyn Navy Yard
Scottish company Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES), another digital twin provider specialising in the built environment, has also proven that this technology can be used to reduce the carbon footprint of a wider area.
A digital twin built from IES's Virtual Environment software was used to optimise local wind power on Eday, one of the Orkney islands, allowing an entire community to reduce its energy requirements by 76 per cent in a payback of less than six years. The community hopes the changes will allow them to eliminate fossil fuel consumption on the island completely.
Traceability as a service
Decarbonising the supply chains of materials and products used in construction is a more difficult process, as it can involve sourcing data from a global network of manufacturers and suppliers, some of whom may not want to share their data.
One company taking on this challenge is Circulor, which has built up a large network of sources that allow it to uncover detailed information about supply chains. It offers this to a range of companies in a business model it calls "traceability-as-a-service".
Circulor has worked with manufacturers such as car brands Volvo and Mercedes, aerospace company Boeing and EV battery manufacturer CATL to bring transparency and efficiency to their production, but is now moving into the construction sector.
"I think we're going to start seeing more specification for sustainable construction, and to do that, you need this traceability that we're talking about here," said Douglas Johnson-Poensgen, CEO and co-founder of Circulor.
"People will want to know whether their green steel is really green," he told Dezeen.
Buildings with digital passports
Technology is fundamental to Circulor's operation. The company uses digital twins in parallel with blockchain technology, as a way of tracking the source of materials without any possibility of corruption.
According to Johnson-Poensgen, the process is inherently more complicated than a "bag and tag" system, where materials are simply traced from start to finish. Many materials go through several transformations in the process, so tracing these complex networks is only possible with the use of digital twins.
Circulor uses digital twins and blockchain technology to track complex networks of supply chains
"The challenge is far greater than tracking food or a diamond," he said, " because the digital representation of the commodity has to be able to cope with each of its transformation steps."
"But the idea is that you track the most polluting components, so that you're confident that they are as sustainably produced as they can be," he said. "Then you create a ‘digital passport' for a building, which includes all the ingredients that went into manufacturing each of its components."
"You've then got something you can use as a basis to, for example, refurbish that building in a more sustainable way."
Rick Owens' clean, brutalist lines are contrasted against the "childlike touch" of contemporary Italian design in the Rick Owens – Dialog with Emerging Italian Designers exhibition curated by Galerie Philia as part of Milan design week.
On view at Spazio CB32 near the Fondazione Prada, the show highlights work from eight young designers based in Italy alongside pieces by fashion designer Owens.
The exhibition features work by Rick Owens (above) alongside emerging designers such as Agustina Bottoni and Pietro Franceschini (top)
The emerging designers' pieces were created in response to well-known pieces by Owens including an antlered table from his Evolution series and the geometric Alchemy chair.
"When you talk about contemporary designers between 20 and 35 years old, 80 per cent of them were inspired by Rick Owens," Galerie Philia co-founder Ygaël Attali told Dezeen.
"In design, some pieces are nice looking but they don't have an aura. Rick Owens pieces aren't even trying to be nice looking. They're not trying to be comfortable or appealing. They're just there and if you like them, you like them."
Owens' Square Alchemy chair is paired with a Morghen chandelier and table by dAM Atelier
All were contributors were chosen by Attali for their irreverent style, which complements and contrasts with the comparative gravity of Owens' work.
A chunky side table is made from Calacatta Viola marble
"The idea is to create this a dialogue between Rick Owens' heaviness and power, and these airier, softer tonalities that Italian contemporary design can offer," Attali explained.
"In order to create a dialogue, you need to have two different viewpoints because if they're too similar, the dialogue is not that interesting."
Owens' pieces are accompanied by work from eight Italian designers
In the exhibition, the objects are arranged into small clusters, which Attali describes as "scenes".
Owen's custom Ophelia chandelier, formed of black, interlocking ovals, hangs at the centre of the space. A nearby brass fixture by design duo Morghen is illuminated using similar, narrow LED strips but features a more organic shape reminiscent of a tree branch.
Underneath, a minimalist table crafted from oxidised stainless steel by bespoke furniture studio dAM Atelier is paired with a blackened bronze vessel and candle holder by Owens.
Other vases, urns and bowls from the series, many featuring bulbous bodies and triangular feet, are presented on an undulating marble coffee table by Milanese architect Lorenzo Bini as well as on Franceschini's onyx plinths, their delicate black veining matching the colouring of the homeware.
Lorenzo Bini's marble table is paired with bronze pieces by Owens
Another piece by Franceschini, the zoomorphic Urania marble chair, is offset against one of Bottoni's dainty glassware designs, a floating vase held upright by a jagged rock placed on its base.
Taken together, Attali argues these pieces serve to emphasise not just the influence of Owens but also the unique qualities of Italian design.
Other pieces from the bronze series are showcased on Pietro Franceschini's onyx plinths
"Galerie Philia also works with designers from the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark, and when I compare them to Italian design it's very different," he explained.
"In Italian design, there is always this playfulness, this softness, this honest, childlike touch."
The exhibition is on show at Spazio CB32 in Milan
Founded in 2015, Galerie Philia is a contemporary design and art gallery with outposts in Geneva, New York and Singapore.
Earlier this year, the gallery hosted an exhibition in Manhattan's art deco Walker Tower, showcasing more than 70 works by 40 international designers including a chubby pink concrete chair by Studio Noon.
Architects Pedro Livni and Rafael Solano have created a psychologist's office behind a tall concrete wall in Ciudad de la Costa, Uruguay.
Located within the garden of an existing property, the low-slung structure encompasses 35 square metres and is hidden by a wall that runs its full width.
The psychologist's office stands behind a concrete wall
Only a door and a circular aperture, which was informed by the work of American artist Gordon Matta-Clark – who was known for cutting holes in existing buildings, breaking through the concrete wall.
While the door leads into the psychologist's office, the circle connects the larger garden with a small private courtyard space.
A circular opening connects the two gardens
"Located at the back of a parcel, a wall is built that hides the room and defines a garden inside another garden," explained Livni and Solano.
"Thinking of Matta-Clark, a big hole breaks through the wall and connects both gardens."
An enclosed courtyard was built next to the office
The main facade is defined by an oversized sculptural gutter, which cantilevers over the entrance and directs rainwater from the roof onto a boulder that was placed beside the front door.
Patients enter below this overhang office into a small waiting area, which adjoins a kitchenette and restroom.
The psychologist's office itself occupies roughly half of the small building and has a row of windows that look out onto the enclosed courtyard space.
The office looks onto the courtyard
The office is clad Eucalyptus-panelling, chosen by the architects as an economical choice that matched the owner's budget.
A doorway connects the space directly to the garden allowing patients and the doctor to use the outdoor space during their sessions.
There is a young tree planted in the middle of the garden, which echoes the circular opening of the main wall, and a simple bench running along the facade, beneath the windows.
The office's interior
The exterior was finished with cementitious fibre panels, which was also chosen as a budget-friendly decision.
These long, thin panels were laid horizontally to accentuate the building's low profile.
Ciudad de la Costa is a mid-sized city in Uruguay that is considered part of the metropolitan area of Montevideo, the capital.
