Escape Kelim rug by Space Copenhagen for Massimo Copenhagen

Dezeen Showroom: Danish design studio Space Copenhagen has put a contemporary spin on the traditional kelim rug for Massimo Copenhagen, creating an accessory that adds texture and softness to minimalist environments.

The Escape Kelim rug is handmade in India using the ancient flat-weaving technique that originated in the Turkish or Anatolian region, where the weft and warp threads are interwoven to create a flat finish.

Subtle details such as contrast edges feature on the Escape Kelim rugs

Space Copenhagen's take on the style harnesses its organic aesthetic. The rugs are available with a fringe or a contrasting edge.

"We have always been very fascinated by the beauty and understated elegance of ancient flatweave Kelim Rugs – the subdued colour tones and the natural feel," said Space Copenhagen.

"Our wish has been to design a modern collection of minimal yet tactile and crafted rugs with subtle details – to support and enhance the warmth, softness, human layer and ambience in a modern space."

The rugs are made of undyed natural wool

The Escape Kelim rugs are woven from 100 per cent undyed natural wool, making them durable, easy to maintain and naturally biodegradable and fire-resistant.

They are available in eight design variations in neutral hues of light grey and beige. There are five sizes ranging from 90x250 to 300x400 centimetres.

Product: Escape Kelim
Designer: Space Copenhagen
Brand: Massimo Copenhagen
Contact: dominika@massimo.dk

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Ilja Schamle powers server with tomato plants in self-sustaining ecosystem

Design Academy Eindhoven graduate Ilja Schamle has replaced batteries with living plants in this self-built server system to explore how technology could enter into a symbiotic relationship with nature.

Showcased as part of the Missed Your Call graduate exhibition at Milan design week, the project sees renewable energy derived from tomato vines used to run a cloud server, while the heat generated by the computer provides optimal growing temperatures for the vegetables.

The Warm Earth system sees tomato plants housed in a server cabinet

The self-sufficient system, dubbed Warm Earth, was designed for an apocalyptic future, in which humanity can no longer depend on power stations and must instead turn to live plants as an alternative energy source.

"Having the whole internet run on plants, it wouldn't be possible with the way that we're using servers right now and how much content there is," Schamle told Dezeen.

"We wouldn't be able to function in this way and that is a very harsh reality,"  she said. "It can help us understand how much energy is needed to run these systems and how far detached we are from them."

Electricity from the plants is used to power a server

Schamle's artificial ecosystem was conceived to take data centres from being foreign entities, hidden from our daily lives, to everyday fixtures in our homes.

It sees the tomato plants housed within a traditional server rack cabinet while the server itself is mounted to the exterior.

A ventilation shaft connects the two, with a fan helping to funnel the hot air generated by the microcomputer into the interior of the cabinet, effectively turning it into a greenhouse.

Read:

MIT researchers engineer "cyborg" plants for motion-tracking and sending notifications

At the same time, the tomatoes help to power the server through plant-microbial fuel cell technology, pioneered by researchers at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, which effectively turns the vegetables into batteries.

The plants draw energy from the sun in the process of photosynthesis, converting it into chemical energy and storing it in the sugars and proteins they use to build their bodies.

Any excess is excreted through the roots as a waste product, where the energy-rich organic material is broken down by bacteria living in the soil, releasing the energy stored in the organic material as electrons that can then be harnessed as electricity.

The tomatoes are illuminated by a grow light

As the server needs to be indoors, away from the elements, sunlight in Schamle's system is delivered from a solar-powered grow lamp. And the electrons released by the microbes are caught by an iron and activated-carbon grid embedded into the bottom of the plant pot, acting as a conductor.

"The technology is still in development and there was a lot of trial and error doing everything myself," Schamle explained.

"For now, it's running on both solar energy and the energy that I'm extracting from the plants because it's very little," she said.

"But I wanted to really focus on that inefficiency as something that we will have to adapt to if we want to live in symbiosis with other beings on this planet."

The server houses a website flashing up questions about the sustainability of our network infrastructure

The server has just enough energy to host a single website, which flashes up a series of questions about how our network infrastructure impacts the natural environment.

"It feels poetic to have the server asking these questions using the energy from the plants," Schamle explained.

The system is self-sufficient save for the fact that the plants need to be watered

Researchers are already developing lights and batteries powered by plant-microbial fuel cells. And with increased efficiency, they believe the technology could be scaled up to generate as much as 3.2 watts of electricity per square metre of planting, enough to power a small building via its own green roof.

But this is far from the 200 trillion watts that data centres consumed globally every hour in 2019, generating more carbon emissions every year than air travel.

"The pace of the internet is extreme compared to the pace of plants, how they grow and how the bacteria breaks down and releases electrons," Schamle said.

"Combining these two systems accentuates the excessiveness of our online behaviour and its electricity use."

Read:

WaterLight is a portable lantern that can be charged with salt water or urine

Other attempts at integrating technology into plants have seen researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology grow conductive wires through their leaves so they can act as sensors and displays, as well as impregnating them with the firefly enzyme to turn them into lamps.

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Missed Your Call – the Design Academy Eindhoven graduate exhibition took place from 5 to 10 September as part of Milan design week 2021.

See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Ten installations to see at the Chicago Architecture Biennial

The Chicago Architecture Biennial has returned to Chicago for its fourth edition with installations by Atelier Bow-Wow and Manuel Herz Architects. Here are 10 must-see projects.

Curated by designer David Brown, the biennial contains contributions from over 80 participants hailing from more than 18 countries.

These include numerous site-specific installations, many of which have been built on empty lots across the city.

With the theme The Available City, this edition of the event intends to investigate who contributes to the design of Chicago, with projects from studios including Skidmore Owings & Merrill and Outpost Office.

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SPLAM by SOM

Architecture studio SOM worked with students to build an open-air learning lab and gathering space for the University of Michigan's Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning in Chicago's South Shore.

The pavilion was created as a prototype to demonstrate the possibilities of prefabricated timber framing to build large structures.

"Weaving together timber beams like threads in fabric, SPLAM explores the idea of using smaller pieces of wood than conventional mass timber construction systems," said SOM.

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Block Party by Studio Barnes in collaboration with Shawhin Roudbari and MAS Context

Studio Barnes created two structures on a plot in North Lawndale that are "born from Chicago's rich history of annual block parties".

The first is bright pink and blue and designed to recall the look and feel of a bounce house, or bouncy castle, which are often seen at block parties.

Alongside this, a second smaller structure made from a series of blocks will be used for social gatherings.

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Cover the Grid by Outpost Office

Outpost Office has painted a series of plots in the North Lawndale and Pilsen areas of the city with "architectural-scale urban land paintings " for its Cover the Grid installation.

Created using GPS-guided robots, which are typically used for painting lines on sports fields, the temporary installation aims to challenge civic boundaries and public rights-of-way.

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River Frames by PORT

PORT's River Frames aim to draw attention to the history of the installation's site near Bertrand Goldberg's River City apartments on the south branch of the Chicago River.

Set on a gravel walkway that outlines the footprint of the former Chicago Great Western Freight warehouse, which was demolished in the 1970s, are a group of steel-framed structures that "reflect the spartan warehouse structure that occupied Southbank Park for nearly a century".

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Englewood's Commons by Atelier Bow-Wow

Tokyo-based architecture studio Atelier Bow-Wow is developing a pavilion and meeting space in a square marking the entry to Englewood Nature Trail on Chicago's South Side.

The studio is creating a forty-person communal table, raised gardening beds, indoor growing houses and new office space as part of the project.

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Central Park Theater by Manuel Herz Architects

Swiss studio Manuel Herz Architects aimed to recall memories of the buildings that stood near the Central Park Theater in North Lawndale, which is currently being restored, for this installation.

A pattern based on floor plans and sections of the lost buildings has been painted across the building.

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Grids + Griots by Sekou Cooke Studio

Sekou Cooke Studio's contribution to the biennial is a series of structures that can be used as benches, tables, planter beds, retail stands and bike storage made from a cut-up forty-foot-long shipping container.

Named Grids + Griots, the installation was created in collaboration with youth organisation Young Men's Educational Network (YMEN) and is located at its site in North Lawndale.

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Soil Lab by James Albert Martin, Eibhlín Ní Chathasaigh, Anne Dorthe Vester and Maria Bruun

Set in the North Lawndale neighbourhood of Chicago, Soil Lab will see a series of structures constructed during the biennial.

Structures for social gathering will be made from bricks, rammed earth and ceramic tiles.

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The Garden Table by Studio Ossidiana

Rotterdam-based Studio Ossidiana designed the Garden Table to be "part kitchen, part game, part stage".

Along with seating and table space, the permanent installation at the El Paseo community garden in Pilsen is topped with boards for playing marble solitaire, tic tac toe, backgammon and chess.

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Woodlawn Canopies: Stories and Futures by Norman Teague Design Studios

Erected in an empty lot opposite the New Beginnings Church, the temporary Woodlawn Canopies was created as a community space in collaboration with mentorship and training organisation Project HOOD (Helping Others Obtain Destiny).

Along with an interactive workspace and stage, an exhibition space has been built to showcase the history of Project HOOD.

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Commenter "can't wait for the Eiffel Tower to get the same treatment" as the Arc de Triomphe

In this week's comments update, readers are discussing the L'Arc de Triomphe Wrapped installation and debating other top stories.

The Arc de Triomphe monument in Paris has been covered by 25,000 square metres of silvery fabric as part of an installation by late artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

It fulfils the "life-long dream" of the artists, who were best known for wrapping famous buildings around the world.

"I'll wrap my garden table in it"

Commenters are divided. "Can't wait for the Eiffel Tower to get the same treatment," said Aigoual.

"I love it," continued Sim. "I am volunteering to adopt 10 square metres of the material for use in my garden. I'll wrap my garden table in it."

"I'd like to fulfil my 'life-long dream' and cover the Mona Lisa in bright red paint," replied Arhmatic. "It's true art, trust me. No worries, it's temporary, two weeks total. Will clean it all up... I am sure the long line of tourists waiting to see it would approve."

"I feel sorry for anyone who may have travelled thousands of miles on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday to Paris with the intention of seeing the sights... and ended up seeing this!" concluded Colin.

Are you impressed by the installation? Join the discussion ›

ODA designs Manhattan tower that increases size as it ascends

Commenter hopes cantilevered Manhattan tower "doesn't mark a trend"

Readers aren't sold on ODA's design for a residential building that is set to be built on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The tower will increase in size as it ascends.

"Efficient for Hong Kong density, but for NYC looks so weak," said Francesco Sacconi. "Hope it doesn't mark a trend, such a nightmare."

"What would architects do if there were no structural engineers?" asked Apsco Radiales. "Lemme answer that – we would do buildings that make sense. Does that make sense?"

"Gotta love air rights when they won't sell to the developer," joked Ellis Dee.

Are commenters being harsh? Join the discussion ›

Philippe Starck envisions futuristic gondola as a "symbol for the future of Venice"

Reader dubs Philippe Starck-designed gondola a "gone-doline"

Commenters are debating Philippe Starck's design for a modern gondola, which was created as part of a program to encourage Venetian creatives to use design as a tool for innovation.

"I envision people living on rafts made from tied-together gondolas," said Richard Vahrman. "Necessary when Venice disappears underwater."

"Venice is sinking," added Nimdoorquoi. "Submarine. Gone-doline."

"If this is a future symbol of Venice, the city is in more trouble than I thought," concluded Jlocktov. "The design takes work away from gondoliers and artisans. It demonstrates no respect for Venetian heritage."

What do you think of Dream of Winter Gondola? Join the discussion ›

Tsuruta Architects incorporates 27,000 cat faces into five homes in Catford

Commenter says The Queen of Catford is the "cat's meow"

Readers are enjoying making puns about The Queen of Catford, a housing project in south London by Tsuruta Architects featuring thousands of cat faces.

"'The brief was to be a CATalyst for the regeneration of the area'," said Steve Leo. " Nice."

"Nice work!" added GRZ. "It's the cat's meow. Other cat puns, etc."

Katya agreed: "Well done – doesn't leave me catatonic or mewling."

Are you pawing over the apartment building? Join the discussion ›

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Dezeen is the world's most commented architecture and design magazine, receiving thousands of comments each month from readers. Keep up to date on the latest discussions on our comments page.

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Cesar and Garcia Cumini create vertical wall unit informed by storage drawers

Dezeen promotion: Italian kitchen brand Cesar has unveiled a wall unit by design studio Garcia Cumini that aims to creatively furnish unused wall space in kitchens and living rooms.

Named Dressup, the cabinet is a modular wall system that was designed to be placed in any room in a home.

Top: volumes can be used in different combinations. Above: the shelving was finished in black

The concept for the unit was informed by traditional storage drawers. Garcia Cumini wanted to move from the use of a horizontal structure and apply the storage drawer concept to a vertical unit.

Dressup measures 22 centimetres in depth and can be arranged and constructed in a variety of combinations to best suit the spaces it is in.

It can be fitted with glass doors

The interchangeable system and door frames are available in a number of finishes, including ribbed aluminium, black, champagne and bronze.

Splashbacks for the kitchen settings come in different Cesar finishes such as melamine, lacquer, ceramic, marble and aggregates.

The unit can be placed in kitchens

The Dressup Line also comes with splashback options that can be paired with shelving units, creating an all-in-one integrated kitchen solution.

The system provides storable space for kitchen accessories and utensils and is suitable for daily use without compromising worksurface space.

Dressup was informed by storage drawers

Larger units were designed to incorporate panels that contain still-life artworks by photographer Zaira Zarotti.

Zarotti created vintage-inspired compositions that captured flowers and floral arrangements for its Dressup Art Collection.

Units have panels to display artwork

The works were photographed in a way that allows the image to be rotated and repositioned both horizontally and vertically.

In place of the art pieces, mirrors can be used to create a further illusion of space.

To learn more about Cesar and to view its products visit the brand's website.

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