Exil Collective showcases work by emerging Lebanese designers

Design platform Exil Collective has launched its first collection at Dubai Design Week to spotlight work by both up-and-coming and established Lebanese designers.

Exil Collective's online platform features designs by over 20 independent studios in Lebanon, made by artisans and craftspeople that are also based in the country.

Top image: a head-shaped flower vase is among the Exil Collective products. Above: Youssef Bassil's pieces include a lamp

Among the products exhibited in the Downtown Design section of the 2021 Dubai Design Week were brass ashtrays and lamps by Youssef Bassil, sand-cast aluminium car sculptures by Antoine Guekjian and a globe-shaped, modular night light by Laetitia Jbeily.

"Exil is a bit of an incubator, which is the point because design in Lebanon is usually very expensive and luxury," co-founder Bassil told Dezeen.

"We wanted to break this mould, we wanted to invite designers from students all the way up to very established designers such as Marc Baroud."

A combined vase and mirror is filled with flowers

Each designer was given a spec sheet outlining the parameters for the weight, cost, materials and dimensions of the products so that the designs wouldn't be too expensive to ship when bought from the Exil website.

This resulted in pieces in materials and designs that aren't usually associated with Lebanon, including colourful tufted mats designed by RADCAT.

Handtufted coasters by RADCAT come in various colours

"The rugs, and the coasters that are also made from rugs; tapestry in Lebanon never really looks like that," Bassil said. "I think that was very interesting."

"And the metals and wood, very raw materials, that also shows more what's coming in Lebanon. We've got fantastic sandcast aluminium."

Materials used include sandcast aluminium

The pieces on show as part of Exil Collective were made by local artisans from a number of different fields, many of whom appreciated the challenge of working in new ways with the materials.

"Some of the artisans were surprised, as they're used to making larger pieces of furniture and one-off pieces – they're not used to creating repeated pieces that have to be consistent," Bassil said.

Exil Collective presents work by emerging designers

"Since the economic crisis in Lebanon is very tough, people want to work, and on top of that they were very excited to be working on something different and see the prospect of something that may be produced for the long term," he added.

The criteria set for the designs also created a line for the designers to follow, Bassil suggested.

Read:

Khaled El Mays' Transformers furniture collection evokes crouched robots

"It's somewhat homogenous in its own way – it's very eclectic as well but there's something that connects it," he said of the collection. "It's all very simple and modest and you can feel the materials in the objects."

Exil Collective hopes the project, which was named Architectural Digest Middle East's Emerging Talent of the Year, will become a way for an international audience to discover Lebanese designers.

A modular night lamp can be opened or closed

The thriving design scene in Beirut, Lebanon's capital, was severely affected by a devastating explosion that destroyed large parts of the city in August 2020. More than 60 international architecture firms donated artworks and drawings to help raise funds for rebuilding the city.

Earlier this year, Lebanese designer Khaled El Mays released his Transformers collection, featuring sofas and armchairs partly informed by the Transformers toys and films.

Dubai Design Week took place on 8 to 13 November 2021 in Dubai. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

The post Exil Collective showcases work by emerging Lebanese designers appeared first on Dezeen.

from Dezeen https://ift.tt/3GekEp8

Architects should try to "leave the city more beautiful than when we entered" says Richard Rogers

Following the death of Richard Rogers last month, we're republishing a series of exclusive interviews we filmed with the British architect in 2013. In the first, Rogers spoke about architects' responsibility to society and his work process.

Rogers, who passed away on 18 December aged 88, spoke to Dezeen to coincide with a retrospective of his work at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

Rogers was one of the world's best-known architects and famous for his pioneering high-tech architecture.

Among his most recognisable work is the Centre Pompidou in Paris, which he designed together with Renzo Piano, and the Lloyd's building in London.

In this interview, filmed at the Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners office in Hammersmith, west London, he discussed how architecture is dependant on teamwork and how the final design can change direction during its development.

Read on for a transcript of the interview below:

---

"I'm Richard Rogers, an architect. I live nearby here, I cycle every day. And I have been in this office for over 30 years."

"The Royal Academy has asked whether I would like to do an exhibition about my life, not specifically about my work – I've had a touring exhibition for the last 10 years about work – but more about the thinking, and a section through eight years of life."

"We've decided to call the exhibition Inside Out, partly to do with how I often put structure and ducts on the outside of buildings for functional as well as aesthetic reasons."

We have a responsibility to society, we have a social responsibility

"But the real title is Ethos. And the idea is that we have a responsibility to society, we have a social responsibility. And that gives us a role as architects, which is more than just answering how a role may do to the client but also to answer the passer-by and society as a whole."

"On one wall, it will say: 'A place for all people, all ages, all creeds, the rich and the poor.' That was actually the first paragraph that I wrote with Renzo when we entered the Pompidou competition and several hundred people competed for it."

"But it also shows the heart of this exhibition, because that gave us the way of handling the Pompidou not just as a building, but a place, which I'm much more interested in."

"Then on another wall, there will be the Hellenic oath, which is: 'I will leave the city more beautiful than I entered'.

"It's an oath that each citizen made and it's an oath, which I would like to think we are all trying to do and using beauty in a very broad, shall we say, Greek way, democratic and intellectual. So not just purely aesthetic."

Read:

Architects and creatives remember "superstar" architect Richard Rogers

"I work very much with colleagues, with friends. Architecture is about teams. The idea that you suddenly wake up and do a sketch is not true – the only time when I do that, I usually wake up with a hangover the next morning, because it never works. You do it piece by piece."

"When the chairman, the lawyers at the end of doing the building, they say, well, why didn't you tell me what it looked like? I say to them: 'because I didn't know.'"

"It's probably like any work, whether it's a film or book. It has its own inertia, it changes directions. Now obviously you have to do, working with drawings, you can't change it easily."

"And also the scale changes. I mean, the scale in your mind, the scaling models, slowly gets more and more attuned to what you're actually doing and has in itself a reaction to what you're doing."

"Because that's how it works. Because you can't see – any more than you could imagine 500 pages, you can't imagine a building as a complete [building]."

I enjoyed myself much one the last third of my life that I have in my first third

"In this room, there's also a very important moment which is a film. It's a film that tries to say what ethos is. It's based, funnily enough, on my mother's watch, which I always wear which is a Bulova, which has beautiful workings in it, some 50 years old now."

"And it sort of explains my work through it, through that watch. And then it has all the people I've worked with, which are hundreds, and I have had amazing colleagues."

"I was appalling as a student all my life. In fact, I often say I enjoyed myself much one the last third of my life that I have in my first third."

"My first third was hell, as an Italian arriving in 1939 in England; that was a bad move to start with. Everybody said I was stupid. And then I found out that actually, I had learning difficulties."

"So maybe it sort of gave me a lot of problems for the first 30 years, but the last 30 have been fantastic."

The post Architects should try to "leave the city more beautiful than when we entered" says Richard Rogers appeared first on Dezeen.

from Dezeen https://ift.tt/33igJZI

ETH Zurich develops formwork from 3D-printed foam to slash concrete use in buildings

Researchers at ETH Zurich have used 3D-printed formwork elements made from recyclable mineral foam to create a pre-cast concrete slab, which they say is lighter and better insulated while using 70 per cent less material.

The system, known as FoamWork, sees a conventional rectangular mould filled with 24 mineral formwork elements in different shapes and sizes before concrete is cast around them and left to cure, creating hollow cells throughout the panel.

The resulting internal geometry was optimised to reinforce the slab along its principal stress lines, creating the necessary strength while drastically reducing the amount of concrete needed to produce it.

The 3D-printed FoamWork elements are arranged inside a timber perimeter mould

If adopted at scale, architect Patrick Bedarf believes this could help to reduce the carbon footprint construction and cement production in particular, which is the biggest single emitter of CO2 in the world.

"Construction contributes significantly to CO2 emissions, with cement production alone responsible for 7 per cent of emissions globally," said Bedarf, who is a researcher in the department for Digital Building Technologies (DBT) at ETH Zurich.

"With FoamWork, emissions through material consumption would be reduced in the concrete slab. The lower mass would also have secondary effects on the dimensioning of the entire load-bearing structure and would reduce efforts for shipping and handling on construction sites."

Ultra high-performance fibre-reinforced concrete is poured around the formwork elements

The formwork elements themselves are 3D printed by an autonomous robotic arm using mineral foam, which is traditionally made by foaming cement and is increasingly being used as an insulation material in construction due to its high porosity.

To avoid the emissions associated with cement production, the FoamWork system makes use of an alternative developed by Swiss start-up FenX that is made of a waste product from coal-fired power stations called fly ash.

This helps to minimise the carbon footprint of the foam, the company claims, even when considering the emissions associated with coal combustion.

The formwork can be left in place or removed, recycled and reprinted

The final FoamWork elements can either be left in place to improve the insulation of the precast concrete slab or recycled and reprinted to create new formwork.

Considering that no offcuts are created in the additive manufacturing process, this means the entire system has the potential to be zero-waste.

"Currently, custom formwork geometries are very wasteful to produce or simply not feasible," Bedarf told Dezeen.

The system was 3D-printed using an autonomous robotic arm

"Hollow plastic forms can be used to reduce concrete in large standardised slabs and, for smaller non-standardized applications, complex formwork for concrete is manually built in timber or CNC-cut from dense plastic foams," he added.

"Both approaches are labour-intensive and waste a lot of material through chipping and offcuts."

Read:

ETH Zurich combines 3D printing and casting to make more efficient concrete structures

The internal geometry of the concrete panel was optimised for its particular shape, informed by the way that Italian architect Pier Luigi Nervi developed floor slabs in the 1940s that were ribbed along their principal stress lines.

But the shape and configuration of the internal cells could be customised to create a range of concrete building elements from walls to entire roofs.

The FoamWork provides additional insulation through its porosity

In a bid to tackle its outsized carbon footprint, the Global Cement and Concrete Association recently committed itself to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.

To achieve this, the industry is working to find substitutes for clinker – the most carbon-intensive ingredient of cement – as well as making use of carbon capture technologies to remove the emissions created in the clinker production process. It currently involves burning calcium carbonate at high temperatures to separate the calcium needed to create cement from the carbon, which is released into the atmosphere.

Until these kinds of innovations can be adopted at scale, the easiest way for architects to minimise the embodied carbon footprint of their buildings from materials and construction is to use high-carbon materials such as concrete and steel more sparingly and efficiently.

The system reduces the amount of concrete needed to product a slab

Currently, a large number of buildings in the UK are overdesigned according to Cambridge University engineering professor Julian Allwood.

"We have done a lot of studies on the utilisation of steel," he said during RIBA's recent Built Environment Summit. "And we found that most commercial buildings in the UK are overdesigned by up to 50 to 60 per cent."

"What we can do today to reduce emissions in construction is all about material efficiency, using less materials because the materials have embodied emissions."

The photography is by Patrick Bedarf.

The post ETH Zurich develops formwork from 3D-printed foam to slash concrete use in buildings appeared first on Dezeen.

from Dezeen https://ift.tt/3qWg7kw

Theater Zuidplein's multi-faceted auditorium promises perfect sound in every seat

Computer modelling was used to design the angular wall surfaces of Rotterdam's newest theatre, to ensure a completely even distribution of sound.

Theater Zuidplein is a major new cultural venue for the Dutch city, housing two auditoriums, a restaurant and a library.

Studio RAP and Arup partnered to create the theatre's faceted surface

While the building was designed by architecture firm De Zwarte Hond, experimental office Studio RAP was tasked with shaping the interior of the main theatre.

Working with engineering firm Arup, Studio RAP's ambition was create a wall surface design that optimises the acoustics of the 600-seat auditorium.

The geometries are designed to optimise sound quality in every seat

Using digital technologies, they developed an extremely multi-faceted surface that is calculated to bounce sound evenly across different parts of the interior.

"The project was designed using algorithms, which resulted in a rippling ocean of thousands of triangles," said Wessel van Beerendonk of Studio RAP.

The configuration was developed using parametric modelling software

The design process involved simulating a wide variety of different types of performance – across theatre and music – and measuring the effect of different curvatures on the reflection of the sound.

The wall surfaces were then "digitally kneaded" using parametric modelling software, to find the best all-round geometries.

There are 6,000 triangular panels in total, all made from aluminium-composite

The next step was to transform this organic shape into something easy to manufacture. This involved dividing up the entire interior into approximately 6,000 triangles. Some of the triangles are flat, while others are folded.

"The result is an even distribution of sound across the entire auditorium, so that every member of the audience can fully enjoy the show or concert they came to see," said Studio RAP.

Read:

DSDHA unveils revamped National Youth Theatre in north London

These triangles are made from aluminium-composite, in a bold shade of red that gives the auditorium a distinct identity.

This is emphasised by the differences in light and shadow across the panels, due to their varying orientation. The effect is further amplified by the seating upholstery, which is also various different shades of red.

Theater Zuidplein is located in the south of Rotterdam. Photo by Scagliola Brakkee

The auditorium's other features include a versatile layout, designed to adapt to a varied programme of performances.

For events where guests stand or dance, it's possible to convert part of the stage area into additional space for spectators. The ground floor and balcony can also be separated off thanks to a moveable wall.

The building's masonry facade features curved recesses. Photo by Scagliola Brakkee

Theater Zuidplein forms part of Hart van Zuid, a newly developed area in the south of Rotterdam.

Both the main theatre and the smaller auditorium are located in the side of the building that faces the bus and metro stations, to act as a noise buffer for nearby residential buildings.

The entrance is signalled by a wall of anodised aluminium. Photo by Scagliola Brakkee

The building has a masonry structure, with a facade that curves outward to create a curved recess.

Here, a semi-transparent wall of anodised aluminium presents a patterned surface, encouraging visitors to enter.

"By day, the semi-open facade creates a beautiful play of light inside, and by night, the facade illuminates from within to highlight the inviting entrance," said De Zwarte Hond.

The building's lobby is designed a community space. Photo by Scagliola Brakkee

The building's lobby, with interior design by BURO M2R, was imagined as "a living room for Rotterdam-Zuid".

Featuring flexible, mobile furniture elements, it can configured in different ways to host various community activities.

"The high lobby forms the heart of the building," said De Zwarte Hond. "Every function is directly or indirectly connected with this space, where there is always something for people to do and discover."

A library also features within the building. Photo by Scagliola Brakkee

Theater Zuidplein's auditorium was longlisted for Dezeen Awards 2021 in the civic and cultural interior category.

The category winner was MuseumLab, a lightning-struck library converted in a children's museum in Pittsburgh.

---

Project credits

Client/tenant: Municipality of Rotterdam
Developer/owner: Hart van Zuid (Ballast Nedam, Heijmans)
Architect: De Zwarte Hond
Interior design lobby: BURO M2R
Design theatre wall: Studio RAP
Contractor theatre wall: Aldowa
Acoustics consultant theatre wall: Arup
Acoustics and building physics consultant: dGmR
Theatre consultant: Theateradvies Amsterdam
Structural engineer: Zonneveld
Building contractor: Hart van Zuid
Services (design and realisation): Hart van Zuid
Process management: Municipality of Rotterdam
Users: Zuidplein Theatre and Rotterdam Library

The post Theater Zuidplein's multi-faceted auditorium promises perfect sound in every seat appeared first on Dezeen.

from Dezeen https://ift.tt/3qYUlgk

Coffey Architects encases Norwich technology hub in perforated aluminium

White panels made from perforated metal create a feeling of "light and airiness" at this digital-technology education centre, completed by London studio Coffey Architects for City College Norwich in Norfolk.

The 2,877-square-metre Digi-Tech Factory brings together the college's technology, engineering and design courses in one building, with robotics labs, digital studios, classrooms and support spaces.

Coffey Architects has created a centre for digital technology at City College Norwich

In the spirit of industrial design, Coffey Architects used off-the-shelf components for the building, including an exposed steel frame, composite panels and glass surrounded by a perforated aluminium shell.

The aluminium shell, which is raised one storey on steel columns and set away from the building's thermal envelope, defines a covered external plaza and terraces around the building.

The Digi-Tech Factory is wrapped in perforated metal panels

The terraces lead into a large atrium, which is lit by skylights in the building's sawtooth roof.

Around the atrium are Digi-Tech Factory's teaching spaces, which look out at the surrounding campus through windows that break up the perforated screen. Some windows are covered by panels to create a play of light and shadow in the day and silhouettes at night.

Its aluminium shell overhangs outdoor terraces

"Light manipulation is a central principle of [our] design practice, often explored, as here, through the use of an external screen to provide light, texture, variation and environmental control," explained the studio.

"In this case the building's panels play with both nature and artificial light depending on the time of day," it continued. "By day, natural light is diffused through the panels into the interior, and by night, light from the spaces within the building activates the facade."

Read:

Perforated metal pavilion by Neiheiser Argyros disguises London Underground vents

Voids in each floor and full-height internal windows allow light to travel through the atrium and create visual connections between spaces.

"As you move through to the upper floors, the feelings of light and airiness continue despite a small footprint, achieved through a combination of light wells in the roof at each end of the corridors and moments of double-height spaces on each floor," added the studio.

Wide corridors are designed to encourage socialising

Wide internal corridors, as well as the covered spaces surrounding the building, have been designed to encourage socialising between lessons.

The glazed ground floor extends into a corrugated metal-clad block of labs at the rear of the building, which sinks into and overlooks a gently sloping garden.

The structure and services have been left exposed

Continuing the industrial theme, Digi-Tech Factory's structure and services have been left exposed inside, allowing students and staff to see how the building works while creating flexibility for any future additions or alterations.

The white of the exterior is carried through to the interior steelwork and walls, contrasted by doorways marked out in a vibrant yellow.

Large internal windows create visual links throughout

Coffey Architects was founded in London in 2005 by architect Phil Coffey. The studio used a similar approach of playing with light and texture at King's Cross, where it designed a three-storey office block clad with perforated aluminium panels.

Neiheiser Argyros also recently used perforated aluminium to enclose the exhaust vents and fire escape of a London Underground station.

The post Coffey Architects encases Norwich technology hub in perforated aluminium appeared first on Dezeen.

from Dezeen https://ift.tt/3HQIxTQ