This week Bjarke Ingels revealed his plan to redesign Earth

This week on Dezeen, Danish architect Bjarke Ingels unveiled his plan to stop climate change by redesigning the planet.

BIG founder Ingels explained his Masterplanet concept, which aims to "prove that a sustainable human presence on planet Earth is attainable with existing technologies" to TIME magazine.

By master planning the planet, Ingels calculated that 10 billion people could enjoy a high quality of life.

Dezeen Showroom launches with products from Vitra, Hem, Luceplan and Maruni

This week saw the launch of Dezeen Showroom – an affordable space for brands to showcase products to Dezeen's huge global audience.

The launch included furniture and lighting products by designers Jasper Morrison, Stephen Burks, Faye Toogood, Naoto Fukasawa and Barber Osgerby.

Nine designs that demonstrate the variety of Enzo Mari's works

Following the death of Italian designer Enzo Mari last week, the curators of a major retrospective of his work at the Triennale Milano chose nine of his key designs for Dezeen.

Picks by curators Hans Ulrich Obrist and Francesca Giacomelli included Mari's travelling bookcase, animal children's toys and self-designed furniture proposal.

Olafur Eliasson perches giant astronomical instrument on top of glacier

This week saw artist Olafur Eliasson aim to draw attention to climate change by installing an oversized armillary sphere on the summit of the Hochjochferner glacier in the Italian Alps.

Also in response to climate change, five architecture studios revealed proposals to preserving Washington DC's Tidal Basin reservoir and the National Mall, with a bridge to the White House and man-made islands among the concepts.

Jean Nouvel reveals cave hotel in Saudi Arabia's AlUla desert

In Saudi Arabia, French architect Jean Nouvel unveiled his design for a hotel resort that will be carved into the AlUla desert.

Named Sharaan by Jean Nouvel, the hotel was informed by a nearby Nabatean city that was carved into the sandstone.

"Our project is celebrating the Nabateans spirit without caricaturing it," said Nouvel. "This creation genuinely becomes a cultural act."

Jony Ive to design "the next generation of Airbnb products"

In other architecture and design news, online rental service Airbnb announced that it had hired Apple's former chief design officer Jony Ive to develop new products and services.

"We have made the decision to work together through a multi-year relationship to design the next generation of Airbnb products and services," said Airbnb co-founder Brian Chesky.

Fei Architects designs apartment block that frames residents' daily lives in Guangzhou

Popular projects on Dezeen this week include a housing project in Guangzhou designed by Fei Architects to show off its occupants, an apartment in the Netherlands built within an old sports hall, the redesign of a 1980s apartment in Toronto that features dark quartzite, walnut and green walls.

This week on Dezeen is our regular roundup of the week's top news stories. Subscribe to our newsletters to be sure you don't miss anything.

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Watch the 14th-Century Construction Process of Prague’s Charles Bridge Unfold in a Meticulous Animation

Up until the mid-19th century, the only way to cross the Vltava River in Prague was to head over the gothic stone arches of the Charles Bridge. The project of King Charles IV, construction of the now iconic structure began in 1357 after a flood damaged the existing walkway. A short animation by Engineering and Architecture peers back into history to chronicle the centuries-old building process as it shows wooden trusses framing the structure and bricks seemingly sprinkling into place. While the video collapses decades of work into less than a minute, the Charles Bridge wasn’t complete until the early 15th century.

Find more of Engineering and Architecture’s construction studies on Instagram and YouTube. (via Laughing Squid)

 

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Generate creates digital library of timber building systems to "revolutionise the construction industry"

Architecture studio Generate has developed the Tallhouse library of timber-based building systems to help architects build affordable housing and reduce construction-related carbon emissions by up to 50 per cent.

The architecture, engineering and construction company developed the online catalogue to provide architects with pre-engineered, timber-based construction systems that they can adapt for large-scale projects.

It includes four timber-based designs: a steel and cross-laminated timber (CLT) structure; a mass timber post, beam and plate structure; a light-gauge metal and CLT structure; and a full CLT plate honeycomb structure.

These designs can each be used as a "kit of parts" for buildings ranging from eight to 18 storeys.

By allowing architects to build quickly, sustainably and cost-effectively, Generate said Tallhouse could "revolutionise the construction industry".

Generate imagined a Tallhouse system integrated into a building in Boston

"Generate partners with architects and developers to digitally integrate these systems into their residential and commercial projects," Generate CEO John Klein told Dezeen.

"Working with pre-vetted, replicable systems enables significant acceleration in project delivery, while permitting architects to spend more time on the creative process of design, resulting in the delivery of at once higher-quality and cost-effective projects."

Boston-based Generate developed Tallhouse with Buro Happold Engineering, Niles Bolton Associates, Consigli Construction, Code Red Consultants, Olifant Market Development, Urbanica Development and Arup Engineering.

The project was conceived in response to a shortage of affordable housing and with an aim to reduce carbon-output in Boston. With buildings accounting for 40 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions, Tallhouse offers digitally available designs with low carbon footprints.

The project aims to reduce building-related carbon output in Boston

"By 2050, Boston expects to build 300,000 housing units, and 400,000,000 square feet (37,161,216 square metres) of commercial buildings," Generate explained.

"In parallel, the city intends to have reduced its carbon footprint by 80 per cent in 2050 – an unachievable goal if the status quo of carbon-emitting structures is preserved."

The four systems are based on heavy timber because it is more environmentally friendly than other materials – largely because it does not create as many carbon emissions in manufacturing and it also acts as a carbon store.

The systems can offer large reductions in carbon emissions, according to the team.

"Whole-building greenhouse gas emissions savings ranged from 14 to 52 per cent for structural solutions that use heavy timber compared to typical steel and concrete reference cases," said Buro Happold Engineering principal Julie Janiski.

Each design comes with integrated systems like modular bathroom and modular kitchens

Klein said Tallhouse's "pre-vetted" library, which is code-compliant, also allows architects avoid the complications involved when using timber in construction.

"Novel construction technologies, like mass timber, take time to become widely adopted and integrated into the built environment," he added.

"Lack of familiarity with materials, codes, detailing and overall design considerations require increased upfront considerations from design teams," he added. "Having code, carbon and building quantity data digitally accessible allows architects to eliminate the upfront R&D, and focus more on design."

Each Tallhouse design is evaluated by a Carbon Data Analysis tool, called Tally, to provide architects with information on the implications of building materials and systems and help them choose options to produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

The systems are intended to be used like a replicable kit of parts that can be integrated into designs. They also come with a prefabricated panelised exterior wall system, modular bathroom and modular kitchens, and prefabricated mechanical, electrical and plumbing assemblies.

Tallhouse is the latest project by Generate to use wood to create more environmentally friendly buildings.

It has also worked with developer Placetailor to design a carbon-neutral apartment block in Boston using a cross-laminated timber kit of parts.

Other ventures exploring the limits of timber construction include a digital model of what would be the world's tallest mass-timber building by Alphabet's Sidewalk Labs.

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Six designs to encourage voting in 2020 US presidential election

As the US presidential election on 3 November approaches, we've rounded up six designs that aim to motivate people to vote, including Instagram gifs, brass pins, billboards and magazine covers.

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Postcards for Democracy by Beatie Wolfe and Mark Mothersbaugh

Singer-songwriter Beatie Wolfe teamed up with artist Mark Mothersbaugh to launch Postcards for Democracy in support of the USPS amid a crisis that saw delays in delivery that could have impacted people's ability to vote.

Wolfe and Mothersbaugh asked participants to mail postcards to a set address, which would then be used as part of a wider exhibition.

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TIME cover by Shepard Fairey 

For the first time in 100 years, TIME replaced its title on the cover. The magazine ran with the word VOTE above an illustration by American artist Shepard Fairey of a woman wearing a bandana also bearing the word vote.

"Even though the subject in the portrait knows there are additional challenges to democracy during a pandemic," said Fairey, the person is empowered to use their "voice and power by voting".

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Billboard by Otherward

This black and white billboard designed by New York design agency Otherward requires viewers to fill in the gaps to create the word vote.

Otherward's billboard was one of over 70 created across the country as part of artist-led For Freedoms 2020 Awakening – an initiative that uses artworks to encourage civic engagement.

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Gifs by Rafael de Cárdenas and Ohlman Consorti

New York-based Rafael de Cárdenas teamed up with Paris-based design agency Ohlman Consorti to make election-focused gifs that are easily shareable on social media.

The black and white moving images show the election date or the word vote mixed with a looping shape.

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Election Pins by Kara Hamilton & Salon Design

Canadian Artist Kara Hamilton and Salon 94 Design teamed up with luxury retailer The Webster to create five voting-themed brass clothing pins.

They include two fingers that form the letter V, Lady Liberty crown with vote written beneath and the letters US wrapped in chains. All proceeds go to FairVote and Earthjustice Action.

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North Carolina mail-in voting envelope by Center for Civic Design

Center for Civic Design redesigned the mail-in envelopes for North Carolina to make them clearer so the chance of votes not counting is reduced.

"The election process is complicated; it's hard to convey that process to people," Center for Civic Design's Christopher Patten told Dezeen in an interview.

"Election departments don't always know how to communicate with voters or write instructions or communications that they understand or can interact with."

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Elegant Eats and Bread-Based Fare Form Quirky Interventions in Jill Burrow’s Photographs

All images © Jill Burrow, shared with permission

From her home in Kansas City, Missouri, photographer Jill Burrow composes elegant dining tableaus captured in the fleeting light of golden hour. Complete with floral arrangements and unusual additions,  Burrow’s fare distinctly exhibits the artistic potential of a simple meal when presented in unorthodox settings. Her shadow-filled images frame a picnic spread hanging from a washline, a humble breakfast submerged in water, and a quirky still life of bread-based cookware.

Although she’s adept at transforming a simple piece of toast into a dandelion-studded canvas, Burrow’s forays into cooking and baking are recent. “I have always enjoyed cooking but never felt a creative connection to it, so when I started creating art and creative sets I realized how diverse and creative food is. Food is already so vibrant and full of life and pleasure, and it is quite easy to transform and change into unexpected works of art,” she says.

Ultimately, Burrow hopes her sculpted butters and arranged berries convey an alternate vision for understanding life. “My main goal is to create a world where people who don’t have the typical brain might feel stimulated and inspired. I have always seen the world differently,” she says.

For more of the edible interventions highlighted in Burrow’s photographs, follow her on Instagram. (via Trendland)

 

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