Fantastic Norway as part of the DMY Festival 09

An event created by Fantastic Norway as part of the DMY International Design Festival 09 in Germany / Berlin. In the project members of Fantastic Norway were wearing models of high-rise towers while walking, cycling and dancing around the city. They dressed up as their latest building and went sight seeing around Berlin.

”The walking houses are man-sized models of our latest architectural project: a tourist destination located on the northern west coast of Norway. As our project depend on the idea of travelling, we decided it was only fair that the houses got to do some travelling too!”

They dressed up as their latest building and went sight seeing around Berlin.

The project consists of a group of narrow high-rise modules welcoming the guests of the Norwegian west coast. The systematic and flexible module-system allows the outdoor spaces, the miniature high-rise modules and the interiors to be designed in collaboration with the future inhabitants and selected artists. Interacting with the locals of Berlin, the event emphasizes the project’s social and local ambitions.

Interacting with the locals of Berlin.

Architectural team: Håkon Matre Aasarød, Erlend Blakstad Haffner, Magnus Ohren, Tomos Osmond, Anne Busemann, Mathias Steinbru, Anette Flygansvær, Ingeborg Cappelen Lindheim, Renata Barros and Håvard Arnhoff.

to Fantastic Norway

more about Fantastic Norway @ Architonic

more about the DMY Festival 2009 @ Architonic

The LEGO Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum NY

The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation announced that The LEGO Group is now the exclusive licensed manufacturer of Frank Lloyd Wright Collection® LEGO Architecture sets. The line currently consists of six buildings – now including two of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most famous and recognizable buildings, the ‘Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum NY’ and ‘Fallingwater’.
With models developed in collaboration with architects, LEGO Architecture works to inspire future architects, engineers and designers as well as architecture fans around the world with the LEGO brick as a medium. Builders of all ages can now collect and construct their favorite worldwide architectural sites through these artistic replicas.
Both exclusive Frank Lloyd Wright LEGO Architecture sets contain booklets that feature traditional building instructions along with exclusive archival historical material and photographs of each iconic building. 

The Original Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum NY

“By organic architecture, I mean an architecture that develops from within outward in harmony with the conditions of its being, as distinguished from one that is applied from without.” – Frank Lloyd Wright Collected Writings Volume 1, p.127

The LEGO Fallingwater

Doug Volker of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation
According to Director of Licensing and Product Development, Doug Volker, “The LEGO product was one that the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation had considered pursuing for several years. It was the vision, passion and creative desire of Adam Reed Tucker to capture the essence of Mr. Wright’s most famous buildings using the medium of the LEGO brick that brought this partnership into being. The LEGO Group is known for its creative approach to brick models and now, with its Architecture Series, it will reach even further, to individuals of all ages.” 

The original Fallingwater

more Frank Loyd Wright products @ Architonic

to Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

to LEGO

The innovations of Mtoo act in response to the new functions and emotions. Photo: Stijn Bollaer

The Belgian manufacturer Bulo redesigned the Mtoo desk. The 1m2 desk has been reconceived whilst retaining its basic concept: a drawer unit, a footrest and a floating worktop. The innovations of Mtoo act in response to the new functions and emotions, expected from the 21st century desk.

New Mtoo desk by Bulo. Photo: Stijn Bollaer

Mtoo is height adjustable and the various accessories facilitate filing and sorting. An optimum sense of well-being is created by a footrest / carpet allowing users to kick off their shoes and work on bare feet. Love your office!

more Bulo products @ Architonic

The New Town Hall in Tallinn by BIG

The Danish Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), a Copenhagen based group of 85 architects, designers, builders and thinkers, has been awarded first place in an international design competition for the new City Hall near the Linnahall building on the harbour of the Estonian Tallinn. The new design presents a cluster of volumes, housing different administrative offices. The volumes are elevated creating a new public place under the Town Hall. Like most projects by BIG the architecture is derived by rationalised organisational principle, this time to maximize natural lighting by breaking up the building function into small blocks – this allows for courtyards to be created at various levels as well open up the ground floor as an extension of the city.

The volumes are elevated creating a new public place under the Town Hall.

Inside, the city council greeting hall is accessed via the grand stair or elevators directly from the market place, or from the city offices around it. Above the greeting hall, the city council is located in a generous space illuminated though a large window facing the city. The ceiling of the tower is tiled with a reflective surface – creating a kind of ‘periscope’ effect. The circular formation of council members will thus be reflected in the tilted ceiling. From a distance the silhouette of the town hall tower enters the family of Tallinn’s historical spires including those of the Niguliste Museum-Concert Hall, Toomkirik, Kaarli Kirik, Pühavaimu Kirik, St. Olav Church and the current Town Hall.

The ceiling of the tower is tiled with a reflective surface - creating a kind of ‘periscope’ effect.

Bjarke Ingels, BIG, Partner-in-Charge:

“There is a saying that success has many fathers. That is especially true when designing such a crucial public building and public space as a town hall. The design needs to be shaped by input from neighbours  and users, citizens and politicians. Paradoxically we architects often find ourselves isolated from this crucial dialogue at the moment of conception, due to the anonymity of the architectural competition. Since this was a 2 stage competition, we already had our first feedback from the jury – causing us to dramatically rearrange our design to fit the citizens’ needs. As a result we have envisioned a very elastic structure – capable of adapting to unexpected demands. We see it as the first conversation in a design dialogue we look forward to continue.”

to the Bjarke Ingels Group