Addictlove by Tom Burr

A research project at the Institute for Theory at Zurich’s University of the Arts looks at current furniture works involving design and art.

Design and art

Ever since the modern concept of the autonomy of art created the necessity of dividing the two areas more than 100 years ago, designers and artists have again and again adopted each other’s design and production concepts. Today this practice can increasingly be observed in the structure of exhibitions, methods of production and sales channels.

do hit by Marjin van der Poll, 1999

However, with the existing differences in the ways these two disciplines see themselves and the debates taking place in the fields of art and design it does not appear useful simply to call for these borders to be broken down. On the contrary, in this project the all-inclusive research approach is applied to the examination of a modified concept of function within design, art theory and sociology, as well as their current relationship with the things that are created. 

continue Article @ Architonic

Wardrobe Twinni by M&G

M&G from Austria recently launched the wardrobe Twinni. The cheerful design was created by Heinz Glatzl and Joachim Mayr, founders of M&G Interiors. The unadorned framework implements the shape, but Twinni is more than that: it is a seating bench with storage capacity made out of matt-lacquered MDF (medium density fiberboard). We will surely soon see more innovative ideas for wardrobes from M&G.

Design by Heinz Glatzl and Joachim Mayr

more products from M&G @ Architonic

In Progress: Conrad Hotel by MAD

The CBD of Beijing was built according to the west standard set up around the industrial revolution of the early 20th century, when high-rise building was the symbol of the capitalism. But far from the ambition of more than one hundred year ago, when people tried to challenge themselves with modern technology and future dreams, the contemporary CBD buildings are the concrete machines, copy of the copy in mass production. They are meaningless, crowded and soulless.

façade structure

Situated among those buildings, Conrad hotel is the outcome of the slow-design. The façade element, which looks like the nervous tissue, is planted into a simple cubic. It is the toxin that destroys and transforms the surface into an organic envelop. The whole building is turned into a melting box, a starting point for the urban grid to change from the solid efficiency into the liquid idea. The standard product of the production line is therefore replaced by the digital craft of difference.

works representing the worship of nature

During the architecture evolution, people of different historical time tried to create organic buildings by their hand-made crafts. Their works are the representation of the worship of nature, the courage to break the heaviness of building and the passion of life. It is the spirit of sublime that became the culture icon of the era and the city. Conrad hotel is the design that appreciates the slowness in the fast urban development in China. The product of architecture is like the growing process of urban dwellers in the city, it is the evolution of energy and identity. The new urban efficiency is the difference precisely controlled and produced by the high-tech modern industry, and it creates the new possibility for people living in the city to discover their own new experience.

seen @ Archdaily