News

Here are our discoveries from the second day of the MADE expo in Milan, the fair that makes every materials fetishist's heart beat faster.including ours.

MADE 2010, short for Milano Design Architettura Edilizia, took place at the city's trade-fair grounds, wowing visitors with an exciting exhibition of building and other materials. Because of the wealth of materials on show, which we gathered over

We bid a fond farewell to one of the greats of British post-war design history.

Architonic presents a selection of some of the novelties presented at this year's design fair in Paris

Architonic spends some time with VIA, the Paris-based organisation committed to identifying and supporting young French design talent.

Architonic recently visited the Swissbau 2010 expo in Basel, whose focus this year was on sustainability. From the mass of exhbitors, we've selected our favourites for you, scrutinising their innovative, technological and architectural qualities.

Designed by Zieta Prozessdesign, presented at imm cologne 2010

The last few years have seen a number of furniture designers explore ways of defining privacy through form. What's going on? Are we really going all shy and retiring?

There's no better time than the start of a new decade to revisit the clock as a long-standing product type. Here Architonic examines innovative clock design, past and present.

Many great achievements have been born out of chance – for example, the invention of penicillin. In the 1950s and 60s, chance as a methodology was still a revolutionary way of working for artists and designers, producing controversial results.

Making of Architonic Concept Space III, created by Zieta Prozessdesign

Following the recent Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, what chance is there of the sustainability agenda in architecture actually being delivered?

Der Beginn der modernen Architektur in Deutschland. Mit einem Verzeichnis zu Messels Werken

Architonic Concept Space III, designed by Oskar Zieta and the CAAD Faculty at ETH Zurich

Chroma, the Greek word for colour, is both the title and the subject of a book about colour in architecture, furniture design and graphic art which covers a range of disciplines with a refreshing freedom from ideology.

There are a number of common points of interest, in particular the great demand placed on design, that permeate the nature of the cooperation between acousticpearls and the Swiss-based company adeco.

Über die Idee des Verborgenen, Rätselhaften, Schwierigen in der Geschichte der Architektur

For years now international materials producers have been working on sustainable alternatives and they are now ready to launch biologically degradable plastics which can be used for a range of applications.

With hori:zon the German manuafcturer presents a new sunblind system which is special for its variety in height and width. The PCM garment provides an active thermal insulation.

In the course of this year's Design Days in Geneva up-market dealer Teo Jakob Tagliabue invited guests to a very special exhibition at his showrooms.

Scandinavian design brings to mind Finns, Swedes and Danish names that could be as prominent in the history books as todays names are on rapidly updated online blogs and publications. But, what of Norwegian design and what about some names.

Charlotte Poseneske is a German artist who created minimalist and performance-like sculptures and reliefs in the 60s.

Innovative materials for designers, architects and product developers

Life threatening conditions, abode of trolls and witches:.The Alpine inhabitants of the Middle Ages avoided the mighty peaks and icy heights of the high Alpine regions. Nowadays they are accessible for tourism.

The retail industry is going through a difficult time and has been complaining about stagnation in its customer base. The big shopping malls are competing with each other to attract shoppers.

Interaction with sensory user interfaces – computers, automats, mobile phones – has become part of our everyday life.

Architecture tends to use media facades more and more as a stylistic feature. What used to be applied to facades after construction more in the way of a blemish is now part of the planning process.

As with many other architects the design is being strongly influenced. You literally speak of architects' design.

Contemporary Slovak architecture has multiple layers of values and generations. In spite of the many annual prizes and awards, there are only a few exceptional architectural works.

Meanwhile osko+deichman have impressed a number of prestigious manufacturers with their reduced and minimalist designs. We met them at their studio in Berlin.

Exactly 90 years ago Weimar saw the foundation of the institution which more than any other influenced the architecture, design and art of the twentieth century.

Vom 1. bis 11. Oktober zieht die dritte Vienna Design Week erneut Stars der internationalen Designszene und vielversprechende Newcomer nach Wien.

Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin, Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau and Klassik Stiftung Weimar present a combined exhibition.

In areas of urban underprivilege and unrest, libraries can improve the quality of life. Based on the urban development model of Chicago, a library park has now sprung up in Medellín, the second-biggest city in Columbia.

Peter Cook is a Washington, DC–based principal of Davis Brody Bond Aedas

Founded in 2009 by the School of Arts, Culture and Environment at the University of Edinburgh the Journal Architecture & provides a platform for innovative ideas in design and research practices.

Felt is a material which is experiencing a renaissance. Not just in fashion but nowadays also in product design and architecture, more and more creative spirits are exploiting the potential of this material.

Refurbishing the Alice Tully Hall (built 1969) in the Licoln Center, New York, presented a unique challenge for the U.S. company 3form.

Hosted by the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), the biennial Icograda World Design Congress will be held in Beijing, China for the first time.

Herning Museum of Contemporary Art will open to the public on September 9, 2009 uniting three distinct cultural institutions: the Herning Center of the Arts, the MidWest Ensemble and the Socle du Monde.

In a post-Milan jaunt we meet Sara Sheth, an in-house designer for the textile manufacturer Maharam

Nina Levett's patterns and ornaments are based on conceptual, humorous ideas, her work is based on experiments with surfaces and materials.

Best Tall Building 2009 in the Asia and Australia category by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat

A theater set-design concept by For Use / Numen presented at the gallery of HDD in Zagreb.

The proposal for the Macedonia Fight Museum by the Swedish architects Joakim Kaminsky and Fredrik Kjellgren consists of a chronological walk through Macedonian history, covered in the soft light filtrated by Macedonian marble.

For 155 Cumberland Quadrangle Architects Limited deservedly won the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s (RAIC) Award of Excellence for Innovation in Architecture.

ArchDaily, one of the most relevant online architecture magazines, recently published their second 'YAMoPo Architecture Sites' ranking. We are flattered and proud to be ranked as the third most popular architecture site this time.

Garth Roberts runs his product design studio, garth, from Milan, Berlin, and (sometimes) New York

Ever since the indiscriminate granting of sub-prime loans led to a crisis on the US housing market the new fascination for colour has spread to the private home. In times of difficulty the trend towards excessive use of colour has always tended to

Klassik Stiftung Weimar celebrates the 90th birthday of the founding of the Bauhaus

Eine Villa von Martin Elsaesser für Philipp F. Reemtsma .(A villa by Martin Elsaesser for Philipp F. Reemtsma)

We have not experienced a crisis of this magnitude since 'Black Friday' in 1929, when the stock market crash rocked the world economy. However, times of recession do not necessarily mean stagnation. In the field of public investment they instead

Ein Archiv spezieller Art wurde jüngst mit dem Materialarchiv ins Leben gerufen. Das Materialarchiv ist eine Symbiose aus Online-Datenbank und einer Materialsammlung zum Anfassen als auch des haptischen Erlebens von Werkstoffen.

“We have to think big”, said President Sarkozy on 30 April 2009 at the opening of the exhibition at the Palais de Chaillot, where ten of thirty-seven future models for the re-design of Paris are on display.

The big car manufacturers have recently discovered an effective marketing instrument in a new kind of corporate architecture: large museums and car collection centres built right next to the production plant, where the customer can experienced an

This year it was easier to find your way round Salone Satellite than last year, for the very good reason that the really good things were relatively easy to identify.

See our first selection of novelties from this year´s Salone del Mobile. More will follow.

Report from the Salone Internazionale del Mobile fair and the Milan Design Week

At times of crisis many manufacturers go back to basics, and the design principle of the "super normal" propagated by Naoto Fukasawa and Jasper Morisson has become the answer for products when times are hard.

Architonic Series 'Investment Stimulus for Public Projects', Article 1

Whereas on previous occasions Milan always proved to be a festival of temporary architecture, this year we had to look hard for innovative concepts.

“The first two minutes of a person’s interaction with a chair are incredibly important to how a person judges that chair and compares it to other products on the marketplace.”

The Center was designed by the Californian firm of architects Morphosis and named after its generous sponsor Charles H. Cahill, who helped finance a large share of the 50 million dollar building.

The object of this year’s contest, aimed at students and young design professionals, is the design of a parasol, pergola or pergola system.

Even the most spectacular trade fair stand disappears again as fast as it was set up and remains only an ephemeral memory. However this two-volume photographic record, the result of a cooperation between publishers Frame and Gestalten Verlag.

The program: a house. Our concept: universal need for shelter. Solution: a void.

Mike Meiré presents Dornbrachts novelties at this year´s ISH

Drawing inspiration from the form of a sand dune, the pavilion is a reference to this symbolic feature of the desert landscape shared by each of the seven emirates.

Produkte, die Geschichte schrieben (Products which have made history)

Granted aesthetic planning permission in Amsterdam North, The Matchbox is a blend of artistic, creative and commercial spaces tailored to suit this artistic quarter.

Kevin Fries and Jakob Zumbühl are the proud winners of three 'iF product design awards' and 'reddot design awards'

Video-interviews from the world’s leading trade fair for bathroom- , building-, energy-, air-conditioning Technology and Renewable Energies

Even though for 50 years it has been one of the world's leading trade fairs for the building industry, at first glance all the things which nowadays lie behind the three letters ISH are not immediately obvious.

Science fiction – the world after its destruction in the year 2347. This could be a rough description of the first impression created by the photo-montages of the Canadian artist Dave Trautrimas.

Nya Nordiska, a leading international textile company based in Dannenberg, North Germany, whose early stages were strongly influenced by Scandinavian design, recently received a highly unusual enquiry from the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg.

For hundreds of years artists and architects have been fascinated by cast shadows and perspective – the two shaping factors of spatial representation. Today the direct control of production machinery by means of digital design tools imparts an

«My five favourite things at the Stockholm Furniture Fair» - selected by Fredrik Färg

The result of the continuing creative dialogue between three english designers is a range of beautiful products which are characterised by a distinctive sense for materials and proportions.

Sweet Hope is a curtain fabric, designed by the acclaimed Japanese designer Akira Minagawa. Ideal for offices, it offers superb heat and light regulation properties.

The Danes Poul Christiansen and Boris Berlin have been working together as Komplot Design for more than twenty years now. With their many and varied designs, which are characterised by cutting-edge and in many cases experimental production processes,

From being known only to insiders Herzog & de Meuron have become megastars, and their awards include the 2001 Pritzker Preis and the 2007 Praemium Imperiale. Volume 4 of their complete work has now been published and covers the years 1997 to

The controversial Tsunami Museum in Aceh will come to represent a fitting place for reflection but at its opening last week a row over the 700 families still to be re-housed overshadowed the event.

Some parting thoughts about Maine, and the road trip to come

Scandinavia's largest public library will be realized on the waterfront of Aarhus in western Denmark

Starting with the concept of 'individual design for living', what forms, themes and tendencies determine the parameters for today's housing design?

How can you translate literature into architecture – and how is architecture manifested in literature?

Selected novelties from the Stockholm Furniture Fair 2009, Part II

It looks like open space, but behind movable walls, this tiny apartment holds surprises.

"It should be possible not just to hear the music but also to see it." - Ben van Berkel

«My five favourite things at the Stockholm Furniture Fair» - selected by Thomas Bernstand

We are familiar with Milan as a major centre for design during the Salone del Mobile. However, we also wanted to know how MADE expo, which specialises in products for the construction industry, is developing as a counterpart to Munich's BAU.

Die Bauwerke und Kunstdenkmäler von Berlin (Berlin's architectural works and artistic monuments)

On 16 February 2009 the "Mondays with Papst" exhibition opened in the old boiler house on the Wilkhahn site in Bad Münder.

Fitting Forward is a new Hamburg concept store, in which Bitten Stetter and Jutta Südbeck cheekily show what is normally reported in hushed tones and where overall social design processes are reflected.

All design students or designers can take part of this edition, without age limitation.

At the moment design lovers have no choice but to look out of their carefully styled living rooms at their snow-covered balconies full of uninspired furniture and other articles from the local DIY store.

This is an exciting and stimulating book which is both an enjoyable read and a detailed and accurate work of reference!

The Royal Institute of British Architects and Cassina present the exhibition "Le Corbusier’s Cabanon".

No design tour of Maine is complete without a stop in Portland. This tiny city is the largest in the state. Somehow, that’s emblematic: Despite all its efforts to be cosmopolitan, muscular coastline and forests are always nearby.

When the times are uncertain the simplicity provided by black and white categories acts like a lifeline in a sea of randomness.

At the end of the Eighties Jürgen Große began to document street art in Berlin with his camera. This new large-format illustrated volume contains a selection from twenty years of intensive field research.

The Berlin material supplier for architects and designers opens a creative store in Moritzplatz, Kreuzberg

Selected novelties from the Stockholm Furniture Fair 2009, Part I

Dreipunkt has launched its new brand store in the Kranhaus Mitte planned by Bothe Richter Teherani in Cologne.

On the occasion of the home textiles (Heimtextil) fair in Frankfurt, the Langenthal textile company Création Baumann was awarded the AIT Innovation Prize for textiles for its new »Silver&Steel« collection, which was described as a product of

Leading independent brassware designer, Triflow, has commissioned pre-eminent architect, Zaha Hadid, to explore the capabilities of brassware technology in designing the tap of the future.

Last year, the Bulo designers developed Kei, a new modular desk concept with the organic form of a pebble serving as the starting point and the chaotic-harmonic overall image of a pebble beach as the architectural finishing point.

The world of Madelon Vriesendorp in the Swiss Architecture Museum

The latest volume in the prestigious 'Edition Detail' is, as the title suggests, devoted to materials for the interior.

At this year's imm cologne Degenhardt presented 'Landed', the prototype of a prefabricated house, in cooperation with Richard Lampert.

Selected works from [d3] contest at the imm cologne, Arik Levy´s workshop 'Cologne Guesthouse' and projects from the first 'Designers Fair' at the Rheintriadem.

An interview with the ambitious and talented german designer Sebastian Herkner.

Pop!Tech is a yearly conference held in Camden, Maine. Andrew Zolli will tell you, though, that it’s really a community of innovators whose ongoing dialogue just happens to culminate in the annual retreat.

What's the history of the jelly baby? Who invented fish fingers? Why do we have sugar cubes and chewing gum in the shape of balls?.

On 14 January the 2009 Detail prizes were presented in seven special categories at Munich's 'Künstlerhaus' in the course of the Detail celebration gala.

Two weeks ago 'Betonwerk Rieder' celebrated its fifty years of existence as a company with an out-of-the-ordinary party in the Maishofen auction hall. 'RollingStone'.

The new Architonic Guide Box, created by Konstantin Grcic Industrial Design

The vision behind the Architonic Concept Spaces is to bring together innovative designers on the one hand with the latest technologies, materials and producers on the other.