The BEACH by Snarkitecture

The BEACH is an interactive architectural installation designed by Snarkitecture for the National Building Museum. 

The National Building Museum presents a one-of-a-kind destination for visitors, an interactive architectural installation that brings the quintessential summer experience of going to the beach to downtown Washington, D.C. Spanning across the Museum's Great Hall, the BEACH, created in partnership with Snarkitecture, will cover 10,000 square feet and include an "ocean" of nearly one million recyclable translucent plastic balls.

The BEACH is contained within an enclosure and built out of construction materials such as scaffolding, wooden panels, and perforated mesh, all clad in stark white. Monochromatic beach chairs and umbrellas sprinkle the 50-foot wide "shoreline," and the "ocean" culminates in a mirrored wall that creates a seemingly infinite reflected expanse. Visitors are welcome to "swim" in the ocean, or can spend an afternoon at the "shore's" edge reading a good book, play beach-related activities such as paddleball, grab a refreshing drink at the snack bar, or dangle their feet in the ocean off the pier.

Enjoy our snack concession, operated through a partnership with Union Kitchen, a D.C.-based food incubator.

PROJECT:
Taking cues from the familiar experience of a summer day at the beach, Snarkitecture has abstracted both the natural and cultural elements of the beach to create a reduced, monochromatic environment inside the museum's Great Hall. Standard construction materials like scaffolding, drywall, and mirrors are utilized to create the enclosure that leads to an ocean of 750,000 recyclable plastic balls. 

The Beach welcomes visitors to explore, play and relax in a fully immersive and unique setting.

Photos by Noah Kalina - noahkalina.com

VISIT
401 F Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20001
202.272.2448

HOURS
Monday-Saturday:
10 am-5 pm
Sunday: 11 am-5 pm

The Building Zone closes at 4 pm.

ADMISSION
Free access to the Great Hall,
historic building tours,
Museum Shop, & cafe.

Exhibition admission:
$8 for adults
$5 for youth, students, & seniors
$3 a person for Building Zone only
Free for Museum members

WATCH | Web designer and photographer Andy Feliciotti's Vlog about "The Beach"

About Snarkitecture
Snarkitecture is a collaborative and experimental practice operating in territories between art and architecture. The name is drawn from Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of The Snark, a poem describing an "impossible voyage of an improbable crew to find an inconceivable creature." 

Snarkitecture investigates the unknown within architecture - the indefinable moments created by manipulating and reinterpreting existing materials, structures and programs to spectacular effect. 

Exploring the boundaries of disciplines, the studio designs permanent, architectural scale projects and functional objects with new and imaginative purposes. Snarkitecture's approach focuses on the viewer's experience and memory, creating moments of wonder and interaction that allow people to engage directly with their surrounding environment. By transforming the familiar into the extraordinary, Snarkitecture makes architecture perform the unexpected. 

Snarkitecture was established by Alex Mustonen and Daniel Arsham.

For more information please visit Snarkitecture - www.snarkitecture.com

Bolon Wins Design Award for Best Web

[New York], May 2, 2014 - Swedish design company Bolon has been awarded the prestigious 'Best Web' prize at Milan Design Week 2014. 

Sponsored by Microsoft, the award is given to the website that best uses the latest standards in web design, offers high levels of user friendliness and is compatible over various platforms.

The jury, which included world-renowned Spanish architect and designer Patricia Urquiola, motivated their choice by describing Bolon's campaign site dedicated to the launch of the Silence collection as 'having harnessed the possibilities of the web in an exemplary fashion'. The jury also commented that the site 'best represents the future of web - increasingly immersive, touch-optimised and unforgettable in its simplicity.'


The Contradiction of Silence from Bolon on Vimeo.

Amongst other content, the site features visitor-controlled loops from a ground-breaking film
'The Contradiction of Silence' made by Bolon in collaboration with internationally acclaimed choreographer Alexander Ekman. The full version of this short film also featured as an integral part of the site's visitor experience.

Annica Eklund, CEO at Bolon continues - How we chose to execute the film sequences definitely struck a chord with the jury. The slow motion, stop-start loops and the films' colour and tone received a lot of positive comments. We are extremely grateful for this award as it is further confirmation of our desire to push the boundaries of creativity within the design branch - in this case, using innovative technology to bring life to a visually strong concept in an unexpected way.

Silence - The New Collection from Bolon - Visit the Silence site →

Inspired by the tranquil beauty and deep forests of our Swedish homeland, Silence by Bolon is a true sensory treat.

‘Silence’ is 100% free of the softening agent phthalate – a feature that shows the company’s continuing commitment to environmental innovation and one that will be applied to every Bolon collection from 2014 onwards.

'Silence' is available as a combination of sheets, tiles and, as a new article, planks as standard. The whole collection holds the same high ratings for wear and tear and fire-resistance and comes with the same long guarantees as every other Bolon collection.

All images courtesy of BOLON - http://www.bolon.com/

ALU NYC Showroom Commences with Flying Colors

Photo courtesy of ALU - www.alu.com
[New York], July 30, 2013 - A new look has been given to ALU's NYC showroom. Thanks to a partnership with PANTONE, at the end of June the newly transformed space pays a tribute to colors and enhances ALU's creed to reinvent and re-imagine.

The showroom highlights the ability of ALU design systems to personalize your retail experience and share mutual standards of performances in order to reach co-creation together with you.

A chameleonic Slash plays a significant role: a white painted wall mounted installation is put in contrast with a series of emerald nuanced magnetic supports. Column Slash bonds as the elegant provider and clear cut solution which uses the space to its full potential. Autopole works with a new range of signage to communicate effectively the character of your store.

All Photos Courtesy of ALU - www.alu.com

About ALU
ALU is an international company with more than 25 years of experience catering to the retail world.

Since its founding, ALU has partnered with many leading international retailers and premium brands such as Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Sears, Chanel, Zara, Bank of America, Ray Ban, Nokia, Luxottica, Sephora, Estée Lauder, Adidas, Maclaren, JCPenney, Helly Hansen, Wrangler and General Motors, among others.

For more information please visit www.alu.com

"Zaha Hadid – World Architecture" Exhibition at the Danish Architecture Centre

[New York], July 5, 2013 - The summer exhibition at The Danish Architecture Centre features the work of the internationally acclaimed star architect Zaha Hadid in her first solo exhibition in Scandinavia from 29 June to 29 September 2013.

The Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid is one of the most admired and discussed architects in the world. She also happens to be the only woman in the "premier league" of architecture, and the first female architect to receive the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize - "the Nobel Prize of architecture".

For the past 30 years, Zaha Hadid has challenged the boundaries of architecture with her sensual, expressive architectural language which has become an icon for our vision of the global architecture of tomorrow. Examples of her work include: the MAXXI Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome (2010), Guangzhou Opera House (2010), the BMW Central Building in Leipzig (2005), London Aquatic Centre (2012) and, in Denmark, the extension to the museum Ordrupgaard (2005), situated north of Copenhagen.

For this summer's major exhibition at the Danish Architecture Centre, Zaha Hadid Architects have created an extraordinary exhibition experience. You will enter a world of towers, floating shells, selected projects and designer objects. Everything is presented in a borderless scenic universe, showing how Zaha Hadid's spectacular buildings and designs arise out of a progressive digital and geometric universe.

Interactive Installation
At the exhibition you can experience an interactive installation that changes in form and expression by the visitor's movements in space. Here you can see a video of the installation from the exhibition.
Parametric Space from Kollision on Vimeo.

Zaha Hadid Architects [www.zaha-hadid.com] worked together with design office Kollision [www.kollision.dk], CAVI [www.cavi.au.dk] and Wahlberg [www.wahlberg.dk] to create the interactive installation 'Parametric Space' for the exhibition 'Zaha Hadid - World Architecture' at the Danish Architecture Centre [www.dac.dk] 29 June - 29 September 2013.

The installation is a fully parametric space that reacts to the visitors' movements by changing shape and expression. At first glance the installation is a dark rectangular space - four walls, floor and ceiling. But the space change when visitors enter. What appears to be a normal flat ceiling reveals itself as a flexible membrane that starts to glow and physically move down into a funnel shape that slowly reaches out. Stepping closer to the funnel it moves further down; stepping back the membrane draws itself back, too. But the membrane does not only change its shape it is also brought to life by thousands of dynamic light particles inhabiting the surface reacting on the membrane movements, creating an almost dreamy but still tangible experience related to the parametrically architectural language that Zaha Hadid Architects are known for.

TECHNICAL SETUP
The installation is brought to life by two laser scanner sensors that continuously gather information about visitors' positions in the space. The positions are used for calculating the heights of the four actuators pushing and pulling cylindrical volumes on the topside of the membrane. The cylinders are equipped with RGB light sources that express the cylinder height by color and intensity. Finally, four projectors built into the floor, project the particles of light onto the membrane. The particles are spatially calculated on a virtual 3D surface of the approximate membrane shape.

CREDITS
The exhibition was developed by Zaha Hadid Architects in collaboration with the Danish Architecture Centre, supported by Realdania [www.realdania.dk] and Kvadrat [www.kvadrat.dk]. Kollision managed the design process and the technical project development of Parametric Space together with Zaha Hadid Architects; CAVI programmed the infrastructure and the parametric actuator and lighting control; Wahlberg constructed the membrane installation together with the actuator and the light source integration; and Zaha Hadid Architects developed the real-time graphics projected onto the membrane.

Get a glimpse of behind the scenes: https://vimeo.com/69127016

For more information see kollision.dk/en/parametric

Furthermore see the following link for more media architecture projects from Kollision: vimeo.com/album/1809263

For more information please visit http://www.dac.dk/en/dac-life/exhibitions-1/2013/zaha-hadid/

Alice Temperley Store by Found Associates

[New York], April 12, 2013 - Found (www.foundassociates.com) collaborated closely with Alice Temperley to create their first flagship store at 27 Bruton Street; a Grade II listed, six-storey Georgian town house. 

Temperley London Bruton Street |Photo By Found.

The ground and first floor house retail space for the three Temperley collections; Temperley London, Temperley Bridal and ALICE by Temperley. The upper floors and basement will become home to the Temperley office team.


The design focuses on retaining and complimenting the existing Georgian features by using a heritage palette of colors, and luxurious materials such as decorative brass metalwork.




About Found
Based in Soho London, the practice was formed by Richard Found in 1997 and boasts a diverse portfolio of award winning work.

Found is recognised for excellence and innovation in design and architecture across a wide variety of sectors.

Found offer services tailored to cover every aspect of each individual client's needs, from initial concept design through to completion. We have a proven track record of delivering unique projects within budget and on programme.

Retail clients include: Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Harrods, Givenchy, Anya Hindmarch, Kurt Geiger, Donna Karan.

Corporate clients include: Diageo, TalkTalk, Virgin Atlantic, M&C Saatchi, Prince's Trust.

Found have extensive experience in luxury residential projects including new buildings.

For more information please visit Found | www.foundassociates.com

The New Alexander McQueen Store in Roppongi, Japan

[New York], April 9, 2013 - Alexander McQueen is pleased to announce the opening of the new Alexander McQueen accessories boutique in Roppongi, Japan.


Photo courtesy of Alexander McQueen.
The new store concept was conceived by Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen and realized together with David Collins Studio.

Visit Alexander McQueen Store: Roppongi Tokyo Japan - Roppongi Hills
Roppongi Hills West Walk 2F 6-10-3 Roppongi
Minato-ku
Tokyo
106-0032

T: 03-3470-6221

Shop & Explore Alexander McQueen:  http://bit.ly/10J8aeH

Form Us With Love Haberdash Store Interior Design

[Stockholm], August 11, 2012 - Haberdash is the contemporary dandy store in Stockholm.

Form Us With Love designed the interior for the newly opened shop at Upplandsgatan 50 in Stockholm. FUWL approached the project by researching and selecting materials reflecting the level of detail and quality of Haberdash's fashion.

The results is an interior with products from materials used in a new way, including Silestone quarts slabs for display wall and counter, Kährs ash flooring for display stands and leather remnants from tannery Tärnsjö for seating.

The newly launched pendant glass lamps designed by FUWL for Design House Stockholm frames the setting.

Form Us With Love is a design studio operating from Stockholm. The internationally acclaimed studio was started in 2005 and has since pushed to challenge the conventional through design initiatives. FUWL partners with companies involved in the development and production of everyday objects, furniture and lighting.

For more information please visit www.formuswithlove.se | All Photos: Jonas Lindström, Courtesy of FUWL.