All articles by Asha
Asha
OMA’s Reinier de Graaf travels to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro
Despite being sanitised for the benefit of the World Cup and upcoming Olympic Games, OMA’s Reinier de Graaf sees the much-discussed favelas of Rio de Janeiro as a stark, if vital, reflection of the paradox of exponential growth — in which those who have traded countryside for city are denied a proper urban life.
Lay of the land – six flooring experts choose their top trends for 2015
To find out what might be the latest thing for floors in the coming year, FX asked six flooring experts to identify trends for 2015.
Pile of hope – 20 years of Maggie’s Centres
It’s been 20 years since Maggie Jencks dreamt of a single room where cancer patients, like herself, could go to escape. She didn’t live quite long enough to see the first Maggie’s Centre open, but this October marks the opening of the 18th centre in 18 years. Her modest vision has been transformed from her husband Charles Jencks’ ‘pile of hope’ — a stack of articles promising breakthroughs — to the ambitious charity of today…
Rolling out the new energy-harvesting flooring
Interactive flooring that can communicate is just around the corner, and Pavegen’s Laurence Kemball-Cook explains why energy-harvesting flooring is the right way to go.
Thomas Heatherwick’s Gin Palace
Gin brand Bombay Sapphire has sunk its heritage stake deeper into the British psyche by establishing a distillery in the heart of the Hampshire countryside. Thomas Heatherwick converted and developed the Laverstoke Mill on the River Test, and has created a visual heart for the visitor experience with two spectacular glasshouses to cultivate the essential botanicals that flavour the gin.
The flooring products that work hard
Flooring often has to stand up to tough conditions. We look at projects that could have been problematic.
Project: Science Museum
The Science Museum in London is undergoing a major £60m facelift, which will see new exhibition spaces by Zaha Hadid, Wilkinson Eyre, Muf and Coffey Architects. Cate St Hill pays a visit to the latest gallery, dedicated to the history of information technology, by Universal Design Studio.
Can design be an act of political dissidence? asks Ines Weizman
Though manifest for millennia, recent years have seen a rash of urban protest, and an interest in the architectural platforms of social upheaval. Civil unrest has become a cultural phenomenon. But how much political agency can designers really have? Architect and educator Ines Weizman ponders the idea of dissidence – the critical act of standing ‘apart’.
Alvar Aalto: Second Nature – Exhibition review
It was in 1933, in the unlikely location of London’s luxury food purveyor, Fortnum & Mason, that the British had their first taste of the relatively unknown Finnish architect Alvar Aalto and his curvilinear plywood furniture.
Alberto Alessi – Profile
Product design firm Alessi seems to be going from strength to strength. Now with the third generation of the family at the helm, in the hands of Alberto, the founder’s eldest grandson, it is fresh from presenting the Alessi bar and café at designjunction for the London Design Week. Alberto Alessi talks to FX.