focus on materials

Sure set talk at EDCO Design.

Sure set resin bound gravel in petri glasses:

The different types, grades and colours of the aggregate/recycled material make it unique. I particuarly like the recycled CD case example, it is stylish and glittering (if possible!).

Resin bound gravel is twice as expensive as resin bonded gravel, the recycled range costs £78/m² which is supplied and laid on a fully prepared base, however this does not include the foundation and sub base.

I think its best when broken up with natural stone setts

It can be mixed to be porous with a high grade material- making it good for tree grills and complying with SUD's.

There is also a luminous option which is unusual, but sure set can look a tad tacky! It is easy to manipulate into shapes and patterns using flexible aluminium edges, it is wonderful in playful spaces which need to be blasted with colour and pattern.

It can be made to look natural using no edging but in my opinion this looks naff! In public areas it is a permenant alternative to painted road surface signage and can be cleaned with power blasting.

Click here if you want to make your own!

Slowtopia

London Paper. 18th March 2008.

Various visits & Inspirations

Could the comforable bean bag sofas become temporary street furniture?
Architectural website

Tag fine arts website
Although the art work in this online gallery is fantastic, it lacks the sense of place one gets when at a gallery, the feeling of looking at work for a snap shot of time, when people have to get everything they can out of the viewing because thats the only chance to.

It is all verywell to buy work as an investment, take Banksy for an example, however much more exciting is his work when you come accross it by chance of old street, than when it lines the walls of living rooms and art fairs,

Banksy Exhibition (actually an art fair as the peices were privately owned and most were for sale) & Andipa Gallery's, Knightsbridge.
March 25th 08.



I love the magic of the breif encounters, the clever, controversial, 'propaganda' messages which create a reaction in the many viewers.Banksey's work didn't seem at home in the gold plated frames in the luxurious Antipa galleries with heafty price tags looming.



Click here for beautiful pics!

I find construction is facinating, making a whole out of millions of parts. It doesn't get much simpler than this:
container homes

Focus on Sustainable materials

City Scape. Earls Court. 3rd- 5th March.



Whitelaw and Turkington designed a mock public space for the centerpiece. It became an interactive exhibition with a little free booze!

I helped man the SLIC stand which showcased students work from across the Accredited uni's of England. Ours was the only free stand, and the only one that wasn't trying to sell anything.

Cityscape was a great opportunity to have a gander at sustainable NOW building materials methods. There were less wind turbines and green walls than last year and many more stands about green roofs with enthusiastic salesmen explaining them, there was also a lot based on sustainable drainage systems, recycled products of products etc.

Selection of CED's natural stone:
LED's in Resin Bound recycled glass:
Natural Stone Show Excell Center


Stone. much of the exhibition was concentrated on interior design, some stands were for outdoor paving however uninspiringly very little was from Britain. Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Turkish. BusinessMEN, (there were very few women!)

Beautiful marble:Cityscape lulled me into a false sense of security that the building industry was thinking green, well then there's the other side to things at the Natural Stone show it was ALL about money and beauty. Sickening!

Nice




The following picture is of the sienave stand. The material is natural stone Sienito CVL Monchique, originating from Algarve - Portugal.
#Their brochure: 'The use of this natural resource promotes a new orientation toward the use of low embodied energy products.' # Some people just tick the boxes!

But again it was a good opportunity to inspect possible materials in their differently worked finishes: polished, honed, fine picked - granite, basalt, sandstone etc

Glass stairs by Wachenfeld:

Kingston College Roundabout Charette

The White Cube

http://www.whitecube.com/exhibitions/da_wc_hs/
Moons of the Iapetus Ocean & 'Infinite in- betweens'
18 Jan—23 Feb 2008

Moons of the lapetus ocean is a series of landscape photographs which distort the reverse the patterns of movement, many are based around water, the water looks calm and undisturbed and the surrounding landscape looks as if in rugged motion, the growth of the landscape is speeded up and the movement of the water is stopped.
'a kind of fog of knowing and unknowing, revealing and concealing.' (Brian Dillon in catalogue essay) 'waterfalls and gushing lakes become pools of static steam' (press release at gallery)

'Infinite between's'-The title refers to the Buddhist vision of relativity of all beings and all things, the space between two breaths, we always occupy an in between state that is never ending and infinite.

The exhibition is a series of photographs which are woven layers of traditional prayer flags in Tibet, which were hung in layers over a photograph of mountain ridges, as the layers build up, a 3d effect is created and confronts the viewer with infinite perspectives.

The White Cube

Sketch

Click for a fab flash website
'sketch is pleased to present the first of two screening programmes conceptually focused around the films of Charles & Ray Eames from the 1950s to the 1980s. A New Stance for Tomorrow: Part 1 will concentrate on imaginings and innovations in architecture and the built environment and will explore the relationship of these disciplines to how space is designated and inhabited. The artists, designers and filmmakers included in the exhibition span from the 1950's to now and in different ways dissolve the boundaries between art, architecture and design whilst creating experimental imaginings and explorations for positive propositions for the future.'

The exhibition room is laid out with 20 comfortable white leather sofas- perfect for a gallery day! A film about the plastic spaceship house like a spider and a butterfly- inthat it was stable and could be transported to any landscape via helicopter. I liked the design- despite the implications of living in plastic and sreeing a spaceship as home, however it did not take off according to the video because the ladies of the 1960's wanted more storage space!

“Futuro represents the modern, comfortable way of housing–practical coziness. Futuro is the dwelling of the future.” (1968 brochure)

The toilets at Sketch are an exhibition!

Nottingham, Easter 08

Gustafson Porter’s transformation of Old Market Square in Nottingham has stormed this year’s Civic Trust Awards, taking three of the coveted awards.

'Our intention was to create an elegant, multi-functional space that will stand the test of time. Our aim was to provide a relaxing space for informal daily activity as well as an exciting destination for events and local markets.'
Neil Porter

I experienced the Market square as welcoming to sit alone and eat in or to sit in a group and be relaxed. It is the center of the city and stands out as a meeting point.

Along with the average highstreet array of shops Nottingham has a historical heart, with snippets of architecture from days past around every corner.