Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2020 i OBJEKT South Africa

The site is on the corner of an alley leading to the shopping street in the city of Osaka, Japan. It is a renovation project of a wooden house built in 1976 . The orignal building comprised an office part and residential part. In the part housing the office, the facade at the street side looked ugly. Inside, the arrangement of the rooms was messy and reflected the poor maintenance. The architect “The client is an artist, and we were asked to create a comfortable living space, studio space and gallery space for her work. In addition, she wanted the office facade be renovated. The state of the structure and expense involved required us to review how best to organize the spaces. It was important to provide enough natural light…

How much design can a person take? That question would seem justified for anyone visiting the annual design spectacle at the Salone del Mobile in the Italian city of Milan. It is the epicentre of design: an unparalleled extravaganza transcending the customary round of interior design. For some it is the definitive source of inspiration, for others a lethal overdose. Ranging from the style of ancient Rome to futuristic design – it’s all there, heaped up in gigantic exhibition venues just outside Milan. But of course there are also all the events, design parties and other presentations, including the Temporary Museum for New Design in the very centre of the city. It is where the world heads for: it reflects the state of the art in design terms. So inevitably,…

The architects of PAD about the Fort al Fateh Museum: “An essential key to understanding this project is the use of stone for building within an established historical setting.The choice of sandstone, created by layers of sand compressed and solidified over thousands of years, for use in an urban landscape rising from the Middle Eastern desert, is particularly significant.The colours of the existing and pre-existing setting represent an additional element of continuity, in terms of the relationship between the tones of the stone form the Italian specialist Casone Verona Stone chosen for the work and those of the traditional mud and stone walling, plastered using a mix of the same materials. The use of natural materials, specially treated to reduce the perceived difference between them, further enhances the tone-on-tone effect.…

The Mercato Centrale in the heart of Florence was built around 1874 after a design by Giuseppe Mengoni, who was also the architect of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan. He derived inspiration for the market in Florence from the Halles in Paris. For the construction he used materials that were current at that time, including steel, glass and cast iron. Since the renovation of the first floor, the building’s structure is once more in evidence. Florence's Mercato Centrale embodies a highly contemporary and necessary vision: to repopulate a very important area that is vital to the historic centre, with a series of newly-conceived services and gourmet shops, designed to spotlight artisans of taste. With the restored complex, Florence has a new and truly vast indoor space - covering…

Horst P. Horst was a master of light, composition and atmospheric illusion who conjured a world of sensual sophistication. His long and varied career spanned the inter-linked worlds of art, fashion, theatre and high society. The exhibition will feature his work with the leading couturiers Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli, early models including Lisa Fonssagrives and Helen Bennett, Hollywood stars such as Marlene Dietrich, and significant artists and designers including Jean Michel Frank, Marcel Vertès and Salvador Dalí. In his sixty-year career Horst achieved international acclaim and has since influenced many artists and designers including Madonna, Robert Mapplethorpe and Tim Walker. Less well-known aspects of Horst’s work will be highlighted, including his travel photographs, nature studies for fabric and wallpaper designs, interior studies and nudes. Moreover, Horst’s creative working process…

The house is hidden away among lush greenery and contorted trees. Its architecture is both simple and functional. You won’t find mind-blowing facades or entrances flanked by pillars. No – here the tranquillity of balanced architecture prevails: a mix of vintage and modern elements that have been intelligently combined. The residence was created by Rios Clementi Hale Studios of Los Angeles who, in consultation with the owners, recast an existing house into a customized artistic mould. The main objective was to transform the dark rooms into light, open-plan spaces where the owners’ artworks would come into their own. And as you wander through the house, it becomes clear that the makeover is highly successful. You get a sense of the interior layout as soon as you walk into the high…

The penthouse at the Greenwich Hotel nestles high above the bustle of the TriBeCa neighborhood in Manhattan. The top-level penthouse is designed to integrate as much as possible into the nineteenth century industrial neighborhood, using local materials, such as stone and reclaimed wood, providing an authentic feel. Designer Axel Vervoordt and architect Tatsuro Miki utilized the ancient Japanese aesthetic sense of wabi and used antique stone and architectural antique wood, sourced in New York, from Axel Vervoordt’s Belgian castle and from Japan. The wood ceilings in the second and third bedrooms are tabletops from Union Square.A farm trough from the 17th/18th century was used for the main bathroom sink and bath tub rim.The artists incorporated a 19th-century walnut table top in the master bedroom’s headboard. The interior stair handrails are…

The design of the buildings at theVineyard Estate themselves was intended to quietly reciprocate the complexities of site and program, enhance the relationship of indoor and outdoor space, and capture a serene spirit of place. Each building is discretely woven into the surrounding landscape while providing access to the site’s panoramic view. The main house is tucked beyond the south horizon of the vineyard at the toe of the mountain, with a modest narrow profile to the north and expansive views to the east. The owners sought a seamless blending of their art collection, furnishings, building, and landscape. To this end, the main residence was designed as a series of connected spaces around a loggia and reflecting pool.The linear pool runs due north–south, acting as a primary orientation device among…