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Interior Design

Eight immersive saunas in peaceful settings from Sweden to Canada

By Zarkon Group,18/11/2023

A floating sauna and a cavernous coastal grotto feature in our latest lookbook, which collects eight sauna interiors that provide a warming antidote to colder months.

Usually contained within a single room, a sauna is a sealed place where visitors experience dry or wet heat produced through a variety of mechanisms that are designed to clean and refresh the body – a ritual that is reported to date back to as early as 4000 BC.

Saunas are typically made of wood due to the material’s ability to absorb heat but remain cool to the touch. The following projects demonstrate how architects and designers have interpreted this longstanding practice in contemporary settings.

This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring cosy living rooms, retro eateries and dining rooms with built-in seating.

Big Branzino, Sweden, by Sandellsandberg

The Big Branzino is a floating sauna by Swedish studio Sandellsandberg that was topped with a distinctive bow-shaped roof.

Designed to drift against the shifting backdrop of the Stockholm archipelago, the sauna features a red cedar-clad interior including a bespoke stove flanked by two-tiered seating.

Find out more about Big Branzino ›

Grotto sauna by Partisanas — Photo is courtesy of Partisans

Grotto, Canada, by Partisans

Canadian studio Partisans designed a cavernous cedar interior for a private burnt-timber sauna that was created to emulate a seaside grotto.

Situated on a craggy spot on the shore of Lake Huron, north of Toronto, the structure features skewed porthole windows and a curvy alternative to traditional geometric stepped sauna seating.

Find out more about Grotto ›

The Bands sauna — Photo is by Jonas Aarre Sommarset

The Bands, Norway, by Oslo School of Architecture and Design students

A trio of staggered timber bands forms this student-designed sauna, which also functions as a picnic terrace and has a sunken hot tub on its exterior.

The building has three different gabled roof profiles, as well as glass and translucent polycarbonate plastic windows that illuminate the larch-clad interior.

Find out more about The Bands ›

Haeckels-designed sauna in Margate — Photo is courtesy of Haeckels

Sauna, UK, by Haeckels

Skincare brand Haeckels took cues from traditional Victorian bathing machines – wooden carts that provided privacy for people to change clothes at the seaside – when creating this sauna on the beach of southeast England’s Margate.

The brand used materials that were as close as possible to those that would have been used to design original bathing machines. A wood-burning stove features inside, while timber benches provide seating with a sea view framed by an external wax-cloth awning.

Find out more about this sauna ›

Tullin Sauna by Studio Puisto — Photo is Riikka Kantinkoski

Tullin, Finland, by Studio Puisto

Finnish practice Studio Puisto paid tribute to the concept of the late nineteenth-century korttelisauna, or neighbourhood sauna, when designing this communal complex in the city of Tampere.

Throughout the complex, the interior is characterised by rough concrete finishes layered with warm local pine – a material used in saunas all over Finland.

Find out more about Tullin ›

Löyly, Switzerland, by Trolle Rudebeck Haar

Designer Trolle Rudebeck Haar built a prefabricated floating sauna on Lake Geneva while studying at the Lausanne University of Art and Design.

Created to explore the concept of micro-architecture, Löyly spans 2.2 square metres and features a Japanese sliding door – known as a shōji – made from ribbed translucent glass.

Find out more about Löyly ›

Timber-lined sauna interior in Gothenburg, Sweden — Photo is by Raumlabor

Gothenburg Public Sauna, Sweden, by Raumlabor

German studio Raumlabor worked with local residents in Gothenburg to design this public sauna, which is raised over the water in the Swedish city’s Frihamnen port and accessed via a wooden bridge.

Thin larch strips line the interior and create texture across the curved and angular surfaces of the ceiling and walls.

Find out more about Gothenburg Public Sauna ›

A black timber sauna — Photo is by Riikka Kantinkoski

Saunaravintola Kiulu, Findland, by Studio Puisto

Studio Puisto designed the Saunaravintola Kiulu wellness centre to combine a duo of saunas and a restaurant.

Characterised by dark wood cladding and red epoxy flooring, the smaller of the two saunas is contained within its own independent timber cabin.

Find out more about Saunaravintola Kiulu ›

Reference

Sustainable News

Bark to beauty: forest byproducts for cosmetics, food, and chemicals

By Zarkon Group,18/11/2023

Spotted: One part of the UN FAO’s (Food and Agricultural Organization) forestry programme is the “conservation and sustainable use of forests to enhance forest-based livelihoods.” In this spirit, Finnish materials technology company Montinutra has created a chemical-free extraction process for valorising forestry waste.

Using Pressurised Hot Water Extraction (PHWE), the company transforms forest industry side streams into valuable new ingredients for the cosmetics, food and beverage, and chemical industries. Sawdust and bark are two of the most common waste products in the forestry, and with Montinutra’s inexpensive, efficient extraction process, businesses can turn a byproduct with little value into a new income stream.

The bioactive compounds that come from wood waste are highly valuable ingredients. When they are used in place of petrochemical-based materials, manufacturers reduce production emissions while improving the health of their products. In cosmetics, for instance, wood sugars provide emulsifying, SPF-boosting, and antioxidant qualities, and the ingredients can be used in industrial applications as binders, coatings, and fillers.

The extraction process works with many different types of feedstock, and the machinery and hardware are modular, transportable, and use closed-loop water circulation and energy recovery. That makes it easy for lumberyards and other forestry businesses to integrate a new system into existing infrastructure while improving the overall sustainability of their operations. The minimal amount of material left over after extraction can then be used for biofuel.

Montinutra’s pilot plant in Turku, Finland, proved the viability of the technology, and the company is now in the planning stages for its expansion to industrial-scale manufacturing capabilities by 2026. Following recent funding, the company hopes to quicken its international expansion and is also looking to soon rebrand as ‘Boreal Bioproducts’.

In Springwise’s database, other innovations centred on upcycling sawdust include using the material for 3D printing and building new beehives that help the insects survive winters.

Written By: Keely Khoury

Reference

Architecture

electric staircase and expandable platform modify meditation duplex in hong kong

By Zarkon Group,18/11/2023

Sim-Plex composes adaptable Meditation Duplex living space

The Meditation Duplex by Sim-Plex explores the integration of meditation spaces within compact urban living in Hong Kong. Addressing the desire for tranquility amidst hectic urban life, the project utilizes a transformable electric staircase and a detachable, expandable platform to create a flexible living and meditation space. The design accommodates various scenarios, allowing for a seamless transition between living and meditation modes. The concept particularly focuses on optimizing space and circulation in micro-unit living, often prevalent in densely populated areas. The clients, a young couple with specific lifestyle needs, influenced the project’s direction. Notably, the utilization of high ceilings for creating spacious areas and maintaining privacy became a central design consideration.

all images courtesy of Patrick Lam

Green Plants and Eco-Friendly Materials optimize living setting

The duplex incorporates smart technology for remote home management, enhancing energy conservation. The inclusion of green planting, environmentally friendly materials, and natural ventilation adds a touch of nature to the living environment. The detachable and expandable platform, made from E0 grade fine-grained plywood, ensures sustainability and facilitates easy relocation without waste. The design prioritizes high-capacity storage and diverse functionalities to prevent clutter in the open layout. Sim-Plex Studio also integrates sensory control and comprehensive voice control into the smart home features, providing a holistic approach to technology.

transformable space achieves a balance between urban life and tranquil atmosphere

the project addresses the limitations of micro-units in Hong Kong

flexible design utilizes smart technology for a versatile living experience

the design integrates meditation zones for contemplation in compact living spaces

floating resting area accommodates private spaces within a limited footprint

Reference

The raw concrete facade of Trunk Hotel Yoyogi Park

Interior Design

Keiji Ashizawa Design and Norm Architects create Trunk Hotel in Tokyo

By Zarkon Group,17/11/2023

An exposed raw concrete facade fronts the Trunk Hotel Yoyogi Park, which Japanese studio Keiji Ashizawa Design and Danish firm Norm Architects conceived as a minimalist retreat in the heart of the city.

Marking the third location in a trio of Trunk hotels in Tokyo, the design of the boutique hotel was rooted in the concept of “urban recharge”, according to Trunk chief creative officer Masayuki Kinoshita.

The hotel group said the idea was to balance the opposing elements of tradition and modernity as well as nature and the city and the melding of both Japanese and European craft.

Keiji Ashizawa Design created a textured concrete aggregate facade for the seven-storey building, which is punctuated with steel-lined balconies and overlooks Yoyogi Park’s lush treetops.

Neutral bathroom within Tokyo's Trunk Hotel — Guest rooms feature a muted colour and material palette

The studio worked with Norm Architects to design the minimalist interior, accessed via a copper-clad entrance.

A total of 20 guest rooms and five suites were dressed in a muted colour and material palette featuring hardwood flooring and plush Hotta Carpet-designed rugs informed by traditional Japanese architecture.

Paper-cord chairs and washi pendant lights at Trunk Hotel in Tokyo — Paper-cord chairs and tapered washi pendant lights contribute to the minimalist design

Delicate rattan partition walls delineate spaces within the rooms, which open out onto the building’s balconies that were fitted with slanted ceilings in order to encourage sunlight into each room “as if mimicking the gentle transitions of a day”.

“It’s been an interesting journey for us to find the right balance between a space that is relaxed and vibrant at the same time,” said Norm Architects co-founder Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen.

Minimalist neutral double bed within the Trunk Hotel in Tokyo — The interiors were designed to be both “relaxed and vibrant”

The rooms are also characterised by paper-cord chairs and tapered washi pendant lights as well as abstract artworks, amorphous vases and grainy floor-to-ceiling bathroom tiles.

On the ground floor, oak seating designed by Norm Architects for Karimoku features in the hotel restaurant, which includes a striking copper-clad pizza oven and the same rattan accents that can be found in the guest rooms.

Rattan room dividers in the restaurant of Trunk Hotel — Rattan accents can also be found in the hotel restaurant

“It is a very unique and gratifying experience in the sense that the architecture, interior and furniture, as well as the attention to detail, have created a space with such a strong sense of unity,” said Keiji Ashizawa Design.

An open-air pool club is located on the sixth floor of the hotel.

Sand-blasted concrete flooring was paired with thin bluey-green tiles that make up the infinity swimming pool, which overlooks the park below.

A “glowing” firepit can also be set alight after dark, intended to create a soothing contrast with the bright Tokyo skyline.

Rooftop infinity pool overlooking Yoyogi Park — The Trunk Hotel features a rooftop infinity pool

The city’s first Trunk Hotel opened in Shibuya in 2017, while the second location is an offbeat one-room hotel in the metropolis’s Kagurazaka neighbourhood featuring its own miniature nightclub.

The photography is by Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen.

Reference

Sustainable News

“We can’t plead ignorance” on sustainability says panel of design experts

By Zarkon Group,17/11/2023

Architects need to listen to younger generations and take a collaborative approach to sustainability, according to a panel of design experts in this filmed talk hosted by Dezeen for developer Brookfield Properties.

The panel included Brookfield Properties director of design Pragya Adukia, architecture studio Foster + Partners senior partner Dan Sibert and architecture studio BVN strategy director Esme Banks Marr. The talk was moderated by Dezeen co-CEO Ben Hobson.

The discussion followed the publication of a report commissioned by Brookfield Properties and Foster + Partners, which surveyed workers’ thoughts on the importance of sustainability in the workplace.

The panelists discussed how younger generations are increasingly more invested in furthering sustainable practices in their workplaces, with the report finding that 93 per cent of people working in an “environmentally friendly office” felt happier in their job.

The panelists was made up of experts in architectural design and strategy

“We want to make sure that we’re hearing what people say, which is why we co-commissioned this report with Foster + Partners – to listen to what the younger generation at work was saying, to give them a voice around their own sustainability, ideas and goals,” Adukia explained.

“The idea of sustainability is really a community-based thing,” added Sibert. “[There’s] a generational shift. People are no longer interested in just sitting and letting it happen to them, they actually want to be involved in it.”

“Our approach has always been ‘this is what can be realistically achieved’, it’s not just a fancy hashtag or a strapline,” continued Adukia.

“Let’s look at the data points, that’s very strong evidence, and then talk about what can be achieved, how we can future proof it.”

The talk took place in the public square of the 30 Fenchurch Street offices in London

“People are more vocal about their beliefs and what they’d like to see, it’s a good idea to involve these people in bigger conversations, and then take on board what they want to see,” she added.

“We can’t plead ignorance, none of us can plead ignorance anymore” said Banks Marr, echoing the importance of listening to public opinion around sustainability.

“There are some baseline things that we need to fundamentally just get right in buildings, new and existing, first and foremost. Sounds quite simple, but a lot of people still fail to do it,” she concluded.

The panel discussed the importance of qualitative data and community feedback during the design process

The panel also discussed how approaches such as biophilic design could help lead to more engagement with the environment and green policy-making.

Defining biophilic design, Banks Marr said “it’s not [just] putting plants into a space. Biophilic design is a term that’s been used for such a long time and in lots of different types of ways, when actually it means all of your senses, your experience with the space and your connection to nature.”

“It’s a stepping stone, or a starting point, to taking a really ecological world view of things,” she added.

“If I’m in these concrete jungle cities that do not have any connection to nature, and I don’t experience that on a daily basis, it doesn’t live in my psyche. So how am I expected to care about it and create real change?”

“There’s a desire across the board, not just in the city, to make sure we’ve got spaces to live and breathe in,” Adukia concluded.

Similarly, the panel noted the importance of creating long-lasting and future-proofed spaces.

“We need to get ourselves into that mindset where we actually think about things for a much longer term, and think and design them so they will change over time,” said Sibert. “So, can the building be designed for multiple lifespans rather than a single lifespan?”

“One has to take the overall sense of why you’re building in a city like this,” he added.

“Why do we build where, what does it mean for the overall picture of carbon and regeneration? What’s possible, but why would you make these choices as clients?”

Co-CEO Ben Hobson moderated the discussion

To conclude the talk, Hobson asked each of the speakers what they believed the key challenges the industry needed to overcome were.

“I think one thing we could definitely get better at, which we’re perhaps not currently doing enough, is knowing when to invite the real experts to the table. We don’t have to know everything,” answered Banks Marr.

“Data is absolutely key,” Sibert added. “If we could allow ourselves to find both the right dataset for the purposes of the buildings we have, and also then make the way we manufacture it be database based, I think that would be a massive step forward for us as an industry.”

“Our more successful projects have been where we’ve worked collaboratively and transparently. For any change to be implemented, I think it needs to be taken on board by all of its stakeholders. And that’s not just as landlords or developers – tenants, individuals, everyone has to be on board vocal about what they want out of it,” Adukia concluded.

The event was held at 30 Fenchurch Street, one of Brookfield Properties’ landmark office developments in the City of London.

Partnership content

This video was produced by Dezeen as part of a partnership with Brookfield Properties. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

Reference

Sustainable News

Can we attract a greener future with rare-earth-free magnets?

By Zarkon Group,17/11/2023

Spotted: Magnets made from rare earths have become ubiquitous in several high-performance technologies and products ranging from wind turbines, electric vehicles (EVs), consumer electronics, and robots. However, while rare earth elements are essential for critical infrastructure, China controls the bulk of the supply chain, making the magnets subject to geopolitical tensions.

Now, Niron Magnetics has developed a high-performance permanent magnet that is as strong as a rare earth magnet but does not use any rare earth elements. Instead, the company’s Clean Earth Magnet is produced using abundant and easily recyclable materials (iron and nitrogen).

Not only do Niron’s magnets exceed the performance of rare-earth-based magnets by up to 50 per cent, according to the company, but they also have a 75 per cent lower overall environmental impact. Additionally, the Clean Earth Magnet is stable over a wide range of temperatures and, helped by the company’s scalable manufacturing processes, can be produced at a lower cost than those made from rare earths.

Niron’s magnets were recently selected as one of TIME Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2023, and TIME is not the only one excited by this technology. The company has forged commercial partnerships with companies like Volvo Cars, General Motors, Tymphany, and Western Digital.

Earlier this month, Niron announced an additional $33 million (around €30.4 million) had been raised, from investors including GM Ventures and Stellantis Ventures. This new financing will help the company scale its manufacturing capacity to support exclusive customer programmes and the first sales of its Clean Earth Magnet.

Replacing new rare earth elements is the goal of recent innovations that include the use of ferrite magnets in wind and tidal generators and the recycling of rare earth elements from products such as flat-screen TVs.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

Reference

Architecture

Stanaćev Granados divides levels of beach house with cargo net floor

By Zarkon Group,17/11/2023

Chilean architecture studio Stanaćev Granados has created a seaside house with a concrete and wood-clad exterior and a cargo net in the floor in Chorrillos, Chile.

Known as the Primeriza House, the 2,750-square foot (256-square metre) residence was completed in 2020 in a small clearing in a cypress-filled hill that slopes steeply down to the Pacific Ocean.

Stanaćev Granados, a Santiago-based studio run by Nataša Stanaćev and Manu Granados, designed the home to make the most of outdoor living while creating multiple interior environments and nooks within the home.

According to the studio, these dual considerations created “many transitional spaces” within the house.

The home’s concrete base is set firmly into the slope

Two storeys constitute the main body of the home, with the top volume cantilevering over the bottom one at points, all clad in darkly stained wood. The concrete base is set firmly into the slope with a semi-buried garage and storage area.

As the slope drops away, the foundations become retaining walls at the far ends of the plan. A sunken landscape terrace covers the garage as it approaches the main house.

“Thanks to the orientation of the entire volume, the house itself acts as a shield for the southern winds whipping its posterior facade, while the
entire front of the house remains unaffected by them,” said the studio.

Mudroom at Primeriza House — A southside terrace and mudroom are protected from the wind by earth

A pedestrian entrance was “nested” between the exposed concrete wall and the landscaped hill. It was meant to be “camouflaged in the vegetation”.

The entry staircase leads to a southside terrace and mudroom that are protected from the wind by an earthen wall embedded into the space.

Primary open-plan floor with floor-to-ceiling glazing — Stanaćev Granados wrapped the primary open-plan floor in wood

This entry terrace is clad in glass that allows views through the entirety of the ground floor, out to the sea. The studio described this layout and the use of glass as “kaleidoscopic”.

The primary floor – an open plan room with living, dining, and kitchen areas – is wrapped in wood and has floor-to-ceiling windows that open the space to a seaside north terrace.

The main floor transitions to the upper level through a double-height space.

Open weave cargo netting divides the volume and serves as an overhead play space.

Primeriza House — The sea-facing house is washed in dark wood

The safety netting appears again as the railing of the staircase.

The ground floor has a similar wood cladding to the exterior, while the upper floor features wood that has been painted white.

All-white bedroom at Primeriza House by Stanaćev Granados — Each room opens to a linear balcony through sliding floor-to-ceiling glass doors

“While the first floor absorbs the light that washes its surfaces from all orientations, the second floor reflects the exterior colours – it turns absolute white on misty days, and when the weather is clear, it takes on the bluish tones of the sky and the horizon in the morning hours, and stains orange at sunset,” the studio said.

Upstairs, the primary ensuite is located on the eastern end of the rectangular plan and the children’s rooms and playroom hold the other edge.

Each room opens through sliding floor-to-ceiling glass doors to a linear balcony along the house.

A skylight runs down the length of the house bringing light into the white-washed interior.

Green roof on top of the garage — A sun terrace is tucked between the green roof on top of the garage and the living room

About 800 kilometres north of the Primeriza House sits another recent Stanaćev Granados design, a cube-shaped holiday house known as Casa Kuvo.

The photography is by Marcos Zegers.

Project credits:

Architecture: Stanaćev Granados (Nataša Stanaćev & Manu Granados)
Interior and furniture design: Stanaćev Granados
Lighting design: Stanaćev Granados
Landscaping: Vanessa Barrois (Landscaperschile) and Joaquín Lobato
Structural design: Alberto Ramírez
Construction: Claudio Lagos, Florent Dromard

Reference

A series of steel chairs on podiums within a railway arch

Interior Design

Daisuke Yamamoto presents recycled steel chairs under Milan railway arch

By Zarkon Group,16/11/2023

Japanese designer Daisuke Yamamoto presented recycled steel chairs on podiums of the same material as part of an exhibition in Milan, which has been shortlisted for a 2023 Dezeen Award.

Yamamoto‘s Flow project explores ways to minimise industrial waste by focusing on a single material – light-gauge steel (LGS).

Commonly used in construction as a strong, lightweight framing option, LGS is also one of the industry’s largest waste products, Yamamoto claims, as it is rarely recycled after demolition.

The designer therefore chose to create a second life for the steel sheets and components as a series of sculptural chairs.

Light-gauge steel chairs on podiums made from the same material — The chairs were placed on podiums made from the same light-gauge steel

He also used LGS to form platforms for showcasing the seating designs as part of an exhibition at Milan design week 2023 that has been shortlisted in the exhibition design category of this year’s Dezeen Awards.

“This project began with the awareness that everyday recycled construction materials are disposed of, then new construction begins – a so-called ‘scrap and build’,” Yamamoto said.

Recycled steel chairs with different forms — Each of the recycled steel chairs had a different form

“Using the iconic LGS material – one of the most popular materials normally used in framing systems throughout the interior wall structure – we transformed it into beautifully redesigned furniture, giving the materials a second chance,” he added.

The exhibition formed part of the Dropcity showcase, which took place inside the Magazzini Raccordati spaces at Milan Central Station during the design week in April.

A workshop bench with a partially built chair on top — A workshop bench was also placed at the centre of the space

These empty railway arches have a dilapidated, industrial aesthetic with peeling floors, stained tilework and exposed utilities.

Yamamoto chose to leave the vaulted room largely as he found it but placed a series of platforms in two rows, upon which he presented the series of chairs.

Track lighting was installed overhead to spotlight the elevated designs, each of which has a slightly different shape.

In the centre of the exhibition, a workshop bench also built from lightweight gauge steel was used to fabricate more chairs during live demonstrations between Yamamoto and craft artist Takeo Masui.

Daisuke Yamamoto and Takeo Masui building a recycled steel chair — Yamamoto and Takeo Masui built more recycled steel chairs during live demonstrations

“This is a landfill, a place where a volume of used LGS is collected,” Yamamoto said. “A place where the designer and craftsmen work hand in hand to recreate what was bound to be disposed into something new, a process of disassembling to re-assemble.”

The intention was to not only showcase the material’s capabilities for reuse but also to allow visitors to engage with the process and ask wider questions about how society deals with waste.

Daisuke Yamamoto and Takeo Masui assembling a chair — The demonstrations allowed visitors to engage with the process

Using waste materials produced by other industries was a key trend that Dezeen spotted during this year’s Milan Design Week, with designers and studios including Formafantasma, Prowl Studio, Atelier Luma and Subin Seol all looking to reduce the environmental impact of their products.

The photography is by Takumi Ota.

Future Landfill took place at Magazzini Raccordati from 15 to 23 April 2023 as part of Milan Design Week. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

Reference

Sustainable News

Space Caviar launches Non-Extractive Architecture directory

By Zarkon Group,16/11/2023

Design studio Space Caviar and philanthropic initiative Re:arc Institute have launched an online directory to showcase and support architectural practitioners challenging traditional ways of practice.

The open-access Non-Extractive Architecture directory features more than 700 trailblazers worldwide who “prioritise social justice, material awareness and long-term thinking” in their work.

It has been launched by Space Caviar and the Practice Lab branch of Re:arc Institute in response to the growing awareness of the damage that construction is doing to the planet and is hoped to encourage more design that alleviates this.

“As the scale and magnitude of the climate crisis we are collectively facing – and the central role the construction industry plays in accelerating it – become more evident, there is increasing awareness within the profession, especially among the youngest generation of the profession, that something must change,” said Space Cavier founder Joseph Grima.

“Our goal is for the Non-Extractive Architecture project to be an accelerator of this change,” he told Dezeen.

The directory is a continuation of Space Caviar’s existing work exploring the concept of Non-Extractive Architecture – a term it coined to summarise a style of architecture that prioritises conserving, rather than exploiting, the Earth’s resources.

Each practitioner a “useful part to a larger puzzle”

The studio released a book, Non-Extractive Architecture Vol 1, in 2019 and later began a year-long research residency with the non-profit private organisation V-A-C Foundation.

“The directory we are launching today represents the most ambitious phase of the project so far,” said Grima.

“We didn’t expect the book to receive as much attention as it did, and now sadly it’s out of print and quite difficult to get hold of,” he explained. “This is why we decided to go with an online directory – to keep it as democratic and open-access as possible and also to allow it to grow organically over time.”

The directory is divided into six themes, named Timeless Ways of Building, Material Origins, The Politics of Construction, The Long Now, Building as Last Resort and Systems Architecture.

Case study in the Non-Extractive Architecture directory — Dakar collective Worofila is one of the studios in the directory

According to Grima, the categories are intended to maximise the directory’s accessibility and help readers “take that first step of jumping in”.

“We intend to document the work of everyone who we feel is making a sincere effort to contribute to meaningful change in the way in which architecture will be practised in the future,” said Grima.

“This is not to say that their practice is necessarily devoid of critical weaknesses – it’s more that we feel their work contributes one useful part to a larger puzzle.”

“We hope it can accelerate the diversification of a profession”

Among the studios featured in the directory is Atelier Luma, a circular design lab based at Luma Arles that specialises in developing materials made from locally sourced bio-waste, various by-products and other under-valued materials.

Others include Field Architects, a nomadic studio that is developing ways to combine traditional and indigenous construction techniques with modern methods, and Dakar collective Worofila, which specialises in using local, low-carbon materials to create buildings best suited to their climate.

Atelier Aino – a French cooperative architecture workshop focused on retrofit instead of demolition – also features in the directory, alongside a women-led landscape design studio called ORU in Mexico that is dedicated to building resilience to climate change.

Grima said that the goal of the directory is to “accelerate a transformation in the profession by helping like-minded practitioners find one another and share knowledge”.

“We hope it can accelerate the diversification of a profession that is far too male, western-centric and inward-looking – we hope it can be a well-structured, easy-to-use and inspiring source of contacts for clients, curators, editors and conference moderators who otherwise tend to default to the same familiar names,” he explained.

Directory “can help inspire confidence”

However, he also hopes it can help motivate people who are “interested in approaching architecture differently”, particularly the younger and emerging generation of architects.

“It is a heavily regulated field, and the current modus operandi can seem inescapable,” he reflected.

“Seeing hundreds or thousands of other practices who have already found ways to question the prevalent assumptions about how design is practiced can help inspire confidence in the idea that it is possible to do things differently.”

The non-extractive architecture(s) directory is an ever-evolving resource and it is welcoming other contributions for its expansion.

Grima shared details of the Non-Extractive Architecture project in a talk with Dezeen in 2021 and also in a manifesto written for the Dezeen 15 festival.

“In the face of clear and present danger, we have no choice but to rethink the predatory principles (towards habitat, towards each other) that modern industrial economies are optimised towards,” Grima wrote in his manifesto.

The images are courtesy of Space Caviar.

Reference

Sustainable News

Making soundwaves: AI analyses coral health through audio

By Zarkon Group,16/11/2023

Spotted: The Global Coral Reef Alliance predicts there will be unprecedented and globally dangerous coral reef bleaching worldwide throughout 2023 and 2024 as the cooler La Niña weather pattern changes over to the warmer El Niño, releasing the excess global heat trapped in the oceans.

Tracking those predicted changes, along with mitigation efforts, requires vast amounts of data. With a lot of coral reef monitoring relying on visual assessments, it is difficult to reliably compare the severity of environmental damage and the success of conservation efforts between different sites.

French marine technology company Reef Pulse is using passive acoustics monitoring to standardise the assessment of coral reef health. By recording and analysing coral reef soundscapes, the company can identify the diversity of marine life living there, the health of the different species, the level of noise pollution, and seasonal reproductive activity. The system tracks all noise made by marine life, human activity, and the physical processes that come from weather, including rain, wind, and more.

Combining digital signal processing with artificial intelligence (AI) analysis, Reef Pulse’s acoustic monitoring systems are completely passive. They do not affect the environment or wildlife, and monitoring is continuous with a system running for six months without needing a battery change. Acoustics tracking also helps quantify noise pollution, a problem that is increasingly recognised for its dangerous effects on surrounding environments.

Reef Pulse provides custom reports for each site and visualisations of the data on dedicated websites. Once a baseline set of data has been recorded, the effects and efficacy of bioengineering conservation efforts can be easily and thoroughly tracked, making it easier for scientists to compare approaches and techniques between sites and their many variables.

From turmeric to electrolysis, the importance of the world’s coral reefs to global biodiversity is reflected in the variety of innovations seeking to preserve, protect, and restore them – as spotted in the Springwise database.

Written By: Keely Khoury

Reference

Eight immersive saunas in peaceful settings from Sweden to Canada

Bark to beauty: forest byproducts for cosmetics, food, and chemicals

electric staircase and expandable platform modify meditation duplex in hong kong

Sim-Plex composes adaptable Meditation Duplex living space

Green Plants and Eco-Friendly Materials optimize living setting

Keiji Ashizawa Design and Norm Architects create Trunk Hotel in Tokyo

“We can’t plead ignorance” on sustainability says panel of design experts

Can we attract a greener future with rare-earth-free magnets?

Stanaćev Granados divides levels of beach house with cargo net floor

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