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This week, we recharge in the serene interiors of a new Barcelona restaurant, feel nostalgic about an Australian portable wine cooler, celebrate one of the 20th century’s most revered architects at the Aalto2 Museum Centre in Finland and check out some winning concepts for Hamburg (pictured). But first, Nic Monisse takes a global view.
Opinion / Nic Monisse
In the past 12 months, it feels as though there has been a shift in design outlook across the globe. Countries in the Global South whose architecture was previously overlooked are entering the mainstream as developers and designers turn to vernacular styles for inspiration. Think of this year’s Africa-focused exhibition at the Venice Biennale or Francis Kéré’s curation of the 23rd International Exhibition at Milan’s Triennale museum. The sudden interest is largely a result of the fact that many of the challenges facing society – from resource shortages to economic difficulties – are at their most pronounced in the Global South. As such, the architects in these regions have been forced to be exceptionally innovative.
It’s something that Nigerian architect Tosin Oshinowo intends to tap into as part of her curatorship of the second Sharjah Architecture Triennial when it kicks off in November (a list of 31 architects, studios and designers participating in the exhibition was announced last month). The event’s theme, “The Beauty of Impermanence: An Architecture of Adaptability”, explores how creatives have overcome constraints in the Global South, such as a scarcity of resources, to deliver quality buildings.
“The idea for the Triennial was inspired by my practice in Lagos,” says Oshinowo. “We didn’t have much but we really wanted to push the possibilities of design. We learned to use the materials that we had available and worked within those constraints to create beautiful architecture.” She says that awareness of the Global South will only continue to grow, as architects everywhere shift their perception of scarcity. “The reality is that as long as we’re inhabiting this Earth, scarcity is a condition that we’re all living with. We need to bring it to the foreground to ensure that we create a more balanced world.” Here’s hoping that it helps to create more outstanding architecture too.
Nic Monisse is Monocle’s design editor. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.
Design News / Bosco de Lobos, Spain
Barcelona-based Francesc Rifé Studio is the interior-design practice behind the fit-out of Bosco de Lobos, the newest addition to the Catalan capital’s thriving food scene. The Italian restaurant, which you’ll find on the busy Avinguda Diagonal, invites visitors to “eat in a forest”: its interiors have been given a strong visual link to the restaurant’s verdant courtyard. “The forest was a guiding compass for the project,” says Francesc Rifé.
Inside, a palette of oak and compressed earth creates a tranquil, natural setting for a meal. The space feels open and welcoming, with the kitchen visible from the restaurant floor and moveable rope screens only partially shielding the front windows from the street. On the terrace, mature trees have been planted and gently curving, raised garden beds installed to create a series of distinct dining areas. This peaceful, verdant setting provides a welcome escape from the hustle of the city, making it perfect for lunch with colleagues or an evening tête-à-tête.
francescrifestudio.com; grupotragaluz.com
The Project / Aalto2 Museum, Finland
Helsinki-based practice A-Konsultit Architects has enhanced the legacy of Alvar Aalto, one of the 20th century’s most revered architects, with a new building in the Finnish city of Jyväskylä. Named the Aalto2 Museum Centre, the structure fulfils Aalto’s wish to create a link between his Museum of Central Finland, which opened in 1961, and the Alvar Aalto Museum, which opened in 1973. The new building is an airy, open space that houses a gift shop, café and generously proportioned staircase, with amphitheatre-like seating for talks and events.
This addition to Jyväskylä’s cultural complex is the only museum run by Aalto’s namesake foundation. “We have the largest Aalto catalogue in the world and many unique items, such as his sketches and drawings, that cannot be found anywhere else,” Katariina Pakoma, the foundation’s senior curator, tells The Monocle Minute on Design. Pakoma is also keen to point out that while the museums are worth visiting, the city of Jyväskylä, where Aalto spent his formative years, is a great place to see more of the architect’s work. The city has many Aalto-designed buildings, the earliest from the 1920s and the latest from the 1970s. “Here you can see how his style changed and experience the nature – and the people – that had a profound impact on his philosophy.”
a-konsultit.fi; aalto2.museum
Words with... / Thomas Lykke, Denmark
Thomas Lykke is a designer and founding partner of OEO Studio, a Copenhagen-based firm renowned for its approach to Scandinavian minimalism. OEO’s new collaboration with Mater, a furniture firm that develops its own environmentally friendly materials, reflects its commitment to innovation and making a positive impact. Together, the studios have created a chair using Mater’s Matek material, which is made from recycled fibre waste. We spoke to Lykke on Monocle on Design to find out more.
How did working with Matek inform what product you ultimately made?
We really wanted to treat Matek as if it was wood. It has a similar softness and we imagined making a chair with it – something that we could carve. The material has all of the benefits of working with wood but also all of the benefits of working with plastic, which created new possibilities. The project became more than a simple matter of designing a chair, as there was a degree of engineering involved because of the material.
Matek is artificial but its appearance lacks consistency as it is a composite material made from waste. Does that make every piece unique?
The material is laborious to create, like making the perfect bread. In a similar way to when you combine a certain amount of flour and water to make a dough, we have to put together specific materials in precise weights to make Matek. How these composites combine before they are pressed into moulds by the machine is the uncontrollable part and that’s what makes every chair look unique.
The chair doesn’t look as though it has been made to tick a sustainability box. It’s a stand-alone design piece. Is there a benefit to this?
Matek is a material that you can take from an idea to industrialisation. You can turn it into an object that can compete with a wooden chair – or any other chair – because the material itself is beautiful. There’s also an advantage in the sense that it has a freshness to it. It’s such a young material and there’s still so much potential to explore.
For more from Lykke, tune in to ‘Monocle on Design’ on Monocle Radio.
From the archive / Décor Wine Cooler, Australia
If there’s a product designed to make boozing more convenient, you can safely assume that Australians have already thought of it. Since the 1970s, it has been common for restaurants across the country to have a “BYO” policy. Seeing a gap in the market, homewares brand Décor created an insulated drinks carrier for wine, keeping it at a frosty temperature throughout a dinner or a picnic in the park.
This fun gadget required some serious work to develop. Released in 1986, it took Richard Carlson, a member of the Design Institute of Australia’s Hall of Fame, two years to complete. “Fitting a cask of wine into a box was like fitting a dozen pillows into the boot of a car,” he said at the time. The plastic cooler comes with a carrier handle, a removable bar stand with a drip tray and a chiller bottle that is placed under the bag to keep the wine cool until the last drop. Today the design evokes intense feelings of nostalgia in Aussies. For the sake of daytime drinkers everywhere this summer, it deserves to be brought back.
Around The House / Sela, Portugal
Specialist furniture brand De La Espada has released the Sela Chair Series, designed by Venice-and-Stockholm-based creative Luca Nichetto. Made at the firm’s factory in Portugal, the saddle-inspired chairs feature a timber frame that is elegantly connected by upholstered cushions and a suspended leather seat and backrest. Saddle-makers in the small Portuguese city of Leiria construct the chairs, while the leather for the seats comes from tanneries in Sweden and Italy. Available in four different versions – a dining chair with or without arms and a lounge chair in two versions – the Sela can be personalised with an array of upholstery and leather finishes, making it a piece that can be easily tailored to suit any home.
delaespada.com
In the picture / ‘The Entire City’, Germany
How do we want to live and work together? For answers, head to The Entire City: Hamburg Competitions 2017-2023, which runs until 14 July as part of the 10th Hamburg Architecture Summer festival. The walk-in installation at the Schuppen 29 industrial hall was designed and curated by German-Japanese design studio Kawahara Krause Architects and the architecture critic Kaye Geipel. Together, they created a “hanging archive”, with about 6,000 plans from 170 competitions for built projects in the city.
The collection, which is suspended from the ceiling, spans subjects from housing to green and open spaces. “It is only when this large quantity of contributions is seen in relation to one another that their value becomes apparent,” says co-curator Ellen Kristina Krause. “The installation creates possibilities for new narratives and interpretations for the city as a whole.” Through its thoughtful design and unique urban setting, the exhibition provides a visual guide to how the city could evolve.
dieganzestadt.de; architektursommer.de; kawahara-krause.com
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