Snezhana Veskova

Studio MK27’s Cultura Bookstore occupies a 2,500-square-metre multi-level space in a shopping centre in São Paulo.

“Most of their sales are online,” Simas explains. “The brief was to create a space for people to interact rather than just a place to sell books.”

“We could create a space that was not just focussed on sales, but rather a meeting point and a place to have a coffee and chat.”

Studio MK27 used wood to finish the surfaces in the store that are not covered with books.The store features a raised corridor and a large bank of bleachers at one end to enable customers to reach books on the top shelves. The central space has been left open plan for flexibility.

Located on one of the islands that makes up the sprawling Turku archipelago, the chapel functions as a space of contemplation for the patients and visitors of a neighbouring cancer-care centre, operated by the non-profit St Henry’s church organisation.

This material is gradually changing colour and will eventually give the building a turquoise exterior, while the untreated timber-lined interior is gradually reddening as it ages.

Vo Trong Nghia’s Farming Kindergarten
has a vegetable garden on its looping roof

This Vietnam kindergarten by Vo Trong Nghia Architects features a knot-shaped roof with a vegetable garden on top and three protected courtyard playgrounds.

Despite a tight budget, the Vietnamese architects wanted the building to become a prototype for sustainable school design, where children can learn how to grow their own food.

“Vietnam, historically an agricultural country, is facing changes as it moves to a manufacturing-based economy, taking its toll on the environment,” said the studio. “Rapid urbanisation deprives Vietnamese children of green lands and playgrounds, thus relationship with nature. Farming Kindergarten is a challenge to counter these issues.”

The kindergarten’s rigid structure was built using economical materials that were readily available, including concrete, bricks and tiles. Windows on both external and courtyard-facing walls offer natural lighting and cross ventilation throughout the building.

“As a result the kindergarten is operated without air conditioners in the classrooms, despite being located in a harsh tropical climate,” said the firm.

The outer walls are shaded behind concrete louvres that encourage the growth of climbing plants, while the green roof above serves as a form of insulation.

Personalised “bubbles of heat” could
replace inefficient central heating

architect Carlo Ratti claims the heating system he developed with MIT, which uses motion sensors to focus beams of infrared radiation on people as they move through a building, can be “one order of magnitude more efficient” than traditional methods.

“If you think about it, we waste a huge amount of energy to heat up buildings even when they are empty or if there are very few people in there,” says Ratti, whose Local Warming project is on show at Rem Koolhaas’ Elements exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale. “The idea was, what about concentrating heat just on people? To create almost like a bubble of heat around ourselves.”

“You create an infrared radiation that can be focussed and concentrated on people,” Ratti explains. “As you move the infrared radiation will move with you. The lamps throw light in a parallel way, and they can rotate and focus on a person and then create a local climate around them.”

The system relies on using motion tracking technology, which can be implemented in a variety of ways. One option, Ratti says, is to use the signals from people’s mobile phones to track their position in a building, which means each person could choose their own temperature settings.

“Our environment is becoming much more responsive, it’s almost talking to us,” he says. “Our interaction with space is changing. It can become more dynamic, more playful and fluid.”

KAIT kanagawa institute of technology

reflecting the surrounding cherry blossom trees onto its transparent façade, the ‘KAIT’ studio/workplace by japanese junya ishigami+associates offers a range of experiences within the one open-plan volume. located at the kanagawa institute of technology campus in the suburbs of tokyo, the building was designed to offer multiple activities, enabling a sense of flexibility for its users. the brief from the client called for a place where students could work on diverse self-initiated projects of making things, while also being open for local public usage.

The Joseph Joseph Food Station set consists of a glass chopping board and three color-coded chopping mats that can be attached to the main board during storage. The multi-set can thus be used for preparing an entire menu, because, lets face it, there is never enough storage on our board for all of the ingredients. Use the red one for red meat, the blue one for fish and sea fruit , the green one for vegetables and fruits and the glass one for holding hot pans.

Amco Rub Away is a gadget that does exactly what it states: removes bad  odors from your hands. The most delicious ingredients oftenly own the worst smells that are very hard to rub away: garlic, onion, blue cheese, fish.You can’t and should not remove them from your recipes just because they can be an inconvenience. Instead, buy the Amco Rub Away and stop trying to peel your k=skin off by rubbing your hands with toxic solutions and abrasive items.

pentagon stool
image by dafna grossman

For his pentagon table and stools, israeli designer Itamar Burstein researched the properties
of a three-dimensional pentagon to create the furniture pieces. using the compact five-sided figure,
he has composed a table and stool whose entire structure relies on five identical elements –
which are up-side-down ‘U’ shapes – fitting into one another. each component is made from
solid wood and are assembled through dry interlocking. the stool is free standing, and the table
has a plateau with a cut-out in its centre that governs the geometry of assemblage in the manner
of a key.

We all know that Nike are pretty capable when it comes to creating show-stopping retail spaces. Their past work with Brinkworth in the UK has always been exceptional and they’re clearly determined to maintain that standard right across the globe. Witness their latest collaboration with Studio-at-Large for their Nike Free retail space in Beijing. The Track, as it’s been dubbed, features numerous iterations and colour ways of the Free trainer suspended as if in motion around an LED-lit running track construction, designed to highlight the shoe’s game-changing sleek silhouette.