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This is the Artek Pavilion, aka “The Space of Silence,” which was designed by Shigeru Ban and built with primarily one material: an environmentally-friendly, paper plastic composite known as UPM ProFi. The pavilion will be offered at auction in the summer and the proceeds will be donated to charity. Debuting in the U.S. this weekend at Design Miami, the pavilion is roughly 131 long x 16 feet wide and can be assembled and taken apart quickly. It’s a nomadic installation in the beauty and power of next generation materials in real world applications.

The main material, UPM ProFi, comes in three modern colours and is made from scrap paper and plastic.

Link Via [Jetson Green]

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The edible catwalk extravaganza launches the New York Chocolate Show, an annual weekend-long event where 60 chocolatiers pack into a 55,000 square foot venue offering free tastings and professional demonstrations of chocolate recipes.
The unique costumes were created by chocolatiers and pastry chefs for the catwalk show on the Hudson River. Models, dressed in carefully crafted chocolate outfits, depicted Lara Croft, Bat Girl and a warrior princess among others.

The Lara Croft outfit comprised a chocolate bikini top and chocolate hot pants complete with a chocolate holster and guns.
Bat Girl sported a fitted chocolate bodice as well as large chocolate wings with the classic comic-book words ‘Kapow’ and ‘Bang’ painted onto them.

Narciso Rodriguez, who designed Michelle Obama’s red-and-black election-night dress, worked with chocolatier Jacques Torres to create a bodybuilder outfit, complete with large chocolate dumbells. which was carried off by a bodybuilder himself.

The costume for the warrior princess, was made entirely of French chocolate and was designed by Joelle Mahoney of famous New York chocolatier Chocolaterie Maya. It is believed that parts of the outfit took 120 hours to make.

Link via [Telegraph]

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Be sure to pick a colour you like, because you could be living in it for a while.
Like, because, you’ll be dead and it’s your coffin! I want somebody beside me when I do it! I want to bounce around, then continue down the hill upside down…

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“Running The Numbers” looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on.

Jordan’s hope is that images representing these quantities might have a different effect than the raw numbers alone, such as those we find daily in news articles and books.

Size plays an important part in the new series, with certain pictures over 10 feet high and 25 feet wide. “I want people to realize that they matter,” Jordandescribes. “As you walk up close, you can see that the collective is only made up of lots and lots of individuals. There is no bad consumer over there somewhere who needs to be educated. There is no public out there who needs to change. It’s each one of us.”

Former corporate attorney turned photographic artist, Chris Jordan explains that he never used to be focused upon making a social statement with his work. “All I was interested in about photography was aesthetic beauty…places where color appears inadvertently.”

Link Via [PBS]

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It is made entirely using a Digital Reflex Camera, Canon’s Mark III which captures up to 115 continuous pictures, at 10 fps.

To see how it was created, watch the “making of” video below.

Via [The Denver Egotist]

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Still under construction, Schwimmhaus is being built from wood salvaged from an old farm house in addition to other sustainable building materials. The real version should be finished in Spring 2009.

Link Via [Ecofriend]

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This creative “floating” stairs are designed by Florence architect Guido Ciompi for The Gray Hotel in Milan, Italy.
Via [Contemporist] & [Stair Porn]

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Based in New York this restaurant called Tides created by LTL Architects, explores different configurations of bamboo. The ceiling is formed by over 110,000 bamboo skewers embedded into a bach-lit acoustical ceiling. The skewers are composed to produce a topographical effect, evoking sea grass.

Link Via [Coolboom]

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Octospider was designed by Exposure Architects, a duo formed by Dorit Mizrahi and Oliviero Godi, based in Bergamo. This is where the employees of Satin Textiles, a Thai furnishing textile company, dine.
The cafeteria is raised 8 meters from the ground, overlooks the buildings around it and the landscape.
A ramp springs from the main pedestrian path, reaches the cafeteria and arches down to the weaving factory. It is supported by thin steel pipes, very dense, to blend with the surrounding vegetation that borders the pond.

Two curved ramps rise to meet the bars, angled structure playfully contrasting the regularity of the latter’s structure.

The exterior walkways and cooling effects of the water are appropriate for the Bangkok climate, while adjustable louvres help to control the sunlight penetrating into the dining areas.

Link Via [Archidose]

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The Febot is a wind powered battery charger concept by Ji-yun Kim, Soon-young Yang & Hwan-ju Jeon. It’s shaped like a torpedo and is streamlined to catch any drafts that should happen by when the device is mounted to a window by means of a suction cup.
Via [Yankodesign]

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Mallat House designed by MCK Architects is constructed in brick, concrete and timber. The two-storey, multi-level house centres on an open plan kitchen and living areas. Featuring five metre-high ceilings and overlooking a swimming pool, there’s a distinct Mediterranean sensibility to MCK Architects’ design.

The jewel-like pink box creates a contrast with the materials in the home’s façade. Glazed bricks, together with a fixed timber screen provide a more discrete combination.

‘We didn’t want the house to scream for attention from the street, which is predominantly lined with modest Bungalow-style homes from the 1930s,’ says Cashman.

A contribution to the street is made in the screen’s abstract geometry, in the introduction of colour, the treatment of garaging, and the visual permeability offered by a low-walled garden serving as transition for entry.

The interior is equally understated. Polished concrete floors in the kitchen and living areas compliment stained timber plywood ceilings. To minimize the palette of materials, MCK included an off-formed concrete fireplace, together with a concrete kitchen bench.

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This surprising switch Table Chair is made by Ellesco International and was designed by the Belgian Designer Ellen Ector. Belgian designer created the SwiTCh Table-Chair as her graduation work that is a result of her time spent studying interior design at Sint-Lukas in Brussels. She was then approached by Ellesco International to produce SwiTCh.

Link Via [Core77]

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These urban camouflage sculptures by LA-based artist Joshua Callaghan are brilliant ways to hide the typically undesirable city objects such as utility boxes and power sources. The L.A.-based artist uses his education in cultural anthropology and fine arts to create clever installations that serve as both art and a way to disguise undesirable city objects such as utility boxes.

Using adhesive vinyl graphics, Callaghan’s images reflect the nature that could be hidden behind or in place of the object actually there.

Link Via [Cool Hunting]

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This urban living space was designed by ISSHO Architects in apartment’s design. Each 18 sqm unit fits a living room, kitchen, bathroom and storage. The tight arrangement is transformed into a design expression, particularly through the location and shape of the window, which designates the placement of the bed and other furniture. The window’s angle and height corresponds to both the interior of the room and the scenery outside, linking the Japanese single lifestyle and the natural environment.

Link Via [Cooboom]

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TeaFix, the quintessential British-ness kit offers all the comfort one needs on a long journey. Designed by Iain Jones for travelers, TeaFix gives the feeling of British affluence, allowing the ritual of drinking from a teacup and saucer. Drawing emotion back to the ‘golden era’ of travel, where train journeys symbolized elegance and opulence.

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Wohlfahrt-Laymann Residence by is created by Deutsch architects Meixner Schlüter Wendt.
The interior court for the front facade twists the ownership of the exterior and claims the yard for the double house.

Before

After

The cottage was also painted white to clear it of its past and renew it as near-artificial artifact of its previous self.

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Transformer-Shelf is designed by Martin Sammer prodcut design. With multiple sliding drawers and shallow trays, Transformer Shelf is fully customizable.

The design of this object allows to participate in the evolution of its
shape. By using the TRANSFORMER-SHELF you will constantly
rearrange the different units towards each other, creating myriad
different shapes. This will have an influence on your impression of
the object, the cognition of the surrounding room and the way you
identify yourself with the Object. Everybody can put his own ideas
into the Object. In the end, the design becomes a process that will
be partly submitted to the CONSUMER, who will also partly become
a shape-PRODUCER, and therefore a ‘Design-PROSUMER’.

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