Earlier this week in Munich, the German automobile manufacturer unveiled initial ideas from six international architecture firms in a competition designed to analyze the future of their cities – with an eye toward individual mobility.

Each firm presented initial thoughts for its own mega-city, including CRIT (Mumbai), Höweler + Yoon Architecture (Boston/Washington), Junya Ishigami + Associates (Tokyo), NODE Architecture & Urbanism (Pearl River Delta), Superpool (Istanbul) and Urban-Think Tank (São Paulo).

The winner of the Audi Urban Future Initiative, to be selected by a yet-to-be-named jury, will be announced in October in Istanbul.

“In the past, cities have adjusted to cars,” says Peter Schwarzenbauer, Audi board of management member for marketing and sales.  “Now, cars have to adjust to cities.”

The architects’ task is to develop visions and approaches for a transition to sustainable mobility and infrastructure within the context of the specific conditions of their regions.  Their solutions are to be applied in local context but also on a global scale. The competition requires that the architects’ offices create proposals for six metropolitan areas on four different continents.

“We’re looking for a portfolio of possible solutions,” he says.  “It’s a city-by-city approach, adapted by everyone.  If it can work in Sao Paolo, it can work in many places.”

Launched two years ago, the Audi Urban Future Initiative blends the thinking of architects, sociologists, urban planners and trend researchers.  The insights and ideas that emerge should be comprehensive in nature and address potential technical solutions as well as societal, ecological and aesthetic considerations.

It’s not to be a pie-in-the sky, ephemeral set of visionary ideas by any means.  Audi has concrete plans to make the winner’s solution a reality.

“It could be that we form a corporation to put it together,” Schwarzenbauer says.  “Or, we might find a corporate partner or other stakeholder.”

Stay tuned.  In the weeks to come, A+A will look at initial proposals from each firm.

For more information, go to http://www.audi-urban-future-initiative.com/en.html

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What’s the firm’s design philosophy?

Our philosophy is to incorporate technical refinement and design originality. We design our collections according to human needs. Comfort and usability play just as important a role as aesthetics. We believe in superior quality and often say that the bitterness of low quality lasts longer than the sweetness of low prices

The intent of your designs?

The founders, graduated with engineering degrees so it’s not surprising that the Royal Botania team pays special attention to ergonomics. Our chairs and loungers offer the maximum in spinal support and comfort.

Your target audience?

Our target audience includes residential and commercial architects, designers and specifiers as well as the well-educated consumer who would like to buy for the long term. Our audience is design-savvy and sophisticated – hard workers who know how to relax in style.

The materials used?

Since Royal Botania supplies outdoor furniture to the global market, every product is created with durability and versatility in mind. From the sweltering heat in tropical regions to the freezing winters in Canada, all of our products are designed to withstand even the most extreme of temperatures. Only carefully selected materials such as mature teakwood—harvested in accordance with strict sustainable forest policies—and COAXXS—the strongest, most natural-looking synthetic fiber on the market—are used.

Sustainability?

We use materials with outstanding physical properties, including sustainably harvested teak, which is found in such popular pieces as the XQI chairs and Tabeola table. What’s more, around 95% of Royal Botania’s products are made of recyclable materials including: glass, aluminum and stainless steel. 

And why would my mother care?

They are built to last and be passed down from generation to generation.  What mother wouldn’t want to spend time outdoors in the fresh air with their family and friends?

For more information, go to http://www.royalbotania.com/

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Through her blog, Tile Envy, she’s learned what’s hot and what’s not – and she’s assembled an online design boutique dedicated only to the tile designs she knows are in demand.

It’s called Clé – and it’s a source for affordable, fashionable and quality tile.

“We now have suppliers from all over the world, through the Internet,” she says.  “Instead of being curated by tile dealers, we’re introducing different artists and design studios to an enormous audience.”

Moreover, she’s able to introduce artists who produce work by hand to larger collaborators who can produce 50,000 pieces in a year.  Or steer a client in Africa toward the nearest source for a desired tile.

“Two sides kind of bubbled up for me as I worked with Tile Envy,” she says. “First, there’s the trending of products, and then there’s the nurturing of artists’ voices.”

Clé, which launches today, includes works by 12 artists from almost as many places, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Napa Valley, Pennsylvania, Italy, South Africa, Scotland, Canada and the United Kingdom.

The online boutique is a play on the English word for clay and the French for key.  “We hope to unlock new tile horizons,” she says.

Among the tile trends she’s identified and represented on Clé are subway tiles (once disappearing but now making a comeback with a hand-hewn, industrial-age look) as well as penny pounds (porcelain about the size of a penny, mounted on a net), and anything wood-grained.  “Glass mosaics are dwindling, though we’re willing to look if it’s interesting,” she says.

It’s all driven by a bottom-up demand, rather than a top-down offering.  “It’s what people want, not what designers and manufacturers are pushing.”

For more information, go to http://cletile.com/

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Armed with a generous budget and a visionary master plan financed by the local, civic-minded Bass family, David M. Schwartz Architects (DMSAS) has been steadily working to transform a run-down downtown into a thriving, 35-block, mixed use area known now as Sundance Square.  City government and local property owners worked side-by-side to reinvigorate a dying city center.

“It’s the typical story of American cities in post-World War II decline, with people fleeing the center because of available land further out,” says Gregory Hoss of  DMSAS.  “There were large high-rise office buildings that needed parking garages, but no retail or other vibrancy at street level.”

The first project aimed at rejuvenating Sundance tackled the lack of housing downtown.  Sundance West, a rental apartment building, went up in 1991, with an entertainment component that included a 12-theater complex to draw people in.  Since then 2,000 housing units, both apartments and condos have been built.

“Whatever’s been built since then, the ground level is retail,” Hoss says.  “The key to success is that it be a good mix of retail, offices and residential, and not overpopulating with any one of them.”

On May 9, ground was broken on what was a surface parking lot for three new spec office buildings, each five to six stories and 100,000 square feet, to create a formal Sundance Square.  To the west, one structure will house a clock tower and a built-in terraced stage.  To the east, another will activate the new plaza with a retail arcade at ground level.  In between, in the public space, will be fountains and more retail space.

“These two blocks are dedicated to the original master plan,” Hoss says.  “The owners of the land are giving up the parking, but the quality of the space will only increase the value of the land.”  

Sundance Square is envisioned as a living room for the community at large, with outdoor events like arts fairs and holiday celebrations.

“It’s an asset for the residential tenants but also for the owners – and the whole city of Fort Worth.”

For more information, go to www.sundancesquare.com

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It’s what he calls the brand essence of Lasvit, the company he founded after graduating from Loyola in 1999 and earning his MBA from Northwestern’s Kellog School of Management in Hong Kong.  His  firm designs and manufactures contemporary light fittings, glass art installations and award-winning lighting collections.

The Bohemian reference implies a free-spirited inspiration for the products his firm designs, while it pursues perfection in a systematic and precise manufacturing process.  The company’s name is a marriage of two Czech words: laska (love) and svit (light).

“We always want to combine the history of Czech design, based on Bohemian glass traditions, with new ways of thinking about it,” he says.   “One of our goals is to bring back the Czechoslovakian glass tradition that was nearly lost during the socialist period.”

The firm is known for engaging internationally-known designers, including Oki Sato of Nendo Studio.  “He’s the hottest designer in the world right now – he was Wallpaper’s designer of the year in 2011,” he says.  “He’s developing totally new concepts in blown glass – the products look simple, but they’re complex in the production process.

Among the products the Japanese designer has developed for Lasvit are glass coffee tables as well and lighting collections.

Lasvit’s custom-made glass installations are featured in public spaces of major hotels like the Four Seasons in Abu Dhabi.  The firm has collaborated on projects with architects Norman Foster and Zaha Hadid.

Its architectural glass division uses large scale thermo shaping to create glass panels of liquid crystals for interiors and facades.  Another division focuses on lighting collections that create art in glass and crystal, while a fourth is dedicated to a glassware line.

But it’s the firm’s commitment to the resurgence of a thousand-year-old art and tradition of Czech glass design that inspires most.

For more information, go to http://www.lasvit.com/#/en/home

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With more than a million structures in New York, 26,000 of them at 50,000 square feet or more, the group has initiated an Oscar-like award competition called the Ebies, as in Existing Buildings.

And in a remarkably anti-myopic gesture, they’ve opened it up to structures across the nation.  “We’re New York-centered, but our reach is national,” says Russell Unger, executive director of the chapter.

The result is a group of 18 finalists and 14 projects from as many states for the first-ever Ebie awards, with winners to be announced at the Hard Rock Café on Times Square on June 28.

“We want to promote excellence in existing buildings, and to recognize the unheralded who’ve made extraordinary environment improvements to them,” he says. “We want to encourage a mature industry around existing buildings.”

The New York chapter is the largest in the country, with 11 on staff.  The mayor and city council rely on the group regularly as a resource for green building.  Most legislation regarding sustainability in the city either originates with the group, or is reviewed by its members.  

“We’ve been asked twice by the mayor’s office to lead the outreach to the real estate industry here,” he says.

The Ebies though, are about the unsung heroes of the green building movement.  Like the Oscars, they’ll celebrate not just the big pictures, but lesser contributors to the industry as well. 

Unlike the Oscars, though, the June 28 event for 250 at the Hard Rock will not be a black tie affair.

But they have planned a sustainability angle. 

“There will be  a green carpet,” Unger says.

For more information, go to http://www.ebies.org/finalists

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Richard Meier & Partners Architects and Stradaproject have announced the re-launching of the Richard Meier furniture collection, first introduced by Knoll International in the 1980s.

“It’s an extension of the Knoll collection, but it’s been somewhat modified and changed,” Meier says.  “It’s much more beautifully done.”

A collaborative effort with Wiebe Elzenga of Strada from the Netherlands, Meier’s collection now includes a chair, low and high stools, a low table and a high table, a day bed and a rocking chaise.

“These are designs for the things I like,” Meier says.  “I designed the coffee table because I wanted one myself.”

Each of the pieces is wood with choice of a black or white lacquer, or natural wood, hand-rubbed finish.  The collection is an evolution of current capabilities of wood-in bending, evoking the craftsmanship of classic mortise and reflecting Meier’s strong formal vocabulary of architectural expression.

He was inspired, the architect says, by the furniture he’s chosen for his own office.  “I sit here opposite seven Hoffman chairs, and they’re all different,” he says.  “It’s a modernist aesthetic.  I don’t even think about it – it’s a given.”

Each of the new pieces is available now.  For more on the collection, go to http://www.stradaproject.com/.  For more on Richard Meier & Partners, go to http://www.richardmeier.com

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The encounter not only changed his career path, but engendered a lifelong appreciation for good design.

In the early 1990s, he developed a curriculum for a course at Columbia on law for architects.  The dean got pretty excited about it, but that was about the extent of the enthusiasm.

“Only a few students signed up for it,” Herrmann says today.  “It became the course that didn’t happen.”

Still, the seed of an idea was planted.  So, years later, when he ran into a book editor from W.W. Norton, Herrman proposed a book on the topic.

The result is “Law for Architects,” to be published on Monday, May 14.  It’s a reference book where practicing architects can get a quick read on the legal aspects of the business side of design.  Each of its 10 chapters covers topics like copyright, design infringement, intellectual property, contracts and employment guidelines.

“I hope it will really benefit people – that they’ll take advantage of it and stay out of trouble,” he says.

Herrman’s been practicing law for almost 40 years, 30 of them representing the design profession.  He’s participated in AIA programs on risk management, ownership transfers and contract law.

Moreover, he’s an aficionado of good design.  He plans trips around the architecture of the Rust Belt, in cities like Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Scranton, spending days at a time looking into classic American architecture.

And he’s got taste, too.  His favorite building?  Louis Sullivan’s exquisite Guaranty Trust Building in Buffalo, N.Y.

For more information, go to http://books.wwnorton.com/books/978-0-393-73345-7/

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They paint at exactly the same time, sometimes for as long as 10 hours at a stretch, like two musicians side by side.

They use an affine grid – a favorite of architects designing via computers – to produce a third subjectivity for the viewer.

“It’s elaborate, attractive, and about beauty,” says Gilbert-Rolfe.  “It’s about an involuntary response to what you’re seeing – rather than reading it, it’s about what you already know.”

They are Los Angeles-based, but they’re showing their work now at the Green Building in Louisville’s NuLu neighborhood.   They met at the Art Center College of Design when Norton was a student in 2007 and Gilbert-Rolfe, an instructor.  He still teaches there.

They are influenced by Piet Mondrian and his theory of what’s not on the surface of a painting, but exists between what the painting does to the space of the viewer.  “It goes straight into the viewer’s body,” Gilbert Rolfe says.  “You get to think about that after you have the experience of feeling it.”

Like Rothko’s, their paintings vibrate before the human eye.

Their palette is a product, to some degree, of living in an age of video.  It’s as much a response to technology and color as it is to nature.  And the result upon the viewer is almost as immediate as video too.

“When you look at one of our paintings, you’re not just looking at an idea – you’re dealing with something that’s happening to you,” he says.

The Awkward x 2 rule is that no painting is finished until neither artist is sure of who did what.

For more information, go to http://www.thegreenbuilding.net/gallery/index.html

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“It’s a big billboard in the marketplace,” the 2004 graduate of the Harvard Design School says.  “It speaks to users – for those who pass it, it enters into their visual life.”

He cites HWKN’s Uniqlo Cubes as a prime example.  Developed for a major Japanese retailer, they are pop-up stores that can be moved around an urban area, whose shelves become part of their walls. 

Once the cube is plopped onto its location, a section of its form slides open like a vault, inviting customers to come in, try on clothes and make their purchases.  At night, the cubes glow in the dark to make their presence known.  Their branding power is derived not just from form and glowing geometrical shape, but from the attention to detail in their material and construction.

“They’re made of aluminum,” he says.  “And how they came together is important – they weren’t screwed or bolted, but locked together like a jigsaw puzzle.” 

Kushner believes in research-based solutions to architecture and branding.  He’s not necessarily interested in a stylistic approach to design, but in diagnosis and psychoanalysis to dig into what a client’s agenda might be. 

If that sounds more like an ad agency than an architecture firm, so be it.

“We’ve learned a lot from agencies,” he says.  “We’ve worked with Deutsch, Kirshenbaum and KKLD – they hired us to work for their clients with temporary event spaces for campaigns.”

Between Architizer and his firm’s very smart designs (they’ll debut their winning entry for MoMA’s P.S. 1 in July), Kushner demonstrates a self-evident savvy of latter-day brand management.

For more information, go to http://www.hwkn.com/

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