The work of Belgium’s Rotor Group is popping up in more and more visible places. Rotor covers a wide range of projects, from basic design, branding and packaging, to events, lighting planning, interiors, showrooms, products, trade shows and art. We especially like the work they have done with Belgian lighting firm Modular Lighting Instruments creating events, showrooms and surroundings that defy definition. A great example is Rotor Designer Toon Stockman’s retro-futuristic showroom for Modular that pays homage to Modular’s Beam Squad and consists of six enormous cages supported by a skeleton of fluorescent tubing. The wild narrative for this installation – a typical Rotor tale – tells of life-destroying peril but luckily, all will be well and in about 2069, lighting will be manufactured in peace again. By Tuija Seipell

The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology merges the concepts of lighting and art with this spectacular 3D LED piece, dubbed NOVA. Created for the institute's 150th anniversary, the display is made up of 25000 lightballs.

Incredibly it can display 16 million colours per second. The behemoth, which weighs 3.3 tonnes, is currently displayed at the Zurich train stations main hall, where it will live until September 2009. By Lisa Evans

Cool Spas are popping up everywhere as if they had just been invented, but in the Bavaria region of Germany – as in many parts of the world with healing, thermal or mineral springs – baths are part of ancient history.



Bad Aibling, located some 35 miles southeast of Munich, has held the official title of a Bad (German for bath, spa, springs) since 1895 but the thermal spas have bubbled up there much, much longer. It is particularly refreshing to see one of the older facilities, Thermal Bad Aibling, receive a complete overhaul and emerge as a viable competitor in the world of spoiled and pampered spa goers.



The most striking new feature at Bad Aibling are the large white domes, placed seemingly randomly in the hilly landscape, letting the alpine scenery dictate their placement. Each dome is dedicated to its own treatment, temperature, ambiance and experience.



In addition to the fairly standard fare, such as a wide selection of massages, beauty treatments, saunas and different-temperature baths and pools, Thermal Bad Aibling offers a beautifully lit Turkish haman plus something no other spa has – so far. It is an immersive film experience by LivingGlobe where the guests can enjoy a special 360-degree film projection and light show produced specifically for Thermal Bad Aibling. The main outdoor swimming pool areas will open in May 2008, but hot pools are functional, creating the atmosphere of time-tested pleasure of soaking in hot water in cold air and enjoying the view. By Tuija Seipell



 

For eons, walls of greenery have surrounded people and creatures living in jungles, rainforests and other lush places.



Ancient Asians and Europeans since Roman times have paid gardeners to create green art and sculpture for their gardens, from elaborate topiary sculptures and mazes to vine-covered walls.



And, of course, we’ve seen inventive uses of built outdoor space – including rooftops, patios and balconies – as places to bring more green into our overly concrete-covered lives. Smudging the line between indoors and outdoors, and playing with the illusion of greenery where it doesn’t really belong, are also the basis of some recent installations that we like.



Mass Studies, founded in 2003 by Minsuk Cho in Seoul, Korea, has produced some great examples of this. Among them is Ann Demelmeester’s store (pictured above) in Soul. It is one of only four concept stores showcasing the fashions of the Flemish designer.



Green walls are not just visually interesting and environmentally beneficial, they add a sense of calm and peace that is difficult to achieve by other means. The inclusion of real, living plants on a large scale in places where you don’t expect to see them, also adds other sensory elements – the scent of the greenery, the sound of water, perhaps the feeling of humidity around the installation. The organic texture invites touch and inspires conversation – how was this installed, how is it cared for, who did it?



We’ve found some interesting green installations, such as this school in the UK and a hair salon in Japan, but we’d love to see many, many more. We think there’s room for much more creativity and daring in this arena, so let us know if you spot remarkable and unusual examples. - Tuija Seipell. Send to [email protected]

For many of us, taking our cars to the garage can be a daunting experience. Feeling anxious and uncertain over the price and duration over jobs, use of technical jargon and the like. This may soon be a thing of the past, thanks to the launch of the major rebranding programme for car care network HiQ, starting with their new concept centre opening in Nottingham, UK.



The aim was to revolutionise the way fast fit car care is delivered and to develop a fresh retail concept that would set new standards in this sector. And it looks like they have come up with the goods.



Designed by the London team at Fitch, the brand has been repositioned by using simple language, illustrations, and the centre itself has clever features like glass walls that allow customers to see onto the garage floor for themselves.



We have seen this uncomplicated, tell it like it is mentality popping up all over the place, especially as banks try to re-align themselves with their customers. It is now nice and refreshing to see this evolving into other touch points of consumers' lives. I wonder if this approach would make going to the dentist any better? By Brendan McKnight

 

 

 

A house attic does not evoke images of style and chic design. Rather, we find ourselves thinking of dark, cobweb-infested, damp and dreary crawl spaces. We think of attics as leftover space under the roof where we abandon unwanted stuff - outdated clothing, old books, grandma's hat boxes, grandpa's hunting gear, coin collections and bags of seashells from that long-ago beach holiday.



But as space in our urban areas is at a premium - not a square metre can go to waste. Architects and designers are starting to see the potential of this extra space, and offer solutions that meet the needs of the most demanding style freaks. Sunlight, additional rooms, extra bathrooms - it is all possible in the attic. Starchitects around the world have made dramatic rooflines trendy, so we can all give up on our visions of the embarrassing drywalled and pine-paneled disasters that attics tended to morph into, every time we tried to make them livable.




Within very few square metres, designers are finding space for sleeping, cooking and eating, and using the sloping rooflines to create impressive skylight windows.



We can all see the delightful benefits of maximising the amount of livable and usable space � even if it involves clearing away the precious collections of bric-a-brac we've spent generations accumulating. Ample sunlight penetrating the attic apartment means than even nocturnal arachnids are sent packing. By Andrew J Wiener and Tuija Seipell

We're looking for more attic renovations, if you spot one, send to [email protected]
 

Many of us are drawn to the ocean in one way or another, and sometimes a soft, sandy beach is not nearby. Wouldn’t it be great if local council members of popular coastal areas could find an innovative means of providing access to our rocky foreshores?  One community has done just that — timber platforms constructed over rugged terrain allow enhanced enjoyment of the seaside. By Andrew J Wiener

Urban Garden came to be when London-based Artwise commissioned Amsterdam-based TJEP to design an iconic object to be used in a lounge area during events around the world. The object is part of Tribe Art, a series of international contemporary art commissions and projects developed in partnership with the Lucky Strike B·A·R Honda Formula One racing team. Artwise has worked with Tribe Art for several years.

TJEP’s solution to the lounge object dilemma was Urban Garden, a Versailles—garden inspired inflatable mega floor ornament that inspires users to sit, hang, jump and dance. TJEP is a partnership of Dutch designers, Frank Tjepkema and Janneke Hooymans (and others). Tjepkema is known for his work for well-known brands such as Philips, British Airways, Droog Design and Heineken. Hooymans’ work includes the interior of the Unox Soup Factory and contributions to the design of the Glasgow Science center. By Tuija Seipell

See also - Inflatable Nightclub

Fixated as we are with creative ideas, we really like it when we see something nearly impossible turn out to be possible. At the moment we are intrigued by small, compact, boxy buildings. Dwellings, mini houses, pop-up buildings that are clever and functional, yet chic and fun. A home inside a box, a cafe in shipping container.



Or maybe an office, shop or yoga studio in some new, fascinating cube-like format? If you know of such buildings -
actual buildings, not just plans - please let us know where they are. We'd like to see how it's done and spread the word. By Tuija Seipell. send to [email protected]


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Whoever said that reading was a religious experience was right, especially when taking a visit to Selexyz Dominicanen in Maastricht, Netherlands.

Having just won the Lensvelt de Architect Interior Prize 2007, this newest addition to the Selexyz book chain is well worth the visit to this medieval city if you are ever in the area.



Erected inside a former 800 year old Dominican church, this bookstore is said to hold the largest stock of books in English in Maastricht, one of the oldest cities in the country.

It was always going to be a challenging task for Amsterdam based architects Merkx + Girod who designed the space, to stay true to the original character and charm of the church, whilst also achieving a desirable amount of commercial space (there was only an available floor area of 750 m2, with a proposed retail space of 1200 m2). Taking advantage of the massive ceiling, both have been achieved through the construction of a multi-storey steel structure which houses the majority of the books. This is one giant bookshelf, with stairs and elevators taking shoppers and visitors alike, up to the heavens (mind the pun), to roof of the church.



To maintain a sense of symmetrical balance in the space, lower tables of best sellers and latest releases have been added to either side, and of course a small cafe at the back for readers to relax and enjoy a hot drink.

Overall a great example of how with clever thinking, spatial solutions can both achieve a suitable retail presence, whilst still respecting and remaining true to the original structure. By Brendan Mc Knight

See also Pontificial Lateral University Library
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                 Kids Republic Bookstore