Pantone Universe expanded their range of colorful, design-inspired products to now include accommodation. The Pantone Hotel opened just around the corner from Avenue Louise, a glamorous shopping and business district in Brussels. It combines a chic, colorful aesthetic with comfortable guest rooms. The project was a collaboration between Belgian interior designer Michel Penneman and Belgian architect Olivier Hannaert. They Hotel is designed so that each of the seven floors and 59 rooms are accented by different color palettes to complement guests’ emotions with distinctive hues – whether vivid or subdued.
The guest rooms are largely monochrome to provide a crisp canvas for saturated pops of vibrant color. Adding to the artistry, rooms feature photographic installations created by renowned Belgian photographer Victor Levy that include a spectrum of vibrant PANTONE Colors to create a unique ambiance in each room. Even the city is washed in color as sections of the windows are color tinted.
After much success in Spitalfields, Rosa’s Thai restaurant opened a ‘Pop-Up’ in Soho called Noodles, this was so well received that people in Soho now have permanent access to a Rosa’s fix.
The interior design, done by Gundry and Ducker, features moulded oak panelling lined with brass plates at the edges. The design is intended to be reminiscent of a traditional British cafe with a Thai edge. A warm and inviting interior is achieved by using soft lighting and red and brown tones. This color scheme is used throughout the ground floor, with lighter tones as it is intended primarily for daytime use.Booths and partitions are formed by the moulded oak panelling, which are modified in places to form coat hooks and lamps. The oak profiles are echoed in the borders of the laser-cut brass plates that decorate the walls. The basement is much darker, featuring gloss, gray and reclaimed teak, reflecting its purpose as an evening space.
And here is a little bit about the Pop-Up, in case you missed it:
The designers chose to celebrate the temporary nature of the restaurant by whitewashing the interior of the shop it was located in as they found it and using materials and construction methods that are usually associated with impermanence. They placed a series of plywood booths throughout, these had glowing red interiors and arched entrances. Chairs were also made of plywood and were held together by cable ties. They made use of illuminated signage and arrows, and this, along with the color scheme was intended to acknowledge Soho’s red-light district heritage. Displayed on the shelves were laser cut highlights from the menu, each in a typeface reflecting its character.
Designer and architect Rafael Schmidt (RAFAA) from Zurich had submitted a new bike sharing system to a competition of the International Climate Conference, happening last year in Copenhagen.
“The Bike Share System must become more than just a transporting system. It deals not only with the problem of stocks and flows of people, but must add extra value to its user and to the city itself. We suggest that the Bike Share System becomes an integral part of the city. The bicycles should function as censors and inform the system about certain behaviours, so that the system can react according to the situation.To predict the performance of a system, the entities have to exchange information. An internet-based platform can analyse the different interests and could then manage possible conflicts. The bicycles are equipped with GPS und W-Lan, so they are connected to each order and can inform the system about their position and status. (Is a bike being used? Where is the bike and where is it moving to? Is there a reservation for the bike? etc.)
Privacy protection is a matter that has to be taken into account in the process. To increase the number of commuters travelling by bicycle from 37% to 50% by 2015, approx. 25.000 bicycles have to be integrated into the urban fabric; these bikes will need at least 20.000 m2 of storage space. We see a high risk of overloading the squares, streets and stations of Copenhagen. Therefore, our focus is to reduce the „visual pollution” wherever possible. At the same time, easy accessibility as well as the system’s visual presence has to be maintained (hide & show policy). The following proposal distinguishes between three different trajectory scales: S,M and L.”
The familiar face of a London bus will soon be less familiar. British designer Thomas Heatherwick has designed the replacement for London’s iconic Routemaster bus, in collaboration with bus company the Wright Group. The new design is set to hit the London streets in 2012.
It will be made of lightweight materials, with glass highlighting key features, that will produce a light and airy feel inside the bus. Visually dramatic, it will be asymmetric and features a glass ‘swoop’ at the rear and along its side.
In addition to its futuristic looking, flashy exterior the bus will use the latest green technology and will be 15 per cent more fuel efficient than existing hybrid buses, and 40 per cent more efficient than conventional diesel double decks and much quieter on the streets.
Its defining feature is the open platform, inspired by the Routemaster of old, which allows the reinstatement of a hop-on, hop-off service, speedy boarding will also be aided by three doors and two staircases.
A a static mock up of the bus is currently being worked on and we will probably get a glimpse of it later this year, but we’ll have to wait until late next year to see a full working prototype.
Viet Hoa, a Kingsland Road favorite, has recently been completely renovated and now boasts a serene, minimalist interior and stylish new branding, in complete contrast to its former haphazard self. Its new interior design is clean and simple and features walls and ceilings clad in timber, contemporary lighting and furniture, with quirky touches such as an entire wall covered in moss that stretches across two floors at the stairway.
Another unusual element can be found in the new bar in the basement. It has a playful sunken rectangle in the floor that becomes an informal lounge area with the addition of legless chairs and little tables.
The revised branding and identity was mainly influenced by the name of the cafe. ‘Hoa’ means ‘blossoming flower’ in Vietnamese and a logo mark has been added across all way-finding, branding collateral, packaging, and uniforms.
The new interior perfectly complements the delicious food and I’m sure with its stylish new space it will become even more popular.
It looks like the whole city is getting geared up for the London Design Festival in September, here is a little taster of what is to come:
Designers Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram have designed an installation for Trafalgar Square, a large robotic octopus called Outrace. This robot will be constructed of the mechanical arms normally found in car factories, on loan from Audi. The six synchronised arms will be controlled by members of the public with the help of custom software created by the designers, allowing the tentacles to respond to text input to create paintings of light in the air. These paintings will be captured in high definition video and published online.
There’s a new designer hotel on the block in Bethnal Green, in the familiar shell of its Old Town Hall. Behind the Grade II listed building’s Edwardian/Art Deco facade now sit some of the most stylish hotel rooms and luxury apartments in the city. Hip French architects, Rare, have worked with hotelier, Peng Loh, to give the giving the building a complete make over.
In keeping with the East End’s creative reputation, they worked together with Artsadmin to commission works by up and coming young, local artists. The spacious apartments are fitted out with a mix of one of a kind vintage furniture and contemporary Scandinavian pieces, and each comes with their own designer kitchen. Not that guests would need a kitchen… The Hotel’s restaurant, Viajantes, headed by chef Nuno Mendes promises to be a culinary treat. The interior features bespoke, handcrafted furniture and has an intimate atmosphere to complete the dining experience.
This chic addition to Bethnal Green is a design hotel with a difference, perfectly combining sleek city style with old world elegance.
The experimental collective, Shunt, are as surprizing and unusual as ever with their take on Zola’s 1890 novel L’Argent. The traditional stage-audience setup is done away with as you are thrust into a rabbit hole of sorts, and it just gets more exciting as you go along.
They constructed a three storey ‘machine’ that forms the set inside a former tobacco warehouse. You are led through this clunking machine as the story unfolds around, above and below you. The truly impressive set is used to its full potential, characters crawling out of the vents and the flick of a light switch revealing omnious meetings below. Eventhough the narrative is little hard to follow at times you stay utterly engaged.
It was love at first sight when I saw images of the new Undercover shop in Kanazawa by fashion designer, Jun Takahashi, and interior designer, Kazuya Sasaki. The Japanese brand’s ninth boutique is based on the interior design of its flagship in Aoyama.
Both spaces are characterized by their beautiful light bulb infused ceilings, without a doubt the most striking feature. Even though they first did this in July 2009, it is still painfully fresh. They allowed the this ethereal looking installation to take center stage by keeping the rest of the interior minimal and muted. The Dieter Rams audio equipment and shelving, along with industrial detailing, perfectly compliment the overall look.
My only problem with this project is that I probably won’t get to see it firsthand any time soon.
Look Mum No Hands is the clever name of a new cafe/bar/bike workshop that recently opened in Old Street. Here you can enjoy some seriously delicious coffee and cake while your bike is being tended to by an expert bicycle mechanic. The interior of the former architectural showroom is pared down and airy, with a select few beautiful vintage bikes on display in the window and some large prints of past races on the walls. The minimalist look of the space is enhanced with striking details, such as the vintage lamps above the bar that have the added quirky touch of hanging from bicycle chains. They also have a lovely outdoor area that will no doubt be very busy on sunny days. The relaxed, fuss free space and staff have won me over and I will definitely not wait for bicycle problems to go there again.
