Competition

  • 03/10

    Derrier, Paris

    Mourad Mazouz’s restaurant Derrier is described as a ‘home away from home’ – and I can see why: the restaurant, styled as a family apartment, gives the impression of having stumbled into an eccentric friend’s well-lived in home. The restaurant follows the idea of ‘home’ and is structured like one, diners can sit in the lounge, dining room, bedroom or boudoir. The main room is fit out with a kitchen table, comfy sofas and oddly, a ping pong table for amusement between courses.

    The restaurant takes its name from its location, it is hidden in a courtyard at the back of 404 and Andy Wahloo, Mazouz’s other Paris restaurants. The off -hand chic interior is just as tongue in the cheek as the name of the restaurant. The eclectic interior mixes styles that gives the feeling of nonchalance.  Throughout the restaurant shelves filled with books and other knick-knacks line the walls, along with an assortment of photos, paintings, posters and the odd empty frame. The food is French, simple and wholesome, made with the finest quality products.

    In the bedroom diners are perched on mattresses, complete with alarm clocks at bedside.

    And somewhere, behind one of the many mirrors in Derrier, is a secret smoking room.

    (Images via derrier-resto.com)

  • 01/12

    Tel Aviv Port Public Space by Mayslits Kassif Architects

    Mayslits Kassif Architects from Tel Avic have recently won the Rosa Barba European Landscape Prize for their design of the Tel Aviv Port Public Space. The regeneration project of the public spaces of the Tel Aviv port  was announced the winner of this prestigious prize during the 6th Biennial of Landscape Architecture in Barcelona. This year, 427 projects were submitted to the competition, out of which 9 have been announced as finalists.

    The project is considered one of the most influential public spaces projects in Tel Aviv. Being a new urban landmark which revives the city’s waterfront, the project became a trigger for a series of public space projects along Tel Aviv’s shoreline which altogether revolutionize the city’s connection to its waterfront.

    Photo by Iwan Baan

    Photo by Iwan Baan

    Photo by Daniela Orwin

    Photo by Daniela Orwin

    Photo by Daniela Orwin

    Photo by Galia Kronfeld


  • 26/08

    Bus-Tops by Alfie Dennen and Paula Ledieu

    Bus-Tops will be a public art installation on the roofs of bus shelters across London, inspiring wonder and creativity in unexpected places. LED panels will become canvases showcasing digital commissions by a range of established artists, as well as allowing Londoners to display their creativity, play games and express what is special about their London.

    People will be able to submit and view artwork through a number of mediums including website and mobile applications. Using drawing toolkits, people can create images, text or animations for display on the panels. For those unable to view the roofs of bus shelters, the website will provide live updates of the artwork and the opportunity to construct personal ‘routes’ through the works.

    Cutting edge technology will also allow the bus shelters to develop individual personalities, becoming ‘Viziters’ to the city in their own right in the run up to the Games. Over their period of stay, each Bus-Top shelter will develop a unique character through their relationships with each other, members of the public and participating artists.

    The canvases will appear on the roofs of bus shelters across London from July 2011.

    London from Artists Taking the Lead on Vimeo.

  • 05/08

    Insect Hotel by Arup Associates

    The London based firm Arup Associates have won the top Golden Beetle Prize for their ‘insect hotel’. The ‘Beyond the Hive’ competition, hosted by British Land and The City of London, created a brief that called for a sustainable and creative insect habitat for the City of London parks.

    The bio-mimetic design is constructed out of 25 layers of 20 mm-thick birch plywood. The irregular voids are cut out using a CNC machine and loosely bonded together on site with mechanical fixings. the 1500 mm x 1500 mm hotel’s facade is influenced from the voronoi pattern, an organic system of irregular shapes often found in nature, such as the wings of a dragonfly. the 500 mm-deep compartments provide an armature for the recycled waste materials, each compacted with different types of deadfall to cater to different types of insects: Stag beetles require rotting logs for their larvae to eat and grow in, while butterflies and moths prefer a series of vertical slots using dry wooden pieces and tree barks.

    Via Designboom