Archinect - News

Plywood boards used to protect New York establishments are repurposed into captivating sculptures

2021-05-25T17:52:00-04:00

Across New York City’s five boroughs, five new public art installations are on display, each made from salvaged plywood boards that were used for a much different purpose a year ago.

Be Heard by Behin Ha Design Studio.

The sculptural pieces were created as part of New York art nonprofit worthless studios’ Plywood Protection Project. The initiative sought and repurposed discarded plywood boards that were formerly used to seal and protect New York City storefronts closed due to the pandemic and last summer’s protests calling for justice and reform regarding systemic racism and police brutality towards Black Americans. worthless studios notes that during peak protest months across the city, prices skyrocketed to above $90 for a single 4’ x 8’ AC plywood board, and supply rapidly depleted.

In Honor of Black Lives Matter by KaN Landscape Design and Caroline Mardok.

Rather than l...

Eames' radical plywood radio from 1946 to be reissued by Vitra

2018-09-21T12:57:00-04:00

Better known for their iconic lounge chairs, the mid-century designers Charles and Ray Eames spent a good portion of the post-war period applying their revolutionizing plywood-modeling process to radio housings. Dubbed "Design's Best-Kept Secret" by the Wall Street Journal, an estimated 200,000 of these radios were manufactured at the time and are now enjoying an afterlife on the auction circuit as a more affordable way of owning one of the couples masterful designs.

Eames Radio by Charles and Ray Eames reissued by Vitra.

One of these radios, however, considered too modern looking for the time, never saw production. That is now changing thanks to Vitra; the Swiss furniture company that owns the license to many of the Eames's work has decided to revive this compact radio. Limited to just 999 units, the reissued radio comes encased in a walnut cabinet and equipped with up-to-date technology by the British manufacturer REVO. Priced at $999, the radio does not come cheap, especially whe...

What You Don’t See

2018-09-18T19:06:00-04:00

Follow the intricate supply chains of architecture and you’ll find not just product manufacturers but also environmental polluters. Keep going and you’ll find as well the elusive networks of political influence that are underwritten by the billion-dollar construction industry.

In "What You Don't See," Brent Sturlaugson examines the supply chains of architecture to make the case that designers must expand their frameworks of action and responsibility for thinking about sustainability.

Unraveling the networks of materials, energy, power, and money that must be activated to produce a piece of plywood, Sturlaugson argues that "any full accounting of environmental, economic, or social sustainability has got to consider not merely individual buildings and sites but also the intricate product and energy supply chains that are crucial to their construction."

OMG! designs "Primitive Hut," a pavilion that will decompose over time

2017-10-19T19:18:00-04:00

In his Essai sur l’Architecture, the 18th-century French architecture theorist Marc-Antoine Laugier developed the concept of the Primitive Hut. Exploring the origins of architecture, Laugier described the primitive man as constructing a shelter to protect himself from nature. The iconic frontispiece of the second edition, by the artist, Charles-Dominique-Joseph Eisen, made the book's argument clear. It shows an allegorical figure, representing architecture, pointing to the primitive hut, a new structural clarity found in nature.

Essai sur l'Architecture, frontispiece by Charles-Dominique-Joseph Eisen. Image via Wikipedia.

Drawing by OMG!, inspired by Charles-Dominique Joseph Eisen's frontispiece.

Martin Miller from Antistatics and Caroline O’Donnell from CODA—previously featured in our Small Studio Snapshot series—partnered with one another as OMG! to create their own Primitive Hut. Inspired by Marc-Antoine Laugier’s work, the duo created a pavilion made of decomposing materials tha...

Love Letter to Plywood. By Tom Sachs

2015-02-24T13:42:00-05:00

Already a couple years old, but a great piece by Tom Sachs on the beauty and nature of plywood. h/t kottke.org

Izmir's charming DIY floating docks

2015-02-13T14:15:00-05:00

For months, three architects would meet at the waterfront of Izmir, Turkey’s third-largest city. [...] Eventually it came to them – if you really wanted to bring people in Izmir together, transform the waterfront. But the very idea was daunting: Turkey’s bureaucracy is infamous, and a large-scale project to redevelop the waterfront seemed impossible. So the friends [...] built eight floating docks out of plywood.

Domus visits Maio at their nice Barcelona studio

2012-12-10T13:50:00-05:00

It is divided into two sections. One of these, the working area, is dominated by its single central desk, which is 12,5 metres long, without any divisions or boundaries. This desk is shared by graphic designers, architects, data visualisation experts, video artists and anyone who the team can share experiences and collaborate with.

The architects have shared the following images and text about their project with us...

The project, designed by architects Anna Puigjaner and Guillermo Lopez, members of MAIO design team, involves the conversion of a space that formerly housed a washing place into an open studio for professionals from different fields of architecture and design.

The existing 40-meter long building was a continuous space, with variable sections and extremely poor lighting. Hence, the proposal focuses on the opening of a patio, literally conceived as an outer room, to improve the interior lighting. This outer room divides the 40 meters of the initial space into two areas. The front area is open to the street and left empty to accommodate activities related to the public, such as meetings, events, exhibitions ... - while the rear side houses a 12,5-meter long table and is intended as the main workspace.

The thickness and warmth of the three new, large windows opened in the patio has b...

Love Letter to Plywood. By Tom Sachs

2012-06-18T16:42:00-04:00