Collection by Trey Walker
Model Spaces
Venturing below sea level, Kate Orff and her firm SCAPE explore the nautical landscape. The model seen here examines affordable and sustainable opportunities for restorative landscape design. Her model’s relevance is heightened during the current dialogue about urban coastlines and rising sea levels. Image provided courtesy of the National Academy.
@typefiend: "Taking a miniature architectural tour at Sander Architects #dwellondesign booth @dwellmagazine #architecture"
From Japan’s Pavilion: Toyo Ito brings together three young Japanese architects (Kumiko Inui, Sou Fujimoto and Akihisa Hirata) to collaborate in the design a "Home-for-All" for people who lost everything in the city of Rikuzentakata because of the tsunami of 2011 in the north of Japan. Golden winning Lion for the Best National Participation, the project exudes humanity, is one of the clearest examples of real collaboration in the design process of a home. The result transcends disaster relief architecture and gives a glimpse of what could become an architecture that embodies the desires, user daily habits and a particular comprehension of the inner logic of a place through a professional method that is willing to dilute their personality and authorship to a minimum. A future and promising path for architecture.
“Design is not about objects. It’s about relationships,” she said. “Design should appeal to the humanity and imagination of the viewer.” During her presentation she talked at length about her work for KLM, the Dutch Airline. In addition to creating a new business class cabin interior, she also repurposed a mountain of discarded flight attendant uniforms and respun the yarn for the carpet. She also shared her design process for establishing the new color family that would work with KLM’s established dark blue hues. “Color changes when you are above the clouds,” she said. Therefore she took a series of different swaths of fabrics onto a Lufthansa flight and tested them out—guerrilla design testing lab. Here, a model of the cabin interior, 2013.