He had already proven himself as a reference musician on the international scene for a long time. Now, Lenny Kravitz has come to show the world that he also has an artist streak as an interior designer with the so-called Instrumental Home. Designed by the architect Marmol Radziner, this modular house is located in a lush forest area and is formed from an office, including a living room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom.
The dialogue with the environment, according to the Diário Imobiliário, is made there from a glass facade working as a “surround”. Both the living room and bedroom open onto large terraces , while a hammock filters light into the property.
This project, in which Lenny Kravitz participates, is part of the ” Conjunto Revolution “, developed by Filipino real estate developer Robbie Antonio.
At stake is a set of modular and sustainable houses and pavilions designed by major figures in world architecture, such as the American architect Daniel Libeskind, the Japanese Sou Fujimoto and Kengo Kuma and the Brazilian brothers Fernando and Humberto Campana.
According to the online medium, the spaces are developed with advanced prefabricated materials , personalized design and a low-cost production system, forming an outline of the democratization of architecture, the use of public space and its social function. The series was launched last year by Design Miami, a dining pavilion designed by Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid.
Robbie Antonio’s “Revolution PreCrafted” is a collection of pre-fabricated pavilions by 30 top designers and architects. Some have already been built, being exhibited at Design Miami, while others are planned for the future.
Some of the biggest names in architecture and design have developed prefabricated pavilions for real estate developer Robbie Antonio as part of his Revolution Project.
Over 30 creative individuals – including Ron Arad, Kengo Kuma and Daniel Libeskind – were invited to create cost-efficient living and leisure spaces using advanced design and fabrication technologies.
Here CLAD presents five of the leisure pavilions, explained in the words of the Revolution Project team.
The Ellipsicoon Pavilion by Ben van Berkel of UNStudio
“Inside-outside, light and shade, open and closed, the Ellipsicoon offers a tranquil space for either solitary moments of rest, reading or contemplation, or a cocoon-like theatre for conversation and communication. The pavilion is a space for the mind, for moments of ephemeral escape, for rumination or for simply being.
“The Ellipsicoon creates a tranquil nomadic extension to the home: a detached, secluded space of immersion in nature. The continuous sculptural surface of the pavilion is constructed from woven strands of 100% recyclable high-density polyethylene (HDPE).
“The curved sides of the structure taper inwards as they rise, enabling the rounded openings to facilitate moments of being simultaneously both inside and outside – physically and intimately connected to the surroundings and to nature, whilst wrapped and enclosed by the soft, continuous curves of the woven structure.”
https://player.vimeo.com/video/148472833
The Armadillo Tea Pavilion by Ron Arad
“The pavilion is designed as an independent shell structure, for use indoors and outdoors, which provides an intimate enclosure, shelter or place of reflection within a garden, landscape, or large internal space.
“In its basic configuration it comprises five moulded shells, each made of repeatable, modular components which are mechanically-fixed together with exposed fixings and stiffening brackets. The modularity of components provides freedom to configure the tea canopy to suit a number of arrangements, which can be expanded when using additional shells.
“Be it an informal garden enclosure, playroom, pavilion or place of reflection, the canopy is designed to be structurally independent, and can be installed as a free-standing element, with the possibility of additional anchoring where desired.”
https://player.vimeo.com/video/148472832
The Infinity Ring Pavilion by Sou Fujimoto
“An investigation into the ergonomics of seating in both private and public environments, the Infinity Ring takes the preconception of predefined spaces and their rituals and wraps it around a ring, creating a continuous strip of inhabitable spaces.
“The entire ring is then rotated, thereby generating infinite configurations of space-between-space, creating endless ways to sit, climb, lie down, crawl on. This results in spatial configurations that are much richer than the sum of its parts.”
https://player.vimeo.com/video/148461541
The Aluminum Cloud Pavilion by Kengo Kuma
“A mobile multifunctional pavilion that can both be used as a teahouse when located within an interior space or as a space for meditation when placed outdoors.
“The entire structure is constructed by utilising a singular aluminium panel with six slots for joining the panels together without the use of nuts and bolts. This method is called ‘Kangou’ in Japanese construction terminology.
“These Kangou connections are loosely fitted before being fastened so that adjustments to the joints can be made. Once these panels are connected and stacked, the pavilion distorts due to its own load and each connection will gradually tighten up to provide structural stability.
“This democratic system allows easy assembly and disassembly, and provides flexibility to adjust its structure to suite to its surrounding environment and its intended function.
“Since this traditional Japanese wooden joinery method allows the structure to support its own weight and provide a warm and soft natural skin to the inhabitants resembling a nest of animals, it embodies the primitive idea of house as a place for basic human habitation.”
https://player.vimeo.com/video/148481805
The ReCreation Pavilion by Daniel Libeskind
“In many ways human connection has become a luxury in our modern, digital world. The ReCreation Pavilion is designed with the understanding of the profound importance of real and personal interactions to a healthy and creative lifestyle.
“The design is a contemporary twist on the classic belvedere or gazebo. The open format figuratively and literally creates a dialogue with and within the surrounding context. The distinctive form of intersecting planes creates a dramatic sculpture element, while framing the landscape and providing shade. The pavilion is clad in warm timber finishes accented with stainless walls.
“The ReCreation Pavilion is place for socialising, dining or simply taking in the view – whether urban or rural.”
Revolution, a new design platform that commissions the likes of Daniel Libeskind and Ron Arad to build collectible, limited-edition prefabricated pavilions and homes for anywhere between $50,000 and $500,000, has begun its world tour.
Aquatecture at work: +31 Architects‘s Watervilla Weesperzijde houseboat in Amsterdam
Today, architecture is utilitarian and functional as professionals seek to find solutions to the various challenges of modern-day life. Check out these latest trends dominating architectural design right now…
Aquatecture
Floating architecture – or simply ‘Aquatecture’ – is a necessary subsection of design thanks to global warming and widespread housing shortages.
With rising water levels and continually diminishing land-based development areas, architects and city planners have been forced to explore the possibilities of building homes on the water, reports Dezeen.
Spearheaded and advised by the Dutch, whose homeland is dominated by water, many architects are now designing aquatic buildings, homes and schools that can function in both wet and dry spaces.
“Given the impact of climate change, we can begin to think a lot more about the opportunity for living with water as opposed to fighting it and doing land reclamation,” says Dutch architect Kunlé Adeyemi, who has built a floating school in Lagos and a radio station in the Niger Delta as part of the African Water Cities project.
Other countries benefiting from Dutch expertise include Indonesia, the United States and the United Kingdom, where architects are exploring the possibilities of amphibious houses and prefabricated houseboats.
Portable structures are another new trend, whereby the structure functions as both a shelter and a work of art and can be installed wherever the owner desires. The recent Design Miami fair saw an entire series of these pavilions, designed by established and rising names in architecture, reports Telegraph Luxury.
“All architecture is bespoke,” said emerging Thai architect, Kulapat Yantrasast, who exhibited his own structure. “This is prêt-à-porter.”
Other names who participated in the series include Zaha Hadid with the Volu Dining Pavilion, Ron Arad with his Armadillo Tea Pavillion, and Richard Gluckman with the Model Art Pavilion.
“Designing the pavilion gave us the opportunity to create something that is a sculptural object and a frame for the dynamic presentation of art,” explained Gluckman.
The man behind the series – dubbed ‘Revolution’ – is Robbie Antonio of Antonio Development. He said: “I think Revolution will be game-changing. It’s a new approach to architecture. It could extend to selling affordable off-the-peg homes by the world’s best architects.”
According to real estate developer Robbie Antonio, “You buy prefab for two reasons—it’s fast and less expensive.” But could a building type defined by affordability also be prized as a collectible? Antonio is staking Revolution Precrafted Properties on that premise. The new company is rolling out limited edition collections of factory-built houses and pavilions. Burnishing their pedigree, the structures were conceived by who’s-who in architecture—Ben van Berkel, Sou Fujimoto, Michael Maltzan, and others—as well as eminent product designers and artists.
Antonio likens the Revolution purchase process to ordering high-end Italian furniture, in that residences and pavilions are manufactured on demand and delivered several months thereafter. In that vein, he also acknowledges that his price point for the pavilions—starting at $35,000 and approaching half a million dollars, not including necessary corollary expenses—does not reflect economies of scale.
“I’m not in the business of producing widgets,” he counters, observing that the brand still democratizes high design for a certain consumer. “I wanted to give 10 to 20 people the privilege of collecting a particular designer or architect. If those people were to build a permanent custom home, it would cost three to five times more and take two years longer, so I think it’s a pretty solid value proposition.”
Also driving cost: Antonio’s pursuit of uniqueness. The Manila-based 38-year-old has previously leveraged well-known designers to differentiate permanent commercial developments. In turn, “I wanted to benefit the end user by emancipating architects and designers [from creating] simple shapes that fit in one container and install in X number of days.” The self-admitted design fan notes that he was familiar with Revolution’s roster of talent through these commissions, as well as personal studio visits.
Richard Gluckman, whose firm Gluckman Tang designed the $120,000 Model Art Pavilion (MAP) for Revolution, concurs that Antonio encouraged creative license, within limits. While Gluckman Tang decided to devote its pavilion to art display, “We were told that it had to be constructed by semi-skilled labor in the Philippines for $25,000 and ship in a 40-foot container,” Gluckman says. The 156-square-foot result is “something I could make myself.” The assembly of lacquered solid wood, plywood, and translucent polycarbonate nests into itself inside a shipping container, and unfolds on site.
Antonio officially launched Revolution in early December, by installing prototypes of Gluckman Tang’s MAP and Zaha Hadid’s VOLU Dining Pavilion—whose futuristic, coffered clamshell form is wildly disparate from the angular MAP—at Design Miami. He says he will continue targeting the collector market by unveiling further prototypes in 2016 at the Salone del Mobile, Frieze London, and other events, and market the brand separately to other developers for large orders.
DesignMiami. In the collectors’ lounge, an enveloping shape in metal: solids and voids that design a “skin”, between unsettling luminosities and the reassuring warmth of wood. It is a futuristic dining room that Zaha Hadid has created for “Revolution”, 30 temporary living spaces based on the idea of the real estate developer Robbie Antonio and curated by world-famous architects, designers, artists (Hadid the first, but Ron Arad, Daniel Libeskind, Lenny Kravitz).
There is all the new Miami in a project that holistically combines chosen creative areas, symbolic places where we spend our lives and their reinterpretation in a contemporary key. Recovered historic buildings, new architectures and others to come, interiors that translate today’s needs without forgetting their roots, art that becomes design and vice versa: all this is today a city that is now far from the stereotypes of certain films, full of palm trees, underworld and idle “billionaires”. Current Miami is a changing scenario, which culminates in the first week of December when Art Basel and Design Miami are concentrated, and the ferment of projects (and products) finally becomes tangible.
Forbidden to be deceived by the tensile structure that hosts it: Design Miami is the most important collectible furniture fair in the world. Exactly ten years of life, just under 40 galleries from all over the globe, among the buyers there are museum directors but also the jet-set. If Sylvester Stallone was ready to pose on a tubular and silicone seat by the Aranda/Lasch studio (New York) for the Gallery All (Chinese), the curators treat the pieces without being noticed: “I sold three pieces by Gio Ponti at the opening” , says Rossella Colombari of the homonymous Milanese gallery specializing in rare pieces from the 1950s. Here, nothing happens by chance: “We work with established clients. Our standard, thanks to the selection of the organizing committee, is very high, so even the occasional buyer is protected ”, she explains, “Collectors from all over America and new riches come to Miami in search of a cultural identity: for them, an impulse purchase is worthwhile. It is a unique scenario, unthinkable in Europe”. The great masters (from Prouvé to Sarfatti, to Carlo Mollino) but above all “artfully done” design (such as the furnishings by the Campana brothers inspired by the colored leather clothes of the Brazilian bandits of over a century ago) and the opposite, by artists of everyday objects: here the furnishings cross over various territories, cultural but also geographical (from South Africa to Korea).
Steps away, Art Basel, the epicenter, displays masterpieces of modern and contemporary art in museum-like density and draws an audience that then returns to the series of events on Collins Avenue, the thoroughfare that runs through Miami Beach behind the beach . The scenario this time is the 1940s hotels, which are reopening one after the other after complete renovations of the interiors. Last, inaugurated during Design Miami, the Faena Hotel (formerly Saxony Hotel from 1947), part of the project of an entire “district of the arts”, vision of the Argentine real estate developer Alan Faena: “It will be a complete experience of Miami: hotels and apartments from the warm interiors that recall the city’s golden age, a forum that will host projects from various disciplines, installations and performances, a bazaar where art will be on sale, the headquarters of a cultural association and some residential buildings,” he explains. Architectures by Rem Kolhaas and Norman Foster (some opening in 2016), hotel furnishings by director Baz Luhrmann who dosed 1950s furniture, colors and decorations in a kitsch-sophisticated style with consummate skill. Outside, on the beach, three installations link the hotel to Art Basel.
A few blocks away, the Nautilus, another recently reopened historic hotel, houses a permanent gallery of contemporary art canvases amidst elegant 1940s velvet lounges, a spectacular bar and tropical plants. Creativity that joins and complements each other, whether it’s the Pérez Art Museum (awarded this year for green architecture), Wynwood (neighborhood redeveloped with street art, abuzz with galleries and creative shops) or Craig’s private office-gallery Robins, founder of Design Miami, open to the public as a museum. Ocean and palm trees are still the ones from the movies, but the “billionaires” have become cultured. In the Miami of design.
Revolution Precrafted Properties is a company that aims to deliver “bespoke, collectible architecture” — small houses and pavilions — designed by big-ticket names within a few months of an order, anywhere in the world. The British industrial designer Tom Dixon created modules from a simple kit of parts — extruded aluminum frames that fit together like Lincoln Logs, panels of different materials depending on where the house might be built — that could be assembled easily by anyone in any location.
The Brazilian designers Fernando and Humberto Campana made a bamboo pavilion that is just under 60 square feet.
Daniel Libeskind imagined a biomorphic moon pavilion, a place, he said, “to contemplate the sky.” He envisions it being printed from a 3-D printer of some composite material, possibly fiberglass. Its size is flexible, he added. “It could be adapted from a pavilion to a working house, but right now it’s being planned for under 100 square meters,” or about 1,000 square feet.
This spherical greenhouse pavilion was designed by Sou Fujimoto of a material yet to be determined, though the architect did propose that inside, seats for people would perform double duty as pots for plants.
Gluckman Tang’s art pavilion is made from lacquered wood and translucent polycarbonate and will be offered in a range of colors. At just under 350 square feet, it can house a few artworks and several people. Or you might use it as a work studio or meditation space.
Eden is what Marcel Wanders, the Dutch designer, has called his house, which looks particularly Wanderesque because of the synthetic textile-clad columns. There’s a 645-square-foot one-bedroom model, with a deck that’s over 1,000 square feet; the two bedroom is under 1,000 square feet, with a nearly 1,200-square-foot deck.
Marmol Radziner, the California-based modernist architectural firm, has long been experimenting with prefab, having made 15 or 16 houses in their own shop, after Dwell magazine invited them to design a prefabricated house over a decade ago. For Revolution, said Ron Radziner, they presented a straightforward design modeled on projects they’ve already done with metal panels, aluminum doors and windows and timber floors. The basic one bedroom is just over 500 square feet; a two bedroom is over 1,000 square feet. This house comes furnished, with interiors by Kravitz Design
Ron Arad’s Armadillo tea pavilion is made from coated timber shells for outdoor use, and oiled hardwood, for indoor use. The basic configuration of five shells is just under 200 square feet.
The artist David Salle partnered with Aldo Andreoli, a principal of AA Studio in Brooklyn, to design a series of 12-by-24-foot modules with metal panels etched with work by Mr. Salle, a tilted roof for solar panels, a rain collection system and other energy-efficient designs.
The new company launched by developer and art collector Robbie Antonio unveiled its first collection of limited-edition designs for prefabricated homes and pavilions during Design Miami last week.
The design for the prefabricated Sphere Greenhouse pavilion, by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto
Revolution Precrafted aims to harness the benefits of prefabrication, which include low construction costs and build times, to make aspirational architecture more affordable and collectible.
“With a network of cutting-edge technologies and cost-efficient production systems, Revolution is democratising high-design and architecture by introducing designed spaces in exclusive collaboration with industry leading creatives,” said the company.
Tom Dixon’s prefabricated house design for Revolution Precrafted is called Block, and uses a scaffolding system that can be infilled with local materials
Among those who have created prefabricated house designs for Revolution Precrafted’s range are LA architect Marmol Radzinger, British designer Tom Dixon, and Dutch designer Marcel Wanders.
Eden, a prefabricated house design by Dutch designer Marcel Wanders, has glazed walls and a roof supported by fabric-wrapped columns
“The core appeal of prefabricated structures is the freedom from location and construction constraints; however, the result is often monotonous, homogenous design,” said the company.
“Revolution Precrafted Properties reinvent this model by creating unique, high-design spaces that transcend geographic borders and excite the senses.”
Architects Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumaker, created the Volu Dining Pavilion for the company, which was shown at the Design Miami fair.
Zaha Hadid and Patrick Schumacher’s Volu Dining Pavilion was shown at Design Miami
The clam-shell shaped structure is made from laser-cut and perforated steel surfaces, aluminium box sections and timber loops.
The prefabricated house design by artist David Salle with architects AA Studio also features extensive glazing
There are also pavilions by Brazilian design duo the Campana brothers, Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, German architect Jurgen Mayer H with Wallpaper magazine, LA architect Michael Maltzen, and Amsterdam architecture firm UNStudio.
The pavilions are expected to cost between $35,000 (£23,000) and $450,000 (£296,000), while the houses will start at $250,000 (£164,000), with the most expensive expected to exceed $450,000.
They are designed to be transportable should the owners wish to move them after they have been assembled, and are all between 50 and 250 square metres in size.
Salle’s own paintings will hang inside his prefabricated house design
Libeskind’s ReCreation Pavilion features a 3D-printed roof, which can be specified in custom colours and textures. According to the architect, the pavilion is intended as a creative refuge.
David Salle and AA Studio’s residence – called the Desert Art House – was inspired by the landscape of West Texas and offers unobstructed views out, with an open-air breezeway that separates the living areas from the bedroom. Two end walls feature digital prints of paintings by Salle.
Daniel Libeskind’s pavilion will be constructed by 3D printing the roof structure
Wanders’ prefab house is called the Eden Project. It features a large roof covering both indoor and outdoor living areas supported by columns wrapped in synthetic textiles which would be woven by artisans in whatever region the buyer chooses to place the home.
Sphere Greenhouse, by Sou Fujimoto, is designed to hold people and plants with seats that also serve as plant holders. The spherical design is meant to evoke the cosmos, according to Fujimoto.
The Model Art Pavilion by New York architects Gluckman Tang was also displayed at Design Miami
Block by Tom Dixon uses a kit of parts of stilts with metal infill panels. The interiors are covered entirely in cork, creating a contrasting softness compared with the rugged exterior.
The Model Art Pavilion by New York architects Gluckman Tang was also displayed at Design Miami. It is designed to fit in a shipping container and was conceived of as a transportable gallery with a tilted roof to protect the art from direct light.
Originally from the Phillippines, Robbie Antonio, 38, started off working for his father’s firm Century Properties before founding his own company in New York. He specialises in “super-luxury” developments and collaborations with famous architects and celebrities.
Gluckman Tang’s prefabricated pavilion is designed to fit inside a shipping crate and act as a portable art gallery
He also has a reputation as an art collector and has described his new company’s prefab structures as “bespoke, architectural collectibles”.
Revolution Precrafted intends to introduce additional designs at art and design events throughout 2016.
Revolution is a collection of limited-edition prefabricated living spaces including pavilions and homes, conceived by design and real estate developer Robbie Antonio in exclusive collaboration with more than 30 of the world’s preeminent architects, artists and designers. The pavilion series will launch at Design Miami/ 2015 with Zaha Hadid’s curved VOLU Pavilion and Gluckman Tang’s structured Model Art Pavilion. Each pavilion and home is individually imbued with its designer’s personal concept of spatial form and social function. Robbie Antonio has developed commercial, residential, cultural, and civic projects around the world with artists, architects, and designers. ETN Design is a new venture from prominent New York-based art dealer Edward Tyler Nahem.
Design Miami/ is the global forum for design. Each fair brings together the most influential collectors, gallerists, designers, curators and critics from around the world in celebration of design culture and commerce. Occurring alongside the Art Basel fairs in Miami, USA each December and Basel, Switzerland each June, Design Miami/ has become the premier venue for collecting, exhibiting, discussing and creating collectible design. For more information, please visit www.designmiami.com
