imm cologne

What do you need to create a proper feel-good oasis in your own four walls? Are laminate flooring, woodchip wallpaper and white half-curtains really the answer? Or are soft furnishings with different fabrics the solution, as seen in countries like England or France? This is the question Barbara Friedrich, editor-in-chief of  Architektur & Wohnen magazine, asks herself in her new special on textile furnishings. “Could it be,” she speculates, “that our idea of modern living has always favoured practical aspects over decorative considerations – and that we are unconsciously continuing this ‘tradition’?” And yet just three or four decades ago, thick carpets, roomy sectional sofas with fabric covers and heavy curtains were still the epitome of German Gemütlichkeit. weiterlesen…

Following London design team Doshi Levien’s successful launch of the new design event at the imm cologne 2012, the trade fair has nominated designer Luca Nichetto as its Guest of Honour for “Das Haus – Interiors on Stage 2013″. In his design, the Venetian focuses on solutions that are intended to enable occupants to live in direct contact with the plant world.

In Nichetto’s “Haus”, plants appear as an integral element of the architecture and interior design: in specially created pots, they adorn not just the walls of the façades, the louver-like structure of which is dotted with transparent gaps and spaces for plants; inside too, they take on specific functions that improve the indoor climate. In the form of big plant pools, planted courtyards and integrated terraces, they fill the interior with greenery, allowing its architecture to stage the interplay between indoors and outside.

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There are often close links between forward-looking architecture and the art of engineering, as can be seen at the Baden-Württemberg Regional Garden Show in Nagold. On just 39 square metres of space, the Functionality Cube created by Berlin designer Werner Aisslinger in collaboration with Häfele combines the essential usages of living, cooking, eating, working and sleeping in an elegant yet highly functional piece of architecture. The cube is open to the public until 7^thOctober 2012.

The building, which is glazed all the way round, seeks to unite indoors and outdoors in unique fashion. The interior is bathed in light and provides an unobstructed view of the parkland and the historic centre of Nagold, expressing the motto of this year’s garden show, “Green Urbanity”, in a synthesis of interior lifestyle, the city and nature.

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The days when the bathroom was a separate space and spent its lonely existence in isolation from the rest of the home are long since gone. The bathroom has meanwhile become living space in its own right, a veritable wellness oasis – and thus an elementary component of modern architecture. Rather than ignoring the bathroom, interior decorators and architects are now incorporating it into their plans on an equal footing with the kitchen and living room. Bathroom furnishing concepts are becoming increasingly varied and individual: when it comes to our personal sense of well-being, we all have our own standards and expectations – which can vary considerably depending on our life stage and situation. There is a growing demand for consistent room concepts that go beyond the scope of individual products and pure functionality. weiterlesen…

Layouts are loosening up, architecture is becoming more open, various areas of the home – like the bathroom and bedroom – are growing together. But bedrooms themselves are still dominated by massive, overpowering wardrobes that stifle any hint of lightness. Holzmanufaktur is trying to counteract this with a clear design vocabulary and subtle contours.

Holzmanufaktur’s Plan B is still pretty big – between 200 and 400 cm wide and 220 or 240 cm high. weiterlesen…

No architecture, no interiors: time and time again, it is outstanding architectural works that have a decisive influence on innovative interior concepts. For as preferences with regard to contemporary buildings change, our interior design tastes naturally change as well. A look at building styles in the private sector shows that changes in certain conditions can result in entire room concepts changing.

Whereas there used to be a very clear separation between the living room, dining room and kitchen, for instance, the desire for spacious, loft-like layouts has led to the current “live-in kitchen” megatrend. As a global trend barometer for modern living, the imm cologne 2012 will therefore be offering visitors various “Architektouren” in and around Cologne in addition to the wide range of products on show in the halls of the exhibition centre.

Koelnmesse’s idea of organising excursions to the architectural masterpieces of various epochs all the way to the modern era got off to a very successful start at the imm cologne 2011. In fact, the concept was so successful that the tour programme for 2012 is even more extensive. For when it comes to internationally renowned architecture, Cologne certainly has plenty to offer.

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The reason modernist architecture is so topical again today is that – perhaps for the first time ever – it is compatible with many people’s desire for open living spaces, a more flexible organisation of their lives and aesthetics with a bearing on the present. Today we want to live the way Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier proposed.

But also the way Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien depict in their installation for “Das Haus – Interiors on Stage” at imm cologne 2012 (16.-22.01.2012) in Cologne: in an individual, lively home with cultural echoes. In a house that permits privacy and publicness, that connects the kitchen, eating and working zones, family and friends, areas of retreat and shared wellness experiences in an individual way.

The conventions that shape the way we live are changing along with our lifestyles, and architecture is enabling a growing number of people to try out new ways of living. The elimination of room boundaries and walls, the new desire for cosiness and the longing for more nature in the house are giving rise to a host of new possibilities for interior design. Today, anybody that wants to build a house for contemporary living needs more than a floor plan – he needs a concept.

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Anglo-Indian designer couple Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien will be creating a large-scale interior design installation at the imm cologne 2012. In the midst of the planning phase for “Das Haus – Interiors on Stage”, they talked to us at their London studio about their vision of individual forms of living, merging spaces and organically evolved houses.

Their design is a collection of interweaving functional spaces, rather like a collage of real architecture, different cultures and original imaginings. An interior perspective.

The brief for “Das Haus” is to create an artificial living situation in accordance with your own very personal wishes. Can you actually imagine a house in the middle of the trade fair?
Nipa Doshi: At the outset of the project we started thinking that our idea of a perfect house doesn’t actually depend on the object itself so much as on its surroundings. We want the house to capture a feeling. It’s located in the context of the fair, so we didn’t want a house that feels as if it’s standing by itself in the countryside. Instead, we imagine it as part of the socio-economic neighbourhood, as part of a community. We’re not thinking of a place with houses and beautiful gardens, but of a place with shops and workshops, a house full of life. The house isn’t in a residential area, it’s located in an urban context.

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People spend a considerable amount of time in their lives waiting. And especially waiting in traffic – for the train to pass, the traffic jam to break up or the red light to change.

Back in 2007, this waiting at traffic lights inspired office furniture specialists Vitra to launch a series of exhibitions. For a period of three weeks, six renowned architectural firms are invited to use the Frankfurt showroom to stage experimental installations in a space-consuming scenography inspired by the following question: How can dynamism, standstill and motion be translated into striking form? And while the traffic lights on the busy Gutleutstrasse thoroughfare are red, passing motorists are meant to become participants in the exhibition, at least for a brief moment. weiterlesen…

Austro-American architect Richard Neutra (born 1892 in Vienna, died 1970 in Wuppertal), one of the most important representatives of “classic Modernism”, was best known for his houses in Southern California. His designs combined light metal structures with stucco elements to create light, pervious ensembles, which he embedded with great sensitivity in carefully arranged gardens and landscapes.

For the first time ever architectural projects will be shown that he realized in Europe in his 10 final creative years (1960 – 1970) at MARTa Herford. He created eight villas, four in Switzerland, three in Germany and one in France. Prominent clients in this period included publisher of the ZEIT newspaper Gerd Bucerius but also figures from commerce and science. And for the first time seven unrealized projects will be documented, which were only discovered in the artist’s estate during research work for this exhibition – for example, a competition entry for the theater Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf.

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