Ben van Berkel is the Co-founder UNStudio, he studied architecture at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and at the Architectural Association in London, receiving the AA Diploma with Honours in 1987. His first projects were built almost immediately after founding Van Berkel & Bos Architectuur Bureau. Among the buildings of this first period are Karbouw, the Remu electricity station, and Villa Wilbrink. Being elected to design the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam (1996) profoundly affected his understanding of the role of the architect today and constituted the foundation of his collaborative approach to practising, leading to the foundation of UNStudio in 1999. He is currently Professor of Conceptual Design and head of the architecture department at the Staedelschule in Frankfurt am Main (Germany).
Villa NM
In the design for this single family house the sloping site is used as a device for programmatic and volumetric organization. A box-like volume bifurcates into two separate volumes; one seamlessly following the northern slope; the other lifted above the hill creating a covered parking space and generating a split-level internal organization. The volumetric transition is generated by a set of five parallel walls that rotate along a horizontal axis from vertical to horizontal. The ruled surface maintaining this transition is repeated five times in the building. From inside the huge window strips from floor to ceiling allow a fluid continuity between interior and landscape. From the exterior the reflective glass seams to become one with its surroundings.
www.unstudio.com
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Christophe Pillet Graduated from the Decorative Arts School in Nice in 1985, Master of Domus Academy, Milano, in 1986. He worked with Martine Bedin in Milano for two years (1986-1988). He started his own agency in 1993 and has been working independently ever since. His first furniture were produced by XO in 1991. He now engages in many fields: product and furniture design, interior decoration, architecture, scenography and artistic direction.
Christophe Pillet
He creates furniture and objects for Cappellini, Daum, JC Decaux, Driade, Ecart International, L’Oréal, Lacoste, Moroso, Porro, Renault, Serralunga, Shiseido, Shu Uemura, Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, Whirlpool… He also realises interior architecture for boutiques, hotels and restaurants such as the very hip Hotel Sezz in Paris.
www.christophepillet.com
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Michael Young (1966) is a British-born designer who works from studios in Brussels and Reykjavik to create technically rigorous, but always humorous products and furniture. In 1994 Young opened his own studio in London and a second space in the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik, which became his home. He has since developed products and furniture for such manufacturers as Cappellini, Magis and Rosenthal as well as interior projects for the Astro Bar nightclub in Reykjavik and the Mandarina Duck store in Berlin as well as completing an architectural project in Taipei. He now divides his time between Reykjavik and his studio in Brussels. He recently presented new works for British company Established and Sons in Milan along side luminaries such Zaha Hadid and Future Systems.
Skin
Skin is a new cosmetic surgery in Florence, Italy, designed by Michael Young and Katrin Olina.The interior, a conversion of an old building, is in the historic Borgo San Jacopo district in central Florence, between the Ponte Vecchio and Santa Trinita bridges.Young designed the interior and Olina created the artwork and decorative surfaces, which make extensive use of Corian.
www.michael-young.com
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