For us, that has mostly been a good thing, but the convenience has come with a lot of downsides — especially for other species. A new exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg in Germany examines our fascination with artificial light and the negative effects associated with its permanent and excessive use. Entitled “Power! Light!,” the exhibition features over 80 works of light art by 60 internationally renowned artists, each one offering enlightenment about issues like light pollution, environmental side effects, and even the ways in which light can be used politically.

Curators Andreas Beitin and Holger Broeker and junior curators Elena Engelbrechter and Regine Epp have brought together works that address how light is used to offer social space and protection or showcase people and objects, but also to monitor, manipulate, exclude, and even destroy. Light has also enabled incredible global economic and cultural development, and led to the destruction of nature.

The museum’s official website explains: “Current issues surrounding ecology are addressed in works of light art such as Nana Petzet’s “Light Trap Hamburg” (2015/2018), which focuses on the mass decline of insect populations. With the help of an algorithm, Daniel Canogar’s “Troposphere” (2017) translates data of global environmental phenomena and natural disasters into abstract color animations. The extent to which we are all trained and manipulated by advertising is demonstrated by Monica Bonvicini’s aesthetic and yet forbidding neon sign “NOT FOR YOU” (2006), as well as by Daniel Pflumm’s light boxes, in which it is unmistakable, even without the company lettering, which firm is behind the brightly colored message.”

“Questions regarding romanticism, happiness, and utopias arise in Lori Hersberger’s “Sunset 164” (2006), in which colorful neon arches feign an eternal sunset — a state that is neither day nor night and quickly ends in the beauty of mere superficial appearance. And do you remember the last time you looked up at a clear, star-filled sky? Siegrun Appelt’s installation, created especially for the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, draws attention to the widespread light pollution by allowing light to be physically experienced in an extremely concentrated form.”

Other works include Gregor Schneider’s “High Security and Isolation Cell No.2” (2005), an interactive experience referencing permanent exposure to a light source as a form of torture, and Warren Neidich’s neon installation “Pizzagate Neon” (2016), addressing the politically motivated fake news scandal in which conspiracy theorists accused Hillary Clinton and other democrats of running a child sex trafficking ring out of the non-existent basement of a Washington, D.C., pizza parlor. Artists displaying works also include Olafur Eliasson, Maja Bajevic, Damien Hirst, Lori Hersberger, Tatsuo Miyajima, and more.

Power! Light! will be on display through July 10th, 2022. Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg is a contemporary art museum and cultural center established in 1994 known for its extensive collections, beautiful glass-roofed space, and Japanese garden.

The post Light Art Gets Political at Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg’s New 60-Artist Exhibition in Germany first appeared on Dornob.

His latest is yet another tea house/treehouse amalgamation, blackened on the outside in a traditional Japanese process called “yakisugi.” The wood is intentionally charred to carbonize it, giving it natural protection against insects and weather and a dramatically crackled appearance. Simultaneously, the structure’s curving shape, pointed roof, and rounded windows lend a bit of softness to the effect.

A narrow 19-step metal staircase leads to the entrance. Inside, a U-shaped wooden bench wraps around a table used for tea ceremonies. Irregular cutouts in the oak-paneled walls reveal gridded leaded glass windows, adding to the organic and seemingly sentient qualities of the house with an effect that’s almost like eyes.

The Ein Stein House’s (“One Stone House”) location is almost as notable as its architecture, standing on Europe’s first permanent NATO missile base, Hombroich Rocket Station, which was abandoned before being purchased in 1994 by art collector Karl Heinrich Müller for use as a museum and outdoor art gallery.

The Museum Insel Hombroich, set in the German town of Neuss in North Rhine-Westphalia, features over 62 acres of meadows and woods. Now dotted with a collection of outdoor installations, the property was once so secretive that Neuss wasn’t even noted on maps, guarding stored warheads for cruise missiles and rockets. When he renovated and adapted the site, Müller wanted to embrace its history while infusing it with art and culture, leaving the storage facilities, hangars, observation tower, and bomb-shelter systems in place.

A description of the project on architecture site Metalocus explains that the “stone tea house and other architectures were developed together with the Japanese architect. The selection of projects focuses on the tea houses he has planned, in particular the Ein Stein tea house designed for the Hombroich rocket station and its creation. The tea houses — like other buildings and furniture shown — are shaped by the use of natural materials and their relationship to the surrounding landscape.”

“Karl Heinrich Müller, the founder of Museum Insel Hombroich, was particularly interested in the tea ceremony and in objects and works of art from the context of this centuries-old tradition. The foundation’s collection includes numerous tea bowls and other vessels that were used in ceremonies. A selection not previously shown will be exhibited.”

Inside the converted rocket station building on the grounds of the museum, visitors can take in the rest of the “Ein Stein Tea House and Other Architectures” exhibition, which features large black and white murals of Fujimori’s other works and an exploration of Fujimori’s creative process. The natural components of “Ein Stein House” are also highlighted, enabling a close examination of the “yakisugi” siding and the logs used to support the structure.

The post Terunobu Fujimori’s New Tea House Built on a Disused Missile Base first appeared on Dornob.

Even if you don’t mind their dramatic shapes and extensive use of rather unforgiving materials, it’s hard to deny that Brutalist structures don’t exactly age well. The concrete used to create many of them started to crumble within decades, and today, they’re commonly stained, gray behemoths surrounded by buildings in clashing styles. Many of them have already been demolished, or are at least in danger of being lost. But could more of them be salvaged with simple makeovers, even in places where they’re despised?

German architecture firm J. Mayer H. answers this question with “Casa Morgana,” a reimagining of a former Brutalist building in the north of Germany. The blocky home previously had a severe, gloomy feel that was out of step with its lush surroundings. Joining it with that greenery was the first and most important element of its transformation.

The firm hired landscape architect Tita Giese to pull some of that vitality into the structure itself with new gardens full of bamboo, palm trees, and ivy. The result almost makes it feel like an ancient, secret temple accidentally discovered on a long trek through the jungle.

“Casa Morgana is somewhere else,” say the architects. “Surrounded by neighboring homes dating from the late nineteenth century, the building is like an abstract volumetric study for a potential building and seems to have fallen out of context. Surrounding nature simulates a subtropical oasis and locates the residential sculpture between optical disturbance and atmospheric displacement.”

“The three-story building consists formally of several differently-sized cubes placed at staggered levels on top of one another, connected by a central stairway. The existing building from 1972 and its annexes from 1991 were reduced to their shells and then retaken with targeted interventions: not as a cosmetic makeover, but as a location that distills and continues the archaic and brutalist aesthetic from the time of the building’s original emergence.”

The house is still indisputably Brutalist, but it’s been nicely adapted to the needs and preferences of contemporary times. The architects partially removed some ceilings and walls to create staggered floors and different room heights, allowing the house to slowly unfold in surprising ways as you move through it.

Mirrored walls, speckled terrazzo surfaces, and shimmering metallic accents play with the concrete instead of working against it, brightening it up all throughout. Enormous operable glass doors eliminate some of the barriers between inside and out, as do the concrete elements that continue out into the yard. They also cleaned up the concrete surfaces to give them a bit of a facelift.

Obviously, a home like this still isn’t for everyone, even after its transformation. But perhaps, in the hands of J. Mayer H., it can help persuade more people to give Brutalist buildings a second chance — regardless of whether they think they’re wonders or blunders.

The post Casa Morgana: Brutalist German Home Transformed with Plants first appeared on Dornob.

A recent renovation of the St. Moritz Church in Augsburg, Germany illustrates the contemporary development of a religious institution in a particularly poignant form. The structure’s history is remarkable—one of the oldest parishes in the town, it was founded in 1019 in honor of the patron saint of St. Moritz, survived a fire in 1084 and a partial collapse in 1299.

Over the next four centuries, it was rebuilt several times, gaining a bell tower, Gothic details, a square tower and a dome. In 1715, the church was entirely reconstructed in magnificent Baroque style, but most of its newly embellished interior was destroyed by bombs on February 24 and 25, 1944. The tower and external walls remained intact, and the interiors underwent a series of changes and expansions throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

Eventually, the parish decided they wanted St. Moritz to be reborn once again, this time with the needs of the future in mind. London-based architect and designer John Pawson was commissioned to redesign it with “clarity” and “minimalism” as primary goals.

Completed between 2008 and 2013, the result is nothing less than stunning. With cleaner lines, brilliant natural light and a studied contrast of dark and light, the new interiors offer an updated perspective on what a church can look like, drawing a line between past, present and future.

“The church of St Moritz has been through many changes since its foundation nearly a thousand years ago,” says Pawson. “Devastating fires, changes in liturgical practice, aesthetic evolution and wartime bombing have each left their mark on the fabric of the building. The purpose of this latest intervention has been to retune the existing architecture, from aesthetic, functional and liturgical perspectives, with considerations of sacred atmosphere always at the heart of the project.”

“The work has involved the meticulous paring away of selected elements of the church’s complex fabric and the relocation of certain artifacts, to achieve a clearer visual field. Drawing on existing forms and elements of vocabulary, an architectural language has evolved that is recognizable in subtle ways as something new, yet has no jarring foreign elements.”

Callbacks to the church’s storied past are all around, from the grand proportions to the elegant statuary. They’ve been pared back just enough to allow them to shine against the gallery-like backdrop of white, giving them an even greater sense of importance.

Dark-stained pews anchor the space, and the Portuguese limestone that makes up the floors and pulpit is echoed in the frame of each window, where thin slices diffuse the sunlight to produce an ethereal effect.

Outside, the church retains its Baroque appearance—tower, buttresses and all. Inside, it’s a whole new world of simple lines and dazzling light. Balancing respect for the past with hope for the future, this modern renovation feels like a testament to the resilience of history in an ever-changing world.

The post Minimalist St. Mauritz: German Church Gets a Modern Makeover first appeared on Dornob.

While Thomas Edison might have created some of the first carbon fibers in history while experimenting with light bulb filaments in 1879, the modern form of the material dates back to the 1950s. Today, it’s an ideal medium for industrial robots, who are capable of weaving it into extremely complex shapes.

Offering a beautiful example of what that can look like is the BUGA Fibre Pavilion by the Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD) and the Institute for Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE) at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. Displayed at the Bundesgartenschau Heilbronn horticultural show, the pavilion is both computationally designed and robotically fabricated.

The researchers chose to display the pavilion in this public venue in the hope of making more people aware of what carbon fiber can do when paired with emerging robotic technologies, which could help push updates to building codes. But even to have them included in the show, the researchers had to go through a full building application approval procedure in Germany.

The pavilion features more than 150,000 meters of glass and carbon fibers woven around a central framework, which is then fully enclosed by a transparent ETFE membrane. Altogether, it’s about five times lighter than a more conventional steel structure of the same size.

The design team explains: “Embedded in the wavelike landscape of the Bundesgartenschau grounds, the BUGA Fibre Pavilion offers visitors an astounding architectural experience and a glimpse of future construction. It builds on many years of biomimetic research in architecture at the Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD) and the Institute for Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE) at the University of Stuttgart.”

“This globally unique structure is not only highly effective and exceptionally lightweight, but it also provides a distinctive yet authentic architectural expression and an extraordinary spatial experience. The BUGA Fibre Pavilion aims to transfer the biological principle of load-adapted and thus highly differentiated fiber composite systems into architecture. Manmade composites, such as the glass- or carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics that were used for this building, are ideally suited for such an approach because they share their fundamental characteristics with natural composites.”

Shown alongside the BUGA Fibre Pavilion was the BUGA Wood Pavilion, which features biomimetic lightweight construction made of segmented wooden shells inspired by the plate skeletons of sea urchins. Because of the way that the pavilion’s 376 custom hollow wooden segments fit together into a massive three-dimensional puzzle, the creators were able to use a lighter and smaller amount of material than usual to produce a larger span.

Industrial robots prefabricated all of the pavilion’s segments within a single compact manufacturing unit, and the pavilion was assembled by just two craftspeople without requiring any scaffolding or formwork. All of the components were designed to be disassembled and reused at a different site.

“Drawing a line from traditional carpentry to high-tech robotic fabrication methods, the BUGA Wood Pavilion showcases the possibilities for efficient, economical, ecological, and expressive wood architecture that arises at the intersection of master craft, digital innovation, and scientific research.”

The post Future Gardens: High-Tech Horticultural Pavilions Made of Carbon Fiber first appeared on Dornob.

For hundreds of years now, audiences have been entertained by live acts in which elephants, tigers, monkeys, and other wild animals perform amazing tricks. But behind the scenes of these dazzling displays, circus animals are typically confined in cages under inhumane conditions, underfed, deprived of their natural environments, and trained using extreme “discipline” with whips and electrical prods. It’s the 21st century, and it’s beyond time for us to move past such practices. Thankfully, some major circuses are beginning to do exactly that — with performances that are more delightful than ever before.

Circus Roncalli, a German company that’s been touring Europe since 1979, recently decided to transition to modern techniques to showcase their talents. Instead of opening their show of acrobatics and other impressive displays with live animal exhibitions, they’re employing larger-than-life holograms. The interactive digital show represents the final step in the company’s efforts to phase animals out of their shows altogether, and the results are nothing short of magnificent.

Though the change was implemented in 2018, Roncalli’s decision is enjoying a new wave of appreciation and enthusiasm from the public thanks to a recent Reddit thread. In a video capturing one performance, the ringmaster greets spectators before the three-dimensional display of shimmering lights makes its debut.

Horses, elephants, gargantuan goldfish, and other creatures appear before the audience with 360-degree visibility, completely filling the 105-foot-wide, 16-foot-deep arena. The effects are created using a crew of 15 3D designers and software engineers, 11 laser beams, and more than 3,000 processes, reports IFLScience. As usual, the animals open the show for an array of human performers.

“The new circus leads us into a new age,” says Max Schautzer, who performs in the show. “Unfortunately, the ‘old’ circus has gotten a bit dusty, but this is how the circus can remain alive.”

Not only does this shift eliminate cruelty to animals in Circus Roncalli’s productions, it saves them a lot of money, too. Though it’s unclear how much the holographic display costs the company, it was previously paying up to $90,000 to transport animals during a single trip in 2016, according to Smithsonian Magazine.

The trend might just catch on as other circuses phase out the use of live animals, which means countless wild creatures would be freed from a life of stress and pain.

“Today, seven American states and 149 cities, towns, and counties have implemented restrictions on the use of wild animals in circuses, according to the animal welfare group Four Paws,” says Smithsonian Magazine. “Just last year, New Jersey and Hawaii enacted statewide bans on animal circus acts, and globally, more than 40 countries have placed restrictions or bans on animal performances.”

Unsurprisingly, reactions to Circus Roncalli’s revolutionary choice to use holographic animals in its performances have been overwhelmingly positive. It also seems like holograms would be an amazing way to bring extinct animals back to life without risking any Jurassic Park-style consequences, or even to show off mythological creatures.

On Instagram, one user said “Let’s keep it real, I expect dragons! You guys need to make this happen.”

The post Cruelty-Free Circus in Germany Uses Holograms Instead of Live Animals first appeared on Dornob.

Created in bus form by SAVVY Contemporary for the 100th anniversary of Bauhaus, this small-scale clone of the original Dessau Bauhaus building’s workshop wing contains both a 15-square-meter apartment and an exhibition space. But this project, entitled Spinning Triangles, represents much more than just a centennial celebration. Its intention is to dive into how Bauhaus became not just a solution, but also a problem, spreading and imposing Western concepts of modernity all around the world.

First, a quick background. Founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar, Germany in 1919 as a new type of art that made no distinction between form and function, Bauhaus relocated to Dessau and took on a bold form of its own to reflect its distinct values, housing workshops within a three-story wing with glass curtain wall facades. Establishing its architecture department in 1927, the school operated in Dessau until 1932, when it was forced to close by the Nazi Party, at which point it moved to Berlin under new director Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The original school facility was bombed during World War II and only fully restored in the 1990s.

The experimental school didn’t just spawn an architectural style and philosophy — it practically defined what modernity looks like globally as its professors and visionaries left Germany, taking their ideas with them wherever they went. As people from Northern and Western cultures sought to “civilize” developing countries, the Bauhaus aesthetic arguably uprooted and replaced those of many native cultures, increasingly forcing indigenous peoples to ignore their own values and ideas along the way.

Founded by Berlin-based architect Van Bo Le-Mentzel, the Spinning Triangles group hopes to use the Bauhaus bus to develop a new collective interpretation of the school’s teachings alongside people from those colonized nations. The bus will travel between Dessau, Kinshasa, Berlin, and Hong Kong, inviting guests to “question the complex heritage of modernity.”

The team adds: “Five ‘masters’ will export this ‘school’ to Berlin, where forty students will learn and unlearn, presuming nonchalantly that it may not be the South that needs development but the North. Regular open school days and a continuous program with invited guest lecturers allow the participation of the public. Thus, words and actions aim to challenge and transform Bauhaus traditions and narratives of modernity and modernism.”

“Design has power. It creates our environments, our interactions, our being in the world. For too long, practices and narratives from the global South have been kept at the periphery of the design discourse, been ignored altogether, or appropriated. This needs to change. And it can only do so if we start with new forms of learning and unlearning, that may perhaps actually be very old, but have certainly been overheard for far too long.”

It’s a worthy cause, and the “Wohnsmaschine” Bauhaus bus is certainly a wonder in its own right, particularly in the way it scaled down the entire facade of the original building to the size of a tiny house.

The post Bauhaus Bus Takes Iconic Architecture on the Road first appeared on Dornob.

The Grab Watering Can — Northern

This slick watering can was designed by the Norwegian studio Northern, who enlisted the help of designer Stine Aas to reimagine this everyday object as part of their newly-launched homeware collection. “Grab” is more cylindrical in shape than a typical can, and its spout has been fashioned into a completely separate piece that attaches at the base as opposed to extending out from the lower part of the can itself. Since Grab has been designed to be so tall and slender, it can easily be picked up and used without a handle. Its coloring has been kept decidedly muted, with yellow, purple, and green options available to the general public.

Light Now, Vol. 1 — Pulpo

German lighting manufacturer Pulpo showcased a new lighting collection at this year’s IMM Cologne, including a striking feature lamp entitled “Magma.” The lamp consists of two parts: a heavy bottom block and an oval-shaped lighting fixture. The base is crafted from ceramic covered in lava, while the fixture itself is made from hand blown-glass sprayed with a metallic matte finish. The contrast between the heaviness and geometry of the base and the lightness and general abstraction of the lamp makes for a one-of-a-kind domestic light fitting.

Blush Pendant Lamp — Morten & Jonas

This hanging pendant lamp was designed by Morten Skjærpe Knarrum and Jonas Norheim from Norway’s own Morten & Jonas. It has a very autumnal feel, having been finished in a comforting terracotta brown. On top of that, its silhouette is refined, with a long thin neck leading down to a semi-circular sphere for the shade.

Souvenir Drawers — Schönbuch

Designed by Sebastian Herkner for German brand Schönbuch, these drawers are unequivocally inspired by 1950s office furniture and trolleys, as defined by their crisp, clean lines and sophisticated air. They’re made from lacquered MDF and use miter joints to achieve their razor-sharp aesthetic. The drawers are also available in a range of subtle colors, from dusty blue and emerald green to pale pink.

Nocturnal Beasts — Yohay Alush

Depending on how you interact with it, this amazing contraption can function as a fireplace or a full-blown music speaker. Made out of metal and concrete, the multipurpose “Nocturnal Beasts” unit even acts as a heated bench for users to sit on once they fill the metal “fireplace” with kindling. When its unique “Pedal” function is engaged, the unit becomes an out-of-this-world lighting fixture. Set up in the right house, it seems like it could provide a fun feature for the whole family.

The post Our Favorite Designs from This Year’s IMM Cologne first appeared on Dornob.

In September 2018, that reality finally arrived, right on time and on schedule in northern Germany. Quietly embarking on a 62-mile journey at 87 mph between four towns (Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremervoerde and Buxtehude), the Coradia iLint is now officially the world’s first operational hydrogen train. The train can carry up to 300 passengers, is fueled up with hydrogen at the Bremervoerde station, and marks the first of 14 more trains Alstom plans to add to the fleet by 2021. The current contract for the energy supply and maintenance of these trains goes until 2047.

The creation of the Coradia iLint represents Alstom’s commitment to being a leader in clean mobility — which is exactly why countries like Canada, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, and France are considering getting the company to build hydrogen trains for them, too. France wants the trains running in their system by as early as 2022. Eventually, countries want to replace their entire stock of carbon dioxide-emitting diesel trains with electric models. In Germany, where the Coradia iLint is currently running, there are still over 4,000 diesel-powered trains in operation.

As successful as Coradia iLint has been, it is still only a small success story, and we should take care not to get too ahead of reality. As much as countries would like to jump on the hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) train right away, there are a couple issues with the technology that are preventing its widespread adoption. For example, battery technology would have to advance significantly for trains to travel more than 600 miles before recharging. Right now, it travels 62 miles in northern Germany, but can they travel longer distances across multiple borders? Then there’s the weight issue, which prevents most existing trains from being retrofitted to run on hydrogen. If countries are seriously considering hydrogen trains, they need to understand that a lighter fleet will be required. In Toronto, where the regional transit agency runs a fleet of bilevel trains, the massive costs of converting the system into a hydrogen-based one has already raised concerns. It would cost the transit agency over $13 billion Canadian dollars to purchase just 70 hydrogen locomotives and 84 sets of four hydrogen carriages.

Although the initial cost of hydrogen-powered trains is the main thing people fear, those same trains are cheaper to maintain than their diesel-powered counterparts, making them good investments in the long run. But as is the case with every other form of clean energy, too many stakeholders are failing to look beyond the setup costs. Nevertheless, the industry shift has to start somewhere, even if it is only a small one. That’s what makes the Coradia iLint’s debut a notable event. It forces other transit companies and countries to examine their own systems for the use of clean-energy technologies. Once it’s been in action for a couple of years and the benefits begin to accrue, hydrogen trains will probably start working in your area, too.

The post Why the World’s First Hydrogen Train is Well Ahead of the Curve first appeared on Dornob.

Here, we break down three of the director’s most extraordinary film sets to prove that you too can transform your home into an Oscar-worthy environment.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

In 2015, Anderson won four Oscars (including Best Director) for his vibrant and sumptuous portrayal of art nouveau Germany in The Grand Budapest Hotel. The hotel — which looks like everything else conjured up in Wes’ wild imagination — is actually a real place called Görlitzer Warenhaus, one of the oldest and best preserved department stores in all of Germany. All of the scenes that took place indoors were in fact shot within the walls of this incredible building, though the candy pink façade was an Anderson addition.

In the film, we see vivid red interiors, art deco prints, and vibrant textured surfaces of plush velvet and marble. If you’re looking for a similar retro-inspired aesthetic, consider using a bold purple, red, or raspberry feature wall to bring your living room to life. Decorate the room with opulent gold fixtures, frames, and accents. When it comes to anything Anderson, quirky is key, so don’t be afraid to use clashing prints, multiple textures, and strange antiques to add character to your living space.

Stores like Anthropologie have lots of fixtures and furniture pieces that are both whimsical and trendy, though we understand that designer luxuries aren’t always in everyone’s budget. If that’s the case for you, try out a couple of DIY hacks! Take a stroll down to your local thrift shop, pick up some old bargain cabinets/drawers, and spray paint them metallic for a look of vintage affluence.

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

With a knock-out cast consisting of Gwyneth Paltrow, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Ben Stiller, and Bill Murray, this classic cult film about a dysfunctional American family of geniuses won eight awards for its on-screen brilliance. Iconic for its 70s aesthetic (especially the Fendi fur coat worn by Paltrow’s character Margot Tenenbaum), the set flourished in retro prints and palettes of red, brown, and beige. Consider the dark wood and the crookedness of the library, the magenta walls of the ballroom, and the abundance of framed portraits hanging from the home’s other bright walls.

Mustard-colored curtains clash with raspberry tones, and a gold rococo sofa provides the perfect contrast for that rustic yet flamboyant visual Anderson is so acclaimed for.

The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

Like many of Anderson’s movies, The Darjeeling Limited was full of radiant brights. In this case, those hues helped capture the colourful essence of Indian culture. The spice-colored train fuses vivid orange shades with blue to form a delicious, rich backdrop for three estranged brothers to visit their mother, who herself resides in a convent on the other side of India.

Consider creating a living space inspired by the tiles, ceramic prints, and otherworldly nostalgia of The Darjeeling Limited train interior. Find old leather suitcases from secondhand stores and stack them up for cool-looking storage units, or create a coffee table from upturned wooden containers to give the room an ethereal and eclectic theme that will ignite your passion for travel.

The post How to Make Your Home Look like the Set of a Wes Anderson Film first appeared on Dornob.

Not many brands live to to see their 333rd birthday, and in 2016, Gaggenau celebrated in fine form with a stunning pop-up restaurant in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood. German designer Hendrik Müller transformed an art gallery into an immersive dining experience for 48 lucky guests, with fine cuisine crafted by three-Michelin-starred chef Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park, NoMad New York, and NoMad Los Angeles. In May 2018, the award-winning team reconvened, bringing the immersive installation to a warehouse in Los Angeles in even bigger and more dramatic form.

Named for the year of Gaggenau’s founding, Restaurant 1683 brings a little bit of Black Forest mystery to L.A.’s fashion district. Strategic lighting illuminates the branches of full-scale 22-foot trees glittering with faux snow, each one planted in a mirrored island for the effect of a winter forest glowing under the moon. Little wooden structures appear like houses in the background, offering intimate dining areas where guests can feast on spring garlic custard, foie gras, snails grilled with morel mushrooms and ramps, and chicken roasted with nettles and new potatoes.

Six of these stations are set within the black-painted space, each one manned by a crew with significant culinary credentials and outfitted with Gaggenau’s signature luxury kitchen appliances. An ambient soundtrack of running water and bird calls plays from between mosses and ferns as models in traditional dress act out the automated movements of a cuckoo clock. Though many parts of the installation were made in Germany and shipped to Los Angeles, others were constructed onsite by Hollywood set designers, like the hollow plywood trees coated in rubber bark.

Reservations to attend the three-night spectacle were auctioned off for Operation Smile, a charity benefitting children with cleft conditions. Though this iteration of the installation may be over, Restaurant 1683 will be back. Gaggenau says it plans to recreate the installation in new locations in the future.

“In 1683, shrouded deep in the mystery of the Black Forest, a single nail was drawn to a perfectly even taper, forging 333 years of luxury craftsmanship. Cultivating the abundant ore deposits of the Murgtal Valley, the ringing of hammer and wrought iron brought with it the dawn of the industrial age. Savored over three centuries, Gaggenau continues to create the finest luxury appliances in the world.”

“Restaurant 1683 is a three-century journey, from hand-forged beginnings to the pinnacle of culinary luxury,” the company explains. “Greeted by an unprecedented legacy of innovation, guests are swept through the centuries with the sensorial exhilaration of a fully immersive culinary experience that reflects the precision only Gaggenau provides.”

The post Dining in the Black Forest: Immersive Themed Restaurant Pops Up in a Los Angeles Warehouse first appeared on Dornob.

Germany is hoping to run on 100 percent renewable energy by 2050, and it looks like it’s well on its way to achieving that goal. Measured daily, the average percentage throughout 2016 was around 35, but on that particular day, it soared up to 87 thanks to the weather conditions. It just goes to show you what’s possible when governments work to phase out fossil fuel reliance, and with any luck, this unexpected windfall (pun intended) could inspire other countries to follow Germany’s lead. Onshore wind turbines accounted for nearly one third of Germany’s power production by the end of June 2017, and new installations are expected to increase that figure by another nine percent this year.

“We have a greater share of renewable energy every year,” says Christoph Podewils, spokesperson of the clean energy think-tank Agora. “The power system adapted to this quite nicely. This day shows that a system with large amounts of renewable energy works fine.”

The German government is expected to reveal how it plans to reach its lofty 100 percent renewable energy goal — and cut carbon dioxide emissions by 95 percent — over the next few months. Coal still accounts for about 40 percent of the country’s electricity, and though Germany is working to eliminate dependence on nuclear power, some plants are still operating there. But since production at those plants can’t be halted so easily, the power companies in charge of them were temporarily forced to sell electricity at a loss. Unfortunately, it wasn’t everyday residential companies that benefitted from the boon, but large industrial ones like refineries and foundries.

In the neighboring country of Denmark, an overabundance of renewable energy has been a reality for a while now. Like many other countries, it began subsidizing wind power in the 1980s as fear of global warming became more widespread. Unlike other countries, however, Denmark succeeded in making it a viable industry, while the rest failed largely because of prioritized research and development budgets and their tough stances on eliminating nuclear power plants. In 2015, Denmark set a world record by producing 42 percent of its electricity from wind turbines. Like Germany, Denmark also experienced an unusually windy day back then, in which it was able to meet 140 percent of its electricity demand exclusively with wind turbines. They later sold the excess power to Sweden, Norway, and Germany.

In terms of total wind production power, Germany is actually third in the world behind China and the United States, but as you can imagine, its comparatively small land mass and population allows the power it does produce to go a whole lot further.

Images by Tony Webster/Wikimedia Commons

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Minujin’s installation provides the perfect response to the Documenta 14 brief, which asked artists to explore the connection between its host cities, Kassel and Athens. Nonetheless, this isn’t the first time the Parthenon of Books has made a public appearance. The piece was first exhibited in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1983 — the same year the last dictatorship fell in Argentina. In a bold move, Minujin decided to open her Parthenon to the public just one week after democracy had been restored to the country. To make things even more poetic, the structure was eventually toppled over, allowing the public to reclaim the books they donated and, metaphorically speaking, take back the power of knowledge.

The original Parthenon in Athens was itself a victim of religious and political appropriation, undergoing countless changes at the behest of different regimes. Following these haphazard reconstructions, “the deconsecrated Parthenon of the modern period became a symbol of democracy and of Western cultural supremacy,” according to Documenta 14’s statement on the iconic temple. Reflecting on these events, it makes sense that Minujin would use the Parthenon as the vehicle through which to explore the contemporary idea of democracy and address the issue of censorship.

The installation is not only powerful in its ideology, but also in its form. The structure dominates the park and creates an interesting tension between lightness and heaviness, its massive size contrasting with its lightweight frame and the books themselves. The Parthenon of Books takes on an entirely different identity at night, when it’s illuminated from within and transformed into an almost pixelated version of itself.

Minujin has long been an advocate of self-empowerment through reading, explaining: “Democracy without books is not democracy. So nobody has the right to forbid books, because that is to forbid ideas. So, that’s how I work. I am always inventing new things, and I cannot stop my imagination. I cannot stop. It works immediately. Every day I have a new idea. And sometimes it takes me 18 years, like with the Babel Tower of Books, of trying to do it, trying to get the sponsor, because it was so high, and so big, and I got together books from all over the world. The people went up seven floors surrounded by books from all over the world.”

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“The hall house is a rural space miracle. For centuries people and cattle lived here under one roof. Powerful wooden stands support the ceiling beams in a sophisticated construction that is particularly stable and durable. For this reason, many hall buildings are still preserved in northern Germany, even if they no longer serve their original purposes, humans and animals have long separated and the farmer prefers to live in the new solid house next door. The traditional architecture offers huge potential and can also provide the most beautiful space for current living needs. This is exemplified by a farmhouse in Lower Saxony, which the Kassel architect Alexander Reichel has now fundamentally rebuilt and transformed.”

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Paying tribute to the mythologies and fairy houses of the woods with its dark timber facade and slightly flaring roof, Forest House is a small, private cabin tucked within the pines of Brandenburg, Germany. From the back or side, the structure seems deceptively unremarkable, but a glazed wall on the back side opens it up to the landscape, giving it a dollhouse-like feel.

Atelier ST architects designed the cabin as a weekend getaway in a natural setting that feels remote, yet is still located within the southern area of the city of Berlin. The property originally served as the setting for a summer house from 1926, which was too damaged and decayed to renovate.

The architects wanted to preserve the timeless fairytale cottage feel with a new design. Placed on the original building site, Forest House is entirely made of wood, with a bright white interior that contrasts with its Black Forest-inspired exterior.

The large windows on the back side open onto a small protected alcove that offers a space to sit outdoors, even in inclement weather. Inside, lots of white-painted wood makes the small space feel larger and more open than it really is.

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The small German island of Föhr is a unique and quite lovely place in the North Sea. The Frisian people living there have stayed true to their traditional style of architecture and interior design for centuries.

This home once featured a ground-level flat used by the family living there and an unused attic/loft area. The family called in architects Karin Matz and Francesco Di Gregorio to transform that unused space into a fresh, open living space that would accommodate the growing family.

The Frisian heritage of the residents was honored through the use of materials and colors native to the area. The distinctive shades of blue common to every home in the area are used throughout the space, as are the wall tiles used by residents to show prosperity.

This particular project features a staggering 3000 tiles with hand-cut circles in the center. The circles allow for the blue adhesive to show through, creating a mesmerizing polka-dot pattern all over the walls.

Surrounding the stairs leading up from the ground floor, blue cables stretch from floor to ceiling. They form an interesting balustrade around the stairs while again tying in the signature color.

The newly-finished area features a living room, bedrooms and a kitchen – altogether, a surprisingly roomy space for one that was previously used just for storage. Although the architects say they didn’t set out to create a modern-looking space, the attic living area is indeed a deliciously modern place. With pale pine boards and strategic splashes of turquoise against the white surfaces, this feels like perfectly modern home that remembers its roots.

“Due to its geographical location, Föhr is very much in the hands of natural forces,” say the architects. “The area has a big tide. When the water is low you walk over to other islands. It is a flat island where 60 % of the island is under sea level. To protect the island man made grass-walls surrounds half of the island. Still, every autumn when the big storm-floods arrive, the island go on alert. 1634 an enormous flood erased most of the houses on the island and reshaped the map. It is a though climate for permanent inhabitants; at the same time the island changes completely in the summer months when the population raise from 8500 to 40 000 due to tourism.”

“Föhr is an island belonging to Germany but first and foremost to Nordfriesland. The Friesians have their own language and culture. In the 17th century a school of navigation was founded on Föhr and many people became sea captains sailing on Asia and North America.  Sailing on other countries brought back the tradition of ceramics and tiles from Asia. Being rich was to have as many painted Friesian tiles as possible on your dining room walls. Wood used inside was painted in Friesian colors, which are different nuances of blue-green. Beds were traditionally in bed-boxes. Houses were always in brick with thatched roofs. The rooms were small, dark and all the same size. “

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