Open House London

17-18 September 2016.

The 24th Open House London weekend will this year give free entry to 750 of the city’s best buildings, 140 of which are new to the annual programme. Among the new entries, highlights include Anish Kapoor’s Orbit Tower, the house Cheesegrater architect Richard Rogers designed for his parents in Wimbledon; Here East, the new technology hub and business campus in Hackney Wick and Second Home, a co- working office in Whitechapel that feels more like a nightclub than a workplace. Perennial favourites The Gherkin, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, tours of the Crossrail tunnels, as well as the Shard, the Cheesegrater and Portcullis House – and of course 10 Downing Street are once again among the buildings visitors can enter for free. Open House London

Lochal Library and Event Space in Tilburg by Civic Architects

Architecture

The Amsterdam based practice, Civic Architects, have transformed the former locomotive shed in Tilburg, Netherlands to create the Lochal library which incorporates co-working and events space. The Lochal is situated in the railway zone adjacent to the Central Station which is being transformed to form the new heart of the city. Civic Architects

Jean Nouvel LessLess Table

Design/ Furniture

LessLess is a complete range of tables, rectangular and square, painted in different colors. An aluminum table the strength of which lies in a play on corners and folds. The external outline of the horizontal table top is very thin and stiffness and it is obtained by bending the aluminum sheet along inclined planes. Designed by Jean Nouvel, originally for the Fondation Cartier in Paris, the LessLess tables is a result from his approach to design which comes from a need to create objects for his own architectures. Molteni & C

Poul Henningsen PH 4/3 Table Lamp

Design/ Interiors/ Lighting/ Objects

Henningsen PH 4/3 Table Lamp is based on the principle of a reflective three shade system, which directs the light downwards. The shades are made of metal and painted white to diffuse the light. Louis Poulsen the Danish lighting manufacturer was founded in 1874 and born out of the Scandinavian design tradition where form follows function. Poulsen

David Mellor Cutlery

Design/ Homeware/ Objects

David Mellor, Royal Designer for Industry, trained as a silversmith and specialised in metalwork particularly cutlery. In 1953 the Pride cutlery designed while David Mellor was at the Royal College of Art was included in the first Design Centre Awards in 1957 and is still in production. The cutlery is manufactured in a purpose built factory in the Peak District National Park at Hathersage, near Sheffield. David Mellor