UK

Frieze London 2023 marks its 20th anniversary

October 9, 2023 by bp_heights_dbuw21w3

11-15 October 2023, REGENTS PARK, LONDON.

Contemporary art fair Frieze London returns to Regents Park to celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2023. Frieze London focuses on contemporary art and living artists, featuring emerging to iconic artists. Over the past few years, it has attracted around 60,000 visitors annually.

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James Gorst Architects create a temple complex in Hampshire

June 6, 2023 by bp_heights_dbuw21w3

London and Suffolk based James Gorst Architects have designed a multi-faith temple complex in Rake, Hampshire, located within the South Downs National Park. The plan comprises orthogonal pavilions that house a temple, library, chapels, meeting spaces, public foyer and a kitchen. The pavilions are connected by a cloistered walkway facing a courtyard garden, set within landscaped grounds.

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McLaren Excell restores and extends a listed 18th century cottage in Hampstead

May 31, 2023 by bp_heights_dbuw21w3

London-based interior design and architecture studio, McLaren Excell, has completed the restoration and extension of a listed semi-detached 18th-century cottage in Hampstead, London. The removal of a 1950s side extension allowed for the addition of a corten steel-clad extension at the lower ground floor level. The interior of the Regency building has been restored to its original 1820s state, while the new extension features shuttered in-situ concrete walls and coffered ceilings. The Douglas fir boards used for shuttering have been re-used for the internal joinery. Photo of corten-clad extension by Simone Bossi. McLaren Excell

McLaren Excell Hampstead Interior — Interior of the lower ground floor extension with polished concrete floors. Photo Simone Bossi

Lower ground floor extension. Photo Simone Bossi

Shuttered in-situ concrete walls form the interior of the new extension. Photo Simone Bossi

The revealed fabric of the Regency building interior interfaces with the new extension. Photo Simone Bossi

Bookcase in the ‘peeled back’ interior of the original building. Photo Simone Bossi

Rear facade of the restored Regency building with corten steel-clad extension. Photo Simone Bossi

London Design Biennale 2023: ‘The Global Game: Remapping Collaboration’

May 30, 2023 by bp_heights_dbuw21w3

1-25 June 2023, LONDON

The forth edition of the London Design Biennale takes place at Somerset house and its artistic director is the Nieuwe Instituut, the Netherlands national museum and institute for architecture, design and digital culture, led by General and Artistic Director, Aric Chen. The Biennale’s theme is collaboration and it brings together design participants from around the world. London Design Biennale

London Design Bienalle 2023 Austria — **Austria, BROT: baking the future.** A loaf or slice of bread may seem simple, but there is a curious complexity to the matter of bread. From geopolitical contexts to microbiological processes to multi-sensory experiences, bread and bread making can open up a whole new universe and pathway for transformative design practices. The focus of the Austria pavilion is on the sensory experience of bread.

London Design Bienalle 2023 Turkey and Chilie — **Chilie, Borrowed Matter.** Reflecting on the extractivist processes of the logging industry in Chile, ‘Materia Prestada’ is a sensory installation highlighting novel ways of working with wood cellulose as a bio medium. The installation features seven suspended bio-textile works made with natural fibres and cellulose sheets, the largest of which will gradually degrade during the exhibition to reveal hidden layers of information for visitors to discover.

London Design Bienalle 2023 Democratic Republic of Congo — **Democratic Republic of Congo, Virtual Congo.** The pavilion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo reimagines the country’s national museum as a vivid virtual world, offering visitors a futuristic digital experience which brings central Africa’s diverse and dynamic cultures to life.

London Design Bienalle 2023 Denmark and Switzerland — **Denmark and Switzerland, Blue Nomad.** ‘Blue Nomad’ is a self-sufficient solar floating habitat showcasing a fossil-free future for living and travelling on the ocean. To address climate change, rising sea levels and contemporary nomadism, ‘Blue Nomad’ provides a small, comfortable, and permanent living space that relies purely on solar power.

London Design Bienalle 2023 Mudac — **Mudac (Museum of Design and Applied Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland), G80.** How far are we willing to go to optimise the management of the whole earth? ‘G80’ speculates on a global management system for planetary issues by bringing together different types of intelligence around a control console in a contemporary reinterpretation of R. Buckminster Fuller’s “World Game”. “G80” is an interactive work by the Swiss collective Fragmentin, commissioned by mudac in anticipation of its upcoming Fall program that will be fully dedicated to outer space.

London Design Bienalle 2023 Poland — **Poland, Poetics of necessity.** In times of need, urgency and uncertainty begin to enter the creative process, while architecture and design mix with social activism. Those are the days of change, adaptation and hope – new sources of creativity. The exhibition explores how unexpected objects such as reclaimed windows emerge from the world of reuse, and crisis collaboration.

London Design Bienalle 2023 Saudi Arabia — **Saudi Arabia, Woven.** ‘Woven’ is a collaborative installation where the future is interwoven with the fabric of humanity. Originating in the delicate hands of powerful women in the Arabian desert practising the artisanship of Al Sadu – the ‘Saddayah’ weaves humble materials into textiles.

London Design Bienalle 2023 Taiwan — **Taiwan, Visible Shop.** The Taiwan Pavilion celebrates the country as a trade hub and an important part of the world’s manufacturing supply chain. Despite being a small island, the unique location and geographical characteristics of Taiwan have been a vital aspect for the collaboration of industries, particularly during the hard times of the pandemic.

London Design Bienalle 2023 Turkey — **Turkey, OpenWork.** ‘Openwork’ is a performative space and a theatrical exhibition of transitions. Shaped around the metaphors of a ‘gate’ and ‘liminality’, it plays with the meaning of these concepts, which have been the representations of power, setting borders and social hierarchy throughout world history.

Mirror Mirror: Reflections on Design at Chatsworth

May 24, 2023 by bp_heights_dbuw21w3

18 March – 1 October 2023, DERBYSHIRE, UK.

Stately Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, England, continues the Devonshire family’s tradition of supporting creativity by commissioning contemporary designers. ‘Mirror Mirror: Reflections on Design at Chartworth’, places works by 16 international artists and designers into the historical context of the house, creating unexpected connections. Photo of Maker benches in the Painted Hall Joris Laarman, courtesy Chatsworth House Trust. Chatsworth

Max Lamb, 6x8 Chairs in the State Drawing Room — 6×8 Chairs in the State Drawing Room by Max Lamb. Photo Chatsworth House Trust

Fernando Laposse, White Agave Cabinet in the State Bedchamber — White Agave Cabinet in the State Bedchamber by Fernando Laposse. Photo Chatsworth House Trust

Ettore Sottsass works in the Great Chamber. Photo Chatsworth House Trust

Family home in Derbyshire by architects Blee Halligan

May 11, 2023 by bp_heights_dbuw21w3

Architects Blee Halligan, with offices in London and Turks and Caicos Islands, have created ‘Derwent Valley Villa’, a family home in the village of Duffield in Derbyshire, England. Inspired by historic 18th-century red brick cotton mills in Derbyshire, the house is built of red brick with concrete banding, and designed as linked garden spaces in a wet woodland garden to provide the experience of ‘living in a garden’. Photo ©Henry Woide. Blee Halligan