Art Architecture Dezign

French bicycle company Coleen is bringing Jean Prouvé's 1941 bike into the 21st-century, updating the vintage design with a new structure, sustainable materials and electric technology.

Electric and equipped with real-time riding data, the new Coleen e-bike is designed to "reinvent the pleasure of urban travel", and is developed specifically for city-dwellers.

The bicycle boasts a T-shaped carbon-fibre frame that differs from the usual triangular bike form, and is constructed from 75 specially designed components to create a structure that offers no visible reinforcement.

The design is modelled after the bent steel and aluminium bicycle that French architect and designer Jean Prouvé created during world war two.

"The frame geometry takes its inspiration from that of the first 'dandy-horses' invented near the Avenue de Montaigne in Paris in 1861," explained founders Audrey Lefort and Thibault Halm.

"It was the same geometry that in 1941 would inspire Jean Prouvé to create a bike designed for the workers of France," they continued.

Combining "timeless" design with modern technologies, the Coleen bike was exhibited at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which took place from 8 to 11 January in Las Vegas.

A transflective liquid-crystal display colour screen integrated into the bike frame provides riders with real-time information such as mileage covered, battery level and travel speed.

The user can control the information visible on this display to avoid too many distractions, and any extra data collected is sent by bluetooth and stored in the user's smartphone via the Coleen app.

The transflective screen reflects light to provide optimum visuals, enabling it to be seen well in both full sunlight and at night.

The bike is also fitted with a keyless ignition system that works via bluetooth to allow riders to unlock and start their bike remotely using their smartphone.

"Our commitment from the start was to leverage technology in ways that allowed us to integrate and embed future developments in the technology platform devoted to the pleasures of mobility, which we call Coleen," said Lefort.

The electric bike features a 250 watt silent motor weighing less than 2.5 kilograms, which delivers 50 newton metres of torque (the rotational equivalent of linear force).

This motor is powered by a 529 watt-hour removable battery that, according to the creators, takes only two and a half hours to fully charge and can run for more than 62 miles on a single charge.

Lefort and Halm also claim that the bike has 42 cells, giving it the highest battery capacity in the market at 3.6 amp-hour per cell. There are also no wired connections between the cells to ensure optimal durability.

Designed and manufactured in France, the Coleen bike is "100 per cent French down to the smallest detail", featuring a leather saddle made by French luxury accessories brand Voltaire, and will be available to buy from summer 2019.

Uber-owned bike rental company Jump also recently unveiled the design for its latest electric bicycles, which boast features such as phone docks for easy navigation, swappable batteries and retractable locks to discourage vandalism.

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Architect Guilherme Machado Vaz has completed the geometric House in Afife, in Portugal, which appears as a solid volume when its shutters are closed.

The white house is modelled on the "regular and compact" houses that are dotted throughout the rural parish in the north of the country.

However, to prevent it from being dominated by an adjacent chapel, Machado Vaz added shutters to its exterior, which can conceal the windows and transform it into an "abstract sculpture".

"The chapel stands on a base of granite walls, and it imposes itself in that area. Its presence had an influence on the project, particularly as regards the design of the volume," explained the Portuguese architect.

"The house sought not to disturb the harmony of this religious space, but at the same time it did not want to be submissive to its presence."

Opening the shutters forms an entirely different facade for the house, revealing large windows with dark wooden frames.

On the south elevation, the shutters are painted gold to echo religious triptych paintings – a type of artwork divided into three carved panels that are hinged together.

The interiors of the house are split over a series of half floors, inspired by Austrian and Czech architect Adolf Loos' Raumplan concept.

Developed in the 1920s, the concept offers an alternative to traditional stacked floor levels, by dividing a house's interior into interconnected multi-level spaces arranged on the basis of their importance.

An open-plan living and kitchen area is positioned on the ground floor levels of the house, which lead up to three bedrooms on the first floor.

The basement level comprises the house's storage and technical equipment, alongside a Turkish bath and changing room.

All the levels are connected by a minimal wooden staircase that sits central to the house, and has open treads to resemble a ladder.

It is designed to reduce the house's circulation as far as possible, and maximise open space.

Complementing the exterior of the house, the interiors are complete with a bright, pared-back colour palette.

White walls and minimal furniture are teamed with terrazzo floors and brass detailing on the ground floor, while wooden detailing dominates the upper storeys.

The house is topped by a flat roof that doubles as a terrace, and complete with a circular swimming pool in the garden that is framed by a square plinth.

After completion, Machado Vaz collaborated with Building Pictures to create a short film about the house. Titled Somewhere in Afife, it follows a family spending the "last day of summer" at the house.

The film ends with night shots of the building, revealing the illuminated interiors reflecting in the pool.

Pablo Pita also recently completed a minimal geometric house in Portugal. Its internal spaces are predominantly open plan, with a lack of partition walls to ensure views throughout the living areas.

Photography is by José Campos, and videography by Building Pictures.

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Canadian firm ACDF Architecture has designed a lake house on a sloping site in Quebec, with a protruding terrace so residents can get even closer to the water's edge.

La Barque Residence was built as a holiday home for a family, on a site overlooking Lake Ouareau in Saint-Donat – two hours north of Montreal.

The two-storey concrete house by ACDF Architecture is clad in blackened wood at its top and left exposed at its base. Topped with a flat roof, the home's appearance sits in stark contrast to its natural setting.

However, the architects integrated the building into its sloping site, so both levels can be accessed from the grassy earth. From the front, the design appears private and closed off, while full-height windows at the rear present views of the lake and surrounding mountains.

"The site's characteristics strongly influenced the architectural concept," said ACDF. "Nestled between a road and the lake, the house shelters itself from unwanted attention on the street side with its dislocated facade that extends into an exterior wall hiding a barbecue and a pizza oven."

Around the back is a patio with glass railings, which is sheltered by the overhanging roof that extends the length of the house.

The home's floor area totals 2,800 square feet (260 square metres), with the upper level housing an open-plan kitchen, dining room and lounge with a fireplace.

Two bedrooms and two bathrooms complete the top floor, while a family room, a sauna, two bathrooms and three children's rooms can be found downstairs.

Interiors include polished concrete floors and walls in either black and white. Contemporary furnishings are monochrome as well, and used to sparsely accent the spacious floor plan.

"La Barque might present itself as a dark wood prism sitting on a mineral base, but it hides a surprising softness," said the studio.

A focal point of the interiors is a curved ceiling clad in pale wooden boards, adding a warmer touch to the cool tones elsewhere. Sunlight also penetrates inside via raised portions of the ceiling at either end of the residence.

"Under the curved ceiling of the house, reminiscent of a boat hull, its serene interior atmosphere captures the calm of the surrounding hills and provides the family with a place to catch its breath between two ski slopes or two waterski runs," said ACDF.

In addition to La Barque, the studio has created two other lake houses in Quebec: a three-bedroom home clad in pale wood and shared by two sisters, and white, gabled extension to a log cabin that is linked by a glazed bridge.

Based in Montreal, ACDF's range of projects also spans a copper-hued complex in Vancouver, a colour-blocked office for a software company, and Hotel Monville in Montreal.

Photography is by Adrien Williams.

Project credits:

Architects: ACDF Architecture
Architectural team: Maxime-Alexis Frappier, Patrick Morand, Kassandra Bonneville, Yoanna Anastassova, Mireille Létourneau, Romilda Reda
Structural engineers: Latéral
Entrepreneur: Marion & Gauthier

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The latest edition of our newsletter Dezeen Weekly features a home created within a derelict chapel, which was named London's best new house extension, and David Chipperfield's soon-to-open Zhejiang Museum of Natural History. Subscribe to Dezeen Weekly ›

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Companies that incorporate good design into their corporate strategies, as well as their products, benefit from increased productivity and market share, according to research by InVision.

The report, published this week by the design platform, suggests that a fully integrated design strategy is key to a company's success, over and above a large number of designers.

Those companies that deployed their design team well across all aspects of the business – the products they produce, in their corporate branding and in the design of good user experience – saw cost savings and an increase in revenue, the research found.

"We found that among the most design-forward organisations, design is well integrated into the product development process, with the senior team, and in the product roadmap," said InVision.

"The more an organisation embraces and integrates design practices, the more positive business outcomes it sees, including when it comes to product, position, profit and more."

Integrated design strategy is key to success

InVision is a commercial platform based in the US. It is used by design teams to create digital products for mobile and desktop. It claims to have five million users, including 97 of the Fortune 100.

The company describes its new report, The New Design Frontier, as "the widest ranging report to date examining design's impact on business".

It collates survey responses from more than 2,200 companies. These include large enterprises, agencies, non-profit organisations, and government departments in 77 countries. Participating companies were asked questions about their company demographics, design team resources, executive involvement, practices and outcomes.

Of the companies surveyed, five per cent were identified as those benefitting most from an integrated design strategy, a group InVision calls Visionaries.

These companies are more likely to be involved in transportation and delivery industries. Examples include online loans company Blend, car dealership Carwow and Hiya, a company that protects smartphone users from unwanted phone calls.

Well deployed design teams directly increase revenue and share value

Among Visionaries, all respondents said that the design team had a proven effect on product usability, with 92 per cent saying that it had increased revenue, four times higher than for other businesses.

Over half of the Visionaries surveyed said that good design had offered a proven increase on their valuation or share price. Eight-five per cent said that the design team has produced cost savings at the business, with nearly the same number suggesting that it sped up the time it took to get a product to market.

Visionaries tend to be smaller, with between one and 10 employees. They are fairly evenly spread across the world but a larger proportion can be found in EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) and the US.

Design practices can influence other aspects of the business

The research also suggests that design processes foster continual improvement that can be applied to other areas of a business.

Industries with the most room for improvement, according to the report, include education, non-profit organisations, retail, consumer durables and banking. A larger proportion of companies in these industries currently believe design "just makes it look good".

"When an organisation establishes the right conditions for design and makes room for it in core processes, the result is deeper customer understanding, bolder exploration and experimentation, and more informed decisions vetted through the continuous testing and learning process design enables," said InVision.

Report builds on findings of McKinsey study

The report follows another published last year by management consultant McKinsey, which looked at millions of data points and conducted face-to-face interviews, but surveyed only 300 companies.

"This is the first study we know of that compares the design behaviours of thousands of companies around the globe, from small businesses to large enterprises, NGOs to the Fortune 500," explained InVision.

Like the McKinsey report, InVision suggests that design has become a senior management issue, particularly in the US where companies are 40 per cent more likely to have a designer at vice-president level than elsewhere.

"At companies with serious intentions to use design as a business-enabler, key partners, executives and employees are more involved in the design process," explained InVision.

Both McKinsey and InVision found that separating the design department from the rest of the business is a mistake, and the corporate design strategy must go beyond good-looking products and impact every aspect of the business.

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Oslo-based architect Espen Surnevik has nestled the PAN Treetop Cabins on slender stilts among the treetops of Finnskogen, a woodland in east Norway.

The PAN Treetop Cabins were commissioned by a couple that wanted to create a tourist retreat in "the real Norwegian wilderness".

Both matching cabins are elevated on black metal structures, with black cladding designed by Surnevik for a "man-made" aesthetic that stands them apart from the landscape.

"Rather than building the project in wood, that you find directly in nature, the materials used in the project seeks to be a contrast to the tactility of the forest," said Surnevik.

"The use of homogeneous metal surfaces gives the cabins a distinct character, which is important to underline the cabins as an intellectual, man-made, object put into nature."

The PAN Treetop Cabins have tent-shaped forms with large glazed gable-ends, which Surnevik modelled on the "primal clarity" of North American A-frame lodges and the "surrealistic" houses of Tove Jansson's Moomin cartoons.

Both of the cabins are based on the same drawings, but have been customised to fit their specific sites. They each measure 40 square metres and can accommodate up to six people.

Access to the cabins is provided by large spiral staircases that rise up beside the slender stilts, and connect to an elevated walkway leading into sheltered entrances.

The PAN Treetop Cabins each have a small black kitchen, bathroom and a mezzanine floor with a double bed. Extra beds are hidden within the walls, which can be folded down when they are required.

They are fitted with pine-wood floors and walls, while all the textiles are made from local wool dyed the colours of the forest to create a "warm, intimate atmosphere".

Surnevik angled the cabins in relation to the sun path to maximise natural light, which pours in through their large glass windows, and simultaneously helps to heat the living areas.

In 2016, Swedish studio Arrhov Frick Arkitektkontor also used slender stilts to elevate a timber-framed cabin into the treetops of an island in the Stockholm archipelago.

Project credits:

Engineer: Finn-Erik Nilsen
Woodwork: Terje Nymoen AS
Steelwork: Armec AS
Owners: Kristian Rostad & Christine Mowinckel

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Today Dezeen Jobs launches a careers guide profiling people with inspiring jobs in architecture, interiors and design. First we interview Ray Winkler, design director at entertainment architecture studio Stufish, which creates stages for musicians including the Rolling Stones.

Each week the new Dezeen Jobs careers guide will help people who want build a career in the design industry learn from leading figures, understand company cultures and pick up tips on what these firms are looking for when they recruit.

In our launch interview, Winkler explains how he was hired by legendary stage designer Mark Fisher shortly after completing his architecture studies, and worked his way up from the bottom.

"You did the drawings, you did the model, you did the tea, you booked the hotel, you booked your flight," Winkler said of his early days at the firm.

Winkler has since designed sets for the Rolling Stones for 20 years and has also worked with acts including Madonna, U2 and Beyoncé.

But he says his career highlight was working on a show with Jean-Michel Jarre at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt in 2000. "On the night of the show, a 100-year fog rolled in and you couldn't see anything!" he recalled.

Winkler's team mostly consists of architects. "I look for a degree of autonomous thinking and working," he said. "There's often a need to do some hand sketching or some rendering or whatever it might be, and that's important."

"This is not a job, it's a passion."

Read the interview on Dezeen Jobs ›

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Partitions punctuated with arched openings divide the living spaces inside this Barcelona apartment, which has been overhauled by architecture studio PMAA.

Situated on the top floor of a residential building in Barcelona's Raval neighbourhood, the penthouse apartment has been updated by locally-based PMAA to feature fresh white surfaces and a sequence of vaulted partitions.

They help loosely arrange the 99-square-metre home into two zones – a living area, which sits towards the front of the floor plan, and a "wet" area that lies at the rear, accommodating the bathroom and kitchen.

The living area is dominated by a huge sectional sofa that fits around the columns of the partition walls. Sea green carpet has also been applied to the floor, complementing planters that are stuffed with tropical foliage.

This room overlooks the street through arched windows in the building's original facade, which, along with the apartment's Catalan ceiling vaults, inspired the design of the new partition walls.

"The geometrical repetition of the consecutive load-bearing walls results in a unique space that preserves its originality," explained the studio.

Stepped flooring leads up to the bathroom, which has a silver metal sink basin and a boxy mirrored volume that contains the toilet. A tall pane of glass that doubles as a splashback for the shower separates this space from the bedroom – a white curtain can be drawn across to provide privacy when required.

Although decor has largely been kept to a minimum, the studio decided to preserve existing patterned tiles in the kitchen, which is finished with steel storage elements and dining table.

A porthole has also been punctuated in one of the apartment's peripheral walls and covered with coloured acrylic to emit a faint orange glow.

"It creates a distorted version of external reality, and an unreal light inside that's reminiscent of an autumn afternoon," the studio explained to Dezeen.

PMAA is one of several studios to implement arches into its projects –New York-based Raad Studio used an arched wall to unite two formerly separate properties in Lower Manhattan, forming one huge apartment.

Israeli practice Pitsou Kedem also added vaulted doorways to a Jaffa apartment, mimicking its domed ceiling.

Photography is by José Hevia.

Project credits:

Architecture office: PMAA
Architects in charge: Adrián Jurado, Jaime Fernández, Magda Barceló and Albert Guerra

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Volvo has installed an environmentally-friendly seawall along the coast of Sydney's harbour that aims to improve biodiversity and water quality in the area.

The Volvo Living Seawall consists of 50 hexagonal tiles with small corners and recesses that are designed to imitate the root structure of native mangrove trees – a popular habitat for marine wildlife.

Each tile is made from marine-grade concrete that has been reinforced with recycled plastic fibres.

Developed in collaboration with the Sydney Institute of Marine Science and Reef Design Lab, the project offers an alternative to traditional, linear seawalls, which are often linked to the loss of surrounding ecosystems.

Attached to the surface of the existing seawall structure, the irregular-shaped tiles are designed to attract wildlife such as oysters and molluscs, which filter the water by feeding on passing particles.

"Designed to mimic the root structure of native mangrove trees, the Living Seawall adds complexity to the existing seawall structure and provides a habitat for marine life," said Volvo.

"This aids biodiversity and attracts filter-feeding organisms that actually absorb and filter out pollutants – such as particulate matter and heavy metals – keeping the water clean. The more organisms we have, the cleaner the water," explained the brand.

Researchers will monitor the Living Seawall for the next 20 years to see how it affects biodiversity and water quality in the area.

Volvo developed the seawall tiles after its research found that one rubbish truck of plastic enters the world's oceans every minute, and more than half of Sydney's shoreline is made of artificial seawalls.

"Rich and vibrant habitats have been replaced with seawalls and degraded by plastic pollution," said the brand.

By adding the tiles to an existing seawall, the project aims to transform a man-made structure into a potential marine habitat.

"It also presents a unique opportunity to research which specific seawall designs and geometries best support the ecosystems in our oceans," added Volvo.

Volvo has pledged to replace all its single-use plastics with sustainable alternatives by the end of 2019.

Other companies taking similar initiatives include IKEA, which has revealed plans to eliminate all single-use plastics from its product range by 2020.

In a bit to reduce unnecessary packaging, UK national newspaper The Guardian recently scrapped its polythene packaging in favour of a compostable wrapping made from potato starch.

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Living spaces at this house in the Indian city of Chandigarh are distributed around a full-height courtyard that allows natural light and breezes to reach rooms arranged around its perimeter.

Locally based architecture studio Charged Voids designed Residence 145 project for a family comprising three generations, who wanted a home that provides a balance of communal and private spaces.

The property is located in the city's southern sector and occupies a site that was subject to prohibitive zoning and height restrictions.

From the street, the building appears as a composition of monolithic interlocking volumes finished in white render or clad in a locally available stone with an earthy hue.

Internally, the three-storey house comprises a range of spaces that progress from the completely open communal areas on the ground floor to more private rooms for members of the family and staff on the upper levels.

"The central idea was to create a sequential progression from the public to private zones by using the courtyard and vertical circulation as the divider between the two," said Charged Voids.

"Also, the varied volumetric scales of the public and private zones and their different interactions with the exterior was an essential part of the idea."

An entrance sheltered beneath a slatted canopy leads into an open shared space that wraps around a courtyard containing a tree and water feature.

Sliding glass doors can be retracted to incorporate this open-air void into the room, providing an enhanced connection to the sound of water and scent of the planting.

As well as helping to separate the public and private zones, the full-height void serves to funnel natural light and breezes down into the centre of the building.

The sitting room and double-height dining area are joined on the ground floor by two bedrooms for the older generations of the family.

A lowered section of the wall enclosing the courtyard emphasises the separation of these private spaces from the main communal areas on the opposite side.

A staircase with open treads towards the rear of the building ascends to a first floor containing two further bedrooms, along with a kitchen that overlooks the courtyard.

The open kitchen features a curved wall which is punctured by a large opening. This hole frames a view of the adjacent stone surface and allows additional daylight to filter down from roof lights.

The stairs continue up to a third storey that provides access to a large roof terrace containing a bar and other amenities for hosting gatherings, which was an important aspect of the brief.

This level also provides accommodation for the domestic help, which can be accessed independently using a dedicated staircase at the front of the property.

The same stone used for the external walls is applied throughout the interior for walls and flooring. The material was chosen for its warm and natural appearance, which is complemented by leather furniture and richly coloured timber joinery.

In addition to its regular residential work, Charged Voids' previous projects include an award-winning bridal store in Chandigarh that focuses on traditional craftsmanship and materials.

Photography is by Javier Callejas.

Project credits:

Lead architect: Aman Aggarwal
Design team: Swati Agarwal, Dushyant Singh
3D visualizer: Haneet Khanna
Builder: Khullar Builders
Structure consultant: Pankaj Chopra

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