Art Architecture Dezign

New Zealand-born designer Sophie Rowley gives new life to discarded denim offcuts by recycling them into pieces of furniture with marble-like markings.

Called Bahia Denim, Rowley's material development project has seen her transform discarded jean textiles into a series of tables featuring mottled patterns that bear a likeness to marble.

The former Central Saint Martins student takes post-consumer denim offcuts from the production waste of fashion industries and from households to create the new material.

She layers the textile offcuts on top of each other and bonds it together using resin, before carving it into different elementary shapes and assembling them in playful ways to make furniture pieces.

This process makes each design unique; varied in size, shade, colour and texture by the non-standardised nature of the process and the waste materials used.

Lightweight yet durable, the denim material allows for diverse application in furniture, wall panelling or on interior surfaces.

According to the Berlin-based designer, Bahia Denim is characterised by its visual resemblance to marble, which is why it is named after the Brazilian blue marble Azul Bahia.

The project was born when Rowley started experimenting with different ways of reworking household waste, beginning with more commonplace remnants such as glass, styrofoam, textiles and plastics.

When she decided to move on to denim textiles, she researched the construction of sedimentary rocks, which are formed from the broken remains of other rocks that become fused together.

She attempted to replicate this additive nature by building up layers of denim waste, using different shades and sizes of the material to develop varied and vibrant patterns.

"By applying a set of industrial and craft processes to these waste materials, I was able to experiment until the materials took on completely new aesthetics and were almost simulating natural materials such as stone or wood," Rowley told Dezeen.

"The idea of starting with something very worthless and making it into something aesthetic has always been appealing to me," she continued.

"I wanted to prove that it is not necessarily the material source which decides on the value associated with materials but more so how we work with materials themselves and the processes we apply to them."

Rowley initially developed the Bahia Denim as slabs of material before moving onto the creation of furniture and products.

"Once it is made into a material it can be processed in a similar way as wood is," she explained. "For the rounded shapes that were made for the Bahia Denim Slate tables, the material was formed over a mould and could then take on a three-dimensional shape."

Rowley is just one of many designers focusing their efforts on using recycled materials in their work. Dutch startup Plasticiet used recycled plastic to create materials with a similar appearance to manmade stone composites like terrazzo, while Simone Post designed a series of graphic rugs from old trainers for sportswear giant Adidas.

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A snapping turtle tank provides a view through to a palm tree garden in an extension to a former council house in Dublin, designed by architecture studio TAKA.

Dublin-based TAKA, headed by architects Alice Casey and Cian Deegan, refurbished and extended the ex-council house in the suburb of Monkstown to create House in a Palm Garden.

TAKA reconfigured the property to include a space for a large common snapping turtle, which was previously kept in a tank in a garden shed. The compact site included a north-facing rear garden that the owners wanted to use to house their collection of almost 30 species of rare palm trees.

"The challenge became how to incorporate these extraordinary things into what was a quite ordinary house," said the architects, who designed a 22-square-metre extension to bring the house's total floor area to 82 square metres.

The two-storey House in a Palm Garden was reconfigured to accommodate three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a kitchen, with the living areas relocated to the new extension.

Immediately to the right of the front door is a refurbished kitchen featuring plywood units fronted with oak veneer. Wooden flooring unites the kitchen and a bedroom on the opposite side of the ground floor.

The kitchen provides a route through to the new living spaces housed in the extension, which culminates in a view through the turtle tank to the palm garden.

TAKA described the extension as a "viewing box" that was designed around the interior spaces and their relationships to these two key features.

Openings incorporated into the timber-framed addition are positioned to frame specific views of the surroundings from a range of heights and angles.

Folding doors lining the space on one side can be opened to connect it with the garden. Shutters above a window bench next to these doors also swing outwards to allow fresh air to enter.

House in a Palm Garden's cladding is stained a dark shade of blue that was chosen to complement the greenery outside. The same material covers some of the internal surfaces to enhance the connection between indoors and outdoors.

The wooden structure is left unstained and exposed in places to showcase its natural grain and colour. The contrast with the blue cladding accentuates the different forms and views within the space.

TAKA's previous residential extensions in Dublin include converting a former garage into a new living space for a mews house. The studio also worked on a cafe with bright-green windows that occupies the former store rooms of a brick building in St Patrick's Park

Photography is by Alice Clancy.

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The latest edition of our newsletter Dezeen Weekly features a tower block with vertical farms and a London ice-cream store that is putting smiles on reader faces. Subscribe to Dezeen Weekly ›

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American delivery company FedEx has developed an autonomous robotic delivery device to help retailers distribute same-day orders to their customers.

Designed to satisfy the ever-growing expectations of consumers, the SameDay Bot allows retailers to accept orders from nearby customers and send them by robot directly to the buyer's home or office that same day.

After discovering that, on average, more than 60 per cent of vendors' customers live within three miles of a store location, FedEx saw the opportunity to create an on-demand, hyper-local delivery service.

The robot can travel on pavements and along roadsides to safely deliver small-scale shipments straight from a warehouse or store to the customers' door, the so-called last-mile.

"The FedEx SameDay Bot is an innovation designed to change the face of local delivery and help retailers efficiently address their customers' rising expectations," explained Brie Carere, executive vice president of FedEx.

"The bot represents a milestone in our ongoing mission to solve the complexities and expense of same-day, last-mile delivery for the growing e-commerce market in a manner that is safe and environmentally friendly."

Developed in collaboration with DEKA Research & Development Corporation, the SameDay Bot is equipped with "pedestrian-safe technology" that uses multiple cameras and LiDAR remote sensing technology to detect its surroundings.

Accompanied by machine-learning algorithms, these safety features work to keep the robot away from obstacles, avoiding any collisions by plotting a safe path and ensuring the bot follows the rules of the road.

While FedEx is keeping its cards close to its chest by not yet disclosing exactly how the battery-powered bot works, it has revealed that it is powered by patented technology that allows it to travel across unpaved surfaces, curbs, and even steps for a literal "door-to-door" delivery experience.

"The bot has unique capabilities that make it unlike other autonomous vehicles," said DEKA founder Dean Kamen. "We built upon the power base of the iBot, an advanced, FDA-approved [the US food and drug administration], mobility device for the disabled population with more than 10 million hours of reliable, real-world operation."

"By leveraging this base in an additional application, we hope that the iBot will become even more accessible to those who need it for their own mobility," he added.

A prototype of the SameDay Bot made its debut during US television network NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon earlier this week on 26 February.

FedEx plan to refine this model to meet safety standards and regulations, and the specific needs of customers, before testing the robot this Summer in selected cities, including Memphis, Tennessee, where it will undertake deliveries between different FedEx office locations.

"We couldn't be more excited that FedEx chose its hometown as one of the pilot cities for this revolutionary innovation," said City of Memphis mayor Jim Strickland.

"We look forward to working with FedEx to continue introducing technologies that will help improve the quality of life in our community," he continued.

Both delivery companies and automotive manufacturers are venturing into the world of autonomous robotic delivery for the last-mile transportation from local warehouses to the customer's door.

German manufacturer Continental's offering has been designed to resemble a dog, and travels close to its final destination in a driverless van

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New York firm Weiss Manfredi has revealed plans to update Edward Durell Stone's modernist US embassy in New Delhi, India, as part of a major overhaul of the complex.

Commissioned by the US Department of State, Weiss Manfredi's masterplan is intended to transform the United States Embassy in the city's Chanakyapuri neighbourhood into a "multi-functional campus".

The project marks the first update to the 28-acre (11-hectare) compound since its completion in 1959. Designed by 20th-century American architect Stone – was also behind New York's Museum of Modern Art – it features a number of structures created in the modernist architecture style.

Weiss Manfredi's project will involve the renovation of these existing buildings, including a major overhaul of the Chancery Building – a structure detailed with white-latticed walls, a flat roof, slender golden pilotis, and a large courtyard at the centre.

New facilities, such as an office building and a support annex, will be added to bolster the embassy's functions. Renderings depict these as low-lying and white, and also detailed with slatted facades that complement the existing structures.

"The redesign of the Embassy Campus defines a sustainable vision for the Embassy's future that builds on the legacy of the historic campus to create a new foundation for American diplomacy in India," said Weiss Manfredi in a project statement.

Weiss Manfredi is a multidisciplinary design practice, which typically blends architecture, landscape and urbanism. The transformation of a former industrial site in Long Island City into Hunter's Point South Park is among the firm's recent projects.

For New Delhi's US Embassy, the team has designed major updates to the landscape that surrounds the buildings, with the intent to create active outdoor space on site that would make the most of the local climate.

Wide paths of white paving, trees that provide shade and benches for resting are all included, among a number of other features.

"Inspired by India's enduring tradition of weaving together architecture and landscape, a series of cast stone screens, canopies, reflecting pools and garden walls introduce a resilient, integrated design language that brings the campus into the 21st century," said the firm.

The project is among several embassies that the US Department of State's Office of Overseas Building Operations has commissioned the country's practices to design. Others include plans for a new outpost in Honduras by SHoP Architects and a compound in Brasília designed by Studio Gang.

Philadelphia-based firm Kieran Timberlake completed work on a "crystalline cube" that houses the US Embassy in London in 2017.

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Snøhetta has released visuals of a Museum Quarter in the mountains of Bolzano, which will have a projecting stepped roof that doubles as a viewpoint.

If built the museum would have exhibition space for the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology and the Municipal Museum of Bolzano, and would house the famous prehistoric mummy of Ötzi the Iceman.

The proposal is an extension of Snøhetta's ongoing project with Signa Group, for which it is currently constructing a cable car system on Italy's Virgl mountain.

"The new Museum Quarter will create a synthesis of city and nature, of history and future, of building and landscape, of culture, leisure and knowledge," said Kjetil Trædal Thorsen, founding partner of Snøhetta.

"Visitors can meet Ötzi the Iceman on top of the Virgl mountain, a place with a historic atmosphere. In addition, the new Virgl cable car system and the Museum Quarter will provide spaces of cultural significance and recreational value next to the city centre of Bolzano."

Snøhetta's proposal imagines the Museum Quarter as a elongated structure that projects out from the mountain to echo its topography.

It would connect to the ring-shaped cable car station via a central plaza, which will be used as a space for open-air markets and concerts.

This plaza will be lined with a mix of seating areas, and lead up to the museum's stepped roof that provides panoramic views of Bolzano and its mountainscape.

A secluded entrance to the pair of museums will puncture the hillside, leading into a joint foyer area.

Snøhetta has also proposed developing and landscape the area surrounding the scheme to make the mountain more accessible for walking, hiking and biking.

"Through the planned cable car structure and the new Museum Quarter, the Virgl mountain will serve as a cultural and recreational area for the people and visitors of Bolzano," added the architecture studio.

"The new Museum Quarter will establish a new landmark for Bolzano and reinforce the city's international significance as a cultural destination."

Founded in 1989, Snøhetta is an international architecture practice based in Oslo, Norway and New York.

Alongside its Museum Quarter proposal, the studio has also recently completed a pair of wooden Outdoor Care Retreats at two Norwegian hospitals, as well as a crystal workshop for Swarovski in Austria.

Visuals courtesy of Moka Studio and Snøhetta.

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Architecture studio J Mayer H has unveiled a tram stop made from a stack of exposed-concrete discs in Kehl, Germany.

J Mayer H designed the tram stop, which is outside Kehl town hall, as the terminus for the line that runs across the German border to Strasbourg, in France.

German architect Jürgen Mayer H, who leads the studio, gave the tram stop an unusual form to welcome people commuting on the international tram line to the town of Kehl.

"People smile when they arrive at the station," Mayer H told Dezeen.

The distinctive tram stop is constructed from a series of circular concrete discs and acts as the counterpoint to the Zaha Hadid Architects-designed Hoenheim-Nord Terminus in Strasbourg – at the other end of the line.

"The tram line has two anchors that are placed in both final stops," continued Mayer H.

Described by the studio as an "infrastructural sculpture", the stop has two shelters placed between the tram lines. Each of the shelters is constructed from two vertical exposed-concrete discs that support a concrete roof.

A third vertical disk, within each shelter, incorporates a bench.

We wanted to develop architectural elements that work in different dimensions, in horizontal and vertical placements and as wall, roof and seating units," said Mayer .H

"It's a selection of a kit of parts to be further explored."

Each of the eight rounded forms that make up the tram stop were created through a process that Mayer H describes as a "dirty geometry".

"The shapes evolved through a process of dirty geometry – evaluations," he explained. "Basic precise curvatures got mixed up and recombined to create the organic outlines."

Berlin-based J Mayer H also used sculptural shapes in its design of the FOM Hochschule university building in Düsseldorf, which has curved balconies that bulge out from the building.

While tram routes are still being laid in cities across the world, in China, a cross between a bus, train, and tram, that doesn't run on tracks has been developed. The trackless and driverless "rail bus" made its first journey in the Chinese city of Zhuzhou in 2017.

Photography is by Frank Dinger and Stadt Kehl.

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There's room for work, rest and play inside software company Grammarly's office in Kiev, which includes its own conference hall, nap pods, and a soundproof music room.

The office occupies the top two floors of a 14-storey building in Kiev and has been designed by locally-based architects Balbek Bureau to accommodate the growing workforce of Grammarly.

Founded in 2008, Grammarly is computer software that helps users check their online written content for spelling, grammar and plagiarism in real time. This is its third office, joining bases in San Francisco and New York.

The company wanted its Ukrainian outpost to boast a number of versatile spaces that would suit various styles of work and office activities. Balbek Bureau has thus arranged the 1,300 square-metre lower level to include large, glass-fronted boardrooms, open desks, and a central conference hall complete with a speaker podium.

Several of the office's nooks have also been dressed with armchairs or beanbag-style seats where staff can lounge or have informal meetings. Should employees want privacy or quiet time for work, they can head to smaller box rooms that have been created to host just one or two people.

Recreational areas at this level include a canteen, library, and a soundproof room that can be used to watch videos or play musical instruments.

Surfaces throughout have been painted warm shades like blush pink, teal blue, or butter yellow to foster a more inviting atmosphere. Some partition walls are also clad in planks of natural oak wood and fronted with greenery-filled planters.

White staircases lead up to the 450 square-metre mezzanine level, which plays host to more relaxed work areas connected via a 90 metre-long winding walkway.

Made from 25 tonnes of metal, the walkway has no ground support but is instead suspended from the ceiling by slim poles.

"It unites various functional zones of the office into a single life cycle or rhythm," explained the studio.

"It has also become a powerful symbol of the inseparable connection between Grammarly offices in Kyiv, New York, and San Francisco."

Upstairs also has a cosy seating zone centred by a firepit, and a handful of boxy volumes that serve as nap rooms.

A weight sensor has been fitted underneath each of the mattresses so that as soon as an employee lies down, a sleep symbol of three Zs is illuminated and lets others know that the space is occupied.

Early last year, Leckie Studio converted an industrial warehouse in Vancouver into offices for Slack, the popular workplace messaging system. The space features a stadium-like central staircase and a feature wall covered in moss.

Photography is by Andrey Bezuglov and Yevhenii Avramenko.

Project credits:

Architects: Slava Balbek, Andrii Berezynskyi, Anastasia Marchenko
Project manager: Borys Dorogov

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We've selected four of the top London-based opportunities for architectural assistants available on Dezeen Jobs, including roles at Studio Bark and Haverstock.

Architectural assistant at Studio Bark

Studio Bark is seeking an architectural assistant to join its team in London. The practice recently completed an off-grid home in Suffolk, which features a tapered roof opening that looks out onto a meadow.

Find out more about this role ›

Part 1 architectural assistants at Haverstock

Architecture practice Haverstock designed short stay accommodation for up to 50 students with learning difficulties and autism at the Jack Taylor School on the Alexandra Road Estate in north London. The studio is recruiting Part 1 architectural assistants to join its London office.

Find out more about this role ›

Part 1/2 architectural assistant at Rodić Davidson Architects

Rodić Davidson Architects is looking for a Part 1 and a Part 2 architectural assistant to join its team in London. The studio recently completed a two-story home made from three adjoining cabins, built on the shingle of Dungeness beach in Kent.

Find out more about this role ›

Assistant architect at AOC

AOC is seeking an assistant architect to join its team in London. The practice revamped a community centre in south London as part of its masterplan for Nunhead Green in Southwark, giving the building a herringbone-patterned facade.

Find out more about this role ›

See all the latest architecture and design roles on Dezeen Jobs ›

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Architecture practice All(zone) used distinctive criss-crossing of concrete blocks to provide breeze and shade to Phra Pradeang House in Bangkok.

Phra Pradeang House is arranged as a series of layers. At its centre, a triple-height concrete core encloses a void that circulates air from the series of rooms that surround it, which in turn are wrapped by an open concrete facade.

All(zone) arranged each space in the house so it has a different relationship to this void. Some open directly onto it, others overlook it through internal windows, and some are divided by a metal grid, which allows for ventilation but prevents access.

"Activities are arranged around the central well, modelled after the tropical shophouses of Southeast Asia to allow ventilation and gentle sunlight to enter every room," said the architecture studio.

At the base of the void sits a small swimming pool, alongside a living space. A staircase on the western edge of the building provides access up to study and bedroom spaces, all of which benefit from views down into the void as well as to the outside.

White finishes to almost all interior surfaces help bounce and diffuse sunlight throughout the home.

At the top of the void a skylight allows more light to enter. A series of vents can control the extent to which the stack effect will ventilate the surrounding rooms, and provides a contrast to the rough concrete finish of the central void.

The latticed facade itself comprises different elements, some open and some closed, which are arranged in a pattern on the facade in accordance with both the openings behind and the surrounding buildings.

"The concrete blocks wrapping around the perimeters are especially designed for the project to interact with the adjacent buildings with a variation of manners, to keep privacy in different degrees," said the architecture studio.

Single storey extensions at the front and rear provide a small garage and an entrance space.

Latticed facades provide a practical and visually appealing as a natural ventilation strategy in warm climates.

In Kenya Urko Sanchez Architect used white mashrabiya-style screens cover an apartment block. In Mexico City  architects Felipe Assadi and Francisca Pulido wrapped a house in a hexagonal wooden lattice.

Photography is by Soopakorn Srisakul.

Project credits:

Architect: all(zone)
Project team: Rachaporn Choochuey, Sorawit Klaimak, Tharit Tossanaitada, Isara Junpoldee, Asrin Sanguanwongwan, Thanapat Sangkharom
Concrete block designer: Tanatta Koshihadej, Asrin Sanganwongwan
Engineering: CM One Co

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