Kevin McCloud is coming to Sydney

Running from 21st-23rd October at Darling Harbour, Grand Designs Australia Live is "an all new-style of home show, filled with bright ideas. Based on the popular UK TV show, presented by Kevin McCloud, and the all new Australian series presented by Peter Maddison, the event focuses on the best of architecture and design for the home. See the latest in interiors, home decor, kitchens and bathrooms, build, home technology and outdoors from over 250 exhibitors. So whether you're moving home, self-building, renovating or re-decorating you'll find everything you need for your very own grand design!"

Open House London - the capital’s greatest architectural showcase

Another reason to wish we were in London at the moment (despite the glorious early summer days here in Sydney and a beach weekend beckoning...) - it is Open House time again.

Open House London celebrates all that is best about the capital’s buildings, places and neighbourhoods. Every September, it gives a unique opportunity to get out and under the skin of London’s amazing architecture, with over 700 buildings of all kinds opening their doors to everyone – all for free. This year it takes place over the weekend of 17 and 18 September.

With architects' homes, eco and retrofit buildings, tours of major regeneration projects, landscape projects, government buildings, historic landmarks and towers, major infrastructure sites and more all available to explore over one weekend, it’s a great way to find out how good design makes more liveable cities. The full programme has details and opening times of all buildings and events and can be found on the Open House website.

For help with choosing where to start, check out Wallpaper magazine's list of 12 must-see buildings  The groove-sters at Wallpaper have delved deep into the programme to find the most startling recent additions to the Open House.  The picture below shows the interior of the Commonwealth Institute in Kensington.  Regarded by English Heritage as the second most important modern building in London, its striking hyperbolic paraboloid copper roof reflects the architects' desire to create a 'tent in the park'.  It will soon be the new home of the Design Museum and this is a unique opportunity to get inside before building work starts.

It's nearly time for 100% Design!

It is not often that we wish we were still in London, but come September every year the e-mails about 100% Design start to flood in and, well, it would be fun to be there...

The UK’s first and leading contemporary design show is a hub of creative talent from the UK and around the world and a key event for interior designers and architects in the international calendar. 100% Design is the ultimate living sourcebook. There is no other event that attracts such a range of designers, architects, manufacturers and design hungry visitors. From China to Chile, the most innovative and creative designers have made their way to London

If you are in the vicinity, register now for a free pass via the 100% Design website

Saturday in Design 2011 comes to Sydney

Cradle Design Studio enjoyed a big day out in Sydney's design precincts on Saturday, exploring the showrooms of Australia's premier furniture, finishes, fixtures and lighting companies who opened their doors to the design community for Saturday in Design. 

This annual event is organised by publisher Indesign and alternates between Sydney and Melbourne.  The participating companies have a unique opportunity to launch new products to their specifiers and they compete to provide the best cocktails and culinary delights to ensure that visitors linger in the showroom, network with colleagues and remember every detail of the items on display.  The chocolate fountain at Inlite and the cocktails at Thinking Ergonomix were particular highlights!

Standout exhibitors were Great Dane Furniture, who make exquisite modern furniture inspired by mid-century Scandanavian classics, and the Tongue n Groove flooring that was launched at Precision Floors - the limed, extra-wide oak boards had a similar impact as the fabulous Dinesen floors we saw at the Saatchi Gallery in London (see earlier post).

The long-awaited Turner Gallery in Margate is open

We made a trip to the new Turner Gallery in Margate, having heard that it was finally open. We were intrigued to see the outcome of a design process that began back in the 90's.
The gallery's name commemorates the town's links with Turner, the great seascape and landscape painter.  He started school in Margate in 1786 when he was 11. He found himself smitten by the sea, the sky and the quality of the light.  He returned many times and later fell in love with his seaside landlady Mrs Booth.  Margate is now run-down and deprived and it is hoped that the new building will create a "Bilbao effect", drawing visitors and much-needed regeneration funds to the town.

Various architects were involved in the project during its history but the final design was by Stirling Prize-winner David Chipperfield Architects.  The project has been trimmed in size and moved from an offshore structure back onto land but the result is still very striking.  The simple but elegant volumetric forms on the harbour's edge are clad in white glass with slots of glazing allowing views out to sea and north light into the galleries.  The best thing about the complex is the entrance courtyard which faces the town.  It is sheltered from the cold northerly winds, bathed in sun and occupied by a really smart cafe.  Locals and visitors will definitely be drawn to the courtyard, even if they are not art lovers.

The large pared-back gallery spaces are perfect for modern art - although they felt a little sparse during the first major exhibition.... The standout artist was Russell Crotty, whose ethereal landscape drawings and delicate globes were adorable.  The American artist createded one fibreglass sphere especially for the show. Walking Towards Dreamland – suspended almost invisibly so that it seems to float in the air, light as a dandelion clock – is decorated with white cliffs over which, on close inspection, is etched a strange graffiti of Margate words and experiences. It's delightful, capturing the coast's beauty and its fugitive underbelly in a scant series of lines.

Fab floors at the Saatchi Gallery

We loved the 450mm wide Douglas floorboards at the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea by Danish firm Dinesen  The firm sources its Douglas Fir, which is stronger than other pines with fewer knots, from fully sustainable sources.  The boards come in lengths of up to 15m and are finished in lye and white soap to give the beautiful pale finish.

It's Peter Zumthor this year at the Serpentine

This year's wonderful pavillion at the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens is best described by photos and journalist Florence Waters article in the Telegraph:

The erection of the Serpentine summer pavilion in Hyde Park is the sure sign in London that summer has arrived. But as you approach this year’s modest, austere black box quietly tucked between the bright leafy trees, you begin to wonder.
From the outside Swiss architect Peter Zumthor’s pavilion is a mere shadow of a structure, and will attract the attention of only the most curious of park-goers. Yet those that do venture inside will be richly rewarded because this, the 11th commission in the Gallery's annual series, is one of the most confident and successful yet.
“It was my dream project,” Zumthor said yesterday as he stood admiring the wild bed of grasses and plant life bursting forth from the center of the peaceful haven he has created. That is precisely the objective of the Serpentine’s brilliant commission: to provide a leading architect who has never designed a work in the UK before with a generous budget, a busy public plot of land, and absolute freedom to build their fantasy summer hangout.
Taking the cap off creativity can prove a difficult challenge for architects. Last year French architect Jean Nouvel clearly relished the freedom. His bombastic red structure, complete with bean bags and Ping-Pong tables, was a cacophony of different materials and clashing styles. The result was a loud and showy caffeine-friendly social club-like space where its strong colour attracted its public like bees to a big bright flower.
In stark contrast then, this year’s structure feels incredibly restrained and sophisticated. The building itself is a modernist take on a medieval monastery, with four symmetrical open-aired corridors providing just enough space to sit and contemplate the nature contained within. It obeys classically elegant long thin proportions and, in reverence to light, the roof opens up at a gentle slant so that sun feels like it is pouring in, rather than being blocked out by the dark walls.
Zumthor designed Kunsthaus Bregenz, a cubic concrete building that overlooks Lake Constance in Austria and a cave-like thermal baths in Vals, Switzerland. He’s a master at inverting our expectations of dark spaces and austere clean lines, making them feel remarkably cosy, cooling and calming.

But what I love most is how generous the design feels. It celebrates everything within and around itself: Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf’s centerpiece, a meadow of cow-parsley and mixed wild grasses (he was given free reign by Zumthor) becomes the focal point. The neat square of sky above is, strangely, another highlight: how often to you see a patch of sky gloriously framed like a giant oil painting above your head?
All possible weather forecasts have been thought about. The seating area has a roof, but the angle of the building is such that there will always be sun on one side and shade on another. On a nice day the sun creates dramatic shadows across the walls, and spotlights the flower bed. The garden is a trap for flies, bees and butterflies, of course, but above all it feels like a secret garden just for you, an escape from the noisy city park. Once inside nothing else matters, not even architecture.

Traversing the ever-impressive Harbour Bridge

The children were keen to walk all the way across the bridge and it turned out to be a perfect activity for a beautiful Mothers' Day morning. I think they were all inspired by the soaring steel.....

designEX returns to Melbourne this year

Cradle Design was excited to receive passes to the 2011 designEX the other day. It is being held in Melbourne this year, from 13th-15th April, and we would urge anyone in the vicinity to visit.

As Australia’s leading design and architecture event, designEX presents the best in contemporary and classic designs. This trade only event has been at the forefront of the design and architectural arena for 23 years. A profession crowd attends to be informed and inspired as they discover the latest products and design trends from local and international studios and brands.

Register on-line before 5pm on Tuesday 12th April to receive a free entrance pass.

Tracey Emin on display at the LoveART Gallery

We have just returned from a trip over the bridge to Art Consultant Amanda Love's fabulous house in Woollahra to see the Tracey Emin exhibition, "Praying to a Different God". Emin became notorious in the 1990's as one of the Young British Artists, or YBAs, who were nurtured by Charles Saatchi and upset the public sensibility with exhibitons of rather confronting work - infamous examples were Damien Hirst's shark preserved in formaldehyde and Tracey Emin's unmade bed.

More recently, Emin's work has been more introspective and intimate, often involving whimsical drawing and embroidery. The works in "Praying to a Different God" utilise neon, embroidery and drawing to explore what it is to be human. Each piece contains poignant and heartfelt meassages about hope, love, self, past and future.

Former arts lawyer Amanda Love established LoveART, an independent Art Advisory that specialises in sourcing contemporary art form all over the world. She hosts occasional events and exhibitions in her beautiful Victorian home in Sydney. A series of huge, white-painted rooms that are minimal while blessed with period grace and a sleek white box rear extension provide a perfect but intimate setting for displaying art. We were jealous!

Unfortunately, the show closed today. If you are in Australia, click here to see a clip of Emin and Love being interviewed at the Woollahra house for ABC's Art Nation last November.

Could your street be Sustainability Drive?

Origin Energy has launched Sustainability Drive, a competition that will see 20 homes on each of 4 streets win a share of $1million worth of sustainable energy technology and expertise. The prize could be spent on solar panels, energy audits, energy efficient hot water systems and electricity with GreenPower for 12 months.

The 4 streets will aim to show how energy-efficient products and small changes to the way we use energy could help reduce our impact on the planet without costing the earth.... or our lifestyles.

To find our how to nominate your street, visit the competition website