Latest news with #DillerScofidio+Renfro
Hypebeast
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hypebeast
Diller Scofidio + Renfro Just Unveiled London's Most Exciting New Museum
TheV&A Museumhas unveiled its long-awaited Storehouse outpost in East London, which features a design by architecture firmDiller Scofidio + Renfrothat puts the museum's vast collection of objects on display. Officially opening to the public on Saturday, May 31, V&A East Storehouse spans four levels and is the size of more than 30 basketball courts. The space was once a broadcast centre for the London Olympics in 2012, but has since been reworked by Diller Scofidio + Renfro to house the 250,000 objects, 350,000 books, and 1,000 Archives. 'Instead of the hard distinctions between storage and display, conservation and curation, back-of-house and front-of-house, V&A East Storehouse creates a new mixture,' said David Allin, Principal at Diller Scofidio + Renfro. 'To realize the project, everyone had to step out of their comfort zone: curators became storage experts, technical services staff acted as exhibition designers, and we, as architects, learned to be collection managers.' While visitors typically access the museum's collection through curated exhibitions, the Storehouse allows them to have a peek backstage. Visitors enter the building and arrive into a vast atrium, where a cafe from London favorite E5 Bakehouse and workshop spaces are located. Although partially visible from the ground level, the actual store (technically named the Weston Collections Hall) is set up a short flight of stairs and behind thick metal doors. The space is organised around a central atrium, which is illuminated by a huge row of lighting panels suspended from the ceiling. Six large-scale objects, which have been tucked away for decades because of their size and complexity, are now on view and are used to anchor the collection space. These include the 1930s Kaufmann Office, the only complete Frank Lloyd Wright interior outside of the US, an architectural section from Robin Hood Gardens, a former residential estate in Poplar, east London, and the largest Picasso work in the world, which stands over 10 metres high and 11 metres wide. These are, of course, a drop in the ocean in terms of what is located in the store, which visitors are invited to walk around freely, rather than have to follow a strict guided tour. They are also able to book out the objects they'd like to view via an online system, 'Order an Object'. (According to the museum, the most popular item ordered so far is a 1954 evening dress by Cristóbal Balenciaga). A real draw of a visit to the Storehouse, though, comes in the form that it isactuallya working space. Inside, staff work at four new multi-purpose conservation studios, with a glass overlook allowing visitors a peek into what's happening. 'It has been a joy to work with the V&A's curators and conservators in creating this new kind of institution: neither warehouse nor museum, but rather a hybrid shared by staff and the public with expanded opportunities for access and exchange,' said Elizabeth Diller, Founding Partner, Diller Scofidio + Renfro. TheV&A EastStorehouse opens to the public this weekend, with the V&A East Museum opening in 2026.
Time Out
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Visitors to the Venice Biennale will get to taste coffee made with canal water this spring
Ever strolled along the Thames and thought that lovely brown water would make a solid flat white? Or sipped a café au lait and pondered whether it lacked the Seine flavour? No, neither have we. But it's time to open your minds, folks, as this year at the Venice Biennale, coffee aficionados will have the chance to sample espresso made with water straight from the city's canals. Yes, you read that right. As reported by the New York Times, an offbeat project at this year's Architecture Biennale will invite visitors to literally get a flavour of Venice in the form of a coffee made with water straight from the lagoon. But don't fret – espresso cups aren't being dunked into the canals willy-nilly. Instead, the Canal Café, a project by New York-based design studio Diller Scofidio + Renfro, will be utilising some pretty swanky-sounding tech to purify canal water before our very eyes. The project was first thought up in 2008, but it's taken until 2025 for it to actually materialise thanks to the development of more advanced filtration systems. So, how will it work exactly? Well, the café will be installed outside and water will be drawn directly from the Arsenale Lagoon through clear pipes and split into two streams: one will be treated through reverse osmosis and ultraviolet disinfection, the other biologically through a 'micro-wetland' of salt-tolerant plants. Sciency, right? After that, the two streams of water will re-join each other and – get this – Michelin-starred chef Davide Oldani will sample the combination and alter it to produce a distinct local flavour, as well as selecting the coffee blend to 'deliver the most authentically Venetian taste'. The project is 'about combining the sort of pleasure of drinking beautiful espresso while also thinking about the complexity that it takes to actually have potable water,' said Elizabeth Diller, co-founder of the studio. 'I will drink the first cup of espresso, and I will be the guinea pig.' The Canal Café can be found at the back of Arsenale, Venice's former shipyard and one of the Biennale's main sites. Venice and climate change Due to rising sea levels, Venice's MOSE system, which was installed to protect the city from storm surges, will likely become obsolete in years to come, and some scientists predict that Venice itself will be entirely underwater by 2150. Carlo Ratti, director of the 2025 Biennale, said that Venice won't just be facing the challenge of too much water, but will also have to grapple with ensuring there is enough clean, drinkable water. 'We could say that the project is a prototype of the global dilemmas we face in a time of increased climate change when our infrastructures must adapt,' he said.
CairoScene
27-04-2025
- General
- CairoScene
Al Mujadilah: The First Mosque Built Only For Women
In Doha's Education City, Al Mujadilah reshapes the spiritual landscape - architecturally, culturally, and historically. This is a place for women. That distinction is as literal as it is transformative. Al Mujadilah is the first mosque in the modern Islamic world built entirely for women - not just with them in mind, but with them at the centre. There are no back sections. No curtains. No compromises. Designed by the New York-based studio Diller Scofidio + Renfro and commissioned by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, the mosque rises from the heart of Doha's Education City like something both ancient and yet to come. It's part spiritual sanctuary, part cultural reset. And it doesn't shout. It breathes. It's hard to describe a mosque built for women. Perhaps because, until now, no such place ever existed. A ribbon-like roof sweeps over the 4,600-square-metre structure, first lifting over the main prayer hall before folding downward into an intimate series of learning spaces, gardens, and community zones. The gesture feels soft but deliberate-like an embrace. The entire building is oriented 17 degrees off-grid, so that worshippers naturally face Mecca, with light cascading through a skylight directly above the mihrab. A physical line between earth and the divine. But even that sounds too technical. This place doesn't ask to be analysed. It asks to be understood. Al Mujadilah was named after a chapter in the Holy Quran, after a woman - Khawla bint Tha'labah - who challenged her husband's unjust divorce. That alone reframes the architecture. This mosque, in many ways, is her echo. You walk through the courtyard, and two olive trees pierce through the ceiling - roots in the earth, branches pointed to heaven. They're not decorative. They're symbolic. They are witnesses. But don't mistake its softness for simplicity. This space is as technically masterful as it is emotionally moving. The minaret, too, is reimagined. Gone is the static tower. In its place: a 39-metre kinetic column of mesh and cables, rising five times a day, carrying the call to prayer not just through sound, but through movement. It rises. It returns. The repetition echoes ritual. The choreography honours belief. This isn't just a building with pretty details. It's a spatial manifesto. It's a response to a centuries-long architecture of absence. Because ask any Muslim woman - anywhere - and you'll hear the same things: cramped, dark, behind-the-curtain prayer rooms and dim mezzanines. Sound systems that don't work. Spaces that don't speak to them. In contrast, Al Mujadilah listens. Its prayer hall, measuring 875 square metres, holds up to 750 women. There are no barriers, no separate entrances, no apologies. Here, women lead prayer. They give khutbahs. Unless otherwise invited, mean don't enter. It's a role reversal - but not to tip the scale, only to finally balance it. And maybe that's what makes this place so powerful. It doesn't feel reactionary. It feels right. Natural. As thought this should have always been the case. The design itself is layered with meaning. The hand-tufted carpet beneath worshippers feet is a pixelated magnification of a single prayer rug. The light cones - 5,488 in total - are not just there for drama; they reduce solar gain, casting ambient light while keeping the hall cool. The walls shift from travertine to volcanic stone, from black timber to glass. And between it all, the sky slips in. Outside, the centre offers more than worship. There's a library. Classrooms. A Cafe. A learning program designed for women by women. A support team for children with additional needs during Ramadan. An annual sumit, Jadal, where women come together to discuss their roles in faith, society, and public life. These aren't afterthoughts. They are structure. Stepping inside Al Mujadilah, you'll quickly realise that this isn't just a space for women, it was a space of them. When architecture centres the overlooked and a building becomes a body of shared memory and new possibility - that's when design becomes divine. And that's what Al Mujadilah is.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
German Yield Nears 3% Milestone on Historic Pivot to More Debt
(Bloomberg) -- Germany's benchmark bond yields are within touching distance of hitting 3% for the first time in almost 18 months on expectations of a historic surge in borrowing. Trump DEI Purge Hits Affordable Housing Groups NYC Congestion Pricing Toll Gains Support Among City Residents Electric Construction Equipment Promises a Quiet Revolution Open Philanthropy Launches $120 Million Fund To Support YIMBY Reforms Inside the 'Not Architecture' of High Line Designers Diller Scofidio + Renfro The 10-year rate briefly surpassed a peak hit last week, climbing four basis points on Wednesday to 2.93%, the highest since October 2023. That takes the increase this month to 53 basis points, the most in two years. German debt has plunged in the wake of Berlin's plan to unlock hundreds of billions of euros for defense and infrastructure investment. The package, spearheaded by the country's prospective chancellor Friedrich Merz, is being discussed with other parties and markets are confident a deal can be reached. 'I'd look for bund yields of 3% this year,' said Alex Everett, a fund manager at aberdeen group plc, who said opposition from the Green's party to the package is 'sabre-rattling' and unlikely to derail it. The potential sea change in Germany's fiscal policy has led investors to demand higher returns to hold long-term debt compared to short-term securities, which tend to be more affected by monetary policy expectations. The gap between German two- and 10-year yields has risen to around 70 basis points, the highest since July 2022. One year ago, the spread was inverted by half a point. 'The anticipated fiscal spending is huge,' said Brian Mangwiro, a portfolio manager at Barings. Investors 'have to ask for a better clearing price for bonds.' If yields were to hit 3.03%, that would the highest since 2011, in the aftermath of the euro area's financial crisis. These levels are a turnaround from the years before the pandemic, when yields dipped below zero — making it effectively free for Germany to borrow money. Now its plans to take on more debt could come at an increasing cost. Looking Attractive Yet for some in the market, the repricing has already overshot. In a note published Wednesday, HSBC Holdings Plc rates strategist Chris Attfield said he'd turned bullish on euro-area core bonds, with German yields looking attractive above 2.60%. Still, the bank revised its year-end target higher by 30 basis points, to 2.20%, in recognition that the fiscal changes underway may imply a higher neutral rate for the bloc's economy. That would limit the extent to which bonds can rally. The moves in German debt have also spilled over to other European nations' bonds in the past week, reflecting expectations that they too will boost defense spending. The rate on 10-year notes of Spain and Italy have soared by about 40 basis points in just over a week. That has prompted investors including BlackRock Inc. to turn negative on the bloc's bonds. The head of the firm's Investment Institute wrote in a note earlier this week that 'yields can rise further' as the region pivots toward higher defense spending and the prospect of additional interest-rate cuts becomes limited. --With assistance from James Hirai and Greg Ritchie. (Updates with comments, additional context.) How America Got Hooked on H Mart How Natural Gas Became America's Most Important Export Disney's Parks Chief Sees Fortnite as Key to Its Future Germany Is Suffering an Identity Crisis 80 Years in the Making The Mysterious Billionaire Behind the World's Most Popular Vapes ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
South Korea Braces for Market Disruptions After Trump Tariffs
(Bloomberg) -- South Korea's Acting President Choi Sang-mok urged top policymakers to prepare for possible market disruptions after President Donald Trump proceeded with plans to apply 25% tariffs on global steel and aluminum imports. Trump DEI Purge Hits Affordable Housing Groups NYC Congestion Pricing Toll Gains Support Among City Residents Electric Construction Equipment Promises a Quiet Revolution Open Philanthropy Launches $120 Million Fund To Support YIMBY Reforms Inside the 'Not Architecture' of High Line Designers Diller Scofidio + Renfro South Korea, a major metals producer in Asia, refrained from taking any immediate retaliation steps after the duties took effect Wednesday. Instead, Seoul sent its trade minister to Washington to accelerate negotiations with the Trump administration. 'Choi called for utmost efforts in negotiations with the US and ordered officials to make sure a rapid influx of steel materials that could not be exported to the US and other countries doesn't cause disruptions in the domestic market,' his office said in a readout Thursday. The latest tariffs add to trade measures introduced in Trump's first term, removing exemptions for many nations and extending them to new categories of products. The risk for steelmakers around the world is that the tariffs worsen oversupply, piling pressure on producers and governments at a time when demand for the alloy is already struggling. Shortly after the tariffs took effect, South Korea's Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun convened a meeting with business leaders and discussed ways to beef up their joint response to US tariffs. The government will come up with countermeasures on steel trade and unfair imports issues based on that meeting, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a statement. The measures will include heightened monitoring on imports and circumvention efforts, the ministry said. 'We will protect the interest of our industries as much as possible by further stepping up a response system before reciprocal tariffs take effect in early April as announced,' Ahn said. He urged companies to actively reach out to US stakeholders and share details of their discussions with the government real-time. Trump last week cited South Korea as a country with more unfair tariffs against American products than China, slamming the use of subsidies to support chipmakers like Samsung Electronics Co. South Korea has rebutted the claim, saying its effective tariff on US imports amounted to 0.79% last year due to a free trade deal that came into effect in 2012. South Korea's trade minister will be in Washington this week to sit down with his US counterparts on trade matters. Asia's fourth-largest economy relies heavily on commerce for growth, with its largest companies generating the bulk of their revenues overseas. How America Got Hooked on H Mart How Natural Gas Became America's Most Important Export Germany Is Suffering an Identity Crisis 80 Years in the Making Disney's Parks Chief Sees Fortnite as Key to Its Future The Mysterious Billionaire Behind the World's Most Popular Vapes ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
