Be Open think tank

#BeOpenDESIGN The award-winning Life Triangle Desk by a group of Taiwanese design students Rui Sun, Wen Zhang, Guan-Chen Zhang, Er-Xuan Liu & Yu-Chao Li, looks and functions like a regular writing desk, but don’t be misled – in the event of an earthquake the piece doubles as a secure shelter that can protect schoolchildren from falling debris. In the event of an emergency, the tabletop can be lifted up to unlock it, which allows the surface to slide down creating a triangular secure space underneath. The triangle has been chosen by the team for this shape is naturally stable and sturdy enough to deflect the debris. The desk will also help rescue teams who will instinctively know to check underneath them for victims and survivors. More emergency shelters in our blog

#BeOpenNEWS Last year, aiming to find solutions to improve the life of Beirut communities and provide Lebanese students with an opportunity to showcase their talent on the international scene, Dr. Dolly Daou, PhD in Interior Architecture and Urban Design, teamed up with BE OPEN Foundation, Cumulus Association and Campus des Agricultures ESA Angers to launch the Beirut ID international design competition. This year’s Dutch Design Week became the platform to announce the second edition of the contest – Cities in Crisis. Professionals, researchers, students are invited submit their projects until April 15, 2022. The results will be announced at the end of June 2022, and the winners will have the opportunity to make their ideas a reality. Moreover, Beirut ID is in the process of signing partnerships with universities abroad, wishing to participate in the competition. “Our aim is to bring together people from different fields and of all nationalities, and to work together to develop solutions to the challenges facing humanity. Together, we are reaching further,” explains Dolly Daou who herself is of Lebanese origin but grew up in Australia and has been based in Nante, France. "The idea is to build a bridge between communities that allows them to help each other and benefit from the international skills and expertise available", continues.

#BeOpenDESIGN Italy-born and Denmark-based product designer Francesco Brunetti has envisioned a cutlery set breaking down the items into their separate elements that get individual treatment. The slick handle comes with a slim, cylindrical design and a matte finish, while the part that interacts with food uses a balanced, geometric approach with a slight satin finish. Blended together, the two elements create an eye-catching minimalist homogenuous form, which is available in silver, space-grey, gold, and rose-gold. More design-minded cutlery in our blog

#BeOpenARCH Architecture practice with bases in Beijing and New York Atelier Xi has developed a miniature sculptural pavilion made of pink cast-in-place concrete. Named Peach Hut, the structure comprises a sculptural shape inspired by blossoming peach trees on the site, which all lean to one side. The architect envisions that the building is cut from a series of invisible arcs derived from the earth and the cloud, forming a unique shape that rises to the sky. All windows in the pavilion are of diverse shapes, responding to different views and light angles.

#BeOpenART Artist Lee Sangsoo sculpts his minimal spiraled creatures with long strips of resin or stainless steel depending on the size and coats them with subtle gradients. The colourful dogs, cats and birds seem to be inspired by Picasso’s small, abstract animal drawings. According to the sculptor himself, the lines drawn in the two-dimensional sketchbook determine the large flow and form of the work, and it becomes three-dimensional in the three-dimensional space.

#BeOpenARCH Zanzibar Domino commercial tower by international architecture firm xCassia is a mixed-use development situated on a manmade island off the West coast of Tanzania‘s Zanzibar archipelago. Intended to be Africa’s second tallest building, the spiraling tower takes inspiration from the shape of stacked dominos. The residential program is comprised of 560 residential units, a 5 and 6-star hotel, and spa facilities, located within 360 “keys” that rise toward the observation platform on the top, which is accessed by panoramic lifts. In a sweeping descent from the top, all hotel rooms and residential units will feature spectacular outer terraces oriented south for stunning views of ethereal Zanzibar sunsets. More bespoke skyscrapers in our blog

#BeOpenARCH Beijing-based studio SYN Architects has designed a ceremony hall that features an illuminated semicircular window that cuts through the building’s roof plane to imitate the moon that never sets on the mountains of Daolang Town, Tai’an City, Shandong Province, China. Designed to host weddings and aptly named Hometown Moon, the chapel encompasses a concrete structure, with a large external canopy supported by columns set in deep cut-outs that are illuminated at night. Graceful rock slabs, stone objects, smooth grey concrete cover the walls and floors of the structure, almost as if they were a part of the mountains. Above, a thin pool of water on the roof creates a reflection that turns the "setting moon" into a "full moon" from a distance. Inside, a similar effect is produced by a mirrored ceiling. via amazingarchitecture.com

#BeOpenDESIGN This September, Nike unveiled Block 70, a revamped basketball court and playground in Central Belgrade, Serbia. The peculiarity of the project designed by London-based creative agency Accept & Proceed is that it was partially created from up to 20,000 old sneakers headed for landfills, which were donated by the local community. The studio came up with the plans for the court design, children’s playground, bleacher benches, chain link fence, outdoor gym, collection bins, in-store campaign presence, and restoration of existing elements. At the collection spaces intended for people to drop their shoes, local citizens could see the steps involved in transforming the shoes into a material that could be used for the surface of the resulting basketball court and playground, which gave them a stronger emotional tie to the court. Developed as part of Nike’s Move to Zero initiative, Block 70aims to re-energise the local neighbourhood and provide a space for play and for sport among kids and adults alike.

#BeOpenNEWS BE OPEN Art is happy to announce Shivom Kapoor, a self-taught 3D concept artist, who works under the brush name of Spartan, has been voted the Artist of the Month by the visitors of art.beopenfuture.com Aiming to showcase emerging talents, every month we invite people passionate with art to choose the best artist among those exhibited in our online gallery. Congratulations to Spartan, whose surreal “renderscapes” have gained him a majority of votes this October! We also take the opportunity to applaud all the featured artists and thank everyone who voted.

#BeOpenDESIGN The award-winning Heito 1909 project by ECG International Landscape Consultants has transformed 860,000sqm area of Taiwan’s historical sugar factory into a public gathering place. It reimagined the wasteland barrier that struck a decade ago, and provided the community with a space to engage in quality natural environments within a metropolitan city. This preservation and adaptive reuse of ruins into the landscape is the first and only in Taiwan, where historical buildings are mostly destroyed, and the idea of preservation is criticized as contradicting real estate development.