Be Open think tank

#BeOpenART Greece- and New York-based design studio Objects of Common Interest has unveiled Lights On, a site-specific installation comprised of solar-powered luminous tubes, leftover marble blocks from local quarries and reused rubber tires as seating furniture. The team has used a neighbouring abandoned building in Bergamo, Italy as a framework for the light sculpture to reactivate the public space. Either as a whole or in pieces, all parts of the installation can be reassembled in a variety of clusters in different locations.

#BeOpenNEWS #BeOpenART BE OPEN Art is happy to announce that Jinoos Misaghi, an Iran-born and Turkey-based artist, has been voted the Artist of the Month by the visitors of art.beopenfuture.com Passionate with art as we are, every month we invite art enthusiasts to choose the best artist among those featured in our online gallery. In October, paintings by Jinoos that redefine contemporariness in her own way and forces her viewers to become part of them have gained the Iranian artist a majority of votes. We also take the opportunity to applaud all the featured artists and thank everyone who voted.

#BeOpenART Located at the foot of Mingsha Mountain in Dunhuang, China, a celestial moon installation by a group of multimedia artists headed by Weijun Lin emerges from an ancient oasis in the Gobi Desert for The Mid-Autumn Festival. The luminous installation takes shape as a 5-meter wide, spray painted semiphere, symbolizing hope and prosperity. As visitors gathered at the scenic destination to celebrate the full moon overhead, the volume was reflected by the shallow Crescent Spring, forming an illusion of a full moon emerging from the landscape.

#BeOpenARCH Spanish architectural office selgascano has unveiled a transparent, yellow-toned food market in London’s Design District. Composed of a light metal structure, a clear ETFE membrane shell, and polycarbonate panels, the Design District Canteen comprises a central spine-like core, with stalls at each side. On the top floor, a seating area is provided just under the tree canopies. Translucent backlight materials act as a big lamp that illuminates the market, while the ETFE membrane makes the entire structure glow at night. All this establishes the food market as a focal point in the neighbourhood.

#BeOpenDESIGN German designer Matthias Gschwendtner has combined computational design, 3D scanning, and robotic manufacturing to create his Log chair. Raw birch branches are 3D-scanned and then virtually processed by algorithms to constantly recalculate all production data for each individual part of an object. Due to the irregularity of the material, every object becomes a unique piece. Birchbark partly remains and becomes a natural ornament that keeps the original character of the material.

#BeOpenDESIGN Rather than polish wood cancelling any imperfection, Eindhoven-based Japanese designer Sho Ota focuses on the identity of the material highlighting the quality of wood grain. In his Knot furniture series, Ota chisels down the knots found on wood, bringing out their three-dimensionality and texture. In some cases, the designer connects the knots using epoxy resin, recreating the branches and making sure every object is truly unique. More amazing woodworking techniques in our blog

#BeOpenDESIGN We have seen a lot of furniture pieces made of funghi but this one is really something otherworldly. As its name suggests, the Fungi Stool by Japanese designer Satoshi Itasaka is composed of fungi that grow and bloom, like flowers, into mushrooms. While its core structure is made from wood, its seat is comprised of a circle of six stainless steel discs that somewhat resemble mushroom caps huddled next to each other. The project seeks to highlight the importance of preserving fungi decomposers as they play a crucial role in our ecosystem.

#BeOpenDESIGN The fire-extinguisher designed by Samsung’s subsidiaries (Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance in collaboration with a Seoul-based marketing company Cheil Worldwide) looks like a regular decorative vase. Named Firevase, the object has the form of a double-walled flower-vase with potassium carbonate filled in the sealed outer chamber where it appears like water. A separate inner opening in the vase's centre is designed to hold flowers in the usual way. If a fire breaks out, the vessel can be smashed against the floor or a wall, allowing the potassium carbonate to discreetly spill out. A rapid cooling reaction started by the agent suppresses oxygen, which puts the fire out. More fire extinguishers that are designed to be within easy reach in case of an emergency in our blog

#BeOpenDESIGN Brazil-based multi-awarded Furf Design Studio has teamed up with the acclaimed designer Cesar Pieri to create Second Sun, a new sailboat created to have minimal impact on nature, both environmentally and visually. Described by the team as “a speculative project about hope for a desired future,” the iconic sailboat comprises a transparent, almost invisible hull made of microalgae-based biopolymer, which makes it look as if it were part of the sea, and a round yellow sail representing the sun. The sail’s fabric is made with plastic taken from the oceans: what once polluted it, now helps in its awareness and preservation.

#BeOpenARCH Developed by Taiwan-based practice Bio-architecture Formosana, TaiSugar Circular Village is the first of its kind in Taiwan focusing on the concept of circular economy in the built environment. Modularization makes fabrication assembly and disassembly more efficient and simplifies the stocks of building material banks. Some of the materials include recycled and green materials. The salvaged hardwood from TaiSugar’s old dilapidated buildings was used as the main structure for the one of the houses, while a fence on the ground periphery was made out of their recycled railway tracks. Wooden planks from the old buildings were treated and reused as the wooden frame for the pivoted door, and the façade and internal partition feature recycled LED glass insulation blocks. More circular economy communities in our blog