Be Open think tank

#BeOpenDESIGN The team from Swire Institute of Marine Science (SWIMS) of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and its Robotic Fabrication Lab of the faculty of architecture have 3D printed terracotta tiles that are designed to act as artificial reefs and help restore lost coral populations all over the world. Terracotta clay has been chosen because of its high porosity that provides “nice surface micro-texture” for marine organisms to latch on to. The pattern of the tiles mimics the natural patterns of the coral, and their designs are specific to the environment and underwater conditions where they are placed. Seeded with coral fragments, the manmade reefs are placed across three sites within Hoi Ha Wan Marine Park in Hong Kong, reintroducing an environment amenable to coral regrowth. The tiles interlock organically, which enables the team to keep expanding when needed without disturbing existing settings.

#BeOpenDESIGN Rope Chair developed by the French design duo Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec for Finnish furniture brand Artek has a metal frame interlaced with a single length of marine rope that forms its back and armrests. Described by the designers as “a line drawing translated into three dimensions”, the chair consists of four separate tubes that serve as its four legs. These are joined together by weaving the rope from the front leg to the top of the first back leg and over to the second one, before circling back around to the other front leg. The rope, originally made for marine use, is a weight-bearing part of the construction that allows the piece to adapt to those who use it. Where other chairs dictate a specific way of sitting, the Rope Chair invites creativity in posture, encouraging changes in position. More bespoke chairs made using rope in our blog

#BeOpenARCH Local H&P architects has completed Ngói Space, a five story multipurpose building in a residential area outside Hanoi, Vietnam. The project features a porous second skin from the primary glass elevation, which generates a shaded void, where locals can relax on floor nets or enjoy a drink. The outer shell is made up of 20,000 clay tiles reclaimed from the former single-story tiled-roof houses that have been demolished because of the ongoing rapid urbanization and increasing population in Vietnam. According to the team, the Ngói Space has been conceived as an inspiring solution to reusing these memory-filled tiles and, on a larger scale, inviting people to rediscover hidden values of the original spaces and use them to create spaces of the future. The building encompasses a variety of functions, including a two floor café, a multi-function space for seminars or exhibitions on the fourth floor, and a rooftop garden.

#BeOpenNEWS BE OPEN Art is happy to announce that Atis Jākobsons 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 July, otherworldly paintings by Atis Jākobsons that explore spiritual heritage and archetypes in contemporary Western cultures, while also addressing the myths of the Far and Middle East, have gained him a majority of votes. Atis is a Latvian artist who currently lives and works in Berlin. We also take the opportunity to applaud all the featured artists and thank everyone who voted.

#BeOpenDESIGN The Ohmie 3D printed lamp developed by Milan-based start-up Krill Design can be composted along with organic household waste, when no longer in use. The team uses a filament that is made from discarded orange peels, that are dried, ground to a fine powder and then sifted to make sure all grains are fine enough. The powder is then sent to a compounding facility where it is added to a biopolymeric vegetable starch base. Afterwards, the orange biopolymer is produced in the form of pellets, to be then extruded into a bio-based filament for 3D printing. The 3D printings technique has been chosen by the team to "avoid any form of waste during production". The resulting lamp, at the end of its life, can be easily broken down by hand into smaller pieces and tossed with the household’s food waste to be disposed of in composting facilities. The team is planning to go on with their research in order to develop a material that can be composted in nature or in an at-home compost. More eco-friendly 3D printed designs in our blog

#BeOpenARCH Spanish architecture practice SelgasCano has transformed a former parking lot in Los Angeles into a co-working complex for Second Home Hollywood. The campus consists of sixty oval-shaped individual offices and meeting rooms of varying sizes. Four different oval shapes create the bungalow offices that are that are scattered around the garden built with four feet of soil on top of the parking slab, burying the bungalows down to the table height. The garden of more than 6,500 plants and trees from 112 species native to Los Angeles surround the units helping create a tranquil working environment for 250 companies. Topped with bright-yellow roofs, the office pods resemble a cluster of lily pads when seen from above. The transparent curved walls allow 360º horizontal views of the plants, giving the feeling to be working among nature. via archdaily.com

#BeOpenARCH International architecture practice Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) was selected to design the Olympic Village for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics following an international competition. The village will transform the Porta Romana railway yard offering a new model for Olympic facilities to serve post-Olympic social goals. The winning proposal prioritizes sustainable building strategies and is designed to become an integral part of Milan’s urban fabric. The village encompasses a set of public green spaces, the transformation of two historic structures, and six new residential buildings that will serve Olympic athletes in the short term. Following the Olympics, the athletes' homes will be repurposed for student housing, while the park and railway side buildings near the Olympic Square will be used for affordable housing. The Olympic Village Plaza will become a neighborhood square, with shops, bars, restaurants, and cafes, along with an outdoor space for farmers' markets and other community events.

#BeOpenARCH Foster + Partners has used copper cladding for their first project in Russia – the newly opened headquarters for RCC (Russian Copper Company) in Ekaterinburg. Aiming to celebrate RCC’s expertise as one of the world’s leading producers of copper, the team has wrapped the 15-storey building into a faceted copper façade, its triangulated geometry taking cues from the crystal lattice structure of the metal. The double store cladding units reflect the construction of the two-storey interior modules, each of which comprises a pair of offices, stacked one on top of the other. This spatial organization was chosen by the team in order to reinvent the working space into a “house for staff”. Instead of the conventional large, communal workspace organization, inside there is a collection of innovative modular office units, organized at a more intimate, domestic scale. More copped-clad buildings in our blog

#BeOpenDESIGN Gramazio Kohler research, an architectural robotic laboratory at ETH Zurich, has built a free-standing earth-based cylindrical structure constituting the outer, soundproof shell of a high-fidelity music auditorium inside the newly refurbished Gurten Brewery in Bern. Named Clay Rotunda, the structure combines clay, a sustainable zero-waste building material, with computational design techniques. It was built in-situ by a mobile robotic system that aggregated over 30,000 soft clay bricks over a period of 50 days. The earthen construction reaches a height of 5 meters with just 15 cm of unreinforced clay, this extreme slenderness made possible by its undulated design, which allows to increase the footprint, while stabilizing the structure. The team has chosen clay because of its sustainable properties, which make the construction entirely waste-free. The material also has excellent properties in regulating the interior climate of the structure, thus reducing the need for mechanical ventilation.

#BeOpenDESIGN Design Academy Eindhoven graduate Milou Bergs has developed Align, a bicycle rack that only pops-up when needed, as an alternative to the "eyesore" storage systems that seem to clutter public spaces within the cities. Like a see-saw, the front wheel sinks down, raising a bracket to hold and lock the back wheel. When the bike is removed, it disappears entirely, hidden flat inside the pavement. This flexibility means that the public space can once again be open, making room for events, markets or everyday life. According to the designer, the project has already attracted the attention of Dutch municipalities.