Designers Rikkert Paauw and Jet van Zwieten of Foundation Projects transform refuse skips and their contents into small buildings.

The designers transport the skips to urban locations before filling them with materials and furniture sourced from the surrounding streets or given to them by local residents.

The skips act as foundations for the patched-together structures, which become meeting places where people can gather to chat or have a coffee from the built-in bar.

The project was presented during Vienna Design Week in 2010 and then at the Milan Public Design Festival in 2011, with the different locations yielding completely different materials and outcomes.

In April this year Paauw and van Zwieten built three of the buildings in their hometown of Utrecht, which were then relocated from their scavenging sites to a common location where they formed the hub of a mini festival.

A few years ago Goldsmiths University graduate Oliver Bishop-Young built all sorts of things inside skips, including a swimming pool and a skate ramp – see our previous stories.

Here is some more information from the designers:

Straatlokaal: social gathering in the city

In three Utrecht districts a container is filled with materials to be found in the area. In no more than a week, a small house will be constructed using those materials.

All three structures will subsequently be relocated to centre square the Neude where, together, they will form a pavilion with a bar and events.

Container House

A construction container developing into a house. It initially formed the idea for a logo for Rikkert’s design studio Stortplaats van Dromen (Dumping-ground for Dreams). Jet thought it was too complicated to be a logo, but saw the potential to actually execute the idea in real life.

Foundation Projects

Two years on, that day came. During the international Public Design Festival in Milan, designers Rikkert Paauw and Jet van Zwieten realize their first homemade house under the name Foundation.

A container is placed in a supermarket parking lot in the middle of a working-class district, and Jet and Rikkert go out into the neighbourhood with a small team of people to gather materials.

The stuff they collect isn’t just refuse found on the streets, but also donated by residents, such as old wood from sheds, furniture that has been sitting in attics for years and discarded interior furnishings from local entrepreneurs. Within a week, the container transforms into an actual little building, with a bar.

During the festival, the bar becomes a meeting point where people share a coffee and show each other what has been done with their old stuff.

Hometown Utrecht

The project was also held in Vienna during the Vienna Design Week 2010 and again during the Milanese Public Design Festival in 2011. Every disctrict produces a completely different structure made from materials that are characteristic of each particular place. Thanks to a grant from the Utrecht provincial authorities intended for young talented designers, Jet and Rikkert’s home town of Utrecht will be the next city to host the event.

Streetcombing in three districts

In April, the designers and their teams, each with their own container, will pitch up in Wittevrouwen, Kanaleneiland, and Leidsche Rijn for a week. They will roam the neighbourhood on carrier bikes, streetcombing and inquiring, constantly on the look-out for building materials and discarded furniture.

In all three districts, all these materials will be used to build a house for which the container is the foundation. Residents are welcome to supply materials themselves and possibly lend a hand in the building process. Images and sounds of the building process will be recorded.

Pavilion on the Neude

After three weeks of streetcombing and building, the structures will be relocated to the Neude, where from 5-10 May, a bar named Straatlokaal will be opened. Straatlokaal will have a simple daily program of events including music, breakfast debates and speakers from the different districts.

By means of videomapping, the story behind several materials will be projected onto those materials. Think of, for example, a picture of a resident, images of a messy attic, a renovation or of vacant land. Music and soundscapes (by Sonostruct~ and Jacob van de Water) made using the audio tapings will be played in the pavilion. In this way, visitors will get a multi-layered look into the three different Utrecht areas.

Unexpected encounters

The elements that truly set the Foundation projects apart are the innovative way in which the materials are transformed, the fact that there is always room for unexpected contributions and the manner in which Foundation forges a connection between local parties during the projects.

“People from all walks of life will find their way to the project. People that hang out on the streets, but also architects, residents that come to donate materials and people interested in design. One of Foundation’s main goals is to bring people together and inspire dialogue between persons from different backgrounds. Until now, that is exactly what has happened at all previous projects and that is why we will just carry on.”

The post Straatlokaal by Rikkert Paauw
and Jet van Zwieten appeared first on Dezeen.

Dutch designer Enina Waelstham of Mormels Design has created a collection of lamps made by covering objects in recycled paper.

Each of the three lamps is made by using papier-mâché to paste the recycled paper over found objects such as coffee cups.

The papier-mâché form is then cut open to allow the objects to be retrieved and returned to their original function, and the shell is sealed back up to create the lamp.

Here's some text from Mormels:

--

The fresh new design studio Mormels is very proud to present ‘Found Form’ by Enina Waelstham.

Dutch native Enina Waelstham (1980) didn’t go through any of the well-known Dutch canals to get to where she is now.

As an autodidact she gained and developed her expertise in design via many different jobs in design company’s worldwide, including Amsterdam, Shanghai, New York and Munich. Now Enina has taken the exciting next step by setting up her studio Mormels design in London, UK.

The growing family of lamps; ‘Found Form’ is the first design to be presented under her own name and company. It is a clear presentation of Mormels’ and Enina Waelstham’s vision for design, for the future of our planet and our homes.

‘Found Form’ investigates reusing the wealth we already have in our world, as the shapes of the lamps come from existing objects in our everyday surroundings.

By linking these shapes and taking their combined shape via the traditional technique of papier-mâché a new fascinating object comes to life. The material used to create the lamps over these objects is recycled paper, thus creating a lightweight, eco friendly, biodegradable and unique lamp.

‘Found Form’ is an exciting and ongoing project bound to give people a new view at what is already around us in our overflowing world.

The post Found Form by Enina Waelstham
for Mormels design appeared first on Dezeen.

Zurich and London designers Aekae have completed the interior of a cafe in a Zurich park.

Oak parquet flooring from the building has been re-appropriated in the bar and benches, old curtains were used to make upholstery and a modular vintage lamp provides illumination.

The cafe's chairs have been customised by various artists and designers.

They will be used in the cafe for three months before being auctioned and replaced by a new set of chairs, altered by another group of artists.

Interior photographs are by Nico Schaerer; photographs of chairs are by Nadine Ottawa.

Here's some more information from Aekae:

--

The Café/Bar «Z am Park» is situated at a Park in a former workers district of Zurich, and offers 45 seats inside, and 50 on the terrace.
They serve an exceptional coffee, and on the small but nice menu there are drinks and bites, with a brunch special on weekends. The Interior is straight forward as well.

The location at the Park offers nice views of the trees, and we didn't want to distract from these with a flashy, overdesigned interior, thus keeping it simple. Inspiration came from Classic elements of a french park-café that where interpreted in a modern way. The main Objective of the Design was to create an unpretentious and relaxed space that effortlessly combines the old and the new.

We questioned the common perception and placing of materials, while being reasonable in the use of them. So parts of the former flooring, an oak-herringbone-parquet, were used to form the Bar and Couches, all contrasted by the warmgray, monochromatic Space. Materials were re-used where possible; old curtains were handpicked for the shiftable upholstery, and a modular vintage lamp (by Trix and Robert Haussmann, 1965), was chosen to create a glowing lighting.

We wanted the interior to keep evolving, so instead of just placing the classic Horgenglarus Bistrochairs (Mod. Classic 1-380) in the Space,
we asked various artists and designers to each re-work 4 of them in their own way.

These are to be used and seen in the Café during 3 Months, after which they can be bought at an auction evening, giving room to new chairs after. The profit fully goes to the designers.

The first auction will be taking place on the 24th of October, showcasing designs of:

• Christophe Marchand / Christian Lehmann
• Annina Gaehwiler / Tina Stieger (aka pour les alpes)
• Fries & Zumbühl
• Andreas Bechtiger
• Fabian Schwärzler

After this the Café will feature new designs coming from:

• Kirstin Roemer
• Daniel Gafner
• Nicolas LeMoigne
• James Dyer-Smith
• Moritz Schlatter
• Christophe Marchand / Christian Lehmann

The post Café/Bar Z am Park by Aekae appeared first on Dezeen.

Graduate designer Daniel Rawlings has created a series of vases by heat-shrinking plastic tubing around broken crockery.

Rawlings completed the project while studying at Kingston University and exhibited it at graduate show New Designers in London last month.

See all our stories from New Designers in our special category.

Here's a bit of text from Rawlings:

--

Heat shrink series, a range of products utilising heat-shrink tubing (heat sensitive plastic that when in contact with a temperature above 150 degrees will shrink in size). A variety of household vessels comprising of reclaimed crockery brought back to life with heat-shrink. The heat-shrink shrouds existing vessels to exaggerate and extend their current forms whilst also reviving a lost functionality.

The post Heat Shrink Series by Daniel Rawlings appeared first on Dezeen.

New Designers 08: Goldsmiths University graduate Oliver Bishop-Young presented two projects about skips at New Designers in London earlier this month.

The first is a proposal for a website where people upload information about the contents of skips so others can salvage items they need from them. Update 31/07/08: see more photos of SkipWaste in our new story here.

The SkipWaste site would be searchable by items required or location and shows a photo of each skip plus its location on a map. Visit a demo version of the website here.

The second project (shown here) involved converting empty skips into public spaces such as skate parks, swimming pools and gardens.

The following information is from Bishop-Young:

--

My work focuses on skips and looks at three main areas: exchange of waste materials, re-use of waste and making use of wasted spaces.

SkipWaste.org.uk is a site that documents the contents and locations of skips, allowing the exchange of materials before they go to landfill.

These three attachments (below) aide the recovery of materials from skips. The plinth elevates the status of last object added to the skip and makes it easily accessible.

It can be shameful for some to be seen peering into a skip, the mirror makes it easy to see inside at a glance. A black board contents pagedocuments all that is added and removed from a skip, providing a catalogue of what is on offer.

Skip ramp is made from a collection of materials gathered from skips; it reuses them to form a mini ramp in a skip. Pete King a professional skater along with Sidewalk magazine came to do an article on the design. Skip ramp was one of many conversions made to the skip using reclaimed materials.

The post SkipWaste by Oliver Bishop-Young appeared first on Dezeen.