17 November, 2010 at 10:00
Julien De Smedt will lecture at Infosteel’s annual conference “La Journée de Construction Acier 2010″ on Thursday, November 18th at 1:30PM. The event will be held at the AULA MAGNA conference center in Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium.
More information about the event can be found here.
15 November, 2010 at 12:00
JDS is selected with The Alphabet among Belgian’s finest designers for Belgium is Design, the 6th design triennial, at Le Grand Hornu (Mons, BE). The Alphabet lighting system, designed for Italian lighting producer EWO will be showcased from 21 November 2010 untill 27 Februari 2011.
The theme of the sixth triennial is the social significance of design. The exhibition will neither present an inventory nor show the latest products, but will instead examine how the impact of design on mankind’s fundamental needs can influence the lifestyle of ordinary people. There will be a focus on such concepts as ‘service design’, ‘social design’ and ‘user-centred design’ and also on sustainability and quality of life.
100 projects/10 values for mankind
“All designers and design studios that designed the 100 products selected for the exhibition are based in Belgium. We chose the products for what we consider their significant human values, of which we defined 10. The ten values refer to essential needs of mankind: emotion, environmental awareness, efficiency, convenience, intimacy, playfulness, mobility, safety, tradition and community.”
Stefan Schöning, 2008 designer of the year, was engaged for the scenography of the triennial.
Organisers: Johan Valcke, Director of Design Vlaanderen, part of Agentschap Ondernemen, in association with Françoise Foulon, Director of Grand-Hornu Images
Exhibition curator: Lise Coirier, Pro Materia asbl
More info on the official website www.belgiumisdesign.be
Forthcoming publication:
Belgium is Design. Design for Mankind
published by Stichting Kunstboek, 256 pages, approx. 250 illustrations, 30 x 24 cm.
To visit the exhibition:
Site du Grand-Hornu / Grand-Hornu Images
Rue Ste Louise 82, 7301 Hornu (near Mons)
T +32(0)65 65 21 21
E info.ghi@grand-hornu.be
W www.grand-hornu.be
W www.grand-hornu-images.be
Opening hours:
Every day from 10:00 to 18:00 hrs, except Monday.
1 November, 2010 at 10:00
The Lollipop Shoppe invited 11 influential furniture designers from across Europe to create one of 11 public benches. This micro-exhibition, on the Shoppe’s own Old Spitalfields Market doorstep, ran throughout the London Design Festival. Now The Lollipop Shoppe are selling six of the Benches.
You can find the JDS BENCH on Lollipop’s webshop here.
25 October, 2010 at 18:00
The JDS VMTN model is on display at the Building for Brussels Exhibition in the Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels (BOZAR) from 9.10-28-11-2010.
Background info on Building for Brussels:
In 2007, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, the Centre for Fine Arts organized the exhibition A Vision for Brussels – Imagining the Capital of Europe. An international team of architects around Pier Vittorio Aureli and Joachim Declerck, from the Berlage Institute, presented the results of a research into various possibilities of Brussels as capital of Europe. Today, three years later, we are continuing the thread of this reflection. Together with Emir Kir, secretary of state of the Brussels Capital Region, in the frame of the Belgian presidency of the European Union, we are presenting an exhibition Building for Brussels – Architecture and Urban transformation in Europe. With the starting point of the challenges which Brussels as a capital is facing on the eve of an unseen demographic expansion, Joachim Declerck, from Architecture Workroom Brussels, examines a series of European urban development projects and their relevancy for the capital of Europe. Building for Brussels makes it clear that architecture and city building are more than just the aesthetic side of a city management: they are one of the main tools to answer the challenges of a capital city and to shape our social life and our patrimony for tomorrow. On the one hand, these two exhibitions show our involvement and our will to take part in the debate on the future development of Brussels as capital of Europe and on the other hand they are part of the role which the Centre for Fine Arts of Brussels plays as a platform for the international architectural culture. As a cultural hub, Bozar is the place for local talents to be offered an international stage and at the same time, it plays the role of a go-between attracting and involving international experts. And thus we add our contribution to a capital which should develop a truly European dimension also from the architectural point of view.
Paul Dujardin
General Director, Centre for Fine Arts
Building for Brussels
1 October, 2010 at 18:00
The Iceberg / Isbjerget project in Århus, Denmark has started again with the construction phase starting before Christmas and an expected completion time in early 2013.
The project is now under development of Pension Danmark and NCC in collaboration with JDS + CEBRA + SeARCH.
The Aarhus Harbour development provides a huge opportunity for Denmark’s second largest city to develop in a socially sustainable way by renovating its old, out-of-use container terminal. The area is meant to become a living city quarter, comprised of a multitude of cultural and social activities, a generous amount of workplaces, and of course, a highly mixed and diverse array of housing types.
The Iceberg Project seeks to locate itself within the goals of the overall city development. The project’s 200 apartments will be set aside entirely as rental housing.
“With the Iceberg we get unique housing qualities as well as a city architectural expression of the highest quality”, says Kent Martinussen, Administrative Director of the DAC (Danish Architecture Centre).
“Århus will get a fantastic harbour front with unique architectural buildings that both in appearance and functionality prove that we are a city of grand ambitions. Our desire for this area goes beyond just a façade without life and purpose. We want a living city where everybody thrives. Both those who live and those who work in this “City near the harbour / De Bynære Havnearealer”. Projects of this caliber are a big step towards this goal.”
-Mayor, Nicolai Wammen
25 September, 2010 at 18:00
Step by this weekend at our Brussels office! As part of Design September, JDS has open doors and takes the opportunity to give visitors a little update on what happened lately in the product design department.
When: Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th of September, from 11h-17h
Location: JDS Brussels, Fabrieksstraat 1b Rue des Fabriques, B-1000 Brussels.
We also take this opportunity to present RAW, a series of furnitures, currently on the drawing board, that is inspired by architectural thinking.
20 September, 2010 at 18:00
We are happy to announce Stair! Currently being exhibited at the London Design Festival 2010. Go and check it out untill the 28th of September at the Old Spitalfields Market!
A public bench as a reference to urban conditions. We propose Stair, a bench with multiple seating levels, allowing people to sit in a way that is less prescribed, more flexible and more social. Constructed with triangular prisms, that are connected in such way, they form an infinite variety of stair-shaped seating platforms. Please, take a seat!
Through this way, we also would like to thank the organizer, The Lollipop Shoppe, for asking us to participate in their Bench10 event.
http://www.londondesignguide.com/tag/bench-10/
http://www.londondesignfestival.com/events/bench10
Bench10 party
Thursday 23rd September 2010 at The Lollipop Shoppe
10 Lamb Street
Old Spitalfields Market, London E1 6EA
3 September, 2010 at 10:00
JDS Architects have been awarded the EcoDesign Award at Habitare in Helsinki, Finland for their Ecomode public transport lighting concept.
“Ecomode by Julien De Smedt opens new perspectives into the excessive use of light in public transport. The bus stop lightning solution that only switches on when a passenger arrives at the stop was praised by Ingo Maurer for its brilliant energy saving concept and the ambiance created by the gradually brightening light.” – Habitare News Release
Read more about the results here.
1 September, 2010 at 18:00
JDS takes part in the EcoDesign exhibition, part of the Habitare Fair in Helsinki, Finland.
The given task was to present a prototype, JDS took another step:
“When lighting needs to be sustainable, a common reaction is to think in terms of technology. Plenty of solutions are offered for light tracking, censoring and sourcing. Second is to think in terms of economy. Which investment lends to a benefit that allows to add a higher sustainable value in products.
Thus, for ‘eco-lighting’, we looked into situations where constant lighting is offered, but not needed. We have decided to address the over-consumption of light in public transport facilities, where a change in attitude is necessary.”
“What if a bus stop is basically not lit, only the info panel and the sign glows? When a passenger approaches, the light in the shelter gradually turns itself on. The light is only used when really needed and it announces the presence of a passenger to the approaching bus/tram driver.”
Habitare is a well-known and popular event that shows what Finns can do and what suppliers offer Finns in the furniture and interior decoration field. Habitare presents collections, designers, concepts, young talents and new companies. Habitare fills all six halls at the Helsinki Fair Centre.
Opening: 1st of September 10h30
Duration: 1 – 5 September 2010
26 August, 2010 at 15:29
JDS together with ne arquitectura was recently commissioned to expand the Hotel Santa Teresa in Rio.
The hotel located on the Santa Teresa hill over viewing downtown Rio was voted earlier this year the best suite in the world by Wallpaper magazine. JDS/ne extension proposes to tie together the existing structure with a neighbouring building of a colonial facture. The connective element will be a bridge like structure that hovers above the patrimonial heritage, liberating it from a direct collision and therefore maintaining its historical entity. The position of the old and new elements amplifies their genuine attributes but their proximity resolves programmatic as well as logistic issues.
The project is due for completion at the end of 2011.
