Foster + Partners Open Apple Champs-Élysées Store by Transforming Parisian Apartment









The latest Apple Store designed by Foster + Partners has opened on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, occupying the grounds and courtyard of a historic Parisian apartment. The ornate Beaux-Art building has been appropriated by “carefully interweaving several layers of history with contemporary, light-filled and inviting spaces.”

The design is the result of a close collaboration by Foster + Partners and Apple’s chief design officer Sir Jonathan Ive, which has produced Apple Stores around the world including Piazza Liberty in Milan, Michigan Avenue in Chicago and Regent Street in London.

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The Vicarious Dreaminess of Gabriel Isak’s Photography














If you feel that you are peeking into somebody else’s dreams when looking at Swedish photographer Gabriel Isak’s work then your instincts are spot on. Isak’s hypnotic, cryptic photographs are inspired by the inner world of dreams. Often featuring solitary figures whose faces are obscured, they depict surreal, hallucinatory scenes full of melancholy, apprehension and bewilderment in an attempt to lyrically convey the gist of human experience. Drawing from his own subconscious, Isak invites viewers to project their own deep-seated fears and desires onto the enigmatical scenarios he has soulfully recreated. Channeling the surrealist art of René Magritte, the photographs tap into our unconscious states initiating a process of soul searching and dream interpretation. Yatzer recently caught up with Isak to talk about his dreamlike work, his ‘psychoanalytical’ approach to photography, and his affinity for the colour blue.

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Maison du Parc in Montreal features stark interiors with “mysterious depth”




















Black and white spaces, including a sculptural staircase and a wine cellar, are found across this brick house overhauled by Montreal firm La Shed Architecture.

Maison du Parc, or Park House, is a three-storey residence in the Canadian city that has received a rear extension and a dramatic interior renovation.

La Shed Architecture gave the house a fresh coat of white paint on its brick front, after the facade was carefully preserved, while the fully glazed addition joins a garden, pool and detached garage at the back.

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Ai Weiwei speaks honestly on China’s past, present, and future


In 2012, Ai Weiwei argued that China’s art world does not exist. Speaking with The Guardian, the artist explained that in his home country, art is a consumerist offering that provides little in the way of a genuine experience of China. His comment fuels the idea that true Chinese art only comes from the country’s radical physical and social exiles (like when he smashed a 2000-year-old Han Dynasty urn in 1995). When we see that this year alone damaging rulings such as China’s ban of hip hop and queer themes from television didn’t appear once in contemporary Chinese art, but only from those living on the margins, Ai’s theory stands in full validation.

With the recent demolition of his Beijing studio, the artist turns his lens back on China for his first major institutional show in Los Angeles, Ai Weiwei: Life Cycle, running until March 3, 2019, at Marciano Art Foundation. In a meditation on contemporary Chinese life, in Life Cycle, Ai takes his journey on documenting the global refugee crisis closer to home by using traditional Chinese materials and mythology to explore contemporary Chinese society and demonstrate how exiled art will be the only way to push China forward. Through his use of ancient fantasy, his utopian vision of a China sans communism beams through the works.

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GRAFT’s Masterplan for Georgian Railway Headquarters Mimics the Natural Curve of a Railway Junction





GRAFT has developed a master plan for the Didube Chughureti District in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia. The master plan for the business district attempts to provide its inhabitants with a healthy working environment by balancing scenic landscaping with the necessary amenities.

The overall complex consists of a pair of complimentary towers: the main tower, in particular, will house the head offices for the Georgian Railway Company. Elements of the façade reflect the railway. The facades, themselves, appear to divide in a similar way to a railway junction. At the base of the tower, the descending curve of the façade plateaus, creating a roof for the new open-air museum, which features locomotives from the Georgian Railway Company.

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emmanuelle moureaux’s art installation for uniqlo is an immersion of color








emmanuelle moureaux has created the installation ‘knit in 100 colors’ as part of a special exhibition launched by uniqlo during 2018’s paris fashion week in september, at the galerie nationale du jeu de paume. ‘the art and science of lifewear : creating a new standard in knitwear’ marked the brand’s first large-scale exhibition open to the public. it introduced uniqlo’s knitwear in five areas ‘art’, ‘science’, ‘craftsmanship’, ‘fashion’ and ‘collaboration.’ in the ‘art’ zone, moureaux’s ‘knit in 100 colors’ presented an infinite world of colors where visitors could experience the vibrant palette of uniqlo at a glance.

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All these Open Windows, but No Fresh Air







The book all these open windows, but no fresh air was designed as part of a master thesis project at PBSA Düsseldorf. It deals with the cultural consequences of digitization. In order to give this research project a certain look of neutrality, the superfamily Suisse was chosen. It does a good job: the neo-grotesque typeface follows the Swiss neutral style, but has many subtle differences. Whether using the monospaced, sans-serif or serif style, the three typefaces work together harmoniously and help to structure the book.

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