Sleepbox Hotel Tverskaya by Arch Group

A hotel unlike any other has opened in Moscow – the first Sleepbox hotel, by Russian studio Arch Group.

The four-storey hotel is filled with Arch Group’s iconic portable sleeping capsules, the Sleepbox, first developed as a solution for travellers in busy urban environments such as airports.

Monument first spoke to Arch Group about the Sleepbox last year, after the capsules were installed at the Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow. Bringing the units into an old building in downtown Moscow has now allowed Arch Group to transform an awkward building into a functioning, beautifully designed and futuristic-looking hotel, paving the way for a new kind of accommodation 

The Sleepbox provides a minimalist, cosy space for visitors to relax – and one that is three times cheaper than most nearby hotels. Double and single capsules are available, with wooden units for up to two people on the first and second floors of the hotel, while the top floor is filled with black and white, single-person Sleepboxes. Each unit is equipped with a bed, LED reading lamps and sockets for charging laptops and mobile phones, and some have an inbuilt TV. Shower and toilet cabins are located on every floor, similarly designed to look like separated capsules fixed in a row, with illuminated LED joints between them.

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Torafu Architects exhibition at Mr Kitly, Brunswick

(Image: Akihiro Ito)

An exhibition of the fun and playful design of Torafu Architects is on display at Mr Kitly gallery in Brunswick throughout February.

Running until 24 February, Mr Kitly’s light-filled, upstairs Sydney Rd space showcases the Japanese architecture and design studio’s new designs for the first time in Australia, including the Koloro series desk, airvases, stamp kits, dowel blocks, magnet sets and more.

Founded in 2004 by Koichi Suzuno and Shinya Kamuro, Torafu Architects is known for a creative approach to design thinking, with a diverse range of work ranging from architectural design to interior design for shops, exhibition space design, product design, spatial installations and film making.

The Torafu Architects exhibition runs until 24 February at Mr Kitly, 381 Sydney Road (upstairs), Brunswick Vic.

Details at torafu.com and mrkitly.com.au

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Graduate profile: Kym Wiseman, University of South Australia

For the final studio project for his Master of Architecture, University of South Australia  graduate Kym Wiseman presented a beautiful design for a library and plaza within the Green Square Sydney masterplan development.

Kym says:

“The brief was to design a library and plaza within the. The design is based on the idea of marking or scaring of the built environment through human use. I drew a parallel with this and the deterioration of a library's physical archive (the books) in the way a book builds up marks of use over time. My design incorporates an analogue mechanism within the library itself designed to record the use over a period of time of the entire catalogue of books, as books are remove and replaced from the shelves, the mechanism 'scratches' at glass panels. These panels are then interchanged to clad the facade, building up a visual patina representing the use and popularity of catalogued subjects over the life of the library.”  

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Livvi's Place all-inclusive playground in Ryde, Sydney

A new playground designed to encourage children of all abilities to play, learn and socialise together will be officially opened this Sunday in Ryde, Sydney.

The Livvi’s Place playground at Yamble Reserve caters for children with a range of special needs relating to mobility, vision and hearing, as well as for children affected by spectrum disorders such as autism. This is the first playground of its kind to be built in the north-western region of NSW, and joins an award-winning network of inclusive playgrounds across Australia, including sites in Five Dock, Campbelltown, Brisbane and Dubbo.

The project was conceived when the City of Ryde teamed up with the Touched by Olivia Foundation, with a pledge of $400,000 (later increased to $570,000) to kick-start the development, including the land at Yamble Reserve, playground design, an amenities block, footpaths, parking and picnic facilities, community consultation and project management.

All of this was brought to life with the assistance of AECOM’s Corporate Social Responsibility program, including $110,000 of pro-bono work completed by AECOM. Specialists from AECOM’s landscape architecture, civil, structural, hydraulic and electrical engineering teams reviewed the Council design and oversaw its development, as well as preparing tender and construction documentation, and providing construction services.

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Urban Coffee Farm and Brew Bar by HASSELL

A jungle of coffee trees is set to provide a lively and thought-provoking space for lovers of coffee in Melbourne’s CBD throughout March.

The Urban Coffee Farm and Brew Bar, designed by internationally acclaimed design practice HASSELL, appears as part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, running from 1 – 17 March. 125 trees, grown in Australia especially for the project, will transform the iconic red stairs of Queensbridge Square on the banks of the Yarra into a terraced coffee farm, creating a unique setting for visitors to experience coffee from some of Australia’s top baristas.

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Win a 29" Dell Ultrasharp monitor!

There are so many reasons to subscribe to Monument – and here’s another one! Just by being a Monument subscriber you will automatically be placed in the draw to win a panoramic 29” Dell UltraSharp monitor, valued at $599.

A panoramic view with outstanding productivity features

Navigate multiple applications at once and multitask like never before. A vast, 29” panoramic display with a 21:9 aspect ratio and 2560 x 1080 wide full-HD offers the screen space of side-by-side monitors without a distracting bezel in between. Plus, with a 178°/178° (typical) ultra-wide viewing angle, you can enjoy an excellent view from almost any position.

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Picturing New York: Photographs from the Museum of Modern Art.

Cindy Sherman (American, born 1954). Untitled Film Still #21 1978. Gelatin silver print. 7 1/2 x 9 1/2" (19.1 x 24.1 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Horace W. Goldsmith Fund through Robert B. Menschel.

New York City has come to the Art Gallery of Western Australia with a mesmerising exhibition, Picturing New York: Photographs from the Museum of Modern Art.

On display until 12 May, this collection of photographs provides an intimate look at the city that never sleeps, with iconic images from artists including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans, Lewis Hine, Helen Levitt, Cindy Sherman, Alfred Stieglitz, and Weegee. Over 140 works are brought together to celebrate the energy and beauty of New York. From the glamorous to the grungy, this exhibition reveals the life of the city as well as providing a visual history of photography throughout the 20^th century.

Picturing New York is the second exhibition in a series of collaborations collaboration between the Art Gallery of WA (AGWA) and the renowned Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, following on from the popular Picasso to Warhol: Fourteen Modern Masters in June last year.

Picturing New York: Photographs from the Museum of Modern Art is on display at the Art Gallery of Western Australia from 26 January - 12 May 2013

Graduate profile: Alexandra Quick, University of Western Australia

University of Western Australia architecture graduate Alexandra Quick designed a proposal for a new museum on the site of the late Roman archaeological ruin Gamzigrad-Romuliana in eastern Serbia, with an innovative design that would respond to the natural qualities of the landscape and the historical narrative of the World Heritage site.

Alexandra says:

“The Romantic image of a ruin, as portrayed so often by Piranesi, is able to convey both the evocative power of buildings from the past and the destructive strength of time and nature. As described by Nieto & Sobejano architects, the themes of construction and deconstruction together evoke the memory of the disappeared buildings and act as a trigger of the imagination to mentally reconstruct both past and future architectures. When building and landscape remain together untouched the poetic synthesis between the order of building and the fluid order or nature is revealed.

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Graduate profile: Taro Grieves, QCA , Griffith University

Taro Grieves, product design graduate of Griffith University’s Queensland College of Art, produced a wooden lightbox toy that allows children to create imaginative shadow stories on the wall.

Taro says:

“Too many times, do you see children with a collection of plastic toys which have a short and pointless life span? By the time children grow up, many of their toys will fade or simply be thrown away. There is no chance for people to pass on the plastic toys of their youth to their own children.

This is a problem I hope fix with Projekt, a light box that is used to create memorable shadow stories on the wall.

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