No Sweat Workspace Workout by Darryl Agawin

No, Sweat by Darryl Agawin is a 3-piece workspace furniture set that can transform into exercise furniture. In today’s busy lives it can be difficult to find the time for daily exercise. By combining workspace and workout furniture, it allows anyone to take a break from their busy work schedules and partake in regular daily exercise. This eye catching set of furniture serves to remind the user of the exercise capabilities of their furniture.
The exercises that No, Sweat! utilizes are based on pre-established and well known routines and styles. The basic forms that shaped No Sweat! were drawn from the exercise step, the balance board, the weight bar, the skip rope and the kettle bell. Hundreds of exercises can be extrapolated from these basic structures and equipment.
No, Sweat! can be used wherever desk work is done; from the company office to a studio apartment. This set is designed for everyone, as exercise is important for all ages. No, Sweat! benefits those interested in fitness, yet have not joined a public gym or unable to purchase dedicated home equipment due to a lack of space or finances.
When design No, Sweat!, first hand research was used to establish a working baseline; exploring various exercise disciplines, finding the similarity between various forms. These forms were then dissected and rearranged into a workspace configuration. Pen-and-paper sketching, quick CAD prototyping and full-scale prototypes were used to explore and ultimately refine the myriad of possibilities.
To increase awareness of the project, a short teaser video was released online. Additionally, a custom print titled Curl Bars and Collars, was designed for promotional graphics and lithograph-style posters were designed and printed.
In the same fashion that the 1980s Memphis style design was a postmodern response to Bauhaus’ Form follows function, No, Sweat! proves that one does not need fancy, modern gym equipment in order to have a full body workout. No, Sweat! provides a mental and physical break from the work day and gets people moving.

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JWT Amsterdam Office by Alrik Koudenburg and RJW Elsinga

JWT Amsterdam aims to ‘Seriously Surprise’, and it does, from the moment you enter. Exciting things lie in wait around every corner. Whether it’s the upside-down castle at reception, the greenhouse meeting space with huge plants, the architectural tree sculptures, or the drawings from artists such as the Dutch collective Kamp Horst or the Norwegian Anders Rockum. It just doesn’t stop. As a visitor to the space you want to go and explore. Discovering funky Skype units, Amsterdam Canal house cabinets or the profile of Holland’s greatest writer, made out of his Wiki-page text. The interior perfectly reflects the agency’s motto.

On being commissioned, design director Alrik Koudenburg teamed up with design-artist RJW Elsinga. Together the duo worked on creating a stunning space of nearly 2000sq meters, almost all custom-designed. The interior WOW effect, is created with graphics, including logos per department, a variety of unique furniture and specials such as a 2.6m high cardboard bunny to house the office’s many awards. Completing it are classics like the Eames, Friso Kramer, lights by Louis Poulsen, Tom Dixon – and also the fabulous Moroso ‘Soft Wood sofa’ and Driade ‘Nemo’ face chairs.

JWT Amsterdam, lead by Ralph Wisbrun and creatively by Bas Korsten completely reorganized the agency before their big move. Believing that our complex world calls for a new way of working, they tore down the traditional agency structure and built a new one. With 3 leaner, meaner and more agile departments: Think, Do and Make.

For ‘Think’ Koudenburg & Elsinga created an inspirational garden, where one can wonder around and let thoughts flow freely. The space includes a library and a podium overlooking the Leidse Square. ‘Think’ is the place where ideas are invented and plans made, based on strategy, technology and connectivity. — For ‘Do’ a city setup was created, which functions like a busy beehive where JWT staff organize the idea, getting it done with a team of concept producers, online- / activation- / and print producers. — ‘Make’ feels like a happy factory, being inside a creative toolbox, where digital craftsmen and women bring the ideas to life. It consists of a studio for (online) design, visualizing, film making, etcetera. The huge CMYK colored robot cabinets (2.80m high) keep everything nice and tidy.

Concept/Design: Alrik Koudenburg & RJW Elsinga

Photography: Kasia Gatkowska

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Parasite Office by Za Bor Architects, Moscow

The Parasite office is a concept created by Za Bor architects while designing their own studio. This design uses free spaces between buildings forming original and economically viable offices which do not block the court yard access. The project provides a three-floor volume with an accessible roof area, divided with modular floor panels. The framework which shapes it, is a single structural unit clamped between the blind facades of the houses. The polygonal main facade solved in dynamical volumes, is made from light and durable cellular polycarbonate; the facade turned to the court yard is flat and completely glazed.

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Yandex Office II by Za Bor Architects

It is indicative that this office is to some extent a return to the roots of cooperation of za bor architects and the largest Russian IT-corporation Yandex. The first office developed for Yandex by za bor architects is in the same building of the Benois business center in Saint Petersburg, but on a lower floor. In 2008 it was a brilliant premiere published by almost all the leading architecture and design media in Russia. The project has picked up many awards. Four years later za bor architects and Yandex had decided to repeat the success on a larger scale – Yandex Saint-Petersburg office II is almost twice as large as the previous one – it houses the entire fourth floor of the building and has a corridor about 200 meters long (total floor area 3310 sqm), but size doesn’t matter, clients wanted an «extraordinary office like no other»

 source: www.contemporist.com

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Tea House J-Office by Archi-Union

Archi-Union Architects founded in 2003,  is a Shanghai-based architectural design company which pays great attention on the combination of academic research and physical practice with two branches in Shanghai.
Location:Yangpu District, Shanghai
Area: approx 300 sqm
Design: March, 2010 – August, 2010
Construction: August, 2010 – May, 2011

 source: www.archi-union.com

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