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Clerkenwell Design Week when the future is now

Clerkenwell Design Week when the future is now

MAY 2015 | 3 minutes

London celebrated Clerkenwell Design Week, a great laboratory of design and architecture trends where, for a week, the future becomes the present. Actiu participated by opening it´s showroom, located at 28 Seward Street in Clerkenwell, to a specialised public and by offering an attractive program of activities.

Many professionals gathered together to listen to the proposals and projects of prestigious studios such as the Gensler, Zaha Hadid or Heatherwick. The entrance to the showroom was presided over by an original sample of ephemeral architecture with flexible membranes made by Roberto Garcia, architect at RGN Arquitectura and Manuel Jimenez, director of madM Design.

Gensler, one of the world's most prestigious office, through Mr Trevor To Yick -Yam, Mr Adam Lloyd Phillips and Ms. Riddhi Parakh London studio, have exposed the project “The London underline”, winning project organized by the city ​​of London, Best Conceptual project 2014. The essence of the project is to reuse all tunnels beneath London to become pedestrian zones and bicycle path, easing the traffic of the city.

Heatherwick Studio is one of the studies that is outperforming globally for its work in the headquater of Google or projects like the one presented; Trasure Island by  Jorge X. Mendez-Caceres, one of its architects. It is a futuristic floating park, 300 columns erected on the banks of the Hudson River in New York.

The intervention of the studio Zaha Hadid was a double act, so those present were able to enjoy two great designers from one of the most recognised architecture studios. Johanna Huang carefully described the process of creating a product and all its modifications, adaptations and variations from which one suffers until the final result. Drew Merkle, also an architect at Zaha Hadid, explained one of the lastest projects in Abu Dhabi; they are the offices for the company Bee'ah, inspired by the desert dunes.

Two professors specialized in the behavior of materials in architecture are Gilles Retsin, director of Retsin Studio and Isaie Bloch director from Eragatory director of the UCL and professor of The Bartlett Architecture University, one of the best universities in the world . They gave a lecture on applied robotics to architecture; it is the most advanced technique applied in this sector to date. Participants in these activities highlighted that "it has been like watching what is going to happen in the world of architecture and design within five years". Not surprisingly London and New York are considered to be the basic reference for the design world.

Actiu´s own showroom in London also formed part of the proposed activities, where one could get to know the latest concepts in designing spaces and environments where industry is centered on the person and their welfare; flexible, attractive and warm which achieves a perfect fusion between the home and work and enhances creativity and performance. Once inside, visitors had the chance to discover the latest creations of Actiu; the award-winning, Wing chair, the winner of the Red Dot and IF Design Awards, as well as, the Badminton wraparound design chair or the modular program of sofas, tables, filing systems and Longo sound absorbing panels. And as if it were part of the sample, gastronomy and Spanish wines accompanied each activity, surprising the audience with its flavour and variety.