UNStudio presentation and Platform Dialogues at Tortona Design Week 2013 in Milan

9TH - 14TH APRIL 2013, EMPORIO BUILDING IN OPIFICIO COURTYARD, VIA TORTONA 31, MILAN

UNStudio will be presenting a selection of their product and interior works at TDW 2013. The designs will be exhibited in an inviting and interactive setting of shifting perspectives in the Emporio building in Zona Tortona. A new product series designed by Ben van Berkel / UNStudio for the furniture brand Offecct will also be launched at this year's Salone del Mobile.

PLATFORM DIALOGUES
In collaboration with UNStudio’s Knowledge Platforms, a programme of Platform Dialogues by specialists from within the UNStudio network will also be organised throughout the week:

DESIGNING FOR CO-CREATING
TUESDAY 9th APRIL, 11:00-12:00
How can architecture and product design contribute to co-creation? Is co-creation a romantic idea driven by the democratisation and customisation of the consumer industry, or a true reflection of contemporary working practices?  What are the potential benefits of co-creating within architecture and product design? This session investigates the importance of materiality at the human scale of design. Jurgen Bey, Ben van Berkel and Leo Schouten invite design critics and writers to actively share their opinions concerning the future of co-creation. Sharing an interest in encouraging dialogue, innovation and creative exchange through design, they will discuss the process of co-creating within their own practices, as well as the designing of spaces for the accommodation of co-creation.
Panelists:
Ben van Berkel - Co-Founder/ Principal Architect UNStudio
Jurgen Bey - Director/ designer Studio Makkink & Bey and director PROOFFLab
Leo Schouten - Founder / director PROOFF

MATERIAL ATTAINABILITY
FRIDAY 12th APRIL, 15:00-16:00
Every day we strive to find new materials and novel uses for old ones to discover inventive, effective and sustainable solutions. In the context of this Dialogue, ‘attainability’ is the combination of research and sustainability in the pursuit of advanced materials.  For this dialogue we will explore what materials can do now, and what we want them to do tomorrow.
Panelists:
Gabi Böhm - Senior Architect/Project Manager, Premier Composite Technologies
Micol Costi - Director of Materials Research Material Connexion Italia
Giammichele Melis - Associate Director Buro Happold
James O’Callaghan - Director Eckersley O’Callaghan Structural + Facade Engineers
Federica Sem - Managing Director Permasteelisa Interiors

INTERFACE
SATURDAY 13th APRIL, 15.00-16.00
Whether it is as a portal to the World Wide Web or active nano-technologies, the communication between users and materials is no longer only one-way.  The surfaces and objects through which we communicate and design provide new tactile and virtual feedbacks.  This Dialogue will explore the current and future possibilities of Interfaces with each other and through materiality.
Panelists:
Markus Benz - CEO Walter Knoll
Birgit Lohmann - Associate Editor-in-Chief Designboom
Jan-Christoph Zoels - Senior Partner user experience design Experentia

If you are unable to join us please view the recordings from the Platform Dialogues at: http://www.unstudio.com/research/platform-dialogues

FURTHER DISCUSSIONS AND EVENTS IN THE EMPORIO BUILDING

Opening - Mon April 8th at 10:00

PROOFF Breakfast - Wednesday April 10th, 10:00
PROOFF Breakfast - Friday April 12th, 10:00

Connecting Items (invitation only):
'To Curate, or not to Curate' - Connecting the Dots – Wednesday April 10th, 18:30-19:15 – with Domitilla Dardi, Ingeborg De Roode and Jurgen Bey. Host: David Heldt
'Fluid Collaborations' – Thursday April 11th, 18:30-19:15 - with Caroline Bos. Further speakers to be Confirmed. Host: Max Bruinsma

UNSTUDIO AND PROOFF
UNStudio’s approach to interior and product design is based on the combination of a deep understanding and working knowledge of materials and innovative technology with distinctive spatial design strategies.
UNStudio will be showing a selection of furniture designs including, among others, the Circle Sofa, the Red Dot award winning Seating Stones and MYchair (Walter Knoll), along with the Tea & Coffee Towers and the Switch Tray (Alessi). The pieces will be displayed in a spatial installation featuring large scale photographs of UNStudio interiors. By moving through the pavilion, shifting perspectives appear, demonstrating the visual and spatial effects of new, more dynamic, materializations.

At the same time and in the same space innovative furniture brand PROOFF will present their range of products and launch PROOFFlab. UNStudio and PROOFF will each exhibit their work in distinct yet reciprocal installations in the Emporio building. The presentations illustrate the collaborative nature of both practices and their shared interest in encouraging dialogue, innovation and creative exchange.