Situated inside an abandoned toluene tank, The Intervention presents a complex kinetic sound sculpture, with 329 DC-motors arranged throughout the space. Bern-based Studio Zimoun has sent designboom images of their first permanent installation - a large, towering mechanical sound installation situated inside an abandoned Toluene tank from 1951 in Dottikon, Switzerland. working closely with architect Hannes Zweifel, The Intervention presents a complex kinetic sound sculpture, with 329 DC-motors arranged meticulously throughout the interior fabric of the space. In an obsessive display of simple and functional materials, the installation articulates a tension between the orderly patterns of modernism and the chaotic forces of life; revealing an intricate series of relationships, similar to those found within the artificial and the organic. [...]

Rectangular volumes, a simple design line and a glossy interior. A one-of-a-kind home. This is how would I describe The Summit House, a residential project designed by Habitat Studio & Workshop in Edmonton, Canada. The house accommodates fine pieces of artwork, a wide relaxing terrace and a “recharge-your-batteries” type of back courtyard. The best thing about this house are definitely the views and the tranquil atmosphere. There’s a green turf in front and a few trees, guiding you towards the house’s entrance. [...]

If artists, musicians and furniture designers Simon and Nikolai Haas feel they don't have a sufficient number of adjectives before their collective name, they can surely pick up a few this week at Design Miami/Basel. The Haas brothers' latest range of furnishings - launched in Basel by New York contemporary-design gallery R 20th Century - comes with a list of descriptives a mile long, and when viewed at once it casts a whole new light on the craftsmen. The new collection of reptilian brass tables and feral fur seating has a brutish quality that both attracts and repels. The brass coffee tables and stools employ the designers' groundbreaking hexagon-tile surface to unusual amorphous effect, creating a shape that appears to physically skulk. Combined with Plexiglas to form the 'Unique' lamp and shade, the hexagonal tiles take on a phallic quality that will shock and delight in equal measure - even among the cosmopolitan crowds at Basel. [...]

Oregon State University's Lynn Dierking suggests places where adults and kids can learn. It's easy to add a bit of education to your family vacation. Museums have upped the wow factor in recent years, creating galleries and programs that engage the mind and imagination. "These are cool places where you get to see things that aren't in your everyday life," says Lynn Dierking, a science and math education professor at Oregon State University and co-author of Museum Experience [...]

As a child, the clink of Legos knocking around a big bin stirred Nathan Sawaya’s creativity. Not much has changed. The 39-year-old Manhattan artist stores more than 1.5 million Legos in his Lexington Ave. studio, organized in clear plastic containers by shape and color and stacked neatly onto shelves that reach well past his head. The studio is filled with Lego artwork that has been featured in galleries around the world — garish skulls, leaping human figures, a pacing, caramel-colored dog, the goggling, pixelated head of Homer Simpson. [...]

Toyota plans to follow up last year's kid-friendly Camatte concept with two new versions: the Camatte57s and Camatte57s Sport (right). Like the original Camatte, the two new concepts will make their debut at the International Tokyo Toy Show, which is happening this weekend. Not much has changed with these two new Camatte models. Like their predecessor, they both feature detachable body panels (the count is up to 57), a 1+2 seating array and reconfigurable pedals that allow children to operate the gas and brakes while Mom or Dad steers. What is new is an open-top roadster design that even eschews doors in favor of easier ingress/egress. They look like something a tourist would rent to get around a Hawaiian island, though we dig the distinct personalities of each model's design. [...]

The Prahran Hotel is a substantial two storey corner pub with a striking streamlined art deco facade. The rear of the venue had a poorly proportioned, internalised single storey extension and the clients brief for the project called to demolish and replace it with a dramatic double height space with a central courtyard. The use of large stacked concrete pipes for the street facade of the addition struck a chord for multiple reasons: they have a depth and can be interactive, they have a dramatic, sculptural quality, they reference existing internal circular motifs and they suggest stacked kegs or barrels. [...]

Emerging London-based firm Baharash Architecture has been selected to design phase 2 of the 46-hectar Dubai Sustainable City development. The practice is set to open an office in Dubai following the victory against international anonymous teams from the United States, Lebanon, Jordan, UK, and UAE. Phase 2 consists of a Mixed-Use Zone, a Juma Mosque, an Institute for Ecological Engineering, a Museum & Planetarium, a “Green” School for K-6, an Eco-Resort, Country Club and Equestrian Center. [...]