As regular readers of the Airblog will know, we have recently completed wayfinding, signage and interiors work at Corvin, Ségécé’s newest mall in Budapest. As the scheme opened, the reviewers flooded in to cast their critical eyes over our handiwork and one blog in particular which caught our eye was this:

N.B. It’s in Hungarian!

http://artinterior.blog.hu/2010/11/08/tapifal_a_plazaban

We’re reliably informed (by our Hungarian clients) that it’s extremely complimentary of the interiors, especially the scratch and sniff hoardings in the food court. Using one unnamed online translation service, the writer explains how ‘watching the corner of my eye, how many people venturing forth a little stroking, but unfortunately no one has been caught’. This warmed our hearts at Air, not only for the charming (and somewhat hilarious) translation, but also because it’s great to know that our designs are bringing enjoyment in a place that would otherwise be devoid of any form of creativity!

It always amazes me how a new shopping mall opens at all. 3 days before the place is always in a state of near total chaos. It’s fit out carnage with the retailers pulling their units together at lightning speed and all the other contractors working around each other in a dizzying mêlée. Somehow and against all probability it always happens, with the scheme coming together seemingly at the last minute. And that’s always down to a lot of dedicated people working like they’re possessed.

And so it was with the 27th October launch of Hungary’s newest mall, Ségécé’s Corvin in Budapest. Our responsibility was for the interior design, wayfinding information system and environmental graphics. 5 months after our commission (which is pretty quick in my book) and three days before opening, Ari and Keith were to be found on site making sure our signage solution, which included a fully touchscreen navigation and information system, a 450 seat food court, 27 toilet blocks, information desk, stop and stay and stop and go furniture, exhibitions and hoarding super graphics were all installed as they should be.

By 6pm on the Tuesday it was 99 percent in and the interiors were looking really fabulous; thanks to Ari, project managers Sandor and a now nearly voiceless Gabi blasting around the place like forces of nature kicking butt left, right and centre (as Ari’s blistered feet would testify to!). The touchscreen system was working perfectly thanks to the endeavors of Keith, Pete, Stu who had been burning Budapest’s reserves of midnight oil whilst also making sure the signs were faultless along with the environmental graphics and hoardings. The latter of which we’re particularly proud of, no less than scratch and sniff hoardings in the food court!

And then all of a sudden the mist clears and it’s done. You stop, go and have a shower, and come back for the 1000 head launch party. The adrenaline, however, takes a while to clear the system and when the call went out for the Jager (miester) at about 10pm we knew we were in trouble. The team still found the energy (or was it the Jager) to party into the small hours, not always the best idea when you’ve got to open the mall at 9.00 the next morning…

…but opened it was by some rather bleary eyed, but happy folk, to an appreciative public.

Corvin is absolutely one of the best jobs we’ve designed to date and we suspect now setting the standard for development in Budapest. A huge thanks to all involved!

Air’s residency in Russia is set to continue with news that we’ve been asked to develop a wayfinding solution for Tsvetnoy in Moscow. The department store is a new addition to the city, located in its cultural hub and on the site of the historical Moscow Central Market. Inspired by Palladian geometry and the forms of great mountains, the architects have created a landmark retailing destination where the customer can shop, eat and explore.

Our brief is to develop a system which is informative enough to prevent visitors from getting lost, but not explicit enough so that they arrive at their chosen destination without firstly exploring other concessions on offer. The scheme will cover all floors of the development, from the lower level car parks, up through the main fashion and beauty retailing floors to the upper food market and restaurant at the ‘peak’. This top level also features its very own rooftop terrace and promenade with breathtaking views of the city.

Tsvetnoy is due to open at the end of 2010.

Air’s CEO Alan Robertson has been giving his opinions in Retail Week’s ‘Good shop, bad shop’ article. Sorry Lillywhites…

As inhabitants of this great city we call London, we like to think that we’re living in the country’s – and arguably the world’s – creative hub. When September rolls around though it seems our thoughts are more than justified; London Fashion Week has just finished and now there’s not one, but two design festivals in full swing. The London Design Festival returns for its seventh year, with over 200 events (most of them free) taking place over nine days across the capital. 2010 also sees the launch of the provocatively named Anti Design Festival. Organised in response to an apparent ‘25 years of cultural deep freeze in the UK’, this runs for the same nine days in Shoreditch, with a whole range of events to broaden your creative horizons.

Whilst we at Air Design couldn’t possibly choose between LDF or ADF, the fact that there are two design festivals showcasing innovative work proves how London remains the place to be for artistic minds. All that remains is to go to some of the shows, and with so many located close to our studio, we don’t know where to start!

Both festivals run to Sunday 26th September:

http://www.londondesignfestival.com/

http://www.antidesignfestival.com/

We’re pleased to announce that we’ve recently been appointed by Briz to develop the branding and marketing for Galeria, a 192,000sq/m retail-entertainment complex in St Petersburg. Upon completion, the centre will contain over 250 shops, a hypermarket, 5 department stores, a multi-screen cinema, fitness centre, bowling and entertainment facilities for families.

Our partnership with De La Warr Pavilion just gets more and more exciting with every passing month! First it was the Gormley exhibition, now our appointment on the design of their autumn season of marketing materials has got us featured in Design Week. Check out page 5 of the issue dated 25/8/10 to read all about it!

The summer holidays are well and truly upon us, so how better to wile away a summer evening than to muse over contemporary art upon a gallery rooftop? Critical Mass is one of Antony Gormley’s most famous works, comprising sixty cast iron forms made from moulds of the artist’s body. The sculptures have been installed upon the terrace of the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea, the first time this rooftop space has been used for an exhibition. The result is truly striking, the coastal backdrop providing a stark contrast against Gormley’s dark and ominous forms.

Of the exhibition, Gormley comments: “This is the return of the lost subject to the site of Modernism. I am excited to see these dark forms in the elements against the sea and in direct light. It will be like a sky burial. How these masses act in space is very important. The challenge is to make the distance intimate, internal.”

Even more exciting, Air was appointed to design the marketing materials for the exhibition. In keeping with the arts centre’s contemporary style and using images from the show itself, we produced a whole range of graphic designs for banners, tube posters, leaflets, bags, badges and stationary. Having worked with De La Warr Pavilion on numerous other projects we were thrilled to be appointed for such a high profile exhibition. Here’s to many more in the future!

Antony Gormley, Critical Mass is open until Tuesday 31^st August. www.dlwp.com.

Air was appointed to design and install a new signage system for the prestigious Royal College of Music. The College consists of three disparate buildings with complex wayfinding requirements, and so the scheme we developed needed to allow all users to better navigate the campus whilst acting as the visual ‘glue’ holding the buildings together.

Our design offers a cohesive and accessible solution that balances contemporary graphic design with an overall aesthetic that matches the classic Victorian architecture. Susan Storrock, Director of Communications: ‘Air Design created an elegant, intelligent solution for us that is perfectly on-brand: clear, classy and user-friendly.  The signage has significantly changed the look and feel of our building, lifting us at a stroke from the 19th to the 21st century.’

King Fahd's Fountain - projection onto spray, nice!

A place few non-muslims visit is Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. With visas reserved for business trips only it’s someway off  the tourist path. So on returning from a recent trip to the Cityscape Expo, by invitation of our design partners Jeddah based, Blueprint Communciations – one feels that a unusual and rare cultural experience has been had.

True to our British traditions, no blog entry would be complete without an observation on the weather – put simply, it’s extremely hot! (and in Jeddah, humid due to coastal location). With the mercury topping out at about 39c during the stay its easy to see why everything is air conditioned and you simply don’t walk – and we were lucky – Riyadh was experiencing 46c…

The Old Town - Al Balad

One highlight (aside from the expo) was a fascinating evening trip into the old city  – Al Balad – to have dig around in the  the old market. As Blueprint CEO Rakan Tarabzoni explained to me the old buildings (some up to of a couple of centuries old) are suffering from a lack of preservation. There’s a plan to regenerate the area, so the hope is that alongside the new, the old will be preserved and restored as a cultural and historical marker.

Having teamed up with Jeddah’s principle property marketing agency, we spent two productive days at the property expo introducing our wayfinding and signage design services to end clients, architects and engineers. We’ll be looking forward to returning to progress discussions on a number of projects under Rakan’s expert guidance.

The Kingdom’s property market, whilst not unaffected by the global shenannigans, is nevertheless still in relatively good shape. An new mortgage system will be introduced, possibly later in the year, which will open up the residential housing market to help facilitate the demand that currently exists for about 2 milion new homes. Projected spend will be about $180billion by 2015 in order to build enough homes and, one assumes, the associated infrastructure to meet this demand. No surprise, therefore, that there are some significant projects in various stages of the development pipeline.