The New Heineken Experience - Amsterdam

For years now we’ve been hitting the bars with our friends – ordering glass upon glass of beer – and although many of us have a preference for a local brew or a dark malt or an amber, plenty of us have been quite happy ordering the old fallback, a green-necked Heine – and almost everywhere we go, from the smallest desert roadside watering holes to the chicest cosmopolitan lounges and clubs, we can almost be certain Heineken will be available. So how does a brand, which is recognized worldwide, reengage its consumers and reinvent its story? The US-based BRC Imagination Arts, one of the world’s leaders in experiential marketing, has developed the New Heineken Experience – an interactive journey through the history of the brand and the brewing process. The experience is housed in the former Heineken Brewery in Amsterdam. Visitors to the restored brewery push their senses to the extreme as they see, smell, touch and taste everything that goes into the production – brewing and bottling Heineken beer. A special effects ride allows visitors to immerse themselves into the entire process from conception to completion with interactive exhibits as well as interpretive graphics. With the New Heineken Experience, the company hopes to develop renewed, enduring and personal connections with those of us who have always loved Heineken.

Is That Really A Car Park?

Great, aesthetically pleasing design needn't be limited to traditional architectural forms such as houses and public buildings. Utilitarian spaces, such as car parks, present architects and designers with a unique opportunity to bring beauty and harmony to the everyday functional spaces that are normally ignored by great design minds. We're excited to report that the tide is changing, evidenced by these good-looking car parks. Modern design is all about "experience" and these car parks pictured acknowledge that one's experience of a private or public place begins the minute they pull up in their car. Innovative developers and designers are recognising just how crucial this is - it's almost too late by the time the consumer arrives at the front door. The "experience" of good design starts well before that. These samples demonstrate how luminous exteriors, bold graphics and neon bright lighting all work here to create a space that is breathing, achieving the previously unachievable - giving tonnes of drab, purely functional concrete a sense of life. Seen any other interesting car parks we should know about - send us tips Images via TCH Platinum

MetroFarm DJ Decks

From Berlin Germany, Metrofarm Studio has produced a number of stunning, custom built DJ Desks. Having released a concrete DJ table a couple of years back, the new desks, in folded stainless steel and wood painted black and neon orange demand attention. But they're not just for finely tuned vinyl slingers looking for the perfect ergonomic ratios to heighten their musical flow. They're for anybody with a musical mind and an eye for detail, looking to add spark to a lounge room, club or gallery. It's art for the DJ's sake.

Classroom Of The Future

To many of us it seems like advancements in technology are moving at an extremely accelerated pace, but to those who are following in our footsteps, the rate of change could not be fast enough. For some school children in Camden outside of London, Gollifer Langston’s prototype transportable Classrooms of the Future will deliver information and communication technology (ICT) on a flatbed truck in the form of an oblong gray pod capable of providing a sufficient ICT facility that many schools are unable to install within their own environments. The mobile classroom will move from school to school, and is designed to hold 15 students at a time. Once the pod is delivered, a set of hydraulics expands the unit wider, and creates an entrance as well as a stage and a small-cinema-sized screen for presentations and performances. The work space will provide mainly high school students a place to explore music and filmmaking. The Classroom of the Future will have capabilities of adapting for additional needs as technology races beyond what even the next generation can predict.

Erika-Mann Elementary School II - Berlin

Now, there is no reason why a kid wouldn't go to school in Berlin. The Erika-Mann Grundshule II school has everything children need to open their creativity in a young age. I wouldnt be surprised to discover that the designer was working with kids. Designed by Baupiloten studio, a group of architecture students at the Technical University of Berlin led by architect Susanne Hoffmann who founded the studio in 2003. A group of just under 10 architecture students worked on the Erika-Mann Grundschule II project. The kids who are using the space participated actively in the design process, giving the architecture students their views on how they will actually use the space, how it should function and what they’d love to see in their school. The different spaces are called Snuffle Garden, Snuffling Room, Chill Room and Dragon’s Breath, each starting with a clean white background and offering freedom of expression in the form of flexible furnishings. Mehdi Zerouali

Stephen Sprouse Louis Vuitton Party (NYC)

Fashion launches are a bit like romantic comedies; pretty people in pretty clothes in pretty places - and they all start to look and feel the same after a while. Louis Vuitton broke the mould with its latest launch for its new Stephen Sprouse collection. The mega party was held over three venues in New York, starting with a cocktail party at the Louis Vuitton store, followed by an exhibition of Sprouse's artwork. The night ended with a packed after party at the Bowery Ballroom, where Debbie Harry took to the stage for a mini concert. Louis Vuitton did the late designer proud, celebrating his unique Punk couture aesthetic by creating mini 'Sprouse worlds' - referencing his work at every turn, from the walls to the ceiling and the furniture, culminating in a spectacular 'hall" of graffiti, a 'tower' of vintage TV sets and custom neon signs. Even the food paid homage to Sprouse - neon coloured hors d'oeuvres and desserts spilled out in a kind of punk colored rainbow. Sprouse, who was part of Andy Warhol's set, become famous in the 1980s for pioneering the uptown pop punk look; a wild and edgy mix of elements such as day-glo colours, high-tech fabrics, sequins, velcro, superb uptown tailoring and hand painted silks. The designer and artist, who died in 2004, also created elaborate costumes for the likes of Mick Jagger, Axl Rose, Trent Reznor, Courtney Love, David Bowie and Duran Duran. And now, thanks to Louis Vuitton, a whole new generation will have the opportunity to discover his work.

Letter Box House, Melbourne

At first, this house might looks like a wood boat coming out from a making of a war movie. From the street the house’s irregular form reveals nothing of what unfolds once within the property. At a closer look, the façade consists solely of a mailbox. According to the design team at McBride Charles Ryan the openness of a holiday house in a beach community renders the front door arbitrary. The house is certainly not an obstruction built within the community. Instead, it’s modest irregularity opens up into an impressive four-bedroom beach verandah. Bold blacks and whites sit on top of the stained hardwood floors, which run the length of the house. A dramatic red support structure, the most striking interior feature, draws the divide between inside and out.