Trust Melbourne (the city that holds Design close to its bosom) to be the home of the latest initiative from ANZ Bank; a Breakout Learning Centre designed by Hassell. (http://www.hassell.com.au/en.html)As the title suggests, this large, flexible, multi-purpose space is designed to encourage creativity, however it is in the execution that the freedom from constraints of a normal office environment is apparent. Forget about boring corporate colors, obvious branding and drab office furniture (in the style of hit series The Office). The use of unexpected materials and contradictory colors in the space and its furnishings produces startling results. Plywood, paint and patterned rubber with industrial raw finishes are topped off with a pop of fire-engine red and frog green! Various-size meeting rooms are equipped with state-of-the art technology to enhance the group experience. Perhaps my favorite design features are the Tree of Knowledge and the Giant Foot. Just like in a fairytale, the tree grows between floors in a natural raw shape reminding us that the childlike imagination is where creativity is ripest. Beneath the tree, the Giant Foot reminds us about reality and perception. Kate Vandermeer

Hector Serrano Studio (http://www.hectorserrano.com) has curated and designed the exhibition Spain Emotion as well as the communication campaign of the Spanish participation at this years Tokyo Designer's Week. The event is organized by the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX) and will take place in the Spanish Embassy in Tokyo from 30 October to 3 November 2008.More than an exhibition, Spain Emotion is a celebration of the best Spanish design in the Tokyo Designer's Week that encompasses not only this exhibition, but also conferences and seminars; a forum that provides with an exceptional opportunity to get to know at first hand those who are behind the products. The aim of Hector Serrano Studio this year is for emotion to be the guiding threads of their story, and the products its main characters. To this end, they have created a space that aims to surprise, entertain, seduce and encourage, rather than simply showing; four large stages where light dramatises and bathes the surroundings and the pieces in color. Color to communicate the vitality and energy with which the Spanish character is so often identified. In short, an experience aimed at revealing the latest in Spanish design, in a most emotive way. - Tuija Seipell

Great surroundings will not camouflage poor programming in movie theaters. No matter how swanky the theater, if it shows poor movies, we just wont go. Which isnt to say that we have given up on movie-theater design. We still wish that one day, somewhere, someone is going to design a decidedly different, interesting and exciting movie theater.Glimpses of brilliance are visible in the new Light House Cinema (http://www.lighthousecinema.ie/index.php) at Smithfield in Dublin, Ireland designed by Dublins award-winning DTA Architects (http://www.dta.ie/) Of course, you really need to design and judge a movie theater so that it looks and functions best when people are using it. So, having not paid personal visits to the new Light House, we cannot say for sure, but the images we have received of the empty space indicate that the play of light, color and height works exceptionally well here.Light House cinema has been a bit of an institution in Dublin. It started showing Irish, independent, foreign-language, art house and classic cinema 20 years ago, closed in 1966, and re-opened this summer in its new, customized space. The four-screen, intimate art-house cinema includes a wonderful, inviting and open cafe that looks like something youd see at an art museum, not a movie theatre. The leader of the Light House project at DTA was Derek Tynan and the project architect was Colin Mackay.The new cinema benefited from the financial assistance of The Arts Council, the Irish Film Board, and the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism. For Dublins city planners, this was to be a cultural magnet and a focal point for the largest mixed-use development ever in Dublins inner city, the massive rejuvenation plan for the historical Smithfield Market area. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithfield,_Dublin)And if youd like to make our wishes come true, please let us know of any supreme movie-theater design concepts youve seen, designed or commissioned. We are all eyes and ears. - Tuija SeipellSee also Home Theater (http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/house/Home-Theatre/) and AMC Pacific Place Cinema (http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/lifestyle/The-New-Movie-Theatre/) in Hong Kong.

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