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    in Resort & Second Home

    Selgascano designs the ‘no-phone’ Libreria bookstore in London for Second Home

    A new east London bookstore designed by Selgascano is looking to beat the age of Kindle by banning mobile phones and tablets.
    Libreria – the latest venture by Rohan Silva and Sam Aldenton, founders of co-working space Second Home – draws inspiration from Argentinian author Jorge Luis Borges’ ‘The Library of Babel’, a short story that imagines the universe as a library.
    Photography: Iwan Baan
    Selgascano wanted to recapture the tale’s fantastical world by installing irregular-shaped, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, made seemingly endless thanks to mirrored ceilings.
    ‘Libreria has been years in the making – we believe in the value of books and literature and have wanted to do this for a long time,’ said Silva. ‘Across industries we are seeing a return to physical, material things and a fresh appreciation of craftsmanship. These things are not being killed by the digital; they are being given new life.’
    Photography: Iwan Baan
    The bookshelves have been hand-built by students from the Slade School of Fine Art using recycled wood. Artist Dr Cato created bespoke lamps for the project while Selgascano cherry-picked a selection of mismatching chairs.
    Conceived as an analogue sanctuary, Libreria has a printing press to publish limited editions of titles and bring authors on board to curate some of its book selections. The store will also put on a programme of seminars and performances in conjunction with Second Home, just next door on Hanbury Street.
    Photography: Iwan Baan
    Libreria’s director Sally Davies told Dezeen: ‘We’ve reached a cultural tipping point, I think, where people are becoming aware of the costs of being constantly digitally connected – and instead crave experiences that are tangible, human, immersive.’
    Selgascano, who designed last year’s Serpentine Pavilion, also worked with Second Home on its Hanbury Street co-working space. More

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    Second Home to open a Lisbon outpost

    Co-working brand Second Home will make its first foray abroad this May when it opens an outpost in Lisbon.
    News of the expansion – announced by founder Rohan Silva at the Digital-Life-Design conference in Munich – comes as the Portuguese capital gets set to host its first Web Summit, an annual tech event in the autumn that draws more than 50,000 people.
    ‘Right now Lisbon feels like east London just before the tech cluster exploded,’ Silva told TechCrunch.

    ‘It’s a super-creative city, but there are not enough places for creative people to come together. At the same time, big companies are shrinking, more people are becoming entrepreneurs and the built environment of cities needs to evolve to keep pace with this.’
    Lisbon’s Second Home will feature a meandering 100m-long table that spans the width of the space as well as private meeting rooms, event halls and a late-night bar.
    The co-working company, which has just raised £7.5 million in funding, is also planning to open a Los Angeles base next year. More

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    in Resort & Second Home

    Second Home is buying the 2015 Serpentine Pavilion

    Co-working pioneer Second Home is set to snap up this year’s Serpentine Pavilion, designed by Spanish practice Selgascano.
    Rohan Silva – Second Home’s co-founder and a former government technology advisor – told Business Insider UK that he is paying a six-figure sum for the candy-coloured pavilion, which opened in Hyde Park this week.
    The co-working group – whose Shoreditch space is also designed by Selgascano – revealed what it has in store for its acquisition. ‘We’re taking it to LA next year, and hosting a brilliant new programme of visual arts and live performances,’ it said via its Instagram.

    Silva will work with LA-based arts advocate Bettina Korek to put on cultural events inside the venue.
    ‘We really hope this will make cities more liveable and creative,’ Silva told Business Insider UK. ‘The idea over the years is to take it to other cities as well.’
    The 2015 Serpentine Pavilion, open to the public until mid-October, will be shipped to LA in 2016.
    Selgascano’s design is not the only pavilion to get a second home. Last year’s edition, designed by Smiljan Radic, is now a fixture at Hauser & Wirth’s Somerset gallery, while the 2012 pavilion by Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei has taken up residence in Surrey’s Alderbrook Park. Some have travelled to sunnier climes, including Toyo Ito’s 2002 creation, which now sits in the grounds of a beachside hotel in Nice, France. More