Tuesday, 08 April 2008 |
We always thought that fables anthropomorphized animals, plants and
inanimate objects, giving them human-like character. For us, the word
fable evokes thoughts of rich, organic color - a sort of Cirque du
Soleil Varekai world. So when we heard that the new office of the
Amsterdam-based UXUS Design was inspired by the fables, we expected a riot of color.
Instead, we saw a predominantly white interior with transparent walls,
white, gauzy drapery and residential-style floor lamps. A few wall
graphics and some organic furnishings do give a nod to nature and,
without doubt, the office is a cool background for colorful ideas.
It is a stylish base for UXUS, founded in 2003 by USA-born co-creative
director Georg Anthony Gottl, Costa Rica native Erica Gottl, and
French-born co-creative director Oliver J.P. Michell. Their collective
experience spans the globe and their work includes interiors,
architecture, retail, hospitality, identity, graphics and packaging
projects for clients such as Levi's, Nokia and Adidas. By Tuija Seipell.
6--
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Tuesday, 19 February 2008 |
For eons, walls of greenery have surrounded people and creatures living
in jungles, rainforests and other lush places.
Ancient Asians and
Europeans since Roman times have paid gardeners to create green art and
sculpture for their gardens, from elaborate topiary sculptures and
mazes to vine-covered walls.
And, of course, we’ve seen inventive uses
of built outdoor space — including rooftops, patios and balconies — as
places to bring more green into our overly concrete-covered lives.
Smudging the line between indoors and outdoors, and playing with the
illusion of greenery where it doesn’t really belong, are also the basis
of some recent installations that we like.
Mass Studies, founded in 2003 by Minsuk Cho in Seoul, Korea, has produced some great examples of this. Among them is Ann Demelmeester’s store (pictured above) in Soul. It is one of only four concept stores showcasing the fashions of the Flemish designer.
Green walls are not just visually interesting and environmentally
beneficial, they add a sense of calm and peace that is difficult to
achieve by other means. The inclusion of real, living plants on a large
scale in places where you don’t expect to see them, also adds other
sensory elements — the scent of the greenery, the sound of water,
perhaps the feeling of humidity around the installation. The organic
texture invites touch and inspires conversation — how was this
installed, how is it cared for, who did it?
We’ve found some interesting green installations, such as this school
in the UK and a hair salon in Japan, but we’d love to see many, many
more. We think there’s room for much more creativity and daring in this
arena, so let us know if you spot remarkable and unusual examples. By
Tuija Seipell Send to
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Friday, 15 February 2008 |
Diane von Fürstenberg Studio’s
new headquarters fits perfectly in New York City’s fashionable
Meatpacking District, also known as the Gansevoort Market Historic
District. The new, six-story building is wedged between two historical,
landmarked facades that resemble the wall props in Cirque du Soleil’s
La Nouba. One corner of the structure is topped by a Olot, Spain-made
faceted glass sphere that is part of the penthouse suite and seems like
a gigantic diamond fallen from the sky.
In the design, New York-based WORK Architecture managed
to combine old and new, light and dark, openness and enclosure,
artistry and practicality. The building houses DVF’s flagship store, a
5,000-square-foot showroom and event space, offices and studios for a
120 people, an executive suite, and a penthouse apartment.
Inside the building, the chief feature is the “stairdelier,” a wide
stairway that connects the floors and distributes light throughout the
building. Flexibility characterizes all of the public areas. Pivoting
walls and built-in unfolding “steamer-trunk” structures allow for a
wide use of the space for fashion shows, photo shoots, events and
parties.
WORK was founded in 2002 by Beirut, Lebanon-born Amale Andraos and
Rhode Island native Dan Wood. Many of their projects are in New York,
but their work includes everything from a master plan of an Icelandic
town to a theatre stage set, from low-income housing towers in New York
to a luxury residence in Panama, plus retail, office and residential
projects around the world. WORK is also designing 14 DVF stores in 11
countries.
Diane von Fürstenberg was born in Brussels, Belgium, 61 years ago. She
started her fashion designer career in 1970. Famous for her wrap
dresses, which she started creating in 1973, she has become a veritable
fashion icon. She is also the current president of the Council of
Fashion Designers of America, the non-profit association of America’s
fashion heavy-weights. By Tuija Seipell
See also Creative Work Environments
Random archive
Skype Phones
Neon Disco Drink Away The Art Mobile Movies
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Friday, 08 February 2008 |
For many of us, taking our cars to the garage can be a daunting
experience. Feeling anxious and uncertain over the price and duration
over jobs, use of technical jargon and the like. This may soon be a
thing of the past, thanks to the launch of the major rebranding
programme for car care network HiQ, starting with their new concept
center opening in Nottingham, UK.
The aim was to revolutionize the way fast fit car care is delivered and
to develop a fresh retail concept that would set new standards in this
sector. And it looks like they have come up with the goods.
Designed by the London team at Fitch, the brand has been repositioned
by using simple language, illustrations, and the center itself has
clever features like glass walls that allow customers to see onto the
garage floor for themselves.
We have seen this uncomplicated, tell it like it is mentality popping
up all over the place, especially as banks try to re-align themselves
with their customers. It is now nice and refreshing to see this
evolving into other touch points of consumers' lives. I wonder if this
approach would make going to the dentist any better? By Brendan McKnight
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Monday, 04 February 2008 |
It's not easy these days to create a point-of-sale display that truly
stands out in the hectic visual environment of an average busy
department store, yet alone one for Selfridges in London.
Manchester based True North were given the task to create a 'can't miss
it' bespoke display system for Adidas Originals within the Offspring
concession at the Oxford Street store.
Taking inspiration from the product itself where an Adidas shoebox
becomes a table and the shoebox lid, a chair, they have created a
display and "trying on" area where customers can fully immerse
themselves in the brand. Launching this week, we suspect these will be
the hottest chairs in London. By Brendan McKnight
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Tuesday, 29 January 2008 |
A house attic does not evoke images of style and chic design. Rather, we find ourselves thinking of dark, cobweb-infested, damp and dreary crawl spaces. We think of attics as leftover space under the roof where we abandon unwanted stuff – outdated clothing, old books, grandma’s hat boxes, grandpa’s hunting gear, coin collections and bags of seashells from that long-ago beach vacation.
But space in our urban areas is at a premium and there is not a square foot to waste. Architects and designers are now starting to see the potential of this extra space, and offer solutions that meet the needs of the most demanding style freaks. Sunlight, additional rooms, extra bathrooms — it is all possible in the attic. Starchitects around the world have made dramatic rooflines trendy, so we can all give up on our visions of the embarrassing drywalled and pine-paneled disasters that attics tended to morph into, every time we tried to make them livable.
Within very few square feet, designers are finding space for sleeping, cooking and eating, and using the sloping rooflines to create impressive skylight windows.
We can all see the delightful benefits of maximizing the amount of livable and useable space – even if it meant clearing away the precious collections of bric-a-brac we’ve spent generations accumulating. Ample sunlight penetrating the attic apartment means than even nocturnal arachnids have been sent packing. By Andrew J Weiner and Tuija Seipell
We're looking for more attic renovations, if you spot one, send
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Thursday, 24 January 2008 |
Looking for somewhere to hold your next meeting? We think we have come
across two fine options that are certain to liven up any dull encounter
with the suits.
Who needs a board room, when you could have a Cratehouse. If you think this merely looks like a bunch of yellow
crates sitting on two shipping containers, then you are correct,
however this is fast becoming the town of Castleford in West Yorkshire,
England's biggest landmark. Move over Big Ben.
The brainchild of German artists Wolfgang Winter and Berthold Horbelt
who have been creating art landmarks for public spaces all over the
world since 1992, the Cratehouse uses recycled, everyday objects to
create a functional space for shelter, meeting and entertainment. The
containers are homage to the industrial heritage of the town and the
crates are there to remind us not to take the objects that contribute
to our contemporary lifestyles for granted.
Whatever your take on it, if you are ever in the area be sure to stop
of by, it will definitely be a talking point in your holiday photo
album.
Next up we have the Dot Dot Drawing Room, which was installed as
part of the Inside Out programme at the Cragside estate in
Northumberland, England. This was the country home of Lord Armstrong
and was the first house in the world to be lit using hydroelectric
power, hence it has been in the care of the National Trust since 1977.
So what exactly is this unusual looking structure you may be asking.
Designed by London based Tod Hansen, this piece was commissioned to
provide an opportunity for visitors to have an alternative experience
of Cragside while the house was closed for rewiring.
This 'sculptural chamber' remodels the house's exotic cushioned drawing
room into an iron-clad vault and aims to fuse the two worlds of
Victorian domestic interiors and modern industrial superstructures.
Looking something straight from the Cluedo game board, we wonder what
other opulent interiors could also be transformed this way. By Brendan
McKnight
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Tuesday, 22 January 2008 |
The Nobel Peace Center
in Oslo, Norway is housed in a former Victorian railway station, and
within, an original Nobel Prize medal is the only historical item on
display. The museum was not built as a memorial to those who won the
Prize in the past, but a dynamic, contemporary space explaining the
story of the Nobel Peace Prize as well as providing a number of events
and exhibitions throughout the year.
Beginning in mid-October when the new Peace Prize laureate is
announced, the golden Passage of Honor allows visitors to track each
step of the event. Throughout the remainder of the year a documentary
on that winner is played.
The main focus of the Center is the Nobel Field, where all the Peace
Prize laureates are displayed in a virtual garden of 96 LCD screens
dispersed throughout the space. A small motion sensor beneath each
display screen activates when approached, and a short video with
information about Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King
Jr., as well as every other laureate including Al Gore can be viewed. By Andrew J Wiener
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Monday, 14 January 2008 |
Many of us are drawn to the ocean in one way or another, and sometimes
a soft, sandy beach is not nearby. Wouldn’t it be great if local
council members of popular coastal areas could find an innovative means
of providing access to our rocky foreshores? One community has done
just that – wooden platforms constructed over rugged terrain allow
enhanced enjoyment of the seaside. By Andrew J Wiener
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Monday, 17 December 2007 |
Urban Garden came to be when London-based Artwise commissioned Amsterdam-based TJEP
to design an iconic object to be used in a lounge area during events
around the world. The object is part of Tribe Art, a series of
international contemporary art commissions and projects developed in
partnership with the Lucky Strike B·A·R Honda Formula One racing team.
Artwise has worked with Tribe Art for several years.
TJEP’s solution to the lounge object dilemma was Urban Garden, a
Versailles–garden inspired inflatable mega floor ornament that inspires
users to sit, hang, jump and dance. TJEP is a partnership of Dutch
designers, Frank Tjepkema and Janneke Hooymans (and others). Tjepkema
is known for his work for well-known brands such as Philips, British
Airways, Droog Design and Heineken. Hooymans’ work includes the
interior of the Unox Soup Factory and contributions to the design of
the Glasgow Science center. By Tuija Seipell
See also - Inflatable Nightclub
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Monday, 03 December 2007 |
Chances are if you talk to any CEO within the
traditional corporation model they will most likely agree that
productivity is primarily measured in monetary terms (i.e. profits and
margins). If numbers continually rise or remain stable, then
change within an organization should be avoided at all costs. If,
at any time, productivity declines, the CEO will undoubtedly be the
first to take notice, and a top-down chain of events could result in
layoffs and downsizing and consequently evoke fear and panic from the
bottom up through the ranks.
But what about a change to the physical environment within which people
operate – create – innovate? Most companies adapted to the
so-called ‘open plan’ lining employees up in rows of cube-shaped spaces
essentially allowing working minds to adjust according to stimulus
created in the workplace.
Individuals who became accustomed to hiding inside their own closed off
sanctuaries were suddenly forced into listening and discussing openly
and candidly work-related problems and ideas abandoning the ability of
retreating into isolation. Those who had a difficult time acclimating
were either kicked out or discredited for not being able to operate
effectively.
During this phase in the evolution of work space design many larger
companies who could afford to do so, spent money on architecturally
impressive buildings from the outside – modern, sleek, media-attracting
structures – while simultaneously neglecting following through within
where the work generally takes shape.
The office cube became synonymous with monotonous, uninspiring highly
systematic office space. A new era of work space design was
dawning, and design professionals across the world began to seriously
consider the practices of an organization as an essential prerequisite
for subsequent design briefs.
Jump Studios in London have made a substantial contribution to the new
generation of work spaces in their innovative design for the Red Bull
Headquarters. Ideas about work environment design centered around
feelings associated with adrenaline and energy – directly associated
with the brand itself. The offices are spread across three floors
in a nineteenth century building in the West End. Visitors are received
at the main reception from the top floor – an area that serves as the
social space for the employees complete with a bar, café, various
meeting areas as well as the central boardroom. A continuous
carbon fiber feature links the entire space together – starting as a
canopy outside the building, winding inside and around the boardroom,
through the reception area, enclosing space for an actual slide between
floors, and finally forming an additional informal meeting area on the
lowest level. This ramp-like feature is a direct reference to the
various extreme sports associated with Red Bull.
A number of projects have also been completed by the Danish company of
Bosch & Fjord that fulfill the changing needs of work space
design. One recent project saw the creation of a series of
meeting rooms, a reception area, a café and several meeting spaces for
the Lego Group in Billund, Denmark – where the majority of the world’s
Lego products are conceived, produced and manufactured. In the
hands-on world of a company such as Lego, creative talent thrive in
dynamic spaces that encourage interaction among people, products and
thought, and the Bosch & Fjord design team successfully followed
through by producing meeting rooms and furniture that truly
inspire.
And what about adaptability for the changing needs of an
organization? Again, Bosch & Fjord believe that people should
not accommodate a room; a room should accommodate the people. In
an office, often the physical surroundings need to be shaped according
to what is happening within the company. In this sense, the
social aspect of design eliminates conventional hierarchies among
employees, and thereby enhances communal exchange and
communication. Bosch and Fjord created a furniture system for
Innovation Lab’s new space at the IT University in Copenhagen. Rooms
are designed within raw shipping crates that include three types
of workstations: a small meeting room, a kitchen box and a large
worktable that are packed, unpacked, arranged and rearranged with ease
and flexibility.
A new model without guidelines or conformity has been established for
work place design yielding visually interesting and mentally
stimulating environments. Steve Jobs hired Bohlin Cywinki Jackson
to design the gigantic Pixar Animation Studios outside of San Francisco
(BCJ have also designed ten Apple Stores worldwide). While Jobs
insisted on including a swimming pool, soccer field, basketball court
and fitness center, his main concern was about the longevity of the
design.
The interior space also includes a 10,000 square foot atrium used as a
reception and lounge area, a café, screening rooms and a large
theatre. The workspaces are laid out in 46,500 square foot wings
accommodating offices for the 650-person staff. Interesting,
office spaces are individual and full enclosed set out in units of six
– each around a central meeting area.
The San Francisco based firm Garcia + Francica installed the fit-outs
based on Jobs’ recommendation of mid-century classics and his love of
color. Pieces from Cassina, Ligne Roset, Eames, Aalto and Platner
can be found throughout the entire space. Perhaps the most
impressive aspect is a series of handwoven Tibetan floor coverings that
add a level of comfort to the large office areas.
The Los Angeles based Clive Wilkinson Architects designed the space for
Google’s headquarters – known at the Googleplex with a combination of
open and closed spaces allowing for maximum flexibility for all members
of the organization. Employees are grouped in three or four-person
clusters - and each shared space includes a meeting area with sofas.
Other office amenities include a fitness center, spa complete with
massage rooms, various video and table games spread throughout the
complex as well as a full service café and snack rooms. Again
vibrant colors are splashed around the space – colored glass panels,
bright red walls, green, grass-textured flooring – all set against
white work stations.
Ultimately there seems to be no general guidelines set that reveal how
to create the perfect office environment. From the designer
perspective, it becomes apparent to understand the type of work that
will be carried out in the space, and plan accordingly.
The cookie-cutter open-plan office spaces are no longer an effective
means of stimulating creativity. Physical dimensions such as
light and surrounding noise undoubtedly affect the way people work with
one another. Even subtle alterations in the color of a wall or
the angle of a work station may result in highly sustainable creative
thinking efforts.
Not everyone does their best work from their own desk either.
Individual work spaces may serve as an organizational area – a home
base to return after meeting with coworkers in a nearby meeting room –
or in a shared informal conference space – or even after a competitive
round of ping pong or foosball.
New and improved stimuli have only just
begun to inspire a new way of working and relating to our corporate
peers.
Is
your office (or one you know of) a super cool, creative space that
defies the usual drab rules that dominate most work environments? If the answer's yes, send us
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By Andrew J Wiener.
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Wednesday, 21 November 2007 |
Fixated as we are with creative ideas, we really like it when we see something nearly impossible turn out to be possible.
At the moment we are intrigued by small, compact, boxy buildings.
Dwellings, mini houses, pop-up buildings that are clever and
functional, yet chic and fun. A home inside a box, a cafe in shipping
container.
Or maybe an office, shop or yoga studio in some new, fascinating cube-like format? If you know of such buildings -
actual buildings, not just plans - please let us know where they are.
We'd like to see how it's done and spread the word. By Tuija Seipell.
send to
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Monday, 15 October 2007 |
Let’s just all rewind the movie of our lives a bit and go back to school. We at Coolhunter are thinking of heading to University of London’s Birkbeck College and finding our way to the classes at its Film & Visual Media Research Centre.
You cannot tell from the outside that the odd set of buildings at
London’s Gordon Square offers anything remarkable at all. The older
building does have a pedigree – it is the former home of both Virginia
Stephens (later Woolf) and economist John Maynard Keynes. The drab
1970s extension to the building does not even deserve another look.
Except inside.
Award-winning London-based Surface Architects won the competition to
create within the buildings the permanent home of the Film & Visual
Media Research Centre. Surface transformed the basement, ground floor
and the extension into a unique state-of-the-art 80-seat cinema
auditorium, surrounded by a media study suite, seminar rooms and
offices.
Ian Christie, Birkbeck’s Professor of Film and Media History, describes
the exciting new building “...the new cinema auditorium – already
being referred to as ‘The Screen on the Square’ – is as soberly
dedicated to ideal screening conditions as the surrounding break-out
spaces and stairway are an exuberant display of pure form and colour.
In fact, Surface’s extraordinary projection of intersecting cones has
various filmic associations: the jagged angles recall the Expressionist
set design of The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, an influential German film of
1921; and the lurid colours evoke Andy Warhol’s silkscreen portraits of
film stars.”
Key players at Surface are Richard Scott, who formed it in 1996, and
Andy MacFee, who joined Surface in 2001 as director. Both have worked
with Will Alsop and other notables. Surface is also one of 47 practices
worldwide selected to work on the Athlete’s Village for the London 2012
Olympics. By Tuija Seipell
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Tuesday, 09 October 2007 |
For some time, designers, architects and builders all over the world
have tinkered with the idea of turning excess standard shipping
containers into living quarters. Some of the incarnations of the lowly
metal box are downright chic, including artist-architect Adam Kalkin’s Quik House for which he apparently has more orders than he can handle.
But
these metal containers have also drawn the attention of some leading
brands that have started to use the eye-popping ideas to full
advantage. Holiday shoppers milling about the Time Warner Center in New
York will have a fabulous chance to experience one of these soon.
Between November 28 and December 29, 2007, they can rest, relax and sip
a perfect cup of illy espresso in one of Kalkin’s creations, the
temporary Push Button House cafe that the Trieste, Italy | |
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