THE GREAT INDOORS
Nº120 JAN — FEB 2018
F120-F01D-r
EVENTS rewrite the rules of engagement WAYNE MCGREGOR dances with drones OMA and FOSTER + PARTNERS handle new ways of working
EU €19.95 IT €14.95 CHF 30 UK £14 US $19.95 CA $29.50 AU $28.99 JP ¥3,570 KR WON 40,000
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Design for the DISPLACED What’s next for the FASHION-RETAIL formula
BetteLux Oval Couture Steel can wear anything
Design: Tesseraux+Partner www.bette.de
Contents
Floor Knaapen
FRAME 120
5
20
63
Olof Grind
15 OBJECTS
From the Middle East to the Pacific Northwest
35 THE CHALLENGE Five creatives design for the displaced
49 PORTRAITS 50 ALEXANDRE DE BETAK Revamping the fashion show 54 YINKA ILORI Serious fun and games 60 BEC BRITTAIN Everything is illuminated
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63 CLAESSON KOIVISTO RUNE Building upon buildings
72 CLINT BACLAWSKI Art in the tube
81 SPACES
OMA and Foster + Partners handle new ways of working
Courtesy of Dover Street Market
70 WAKIMUKUDŌ THE LABEL Rethinking sacred spaces
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FRAME 120
129 FRAME LAB Events
132
130 Turning the cognitive into the emotional 136 TELLART spells out the future of humanity 142 ATELIER BRÜCKNER recomposes the Hyundai story 148 WAYNE MCGREGOR dances with drones 152 MOMENT FACTORY physicalizes the invisible
Refik Anadol
165
Federico Cedrone
159 REPORTS Surfaces
Going graphic, reviving terrazzo, imitating ageing
Floor Knaapen
136
176 IN NUMBERS Wellsun’s Lumiduct in facts and figures
9. – 13. 2. 2018
Where can you find advice when major decisions need to be taken. Does trust come automatically or do you earn it. Can we create visions together. Contract Business is the development of an idea into a great moment – at a venue where creativity is celebrated and where diversity pulsates.
Ambiente, the show. Information and tickets at ambiente.messefrankfurt.com
Partner Country The Netherlands
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COLOPHON
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Graphic designers Zoe Bar-Pereg Cathelijn Kruunenberg Translation InOtherWords (Donna de Vries-Hermansader) Contributors to this issue Frances Arnold – FA Karen Day – KD Giovanna Dunmall – GD Will Georgi – WG Grant Gibson – GG Leina Godin – LG Daniel Golling – DG Gili Merin – GM Enya Moore – EM Izabela Anna Moren – IAM Cathelijne Nuijsink – CN Alexandra Onderwater – AO Jonathan Openshaw – JO Anna Sansom – AS Seetal Solanki – SS Jane Szita – JS Suzanne Wales – SW Cover Concept and photography Thomas Brown Set design Andrew Stellitano Retouching Recom Farmhouse
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THOMAS BROWN AND ANDREW STELLITANO, COVER ARTISTS
Advertising representatives Italy Studio Mitos Michele Tosato T +39 0422 894 868 michele@studiomitos.it
Lithography Edward de Nijs
PUBLISHING
‘Inspired by the speed at which the world is changing, we wanted to create a sculpture that is more than the sum of its parts and that can be captured only as a photograph. With our camera, we compress time’
Photographer Thomas Brown and set designer Andrew Stellitano built a set that features a static 3D sculpture surrounded by twisting, irregular shapes that are photographed in motion using stroboscopic and long exposure techniques to achieve a feeling of impermanence. Titled Ephemeral, it’s their second cover in a series of four.
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EDITORIAL
Fluid Reality
viewers with live streams and digital interaction. Their audiences are growing with mind-blowing percentages. Socially relevant? What do you think? I’m especially excited about the event that we’re organizing ourselves. Frame Lab: The Next Space will be a live version of the magazine – an exploration into the future of spaces, including everything from retail and hospitality to workplaces and events. A rich mix of keynotes, panel discussions, workshops, objects, materials ENGAGING, photogenic and socially relevant. and installations – Frame Lab: The Next Space Was it only a year or so ago that my editorial promises to be the kind of experience you tagged those three conditions for a successful expect of us. It will coincide with the live judging event? Although my choices still hold true, and accompanying show of Frame Awards, a when you delve into this issue’s Frame Lab, celebration of the best projects and the best you’ll discover that during the past months people in the interior-design industry. Come to those simple concepts have gained an enormous Amsterdam on 21 and 22 February and join us. amount of depth and detail. No matter how fast events evolve or how The most interesting aspect of the technically advanced they are, ultimately – and phenomenon is that reality, as we perceive it in 2017, seems to be more fluid. Just strap on a pair of above all else – they have to provide a memorable social experience. Picture yourself sitting around goggles to enter a virtual world that’s completely a campfire with a few close friends, or singing different from your everyday, tangible existence. your favourite club’s anthem with 90,000 likeAfter seeing Blade Runner 2049 and reading the minded football fans in a jam-packed stadium. predictions of Tellart’s experience designers on Times may change and resources become more page 136, you know it won’t be long before it’s possible to experience both worlds simultaneously, sophisticated, but our basic needs remain the same, down through the centuries and into the without the help of digital devices. For the time foreseeable future. being, we rely on Siri, but artificial intelligence with authentic human characteristics is on its way. ROBERT THIEMANN Event designers are sure to top the list of those Editor in chief experimenting with VR and AI. Imagine the level of engagement and the photogenic scenes awaiting us. Retail, hospitality and work environments will no doubt follow. Events are acquiring greater social relevance as they become less and less site-specific. They do take place at physical locations, of course, and only a limited number of people visit them in person, but today’s event designers are experts at harnessing the power of social media and enticing
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CONTRIBUTORS
‘When planning the Claesson Koivisto Rune shoot, I was attracted to the simplicity and natural graphic lines that existed throughout the studio’ OLOF GRIND
SEETAL SOLANKI is the director and founder of Ma-tt-er, a materials-research design studio in London whose clients include Space 10, The Future Laboratory, Dazed, Selfridges, Viewpoint and the Design Museum. Solanki, who also teaches interior design and information experience design at the Royal College of Art, tackles the topic of colourchanging surfaces on page 27.
After eight years in China, British freelance journalist and editor FRANCES ARNOLD recently relocated to Zagreb, Croatia. While living and working in Shanghai, she reviewed the city’s contemporary art scene for such publications as ArtAsiaPacific, Art Republik and Artsy. For this issue, Arnold spoke to Kokaistudios about the wave of bookstores in Asia.
Swedish photographer OLOF GRIND is based in Stockholm but calls the world his playground. Focusing on art and fashion portraits shot on location, he makes visuals that are often described as ‘dreamy’: images that capture ephemeral moments with an air of vulnerability. Grind put a graphic spin on his shoot for architects Claesson Koivisto Rune, which features on page 63.
Currently based in Boston, Massachusetts, photographer TONY LUONG has contributed to the pages of Dwell, Monocle, The New York Times and Wired, among others. When the occasion calls for it, he’s known to mix up a quality negroni. Luong visited Clint Baclawski for this issue’s ‘One Artist, One Material’.
РЕ ЮLU Ц ИTЯI O В NДA ИRY З А ЙCНEЕRКAЕM РА И.E RSA K EPH R A IM K EРАС ШIИKР IЯSЕ Т Н ОHС Т И A RВEОЛ VO I CМ И MКAT I APH L I RSA RIK RAM A ВHОЗ I GМ H ОЖ -T EC П О ИEЗRВI A ОДС МN И OVAT Ч Е С К ИI V ХEИ D ЗД ЕЛ Й .. ТОЧ Е SФ О РМ ЫI, SТО И Е L L E D FO R M S MРAT L DТRВIАV IКNЕGРАI N ES I GИN W I TН HЫI T PR EC E , НTЧHАIЙNШ -WA С Л TЕ ГE КО ЮЧF ИEТN Е ЛBЬRНI А Т ЕGПUAG Е Р Ь EВ ОЗ ОЖ H НЫ . O M S. A ТNЕDН К TИ I G, H DС GТEЬRИA И DС I I К, Л L AU NЯG П S РОЧ A NНEОWС ТLЬA N TOМBAT RO В Ы С О КОТ Е Х Н ОЛ О Г И Ч Н Ы Й М АТ Е РИ А Л В О С Н О В Е Н О В О ГО Д И З А Й Н А . CO L L ECT I O N VA L , D ES I G N BY KO N STA N T I N G RC I C. КОЛ Л Е К Ц И Я IVA N O, L, Д ДИ ИЗЗААЙ ЙН Н ОТ ОТ TOA KO NNSTA N GNUTYI N E NG. R C I C.
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New ege collection: ReForm Artworks Ecotrust Mark-making, collage and the aesthetics of chance transfer readily to the floorscape. The multi-level loop construction defines shapes, brushstrokes and layers in three co-ordinated patterns. Made of regenerated ECONYLÂŽ yarns from used fishing nets, Artworks is a truly green choice. Available as tiles and broadloom. International Launch: Stockholm Furniture Fair 6-10 February 2018 THE URGE TO EXPLORE SPACE
Nicole Marnati
The table extends to ADAPT. Air conditioning goes LOW-TECH. Materials SIGNAL CHANGE. Furniture THINS OUT. Discover new directions in the world of products.
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Middle Eastern designers combine a sense of place with a preference for LOCAL RESOURCES MATERIALS – The turbulent Middle East is faced with immense social, economic, educational and environmental challenges. Owing to its geographical position, resources are limited. But an abundance of those that are available – think sand and stone – define the looks of local architecture and, as became
apparent at design weeks held in Amman (October) and Dubai (November), motivate a young generation of designers to employ the copious materials in contemporary and alternative ways. Using locality to their advantage, they conceive works that reflect regional topography, industry and crafts. – FK
Omar Dababneh
Architect RULA YAGHMOUR carved a hyperbolic chair from a compacted mass of stone, granite and marble waste materials discarded by factories that make tiles and other products for construction projects. Yaghmour collaborated with Jordanian firm A.W. Yasin & Sons Co. on Kutleh (Arabic for ‘block’), a series that is layered with local colours. yaghmourarchitects.com
Hareth R. Tabbalat
OBJECTS
Aiming to revive the glass-blowing industry in Palestine, which is in decline because of the country’s fragile political context, DIMA SROUJI asked two glass-blowers in the small West Bank village of Jaba’ to lend shape to her digital designs and images. She describes the goal of her project, Hollow Forms, as the production of ‘objects that will resonate with a sense of place while maintaining the ability to act on a regional and global level’. dimasrouji.com
For the Mirage furniture collection, Amman-based APERÇU DESIGNS created its artistically stratified pieces by ‘ramming and superimposing’ layers of locally sourced materials on one another. The designers selected sand from various places in Jordan and residual woodchips from workshops. The use of rock salt references the huge amount of salt found in the Dead Sea. apercudesigns.com
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OBJECTS
Sisters NISREEN AND NERMEEN ABU-DAIL, professionally known as the Naqsh Collective, revive and preserve traditional Arabic aesthetics and craftsmanship in their All in the Stitch chair. Made from long-lasting materials – brass and rough Ajloun stone from the Jordanian mountains – the seat features motifs derived from old Palestinian embroidery patterns that tell a story of orange trading in the village of Beit Dajan. naqshcollective.com
Courtesy of Amman Design Week 2017
YASMEEN HAMOUDA joined forces with ARCHITECTURE + OTHER THINGS to explore the relationship between natural and synthetic objects and to analyse sustainable design production. Using epoxy resin and snippets of car tires that were recycled in the Emirate of Sharjah (UAE), the team came up with an organic structure and called it Table 1. architecture-otherthings.com yasmeenhamouda.com
Musthafa Aboobacker, courtesy of Alserkal Avenue
MIDDLE EASTERN DESIGN
Originally commissioned by London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, While We Wait travelled to Dubai Design Week before finding a permanent destination in the Cremisan Valley near Bethlehem. The installation functions as a gathering space suitable for collective meditation. Conceived by the brothers ELIAS AND YOUSEF ANASTAS, who used limestone quarried in various regions of Palestine, the lattice-like, self-supporting structure is ‘designed digitally, cut by robots, and hand-finished by local artisans’. aauanastas.com
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CUSTOM MADE COLORS Creativity, Passion, Customization ENIGMA: The new gastronomic space of Albert AdriĂ designed by RCR Arquitectes (Pritzker Prize 2017) and Pau Llimona where NEOLITH recreates a dreamlike landscape with a unique design, applied in claddings, countertops and flooring of the entire restaurant. Discover all the design possibilities and the extraordinary features offered by NEOLITH at www.neolith.com
THE
Giulia Pesce and Ruggero Bastita
DESIGN FOR THE DISPLACED In the lead-up to each issue, Frame challenges emerging designers to answer a topical question with a future-forward concept. The number of expatriates across the world has never been higher. Ecological, economic and political problems force people to leave their homes, while the connected world gives digital nomads the opportunity to travel by choice. No matter the reason, everywhere you turn masses and individuals are on the move. We commissioned five makers to conceptualize a product, space or service that generates a sense of home and belonging for people who feel displaced.
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DESIGN FOR THE DISPLACED
Nº 2
Homeward Bound
Natasha Hussein transforms a HOSPITALITY ENVIRONMENT into a residential experience by considering each traveller’s personal interests.
Citrusnap
Her background in science and her interest in design and societal stories makes the founder of Laboratory of London – NATASHA HUSSEIN – an interesting addition to ‘The Challenge’.
You want to shake up the world of hospitality. NATASHA HUSSEIN: Yes. Traditional hospitality environments are excellent places for resting, recharging and even exploring, but they are often static and grounded in one aesthetic, with broad customer segmentation. The result is an impersonal stay that makes people feel like guests rather than making them feel at home. How do you propose changing this? With a hospitality concept that invites visitors to leave their mark on a space that also leaves a mark on them: a dynamic ‘playground’ for external and internal exploration. I’m describing a multisensory hospitality environment that offers a vibrant personalized adventure. Above all else, it makes the guest feel at home. How have you tailored the concept to the individual guest? Every room – or ‘residential experience’ – is based on a guest’s expressed interests. For example, a residence for the creative guest might include an art studio whose colours and patterns can be altered in accordance with specific desires. What about other areas of the hotel? The basis is a ‘personal exploration menu’, a series of activities that allow the guest to try new and unexpected things, such as gardening,
molecular gastronomy and perfumery. In terms of food and drink, they can explore not only novel flavours but also mindfulness. Guests have the opportunity to create new flavours and surprising textures that they can reproduce at home. By selecting cooking, they become an active part of the space. Tell us about the four values that are key to making people feel at home. Although ideas of home are associated with objects and environments, when we scratch beneath the surface we see that ‘home’ transcends artefacts, spaces or services. Home is a mental construct composed of four fundamental elements: security, familiarity, community and a sense of longing. How have you translated these elements in your hotel concept? Security emerges from a feeling of safety that lets you be yourself. I envision an environment that enables a person to feel safe enough to undertake new experiences, like painting or dance. Familiarity lies in elements that are recognizable to particular guests. An example would be an interactive wall in the lobby that displays arabesque patterns or Italian Renaissance motifs, depending on a guest’s native culture. Community is fostered in collaborative areas, like a garden where guests can work together and connect through their mutual interests. A sense of longing, or nostalgia, refers to the guest’s past, present and future – who they are and what they could be – and, of course, a yearning to come back and stay with us. Is this a luxury concept or can it extend into every level of hospitality? I think ideas of home and triggers that spark images of home should be on the minds of us all. It’s one thing to keep someone safe from external conditions and quite another to make them feel nourished by the space they are in. I hope the essence of this concept can and will be applied to everything from budget accommodation to disaster shelters. – WG laboratoryoflondon.com
THE CHALLENGE
The various features of Natasha Hussein’s hotel concept adapt to the preferences of individual guests, who can alter spatial patterns and select activities from a ‘personal exploration menu’.
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Lab
THE NEXT SPACE
21 – 22 FEBRUARY 2018 WESTERGASFABRIEK AMSTERDAM Get your tickets at F RA M E AWA RD S .CO M
Discover the future of spaces at FRAME LAB, the interior design and architecture event of the year. In conjunction with the Frame Awards 2018 live judging and awards show, there will be TALKS, PANEL DISCUSSIONS, WORKSHOPS, EXHIBITIONS, and PARTIES with the best and the brightest in the global industry.
FEATURING AD DE HOND STARBUCKS | ANJA DIRKS ECIA | BEN VAN BERKEL UNSTUDIO | CLAUDIO FELTRIN ARPER | CLIVE WILKINSON CORIEN POMPE PHILIPS DESIGN | DAVID GIANOTTEN OMA DOMINIQUE TAFFIN YANFENG AUTOMOTIVE INTERIORS FLORIANE DE SAINT PIERRE | FREDERIQUE KEUNING SPACES GLENN PUSHELBERG YABU PUSHELBERG | INDIA MAHDAVI JAIME HAYON | JEAN-PIERRE GREFF HEAD GENEVA | JO NAGASAKA SCHEMATA ARCHITECTS | JOSEPH STUYFZAND PHILIPS MARK GUTJAHR BASF | MATTEO BRESSANIN NESPRESSO MICHELE FUHS BMW | MIKE HUGHES UNIVERSAL EVERYTHING PAUL SKINNER TELLART | PIETER KOOL | RAMON BEIJEN CBRE RICHARD HYWEL EVANS STUDIO RHE | ROB WAGEMANS CONCRETE ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATES | STEPHANIE HUGHES AKKA ARCHITECTS | UWE BRÜCKNER ATELIER BRÜCKNER VLASTIMIL SPELDA PERNOD RICARD Partners Exhibition Design XML ARCHITECTS
Feb 6–10, 2018 Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair has been reinventing design since 1951. Together with Stockholm Design Week we form the world’s leading event for Scandinavian design. Welcome! stockholmfurniturefair.com stockholmdesignweek.com
Tony Luong
ALEXANDRE DE BETAK puts it all on show. CLAESSON KOIVISTO RUNE can’t escape its architectural origins. YINKA ILORI examines race, class and hierarchy. Meet the people. Get their perspectives.
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PORTRAITS
Little is set in stone during a day in the life of New York lighting designer BEC BRITTAIN. Words
KAREN DAY Portrait
CINDY BAAR
BEC BRITTAIN: My morning changes, depending on the day. If I’m with my son, I’m up at six, playing and making his morning smoothie and his lunch. I wasn’t a bed-maker until I started dating someone who was and realized how much nicer a made-up bed is. I don’t get crazy about it – I just pull up the duvet and fluff the pillows a little. The nanny comes at nine, and I get ready to go. It sort of feels as if I’ve done half a day’s work even before I leave for the studio. I always check my phone but not always my e-mail. If it’s a morning with my son, it’s enough just to get myself out of bed and grumpily walk over to his crib, so I’m not really thinking about my phone. I’ll definitely have checked my e-mails before I reach the office, but I don’t always respond immediately. I’m not a caffeine person. I drink decaf coffee because I love the ritual, but me on caffeine? No one, including me, wants to be part of that. 10:00 a.m. I live in Manhattan, less than a ten-minute walk from my studio. I almost always listen to music on the way. Podcasts used to be my thing, but now I’ve switched to music. I’m not sure why. This might be embarrassing to reveal, but I’ve rediscovered drum’n’bass. I was a raver as a young teen, and somehow drum’n’bass just sounds right again. I’ve also been listening to old mixes from ’96-’97 online. Those and the Kelela album – it’s really solid R&B. We moved to this studio in February 2016. A few months later, we also took on the space next door. In January 2017 we started
From All Angles renovations, knocking through the wall to combine the two. As soon as I had a staff, I realized that how the shop is arranged is up to them. I want them to feel like it’s their office and that they can work in whatever way they want. That’s why the new space is so awesome. I have somewhere to go that I can close off. I can play my music and get into my zone. 2:00 p.m. I’m a person who forgets to eat, crashes at two in the afternoon, and then runs out to get food. My staff either sit around the table and eat together or everyone goes out. They lead a much saner life than I do, which I’m happy to see. I’m so impressed by how many people prepare their own healthy lunches in the morning. I don’t have a go-to midday meal, and that’s part of the problem. Lately I’ve been a regular visitor to this Korean deli – it looks like a typical bodega, but they serve really good ramen and udon dishes at the back of the shop. 4:30 p.m. When I leave the studio depends on whether I have to be a mom or not. If I do, I leave in the afternoon, and if I don’t, I stay as long as I want. I try to make it fun time. For the last two weeks I’ve been able to spend four or five days physically soldering a little sculpture together – a real luxury. Being at the studio until around nine is late for me nowadays. During my pre-baby period, I would stay
until one or two in the morning, completely absorbed in my work. That doesn’t really happen anymore. 7:00 p.m. Dinner is almost always at home; I prefer going out just for drinks. Yes, I make food, but I wouldn’t call it cooking. I find the daily grind of food preparation particularly uninteresting, although I do enjoy cooking for special occasions, like Thanksgiving. There are about seven dishes I like, and I rotate through those. I also get excited about ‘project cooking’: learning how to make soup dumplings, for instance. 12:00 a.m. Bedtime is usually around midnight. I look at my phone before bed, which is so bad. I’ve noticed that I’m a much, much happier person if I don’t check my e-mails after nine at night. I’m trying not to get sucked into my phone. My solution is to have a book that I’m really into beside my bed, but I’m currently reading something so dense that I don’t want to pick it up – and then I look at my phone. It’s time to rearrange my media. My place is homey and cosy. It’s not perfectly designed. I like the things I have, but my house is not precious at all. ● Brittain’s solo show, Resolute, features an entirely new body of work and is appearing at The Future Perfect through February 2018 becbrittain.com
A DAY WITH
Brittain is known for creating angular yet sensuous lighting, as exemplified by her Helix collection.
‘Me on caffeine? No one wants to be part of that’
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FRAME VIEWS explores future trends in spatial design, portrays visionary creatives and their work processes, and presents a curated selection of spatial-design case studies. Our first ‘CREATORS OF TOMORROW’ episode features designer GERMANS ERMIČS, who aims to change the perception of glass through colour and finishes.
Subscribe to the Frame Views channel to keep up-to-date with the future of design
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MILESTONES
In Line Despite diving into various scales in five careerdefining projects, CLAESSON KOIVISTO RUNE remains attached to its architectural roots. Words
DANIEL GOLLING Portraits
OLOF GRIND
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PORTRAITS
Architects Mårten Claesson, Eero Koivisto and Ole Rune – pictured with their Insalata salad utensils for Smaller Objects and Montana side table for Dux – founded Claesson Koivisto Rune in Stockholm in 1995.
MÅRTEN, EERO & OLE
Nacása & Partners Inc.
MILESTONES
2003
SFERA BUILDING ‘They’re uncompromising when it comes to quality,’ says Mårten Claesson. ‘Only the Japanese have this unwavering attitude towards everything they do.’ Claesson, the man behind the C in Claesson Koivisto Rune (CKR), is reflecting on the Swedish studio’s first major architecture project: the Sfera Building in Kyoto. A combined art gallery, design store, restaurant and café – or ‘cultural centre, as Claesson and cofounder Ole Rune call it – the building was completed in 2003. Located in Kyoto’s Gion district, the project gave Claesson, Rune and partner Eero Koivisto the feeling that they’d made a modern contribution – one sensitive to its context – to the very heart of the ancient Japanese city. ‘Our mission was to add something contemporary to the site,’ says Claesson, ‘which quickly boiled down to layers and screens.’ The leaf-patterned panels on the building’s main façade are modest references to the bamboo, wood and rice-paper shoji found in the city’s traditional architecture. Here, though, the cladding is made from titanium. ‘Aside from aesthetics, what we took with us from the Kyoto project is that it’s possible to achieve a Japanese level of quality,’ he says. ‘That was important for us, as we’re from a culture where just good enough is considered good enough.’ »
For CKR’s first major architecture project, the Sfera Building in Kyoto, the Swedish designers managed to achieve what they call a ‘Japanese level of quality’.
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PORTRAITS
In 2007 CKR began a long-standing relationship with Italian furniture manufacturer Arflex, an alliance that set a standard for its collaborations with other brands.
‘We’re from a culture where just good enough is considered good enough’
2007-
ARFLEX COLLABORATION If Claesson Koivisto Rune has long been infatuated with Japan, the Swedish trio’s fascination with Italy and its furniture industry runs deeper still. Since the mid-1990s, the designers have worked with no fewer than 20 Italian companies. None of these collaborations has been longer and more intense than the alliance with furniture manufacturer Arflex, which began in 2007. ‘Coming from a Stockholm suburb and seeing your furniture for Arflex exhibited in Milan’s Brera district is a humbling experience,’ says Claesson. CKR is aware that aesthetics play an important role and are ‘a source of national pride’ in Italian culture. ‘It’s not considered suspicious to want to create something
that’s simply nice and beautiful.’ This aspect of the Italian mentality is what the Swedish architects find appealing about the country’s design scene – and why they enjoy working with Arflex. In many ways, CKR’s relationship with Arflex has served as a model for its work with other furniture brands. ‘We’ve reached a level of trust and familiarity,’ says Rune. ‘It’s really up to us to decide what we want to do for Arflex.’ Claesson, who believes that the company ‘appreciates and values our humble approach’, adds that it’s much too easy for designers to come up with something that’s no more than a manifestation of ego.
MILESTONES
2015
INDE/JACOBS GALLERY
Åke E:son Lindman
Allowing the architects to assert their expertise in spaces for art, Inde/Jacobs Gallery in Marfa, Texas, took nearly a decade to complete.
‘Sfera took just 14 months from our first conversation with the client – at the Salone del Mobile in Milan – to the building’s inauguration,’ says Rune. ‘Inde/Jacobs gallery was the exact opposite.’ Located in Marfa, Texas, the project – which began in 2006 and wasn’t completed until 2015 – proved to CKR that good things sometimes take time. ‘The gallery ended as a very thought-out project,’ says Claesson, ‘one that defies trends.’ In many ways, Marfa is also the antithesis of Kyoto. Situated in a remote area of Texas, the town is home to fewer than 2,000 people. Regardless, the gallery has become a centre for contemporary and abstract art, thanks to the influence of Donald Judd. The artist settled in Marfa and established a museum there in the 1970s. Without Judd, the area would have failed most likely to develop into the sophisticated community of galleries and exhibition venues that it is today. ‘We have a certain understanding of what constitutes a good space for art,’ says Claesson, referring to his practice’s extensive experience in the field. ‘It’s important that the architecture has a strong character yet never plays the lead role.’ Inde/Jacobs features a subtle play of scales and angles that make the building appear longer than it is. The interior reveals a more archetypal white cube that has the flexibility required for an optimum presentation of art. »
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2015
SMALLER OBJECTS Over the course of three decades, CKR has worked with more than 100 manufacturers. If their track record has taught the architects anything, it’s that they should steer clear of production. ‘We’ve never been interested in logistics, distribution or marketing,’ says Claesson. ‘But we did find a segment of the market that we felt could benefit from our designs.’ That sector became the name of a brand that they launched in 2015: Smaller Objects. Going against their instincts, the designers compiled a range of designs that teams their own offerings with products by the likes of Luca Nichetto, Ingegerd Råman and Jin Kuramoto. The collection is as much a statement as a serious attempt to give the
accessories genre a long-term perspective. ‘Taking on the role of producer and having full responsibility for the whole chain, from production to distribution, demands focus. The idea behind Smaller Objects is to do what others seem incapable of doing: bringing to the market high-quality products that can stand the test of time.’ Although the addition of a third leg to the studio’s repertoire, alongside architecture and design, confirmed CKR’s worst fears concerning manufacturing, the process has also been rewarding. It’s granted the designers freedom to make whatever they desire. Claesson says that ‘putting something into production has to mean that we want it ourselves’.
‘Taking on the role of manufacturer demands focus’
CKR took on the role of producer when it launched Smaller Objects, a collection that attempts to give the accessories genre a long-term perspective.
Nacása & Partners Inc.
MILESTONES
2017
FACIEM EXHIBITION At new Tokyo festival Designart, CKR presented an exhibition of photographic prints that focused on the role of the grid in the history of architecture. The images depicted the studio’s interpretation of details found in building façades, from Mies van der Rohe’s Lake Shore Drive Apartments to Dominique Perrault’s National Library of France. Faciem explored CKR’s passion for modernist architecture. ‘We may as well have called the exhibition “Searching for the Essence of the Grid”,’ Claesson suggests. What cannot be ignored is that in Van der Rohe’s time architects were classically trained. They had an exacting sense of proportions and sequences that CKR believes has been lost in contemporary architecture. ‘There isn’t much debate about such topics today,’ says Rune, who notes that the 12 prints, framed behind glass, almost transform into the buildings they depict. With a history of delivering spaces that house works of art, the trio had long maintained that making art themselves was a big no-no. Faciem, however, felt different. The project was a continuation of their deep-seated interest in patterns and a means of demonstrating their work process through the abstraction of an architectural feature. Conclusion: ‘Architecture is not art and art is not architecture. But it is possible to find art in architecture and architecture in art.’ ● claessonkoivistorune.se
For CKR’s Faciem exhibition in Tokyo, the architects photographed details of building façades and displayed the 12 images at Designart.
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soft collection by molo flexible, freestanding walls, furniture + lighting that move with you molodesign.com ¡ design by Stephanie Forsythe + Todd MacAllen
Delfino Sisto Legnani
OMA makes a government building look good. FOSTER + PARTNERS unveils the world’s most sustainable office. JEAN NOUVEL modernizes Arab architecture. Step inside the great indoors.
Nick Guttrige, courtesy of OMA
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Walls in the large congress hall – which centres on an earth-themed sculpture – feature a motif based on a painting by Dutch artist Hendrik Willem Mesdag.
SPACES
INSTITUTION
OMA’s flexible format challenges government-building stereotypes
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RETAIL
SABINE MARCELIS’s first permanent retail interior sensitively addresses a landmark building
SPACES
Delfino Sisto Legnani
MILAN – Luxury menswear brand Salle Privée focuses on classic essentials – no seasonal collections but ‘timeless fashion’ – and House No. 8 in Milan is the relative newcomer’s second European showroom. Responding to the question of what permanence looks like, the Dutch fashion house asked Sabine Marcelis to realize the interior of its latest retail venture. No stranger to the label, Marcelis previously translated her signature en vogue resin panels into display units for the Salle Privée Amsterdam flagship. The Milan showroom – at the historical heart of the city – occupies a space within Palazzo Recalcati, a 16th-century building whose existing interior immediately
caught the designer’s attention. ‘It was clear from the beginning that we should enhance the original aesthetics, not detract from them,’ says Marcelis. ‘The core design principle is based on extruding volumes and extracting shapes from those volumes to enrich the space with freestanding walls and display units. Essentially, it’s one big puzzle that could be flat-packed again.’ Featuring circular openings carved from massive blocks of acrylic resin, Marcelis’s elements have seemingly fallen into place, serving as display objects and furniture throughout the retail area. ‘I like the contrast between the resin pieces and the materiality of the existing space,’ she says. ‘Resin has
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Diagrams show Marcelis’s concept for Salle Privée. Shapes extracted from extruded volumes function as display elements.
the added benefit of interacting with incoming light, so the volumes don’t feel too solid or obstructive. As is often the case with my work, I tried to push the limits of the material and the production process by curving and assembling these large-scale pieces.’ Pushing the limits also meant experimenting with a new technique for the gradational frosting of large glass sheets that cleverly conceal existing radiators beneath the windows. Marcelis says the solution ‘meant we could hide an unsightly part of the window while still allowing a maximum of natural light to enter through the top half of each pane’. – AO sabinemarcelis.com
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SPACES
RETAIL
ZOOCO updates traditional wine references in a historical corner of Spain VALLADOLID – Over the past decade or so, the Spanish wine industry has embraced contemporary architecture: Norman Foster, Santiago Calatrava and Frank Gehry have all completed emblematic bodegas for the country’s top producers. On a much smaller scale is De Vinos y Viandas, a retail store that emphasizes the social side of Spain’s wine culture. The shop is situated on a pedestrian street in the historical quarter of Valladolid, the capital of an industrious, though perhaps not internationally known, wine region. Visitors to De Vinos y Viandas find a range of brands and are invited to try a glass – along with a bite of local cheese or charcuterie – before they buy. ‘The owner is a wine lover, but he left the visual concept up to us,’ says Miguel Crespo Picot of architecture and design studio Zooco. ‘Our references were the materials and shapes you find in an ancient bodega: ceiling
vaults, arches, and metal and oak vats, all of which feature rounded forms.’ Zooco’s concept saw the length and breadth of the 35-m2 interior filled with a series of laser-cut wooden panels that would fit together like the pieces of a puzzle. The exacting implementation of this plan proved to be the most technically challenging aspect of the project. A sequence of curved panels, intended to simulate a course of arches when viewed through the store’s glass façade, act as ribs. Positioned 15 cm apart, they serve as a display and storage system that allows bottles to be arranged either horizontally or vertically on both sides of the aisle they form. The architects placed a number of circular mirrors on the walls and ceiling to add an extra dimension to the space. The mirror glass is distorted to achieve a liquid effect, yet another reference to the merchandise. – SW
Rocio Romero
zooco.es
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Ravi Deepres and Alicia Clarke
Events
There may be no official rule book for staging the perfect event, but the designers featured on the following pages certainly have a few ideas. Everything starts with CHANGING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PEOPLE AND TECHNOLOGY. As virtual and augmented realities lose their sci-fi stigma, they become part of a palette that enriches an audience’s experience and connects visitors to a world beyond their own.
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EVENTS
Dances with
FRAME LAB
Wayne McGregor and cohorts frolic with music, sound and dance in a FASCINATING FUSION of digital technology and human physicality. Words
JONATHAN OPENSHAW
Ravi Deepres and Alicia Clarke
Drones
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EVENTS
Drones controlled by an algorithm interacted with both dancers and audience at +/- Human, a performance choreographed by Wayne McGregor.
FRAME LAB
DRONES OCCUPY a peculiar position in our society. Not only are they an annoyance, buzzing overhead as you take a quiet walk or flashing neon light in the night sky above city squares; they also pose a threat to targets in countries like Yemen and Pakistan, where remote-controlled military drones reap ‘silent’ death. It’s this strange dissonance – the lurch from annoying to annihilating – that choreographer Wayne McGregor exploits in +/- Human (2017). Appearing in London earlier this year, the performance saw the vaulted space of the Roundhouse filled with giant levitating orbs. Luminous white and fleshy, the spheres – each more than a metre in diameter – were reminiscent of manatees or the bloated characters in Pixar’s Wall-E (2008), simultaneously comic and unsettling. Controlled by an algorithm, the seven objects moved as one, interacting with the audience as well as with the dancers who inhabited the floor below. Audiences have grown used to sophisticated technology in a cultural context, whether it be state-of-the-art CGI in the latest blockbuster, interactive touchscreens at a museum or algorithmic animations at a big brand launch. In fact, many of us have become numbed to digital wizardry, which makes the physicality of +/- Human all the more impactful. The algorithm may be in the driving seat – and miniature motors are certainly peddling away at the orbs’ propellers – but it’s the live dancers from Company Wayne McGregor and The Royal Ballet who dominate the viewer’s experience. ‘We cannot avoid the relationship between people and machine,’ says McGregor, who for decades has made the crossover the focus of his work. ‘What I have tried to do is produce contemporary choreography that is plugged into the real world. I try to pull resources from things that are around, alive and working now.’ There may be more than a hint of the sci-fi about the performance, but McGregor makes it clear that reading +/- Human as futuristic falls far wide of the mark. ‘It’s so present tense. It’s
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‘Technology helps us to explore our positions as humans in the world’
not a version of what it’s going to be like in the future. It’s technology that is happening all the time all around us’. Since founding his studio in 1992, McGregor and his team have developed and realized over 30 original works, proving that intellectually challenging choreography has a mass audience. Resident choreographer at the Royal Ballet in London since 2006, McGregor is also resident at Sadler’s Wells and has accepted commissions from some of the world’s leading classical companies, including the Bolshoi Ballet and the Paris Opera. Few contemporary choreographers have staged crossover work with such a strong appeal, a quality largely driven by his willingness to collaborate. Random International, which made the installation for +/- Human, have pedigree in immersive art projects that subtly employ technology to powerful ends. Perhaps best known for its international success with Rain Room (2012), in which visitors prepared to stroll through a downpour that magically parted as they passed, Random International has investigated natural swarming patterns for years. One result is Zoological, the seven spheres featured in McGregor’s latest production. Based on swarms of insects, flocks of birds and pods of aquatic animals, the installation straddles the worlds of performance, technology and sculpture. ‘We’re so keen as human beings to assign agency to things that are completely inanimate or virtual,’ says Hannes Koch, cofounder of Random International. ‘The impression that most viewers seem to take
away from +/- Human is that Zoological is alive, that it has some kind of sentience.’ Apparently seamless when experienced in the flesh, the sense of intention to which he refers is actually the outcome of incredibly complex programming on the part of Random International. The art lay in making it feel as if the orbs were moving as one and with a higher purpose – and not as though they were preprogrammed or flying on autopilot. The algorithm responded to the dancers, the audience and the spheres, generating a scene of constant recalibration and improvisation. ‘The beauty of this collaboration is that you could not dictate the terms. Once the dancers and orbs are in motion, it’s a ping-pong game in which all the different beings seem to merge.’ Like the relationship between people and technology, McGregor’s choreography evokes both attraction and repulsion. The orbs flock, scatter and coalesce around individual dancers or audience members, while the show’s human participants engage or retreat. Although clearly an interactive work, +/- Human is light years away from the touchscreens and apps that now govern the genre. Here, technology takes a back seat to physical interaction. ‘Technology – always a means to an end – helps us to explore our positions as humans in the world,’ says Koch. ‘Paint, pencils and algorithms are simply creative mediums, no more, no less.’ ● waynemcgregor.com randominternational.com
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Kyoungtae Kim
Surfaces MUTINA paves with patterns. FLORIM AND VIVES revive terrazzo. FIANDRE maximizes wood fossilization. MARAZZI and TAGINA embrace ageing. Discover what’s driving the business of design.
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REPORTS
Re-Composites
TERRAZZO experiences a resurgence as designers carry the centuries-old material into new grounds.
Taylor, a decorative brass joint, can be used with Vives Cerámica’s Portofino tiles to give the terrazzo surface a touch of luxury.
Look down as you enter any institutional or commercial building that’s been around for more than 20 years, and chances are you’ll find yourself standing on a polished, speckled surface. A huge trend in the 1970s, terrazzo sneaked its way into millions of buildings during that decade. Tracing its origins back to 16th-century Italy, the attractive composite, traditionally a mix of leftover marble chips and clay, was invented by construction workers as an inexpensive alternative to marble. Over the years, terrazzo has emerged several times as a material popular with designers, who have used it for myriad surfaces in countless configurations. From Shiro Kuramata’s Star Piece series for Memphis, featuring a mix of concrete and broken glass, to Max Lamb’s Marmoreal, a colourful composite of marble and polyester resin, rarely does a material offer such potential for experimentation as terrazzo does. The latest revival sees the material lifted from its usual context and applied to everything from walls and furniture to homeware. Designers take advantage of its composite nature to incorporate alternative aggregates, breaking new ground to meet the demand for sustainable materials. Endless opportunities for innovation and customization are leading to variations in colour, pattern and form, while new technologies enable brands to update their production processes in order to turn out personalized, tailor-made designs. Terrazzo’s comeback indicates one thing for sure: a perpetual flow of possibilities. — SLA Ilse Leenders
Using 3D printing, Aectual produces sustainable custommade patterned floors finished with bio-binder terrazzo.
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Jonathan Leijonhufvud
SURFACES
Inside Beijing’s Lievito Gourmet Pizza and Bar, designed by MDDM Studio, terrazzo in shades of grey extends from the floor to the walls and furniture, including a freestanding bar counter and smaller tables.
Kyoungtae Kim
Studio Ossidiana combines concrete with pigments, pebbles and sand to create Petrified Carpets, a collection of architectural objects inspired by the gardens portrayed in Persian carpets.
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IN NUMBERS
Here Comes the Sun Wellsun’s Lumiduct rotating SOLAR-PANEL SYSTEM attaches to façades without restricting daylight from entering glazed buildings. Words
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of available daylight enters the building, free of glare
SOFIA LEKKA ANGELOPOULOU
0.5º is the accuracy of a panel’s tracking as it follows the sun
99%
completely recyclable materials are used in the production of the panels
of direct light is converted into usable energy
wellsun.nl
70%
700
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times the concentration of direct sunlight is captured in the system’s solar cells
solar cells make up each module
