Beneath the Surface Blog

Say goodbye to a time that required art to be hung on the wall or mounted on a pedestal, and hello to a new age in which art is meant to be playful, engaging, and provocative! Artists around the world have chosen to relocate their canvases from minimalist galleries to dynamic streets, and temporary installations are evolving as one of the most favored forms of art. Kurt Perschke, a New York City artist, proved that a simple red ball mixed with a little creativity can allow the public to unleash their imagination while having a good laugh!

Kurt Perschke conceived the idea for the RedBall Project in 2001, and has been inspiring pedestrians to take a second look at under-appreciated urban areas for over 11 years. It all began when Arts in Transit, a public art agency based in St. Louis, MO, asked Perschke to propose a series of installations for various sites around the city center. After countless weeks of frustration, Perschke drew an oversized red ball under a St. Louis Bridge to humor himself, and the project was born.

RedBall's success in St. Louis inspired Perschke to use his commission to carry the project overseas to Barcelona. The lighthearted nature of the design began to make headlines, and Perschke was asked to replicate the installation in Sydney, Australia. Since then, the project has debuted in major cities around the world, including Chicago, Toronto, Scottsdale, St. Louis, Grand Rapids, Portland, Taipei, Sydney, Perth, Barcelona, Abu Dhabi, and London!

Perschke travels to cities for 2-3 weeks at a time, and places the RedBall in a variety of locations that are not only overlooked by pedestrians, but have a humorous juxtaposition with the installation; expanding 15 feet in diameter and weighing 250 pounds, the enormous red vinyl ball is comical in nearly any location! Perschke relies on cherry pickers and city workers that scale bridges and buildings to inflate RedBall on each site, picking unusual locations that not only draw visitors, but highlight the nooks and crannies of urban life.

Transcending the cities, locations, and cultures of nearly every continent on Earth, the RedBall Project has proven the universal quality of art. Perschke plans to continue his innovative installation for many years to come, believing that “people take it on. They start thinking about where it's going to go, where it could go, cities it's been to. Each city has a story and it's a story around the globe, and I think people connect to that.” We salute Perschke's whimsical approach to turning the standard notions of art upside down!

Credits: The Red Ball Project, Arch Daily

Color is a powerful device, and it is everywhere! For centuries, color has been used to influence human behavior due to its ability to evoke emotion and trigger the senses. In recent years, however, the art of color psychology has not only given interior designers control over your perception of a space, but your mood while you occupy the space as well. Take a look at how top designers are creatively applying color to form beautiful spaces that are easy on the eyes...and easy on the mind!

Red: Passion

Bold, energizing, and spontaneous, it's no surprise that the color red has a powerful impact on our senses, including our appetite! Designers around the world have incorporated red into contemporary restaurant décor to stimulate cravings, conversation, and atmosphere. Stack, a new-age American grill in Las Vegas, is not shy with the hue, using tinted lighting to apply red everywhere from floor to ceiling!

Orange: Energy

Did you ever think a color could help you up the intensity and duration of your workout? Immediately afflicting feels of enthusiasm, adventure, and self-confidence, designers have named orange the color of choice for active environments and recreation centers, like Miribilla Fitness Club in Spain. This lively hue not only instills energy for the body, but for the mind as well!

Yellow: Creativity

Balancing fun and logic, yellow is the perfect color to incorporate into creative offices. Surrounding yourself in this hue not only boosts intellectual powers in the creative side of the brain, but causes the mind to release serotonin, the “feel good” chemical. Designer Ana Hernández Palacios confidently applied yellow to the walls and ceiling Lexington Avenue Modeling Agency to give an added creative flair to the minds of both the photographers and models.

Green: Harmony

Occupying more space in the visible spectrum than any other color, Green has the ability to relax the body both mentally and physically. Because it's the most soothing hue in the color spectrum, designers around the world are taking inspiration from nature to carry the shade into tranquil interior spaces, especially spas. Balancing natural stone, ambient light, and soft shades of moss green, the design of Dolder Grand Spa in Zurich provides the ideal backdrop to rejuvenate the mind and body.

Blue: Productivity

From water to sky, blue is perceived as a constant in daily life, and has gradually become the preferred color for workspaces around the world. Signifying responsibility, dependability, and wisdom, shades of blue allow people to focus on personal tasks without distraction. That doesn't mean the blue offices have to be boring! Designers around the world have been captivated by the contemporary application of blue materials and lighting inside the new Google office in Sydney, Australia. It doesn't hurt that this hue has overwhelmingly won “favorite color around the world” either!

Purple: Extravagance

Associated with wealth, opulence, and fantasy, purple has become the favored color among designers specializing in the nightlife and hospitality industry. Blending the confidence of red with the calming nature of blue, this hue never fails to make a bold statement in a sophisticated way.   Posh night spots around the world, like Allure Nightclub in Abu Dhabi, are using purple on every surface from the seating to the lighting to grant every guest a feeling of royalty!

The next time you head to the gym, have a relaxing day at the spa, or try the new restaurant downtown, pay attention to the colors around you. Chances are, the reasoning behind their application goes far beyond beautiful decor!

Credits: One Source Graphics, Precision Intermedia

Flip through any contemporary design magazine and you'll quickly discover that ambient lighting, luxurious materials, and dark, intimate spaces are among the top trends in hospitality design. Jean Jullien, a French graphic designer working in London, rebels against traditional design techniques with Le Nid, a quirky French establishment that replaces leather chairs with eggshells, and sleek granite counters with...a bird? Literally translating to “The Nest,” the combination of whimsical details and a scenic view overlooking the city of Nantes guarantee that we will all be flocking to Le Nid!

Designed as part of an art festival called “A Journey to Nantes,” Jullien's simple yet humorous graphic style made him the ideal candidate for the installation, whose theme was to be determined by the artist. Jullien chose to take a spin on the cozy, intimate atmosphere of lounges by creating a literal “nest” for people to visit. Working with the unconventional design scheme required Jullien to divide his attention equally between the art, the bar, and the view to create a space that's just as sophisticated as it is unique.

Because Le Nid is located 144 meters in the air at the top of the Tour Bretagne, panoramic vistas of the historic city serve as the backdrop to the modern bar. Being a native to the Nantes region, Jullien placed a balanced emphasis on the impressive view and the interior design so that the unusual décor would not overshadow the beauty of the city. A 100 meter outdoor terrace runs along the perimeter of the entire bar, giving guests an opportunity to step outside and sip on their cocktail above one of the most beautiful cities in France.

The bar itself is located within the body of the oversized bird, whose neck extends 40 meters in length around the sitting area. While the neck remains static, the massive head actively engages guests; the eyes actually open and close regularly to show if the bird is awake or sleeping! Jullien traded traditional tables and chairs for cracked eggshells with bright yellow-orange seat cushions representing yolks.

‘Le Nid’ a project by Jean Jullien from Partizan on Vimeo

To complete the overall experience of Le Nid, Jullien enlisted the help of his brother, Nicholas, to create a music soundtrack designed to enhance the views, sounds, and character of the space. Nicholas is a member of Niwouinwouin!, a French electronic band whose distinctive sounds are a perfect match for the idiosyncratic bar. The Le Nid experience is truly one of a kind; designers around the world can take notes from Jullien's bold, ambitious, and eccentric style. A little whimsy never hurt anyone!

Image Credits: Entertainment Designer, It's Nice That

Newspapers, often considered an ordinary, universal object around the world, are one of the most extraordinary types of documentation of life and society. There are few mediums that can physically capture a tragic moment, a joyful celebration, or a life-changing event in a style that relates to people of all ages, ethnicities, and socioeconomic groups on a daily basis. It's an experience for the senses: the smell of fresh ink, the rough pulp of the paper against fingertips, the crinkle sound as a page is turned, and the colorful images carefully placed in each article. There are no “back” buttons or “clear history” tabs; newspapers are permanent.

The project designers for the Omni Dallas Hotel & Convention Center recognized the innate potential of these historical documents when they chose to utilize newspapers as a primary design element in the sports bar floor, allowing the traditional memories of Dallas sports teams to bleed into the contemporary atmosphere of the chic hotel.

At first glance, juxtaposing vintage articles against sleek furnishings may appear contradictory, but actually embodies the true meaning of Dallas: contrast. “Dallas is blue jeans and ball gowns. Dallas is entrepreneurial, and Dallas is industrial. Dallas has so many contrasts,” describes Reggi Nichols, founder of Waldrop + Nichols Studio. Recognizing the importance of contrast in the hotel's interior design, the project team enlisted the help of GPI Design to transform the theme from a broad idea into a striking reality at the sports bar flooring treatment.

Diverging from the sepili wood, antique bronze, and white leather found throughout the lobby area, twenty one enlarged newspaper articles about Dallas athletic victories summon guests to the entrance of the hotel's sports bar. GPI Design worked with the Waldrop + Nichols team and Lang Lighting Design to create an integrated backlit floor system that could give a new life to the historic articles. While the printed articles appear encapsulated and preserved within the glass, only after the panels are illuminated from behind are the memories of Dallas sports history truly celebrated.

Though the newspaper panels were designed to function as floor tiles, the installation has become one of many art pieces within the Omni hotel. Over 7,000 original pieces of art crafted by local Dallas and Fort Worth artists adorn the walls of guest rooms and major public spaces, allowing the lobby areas to function as both a museum and a hotel. Scott Lowe, the project's interior architect, has observed that “people are coming to just walk around and look at the art.”  It's not surprising - as designers strive to foster a relationship between modern design and historic culture, the Dallas backlit floor can serve as a prime example that it's possible to cherish the past in a contemporary style. 

--> Learn more about the products and process used to create the custom backlit glass flooring system:

Credits: Great Glazing, New American Luxury

While major metropolises around the globe have continuously given skyscrapers hierarchy over the urban landscape, Singapore has chosen to take a different spin on the traditional skyline.

“Blossoming” less than two weeks ago, the city's latest architectural development introduces a canopy of artificial trees that tower over the tropical waterfront. The project was dedicated as a national landmark in an effort to earn Singapore the title as “botanical capital of the world,” while simultaneously creating a visual bridge between the contemporary architecture of the city center, and the lush greenery of the latest 250-acre landscaping project, Gardens by the Bay. Soaring 25 to 50 meters into the air, it's hard to miss this spectacular installation!

Man cannot create nature, but the design team proved that man can certainly imitate it. The teams at Wilkinson Eyre Architects, Grant Associates Landscape Architecture, and Atelier 10 Structural Engineers collaborated throughout the various design phases to create a colossal forest that is not only symbolic of trees, but the future prosperity of Singapore. As the city begins to place a larger emphasis on “greening” the landscape, the supertrees will be used to educate the population about the importance of sustainable practices.

Each tree serves many purposes that extend far beyond visual aesthetics: generating solar power, acting as air venting ducts for nearby conservatories, and collecting rainwater for irrigation systems. Because solar photovoltaic systems have been added to eleven of the eighteen trees, the upper canopies and ground-level botanical gardens can be illuminated without relying on Singapore's electrical grid. These canopies, absorbing and dispersing heat, also operate as temperature moderators to improve the climate for visitors walking beneath the structure.

Weighing hundreds of tons apiece, the trunks of the supertrees support a suspended walkway seven stories in the air that offers panoramic views of the city and waterfront. From this height, visitors can gain a closer view of native tropical flowers, epiphytes, and ferns climbing the trunks of the trees, and a vast view of the gardens below. While local species clad the exterior of the trees, the interior cavities will function as a greenhouse, holding an anticipated 220,000 plant species from every continent!

Balancing the rapid city growth with environment responsibility, Singapore is certainly on it's way to earning the title of “botanical capital of the world.” Cities around the globe can take inspiration from Singapore's supertrees to impact their skyline in a sustainable manner that creates a relatable icon.

Image Credits: CNN.com, Inhabitat

The Fourth of July holiday evokes images of flags, barbecues, friends, and of course, fireworks! With the bright flashes, saturated colors, and booming sounds, fireworks are an explosive art that appeals to all of the senses.  As our eyes and ears recover from yesterday's pyrotechnic extravaganzas and the gray smoky skeletons of the fireworks drift away, today we are digging into the design process behind a fireworks show.  

Did you know that the choreographers, laborers, technicians, and city officials spend a minimum of 3 to 4 hours planning each minute of the show? If you have ever poured long hours into a CAD drawing or compared a napkin sketch to a completed building, you can probably appreciate the execution process of a fireworks display from concept through realization.

Step 1: Experience and Envision

Before firework specialists can even begin to think about design, they must experience the site of the show. The terrain, amount of open space, and size of the anticipated audience all play important roles in determining the theme of the firework display. Then it's on to the drawing boards! According to professional firework artist Cai Guo-Qiang, “size, scale, shape, color, duration, and sequence” are the most significant considerations during conceptualization phases. Like other fields of design, rough sketches describing forms and colors begin to bring ideas to life!

Step 2: Collaborate and Create

After consulting with pyrotechnic technicians and the music team, it's time to turn scribbled drawings into a reality. Though the colors, shapes, and sounds of firework displays may seem random, the details behind each shell's launch is carefully plotted on graph paper, and then transferred to AutoCAD software. With the computer, designers can determine exactly how high, and at what angle, the colorful explosion will occur. Every burst of light you see in the sky is perfectly timed,and planned!

Step 3: Fabrication

Gunpowder is essential to shell design, not only for propelling the firework upwards, but to cause the explosion and “booms” that we all love! Designers use different variations of chemical powders and gunpowder to create the beautiful shapes and colors that light up the sky. Combining decades of experience with new computer technology, fireworks artistry has grown more extravagant each year. Shells can even be fired from an electric current with the push of a button! From traditional Chrysanthemum shapes, to crackling Crossettes, the design possibilities are endless.

Step 4: Showtime

Who knew that a simple show could require months of planning, design, and fabrication! We certainly have a newfound appreciation for fireworks artistry, and we can't wait to see our favorite colors light up the sky.

3...2...1...BOOM! Now it's straight back to the drawing boards for next year's show. Can you relate?

Image credits: ArtsEdge, Yahoo News

For centuries, Americans have maintained a faithful relationship with the front lawn, that treasured strip of greenery that delineates the boundary line between the home and the street. As time progresses, however, the lawn has no longer become a symbol of status or wealth, but a symbol of cultural conformity; a way to assess whether or not an individual has achieved the “American Dream.” While a perfectly manicured lawn may have suggested a desire for future prosperity in the 1950's, the cost, time, and chemical treatments required in the modern day seem wasteful. In a time when “green” is golden, why settle for the suburban norm? Try planting an edible front yard!

Yes, taboo as it may seem, planting fruits and vegetables in the front yard is a new gardening trend that is not only friendly to the environment, but friendly on the wallet. Fritz Haeg, author of The Edible Estate, has a proposal that is quite simple: trade in the mower and high-maintenance lawn for beautiful arrangements of flowers and organic produce that can be enjoyed both outdoors and in the kitchen. In addition to reducing trips to the grocery store, edible gardens require less irrigation and upkeep than traditional lawns, which means more time socializing with family and friends, and less time completing daily landscaping tasks.

But what will my neighbors think? Over the years, our society has become accustomed to placing vegetables in the backyard, and flowers in the front yard. However, many species of fruits and vegetables can be both edible and ornamental, especially when juxtaposed with shrubbery and other edging elements, such as brick or stone. Sweet potato plants not only have large flowers that resemble popular perennials, but have beautiful vines that resemble ivy found in traditional gardens.

Aspiring gardeners that are not ready to replace their entire lawn with organic produce can experiment with vertical gardens, a new trend in the green building movement in which walls function as an alternative to topsoil. The growing popularity of vertical gardens have allowed the principles of Edible Estates to not only accommodate smaller residential lots, but commercial establishments as well; many high-end restaurants have begun to recognize the benefits of growing fresh herbs on-site by using vertical gardens as an artistic landscape element adjacent to outdoor dining rooms.

So what are you waiting for? Your front lawn is a blank canvas for cultivating a beautiful, diverse garden that is not only gives back to the environment, but to your wallet as well. And just think of the possibilities for public and commercial green spaces to start giving back by taking inspiration from the residential sector!

Content Credits: Parentables How Stuff Works, Time

Image Credits: Rosalind Creasy, Dog Island Farm, Parentables How Stuff Works, Studio Outside