Comments Off on Meet the Makers: Product Designer Mariko Kusumoto
In this Meet the Makers blog series, we will feature an artist that, quite simply, makes something. Drawing inspiration from custom works handcrafted in various media, we travel beyond the pieces by diving into the minds of the creative makers themselves.
Today, we feature our interview with Mariko Kusumoto, the creative designer of a fiber product line that can be used as wearable accessories. Mariko utilizes different color fibers to craft organic art forms that take on many different shapes and sizes. These unique accessories are all hand crafted directly out of her studio in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
GPI Design: What (3) words best describe your work?
Mariko Kusumoto: Discovery – Surprise – Wonder
GPI: What compels you to create with this particular medium?
Kusumoto: Various observable phenomena that helps stimulate my mind and senses.
GPI: What is your biggest constraint in the creative process?
Kusumoto: Time has always been my biggest constraint.
GPI: What would your 5 year old former self say about your work now? And what do you hope your future 90 year old self will say about your current work?
Kusumoto: My 5 year old self and 90 year old self would both say a quote from Isamu Noguchi: “When an artist stops being a child, (she/he) stops being an artist.”
GPI: What other maker would you most like to collaborate with?
Kusumoto: I usually prefer to work alone.
GPI: What do you think the future of creation/creativity holds (for you, and the artistic world as a whole)?
Kusumoto: I think necessity, to maintain beauty in the human experience.
GPI: What does your work space look like right now? Send us a selfie of you in your creative arena!
______
Many thanks to Mariko Kusumoto for the intuition of her delicate creation. Stay tuned to our next Meet the Makers interview coming up in two weeks! The interviews will publish every other Tuesday throughout the remainder of the year, focusing on a wide variety of makers, which has us truly redefining what it means to create.
Comments Off on Meet the Makers: Crochet Graffiti Artist
In this Meet the Makers blog series, we will feature an artist that, quite simply, makes something. Drawing inspiration from custom works handcrafted in various media, we travel beyond the pieces by diving into the minds of the creative makers themselves.
Today, we feature our interview with Polish artist Agata Oleksiak, also known as “Olek”, a street artist who uses crochet as her medium. Olek manipulates public objects by covering them in a cloak of crochet. Her work is influenced by anything from found objects to the emotions stirred up by film. Olek describes that life and art are inseparable; everyday experiences affect her work profoundly, and vice versa. One of her projects includes a crocheted version of the New York Times front page, scaled to cover an entire building facade.
GPI Design: What (3) words best describe your work?
GPI: What compels you to create with this particular medium?
Olek: Then one day, a skein of yarn struck me in the head like magic dust from an undiscovered planet. I looked up at the stars and picked up a crochet hook.
GPI: What is your biggest constraint in the creative process?
Olek: Time.
GPI: What would your 5 year old former self say about your work now? And what do you hope your future 90 year old self will say about your current work?
Olek: My 5 year old self would say, “Go Girl!” My 90 year old self would say, “That it was worth to be stubborn and not compromise the work.”
GPI: What other maker would you most like to collaborate with?
Olek: Some of the artists I would love to collaborate have unfortunately passed away. But I would still love to work with Marina Abramovic. She has always influenced my world as a woman and an artist. She is powerful, strong, beautiful, talented and deeply committed to her craft. I admire how she created her own movement and sacrificed so much for her vision – her sheer self-control and drive is incomparable. I have always loved her work, exploring the human form and collective and individual identity. She is truly an inspiration for many artists to come. I absolutely love her.
GPI: What do you think the future of creation/creativity holds (for you, and the artistic world as a whole)?
Olek: I cannot speak for the world or others but artists need to be activists.
GPI: What does your work space look like right now? Send us a selfie of you in your creative arena!
______
Many thanks to Agata Oleksiak for the insight into her craft. Stay tuned to our next Meet the Makers interview coming up in two weeks! The interviews will publish every other Tuesday throughout the remainder of the year, focusing on a wide variety of makers, which has us truly redefining what it means to create.
Comments Off on Meet the Makers: Textiles Made From Milk
In this Meet the Makers blog series, we will feature an artist that, quite simply, makes something. Drawing inspiration from custom works handcrafted in various media, we travel beyond the pieces by diving into the minds of the creative makers themselves.
Today, we feature our interview with Anke Domaske, the creative designer of Qmilk – textile fibers made from milk. Domaske uses renewable resources and a special recipe to set a new standard for fiber production. Driven by the desire to find chemically untreated clothing, Anke experimented in her kitchen in Germany to derive an entirely new genre of fabric that is antibacterial and biodegradable.
GPI Design: What (3) words best describe your work?
Anke Domaske: Reliable – Founder – Optimism
GPI: What compels you to create with this particular medium?
Domaske: We are creating a textile fiber made from milk. I was originally searching for chemically untreated clothing for my stepfather with cancer. Eventually milk proteins came to my interest. Milk fibers had already been processed to textiles in the 1930s, but the fibers were treated with various chemicals and produced in a complex process. I wanted to revise that process to develop a fiber that is chemically untreated.
GPI: What is your biggest constraint in the creative process?
Domaske: Budget, time and focus. If you have many potentials then you need to focus on some applications, which isn’t as easy, because doing R&D is so much fun.
GPI: What would your 5 year old former self say about your work now? And what do you hope your future 90 year old self will say about your current work?
Domaske: I earned my first money at the age of 5 by selling cherry blossoms. So I guess I would say, finally you found a non seasonable business! My 90 year old self would say, you made the right choices, no regrets.
GPI: What other maker would you most like to collaborate with?
Domaske: Richard Brenson. He is an alrounder and want to change the world as we do, taking up challenges.
GPI: What do you think the future of creation/creativity holds (for you, and the artistic world as a whole)?
Domaske: I hope in my future I could create a house completely made of the QMILK material. It’s possible! And one of my goals.
GPI: What does your work space look like right now? Send us a selfie of you in your creative arena!
______
Many thanks to Anke Domaske for the insight into her craft. Stay tuned to our next Meet the Makers interview coming up in two weeks! The interviews will publish every other Tuesday throughout the remainder of the year, focusing on a wide variety of makers, which has us truly redefining what it means to create.
Comments Off on Meet the Makers: Yaybahar Instrument Creator
In this Meet the Makers blog series, we will feature an artist that, quite simply, makes something. Drawing inspiration from custom works handcrafted in various media, we travel beyond the pieces by diving into the minds of the creative makers themselves.
Today, we feature our interview with Gorkem Sen, the inventor and designer of the Yaybahar, an acoustic instrument. Sen, a native of Turkey, utilizes different sizes and shaped elements to craft large forms of bahar-like instruments that often sound like synthesizers.
GPI Design: What (3) words best describe your work?
Gorkem Sen: Inner – Space – Ship
GPI: What compels you to create with this particular medium?
Sen: I have an “ I can make too” attitude that helps keep me motivated. I am always searching for different points of view to keep my intentions unique and new.
GPI: What is your biggest constraint in the creative process?
Sen: When working alone, sometimes it is hard to find the perfect material, dimension, amount, shape, proportion, design and engineering, and may take a while for it to become perfect.
GPI: What would your 5 year old former self say about your work now? And what do you hope your future 90 year old self will say about your current work?
Sen: My 5 year old self would say, “This idea has an open source of infinitive possibilities for making new things and maybe I can finish it perfectly as a real instrument.” My 90 year old self would say, “still, we can try new possibilities.”
GPI: What other maker would you most like to collaborate with?
Sen: Cosmos
GPI: What do you think the future of creation/creativity holds (for you, and the artistic world as a whole)?
Sen: Making Orchestra with all ‘’bahar’’ idea instruments. People can experience listening, playing and writing music with new design acoustic instruments. Yaybahar ideas can be joined in all music genres. It gives music more mystical feeling and it can be a new layer on music in the future.
GPI: What does your work space look like right now? Send us a selfie of you in your creative arena!
______
Many thanks to Gorkem Sen for the insight into his craft. Stay tuned to our next Meet the Makers interview coming up in two weeks! The interviews will publish every other Tuesday throughout the remainder of the year, focusing on a wide variety of makers, which has us truly redefining what it means to create.
Comments Off on Meet the Makers: Literary Jewel Maker
In this Meet the Makers blog series, we will feature an artist that, quite simply, makes something. Drawing inspiration from custom works handcrafted in various media, we travel beyond the pieces by diving into the minds of the creative makers themselves.
Today, we feature our interview with Jeremy May, the creative designer of literary jewel art. Jeremy captures the beauty of paper through a unique laminating process to create beautiful works of art to wear as jewelry. Perhaps a perfect keepsake for your wedding vows, this is one intricate way to hold onto those precious moments!
GPI Design: What (3) words best describe your work?
Jeremy May: Layered – Unique – Re-appropriated
GPI: What compels you to create with this particular medium?
May: Books are saturated with emotion and passion. I wanted to give new life to the second hand books that are about to be re-cycled into another utilitarian perishable product. Paper is a non precious material with endless possibilities.
GPI: What is your biggest constraint in the creative process?
May: Water is the kryptonite of paper but my creative process is mainly restricted by the hours of the day.
GPI: What would your 5 year old former self say about your work now? And what do you hope your future 90 year old self will say about your current work?
May: My former self would probably not believe his luck for being able to work in this studio on the paper jewelry. My future self would be forever criticizing, challenging and probably saying: “this piece could have been different/better”.
GPI: What other maker would you most like to collaborate with?
May: Artists are notorious loners – but I do appreciate the creative minds around me and I would like to set up collaborative projects.
GPI: What do you think the future of creation/creativity holds (for you, and the artistic world as a whole)?
May: I am currently showing my work in several galleries and museums and I am working towards 2 exhibitions in Eleni Marneri Galerie (Athens, Greece) and The Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Massachusetts. At the same time I am very excited to be creating a series of larger pieces. As paper is truly a material of unlimited possibilities I always want to challenge my perception of form with this material.
GPI: What does your work space look like right now? Send us a selfie of you in your creative arena!
______
Many thanks to Jeremy May for the insight into his craft. Stay tuned to our next Meet the Makers interview coming up in two weeks! The interviews will publish every other Tuesday throughout the remainder of the year, focusing on a wide variety of makers, which has us truly redefining what it means to create.
Comments Off on Meet the Makers: Illustration Street Artist
In this Meet the Makers blog series, we will feature an artist that, quite simply, makes something. Drawing inspiration from custom works handcrafted in various media, we travel beyond the pieces by diving into the minds of the creative makers themselves.
Today, we feature our interview with David Zinn, the creative designer of Zin Art street illustrations. David’s street art is composed of mostly chalk and charcoal and is improvised upon location. Most of his works have appeared in and around the streets of Ann Harbor, and other parts of Michigan adding quirky humor and creativity to the outdoor scene.
GPI Design: What (3) words best describe your work?
David Zinn: Fleeting– Public – Childishness
GPI: What compels you to create with this particular medium?
Zinn: I am inspired by the ephemerality, spontaneity and integration of sidewalk chalk, i.e. the ability to improvise a drawing onto the real world without the distraction of planning or preservation.
GPI: What is your biggest constraint in the creative process?
Zinn: Now that photos of my drawings have become such a large part of my professional life, it’s harder to ignore their pragmatic usefulness in what was previously an anonymous and disposable medium. (See distractions above.) Also, sundown can be a problem.
GPI: What would your 5 year old former self say about your work now? And what do you hope your future 90 year old self will say about your current work?
Zinn: I hope my five-year-old self would behave as well as the other five-year-olds I meet – i.e. by telling me my work is cool and then offering to fix it. Come to think of it, that’s probably what my 90-year-old self will say as well.
GPI: What other maker would you most like to collaborate with?
Zinn: I have great respect for many artists who play in similar public and temporary environments, such as Andy Goldsworthy, Isaac Cordal, Mark Jenkins, Hombre McSteez, and especially Joe Iurato, with whom I have done one collaboration already. However, we all have our own unique ways to interact with the world, and I think we’re more useful spread out than clumped together. More than anything, I wish I had a good connection with a skilled photographer, because taking pictures of my own work clashes head-on with my desire to walk away and never look back.
GPI: What do you think the future of creation/creativity holds (for you, and the artistic world as a whole)?
Zinn: I think it’s dangerous/impossible to predict where creativity is going to go next, because that would defeat the point of going there. Generally speaking, however, I think it’s obvious that technology will continue to democratize the sharing of creative acts. Thanks to blogs, digital photography and social media accounts, it’s already hard to remember a world where artists could only share their work widely via publishers, agents and curators. Now an idea scrawled on a napkin can potentially affect millions of people on the same day through viral inspiration alone.
GPI: What does your work space look like right now? Send us a selfie of you in your creative arena!
______
Many thanks to David Zinn for spreading little joys around town, and the insight to his creativity. Stay tuned to our next Meet the Makers interview coming up in two weeks! The interviews will publish every other Tuesday throughout the remainder of the year, focusing on a wide variety of makers, which has us truly redefining what it means to create.
Comments Off on Meet the Makers: Stone Balance Artist
In this Meet the Makers blog series, we will feature an artist that, quite simply, makes something. Drawing inspiration from custom works handcrafted in various media, we travel beyond the pieces by diving into the minds of the creative makers themselves.
Today, we feature our interview with Michael Grab of Boulder, Colorado, the creative stone balance artist of “Gravity Glue” that features his experiences with balancing structures in nature. Michael utilizes different stones and arranges them to find the equilibrium within the structure.
GPI Design: What (3) words best describe your work?
Michael Grab: Meditation – Balance – Art
GPI: What compels you to create with this particular medium?
Grab: I can find rocks almost anywhere on earth, it is free to practice, and there is a therapeutic aspect about playing in/with nature.
GPI: What is your biggest constraint in the creative process?
Grab: Sunset, sunrise and wind. Sunset and sunrise constrain ability to work normally for obvious reasons like light and temperature in some cases, sometimes I enjoy doing photography at night though, with the milky way, etc. Wind is probably the most variable constraint, since it varies so much sometimes from one place and time to another. For example, the biggest recent challenge was a project I did in Turkey along the coast. the wind was fairly regular and too strong for my preferred style and precision of balancing. But, I found a way around it by balancing in smaller inlets that blocked the direction of wind coming in from the sea. Every location has a unique character like this, just requires a bit of adaptation, and learning to ‘dance’ with it all.
GPI: What would your 5 year old former self say about your work now? And what do you hope your future 90 year old self will say about your current work?
Grab: “Legos!” — and — 90 year old self won’t say much, just a feeling of satisfaction.
GPI: What other maker would you most like to collaborate with?
Grab: Maybe a dancer? Not sure, most likely a ballet dancer or contemporary, willing to experiment. I prefer not to get into details for now until the ideas reach fruition.
GPI: What do you think the future of creation/creativity holds (for you, and the artistic world as a whole)?
Grab: Infinite possibility. No expectations.
GPI: What does your work space look like right now? Send us a selfie of you in your creative arena!
______
Many thanks to Michael Grab for the insight into his craft. Stay tuned to our next Meet the Makers interview coming up in two weeks! The interviews will publish every other Tuesday throughout the remainder of the year, focusing on a wide variety of makers, which has us truly redefining what it means to create.
Comments Off on Meet the Makers: Product Designers Uhuru Design
In this Meet the Makers blog series, we will feature an artist that, quite simply, makes something. Drawing inspiration from custom works handcrafted in various media, we travel beyond the pieces by diving into the minds of the creative makers themselves.
Today, we feature our interview with Uhuru Design Team out of New York, the creative designers of War Craft Line furniture and many other products. Uhuru utilizes different mediums to craft art forms while keeping sustainability as their core function.
GPI Design: What (3) words best describe your work?
Uhuru Design: Craft – Narrative – Materiality
GPI: What compels you to create with this particular medium?
Uhuru: We mostly work with wood, metal, leather and stone, often in combination. I particularly love the way these materials react and age over time in nature or in use. I think that juxtaposing two materials with different qualities and finish adds a complexity and visual dynamic to a piece of furniture.
Sustainability is at the core of what we do. We’re always on the lookout for something new, interesting, and sustainable to work with. We use everything from naturally felled trees sourced from all over the country, Old Growth Beams from buildings all over the North East, fencing materials that keep snow drifts from collecting on the highways and even Teak Decking material from World War II battleships.
GPI: What is your biggest constraint in the creative process?
Uhuru: I have always found that I am more creative when designing with constraints. I often start with a found or specific storied martial dig into the history and context and use that criteria to inform the design.
GPI: What would your 5 year old former self say about your work now? And what do you hope your future 90 year old self will say about your current work?
Uhuru: I just asked my 5 year old what he thinks about my work, he said “I like the wood and how it is designed and made by you” I think that my 5 year old self would mostly be impressed by the big machines and the way we are able to take raw materials and craft and joint the material together to make a finished functional piece. If I make it to 90, I hope I can look back and see that my furniture designs helped people to enjoy their home life more, make work more productive.
GPI: What other maker would you most like to collaborate with?
Uhuru: I have always really respected Martin Baas’ work. It would be really cool to do something with him.
GPI: What do you think the future of creation/creativity holds (for you, and the artistic world as a whole)?
Uhuru: I think we will become more and more aware of the impact of everything we make/buy/use and throw away and this will be a great push for creativity moving forward.
GPI: What does your work space look like right now? Send us a selfie of you in your creative arena!
______
Many thanks to Uhuru Design Team for the insight into their craft. Stay tuned to our next Meet the Makers interview coming up in two weeks! The interviews will publish every other Tuesday throughout the remainder of the year, focusing on a wide variety of makers, which has us truly redefining what it means to create.
Comments Off on Impactful Entry Space: Clarion Hotel & Congress Trondheim
In this Impactful Entry Space blog series, we will feature a designer or artist that has created an attention-grabbing design for the main lobby space of a building. Drawing inspiration from completed entry spaces around the world, we travel beyond the image by diving into the design process and concepts behind it.
Today, we feature our interview with Gary Bates of Space Group about the lobby design of Clarion Hotel & Congress Trondheim in Oslo, Norway.
GPI Design: What did the lobby space mean to the building as a whole?
Gary Bates: The lobby space acts as a social catalyst. It was important for us that we managed to make that “interior living room” for the city, especially with challenges such as developer driven logic’s prioritizing simplification and quantification of square meters. The whole project was generated around the lobby with all the interior spaces and public functions agglomerating around it. We were inspired by the kind of John Portmanhotelsin the United States that have these kinds of dramatic atrium spaces and it becomes this special room open and ‘free’ for the city. Especially for this location, where you have at times an imposing climate, it is a luxury to have this incredibly malleable lobby space that is first and foremost a very large covered public space.
GPI: What were your functional and conceptual goals for the lobby?
Bates: In any situation, it is always good ask how a space can be both adaptive but at the same time specific. There was a period in architecture when flexible meant innocuous, a square white room.We had a very specific aesthetic in that room in mind and it was important that they could do exhibitions and large conferences. The lobby is actually split in two, there is a pinch-point in the middle and we have a conference lobby to one side and entry lobby on the other side. The restaurant and entry lobby are connected to the conference lobby and the conference facilities at the pinch-point.
The possibility of shared space was imminent; we wanted the space to flow freely as a whole, including the flows both inside and outside, orchestrated by the natural light conditions. There had to be enough light in that central space, not as visible windows but through the ‘fissures’ of the blocks and the skylight. It is incredibly exciting to see how the occupants utilize the lobby; they have hosted events where a motorcycle drives through the lobby into the conference room, and numerous types of parties with large amounts of people. As people stand on the bridges connecting the wings of the hotel through the void of the central lobby, they can look down through the lobby space and it looks fantastic. When you create a building like that it means having creative clients and in this case, creative users as Choice for the Clarion Hotel. We tried to imagine this kind of thing but we did not imagine vocalists standing on the bridges with a completely packed lobby and music’s resonating in this cathedral like space. It was a beautiful moment. You never know that when you create something, what people are going to dream up.
GPI: How did you use specific design tools (such as color, form, materiality, lighting) to create the space?
Bates: The thing with atrium hotels is that they are based so much on the verticality. You enter the space and the repetition becomes the ornament and by the radical repetition of flow; (when you’re standing looking up 80 stories into the air as in the Grand Hyatt Shanghai), the sheer simplicity and repetition of elements and balconies becomes an aesthetic in and of itself.
Even though we don’t really have that here and the building is not that tall, it creates that illusion, mediated by textures and light. We worked from a horizontal approach starting with a basic atrium, then we collapsed ‘plan’ so that all of the different wings of the hotel were oriented to specific views. This ‘crumpled’ lobby was pinched in the middle creating two different spaces. Then we started to cut into the volume, letting light slip in horizontally between the slabs. We have this beautiful light coming in to the atrium through these fissures,where natural lighting combined with the large skylight above created this very magical space inside.
There is always to some degree, cladding in architecture, but with a very restrictive budget, we sought raw, robust, and meanwhile expressive materials. We have pre-fabricated concrete bridges, crossing the atrium, specific and playful. The reflections and patterns in the stone floor deconstruct the banality of grids and directions, inspiring free flow. We made these special origami inspired walls with a very intricate and delicate pattern giving the room texture and enhances the visual movements. The color palette is fairly subdued in the sense that the light reflected with white walls enhances the texture which is a special design element and creates contrast at the base with the dark floor. We work a lot with ornament, down to not just color, but texture and the treatment of the raw materials, inspired by Scandinavian design sensibility; it is interesting for me as an American working in Scandinavian to see this incredibly rough, exotic and sublime landscape.
GPI: What was the biggest constraint in turning this design into a reality?
Bates: The biggest constraint is that the building was largely over budget and when the first prices came in, we had an incredible path to try and bring it within budget. This was an incredible challenge, to come into a dialogue with the general contractors. They have their own ideas of how to do things and we had to try and find a common language to achieve the kind of results we wanted. It takes a lot of effort to find a communication platform that works for both, but as time goes on and your commitment is respected and appreciated you get more and more trust, giving opportunities to affect the design. It was really an evolution in the process from the beginning when we were not at all prioritized, or even worse, perceived as an obstacle. Trust is an incredible asset to the team as people start a design process.
GPI: What makes this space impactful?
Bates: What I think is impactful about this hotel is that it is accessible for everyone. It has that public component in our case, the lobby is connected to a sky bar, which is connected to an incredible view overlooking the fjord. I think the impactful influence is that it becomes an extension of the city.
The interesting thing was that there was a very mixed reaction to the hotel at the beginning. It was new and people didn’t know how to approach it or what to think about it. There were a lot of critiques in the newspaper saying it was too big or that it was too foreign but at the same time it was in the middle of an industrial area that was just starting to transform. There were a lot of mixed reactions but as it became part of the city and as people started to use it, having events such as weddings, receptions, and conferences, the people began to embrace it. When you saw that excitement, the project really began to take off.
The hotel adds value to the community and that for me is what makes it important, that the city slowly started to adapt and move toward it and enjoy the views from it and those kinds of stories are what makes it impactful. We really found an interesting common ground between having a conference hotel which is on a very strict budget with tight margins, and a strong design. ‘Touch everything’ is one of the principles in SPACE GROUP. The Clarion Hotel is a very strong place, strong in its form and strong in its aesthetic and it is unique in that way for creating a social impact.
Comments Off on Impactful Entry Space: Hilton Pattaya
In this Impactful Entry Space blog series, we will feature a designer or artist that has created an attention-grabbing design for the main lobby space of a building. Drawing inspiration from completed entry spaces around the world, we travel beyond the image by diving into the design process and concepts behind it.
Today, we feature our interview with Thunchanok Sirichayaporn of Department of Architecture about the lobby design of Hilton Pattaya in Pattaya, Thailand.
GPI Design: What did the lobby space mean to the building as a whole?
Thunchanok Sirichayaporn: The space for the hotel lobby and bar occupies the 16th floor, high above the bustle of Pattaya beach below. Upon entering the space from one end, as elevator doors open, one would enter a spacious lobby area. The lobby circulation is a transition space that leads the direction, allows a sequential experience along the passage and could even become something in its own right. Sometimes, the passage where the required practical functions are simpler than other kind of spaces also allows opportunities to implant a site-specific installation integral to the space along the way.
GPI: What were your functional and conceptual goals for the lobby?
Sirichayaporn: The ceiling plane was our main focus, developing a design that would implement circulation. The architectural intervention to the entire ceiling plane, with its dynamic wave lines, leads the movement of the visitors towards the seafront beyond. The fabric installation on the ceiling becomes a main feature in the space while simple elements on the ground provide a tranquil atmosphere.
GPI: How did you use specific design tools (such as color, form, materiality, lighting) to create the space?
Sirichayaporn: At night, strip lighting accents the form above highlighting the fabrics linear pattern. The whole ceiling volume becomes a gentle luminous source of light giving a fine ambient to the overall space. At the end of the lobby space, the bar area is arranged linearly along the building edge parallel to the sea with maximum opening to the ocean view. Backdrop of the bar area lies a wooden wall with alcoves where the daybeds partially tuck themselves into the wall. Oversized and soft furniture provides comfortable and relaxing seating for guests to sink into. A full-wall mirror at the end of the long space doubles the visual length of the bar area. Color tones are clean, subdued and tranquil keeping a relaxed atmosphere of the space.
GPI: What was the biggest constraint in turning this design into a reality?
Sirichayaporn: For various linkage spaces throughout the hotel, whether they are an elevator hall, a linkage from an elevator hall to restaurants, a connection to the retail area within the same building complex, or a connection from the parking lot to the hotel, the project had to bring all of their latent design opportunities to their best – as spaces to connect, to introduce and to invite people to take on their little journey to their destination.
GPI: What makes this space impactful?
Sirichayaporn: The visual elements in the space are what makes this space impactful. They are loose reminiscent of an underwater landscape – sea fan and translucent luminous ocean creatures. The interior surfaces are almost transformed from their original materiality into thin gorgonian membranes wrapping the space. Clusters of glowing organic-shape lamps suspended randomly in mid-air with varying sizes and colors scatter throughout the space. These visual elements really creates the atmosphere of the Hilton Pattaya, as a resort overlooking the ocean.
______
Many thanks to Thunchanok for sharing the inspiration for this lobby design. Stay tuned to our next Impactful Entry Space interview coming up in two weeks. For more visual inspiration, follow our Impactful Entry Space board on Pinterest.
Comments Off on Impactful Entry Space: Hilton Pattaya
In this Impactful Entry Space blog series, we will feature a designer or artist that has created an attention-grabbing design for the main lobby space of a building. Drawing inspiration from completed entry spaces around the world, we travel beyond the image by diving into the design process and concepts behind it.
Today, we feature our interview with Thunchanok Sirichayaporn of Department of Architecture about the lobby design of Hilton Pattaya in Pattaya, Thailand.
GPI Design: What did the lobby space mean to the building as a whole?
Thunchanok Sirichayaporn: The space for the hotel lobby and bar occupies the 16th floor, high above the bustle of Pattaya beach below. Upon entering the space from one end, as elevator doors open, one would enter a spacious lobby area. The lobby circulation is a transition space that leads the direction, allows a sequential experience along the passage and could even become something in its own right. Sometimes, the passage where the required practical functions are simpler than other kind of spaces also allows opportunities to implant a site-specific installation integral to the space along the way.
GPI: What were your functional and conceptual goals for the lobby?
Sirichayaporn: The ceiling plane was our main focus, developing a design that would implement circulation. The architectural intervention to the entire ceiling plane, with its dynamic wave lines, leads the movement of the visitors towards the seafront beyond. The fabric installation on the ceiling becomes a main feature in the space while simple elements on the ground provide a tranquil atmosphere.
GPI: How did you use specific design tools (such as color, form, materiality, lighting) to create the space?
Sirichayaporn: At night, strip lighting accents the form above highlighting the fabrics linear pattern. The whole ceiling volume becomes a gentle luminous source of light giving a fine ambient to the overall space. At the end of the lobby space, the bar area is arranged linearly along the building edge parallel to the sea with maximum opening to the ocean view. Backdrop of the bar area lies a wooden wall with alcoves where the daybeds partially tuck themselves into the wall. Oversized and soft furniture provides comfortable and relaxing seating for guests to sink into. A full-wall mirror at the end of the long space doubles the visual length of the bar area. Color tones are clean, subdued and tranquil keeping a relaxed atmosphere of the space.
GPI: What was the biggest constraint in turning this design into a reality?
Sirichayaporn: For various linkage spaces throughout the hotel, whether they are an elevator hall, a linkage from an elevator hall to restaurants, a connection to the retail area within the same building complex, or a connection from the parking lot to the hotel, the project had to bring all of their latent design opportunities to their best – as spaces to connect, to introduce and to invite people to take on their little journey to their destination.
GPI: What makes this space impactful?
Sirichayaporn: The visual elements in the space are what makes this space impactful. They are loose reminiscent of an underwater landscape – sea fan and translucent luminous ocean creatures. The interior surfaces are almost transformed from their original materiality into thin gorgonian membranes wrapping the space. Clusters of glowing organic-shape lamps suspended randomly in mid-air with varying sizes and colors scatter throughout the space. These visual elements really creates the atmosphere of the Hilton Pattaya, as a resort overlooking the ocean.
______
Many thanks to Thunchanok for sharing the inspiration for this lobby design. Stay tuned to our next Impactful Entry Space interview coming up in two weeks. For more visual inspiration, follow our Impactful Entry Space board on Pinterest.
Comments Off on Impactful Entry Space: The Polin Museum
In this Impactful Entry Space blog series, we will feature a designer or artist that has created an attention-grabbing design for the main lobby space of a building. Drawing inspiration from completed entry spaces around the world, we travel beyond the image by diving into the design process and concepts behind it.
Today, we feature our interview with Rainer Mahlamaki of Lahdelma & Mahlamaki Architects about the lobby design of The Polin Museum in Warsaw, Poland.
GPI Design: What did the lobby space mean to the building as a whole?
Rainer Mahlamaki: The main space of the museum is the Core Exhibition area, but that has nothing to do with architecture: It is a black box – it is difficult to create any architecture about that. So, creating the lobby was actually a strategic choice: I wanted to create a space the people will remember after their visit besides the exhibition.
GPI: What were your functional and conceptual goals for the lobby?
Mahlamaki: The goal was to give the building a restrained wow effect and that the visitors will have a certain feeling before they enter the exhibition and also afterwards. The lobby is simple and elegant – a space for to compose one’s self.
GPI: How did you use specific design tools (such as color, form, materiality, lighting) to create the space?
Mahlamaki: The color, the form, the lighting, the materiality are all connected with each other. During the time of a day/year it all acts in a varying way. The form is not geometric, it is 3-dimensionally curving freely – the restrictions of the structure (bearing structure) had its own limits.
GPI: What was the biggest constraint in turning this design into a reality?
Mahlamaki: The bearing structure was technically difficult; it was to give a firm and solid impression – and to have a spiritual connection with the theme of the museum.
GPI: What makes this space impactful?
Mahlamaki: The space is impactful for the reason that such free form spaces sparsely exist. There are some but their geometry is not based on rectangle form. The museum has strong identity, it is iconic. It is not enough for a museum about Jewish history in Europe to have good architecture – it has to be also impressive.
______
Many thanks to Rainer for sharing the inspiration for this lobby design. Stay tuned to our next Impactful Entry Space interview coming up in two weeks. For more visual inspiration, follow our Impactful Entry Space board on Pinterest.
Comments Off on Impactful Entry Space: Palace of International Forums
In this Impactful Entry Space blog series, we will feature a designer or artist that has created an attention-grabbing design for the main lobby space of a building. Drawing inspiration from completed entry spaces around the world, we travel beyond the image by diving into the design process and concepts behind it.
Today, we feature our interview with Designer Name of Ippolito Fleitz Group about the lobby design of Palace of International Forums in Uzbekistan.
GPI Design: What did the lobby space mean to the building as a whole?
Peter Ippolito: Ippolito Fleitz Group was commissioned to invigorate the emerging building with a visible and tangible international character through modern interior architecture, taking into account Uzbekistan’s magnificent building culture. The construction, a cosmopolitan forum for political and cultural encounter, will already experience during its creation a diversity that transcends national boundaries. White rooms, large surface ornamentation, organic movement, crystals, the most precious of metals as well as a play with artificial light and natural sunlight, become sources of inspiration. Created as a platform for state occasions, congresses, conferences and cultural highlights the organization of the interior also demands an ambitious level of functionality.
GPI: What were your functional and conceptual goals for the lobby?
Ippolito: The starting point is the sensory fusion of tradition and transformation. Our concept interprets the building as a representative gesture of a country with deep historic roots. Uzbekistan’s architecture still conveys traditional elements to this day. The Ippolito Fleitz Group works this self-conception into cosmopolitan, communicative spaces with exclusive materiality – lavish, but not intimidating. Classical in its external appearance, the building prepares for the modernity within through the extensively glazed façade. Behind illuminated façade columns of Thassos marble a similarly weighty epochal semicircular Swarovski chandelier dominates the main foyer.
GPI: How did you use specific design tools (such as color, form, materiality, lighting) to create the space?
Ippolito: Gigantic and contrastive, the two structural elements of columns and chandelier, conjunctions of various architectural traditions, introduce syntheses of Western and Eastern culture. Three marble portals with carved wooden doors lead into the vestibule. The generosity of the main foyer with a ceiling height of over 16 meters and an area of 2,500 square meters is deliberately staged and atmospherically compact. The spectacular chandelier with its nine-meter height and 23-meter length outlines the longitudinal axis of the foyer. This unique piece was created from 1.1 million Swarovski crystals. Reflecting the front of the building, a gallery marks the longitudinal axis. To the sides it opens up into diametrical open staircases in an open, embracing gesture to the foyer. Ornamentation is applied throughout the building in a diverse variety of possibilities and materials to provide stylistic elements of the country’s culture. They can be found in brass and stainless steel in the balustrades of the gallery. The ornamented foyer floor of light Sivec marble sets a rhythm by traditional motifs of stainless steel. The floor is contained by a circumferential wall frieze of Irish green marble in the classic manner.
GPI: What was the biggest constraint in turning this design into a reality?
Ippolito: Our design intent is determined by the intention of setting the traditional in relation to the modern with lightness, but without them becoming interchangeable.
GPI: What makes this space impactful?
Ippolito: With six months construction time, over 5,000 people involved, just under 40,000 square meters of space to design – the key data of the International Forums Palace “Uzbekistan” describe an architectural adventure. This large-scale project in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, with less than half a year allocated for completion, proves to be a magnificent challenge and, at the same time, a personal best performance for each individual member of an enormous team.
______
Many thanks to Peter for sharing the inspiration for this lobby design. Stay tuned to our next Impactful Entry Space interview coming up in two weeks. For more visual inspiration, follow our Impactful Entry Space board on Pinterest.
______
