Designing Patriotic

Just in time for Independence Day, Philadelphia has renovated its Historic Philadelphia Center and Lights of Liberty Show. Created by Daroff Design Inc + DDI Architects, PC (DDI), the re-designed center pays tribute to the rich history of the American founding.

The center has traditionally served as a source for retail and information. The new design expands on the original purpose with a 360-degree, 3-D, 65-person, digital theater in the round. Its 50-ft.-wide, 8-ft.-high LED screen will provide a continuous loop of historic images and stories. It faces large, historic windows on 6th Sreet for an enticing invitation into the exhibit. Guests will enter this raised, circular viewing area via a gentle ramp. The digital images complement the live-actor living history performances typical of the center.

New retail space and visitor amenities were also added to the center, which stayed true to the beautiful historic elements of the site.  The designers preserved the building’s Georgian Revival facade and wood-paneled, neoclassic interior, originally crafted by architect Horace Trumbauer. Arched windows and fluted wood columns remain as well, contrasting stylishly with the modern improvements.

The newly designed center opens for business this July. It sounds to me like an ideal remembrance of the rich past of the United States, especially as so many events of the American founding occurred in Philadelphia. Other nearby sights include the Betsy Ross House and Franklin Square. Have a Happy Fourth!

--Lillian Civantos

Crafty Construction

When my apartment complex added a temporary sidewalk covering in front of my building last week, I groaned. Now, I'm a little excited to see what this covering might soon hold as a modern canvas for urban art, with the newly announced Urbancanvas competition.

The New York City Department of Buildings has announced a design competition welcoming artists and designers to craft alternative, prettier possibilities for construction-site sidewalk coverings. This Urbancanvas project is sponsored by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to the Mayor's Fund. Entries can be submitted until July 19 at www.nyc.gov/urbancanvas.

A jury from the building and construction communities will recommend six to eight design proposals to a design commission, who will approve up to four winning designs. The winners will each be awarded $7,500; appear on the competition Web site; and be featured on a protective sidewalk structure.

Entries will be judged for their aesthetic merit and adaptability to suit a range of temporary structures. Designs for several structures should be compatible, working as an artistic whole, or capable of standing alone as a single art piece.

“Construction is vital to keeping our city’s economic engines running, but the temporary structures needed to protect New Yorkers during construction can become a nuisance to neighbors,” says buildings commissioner Robert LiMandri in a statement. “This contest is designed to bring the beauty back to our buildings and encourage developers to maintain their sites in a safe manner.”

There are over 6,000 of these construction-area coverings in New York City, and this sounds like a great plan to me - transforming so many temporary eyesores into attractive tributes to beautiful art and design.

--Lillian Civantos

Show Me the Money

Disney’s signature miser Scrooge McDuck would be right at home working in The Reserve’s new Portland, Ore., offices. Recently renovated by Hennebery Eddy Architects (HEA) from a 1949-built federal reserve bank, the commercial office building, which also houses an 8,000-sq.-ft.penthouse, literally features money an integral part of the building’s aesthetic.

While the structure itself isn’t particularly a show-stealer, the quirky inclusions of dollar bills lend a sense of metaphorical humor that is reminiscent of the building’s prior use. On the ground floor, the designers stretched an abstract image of a dollar bill across 15 windows that lie on the western wall.

But for me the kicker was the whimsical use of real dollar bills in the interior design. (Yes, it’s real money.) Shredded money, which was laminated in glass panels, lines the elevator walls, as well as the countertops in the public restrooms.

It certainly gives new meaning to Jerry Maguire's "show me the money" quote.

--Stacy Straczynski

(Photos by Stephen Miller)

 
  

Best of Books

Just in time for some summer reading, these fascinating new titles will help expand your design library.

"American Art Museum Architecture" by Eric M. Wolf

Spend a sunny afternoon in all your favorite museums in this book. Wolf explores the past and future of iconic American art museums, examining the Frick Collection, Museum of Modern Art and Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City; the Menil Collection in Houston; the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe; and the Art Institute of Chicago. These museums are a basis for Wolf's exploration of the evolution of art museums with the progression to contemporary and modern works. He looks at the aesthetic, the practical, the innovative, and the functional of each museum's conception, and the eventual revisions to encompass changing forms of art. The text is enhanced with extensive archival plans, documents, and photographs.

"Interior Design Practice" edited by Cindy Coleman

It's better than summer school; Coleman creates a valuable resource for design professionals with this practical, new book. “Interior Design Practice” unites many notable figures in the design industry and offers fellow designers in-depth tools and insider knowledge on all aspects of the industry. Its thorough chapters cover such topics as pre-design, design development, contract administration, marketing, financial management, and client relations. The book looks to aid design professionals, academics, and students interested in design. You could call this “Interior Design 101.”

"Key Buildings of the 20th Century, Second Edition" by Richard Weston

Author Richard Weston updates his 2004 masterpiece with new buildings, reflecting the architecture of the early 21st century, and with new architects, who have gained prominence in recent years. The over 100 structures are illustrated with photographs and accurate scale plans showing typical floors, elevations, sections, and site plans. These drawings were specially commissioned for the book. Featured architects include Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, Alvar Aalto, and Frank Gehry. The detailed text explains the significance of each structure and draws common themes by demonstrating connections between various buildings. A free CD-ROM with digital files of all illustrations is included. How's that for a summer treat?

"Design through Dialogue: A Guide for Clients and Architects" by Karen A. Franck and Teresa von Sommaruga Howard

This thoughtful work focuses on an unique aspect of the design industry: the relationship and workings between architect and client. The word "dialogue" appears often in its pages, which offer practical solutions and personal stories for healthy designer-client interaction. Illustrations accompany the many real-life anecdotes from designers worldwide. This thorough work incorporates studies in psychology and group dynamics. The pages are dotted with well-placed quotes on design and human interactions. Chapters include such topics as In Dialogue; Relating; Talking; and Exploring. With its focus on relationships, this book is just right for some summer love.

"Frederick Law Olmsted: Essential Texts" edited by Robert Twombly

Head outdoors with this collection of writings from one of America's best-loved landscape architects. Read up on Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) in one of the public spaces he designed. (You can find locations in 25 states and three Canadian provinces!) This is the man responsible for Central Park and Prospect Park in New York City; Mount Royal Park in Montreal; the Belle Isle Park in Detroit; the Grand Necklace of Parks in Milwaukee; the Cherokee Park and entire parks system in Louisville, Ky.; and the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C. Olmsted also designed many iconic American campuses, including Yale University, Cornell University, and the University of Chicago. It is difficult to over-estimate his impact on the physical structure of our country's outdoor spaces. With this definitive new anthology, readers can delve into Olmsted's personal thoughts on cities, urban parks, residential sites, and his theory of landscape architecture. These timeless writings have meaning for Olmsted's era and our own.

"Light Color Sound: Sensory Effects in Contemporary Architecture" by Alejandro Bahamón and Ana María Álvarez

Bring on the summer sunshine with this spectacular book that showcases 30 contemporary projects worldwide. The authors focus on light, color, and sound as creating great sensory impact and generating visitor interaction in public spaces. The 236 color photographs and plans highlight structures like the 42nd Street Studio and The Reece School in New York; Low Rez/Hi Fi at 1110 Vermont Avenue in Washington, D.C.; and the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City. Each of the buildings in the book welcomes visitor reactions with innovative use of light, color, and sound in the design. The authors discuss the conceptual, technical, and aesthetic aspects of these bedazzling works.

--Lillian Civantos

A&D Business Blues?

What do firms have to say about the recent ABI Index, released by the AIA yesterday (June 23)? While new opportunities seem to be cropping up, two words still seem to sum up sentiments: "flat" and "volatile."

"HOK’s revenue has been ‘flat’ since late 2009, but we’ve seen an increase in the number of new opportunities, and have been fortunate to secure many of them. I believe this will be a very slow recovery in the private sector, because businesses are still very reluctant to add people–and job growth is the single largest driver in commercial real estate, design, and construction. Some of our best prospects include healthcare (where major institutions have re-established funding for their capital needs), federally-funded public projects, and development in growing economies, like India and China."
–HOK vice chairman Clark Davis, FAIA

“I’d say that we're in a pretty volatile situation until 2012. If you look at any macro report, there’s nothing to indicate that we’ll see any huge growth soon. We're seeing a build up of cash out there, but investors don’t have a lot of places to put their money and people are looking for bargains in the real estate market. Additionally, there’s no jobs growth; we’re continuing to see a lot of volatility in global issues and changes in demographics; and there’s still a huge amount of debt owned by the American consumer. I’ve yet to see someone imagine what the economy will be like when the consumer isn’t two-thirds of it. It’s definitely going to be a different economy in the future."
   –Todd DeGarmo, CEO, STUDIOS architecture

"At M Moser, we continue to observe volatile market conditions in many industry sectors. In the corporate sector, however, we are actively engaged with many clients and prospective clients who are taking the opportunity to think strategically about the future workplace. Whereas many large scaled construction projects remain tabled, many corporate clients are pro actively examining their workplace strategies to be better positioned when the market stabilizes...In an age of global competition, conventional dogma is no longer relevant and yesterday's trends are being challenged at every level. We have repeatedly heard our clients state that they don't want to get left at the starting line when liquidity resumes. To this effect, the notion of "cram and jam" is having an adverse affect on earnings, as financially stable companies are better positioned to recruit the best and brightest in their sectors."
    --David Weinberg, AIA, M Moser director, head of New York office

 

But there are those firms who are riding a more optimistic wave, as well:

“We have actually found the opposite and have seen rising billings month over month, with May being our highest month of the year. It’s looking like June will top May by 38 percent.”
   –Simeon Meyer, CFO, The Puccini Group

"The decrease in the ABI recently released by the AIA is not reflective of what we are experiencing at IA Interior Architects. We see strong demand for our services throughout the U.S. Whether this is due to our exclusive focus on interiors or capture of additional market share, our current and projected revenues indicate continued improvement and growth."             
    –Joe McClelland, Chief Financial Officer, IA INTERIOR ARCHITECTS

 

What has business been like for you? Send Contract magazine your comments, or comment below, to be listed here.

--Stacy Straczynski

Mad Hatter?

It looks like Alice finally caught that rabbit - the Hare Swing by Cumulus is definitely right out of somebody's Wonderland.

Designed by Adam McEwen, this 27-in. cast urethane swing sculpture would be eye-catching in anyone's yard. It falls somewhere between whimsical and weird, and evokes thoughts of an old-fashioned butcher. Tasty.

The apparently trussed-up animal comes in pink, green, blue, black, or white. (Beware, the pink model looks like it's been skinned and left on your front lawn to dry.)

It's not all peculiarity though—this swing is marvelously creative and a sure-fire conversation-starter. It might be just the right note to lend interest to an otherwise blasé school playground, or even your backyard. And for the quirkily-inclined, that might just be cause for the right kind of wonder.

--Lillian Civantos

Greening the House

ScheinMedia's New York House magazine recently announced the winners of its second annual Innovative Green Design Awards (IGDA) Competition, which contributes to the magazine's stated mission of promoting green living.

The competition is intended to showcase the best eco-friendly, aesthetic home furnishings products available. Entrants were challenged to create products meeting three characteristics:
a defining green or sustainable attribute (in design, material, increased energy efficiency, reduced embodied energy, etc.); made in a sustainable way; new, but available to customers (on the market less than two years).

The excellence of the many entries, particularly in the furniture department, led judges to create separate furniture categories to allow multiple winners: hard goods, soft goods, outdoor, and kitchen.

The winners, by category, are:

Appliances
Isis Fan
Big Ass Fans; bigassfans.com

Building Materials
Pozzotive Plus Concrete Brick Line
Kingston Block & Masonry Supply, LLC; kingstonblock.com

Floor Coverings
Verte Collection
Odegard Inc; odegardinc.com

Flooring
Traditional Cork Flooring
Expanko Cork; expanko.com

Furniture/Hard Goods
Alfresco Collection
Loll Designs; lolldesigns.com

Furniture/Soft Goods
Diamond Fields
Lulan Artisans; lulan.com

Interior Finishes
Lime Putty
American Clay; americanclay.com

Lighting
LEDme Downlights
WAC Lighting; waclighting.com

Plumbing Fixtures
Hydroright Dual Flush Converter
MJSI; gomjsi.com

Other Products
Solon Composter System
Blanco; blancocanada.com

The Special Mention honorees included:

Reliability and Lifespan
Miele Appliances; mieleusa.com

Resource Efficiency
Bosch Appliances; bosch-home.com

Big Company, Small Steps
Shaw Floors ClearTouch; Shaw Floors; shawfloors.com

Sprayfoam
EcoTech Spray Foam Insulation; ecotechsprayfoam.com

Recycled Content, Design
The Refined Line IceStone; icestone.biz

Environmental, Social Reponsibility
Vortis Pendant Hubbardton Forge; vtforge.com

Design, Innovation
Composite Landscape Pavers; VAST; vastpavers.com

Function
Caroma Profile Smart Toilet with Integrated Sink; Caroma; caromausa.com

Jonathan A. Schein, CEO and publisher of ScheinMedia, says in a statement, "We were very pleased with the great response to our second Innovative Green Design AwardsSM — over 30 percent more applicants this year. We at New York House celebrate not only the winners, but all efforts to promote true sustainability. Our goal is to educate and inspire consumers, design, and building trade professionals as well as manufacturers to choose responsibly-made, useful, and beautiful products for their homes."

The winners competed against a plethora of entries from around the world. Entries were evaluated by a panel of judges on criteria such as use of green materials; sustainable methods of manufacturing; energy efficiency; innovation; carbon footprint; and best-looking design.

A slideshow with images and further information is available at NewYorkHouseMagazine.com.

--Lillian Civantos

Looking Back at NeoCon® 2010: The Highlights & Trends

Yet another fast-paced NeoCon® that has come and gone. But before the Contract magazine staff gets underway with our regular routine, we wanted to recap the highlights from this year's event, as well as point out a few of the overarching design trends now taking the spotlight. (And be sure to read the NeoCon® recap at ContractDesign.com)

Product Trends

 

Seating, as always, was a big focus of NeoCon®. This year, however, seating designers and manufacturers looked to innovate for flexibility and collaboration. Seating solutions reflected new introductions in lounge and group seating that simultaneously provide users with a semi-secluded space to meet and collaborate in an informal setting--a direct reflection of the increasing trend toward more open corporate office layouts. Examples include a new seating concept by izzy+ (above left) and Panorama by Arcadia (above right).

 

Additionally, single chair designs are taking into account a wider variety of users by expanding the seat size and the overall product durability. Examples include Flores by Segis USA (above left) and Keilhauer's Cahoots line (above right). This way younger generations, who tend to flop into chair and sit cross-legged or with their feet up, can get a full range of comfortable use.

  
 
Flexible and open workspaces were also featured this year. All the major manufacturers showcased either new furniture systems or made enhancements to existing products, adding data compartments to hide wires and cables, movable storage, and the option to remove dividing panels or replace them with clear panels. Allsteel’s Stride Bench (above left) and the Planna Bench by Inscape (above right) both now feature flexible elements and storage to their product lines in a sleek and clean design.

 

Carpet and textiles products, as well as wallcoverings, also saw some new trend inclusions. All manufacturers experimented with light effects, incorporating metallic sheens and new uses of texture to capture the eye and add a sense of depth to design (See Carnegie's Surface IQ wallcovering, above left, and Patcraft's Overtones carpet collection, above right). Additionally, a move toward bold prints and selections of natural colors create an interesting dichotomy, as seen in Luna Textiles’ Kinetic Collection of fabric (below left) and InterfaceFlor’s Memphis Collection of carpet tiles (below right).

 

  

Fun and Entertainment

What type of NeoCon® would it be if design was all work and no play? Our editors spent their time after-hours rubbing shoulders with architects and designers at several manufacturers' booths at various cocktail parties: 

  

At the newly redesigned

Haworth

showroom, which features an eye-catching architectural installation and suave-styled lounge theme (above left), Contract magazine publisher John Rouse catches up with Haworth's Mabel Casey and Julie Smith. The two were kind enough to give us a behind-the-scenes glimpse at some of Haworth's models sold overseas that will hopefully be coming to the U.S. soon (very "hush hush") 

 

Brentano stole the scene in the central, first-floor hallway at the Merchandise Mart (above). As Contract previously reported, the Chicago-based textile manufacturer and the Chicago History museum teamed up to offer a design contest, in which designers were challenged to recreate and modernize a historical wedding dress from the museum's costume collection. Furniture manufacturers Allermuir, Leland, and Andreu World America paired the dresses with like lounge chair designs, upholstered in coordinating colors and patterns.

 

Our Best of NeoCon® Breakfast was sold out this year! (We had standing-room only, which is pretty impressive for 7:30 a.m. on a Monday morning.) Eighty-one awards were presented in 39 categories, with Wilkhahn (above right) capturing the 2010 Best of Competition award for its ergonomic On® chair. View all the winners at ContractDesign.com.

  

Teknion hosted an amazing A&D event the opening night of NeoCon at Chicago's River East Arts Center. String Theory (above right), an innovative entertainment group, took harp strings and wrapped them around the building's structures to turn the facility into a giant harp, on which they played new age-like music. John Peterson spoke at the event for several minutes about the efforts of the non-profit Public Architecture.

 

Contract magazine was at the Mannington showroom on Tuesday, June 15 when the flooring manufacturer announced the winners of its 2010 tx:style design contest, which offered two young designers the chance to have a carpet line produced from their concepts by an online popular vote. Athena Abrol of WWCOT (right) and Laurel Harrison of AECOM (left) were surprised and overjoyed at winning the competition.

Harrison comments, "I think it's great that Mannington has given young designers a chance to show their talent to the industry. A lot of people tend to just say, 'oh, they're young,' and are quick to write us off."

--Stacy Straczynski

  

Architecture and Design Take London by Storm

Those brilliant Brits are notching up their love of architecture to a new level with the fourth biennial London Festival of Architecture, to be held from June 20 to July 20. The month-long festival includes over 300 events throughout London: tours, exhibits, and classes.

While walking and biking tours seem standard fare for an architecture festival, but London gives it a new twist with the Midsummer Madness biking tour. Held on the midsummer solstice, the tour starts at 2 a.m. local time and allows participants a night-time opportunity to see architecture in some of London's busiest areas, without battling crowds. The tour highlights Greenwich, Primrose Hill, and Bankside, and includes a 3 a.m. coffee stop (obviously, a must for biking night owls!) at the historic Bar Italia in Soho, and ends with a special breakfast for bikers.

The Dogs for Architecture! tour is quirky nod to furry friends: only dog-owners need apply for the tour, which highlights dog-friendly design via gardens and observation of the city skyline.

Other innovative approaches to the world of design include the "Pimp Your Pavement!" event, a tour of private vegetable gardens in London that encourage sustainability, and the "Sugar Cube, Tate Modern" exhibit, where artist Brendan Jamison displays his scale model of the iconic Tate Modern Museum, made from approximately 80,000 sugar cubes. Best of all, Jamison will offer classes on scale construction, so you too can create a sugary masterpiece.

These are only a few of the fantastic events planned. Visit the London Festival of Architecture website at lfa2010.org for more excellence in all things architecture.

See also: UK's Design Council Fund
British Architecture Festival
UK Sandcastle Competition Fosters Design

--Lillian Civantos

A Ton of Eco-Fun

Attendees of the NeoCon® World's Trade Fair 2010 may have been surprised by the 10-ft. tall sculpture of an elephant greeting them at the main entrance. No, the Merchandise Mart didn’t add a Rainforest Café; the symbolic elephant is part of a project by sculptor Andries Botha to raise awareness for environmental issues.

Botha used recycled truck tires over a steel support structure to create the 1.3-ton animal replica. Called Nomkhubulwane (pronounced Nom-koo-bull-wah'-nee), the NeoCon® elephant is named for the Zulu Goddess known as Mother Earth. She was originally designed for the ninth World Wilderness Congress in Mexico in 2009. Her appearance at NeoCon was sponsored by manufacturing firm InterfaceFLOR.

Nomkhubulwane is the 17th in a series of life-size elephant statues crafted from recycled materials. Botha intends the sculptures as a powerful symbol for his recently launched Human Elephant Foundation, which aims to accelerate imagination on issues of ecology, conservation, and sustainability.

Additionally, InterfaceFlor added its own bit of “ele-fun” to NeoCon®, in partnership with the Human Elephant Foundation, with a wall plaque detailing the Nomkhubulwane project and an approximately 6-ft. long, write-on chalk board outside its 11th floor showroom that reads “Everybody who wants to get off oil, raise your trunk!” The board invites attendees to share their ideas of how to move off oil to a more sustainable world. (It was already covered with suggestions, protests against the current BP environmental tragedy, and design well-wishes for a “Happy NeoCon®.”)

It's odd but undeniable–elephants are somehow a little adorable (think Dumbo). Do you agree that an elephant is the best animal to spur environmental discussion? (After all, environmentalism is quite a large issue.) What do you think of this creative way to raise awareness?

--Lillian Civantos