The ‘GEMS’ of Design Charity

To end on a happy note this week, Contract magazine wants to help Perkins+Will spread the word about a great charity fundraiser. As a probono project, Perkins+Will is redesigning the Girls Education & Mentoring Services (GEMS). The non-profit organization seeks to empower and help young women that have been sexually exploited and trafficked in the sex industry to create a better life for themselves. To help fund the project, the firm will host a fundraising event, whcih will help to furnish the project space, at its New York offices, located at 215 Park Avenue South, 4th Floor, on July 27 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Please RSVP to: karen.brown@perkinswill.com

The redesign plans of GEMS’ community center will be complete in August, with construction starting shortly after.

See what GEMS is all about. View the below videos:

Fish Out of Water

Here’s one design project that Michael Phelp’s would take to heart—a pavilion made from 200 Speedo LZR Racer swimsuits! The s_pavilion, designed by students at the Chelsea College of Art & Design, sat on display at the London Festival of Architecture June 19 – July 4.

Speedo donated a total of 600 suits to the upcycling project. Recent changes to swimming competition suit regulations left the swimsuit manufacturer with hundreds of leftover, unsellable stock. The students cut and stretched the suits to their maximum capacity, forming a series of interconnected, umbrella-like tents, which are interestingly similar to designs found in natural spider webs. (Personally, the structure makes me think of the story “Alice in Wonderland,” where a miniature Alice is so tiny that she can view at the underside of the “enlightened” caterpillar’s mushroom.)

The s_pavilion, which is now taking a brief summer hiatus, will reappear at the London Design Festival from September 18-26.

--Stacy Straczynski

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

  

New York City’s Futurama

Ever wonder what the city of the future will look like? If so, check out “New York City the Future Metropolis” on June 10 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Solar One, 24-20 FDR Drive, Service Road East, New York, NY

The event, hosted by Solar One, New York City’s first solar-powered “Green Energy, Arts, and Education Center,” will feature a panel of distinguished professionals who will discuss factors impacting the future growth and design of the Big Apple, such as Nanotechnology, biomimicry, and clean technology. Each speaker will show 20 images for 20 seconds in a PechaKucha format.

Presenters include: Edward M. Cupoli, Ph.D., professor and head of NanoEconomics Constellation, College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, University at Albany; Jean-Loup Msika, architect/urban designer and founder of Sustainable City Project; and David Benjamin, director of Living Architecture Lab at Columbia GSAPP and principal at The Living.

Attendees will also have time for networking.

Cost is $10 to pre-register and $15 at the door. Visit http://solar1.org/nycfuturemetropolis/ for more info.

--Stacy Straczynski

NeoCon® Product Wars is 'Da Bomb'

A war is brewing at NeoCon® 2010—and it’s happening all online. Contract magazine and Designer Pages today launched their new online tool which provides event attendees and A&D online users the chance to cast their own vote for the products deserving to win this year’s Best of NeoCon® Award. It’s the first of it’s kind for the industry.

The tool functions much like other “this or that” voting tools found online and on social media sites like Facebook (e.g. “Hot or Not,” “Rate Your Friends,” etc), allowing users to continuously choose the “best” of two same-category product options. Users can vote as many times as they want in five categories: Carpet/Modular Tiles; Conference Room Furniture; Furniture Systems; Seating/Conference; and Seating/Sofas & Lounge.

Read more about Product Wars at ContractDesign.Com and take part at my.neocon.com/best-of-neocon

It’s time to “forget voting for presidential candidates. Screw your civic duties and vote for the best products instead!”

--Stacy Straczynski

HD Expo Recap

Since the editors at Hospitality Design (HD) magazine, our sister publication, are running around the Las Vegas show—Hospitality Design Exposition & Conference (HD Expo)—moderating panels, running architectural tours, visiting on the show floor, etc., we rarely have time to blog from the show floor. They decided to do a recap:

I started this year's HD Expo with a panel on the new JetBlue Terminal 5 at JFK Airport in New York with Lionel Ohayon, ICRAVE, Rick Blatstein, OTG Management, and Henry Myerberg, HMA2, representing Rockwell Group. For those that don't know, Terminal 5 reinvents airport dining and interaction, tapping into the anxieties and needs of air travelers. What amazed me listening to the panelists (Ohayon designed the restaurants for OTG and Myerberg worked on the marketplace, where the three concourses come together) was that this design and concept is common sense—why should airports offer such bad alternatives. As Blatstein said, paraphrasing, "We are in New York City with some of the greatest restaurants in the world, why can't that be true for the airport." Ohayon, bringing his expertise from creating some of the best restaurants in New York and LA, really thought about the traveler and used that in his design, like there are no doors closing off the restaurants from the gates to lessen anxiety, people can order straight from gate-side food bars, and there are plenty of single seats in the restaurants those traveling alone. The real treat was seeing Ohayon's original sketches, even some ideas that didn't get implemented. And the innovation paid off: this terminal has the highest F&B revenue per enplaning passenger among U.S. airport terminals.

Then I sat in on the Radical Innovation in Hospitality Competition. Co-founded and produced by the Hospitality Design Group (HD Group) and the John Hardy Group, the award, now in its fourth year, promotes innovation and global-thought leadership in hospitality. A fantastic jury of hotel experts narrowed down the many submissions to three...they usually do two, but couldn't decide. The finalists presented at this panel (formerly during HD Boutique), and the audience got to select the winner...no, I didn't vote. The three finalists were: Aircruise, a vertical airship cruise from Seymourpowell powered by natural gas that docks (yes dock) in this vertical contraption and as it travels around the world, tether over different cities, adding to the skyline; Trespass: A Wanderer's Hotel from Weetu, which would help solve the problem of empty retail malls by anchoring it with a hotel; and Mosaic from WATG, which takes the pop-up phenomenon to a whole new level, for adventure travel and voluntourism. And the winner is: Mosaic from WATG. Yes, same firm from Sustainable Suite, but no, they aren't paying anyone off. Aircruise took home the first runner-up honor. What I heard from the audience was that Mosaic could happen five years from now, and Aircruise was more like 20 years away. In fact, rumor is that WATG may use the $10,000 cash prize to build a prototype. For more, click here and look out for an upcoming issue of HD.

I also went on two of our four architectural tours to CityCenter (proceeds benefit the scholarships of NEWH). If you haven't heard of it, you have been in a bubble, but just in case, it is MGM Mirage's latest and greatest statement on the Strip. It's the largest privately funded construction project on the western hemisphere, and has bragging rights for its six LEED Gold certifications. On Wednesday and Thursday 35 people got to check out the public spaces of casino-hotel Aria and walk through the entertainment-retail complex Crystals. And thanks to our sponsors MechoShade and Control4, the attendees saw a corner room suite at Aria and got a demonstration of the amazing technology they implemented there and elsewhere at CityCenter that allows guests to turn off all lights and close all shades (and vice versa) with a touch of a button. Yet the best part was an insider's look from Sven Van Assche, vice president of design for MGM Mirage and CityCenter, who led both tours. He went into detail about the nature-inspired designs, since as he said, yes I am paraphrasing again, they "didn't want a themed place, but contemporary design and architecture, not modern, and everyone has a good feeling about being in or around nature," the extensive fine art collection, and working with the countless design and architecture firms. Seeing it through his eyes really brought the project's many layers and magnitude together. See more of HD's exclusive coverage on our gallery page and in the April issue. Thanks to the entire team at CityCenter and MGM Mirage who made those happen.

 

-- Hospitality Design (Stacy Shoemaker Rauen)

A NeoCon Frame of Mind

Allsteel is gearing up for NeoCon. The workplace furniture solutions company announced recently that it is sponsoring the NeoCon keynote speaker Majora Carter, executive director and founder of the first “green-collar” job training and placement systems. The sponsorship marks Allsteel’s 11th consecutive year of participation.

Carter’s “Green the Ghetto and How Much it Won’t Cost Us” presentation will discuss her definition of environmentalism and how it can lead all socio-economic communities to lead more sustainable lives. The keynote will be held on June 14 at 8 a.m.

Allsteel will showcase its sustainable office solutions at the Merchandise Mart Resource Center No. 1120.

Celebrating Design at ICFF

More than 300 people made their way down to SoHo last night (May 17) for Sicis and New York Spaces' ICFF bash. With just one day left to go for the internationally-renowned show, attendees, customers, and fans came out to party at Sicis' gorgeous four-story high showroom at 470 Broome Street. The New York Spaces team did three prize drawings for off-Broadway tickets throughout the night. Winners were:

Daniel DeSousa of Stephen Yablon Architect PLLC, Aaron Leshtz from Studio Sofield, and Willie Traeger from Willie.

Here are some shots of party-goers in action, enjoying great food, drinks, and tile mosaics:

   

   
 
 

 
  
 
  

Table Talk

 

While tables most of the time serve a functional purpose—such as providing a level platform to eat dinner or work—Ball-Nogues Studio (BNS) is calling attention to this timeless furnishings’ more socially attractive qualities.

In a very progressive design, the Los Angeles-based integrated design and fabrication practice collaborated with UCLA Department of Architecture and Urban Design, the Herb Alpert School of Music, and UCLA Design Media Arts to create The Table Cloth, an architectural installation. Located in the courtyard at Schoenberg Hall at the Herb Alpert School of Music, it is composed of hundreds of intertwined low-styled coffee tables and three-legged stools, which drape over the eastern wall of the courtyard, much like fabric, and sprawls out onto the ground below.

The design is meant to serve as a backdrop for not only daily social interactions (symbolically representing how tables are at the center of social and family gatherings) but to an in-the-round performance space that features two configurations: a stage with removable platform and no stage. Conveniently, The Table Cloth simultaneously provides ample seating space for the venue.

“As a visual concept, the installation serves as a symbolic gesture of sustainability and a poetic reminder that the buildings and pavilions we construct although seemingly timeless, are actually impermanent: frozen moments in an ongoing flow of products and materials,” reads the description at ball-nogues.com. 

The project officially opened on April 26 with a musical performance by Herb Alpert School of Music. Eventually, The Table Cloth will be dismantled and the tables and chairs will be given away to the UCLA community.

Project profile available at architizer.com

--Stacy Straczynski

Inspiration Collaboration

Architecture for Humanity (AFH) and Coalesse are working together to raise funds and awareness for a worthy cause. In line with “Sit Down for a Worthy Cause,” Coalesse will host its first “Inspiration” event on May 27 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Coalesse San Francisco Design Center, where it will present AFH with a check for $5,900, the total funds raised to date via the promotion.

Additionally, Cameron Sinclair, co-founder of AFH, will speak at the event about the organization’s current design efforts in Haiti. A select group of 40 local architects and designers will attend, as well as local media.

“Sit Down for a Worthy Cause,” launched earlier this year by Coalesse, invited A&D professionals to help raise money for AFH by visiting a Coalesse or Steelcase showroom, as well as participating A&D firms, in the U.S. and Canada and taking a seat in an X-stack Chair. Coalesse donated $1 to AFH for each person that participated during the six-week promotion. The sitters were also entered into a drawing to win two Emu Heaven Lounge Chairs. Winners of the giveaway will be selected and notified on May 17.

--Stacy Straczynski