richard meier – DesignApplause

new us embassy unveiled in london. architects kieran timberlake.

Dec 18, 2017

it helped that the supergalactic property prices of mayfair meant that the $1 billion cost of the new embassy could be financed by selling the old building, at no expense to the us taxpayer. yet even if the move was driven by expediency, there is still something both brave and inspired about relocating to this unlikely area, which could then be transformed by the embassy’s arrival. // this article edited for brevity / photos courtesy of kieran timberlake

a giant, translucent bladderwrack”, “a high security travelodge”, “a glass box covered in shite”. within hours of its unveiling the architectural press have chosen to be particularly unkind to the new us embassy, which president trump may or may not inaugurate at the still mysterious date when he comes to britain. when the competition-winning designs were received when in 2010, its detractors were dissenting members of the competition jury, lord (richard) rogers and the property developer lord palumbo, who opposed the choice of the young-ish winning practice, kieran timberlake. they would have preferred the winner to be one of rogers’s fellow winners of the pritzker prize – thom mayne of the los angeles practice morphosis, or the new york-based richard meier or pei cobb freed.

it’s a fortress, of course it is. the architects made it as nice a fortress as possible, a transparent, democratic, open, not-aggressive and environmentally responsible symbol of their country. it wants to combine, as james timberlake of its philadelphia-based architects put it, “security and sustainability”. while its form resembles a castle keep with a moat, it observes requirements to be set back from surrounding roads by 100ft, its concrete bulwarks disguised as earthworks, its anti-truck bollards are fig-leafed with hedges. the moat is an ornamental lake, set back to create gardens accessible to the public without crossing any security lines. the quarters assigned to the marines who guard the complex are like a tasteful metropolitan hotel.

its roof is covered with photovoltaic cells, rainwater is collected and recycled. the walls are in glass, symbolizing transparency, and then veiled on all sides except the north with ethylene tetrafluoroethylene screens to stop the building overheating in the sun. these efforts have been rewarded in both british and american ways of measuring environmental performance, breeam and leed: “outstanding” in the one and “platinum” in the other.

the offices are high ceilinged, well lit and open plan, with a view to encouraging the staff to be more collaborative and productive. dignity is given to all the consular and service entrances, not just the one for dignitaries. the experience of getting a visa, will take place in some of the least obnoxious spaces ever given to this purpose. a multicultural arts programme includes the work of british and american artists.

then there’s the decision, made in 2007, to put the embassy in the former industrial area of nine elms, between battersea power station and vauxhall, south of the thames, a quite different place from the grosvenor square location that the embassy was associated with for more than two centuries. the embassy since 1956, designed by modernist eero saarinen, was driven from there due to the increasing difficulty of protecting it.

it helped that the supergalactic property prices of mayfair meant that the $1 billion cost of the new embassy could be financed by selling the old building, at no expense to the us taxpayer. yet even if the move was driven by expediency, there is still something both brave and inspired about relocating to this unlikely area, which could then be transformed by the embassy’s arrival.

the new embassy is bland, vanilla, just as a diplomatic dinner is rarely riotous and a diplomatic speech is rarely spellbinding. timberlake’s multiple objectives are all good and worthy. they also contain the occasional conflict and contradiction – most obviously between being fortified and being nice – which the architects have chosen to smooth over rather than dramatise. the basic shape of the building is a cube, happens to be the most efficient shape for an office building.

but at this precise moment something calm and reasonable and seems quite precious. as timberlake explained the project to the press, you could see the current ambassador, woody johnson – the trump-appointed owner of american football team the new york jets – keep a poker face. you sensed the recycled grey water and leed ratings weren’t really his thing. you can only wonder what a trump-commissioned embassy would be like; something with huge columns or a bit of atlantic city or mar-a-lago, and not bothered about sustainability and public access.

the old boys preferred by rogers and palumbo would have offered more strident shapes but not something that would have better served the embassy’s public purpose. it also does a better job of combining high security and accessibility than its near neighbour, terry farrell’s mi6 building of 1992. the new embassy building is also better than everything else that developers are putting up around it. this is faint praise, of course, but it’s not damning.

[ full article – the guardian ]

chicago’s barack obama presidential library concepts unveiled. twbta architects.

May 3, 2017

above> rendering courtesy obama foundation

today barack and michelle obama came (home) to chicago to unveil concepts of the barack obama presidential center, the designated library for the 44th president of the united states. to an invitation-only event for 300 of the city’s and site neighborhood civic leaders. the former president said there is a tendency to see presidential libraries as “a monument to the past, a little bit of ego-tripping.” instead, he wants a building that “looked forward, not backward, and would provide a place to train future leaders to make a change in their communities, countries and the world.”

the site is 10 miles south of chicago’s loop and a stones throw west of where the world’s columbian exposition was held, a world’s fair in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of christopher columbus’s arrival in the new world in 1492.

the project eliminates cornell drive a major commuter route that cut through the park and was a contentious option to pull off. however, the result will be to tie together a natural environment of lakes and parks and lake michigan to the east and a built environment to the west. the library promises to strengthen the local economy, create new jobs and revitalize the historic park in the process.
above > courtesy e. jason wambsgans chicago tribune / below> aerial view courtesy chicago tribune and site plan renderings courtesy obama foundation

the presidential center is not a single building but a series of buildings that form a campus, similar to richard meier‘s ‘separate building’ concept of the getty center in los angeles. the structural architectural footprint is reduced by the roofs of the adjacent single-story library and forum with its covered plantings to create new park land. ‘together these buildings will form a campus, a place for doing and making, as well as looking and learning, and will build upon jackson park’s history as a public gathering place on the south side,’ explains the obama foundation.

the museum tower is 180 feet tall and contains an exhibition space along with education and meeting rooms. to it’s south is the forum building with an auditorium, restaurant with a public garden and the library building.

of keen interest, the library will be the first presidential library to fully digitize obama’s unclassified paper records. the paper documents themselves are at separate facilities maintained by the national archives and records administration (nara), which has control over obama’s records, the foundation said. nara can provide access to the obama presidential records virtually. if the library, or another museum, needs a physical copy of a document, it will be made available on loan from the national archives.

the obama foundation selected tod williams billie tsien architects | partners (twbta) to lead the design team and interactive design architects (idea) to be their partner. twbta stood out in their commitment to explore the best ways of creating an innovative center for citizenship. headquartered in new york, the studio focuses on work for institutions including museums, schools, and not-for-profits. their buildings are carefully made from the inside out to be functional in ways that speak to both efficiency and the spirit. idea brings local knowledge and a track record for delivering excellence to large, complex civic projects.

“we’re building a living, working center for good citizenship. right here on the south side of chicago. wherever you call home, whatever your walk of life, we hope you’ll join us.” ~ barack obama [ obama foundation ] [ the finalists ]

Talking to designtex president susan lyons. Neocon 2013.

Sep 26, 2013

susan lyons

We’re talking to Susan Lyons, new president of Designtex.
[DesignApplause] Where was Designtex maybe a year ago, and where were you a year ago? And where are we today?
[Susan Lyons] We’re a 50-year old company. Started by two gentlemen who came together to develop products. Their first product was Verel, a flame retardent woven drapery fabric for the glass wall buildings being erected 50 years ago. This new architecture precipitated objections, mostly from the architects, who wanted a monolithic visual surface. You see, when people move in, there’s a lot of visual chaos in the windows.

That first drapery product, satisfying a need, I think, really started the company down a path towards always looking at ways to combine aesthetic problem solving and performance-based solutions.

Back to your question. A year ago, Designtex was in this showroom space here at Neocon. They had just purchased a large format digital imaging company. This acquisition could propel us into mass customization just-in-time manufacturing, and was one of the things that drew me back to the company. It seemed like a wonderful additional toolkit that we could offer to our clients.

I think one of the things that we’ve always been about and will be about going forward is offering architects and designers a plethora of tools to use to manifest their creative visions for their clients. The large format imaging opportunity was very, very exciting.

A year ago as the imaging thing was picking up speed, we found ourselves focusing less on developing a broader range of textiles. So we’re really trying to bring that back. A year ago, where was I? I was the Creative Director for Materials for Herman Miller. And I loved it, and I love them. But this opportunity presented itself.

[DA] How long were you with Herman Miller?
[SL] I started working with Herman Miller in 2007 and was with them for six years, as a consultant. Before that I was at Designtex from 1989 to 2002, leaving as their creative director to start my own business.

[DA] You’re a creative director in textiles. Are you a textile expert or a designer?
[SL] I never had formal training, but had opportunities to learn on the job. When I was a senior in college I started a tee-shirt printing company. The idea was done as an independent study that was called ‘The Alliance of Art and Culture in Contemporary Life.’ You know, one of those titles you put together to get your advisor to sign off on. I asked two partners to come in and the business went from printing 10 shirts at a time to printing a thousand. Three years later, another partner, a retired stockbroker who eventually bought the entire business.

Then I had an opportunity to go to India and work with a family who owned textile mills in Ahmedabad, India, where Ghandi was from. And I lived with them, worked with them for six months. They were interested in preserving the traditional methods of textile manufacturing, even though they were owners of large industrial factories.

[DA] What year was this?
[SL] 1980. Though they owned these large factories, they were interested in making sure that the villages doing block printing and silk screening and sari and quilt making would still have those opportunities. I was brought in to develop a product that could be exported to the West, to develop a distribution channel.

I worked with all the local artisans. Together we designed a 100 new wood blocks that were more contemporary but used traditional methods. And we developed textiles and quilts and pillows, products that ended up being sold through Habitat in the UK, now The Conran Shop.

That was a great experience for me, I learned a lot about the resources that were available in India including the hand weavers. I came back to the States, showing anybody and everybody all the stuff that I had with me. One women said, ‘Oh, you’re a textile designer,’ and sent me to owner Robin Roberts of Clarence House, a very high-end textile company.

I looked them up in Interior Design Magazine, pre-Internet you know. They made eighteenth century chintz and my work is very minimal, like no way. But this very interesting man said, “I don’t know what to do with you, but this is cool. Why don’t you come and work with us?” So I learned about print design, with him.

Then an opportunity to work at Boris Kroll Fabrics, a company that combined advanced weaving technology with an original and enduring color sensibility. I was made the director of product development and with no weaving experience found myself working on the looms, really hands-on experience, and something I’m quite proud of. I was there for 4 years and Mr. Kroll was still alive, and he was a great teacher and he tought me.

Ironically I ended up at Designtex the first time. And then left. That’s the story. A checkered past.

[DA] Very checkered, but you know what, it also isn’t. It’s pretty focused.
[SL] Yes, I think so. It’s just one of those things where having opportunities to actually get your hands on the making part of it. I love factories, and I love to see how things are made. So to have the opportunity where I had the chance to work for companies that were manufacturers and were makers, is great.

[DA] So you’re now the president. Have you given up your loom and acquired a suit?
[SL] No suit, no suit. You know, when this position came up I had this interesting thought: I’ve designed products and thought, ‘I wonder if I can design a company?’ What would the company look like and how would I do it?

I do see this as a design project. How do you design operations? How do you design product development? The thinking evolved to how do you use design thinking to actually change an organization? How can you design a culture? How could you design an ethos for a company? How could you design its operations?

We have great people internally, fantastic teams. We’re going through a process now that we’re calling ‘simplexity,’ where all of the departments are basically taking themselves apart to then put themselves back together. It’s using those things you know as a designer but applying them to a different set of problems.

[DA] What’s the relationship with Steelcase?
[SL] We’re an independent brand. We’re an independent subsidiary, so we operate independently. We are part of them, we partner with them when it makes sense.

[DA] What’s Designtex’s mission?
[SL] Our role and our mission is really to help the indie community realize their creative vision. So we work with them, and if they decide they want to work over here, we go there with them. Steelcase is a great company to be partnered with, but we also work with, more or less anybody.(laughing.)

[DA] Is Designtex worldwide?
[SL] We are semi-worldwide, I would say. One of our goals for this year is to build a solid international distribution model. We’re very strong in North America, Canada, Mexico, via NAFTA, We have representation in Asia and Australia,

[DA] Were you on Heimtextil? What other shows?
[SL] We’re not a big fan of trade shows. We invest in face-to-face relationships with our sales reps to our clients. We’re at Neocon but I’m not sure where we’re going to show next year. We’ve done various shows over the years, but our big investment is the product, our people and let them work their magic.

[DA] What have you learned since you got this new hat?
[SL] I’ve learned a lot. And I’m learning everyday. We have a good team and I learn from them. I learn from our vendors, we have fabulous mills and suppliers that we work with. Our organization has about 220 people, so I’m learning how you do that. It’s learning how to communicate more effectively. How to can keep everyone motivated. How to crowdsource ideas with your people. My job is fascinating has been an interesting learning curve for me.

[DA] What are Designtex’s services and who’s your customer?
[SL] We already talked about the indie companies. We do a lot of custom work. In the hospitality market, particularly. We have a really strong technical services department so if somebody needs a particular performance product problem to solve, we’re good at that. We now are adept with the digital imaging, and that’s all custom at the moment.

We have a factory up in Portland, Maine, that is peopled by, and run by artists. This factory’s focus is on artistic problem solving. Many of them are very accomplished photographers and painters. They take their skills used in their own work and bring it to our factory, and help our clients develop exciting solutions for their projects.

color wheel collection | “all colors are friends of their neighbors and lovers of their opposites.” —marc chagall

Color is the foundation of a designer’s tool kit, so Designtex has created a color system. The Color Wheel Collection consists of seven textures offered in an expansive range of 250 hues built using Pantone color references. This program allows designers to easily build palettes of primary, secondary, and tertiary colors that are complementary or analogous across the color spectrum.

We’re starting to create standard products as well, but what’s exciting is on-demand manufacturing. For example, we just finished a fantastic project with Rolls-Royce where they wanted panels that could be changed out very easily. We have a magnetic wall system with an image on top of a flexible ferrous material that can just be peeled off, so it looks very architectural, built-in. ‘Swap out’ is very easy and inexpensive. And a very good environmental story too, because you’re not having to rip the things down and replace them with new material.

[DA] Do you do furnishings?
[SL] No, we don’t do furnishings. We do surfacing materials. From upholstery to wall coverings to space division materials.

[DA] Do you make smart fabrics? Fabrics that clean themselves or can change color?
[SL] We’re looking at it. Nothing to talk about yet. But Designtex always had a really strong R&D presence. We brought Carol Derby from our environmental research department and promoted her to vice president of R&D. We’ve always liked combining science and art. Looking at ways to use less material and make materials smarter.

DA] What’s really exciting right now?
[SL] A big answer question. A lot of the answers right now are in 3-D printing. I’m also excited about what the large format for digital imaging can be. I think up until now it’s been used in a prosaic way: The big flowers or photographic scenes on wall panels. There’s room for more creativity. Not to just make art but to make meaningful products. We’re just starting to explore what it can be.

We’ve always been interested in collaborating with other people. Twenty years ago we were working with people within the built environment but weren’t textile designers, per se. Projects with Aldo Rossi and Bob Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, Richard Meier and Chillida. We did quite a few explorations with Pratt Institute. We had a division called One Plus One, now we’re calling it Designtex Plus. So we’re going to begin to see a series of collaborations under that name.

charley harper

The first one we’re doing is called Designtex Plus Charley Harper. I’ve always loved Charley’s work, and I was talking to Todd Oldham, who’s the steward of the archive, and said, “You know, wouldn’t it be great to use Charley’s imagery for a collection, a collection around wellness?” Just because for me, his stuff just makes you feel good. We thought it would be fun to explore how we could take Charley’s work into a healthcare environment. As we’ve been working on it I’m feeling it’s really going to be more about well-being, a much broader interpretation.

Another big focus, of course, we’ve always had a strong interest in environmental product development, trying to move our materials, constantly optimize our materials, and make them better and more sustainable. An example is a new upholstery line called the ‘Gold Standard Collection’ and we like to say it’s so green it’s Gold—NSF/ANSI 336 Gold. The Gold Standard Collection is the first upholstery fabric ensemble to attain this third-party verified certification at the Gold level, demonstrating a commitment to both the environment and the well-being of the end user.

gold standard collection

This is a fun story. A lot of our product is done in post-consumer recycled polyester, and as you probably know, that comes from, a lot from bottle chip. What’s happening in this market, finally, a lot of the beverage companies want their bottles back. They’re taking custody of their materials back, and it’s getting harder and harder to harvest the polyester yarn from just the bottles.

So we thought, we need to start harvesting other waste streams for material. For white yarn we stick to the method just described: we use the bottle chip which becomes resin pellets which leads to post-consumer white yarn.

loop to loop

For color we go one step further. We take all waste from the Steelcase panel plant in Athens, Georgia, which becomes resin which leads to a gray solution-dyed yarn. Solution dyeing is a yarn coloration process in which pigment (all the multiple colors of the waste) is added to the polymer melt before the fiber is extruded into yarn. The color, therefore, is an inherent part of the yarn itself. We can now over-dye this fabric into any color that want. And this product is also recyclable. Well more than that even: It’s the first upholstery made from recycling already recycled textile waste.We call it Loop to Loop because it achieves a closed loop process for products within its supply chain.

[DA] So recyclable on steroids.
[SL] Exactly. This is a platform we’re going to continue to develop.

Designtex is a design and product development firm that celebrates inquiry and collaboration. A Steelcase company, the Designtex offering includes upholstery, wallcovering, panel fabrics, drapery, architectural panels, and digitally-printed surfaces. Designtex maintains showrooms, offices and sales locations in 110 global locations.

[ designtex ] [ steelcase ]

Living architectures marathon.

Jun 29, 2013

“Living Architectures” is a series of films that seeks to develop a way of looking at architecture which turns away from the current trend of idealizing the representation of our architectural heritage.

Through these films, Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine put into question the fascination with the picture, which covers up the buildings with preconceived ideas of perfection, virtuosity and infallibility, in order to demonstrate the vitality, fragility and vulnerable beauty of architecture as recounted and witnessed by people who actually live in, use or maintain the spaces they have selected. Thus, their intention is to talk about architecture, or rather to let architecture talk to us, from an «inner» point of view, both personal and subjective. Unlike most movies about architecture, these films focus less on explaining the building, its structure and its technical details than on letting the viewer enter into the invisible bubble of the daily intimacy of some icons of contemporary architecture.

Through a series of moments and fragments of life, an unusually spontaneous portrait of the building would emerge. This experiment presents a new way of looking at architecture which broadens the field of its representation.

The volumes and the complete series of films will be first presented to the Italian public in a tour entitled Living Architectures Marathon which, between 27 June and 20 September 2013, will visit some of the main exhibition institutions in Italy: the MAXXI in Rome, the Triennale in Milan, the Pecci Centre in Prato, the Mart in Rovereto, and Casa Cavazzini in Udine. Each presentation will be based on a free screening of the series of films and will offer the public an opportunity to meet the filmmakers along with several other special guests. [ details ]

The collection of john r. eckel jr. Wright.

Jun 24, 2011

preview runs through june 27th 10am – 5pm. auction 28 june 12 pm cst.

wind catcher | isamu noguchi

rocking chasie |richard meier

untitled | harry bertoia

Wright presents the collection of the late John R. Eckel, Jr. at auction on the 28th of June. The works of Harry Bertoia, Paul Evans, Phillip Lloyd Powell, Edward Wormley and Vladimir Kagan figure prominently in this collection. All proceeds from this sale benefit the John R. Eckel, Jr. Foundation.

John R. Eckel, Jr. was a patron of the arts. He was a dedicated and loyal collector with a distinct eye. Eckel acquired works with commitment, generosity and passion to amass a collection that conveyed the breadth and depth of the artists and designers he appreciated most. With more than a dozen works by Paul Evans, including an Argente sculpture and a custom wall-mounted cabinet, more than a half a dozen sculptures by Harry Bertoia, numerous furniture designs by the architect Richard Meier that Eckel had acquired to complement his Meier designed apartment in New York and multiple works by other designers, the collection demonstrates his zeal for building a comprehensive and dedicated assortment of works.

Highlights from the sale include a bundled steel wire sculpture by Harry Bertoia, a rocking chaise by Richard Meier and a three-piece Unicorn sofa set by Vladimir Kagan. A beautiful bush form by Bertoia and a galvanized metal sculpture by Isamu Noguchi also stand out within the collection. James Prestini, Maria Pergay, and Jean Prouvé are just a few of the other artists and designers who captured the eye of John R. Eckel.

The Collection of John R. Eckel Jr. is comprised of more than 100 works of art and design. Each lot is featured in a specialized, full-color auction catalog [ view catalog online ]. Gallery preview runs through June 27th |10am – 5pm | 1440 West Hubbard Street Chicago | 312 563 0020 [ wright auction ]

Auction 28 June 2011 12 pm cst