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June 28th, 2010
Flor carpet tiles, Alexander Girard, designer. Girard is best known for his contributions to American textile design while working for the Herman Miller Company from 1952 to 1975.
Co-creative design hits bottom with modular carpet tiles from the company Flor. The concept is elegantly simple: users create customized area rugs and carpeting by joining together square carpet tiles in a design of their choice. Tiles come in a broad array of colors and patterns, so there’s a pretty wide range of expressive possibility available. In addition to the company’s own tile designs, there are a few collections from guest designers, including Martha Stewart, famed textile designer Alexander Girard and, yes, Walt Disney (or at least, his eponymous company). Hey, kids deserve nice floors too! (And if you surround them with beautiful things when they’re young, maybe they’ll grow up to make the world an even more beautiful place than we did.)
In case you’re wondering how the tiles stay together…well, we did too. Dots. Or more specifically, adhesive dots that are applied to the underside of adjacent tiles sticky face up. When placed on each tile they knit the whole into a pretty tight mesh that isn’t susceptible to movement any more than a conventional rug would be.
  
Most of the face fibers in the tiles are made from nylon, while others are composed of natural fibers like wool or PLA (polylactic acid, a natural derivative from corn). The backings are a vinyl composite, some of which are made from recycled materials. According to the company, the carpet tiles meet or exceed the Carpet and Rug Institute’s Green Label Plus standards for VOC emissions (Volatile Organic Compounds) and are recyclable.
Looking at this product we are inevitably drawn to make comparisons with the traditionally crafted textiles of bygone eras. At the highest reaches of artistic refinement are the great rugs of the Islamist cultures, marvels of intricate patterning and quality of weave. Right alongside them we can place the best wall tapestries from the Middle Ages and the later classic rugs from Aubusson and other European centers of production. One can only imagine the time and effort that went into these pieces, both in terms of their actual production and the years of learning that it took to develop the craft and train the craftsmen who did them.
  
The there’s Flor. In place of the strand-by-strand approach of traditional weaving we have pre-fabricated squares of material. Instead of specialized craftsmen we have a product design company teaming with non-specialist users to create pieces of aesthetic and practical value. Instead of great works of art accessible only to the very affluent, we have a widely distributed article of embellishment available to large numbers of people. Such are the consequences of economic and artistic democratization.
By the way, the concept of modular floor coverings goes back quite a ways, and is not confined to the western hemisphere. The Japanese placed straw mats on the floors of their dwellings for centuries. Known as tatami, their approximately three foot by six foot proportion corresponds to the outlines of a person lying down – an interesting contrast to the abstract square geometry of the Flor tiles. A whole tradition of how to lay out the tatami inside a room evolved over time; in some cases the size of the room was even determined by the arrangement of the mats. Much of the tatami tradition has now disappeared from common use, but maybe a little of its spirit continues in its modern incarnation at Flor.
Company website:
www.flor.com
References:
Carpet and Rug Institute’s Green Label Plus
June 21st, 2010
The Twin Groves Wind Farm Lookout is a publicly accessible landscape installation in central Illinois. It serves as an information center and viewing platform for the Horizon Wind Energy company to teach the public about renewable energy. Metalab digitally modeled the design as a kit-of-parts to be made in Houston and then delivered to remotely located sites in modified shipping containers.
For about the last 150 years there’s been a notable divergence among visual artists in terms of how the works of art got made. Painters and sculptors have typically created their pieces themselves, while architects designed structures and spaces but then turned over the job of constructing them to builders and craftsmen.
That’s all likely to change now, and in fact has been for some time. As the use of digital fabrication technology continues to spread among visual artists, we’ll likely see more and more of them adopting the architectural method of separating the conception of the work from its fabrication by utilizing automated machinery to produce their work. Meanwhile, architects are taking down the historical wall between design and construction by exploiting the same technologies to conceive and then manufacture building components for their projects.
In combining expertise in architecture, design, construction and digital fabrication technology, the Texas-based firm Metalab is a clear example of this new trend toward consolidating the creative processes in the architectural field. Principals Joe Meppelink and Andrew Vrana bring to the table experience in each of these disciplines both as practical undertakings and, more recently, as academic subjects in courses they teach at the University of Houston.
     
Top left and middle: Ceiling Cloud, a suspended acoustic and lighting ceiling system. Top right: Mirabeau B Sales Center, a temporary structure constructed from recycled shipping containers and digitally fabricated components. Bottom left and middle: New Harmony Grotto at the Univ. of Houston. A reimagination of Frederick J. Kiesler’s Cave for the New Being, in digitally fabricated steel. Bottom right: Press+Pleat+Peel, a digitally fabricated panel system for architectural applications.
Metalab’s portfolio reflects this diversity, comprising work in architecture, product design, digital fabrication and, interestingly, civic art. For this last category the firm has teamed with individual artists to realize projects requiring a working knowledge of digital fabrication. “Open Channel Flow”, a work of public sculpture commissioned by the City of Houston Art Collection from New York-based artist Matthew Geller, provided the occasion for Metalab to contribute turn-key services, including architectural design, custom component fabrication and construction management.
On a similar scale, the firm collaborates with ttweak renewables, a marketing, design and communications firm specializing in renewable energy development and other sustainable technologies. The two offices work together to design and fabricate lookouts, kiosks and visitors’ centers for educating the public about renewable energy within a public landscape context.
Metalab is also affiliated with Tex-fab, an organization which presents itself as “a resource for designers, academics, fabricators, and students seeking out the innovative application of digital technology to the physical environment”. Its programs include workshops, lectures, exhibitions and competitions – the first of which is is now underway (check out our earlier post). The group’s network is largely composed of Texas-based companies, institutions and individuals, but it’s looking outward for opportunities to collaborate with similar entities in metropolitan centers across the U.S. and internationally as well.
Metalab’s diverse menu of services and array of professional associations grow from a culture of collaboration fostered in part by the ability of the Internet to connect us. Maybe it’s all a dream, but thanks to the computer, we may all wake up one day to discover that cooperation has finally supplanted competition as the true catalyst for human advancement.
Websites:
Metalab
ttweak renewables
Tex-fab
June 16th, 2010
Morphosis: Design for 41 Cooper Square, New York.
On behalf of The Emerging New York Architects Committee, Versa Design, Lero Lero Productions and Archinect.com, we would like to invite you to the premiere event Shifting Paradigms: Design in Transition.
This event will explore the evolving relationship between the creators of the built environment and the technological advancements in the design and fabrication process that are facilitating a new contemporary language of architecture.
Shifting Paradigms will feature the premiere of (Re)centering the Square, a documentary film which provides in-depth analysis of the recently completed 41 Cooper Square in New York City. Designed by Morphosis Architects, this academic laboratory exists as a pure child of the digital age, providing a comprehensive model of how digital technology and a growing concern for environmental sustainability have impacted the design disciplines over the last decade. Framed around an engaging discussion with the Project Manager, Jean Oei of Morphosis Architects and Dr. George Campbell, President of the Cooper Union, (Re)centering the Square features a compelling visual tour of the facility, a detailed narrative from multiple perspectives explaining the forces which drove the design process forward and captures the transformation of the architectural profession over the last ten years through the lens of this visionary project.
Following the film, a panel of leading practitioners and researchers will examine how contemporary advancements in digital technology and environmental sustainability are propelling our most innovative design experiments, facilitating a new architectural discourse, redefining the relationship between designers and machines and helping to shape how humans will interact with the built environment in future generations.
Tuesday June 22nd at the Center for Architecture
FREE ADMISSION + WINE & H’OURDERVES
6:00pm Wine & H’ourderves
6:35pm Film Premiere
7:15pm Panel Discussion
Panelists Include:
Marty Doscher: Morphosis Architects
Paul Seletsky: ArcSphere
David Benjamin: The Living New York / Columbia University GSAPP
Neil Meredith: Front / Columbia University GSAPP
David Pysh: Gehry Technologies
Moderated by Jason Ivaliotis: Versa Design
(Re)Centering the Square
Director: Elba Calado
Executive Producer: Jason Ivaliotis
For more Information: jason@versa-design.com
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
18:00 – 20:00
Center for Architecture
536 LaGuardia Place
New York, NY
Via Bustler
June 12th, 2010
“Lily”. Carpet formed from star-shaped leather modules. Produced by Mia Cullin.
We greatly admire the ‘soft’ work of Mia Cullin, a Swedish designer and interior architect. She designs what might be described as modular textile systems in traditional and modern materials. Her palette includes felt, Tyvek (a modern synthetic often used as a wrap in building construction), leather and wool. Cullin’s modules have the appearance of multi-lobed geometric figures suggesting flowers, snowflakes and other centralized figures drawn from organic nature. The undercutting of the shapes forming the perimeter allows the textile units to be joined together by folding and interlocking adjacent lobes. Together they weave a tapestry of repetitive forms whose uniformity is relieved by the play of light and shadow among the variously raised pieces of fabric. The natural wave of the assembled pieces, a judicious use of cut-out figures within some of the modular designs, and the natural surface texture of the materials adds to the visual play.
  
“Flake”. Star-shaped Tyvek modules joined together to form drapery and screens. Produced by Woodnotes.
Cullin’s work is conceived in the context of interior design, which is unsurprising in light of her professional training and activities. Variously described as ‘screens’ and ‘draperies’, her textile work bridges the realms of product and interior design, art and craft.
We recently enjoyed seeing one of her designs featured at the Cooper-Hewitt Design Triennial in New York. She is a regular contributor to design fairs and exhibitions in Europe.
“Four Leaf Clover”. Leather carpet formed from clover-shaped modules. Produced by Mia Cullin.
From the designer’s website:
“Mia’s design is described as simple, poetic and elegant. Visualizing the object’s construction plays an important role. Many of her products contain a textile feeling where handicraft, folding and origami are sources of inspiration. Her works with assembled modules creating surfaces with relief patterns discerns a fascination for geometry.
Among her clients are Woodnotes, Nola, idea, Habitat, Ateljié Lyktan and Asplund.”
Designer’s website:
www.miacullin.com
Photography:
Top and bottom by Mathias Nero. Middle row by Sameli Rantanen.
June 10th, 2010
Elimelech’s cubes are approximately 3 inches square on each face, which makes them perfectly scaled to the human hand.
Los Angeles artist Moshé Elimelech makes cubist art — only not the kind you’re probably thinking of. Elimelech’s pieces are constructed of a series of cubes nested in a gridded container mounted on a wall. Each cube is rendered on all six sides with a variety of solid colors and bold geometric figures. The cubes can be removed from their cells and rotated to present any face to the viewer. By manipulating the choice of visible surfaces the artist or co-creator can generate a nearly infinite number of graphic compositions, either deliberately or by chance rotations.
Elimelech’s work reminds us how rare it is for artists to invite the viewer to actually touch the art they’ve made. We’re usually warned by signs or sternly faced museum guards not to do any such thing, which is understandable since most pieces are not constructed with that possibility in mind (not to mention the need to protect them against theft). On the other hand, that persistent distancing between us and the art makes our experience of it too uniformly passive for an interactive and energetic culture such as ours. It also reinforces the perception of the art object as something endowed with a sacred aura to be venerated, rather than as an agent of material beauty and sensuous delight to be enjoyed.
Exhibiting steadily since the 1980s, Elimelech shows primarily in California galleries, and has work represented in several museum design stores as well.
     
“Cubic Constructions” by Moshé Elimelech. Though they may look like independent and distinct works, the various compositions in each image derive from a single assortment of cubes. It’s often surprising how such a broad range of formal diversity can be generated from a finite set of modular components.
From the artist’s website:
“Expressing his fascination of the nature of duality, artist Moshé Elimelech has created a unique series of three-dimensional abstract cubic constructions that invite the viewer to reinterpret each piece. Putting into play his notion of opposing forces has yielded works that are fixed yet mutable, precise but free-flowing, analytical yet imaginative, singular in essence and at the same time open to reinterpretation.”
Videos showing the interactive process of Elimelech’s “Cubic Constructions”:
http://www.mosheart.com/movie/index.html
Artist’s website:
http://www.mosheart.com/
June 8th, 2010
A competition was recently held to design a temporary pavilion for Governors Island, a historic former military encampment and Coast Guard base in New York Harbor. The brief called for the design of a shelter and gathering place for people participating in planned and impromptu events during the summer season. Entrants were instructed to design the installation as an efficient structure and as a model of sustainable construction. The competition was jointly sponsored by FIGMENT and The Emerging New York Architects Committee of the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter (ENYA) and the Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAoNY).
Ann Ha and Behrang Behin were selected as the winning team for their design Living Pavilion. The vaulted structure employs reclaimed milk crates as a modular framework for holding plant materials to serve as infill material (we hope it grows fast). The design recalls the graceful vaults built in America at the turn of the last century using the Guastavino tile arch system. Unlike the Guastavino works, however, this structure will be disassembled in October 2010 and its crates given away for re-use.
  
We rather like the integration of nature and structure in the interweaving of organic and inorganic matter, as well as the contrast of the qualities of soft and hard, organic and industrial, variegated and uniform.
References:
Living Pavilion Blog
June 1st, 2010
The story of Blank Label is a reminder that the power of the traditional press hasn’t entirely disappeared, despite the gradual disintegration of the industry’s historic business models. This start-up venture in customizable men’s dress shirts recently received a pretty glowing review in The New York Times. As a result of the avalanche of customers that ensued from the article, the fledgling company (launched with about $10K in seed money if you can believe it) is running fast to keep up with the new orders.
The first step in the customization process on the Blank Label website. This software is an example of a ‘configurator’, which is the principal digital tool used to guide the customer through the design process.
The article also touched on a number of themes associated with mass customization and co-creation, of which Blank Label is a classic – if we may use this term – example in action. Bespoke tailoring used to be the exclusive province of the affluent; now pretty much any person of male persuasion who can afford the shirt on their backs can tailor them to their specifications. Colors, sizing, details are all customizable via easy-to-use software on the company’s website. The price? Less than the cost of ready-made items in many department stores. It’s that democratization of the marketplace thing all over again. Holy shi(r)t!
Company website:
www.blank-label.com
June 1st, 2010
 Organizer:
TEX-FAB is a new resource for designers, academics, fabricators, and students seeking out the innovative application of digital technology to the physical environment. Within Texas there is an emerging network of companies, institutions, and individuals focusing on the exploration of parametric design and the digital production of building components. Specifically, there is a growing opportunity for collaborative exchange between the academic, technical, and professional communities by leveraging the immense resources found in some of the largest metropolitan centers across the United States. TEX-FAB seeks to create a forum for the exchanges of these ideas and techniques through workshops, lectures, and exhibitions.
Brief:
REPEAT is an international competition established to foster the creative spirit in the burgeoning field of digital fabrication. We encourage the generation of cutting edge design proposals for a structure of your design with the only caveats being it must serve a purpose, be generated and conceived digitally, incorporate repetitive elements, be optimized for ‘flat-pack’ transportation and be produced through fabrication technologies available within Houston, Texas.
The evaluation of all the REPEAT proposals will focus on the cohesion of the design concept to digital fabrication techniques and methods of assembly. Factoring in these two foundational requirements for the competition, the entrant is encouraged to propose a solution that is both formally challenging in the mechanics and aesthetics of the connections, but also speak to the issues of use and performance.
Timeline:
Materials become available June 16, 2010
Deadline for submissions is October 3, 2010
Website:
http://tex-fab.net/category/compete/
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Mission Henry Ford, move over – the era of mass production has come to a close! Personalization is the name of the game now. People want a role in shaping the physical world around them to suit their individual needs, tastes and resources; to satisfy that goal they're looking for works of art and design that are reconfigurable, interactive and scalable. This blog explores how creatives are responding to the quest for customization, as well as the impact customization is having on the creative disciplines themselves.
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