THE NEW ECO-TRAVEL Circular. Clever. Confident
Nº124 SEP — OCT 2018
BX €19.95 DE €19.95 IT €14.95 CHF 30 UK £14.95 JP ¥3,570 KR WON 40,000
THE GREAT INDOORS
AURA COLLECTION By Yonoh Discover our new collection composed of six models of ceiling and oor lamps that illuminate environmentally and decoratively. The spectacular new product stands out for the birth of the link strips from the light source, surrounding it and creating tubes of different lengths that intersect, forming a large volume of up to ďŹ ve falls that generate a subtle halo of light around it. They will not go unnoticed!
Photo by Pere Queralt
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FRAME 124
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Alexandra Genis
Contents 79
21 OBJECTS
46
Li-Fi-enabled luminaires, a furniture-subscription model, design for social change
41 THE CHALLENGE Five creatives reduce the footprint of the hospitality industry
61 PORTRAITS 62 BERNARD TSCHUMI ‘I was called a “paper architect”’
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GT2P Paracrafting the future
76 MINI All electric
Andrew Meredith
68 STUDIO VERTER Coffee and cardboard
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79 JAMESPLUMB Driven by detail
94 MOOOI
A playful scenario
Schaël Marcéus
87 SUBODH GUPTA Cooking up sculptures
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FRAME 124
Felipe Ribon
97 SPACES
Adaptable retail, design for kids
116
146 BETTE
Bathing in colours
149 FRAME LAB Hospitality 150 Tourism is on the green track 154 Snøhetta’s energy-positive architecture 158 Celebrating the circular economy in Amsterdam 162 Zero Waste Bistro: reduce, reuse, recycle 166 Ecologically conscious nights at the QO Hotel 172 Hotelier Liran Wizman on authenticity
166
Ewout Huibers
174 ROCA
Tapping into the past
177 REPORTS Soft furnishings
186
Acoustic solutions and upcycled fabrics
Courtesy of GAN
192 IN NUMBERS
Verpan’s re-edition of Verner Panton’s Inflatable Stool in facts and figures
PAUL SOFA— VINCENT VAN DUYSEN D.153.1 ARMCHAIR— GIO PONTI PANNA COTTA SMALL TABLE— RON GILAD
JAN SMALL TABLES— VINCENT VAN DUYSEN DOMINO NEXT POUF— NICOLA GALLIZIA RANDOM CARPET— PATRICIA URQUIOLA
#MolteniGroup MILANO PARIS LONDON NEW YORK ATHENS BEIRUT BEIJING BRUSSELS BUDAPEST CHENGDU CHICAGO DUBAI GENEVA HELSINKI HONG KONG ISTANBUL JAKARTA KIEV MADRID MANILA MEXICO CITY MIAMI MOSCOW NANJING OSAKA SEOUL SHANGHAI SINGAPORE TEHERAN TOKYO TORONTO
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COLOPHON
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Contributors to this issue Will Georgi – WG Grant Gibson – GG Leo Gullbring – LG Kanae Hasegawa – KH Adrian Madlener – AM Gili Merin – GM Shonquis Moreno – SM Cathelijne Nuijsink – CN Maria Elena Oberti – MEO Anna Sansom – AS Jeremy Matthew Cowin Smith – JMCS Jessica Rénee Smith – JRS Jane Szita – JS Lauren Teague – LT Angel Trinidad – AT Cover Background: Ssense’s Montreal flagship by David Chipperfield (see page 110) Photo courtesy of Ssense Foreground: Edible capsules by Bastien Chevier (see page 54) Image Bastien Chevier Lithography Edward de Nijs Printing Grafisch Bedrijf Tuijtel Hardinxveld-Giessendam
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EDITORIAL
Wake-Up Call WHEN I’M AWAY from home and staying at a hotel, I step out of the shower in the morning and – regardless of the location – invariably catch sight of a little sign next to the washbasin. An obvious appeal to my conscience, it asks me to consider reusing my towel in order to help the hotel ‘protect the environment’. My mind becomes a cauldron of conflicting thoughts. Sure, no problem. But do you really think a twice-used towel will help save the world? If so, why do you programme the television to come on automatically when I enter the room? Why is it often so hard to switch off the air-con? And that tier of pillows on my bed – I’m not going to use all six of them. The little sign in the bathroom exemplifies the struggle that has the travel industry in its grip. On the one hand, no service is too much trouble and there’s no such thing as an overindulged guest. On the other hand, this industry realizes the necessity of consuming less energy and reducing waste – better for the environment and for the bank account. To an increasing extent, the traveller faces the same sort of dilemma. We’re eager to escape the pressures of work – or work is our reason for travelling. Either way, we’re using planes, trains and cars to get where we want to go. At the same time, we know that such activities have a negative effect on the global climate and are exhausting the Earth and its remaining resources. How does the reuse of a towel compare with the emissions of a Boeing 747? The rapidly growing popularity of ecotourism is a logical follow-up. Designers and architects are
playing a major role in its expansion. In this issue we shed light on ground-breaking initiatives that go beyond less laundry, solar-panelled roofs and dining rooms replete with recycled furniture. On page 154, Snøhetta’s Zenul Khan explains why Svart – a hotel at the foot of a Norwegian glacier – is leading the way to future-proof architecture. Scheduled for completion in 2021, the hotel will produce more energy than it consumes. The architects work with regional materials that are sourced as close to the site as possible. Geothermal heat pumps and solar panels installed on a roof with a carefully calculated pitch generate energy. Snøhetta is creating a sense of luxury not with plush carpets and gleaming brass fittings but with the place itself. Discover why the concept ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ doesn’t have to imply drab olive-beige rooms furnished with second-hand chairs and lamps. Find out how a greenhouse atop an Amsterdam hotel closes the circular economy’s four loops of sustainability: water, waste, CO2 and energy efficiency. Read about proposals for sustainable hospitality submitted by talents chosen for ‘The Challenge’ (page 41). From blow-up hotel rooms to edible capsules that combat food packaging, eco-travel – like nearly all of today’s industries – is experiencing a hi-tech makeover. That little sign in the hotel bathroom? Its days are numbered. ROBERT THIEMANN Editor in chief
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CONTRIBUTORS
‘Travel is about opening ourselves up to new experiences. Researching this issue’s essay, I wanted to see how the places we stay can be designed to be sustainable in and of themselves and in terms of the materials used, but also to have a transformative effect on the way we travel’ JEREMY SMITH
Niko Caignie
Oslo-based still-life and portrait photographer CALLE HUTH is a big fan of symmetry. A true Scandinavian, he strives for minimalism in his work and uses technology to achieve what he’s after. For this issue, Huth visited and captured the architects behind Snøhetta’s Svart project and supplied the images for Scenario’s Quality Hotel Gardermoen, a showcase for products from Moooi.
ANGEL TRINIDAD is a freelance editor, journalist and creative strategist specializing in design, art and lifestyle. Now based in Amsterdam, she has lived in the Philippines, Germany, Spain and Sweden. She is the author of Scandinavia Dreaming: Nordic Homes, Design and Interiors (2016) and has written for Frame Publishers and Gestalten, as well as for Trend Tablet, Victionary and a raft of other websites, magazines and books. Trinidad travels the world to discover the latest developments in design. You’ll find her work in the Objects and Spaces sections of this issue.
London-based writer JEREMY SMITH explores the transformative potential of the travel industry, drawing connections that link topics as diverse as the circular economy, climate and habitat restoration, biomimicry, automation, migration and wellbeing. Besides writing books on tourism and sustainability, he edits tourism-industry website travindy.com, produces regular comment articles, and does copywriting and consultancy for clients who want to promote tourism in a positive way. On page 150, Smith discusses ways in which sustainable hotel architecture can lead to interaction between guests and the communities they visit.
CRISTOBAL PALMA studied at London’s Architectural Association School of Architecture before starting his career as a photographer. His work focuses primarily on architecture-related themes. In 2008 he established Estudio Palma in Santiago, Chile, where he currently lives and works. His portraits of the foursome behind Gt2p are on page 71.
WE WILL ALWAYS BE MODERN, OUR DESIGN ALWAYS ESSENTIAL
CAROUSEL CHAIR
ATTACH TABLE
DESIGN GUNILLA ALLARD, 2018
DESIGN TROELS GRUM - SCHWENSEN, 2016
LAMMHULTS.SE PART OF LAMMHULTS DESIGN GROUP
ACOUSTIC ROOM
SMART SPACES
ORGATEC Cologne, 23-27.10.2018 / pad. 10.2 stand L002
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Creating a comfortable space that provides privacy, acoustic comfort and easier concentration. For one or more people, in a wide range of settings and sizes. With one single system.
Felix Mollinga
Designers rethink MANUFACTURING processes. Furniture becomes available by SUBSCRIPTION. Is LI-FI the new Wi-Fi? Discover new directions in the world of products.
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Faced with out-of-this-world scenarios, designers develop new technologies for inner and OUTER SPACE A manned mission to the red planet and beyond comes with challenges that designers have never encountered before. Their task requires out-of-this-world problem-solving. Finding good solutions will no doubt drive the pursuit of innovation and create quantum leaps in the development of new technologies, and not just for use on distant planets. Space exploration also leads to significant technologies and applications beneficial to us earthlings.
An example is Black & Decker’s cordless Dustbuster, a spinoff of the Apollo and Gemini missions. As the possibility of space tourism and human settlements on Mars draws closer – Elon Musk hopes to launch SpaceX as early as 2024 – we look at how product and interior designers are appropriating cosmic research for projects that relate to inner and outer space. – AT
Courtesy of Ikea
In an attempt to assess the future needs of small-space living in urban and extraterrestrial settings, Ikea sent a team to the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah. The idea was to develop new solutions for use in extreme scenarios. The result is Rumtid, a sustainable (almost zero waste) collection that will be introduced in 2020. Rumtid products include lightweight furniture made of veneer rolled into hollow tubes. This flexible construction method allows for numerous configurations, because the tubes can be cut in different lengths and clamped together in various ways. ikea.today
OBJECTS
Thomas Missé’s Mars Bar addresses the low-gravity environment that characterizes Mars – an atmosphere that leads to the loss of bone and muscle mass, as well as blood volume. The designer’s solution is a chair that encourages a new way of sitting. A slightly imbalanced resting position gives rise to a degree of activity in the user’s lumbar region and legs. The lightweight aluminium frame is covered in polyurethane foam and vacuum-packed for delivery to reduce its size and make it easy to transport.
Courtesy of Thomas Missé
thomasmisse.fr
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OBJECTS
Is LI-FI the future of wireless?
Alexandre Picciotto
TECHNOLOGY – We’re all familiar with the Wi-Fi symbol, which represents the transmission of data via radio waves. The system, though, is struggling to meet growing demands. High-resolution video content, smart devices, VR and AR all chew through bandwidth, leading researchers to look for alternatives. In 2011, University of Edinburgh professor Harald Haas proffered a solution: Li-Fi. With around 2,600 times the capacity of the radio spectrum, Li-Fi wirelessly transmits data at high speeds through the imperceptible flickering of light. With radio out of the
picture, interior walls could be thinner, and an office’s online security could be measured by light leakage. The first commercial Li-Fi system was unveiled in 2014, but it wasn’t until early 2018 that the technology began entering the mainstream. Philips declared itself the first global lighting company to include Li-Fi-enabled luminaires in its office-lighting portfolio, and at the CES fair in Las Vegas, Oledcomm released MyLiFi: ‘the first Li-Fi-connected object in the world’. Oledcomm also teamed up with ÉCAL graduate Alexandre Picciotto to develop an LED lamp for libraries. Devices
placed under c-224’s cloudlike light source connect to a network that, owing to its undetectable signal, is believed to be more secure than Wi-Fi. Does this mean we’ll soon live in a perpetually illuminated world? No, assures Picciotto. ‘Thanks to infrared emitters, Li-FI remains active even when the lamp is switched off.’ For now, the real drawbacks seem to be speed (MyLiFi is reported to run at about 23 megabytes per second) and the logistics of using the technology en masse. – TI alexandrepicciotto.com oledcomm.com
Flooring and Cladding: NEOLITH BASALT BEIGE Satin. Designed by Carlos Rossi (Sao Paulo, Brazil).
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A new perspective on tiles
Design by Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby, Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, Rodolfo Dordoni, Kostantin Grcic, Raw Edges, Hella Jongerius, Inga SempĂŠ, Patricia Urquiola, Tokujin Yoshioka. mutina.it
THE
Alexandra Genis
SUSTAINABLE HOSPITALITY In the lead-up to each issue, Frame challenges emerging designers to answer a topical question with a future-forward concept. Involving both travel and dining out – activities that typically generate a deluge of waste – the hospitality industry is in need of a radical rethink. Hotel guests are starting to stoke the fire: Greenview’s 2017 ‘Green Lodging Trends Report’ noted a drastic increase in queries about carbon offsetting from overnight visitors. In line with this issue’s hospitality-themed Frame Lab (see p. 149), we asked five makers to share their visions for the industry’s future.
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SUSTAINABLE HOSPITALITY
Nยบ 1
Blow Up
Inflatable structures by ROOS MEERMAN and BART VAN DEN HOVEN function as flexible pop-up lodgings.
THE CHALLENGE
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The cross-disciplinary collaboration between Arnhem-based designer ROOS MEERMAN and architect BART VAN DEN HOVEN sparked our interest and led to their appearance in ‘The Challenge’.
Your concept is inspired by global warming? ROOS MEERMAN: The built environment will increasingly relate to and behave like nature. Flexibility and thinking in cycles will become the norm. We will move cities when they are threatened by nature and no longer settle in only one place. Entire nations will move for political or economic reasons. We will need mobile facilities to meet these changing demands and needs. Where does hospitality fit into this? BART VAN DEN HOVEN: Rooms, including temporary accommodation, will need to become flexible, adaptive and responsive to the specific needs of groups of people. Can you give an example? RM: I’m considering an extension of the Aera Fabrica technique that I developed. It’s a combination of blowmoulding, glass-blowing and 3D printing that inflates to become a flexible form. I’ve worked with Bart on upscaling the technique to create inflatable 3D prints on an architectural scale. So what’s your concept? BvdH: Temporary 3D-printed homes called Flos [one Flo, two Flos]. The printer makes a small-scale portable model that is blown up on site to fulfil the requirements for that specific location and time. How does it work? RM: Flos are made of bioplastic. Heating the balloon makes it flexible and thus transformable. Cooling it solidifies the form. Each custom-printed Flo comes with an interior that includes bed, chairs and table – all of which can be 3D printed in the preform, allowing a whole room to be inflated in one go. Flo’s inflatable property enables the structure to adapt perfectly to the spatial limits of any context. »
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THE CHALLENGE
By inflating Flos on the roofs of their buildings or in nearby natural surroundings, hoteliers can offer patrons unusual, cheap and interesting accommodations.
What makes the Flo sustainable? RM: Heating the Flo reverses the cooling process, so you can reuse the balloons by inflating them in another spot in another size. With 3D printing, you use only the material you need to make your Flo, hence reducing material waste. If a Flo gets damaged, the material can be shredded and reused as source material for new Flos. The material is also biodegradable. What are the possibilities for your less socially minded clients who need houses or hospitality spaces? RM: The interesting aspect is the temporary character of the Flo. Because you can easily blow it up and change its shape, you can use it as a home for a few months or even a couple of years. In terms of commercial applications, hotels and bars could opt for cheap accommodations by inflating Flos on the roofs of their hotels or in natural surroundings. – WG roosmeerman.com bartvandenhoven.com
Transport to site PLA filament
3D-printed PLA object
3.5 bar
Shredded to PLA granulate
63.5ÂşC ~20oC
Compressed air Transport to next location Reversible expansion
Deflate to original shape
Air Hotel The production process of the 3D-printed bioplastic Flo creates minimal waste.
Let’s crank some metal.
Chemetal is a massive collection of metal designs and laminates that bring energy to interior spaces of any size. Here: # 943 Polished Bronze Aluminum. See them all at chemetal.com.
Cindy Baar
SUBODH GUPTA raids the kitchen. JAMESPLUMB stays true to its sculptural roots. BERNARD TSCHUMI discusses the evolution of architecture. Meet the people. Get their perspectives.
ONE ARTIST, ONE MATERIAL
Sparked by his upbringing in India and his passion for cooking, SUBODH GUPTA turns stainless-steel kitchenware into monumental sculptures. Words
ANNA SANSOM
Portraits
ANTOINE DOYEN
Man of Steel
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PORTRAITS
BORN IN 1964 in Khagaul, a town in northeast India, and currently based in New Delhi, Subodh Gupta is best known for his work with everyday objects, especially stainless-steel cooking utensils. Imbued with symbolic meaning found in everything from religion and spirituality to socioeconomic inequality, the shiny pots and pans are elevated, through the process of aggregation, into works of art. Significantly, these flashy utensils were unaffordable for Gupta’s family during his upbringing. Gupta’s decision to use this material as his trademark chimes with his passion for cooking and, in his wider practice, with the video works he’s made about the rituals of cooking and eating. Many of his sculptures featured in Adda/Rendez-Vous, Gupta’s retrospective at the Monnaie de Paris. What prompted you to use stainless-steel kitchenware for your sculptures? SUBODH GUPTA: My first major work using this material was The Way Home [1996], which I made at a time when I was experimenting with all kinds of materials. I always spent a lot of time in the kitchen at home, since I enjoyed cooking, and one day I felt as though the utensils were speaking to me. I carried them from the kitchen and laid them out in the living room, where I realized that this was a special material, calling to me to make art out of it.
To what extent was your decision to use stainless-steel pots and pans autobiographical or motivated by an intention to speak about social inequality in Indian society? I wasn’t trying to convey an intentional political message or to tell an autobiographical story, but my decisions are undoubtedly affected subconsciously by my childhood experiences and by the way in which I’ve seen objects assigned meaning and value.
The relationship between hunger and religion is expressed in the huge vanitas Very Hungry God (2006) and in Faith Matters (2007-2008), which comprises empty tiffin boxes rotating on a mechanical circuit. What inspired the latter? I’ve always been fascinated by similarities between the »
In 2017, working in a hut composed of used kitchenware, Subodh Gupta served visitors to Art Basel’s Unlimited exhibition. Cooking the World showed how sharing a meal acts as an indicator of inclusion.
Peter Hauck, courtesy of Photoservice Art Basel 2017
Why have you appropriated stainless-steel utensils as your material of predilection? Although it wasn’t a calculated or planned decision, I do think that stainless steel as a material is very interesting. The way that it shines and glitters, attracting your eyes and drawing you in, makes it seem valuable and precious. But the touch of it is cold and uninviting, and it isn’t actually a precious metal. The way in which it simultaneously draws you in and pushes you away creates a great tension and makes it very exciting to work with.
What influence does your background in a theatre troupe, prior to your becoming an artist, have on your sculptures? In addition to acting, I used to make the posters that advertised the troupe’s performances. One day someone saw them and suggested that I study visual art. It was the first time I learned that the option to study art or painting even existed. My background in performance has influenced me throughout my career. The type of street theatre I used to do definitely focused on exaggerating or dramatizing moments and emotions, and I think you see in my work that I have quite a flair for the dramatic.
SUBODH
Martin Argyroglo, courtesy of Monnaie de Paris
ONE ARTIST, ONE MATERIAL
Gupta’s huge vanitas Very Hungry God (2006), part of the Pinault Collection, expresses the relationship between hunger and religion.
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PORTRAITS
‘I have quite a flair for the dramatic’
food and recipes of countries and cultures that are thousands of miles apart. Faith Matters – a work in which food containers move, zigzag and intermingle with one another – was inspired by the context of the Silk Route. It has very little to do with hunger and religion and is meant as a play on the constant reciprocity of ideas, cultures and practices that happens inadvertently through trade and economic exchange. Last year at Art Basel’s Unlimited exhibition, you presented Cooking the World (2017), a cooking performance inside a hut composed of hanging kitchen utensils. What did you want the viewer to reflect upon? In an age of migration and displacement – matched by an increasing intolerance of ‘the other’ – I wanted to create a work that dealt with the rituals and symbolism around the preparation, presentation and consumption of food. In Western cultures, gathering round the dinner table indicates a sense of familial bond and intimacy. In contemporary Indian communities and ancient Indian religions, sharing a meal acts as the strongest indicator of inclusion and acceptance into a community. The food was prepared by me, the artist. I cooked and served food with my team every day, from 11:30 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. Visitors ate the food in a shelter that consisted of a porous and seemingly temporary accumulation of »
ONE ARTIST, ONE MATERIAL
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Subodh Gupta poses with Faith Matters (2007-2008) one of the works featured in Adda/Rendez-Vous, his retrospective at the Monnaie de Paris.
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PORTRAITS
Even though the Bodhi Tree that inspired People Tree (2018) holds significance in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, Gupta wanted ‘to remove it from religious contexts and reclaim it as a tree of the common people’.
used aluminium utensils. Assembled in this hut-like form, the discarded individual utensils enclosed a new collective ritual space.
Martin Argyroglo, courtesy of Monnaie de Paris
‘My background in performance has influenced me throughout my career’
People Tree (2018), based on the Bodhi Tree and blossoming with kitchenware, carries the notion of people gathering round a tree. Could you elaborate on the ideas behind it? In India the Bodhi Tree – in Hindi called the peepal tree – holds significance in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. My giant stainless-steel peepal or Bodhi Tree embodies a multitude of sociocultural tropes that suggest the jostle for space, soil and identity in a direct translation of the physical characteristics of an epiphyte [a plant that grows on another plant]. While the Bodhi Tree is heavily imbued with mythical and otherworldly elements, I wanted to remove my metallic tree from religious contexts and return it to its ‘rooted’ existence, reclaiming it as a tree of the common people. How did you conceive Adda (2018), an outdoor grouping of three pillars, appropriating those in Indian temples and reminiscent of ancient Greek and Roman columns? Again, a work that juxtaposes stainless-steel kitchenware and other objects. Adda is a word that has always interested me. It refers to the place and act of casual dialogue and the exchange of ideas. In my practice, I’ve been increasingly interested in making art that viewers do not merely look at but also interact and engage with. Adda is my way of generating a space that allows the public to interact with the work and with one another. The mix of materials – utensils, concrete, cloth, plants, even sound – mirrors the desired exchange of ideas. ● hauserwirth.com
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Vincent Hecht
YUSUKE SEKI designs by deconstructing. AMO clears the showroom floor. CAPSULE HOTELS gain ground. RETAIL introduces appointment-based and alternative-ownership models. Step inside the great indoors.
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SPACES
Colour serves as a guide at Aranya Kids Restaurant. By following the yellow staircase, for example, children arrive at the building’s red crown.
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CreatAR Images
HOSPITALITY
Kids’ design grows up in China QINHUANGDAO – A few images spring to mind when hearing the words ‘children’s eatery’: visions of cartoon-character cutouts, primary colours, perhaps a carnivalesque atmosphere. For Aranya Kids Restaurant, however, Wutopia Lab opted for a more mature ambience. ‘Gimmicky and childish design doesn’t interest every kid,’ says Yu Ting, chief architect at Wutopia Lab. It was one child in particular that inspired Ting’s pared-back aesthetic in Qinhuangdao, China. When experiencing various hospitality environments with his daughter, the designer was surprised
to discover her aversion to colourful, cartoonish spaces. ‘There are already too many naive designs made by adults. Multicoloured rooms are no longer as attractive to children as we may think.’ Ting’s daughter mentioned two key factors for engaging youngsters: spatial variation and a leitmotif. ‘Since they’re so curious about unfamiliar things, children enjoy exploring different spaces and following clues to unearth new experiences. Without an overwhelming palette to distract them, kids can be guided by the obvious colours in the scheme.’ Navigated by the sunshine-yellow »
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Because ‘children can’t focus entirely on a large meal’, says Ting, kids can entertain themselves in the play area while parents socialize.
SPACES
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SPACES
‘Escaping from reality doesn’t mean we create spaces that are irrelevant in the physical world’
Wutopia Lab’s restrained palette exemplifies Ting’s belief that ‘multicoloured rooms are no longer as attractive to children as we may think’.
staircase, for example, wee visitors pass by a bubble tree to arrive at the building’s fireengine-red crown, which Ting likens to a flag or lighthouse. Made from double-perforated aluminium panels, the structure sits atop an example of Prairie-School-meets-Art-Deco architecture. Wutopia Lab wrapped the original façade in polycarbonate panels, leaving a gap for vertical gardens and large staircases. ‘This is the first time we’ve used polycarbonate to represent a solid surface, because the material can reveal silhouettes from inside. At some angles, however, the shadows vanish. This means the walls vary depending on the viewer’s perspective and the time of day.’ Elsewhere in the 1,000-m2 building, the palette is largely neutral. In the celestial black-and-white play area, magic mirrors frame translucent domes dotted beneath a starry sky. Here, even the ball pit – a typically rainbow-hued feature of many a children’s playground – lacks colour. Matte PVC pipes surround the restaurant’s circular dining hall, where, together with diffuse lighting, they offer little in the way of texture, scale or direction. The result is spatial ambiguity and
a sense of escapism. ‘Escaping from reality doesn’t mean we create spaces that are irrelevant in the physical world but that we represent reality in a different way. Wutopia Lab wants to achieve magic realism through materials, light and scale to highlight the potential of the world around us. It can be more interesting and full of imagination.’ To reach their goal, the designers made dining feel almost secondary to the overall concept. ‘Children can’t focus entirely on a large meal,’ says Ting. ‘Restaurants that include play areas are popping up in urban China. While kids play, parents can socialize.’ The Neobio restaurant (Frame 121, p. 110) is a case in point, although its designer, Li Xiang, took the road more travelled when it came to colour, producing a veritable Willy Wonkalike wonderland. Despite its underage target group, the project has a more universal goal. ‘Children may be key to this restaurant, but they lead their parents through the space and encourage them to reconsider what their normal life can be.’ – TI wutopia-lab.divisare.pro
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The dining hall’s white-on-white scheme offers spatial ambiguity and a sense of escapism.
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Paint tubes as columns and a giant paint pot in the washroom (opposite) help to turn 52 Arts into a sculptural installation.
Dick Liu, courtesy of Pal Design Group
SPACES
INSTITUTION
Pal Design Group gives the classic classroom model a more fluid expression
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Designed from a child’s perspective, the art centre features butterfly-like book lights in the library (opposite) and a gallery space for presenting the kids’ creations.
SHENZHEN – According to Joey Ho of Pal Design Group – the brains behind 52 Arts, a children’s art centre in Shenzhen, China – the project’s biggest challenge was ‘to convince the client to cut down on the number of classrooms in favour of open spaces’. Designed for kids from three to 12 and located in a shopping mall, 52 Arts offers extracurricular activities that include painting (both Chinese and Western), pottery and other crafts. By abandoning the classic classroom model, Pal freed up the 700-m2 interior to express what Ho calls ‘the entire art atmosphere’, complete with fanciful elements, fluid organization, exhibition areas and startling splashes of colour. ‘In my opinion, educational spaces usually pursue a faulty concept based on
fulfilling all the requirements of the educator,’ says Ho. ‘It’s important to design from the perspective of the kids. During the design process, we thought about the way children paint and do crafts.’ Providing inspiration and ample room for the young user’s own creative process was key to the project. The playful result appeals to the imagination of the budding artists and removes the stress and pressure to perform that is associated with the conventional classroom. Fun and flexible, 52 Arts feels less like a school and more like a playground-cum-art gallery. Features such as giant paintbrushes and paint tubes as columns, a flock of butterfly-like book lights in the library, and a giant paint pot in the washroom turn the centre into an art installation in and of itself.
Natural wood and curving white walls form a neutral backdrop for showcasing the kids’ artistic efforts. ‘We need to ensure that classrooms are more like workshops or playrooms than what most schools currently offer,’ says Ho, who admits that the client was initially shocked by the proposal’s lack of resemblance to traditional learning environments. ‘The concept for 52 Arts is that of a village where kids can enjoy themselves while playing with art,’ he says. For the clients, that idea took some getting used to: ‘Our biggest achievement is that we finally convinced the operator, educator, principal and even the investor that 52 Arts should not be a school but a creative centre.’ – JS paldesign.cn
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Courtesy of Snøhetta
Hospitality
Is the concept of SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL a contradiction? With up to 80 per cent of the industry’s CO2 emissions generated by the journey alone – not to mention accusations of greenwashing aimed at the ECOTOURISM sector – it seems all but impossible for holidaymakers to leave home with a clear conscience. Thankfully, change is afoot. Realizing that transparency is key, hotel designers are integrating visibility into their plans and, in many cases, are involving both guests and locals in their various initiatives.
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Climate Change Sustainable-tourism expert JEREMY SMITH argues that genuinely green hotels ought to improve life for the people and places around them.
– the touristic desire for freedom with sustainability’s respect for limits. Since the term ‘ecotourism’ emerged in the 1990s, much of the focus of sustainable accommodation design has pinpointed our natural resources. Ecolodges with rainwater harvesting and solar panels sprang up in many of the most beautiful places in the world, mostly serving a wealthy, welltravelled client base. Yet in 2002, the UN’s International Year of Ecotourism, critics accused the sector of being a form of greenwash, whereby a supposed concern for the
Courtesy of Fogo Island Inn
WE TRAVEL TO ESCAPE. We travel to connect. These opposing urges motivate most of our holidays. I want to switch off from work, get away from responsibility, leave winter behind. But I also want to discover a new place, meet people from other cultures, experiment with different tastes and adventures. We all want to live like the locals, and sites like Airbnb have flourished from – and fuelled – this desire. Yet the rapid expansion of short-term holiday lets in the most desirable parts of cities like Barcelona has caused rents to become unattainable for the real residents, who are the authentic characters of the places we tourists seek out. We want to stay in low-impact ecolodges immersed in the pristine natural world we crave a return to. And we will produce more than our annual carbon budget of climatealtering gases to get there and back. These contradictions confront efforts to develop a more sustainable travel industry, where up to 80 per cent of the sector’s emissions are caused by us moving between our homes and the destinations we visit (accommodation accounts for most of the rest). The very concept of ‘sustainable travel’ takes these paradoxes even further, as it attempts an unwieldy yoking of opposites
Fogo Island Inn’s furnishings are the work of international designers invited to participate in the project. They were paired with local builders who used Fogo’s resources to implement the designs.
environment was little more than a marketing gimmick. Can a lodge truly be said to be carbon neutral if it relies for its existence on international guests flying in each week? After all, it doesn’t matter what caused the emissions; they all end up in the same atmosphere. As ecologist David Suzuki puts it, ‘We all live downstream.’ Offsetting the climate costs of flying around the world to stay in a sustainably constructed lodge, many of the early establishments had great views and a low-impact mantra that extended to the limited positive contribution they made to local communities. These were privileged reserves that maintained a sense of exclusivity and protected guests from anything that encroached upon the illusion. The situation is shifting. A growing awareness of the circular economy is challenging designers and industry to address externalities throughout the supply chain. Biomimicry is inspiring us to learn from nature rather than resist it. An emerging interest in transformation – and in transformative tourism – embraces a narrative of shared goals. Now the story is that we go on holiday looking for positive change. We go to restore balance and discover meaning. Positive change is most richly and sympathetically delivered by buildings and experiences that initiate positive change in their surroundings. It’s early days in our efforts to write the stories of a more integrated travel industry, but we can spot the beginnings of a move in the right direction. Where previously the mechanics of sustainability – the ways we produce our energy, deliver our water, grow our food, even manage our waste – were hidden from sight, more progressive hotels are presenting solutions as visible, immersive and interactive parts of their designs. Often they recruit both guests and local residents to achieve their aims. Located near Cape Town International Airport, Hotel Verde has a vertical hydroponic system that supports almost 500 plants, some of which are organic vegetables for use in the hotel kitchens. At Finolhu Villas in the Maldives – said to be the
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Courtesy of Katamama
FRAME LAB
Bali’s boutique hotel, Katamama, required 1.5 million red bricks for its construction. The architects commissioned local artisans to make them, thus boosting the popularity of brick-making and renewing the economic lifeblood of the community.
world’s first five-star hotel that runs entirely on renewable energy – solar panels cap interconnecting walkways between the villas and public spaces. Architect Yuji Yamazaki says the panels should be seen as ‘part of strategic architectural embellishment’ that not only generates energy but also serves as ‘a canopy that gives shaded areas’, which are particularly welcome in the tropical climate. While Hotel Verde and Finolhu Villas make their sustainability measures a talking point to be admired, other hotels look to integrate guests more actively in the process. All the water for Chile’s Chepu Ecolodge is collected through rainwater harvesting and filtration. A water-management system tracks exactly how much water is consumed, and in-room tablets inform guests of their personal usage, along with »
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HOTEL SUSTAINABILITY IN NUMBERS Courtesy of Yuji Yamazaki Architecture PLLC
4.5 trillion litres is the annual amount of water consumed by hotels worldwide Source: US Green Building Council
$4 billion is the annual cost of energy used by the global hospitality industry Source: USGBC
$7 is the amount saved for every dollar invested in programmes for reducing hotel-kitchen food waste Source: World Resources Institute
29% is the percentage of participants in a 2017 survey who said their hotel had a green roof
At Finolhu Villas in the Maldives, solar panels cover interconnecting walkways between the villas and public spaces. The complex runs entirely on renewable energy.
back home, proudly displayed and perhaps reworking perceptions as well. 65% For the Good Hotel, rethinking the is the percentage of relationship between travel and waste lies travellers in 2017 seeking green at the heart of its mission as a social enteraccommodation Source: Booking.com prise. The hotel occupies a repurposed ship that was originally used to house refugees 90% of the global hotel sector needs to in the Netherlands. Having sailed across to reduce emissions by 2050 to meet London, it is now moored in the Docklands, its Paris climate target directly opposite Excel, the UK capital’s Source: International Tourism Partnership largest exhibition centre and home to the annual World Travel Market, a tourism trade fair. As a floating hotel, it demanded a reminder of how much the lodge’s no additional land use, and a ship for refuresources can sustain. A central screen in gees refitted with upcycled furnishings reception summarizes and shares how the now fulfils a useful function. All profits are lodge is doing. When guests check out, they ploughed back into hospitality training and are rewarded for remaining within their job opportunities for disadvantaged local limits. According to Chepu’s owners, fewer youth, many of whom have been unemthan 1 per cent of guests exceed the sugployed for a long time. ‘We believe in fresh gested maximum amount of water. starts and second chances,’ says manager Despite being located on a MaldivAnna Glinkowska. ‘Renewing by rethinking: ian island atoll with no municipal waste all it takes is a little love and care to transfacilities, luxury hotel Soneva Fushi recyform discarded materials into something cles four-fifths of its solid waste, as well as of value and purpose.’ She compares it to several tonnes of waste from neighbour‘giving opportunities to our team, regardless ing islands each year. Glass extracted from of their background or skills’ and refers to the waste is either crushed and reused as a ‘imperfection as a sign of character’. replacement for sand in concrete-making or Where the Good Hotel provides a refashioned into drinking vessels. The hotel future for London’s young people, Bali’s also has an on-site glass-blowing centre Katamama makes sure that historical skills for guests who want to make their own don’t die. Construction of the 58-suite bousouvenirs. What started as waste ends up tique hotel required the use of 1.5 million Source: Green Lodging Trends
Richard Waite
FRAME LAB
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red bricks; the architects commissioned used Fogo’s resources and drew on the local artisans to employ the methods that island’s craft traditions. In the inn’s shop, were used to build the region’s temples. The price tags include a breakdown of where the result boosted the popularity of brick-mak- money goes, from the amount given to the ing and renewed the economic lifeblood of foundation that runs the hotel to the porthe community. Juliet Kinsman, cofounder tion received by the island community, and of boutique hotel chain Mr & Mrs Smith so on. They call this unusual approach to and sustainable luxury consultancy Bouteco, communication ‘economic nutrition labellooks at it this way: ‘For a sustainable ling’. design-focused hotel to have real meaning, Making and communicating local conit should do just that by having the hotel’s nections – seeing hotels not as sheltered existence benefit the local community enclaves for tired foreign visitors but as and culture by playing cultural mediator. connectors between guest and host – perIntelligent sustainable haps best describes luxury invites visitors the task of an accom‘For a sustainable designto engage with hyperlomodation that’s part of cal brands, suppliers, a global resistance to focused hotel to have real makers and creatives, mass tourism and its meaning, it should act providing an antidote impact on the environas a cultural mediator’ to the way chain hotels ment. Occupying the handled procurement in basement of London’s the past, when they used international sup- Qbic Hotel is Café Art, a local organization pliers for everything from artwork to furni- that uses art to reconnect people affected ture and F&B.’ She says that today’s sustain- by homelessness with society. It displays able hotel supports the local economy while and sells their art on the hotel’s walls. In the offering ‘authentic local culture’. off-season, Hotel Verde invites local school The initiators of Fogo Island Inn, children to visit; they learn about issues of located off the northern coast of Newfound- concern to the hotel and the initiatives it land, considered the social consequences employs to deal with such problems. Long of every item that went into the hotel from a pioneer in accessible hotel design, Scandic the outset. Responsible for the furnishings has posted a 135-point checklist on its webwas a selection of international designers site, along with online training that makes invited to participate in the project. They its Design for All methodology accessible to were paired with local builders who everyone, regardless of whether they work at the company or not. And in the Gambia, Sandele Eco Retreat operates as a ‘living demonstration centre’ for the alternative technology systems and techniques used in its design. The ‘learning centre’ shares its knowledge with surrounding villages and offers Ecovillage Design Education courses. Adopting a wide variety of approaches, these hotels and lodges use sustainable architecture and design not just as an objective in itself, but as a way of improving interactions between guests and the communities they visit. While reducing the negative impacts of their presence, green hotels can make life better for the people At Soneva Fushi, crushed glass collected from the waste of neighbouring islands is reused as a replacement for sand in concreteand places around them. ● making or refashioned into drinking vessels for use in the hotel. An on-site glass-blowing centre allows guests to make their own souvenirs.
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Soft Furnishings
Companies give TEXTILE WASTE a new lease of life. NATURE-INSPIRED designs bring the outdoors in. Technical fabrics push the limits of ACOUSTICS. Discover what’s driving the business of design.
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REPORTS
BYGONE MUSES Studio Bouroullec
Where traditional crafts meet contemporary design, NEW AESTHETIC LANGUAGES are born.
Computer coding, ancient needlework techniques and design come together in a project by French creatives Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec and the embroiderers at Lesage Intérieurs. Presented at Design Parade Toulon, Taille Douce is a collection of embroidered canvases. Each image was digitally deconstructed into pixels to give full rein to a ‘language of stitches’. bouroullec.com lesageinterieurs.com
Historically, the revival of craft has coincided with major social and economic change. At the turn of the 19th century, architects and designers across Europe and North America instigated the antiindustrial Arts and Crafts movement. Today, in the midst of a prolonged digital revolution, designers are once again turning to craft in search of authenticity and a closer connection to the creative process. Although the use of age-old techniques, materials and styles enriches the work of designers and fuels their powers of imagination, the relationship is a two-way street: designers revitalize neglected or obsolete practices by propelling them to the forefront of modern design. A prime example is fashion brand Didi Textiles, an initiative of Anna Heringer and Veronika Lena Lang, who have their designs hand-tailored in Bangladesh by workers who use fabrics that reflect the area’s traditions. The current comeback of craft clearly functions as a vehicle of social change. – AM
Designers are turning to craft in search of authenticity Ieva Saudargaite and Jalal Abuthina
The product of a collaboration between FBMI (Fatima Bint Mohamed Bin Zayed Initiative) and Nada Debs, the You & I rug collection is grounded in a balance between old and new. Bridging local know-how with global trends, the rugs are collages that juxtapose traditional Afghan carpet patterns with the bold contours of contemporary design. nadadebs.com fbmi.ae
SOFT FURNISHINGS
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DRESSING FURNITURE
Textile designer MARTA FERRI draws a bridge between fashion and furniture design. Words
ANA MARTINS What made you venture into fashion design? It all started by chance. My mother-in-law gave me some offcuts, and when my friends saw me wearing the dresses I made from them, they said things like Wow, did you really make that? May I have one too? So I started designing clothes for them and eventually opened my atelier.
Courtesy of Molteni
What is your creative process like? I put together what I like without asking too many questions, just trusting my instinct and drawing inspiration from the fabrics, particularly furnishing fabrics. For me, each fabric has a distinct personality – a weight, a texture, a general feeling – that can match and complement my client’s personality.
IN 2014, four years after a fortuitous encounter with dressmaking, Marta Ferri founded her couture atelier in Milan. In the same year, she began a fruitful collaboration with Italian furniture company Molteni. ‘As a textile consultant,’ she says, ‘I designed a new palette of colours and fabrics for the company’s furniture offerings. My work for Molteni includes Materia, Gea and the most recent collection, Trama.’ While Ferri’s upholstery collections draw inspiration from people, nature and processes, her fashion designs are informed by her work with and research into vintage textiles and upholstery fabrics. Marta Ferri pauses to reflect on the relationship between dressmaking and her association with Molteni, her creative process, and the similarities between dressing a person and a chair. The Styling Closet by Marta Ferri is a unique capsule collection developed by the textile designer to highlight the characteristics of Molteni's Gliss Master wardrobe system and the Master Dressing walk-in closet.
How did your passion for textiles come to life? MARTA FERRI: Since childhood I have lived in an environment steeped in design, style, aesthetics and good taste. My father, a photographer, taught me the importance of light and colours, while my mother, an interior decorator, is a master in fabric scouting and an expert at creating atmospheres. I think my upbringing is one reason I’m so passionate about textiles.
How does your work in fashion influence your creations for Molteni, and vice versa? I entered the world of furniture and design on tiptoe, with curiosity and respect, but I quickly realized that what needed to be done came to me quite naturally. Fashion and furniture are alike; they both long for beauty and want to make people feel good. I choose the fabric for a chair or a dress with the same goal in mind: a desire to make something that exudes pleasure, freedom and uniqueness. Whether I’m dressing people or pieces of furniture, the process entails focusing on the context they belong to. When a new client walks into my atelier, I try to make her colours shine through. In the case of furniture, I look at its history. Your collaboration with Molteni is now in its fourth year. What’s behind your approach to each new collection? I believe that the fabrics I choose for each Molteni collection are timeless in terms of elegance, style, quality and colours. Trends never influence my choices. Learning the company’s production processes and getting to know the world of Molteni – not only the products, but also the people – has been much more important than following trends. ● martaferri.com molteni.it
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