Indesign #75 – Preview

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Issue #75 / Australia $16.50 / New Zealand $17.50 / Singapore $12.95 / U.S. $21.99

A professional resource for the design curious.

Oki Sato, nendo The Retreat Hotel, Design Group Italia Michaela Sheahan, HASSELL University of Adelaide, ARM Architecture Indesign Luminary Jon Johannsen Yancoal, Hammond Studio The ‘Healthcare & Wellbeing’ Issue.

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IN SHORT

Honour The Light Within

As the personal wellness industry gathers momentum, we see yoga studios and gyms adopting a mantel of accessible luxury. Taking their cues from premium club environments, and blending them with an Average Joe’s mentality (forgive the Dodgeball reference). In the crafting of this new public image, the fitness industry – and particularly yoga studios – have tapped into a lucrative market of social media-savvy yogis who draw thousands of followers with their attractive, marketable lifestyles.

While the social pull is strong (and as good a reason as any to make your yoga studio stylish and memorable), there is very much a serious, introspective – and far from flashy – side to the practice. “Often yoga is too neatly summarised as only a light and happy pursuit, which it can be,” says architect Richard Stampton. “But a reality and strength of yoga is that it can reflect and mediate the essential oppositions in life and our nature – not all of which are light and easy.”

Artist Kirra Jamison’s second Good Vibes Yoga (pictured right) inhabits an existing studio space in Collingwood, designed by Stampton for a previous client, Kaz Kingdon, and Ashtanga Yoga teacher, Eoin McCarthy.

Being a student himself, Stampton was ideally positioned to interpret the principles of yoga through design. The objective was an aesthetic that felt “bold and warm, but also humble and frugal, rather than stark.”

The robust material palette comprises concrete, glass, timber and steel. Unsealed granite boulders beneath a hand-buffed staircase express the honest, elemental nature of yoga in a way that eschews ornament or cliché. A once dingy groundfloor is cleverly illuminated by a central changeroom made of glass block, serving as the project’s functional and poetic core.

“I guess light is to architecture what the breath is to yoga,” Richard says. “I hope that the balance we struck between the conscious and subconscious operation of the design adds, in some meaningful way, to the students’ experience and development of their practice.”

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IN SHORT

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I N Fa mo u s

A Beautiful Mind Words Alice Blackwood in conversation with Oki Sato Photography Various

Oki Sato is a hard man to get hold of. His studio’s prolific output gives you the distinct impression that he may never sleep. And he’s constantly on the fly, so a face-to-face can be quite hard to come by.

However to meet him in person dispels any myth of the ego-centric design-fluencer. His calm, constant presence reveals a masterful mind that seems to live in the moment, always alert and attentive.

When we met in Milan earlier this year – a fleeting 10 minute interview at Fritz Hansen in the Brera District, Sato revealed that he may – just may – be dropping in to Melbourne later in the year. That hint rapidly manifested into a solid reality, with the announcement of Between Two Worlds | Escher x Nendo at National Gallery of Victoria. Ahead of the exhibition’s opening, I speak with Oki Sato on topics of practice, creativity, leadership and entrepreneurship.

Alice Blackwood: The diversity of your output is so varied, is there a common thread that ties your vast portfolio together?

Oki Sato: I find a project appealing when it is difficult for me to imagine the final output, or when I cannot perceive the impact of its completion. This is when I feel excited about an opportunity. It’s the same feeling I get when I experience something [for the first time], like using an unfamiliar object or technology. A project that has a level of uncertainty, and makes you feel a bit anxious, is a project worth jumping into.

AB: Tell me about nendo’s working culture, and the unique team dynamic that influences how you work day-to-day?

OS: Every single project at nendo has a single designer assigned to it. I work together with each of those designers, forming small teams to work and progress with each part of the project throughout its process. While I am the one that comes up with the core ideas for each project, unexpected situations can often develop and steer the project in a different or wider direction.

How those initial core ideas will develop and transform along the way is mostly unpredictable. The final design will change largely depending on the skills of the designer and how they handle these evolutions. This element of uncertainty is one of the most exciting parts of the design process in our studio.

AB: How do you balance the demands of being a designer, a leader and a manager?

OS: Thinking of strategies and management is also a creative act. The important thing is that you should not draw a line between the actual design work and the management that supports it. It can be compared to using the right side and left side of the brain; it’s not healthy to overload just one of them. Possibilities of exciting design will arrive by supporting and balancing both sides of the brain.

These are the moments I enjoy most.

But there is a limit to what one person can do. When we have very dynamic and short-deadline projects, it is inevitable that you must collaborate with other designers. In this case I mentor and direct them throughout the process.

Opposite and page 66: Oki Sato, the designer behind nendo, photos: © Ko Sasaki. Page 64-65: Floor three of the Shiseido flagship store in Ginza, Tokyo, photo: Takumi Ota. Page 67: Sketches of nendo’s Shiseido store renovation concept in which cosmetics are applied to construction materials, courtesy of nendo.

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I N Fa m o u s

“In order to become a better director, like an athlete, you need to practice, be aware of the changes and regularly refine the technique. The balance needs to be considered for each project individually and continuously. Similarly to the relationship between light and shadow.�

Oki Sato, chief designer and founder, nendo.

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I N Fa mo u s

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I N Fa m o u s

Buff And Polish In nendo’s Shiseido flagship store renovation in Ginza, Tokyo, the interior construction takes its cues from common make-up rituals. Similar to making up one’s face, walls are finished in paper made from thinly spread cotton pads; wooden elements are conditioned with Shiseido’s signature Camellia oil; eye shadow is brushed onto the walls for a marble-like effect; nail polish is mixed into the paint to create shimmering ceiling art.

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I N Fa m o u s

Honourable Mentions The Daily Edited steps offline with its Melbourne flagship which received an Honourable Mention at the INDE.Awards 2018. A stand-out in The Shopping Space category, judges commended Pattern Studio for referencing advancing technology and the intangible qualities of e-commerce to imagine a futuristic space filled with reductive elements and generous volumes.

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IN SITU

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IN SITU

In the University of Adelaide a gorgeous chaos of pattern and colour pulls students down the proverbial rabbit hole. But ARM Architecture has been careful to control the immersion, with meticulously considered interiors that facilitate student-centred learning and imaginative ideation.

Ordered Chaos University of Adelaide Common Teaching Area Upgrades by ARM Architecture Words Leanne Amodeo Photography Lyndon Stacy

ARM’s recent University of Adelaide refurbishments are unlike anything you’ve ever seen. These dynamic upgrades across two buildings at the main campus on North Terrace are proof that creating effective learning environments isn’t just about providing practical outcomes for students. While clear sight lines, efficient lighting, reliable acoustics and intelligent temperature control are important, so too are interiors that are accommodating, flexible and inspirational.

And in bringing elements of genuine wonder and curiosity to one of the country’s oldest universities, ARM is also advancing current pedagogical discourse surrounding student-centred learning.

“It’s not passive design,” says Amber Stewart, ARM’s associate and the project’s interior architect. “University should be a time and place where you’re not afraid to test out new ideas and our interiors reflect that. They’re definitely not spaces you can say nothing about.”

Indeed, the refurbished Engineering South building’s lecture theatres take experiential design to the next level. The larger tiered room is themed ‘atmosphere’ and the smaller one themed ‘earth’; both are uncompromising in presenting immersive environments that seem a world away from the actual campus they inhabit.

Stewart and the project team skilfully worked within a modest budget to utilise low cost finishes for maximum impact. Printed carpet, bold wallpaper, bright paint applications and coloured upholstery give the outdated rooms a much-needed face lift, as well as imparting a sense of ownership to the students who use them.

Interestingly, distraction isn’t an issue with all the patterning underfoot, behind the seats or to the side, as the front of each lecture theatre has been left deliberately unadorned.

In the Barr Smith South spaces (accessed via the subterranean Horace Lamb entry beneath the Barr Smith Library), the same decorative devices are used to even greater effect. Step inside and the foyer is all dramatic angles, harlequin flooring and wallpaper featuring Ionic and Corinthian columns intermingled with statues of ancient Roman gods and guards. Beyond that, the six break-out study booths each have their own distinct identity, heightened by the wrapping of wallpaper on each alcove’s suspended ceiling. Yes, it’s over the top and that’s the intention. But this is a basement with very low ceilings and no windows; it was always going to take a lot to activate it.

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IN DEPTH

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IN DEPTH

“ Since rehabilitation is 24/7, all spaces are designed to activate and challenge patients.” Amber Wernick

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IN DEPTH

As human-centred design comes head-to-head with technology, two architectural firms are splicing biophilia and digital innovation to augment a modern healthcare and wellbeing experience.

Words Tracey Ingram Photography Various

human vs. nature To create the most soothing wellness and healthcare experiences, designers are delving into biophilia: access to and imitation of nature, which is purported to reduce stress and aid recuperation. But as technology becomes an increasingly important factor in today’s spaces, how can these two seemingly opposite forces – one physically natural, the other synthetically digital – find harmony?

Richard Does of DesignInc and Sigurdur Thorsteinsson of Design Group Italia (DGI) believe the task is made easier by the tendency towards smaller, subtler and more integrated technologies (let’s forget the iPhone X for a moment). Both DesignInc and DGI have worked on recent biophilic health-related projects; the latter responsible for the experiential design of The Retreat Hotel, a new venue nestled into the natural lava formations of Iceland’s Blue Lagoon. Together with the building’s architects, Basalt, DGI also designed the interiors.

“Blue Lagoon epitomises the relationship between the natural and the man-made,” says Thorsteinsson. The geothermal spa is located about 45 minutes drive from Reykjavik. The lagoon may appear to be one of Iceland’s many organically formed hot springs, but its mineralrich water – which is reputedly beneficial for sufferers of skin ailments – actually arrives from a nearby geothermal power plant, Svartsengi.

DGI relied on biophilia to “visually soothe the nerves”, says Thorsteinsson. He’s referring to an interior palette derived entirely from the surroundings, whose colours blend with the real landscape that penetrates the space through sweeping windows. And – since the place is a spa, after all – there are various ways to physically interact with the environment, from bathing to skincare rituals using ingredients harvested from the water. He says: “A friend told me his blood pressure immediately drops when he steps inside the building.”

The design team also wanted to honour Blue Lagoon’s technologyreliant origins; you couldn’t drill the holes to reach the revered water without it. “The building wasn’t meant to disappear; that would be imitating nature. We wanted a distinctive man-made object in sync with nature.” What does disappear, though, is the technology employed to enhance The Retreat’s biophilic elements. “We initially thought technology would play a much more dominant role, but in the end we downgraded and concealed it.” Save for some decorative features, all lighting, for example, is hidden. Iceland’s sunlight has a warmer-than-average colour temperature, Thorsteinsson notes.

Emulating nature’s golden hue, DGI worked with Liska lighting design to conceive a system that sits behind each bedroom’s acoustic silencing ceiling: a man-made take on Iceland’s sound-dampening, moss-blanketed landscape. When the light is switched off, the source is invisible. Operable manually or via a tablet, the system makes it possible to achieve accurate shifting colour temperatures from sunrise to sunset. “You could also introduce other colours, but that wasn’t the aim. This project isn’t about technology for technology’s sake; it’s about the feeling you get from technology.”

While The Retreat capitalises on nature’s beauty, DesignInc’s Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) is planned around landscaped courtyards. “Biophilic design is important for achieving patient wellbeing,” says Does. “A healthy environment assists in a faster recovery.” He believes the need for biophilic design will only increase as cities become denser and green space becomes a premium.

“It’s important that architecture extends the landscape into the building’s interiors.”

RAH reportedly tops the Australian charts in sustainability and technological innovation. While some developments are conspicuous – as a patient, it’s hard to miss a robot delivering your food, for example – Does says since “advancements are often invisible to the public eye, it’s important for designers to visually interpret biophilia in the application of shape, texture and sunlight. RAH is conceptualised as a park within a hospital. This theme of nature permeates every aspect of design throughout the hospital and its landscape, be it material, pattern, image or form.”

Thorsteinsson, meanwhile, sees a lack of forethought about how technology is integrated into interiors. “In the early phases of a project, technologists and engineers often run the show. Every discussion becomes about tech. Interiors should be about humans, not tech. Things go wrong when supporting roles try to take the lead.

Technology has advanced so quickly; you can do almost anything you want. That’s when things become difficult. People don’t know what to do with it. That’s the phase we’re in now. We need humanists to guide how technology should be applied.” designinc.com.au, designgroupitalia.com

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