Focal Point

Shylight

New York, USA www.studiodrift.com

The New York City Ballet (NYCB) presented its 10th annual Art Series this year, where it invites a contemporary artist to create a site-specific work, which will be displayed during its winter season. This year, Drift’s signature work Shylight was on view from 17 January - 26 February.

NYCB was Drift’s first experience of working with a ballet company. The artists installed Shylight, a series of performative sculptures that were programmed – or choreographed – specifically to the Promenade of the David H. Koch Theater.

Shylight is a kinetic installation of light and movement, inspired by the natural movements of certain flowers that close at night. This highly evolved natural mechanism is called ‘nyctinasty’.

Shylight took this inspiration of a sculpture that unfolds and retreats to its original state to in a fascinating choreography, mirroring the nyctinasty of real flowers.

Shylight is the result of the question “How can an inanimate object mimic those changes that express character and emotions?”.

After a research period of five years, Drift created this form to visualise its concept. Shylight has become an object that is perceived to be alive because of its unpredictable, natural-looking movements: it descends while blossoming in all its beauty, only to subsequently close and retreat upward again.

Shylight is created out of many layers of silk, which causes it to move with the grace of a dancer. The movement of the work can be controlled to the millimetre and gives it a subtle choreography.

Image: Andy Romer

Focal Point

405 Bourke Street

Melbourne, Australia

The Foundry combines a six-storey heritage listed apartment building constructed in 1915-18 and the adjacent 405 Bourke St Provincial Insurance House. 405 Bourke Street, which was developed by Brookfield Properties in collaboration with ISPT, involved the transformation of an ageing retail, office, and carpark complex across a whole city block from Bourke Street through to Little Collins Street.

The development goal was to construct a 60,000sqm commercial office building above the existing buildings and activate the ground plane via the establishment of an inviting lobby and thoroughfare that provides access in and across the site into Melbourne’s famed laneway network. The architectural form for the new building frames the existing heritage façade with a striking structural cantilever over the buildings and a 25-metre-high awe-inspiring entrance lobby that serves as the main commercial office entry and connection to a new retail laneway connecting Bourke Street to Little Collins Street.

Led by Project Director Craig Carroll, WSP provided building services engineering including the lighting design for the base building. A key feature of the main lobby lighting solution is the large linear pendant. The inspiration for the bespoke pendant came from a need to express the cathedral-esque nature of the lobby. The intent was to coalesce with the vertical lines rendered by the castellated travertine stonework, thereby having a presence without detracting from the architectural lines. Working closely with the architecture and interior design team at Wood Bagot, WSP developed the interlocking linear feature light that plays on the verticality of the space and leads the eyes into and up to the lofty ceiling, which sits some 25-metres above the viewer. www.wsp.com/au

At 10-metres long, seven-metres wide and fivemetres high, the pendant also portrays a subliminal message that subtly plays on the street address. From certain viewing angles, the interlocking shapes can be read as a deconstructed number four, the rectangular shapes represent the number zero, and the five elements represent the number five, thus in a subtle way reinforcing the number 405 of the street address.

Taking its design concept to Australian-based manufacturer Lumen8, WSP’s designers workshopped the scheme and established which faces of the luminaire were to be illuminated, thereby imparting light to the vertical elements of the interior space. Additionally, the suspension/electrical cables were combined, allowing the delicate nature of the luminaire to be maintained without cluttering the ceiling.

Image: Jackie Chan for Erco Lighting

Work/Life Balance

Conran and Partners has recently completed the design for an entrance experience at wells&more at 45 Mortimer Street, in the heart of London’s Fitzrovia.

The wells&moore workplace, by Great Portland Estates (GPE), offers tenants the opportunity to select a Ready for Fit space that can be designed to suit their needs, a Fitted space that can be designed and fitted with an in-house team, or a Fully Managed option that is completed entirely by GPE. Conran and Partners’ scheme dilutes the boundaries between work and social, as well as those between workplace and hospitality. Responding to the growing need for offices that are site-specific and culturally sensitive, Conran and Partners tapped into its extensive hotel design expertise to design a hospitality-influenced lobby that offers a meaningful and immersive experience to users and that can be used for events, work and social purposes. The project seeks to reconnect individuals and teams with their company culture, as well as with the surrounding. The result is a clubhouse-style lobby for the modern worker. darc spoke with Simon Kincaid, Principal at Conran and Partners, to find out more about the team’s approach to the project. “We have successfully worked with Great Portland Estates in previous refurbishment and re-positioning projects: 200 Grays Inn Road and The Hickman.

“It is a very natural and collaborative relationship, with GPE looking for spaces and experiences beyond the typical ‘office design’ to which we bring a wealth of cross-sector experience, particularly in residential and hospitality, that suits the changing expectations of office workers.

“45 Mortimer Street is situated minutes away from one of the busiest streets in the world, which is home to an array of creatives specialising in global fashion, film production and hospitality.

“The social isolation due to Covid-19 that we were hoping was shortlived drove the idea of creating a clubhouse-like space for creativity and collaboration: A celebration of people coming together.

“The brief was for the lobby to be more welcoming, aspirational, and atmospheric than more traditionally corporate spaces and to enhance social interaction and comfort. The client really wanted the space to be utilised to the full; to be more of a “lobby lounge” and “residents’ club” rather than just a waiting area or transient space.

“This functional brief is overlayed with the aim of integrating the site’s unique aesthetic and mood of the Fitzrovia area, which is rich in hospitality and cultural experiences, to give wells&more a stronger and more connected identity.”

Upon entering the lobby, users are welcomed into a spacious multi-use area that doubles as a café and socialising space. The reception desk draws the eye in, creating a focal point surrounded by a soft backdrop of wavy green curtains. Hanging over the reception desk is a selection of Bloom pendants designed by Tim Rundle for Resident. The green and brown colour palette continues through the marble-framed wall openings behind the reception into a seating area that promotes individual and small teamwork. Astep’s geometric wall lights are featured along with an ad-hoc planter with integrated seating. Opposite the reception, Conran and Partners crafted a series of flexible spaces using soft partitions to create semi-private areas for meetings or individual work. These include a cocooned lounge-like space with a mix of Italian and Scandinavian furniture and a roundtable meeting space. Sculptural pendants from Santa & Cole help define the spaces and create an intimate atmosphere. “The large Santa & Cole paper shades (Tekiò Circular) were consciously chosen due to scale: we wanted to define individual zones,” explains Kincaid. “The materiality is a playful reference to some of our research into the area’s history as the workshop for all of the textile retailers on Oxford Street, which goes back over a century. We were drawn to the fabric-like textural volume, which sits as sculptural elements floating in the space.

“Toward the back of the space, we have used decorative wall lights to the high tables (Areti - Zig Zag) and along the panelling to the back wall

(Michael Anastassiades - Tip of the Tongue). By placing these quite low they focus the attention at eye level and counteract some of the larger volumes. Styling items such as the Gubi 9602 floor light really help to give a layered feeling of domesticity.”

Describing the project brief, Kincaid elaborates: “This project was always a refurb rather than a redesign and it was not realistic to expect that we had the budget to ‘start from scratch’. We also had to work with some existing features such as the limestone floor, acrylic artwork, and walnut panelling. These elements became a starting point to work from and layer into. It also allowed us to create ‘wow’ moments such as the reception area, which doubles up as a café and zones within the space.

“The seating pockets are a particular design highlight as they are exactly as hoped with a purity and confidence to them. And, from the success that they are so well used and enjoyed by the tenants; giving privacy and acoustic comfort in spaces that are welcoming and atmospheric for breakout meetings from the workplace and to host guests within.

“Our research (and of course being London locals) showed how internationally renowned the area is. The people who use the offices can visit Liberty during their lunch break or start the day with breakfast at Langham, which is just around the corner. When we design hospitality or residential projects, we are very careful to ensure that we meet the expectations of the end user. In this case, it meant choosing individually beautiful pieces that have modernity, quality, and uniqueness,” he says.

Typically, Conran and Partners work with lighting designers on projects but didn’t for this particular refurbishment. “We developed a lighting concept and then worked with the M+E contactor and suppliers to develop the specifications. We typically do collaborate with lighting designers and see the huge value this adds in the design process, and most importantly in the atmosphere and ambience. If spaces like this are too flat or cold, it fails. “Lighting levels and temperatures have a large part to play in humanising the space and creating a more relaxing/welcoming atmosphere. Therefore, the decorative additions allowed us to express more of a hospitality approach. We were keen that it was more of a curated collection of beautiful pieces that helped to zone areas and create a feeling of intimacy, rather than coming across as a singular lighting range.”

Speaking of the architectural lighting, he adds: “We changed the architectural light fittings, which were originally gridded recessed spots. Across such a large ceiling this felt very corporate, so we swapped these for brass drum lights.

“As this was a refurb, we were not able to change the location but the change in fitting elevated the perception of quality and creates interest in an otherwise very flat ceiling. It then became the job of the decorative lights to create intimacy, a hospitality slant, and a sense of home.

“They are intended to contribute to an overall scheme, which will take guests away from the idea that this is an office lobby but a beautiful relaxed communal space that encourages dynamic meetings and flowing conversation.”

Overall, the refurbishment has been deemed a success for all parties involved, and this has been quantified by the response of people using the space. “The biggest impact and success has been how well used the spaces are,” reflects Kincaid. “Last time we visited there were eight different groups using the space – from individuals through to teams using the “curtain rooms” for both social and working scenarios.

“As designers, we often talk about people-centric spaces that bring people together, create a community and shift the dynamic of how people interact. In the words of our founder, Sir Terence Conran, ‘Good design should improve people’s lives’, and this is always our key focus.

“The lighting was one element in a series where we have carefully curated elements that intentionally become more than the sum of their parts. A peaceful welcoming space that is also appropriate to the location and users.” www.conranandpartners.com

Design Details

wells&more, London, UK

Interior Design: Conran and Partners

Lighting Specified: Areti, Astep, Michael Anastassiades, Resident, Santa & Cole

Images: Anna Stathaki

The refurbishment of wells&more at 45 Mortimer Street has transformed the entrance space into a flexibleuse area that blends hospitality with a workplace environment. Conran and Partners used decorative lighting to bring that hospitality vibe to the space and create warm layers of lighting to create a comfortable environment for its users.