Mark & Frame articles 2010-2012 by Simon Bush-King

MARK No 30

cineroleum Appearing briefly on London’s cultural scene last summer was the Cineroleum on Clerkenwell Road, created and set in one of the United Kingdom’s 4,000 derelict petrol stations. For a collective of architects, artists and cinephiles – who call themselves Cineroleum, after the project – the chance to demonstrate their view of responsive, relevant and fun urbanism was an enticing proposition. After many gatherings at the local pub and a long period of ‘what ifs’, the group finally approached a developer – who promptly went along with their proposal – and the project started moving fast. The developer enabled the group to realize its idea in a mere two and a half months. Secret Cinema, an earlier project initiated by Fabien Riggall, provided invaluable help with programming and organization, and 70 collaborators were involved in the build. Jane Hall, a member of the collective, explains: ‘It worked like peer pressure. You convince the others you can do it, and you push each other forward.’ The Cineroleum was constructed with limited technical assistance and the use of donated and recycled materials; pleated roof insulation became curtains, and seats were cut from old scaffolding. Despite an asbestos scare on opening night, the collective’s creation was received enthusiastically, with screenings selling out in hours. There was

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praise for how the space worked as a cinema. ‘The audience lost themselves in the film as if the place were a normal cinema,’ notes Hall. ‘They almost forgot their surroundings – until a police car raced past and reminded them of the road 10 m away.’ Although an alluring sight, the Cineroleum was certainly no cineplex. It did not provide what most of us would consider a common movie-theatre experience. It did, however, join a list of fantastic examples of temporary projects that point towards possibilities for a creative and adaptive urbanism. www.cineroleum.co.uk

Text Simon Bush-King Photos Morley von Sternberg

transforms summer’s blockbusters

MARK No 30

tectonicus Like many architects starting out on their own, Ben Lepley of Tectonicus has designed his first project for his family home in Tucson, Arizona. In a time of scarce opportunities for young architects, Lepley has realized architecture in a simple building that he crafted out of modest means and the family’s need for additional rainwater storage, a work space and laundry area. A period working in India after graduation impressed upon Lepley the potential of designand-build projects. India’s vernacular approach to building was something that he found well suited to the Arizona climate. He made note of how the open-louvred cladding of Mumbai’s industrial buildings not only performed well when exposed to high temperatures and monsoon rains but also provided good ventilation and diffused natural light, elements that Lepley saw fit for his upcoming project. After the old family garage was dismantled, Lepley reused the steel roofing and salvaged the timber, which became structural framing for the new shed. By combining a disused water tank found on site with another sourced online at a remarkably

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low price, Lepley provided the property with 1,700 gallons of grey-water storage, to be used mainly for irrigating the surrounding fruit trees. He used locally obtained steel panels for the façade, treating them himself to achieve a rich, rusty patina; and handsawing and welding the material to attain clean corner joints. When the house was completed, however, a combination of steel panelling and the scorching Arizona sun made Lepley’s family feel as if they were living in an oven. Lepley was about to retrofit the roof with insulation when his brother asked: ‘Why don’t you just paint it white?’ It worked. Modest projects like Lepley’s Shed 8841 highlight the lack of well-considered design solutions for the myriad of humble structures that hum in the background of our lives. As a result of clever design thinking devoid of sensational architectural gymnastics or a gigantic budget, Lepley has tested his ideas and approach to architecture successfully – and pleased his family at the same time. www.tectonicus.com

Text Simon Bush-King Photos Ben Lepley

makes do with modesty

Assemble a folly in a flyover Text Simon Bush-King Photos Morley von Sternberg Pop-ups in public places are the musthave for festivals everywhere these days. This year’s CREATE Festival in East London was no exception; visitors discovered a temporary cinema and event space tucked beneath a flyover of the A12, in Hackney. Playfully titled Folly for a Flyover, it featured raked seating and a café in the image of a fairy-tale house, all crafted from recycled materials by volunteers and passers-by. The Folly follows last year’s successful Cineroleum (see Mark #30), a cinema created from a disused service station, and is by the same collective of young artists and designers, who call themselves Assemble. Although pop-ups are often fleeting eye candy, the Folly entertains today while using the opportunity to suggest a future use of the site. With the Olympic legacy projects in mind, MUF Architecture identified a number of locations with potential for redevelopment. Folly for a Flyover was conceived in part as a viability test of the site to see whether what the designers saw as a possibility was matched in enthusiasm by people living in the area. The results were positive, with locals and families enjoying the activities as much as the typical hipsters and design junkies. It is a project like this that points to a second phase of pop-ups, in which their natural advantages – short time frames and excitement – can be used to test ideas and to encourage a fresh, uncompromised look at a location. As Assemble’s Anthony Engi Meacock puts it: ‘We’re a smaller-scale project with the freedom to fail.’ We can only hope to see more work embracing the idea of useful spectacle in 2011 and beyond. www.follyforaflyover.co.uk

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Clavel Arquitectos exercises with a tomb Text Simon Bush-King Photos David Frutos Lower level.

In many parts of the world, mausoleums remain a common final resting place but are rarely on the radar of those seeking inventive architecture. Pantheon Nube by Clavel Arquitectos in Murcia, Spain, joins over 10,000 others in the region yet gains attention through its manipulation of light and volume – the traditional tools of religious architecture – and its bold, imaginative execution. Demonstrating the potential to do interesting work in provincial locations, Manuel Clavel describes the 39-m2 tomb as an architectural exercise: ‘Small projects are like going to the gym to prepare your mind and body for other projects.’ Clavel Arquitectos has built two pantheons before – the first for Manuel Clavel’s grandfather at a time when Manuel was still studying. The knowledge gained from previous projects – along with a strong, enthusiastic client – made the realization of such an assured building possible. ‘Once you relax, you see there is little difference between this project and another,’ says Clavel. Onyx, marble and plaster have been deftly used in the interior to craft the spaces required for the ritual of entombment. In a unique twist, entrance to the tomb is gained when the 5 steel doors are opened in a particular order known only to the architect and owner. Mausoleums are built as objects of remembrance or, as Manuel puts it, ‘for people who think about death’. The objects themselves, however, often take a pattern-book approach and say little about the people resting within. Pantheon Nube joins the small yet important body of work that relies on architectural patronage to show a view on life in a location where permanence is measured in decades, if not centuries.

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Forc e of N ature Partly jutting over the edge of a rocky cliff is a panoramic lookout. Photo diephotodesigner.de

Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter creates bold, simple projects with a strong connection to the impressive Scandinavian landscape. Text Simon Bush-King Photos RRA

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Points on the façade of the spikily designed Visitors’ Centre echo neighbouring mountain peaks.

At the end of last year, Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter (RRA) saw exhibitions of its work open in São Paulo, Copenhagen, Brussels and Gwangju, South Korea. The Oslo-based firm is gaining attention thanks to bold, simple projects with a strong connection to the landscape. The assured clarity of the Trollwall restaurant and the Trollstigen tourist area, to name just two, has brought the office wide recognition. After 17 years of working almost exclusively in Norway, Reiulf Ramstad and his team are now turning a curious eye to the outside world. Globally speaking, at a time when ‘starchitect’ has become a slightly tarnished epithet, the importance of regionally significant architects is once more garnering acknowledgment. Although not necessarily known outside the area in question, they are crucial to the continuing vitality and vigour of their architectural communities and, as such, often more important than their international colleagues with a more global scope. Naturally, some of these firms pass

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Trollwall Restaurant and Visitors’ Centre Trollveggen / Norway 2011

The restaurant provides an impressive view of Trollveggen’s steeply rising mountains.

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At a height of 1,100 m, Troll Wall is the tallest vertical rock face in Europe. The restaurant and visitors’ centre at the foot of Norway’s greatest natural attraction mirror the mountainous surroundings. The building’s sleek, angular edges are covered in reflective glass. Inside are a gift shop, a cinema, a restaurant and a fast-food facility. The building is open from June to September, when views of the towering cliffs are most spectacular.

through increasingly porous boundaries to achieve resonance with wider audiences. When they do attract attention, however, it is most often due to an impressive portfolio of projects rather than to a PR machine in overdrive. Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter is one such firm. Reiulf Ramstad studied at the IUAV University of Venice in the late 1980s, at a time when the Biennale was just restarting and Aldo Rossi was still an influential force at the university. For Ramstad, studying in Italy wasn’t so much about turning his back on Norway and its architectural legacy – embodied at the time by Sverre Fehn and Christian Norberg-Schulz – as about pursuing an urge, familiar to many students, to seek new perspectives. Following his studies, Ramstad returned to Norway to take up a teaching position at the Oslo School of Architecture. In 1995, the desire to design led him to establish his own firm. The decision was propelled by more 097

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than positive motives, though. ‘They bled me dry,’ Ramstad laughs, referring to his former students. Only two years later, RRA won a competition for the design of a large customs and excise building for Gardermoen, Oslo International Airport. The resulting building, with its simple geometry and recurring spatial principles, convincingly points towards the firm’s subsequent projects. Since its inception in 1995, RRA has won half the competitions it has entered, and competitions remain the company’s greatest source of work. In 1998 RRA won a competition for the design of University College Østfold Halden, which was completed in 2006. The architects gave it the moniker ‘The House of 1,000 Rooms’. Comprising 28,000 m2 of new build and renovation, the project taught them a lot. ‘It’s like war,’ says Ramstad. ‘Once you’re working with big numbers, clever contractors can nearly always find the holes in your bucket.’ Experience has shown him that a

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Built above a rushing cascade of white water, a deck with a railing offers a grand view of the mountain scenery.

‘The simplest way to avoid conflict with clients is to reduce the quality of the architecture’

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invention, while respecting the continuity that shows an awareness of how a single project fits into a body of work. The Fagerborg Kindergarten, located in the middle of a small city park in Oslo, is a good example of how RRA designs simple buildings that make strong statements. RRA kept the kindergarten close to the ground and used timber to clad its façades, creating a striking form that contrasts with taller brick apartment buildings in the vicinity. The volume is stark and compact, and the number of details has been kept to a minimum. The use of only three sizes of windows, for instance, reinforces both the uniform design and the low budget. The most striking quality of RRA’s work is its sensitive yet solid relationship to the surrounding landscape. It reflects the notion of genius loci as espoused by Norberg-Schulz, whose book on the subject encourages the search for a true spirit of place. Like the firm’s attitude to sustainability, its attention to context serves as a point of 01 02 03 04

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jump in scale means fighting battles. ‘The simplest way to avoid conflict is to reduce the quality of the architecture,’ he says, but this is quite obviously not his preferred approach. He believes the solution is to build a good relationship with the client, who should be included in every phase of the project. Asked to discuss the firm’s architectural focus, Ramstad seems to dodge the question by mentioning Marcel Proust, who worked until his death on À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time), a seven-volume set of books that explores new ways to write a novel and to describe spatial experience. ‘You could easily spend the rest of your life talking about the surfaces in a room,’ says Ramstad. ‘The subject touches on all sorts of things.’ His remark can be applied to the level of detail required to make a complex programme seem simple – and its execution bold. His words also reveal an architect who approaches every project as an opportunity for fresh

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Trollstigen National Tourist Route Romsdalen / Norway 2010 Trollstigen is a dramatic footpath flanked by the deep fjords that characterize the west coast of Norway. This panoramic route can be visited only in summer; severe winter weather makes it impassable. The project includes a mountain lodge with restaurant and gallery, flood barriers, water cascades, bridges, paths, outdoor furniture, pavilions and lookout platforms for viewing the magnificent scenery. RRA conceived its respectfully scrupulous intervention as a thin thread for guiding visitors from one stunning vantage point to another. 099

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Perched above the clouds, the lookout provides a spectacular view of the surroundings. Photo diephotodesigner.de

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Fagerborg Kindergarten Oslo / Norway 2010 Located in central Oslo, Fagerborg Kindergarten consists of two units for children one to three years of age and two units for children three to six years of age. Apartment buildings erected in the first half of the 20th century characterize this part of the city. Building regulations called for a contemporary design. The resulting plan enables the four units to function both independently and collectively, as required. They share a common area and a kitchen at the heart of the building. Administrative offices are upstairs, separated from the children’s areas.

‘I could easily spend the rest of my life talking about the surfaces in a room’ departure and not as an end goal. RRA knows that only with an understanding of the physical, social and political aspects of a project can an architect act with any certainty. Although this insight is not unique in itself, what RRA does with it is distinctive. Often such a keen perception of place results in an understated building, but these architects, having carefully studied the site in question, create a powerful form that responds to its context without dominating the environment or shrinking from view. In-depth knowledge of the Trollstigen site allowed RRA to lessen the overall impact of the project on its environment and to make a strong architectural statement that addresses the geography of the area. RRA removed a number of disparate car parks and portable cabins and concentrated all relevant facilities in one central location, away from sensitive landscape features. At a smaller scale, the architects revised the layout of a winding scenic footpath for tourists, which now 0

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corresponds more accurately to geographical conditions. Handrails and barriers are geared to the level of potential risk. At certain spots they are not needed at all, at others a simple rail is sufficient and yet others require a complete enclosure. Ramstad describes RRA’s connection to Norwegian architecture as part of a larger narrative that has little to do with stylistic trends. He sees a strong thread of egalitarianism running through Norwegian culture. ‘In a democratic society like ours, rich and poor have the same possibilities,’ he says. ‘I like that idea.’ Two years ago, Ramstad visited China and came away convinced that Norway’s social and architectural accomplishments should be maintained and preserved. ‘In China, they make cities with 5-kmlong boulevards,’ he says. ‘I saw some really bad projects. In Europe, we’re used to talking about architecture on the scale of a chair or a pathway.’ According to Ramstad, the design of most of

Fagerborg Kindergarten has a simple yet highly distinctive form.

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The monolithic concrete mass of the Norwegian Mountaineering Centre references nearby rock formations.

A series of stairs leads to a rooftop vantage point for viewing the surroundings.

Norwegian Mountaineering Centre Åndalsnes / Norway Expected completion 2013 1

The design for the Norwegian Mountaineering Centre – an architectural one-off – reflects nature’s fantastic dimensions, especially those of the dramatic mountains that surround the site. Featuring expressive geometry and a uniform surface, the structure will highlight its location next to the Rauma Railway Line and Åndalsnes’s central station.

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Classroom walls and ceilings are clad completely in wood.

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A new foundation forms a base for the old metro station.

Holmenkollen Metro Station

Oslo bombings of 22 July and the power of fear to control society. ‘When this happened, the people sitting here [the RRA studio, 2 km from the blast] felt the shock wave,’ he says. Traumatic events take place on streets and in buildings – places with sound links to architecture. Does architecture have a role to play in such situations? While acknowledging the difficulty of finding solutions to terror and violence, Ramstad says that the least architects can do is ‘try to highlight’ these problems. One way of doing so is to make buildings that don’t alienate users by being impersonal, overtly technological or otherwise inhuman. Sustainability underpins much of RRA’s work, although it may not be apparent at first sight. Clearly, these architects are trying to get the basics right. The firm takes a right-tool-for-thejob approach to issues such as orientation, energy use and materials. Working with a client, RRA looks at the brief for opportunities to combine

Oslo / Norway 2010 The entire area that includes the Holmenkollen metro station has been substantially restructured. The objective of the project was to expand the station’s capacity and to improve its functionality, while preserving the existing building and platform. Geometrically organized, the new station integrates existing elements while creating a sense of functional calm and clarity.

Civil-engineering tours de force (tunnels, roads and bridges) form the largest part of the project.

‘There are different ways to control people’

the repetitive, massively scaled Chinese infrastructure projects is not resolved past a scale of 1:1000. And that’s not the way it should be. ‘I think all people deserve great architecture,’ he says. In some respects, though, Norway and China are more alike than some of us are willing to admit. Ramstad recalls catching a brief glimpse on Chinese television of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei receiving an award from ArtReview, a British magazine that had previously named him one of the art world’s 100 most powerful figures. ‘They had a really efficient filter,’ he says. ‘A broadcast delay caused the screen to turn black for 15 seconds.’ He saw just enough before the event was interrupted, but the incident reminded him of the 50,000 security cameras in Oslo, a city of just under a million inhabitants. ‘There are different ways to control people,’ he says. Big Brother is not the preserve of China. Our conversation then turns to the 104

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Large dormer windows give the apartment complex a striking appearance.

functions, to create flexibility and to minimize built area; Ramstad says these aspects have as large an impact on a building’s ecological footprint as the use of the latest technology. In designing University College Østfold Halden, for instance, RRA carefully evaluated the existing building, which was reused and reprogrammed before new-build areas were finalized. ‘The existing building required a lot more work than the newbuild extension.’ It is when Ramstad talks about larger ideas, however, that a more active and engaged connection to sustainability comes to light. Ramstad recollects a recent conversation with a friend in the vast Sami territory of northern Norway. The two made an observation that’s remained in Ramstad’s mind. ‘It’s a bit childish,’ he says, ‘but it’s an interesting notion of space in terms of human mass. From where we stood, we could see about 40 km in all directions. That’s well over 6

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Concrete was used to create the stairwell’s fluid contours.

RRA’s new Grünerløkka Apartments are in a section of Oslo described as ‘a rare remaining example of the intimate blend of housing and small-scale industry typical of the 19th century’. The design aptly demonstrates the architects’ appreciation of these environs.

million km2. If you give everyone on earth a space measuring 1 m2, you can get them all into an area that one person can oversee from a single, slightly elevated vantage point.’ The punch line? ‘We have a lot of space on earth; we just have to organize it better.’ Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter is finding it has a voice and that people want to listen. Building on the momentum of 17 years of commendable projects, RRA looks to the future with an optimism born of knowing that the firm is every bit as well considered as the architecture its produces. ‘We have knowledge that is useful,’ says Ramstad, ‘and we realize that global thinking can be linked to national culture.’ Whether in Norway or beyond, well-considered buildings that both influence and belong to their surroundings will always draw attention. Fortunately. 0

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Siv Helene Stangeland and Reinhard Kropf. Photo Emile Ashley

t w o Helen & Hard uses both Norwayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s natural resources and the leftovers from the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s oil industry. Text Simon Bush-King

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elen & Hard has spent 15 years building a practice in Stavanger, an oil town in western Norway. Founders Siv Helene Stangeland and Reinhard Kropf have developed a portfolio of carefully crafted projects defined by the architects’ expertise in timber construction, adaptive reuse and open approach to collaboration. During the same decade and a half, the Norwegian firm has seen its special skills edge to the forefront of architectural discourse. Add to this an inventive, playful attitude, strong designs and some high-profile commissions and what you have, unsurprisingly, is a company whose strength matches that of the nation’s oil-based economy. At a time when well-established certainties are being questioned, architects – like people in other industries – are searching for good business models. Helen & Hard demonstrates how to build a set of competencies that are in demand. Stangeland and Kropf met while studying at the Oslo School of Architecture, soon after Siv had returned from a three-year period of study in Barcelona and Reinhard had arrived at the school from his native Austria. Their

The geopark is a colourful entertainment facility on Stavanger’s waterfront. Photo emile ashley

‘Context is not a given; it’s an element that invites engagement’ differing perspectives on architecture resonated with each other, but both admired Norwegian modernism while taking issue with certain aspects of the style. ‘We opposed the autocratic way in which many Norwegian modernists approached context,’ says Stangeland. This critical appraisal helped form their thinking. ‘We saw context as something to be created and developed,’ she says. ‘It’s not a given but an element that invites engagement.’ Beginning a partnership that is both professional and personal, they moved to Stangeland’s home town of Stavanger after graduation. The architecture industry in Norway was experiencing a downturn at the time, and they saw the town’s expanding oil industry as an opportunity for growth in their profession as well. Helen & Hard (a combination of Helene and Reinhard) started small,

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Stavanger / Norway 2008 Utilizing a vacant forecourt adjacent to the Oil Museum, the Geopark amusement park offers visitors a tangible experience of the Troll oil and gas reservoir, by far the most valuable field on the Norwegian continental shelf, located some 2,000 to 3,000 m below the sea bed. The topography of the park is based on the geological strata of the Troll field, reconstructed at a scale of 1:500. Surfaces and installations are made of recycled and reshaped elements from petroleum installations, an abandoned Frigg oil platform, offshore bases, equipment suppliers and scrapheaps.

with the renovation of timber-framed buildings, exploring broader concepts than the size of these early projects suggests. The firm’s first new-build project was a small cluster of apartments erected on a conservation site in the densely developed inner city. Helen & Hard spent three years carefully designing and arguing for a contemporary solution in a heritage area before receiving planning permission. Rather than simply sitting comfortably within its setting, the resulting building uses its difference to highlight and extend the character of the surrounding neighbourhood. Helen & Hard enjoys the advantages of working in a location on the outskirts of the city: ‘Being on the periphery of Stavanger has given us the freedom to experiment and to be an outside voice.’ Although the oil industry accounts for about 80 per cent of Stavanger’s Satellite dishes and buoys serve as climbing structures. Photo emile ashley

anchor buoys Concrete asphalt Sand artificial turf and fenders gravel Protective mats

Layer one. The top and base (oil/ water contact) of the reservoir provide starting points for the park’s upper and lower levels.

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Layer two. Visitors can see the various sedimentary layers of an oil field, clearly exposed by the park’s design, which features a tiered landscape displaying a variety of surface materials.

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Layer three. a number of oil-field installations and objects have been reused and integrated into the landscape, creating a basis for various activities and science experiments.

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The library in Vennesla. A large glass façade and an urban loggia form a protected outdoor seating area on the main plaza. Photo Erieta Attali

business activities, oil does not have a large physical presence in the city centre. Helen & Hard is interested in such incongruities. ‘The city sort of neglects the oil industry,’ says Stangeland. ‘We don’t talk about it too much. I guess it’s knowing that you earn money from something that contributes to climate problems. Because we believe in being open and critical, though, we’d like to bring oil into the city, to have it be part of the urban fabric and culture.’ Clearly the most interesting game in town, oil roused Helen & Hard’s desire to be involved. But how to begin collaborating with the oil industry? The architects’ response was simple and bold: They would have to be the initiators. When Stangeland and Kropf talk about their view of an inclusive context and a collaborative approach, they use the term ‘relational architecture’. Elaborating further, they say they strive for an architecture generated by mutual encounters among all the elements that influence a project. ‘We try to widen the contextual understanding,’ says Kropf. B-Camp marks Helen & Hard’s first endeavour to reuse materials from the oil industry. It was largely a selfinstigated project. ‘We encouraged self-organization by allowing existing resources to drive the design,’ says Stangeland. ‘B-Camp saw us working more as moderators than as architects. It wasn’t about taking control of everything.’ While laying down the challenge, Helen & Hard devised a flexible platform that repurposed living quarters 122

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‘Being on the urban periphery gives us the freedom to experiment and to be an outside voice’ into live-work units and a small cultural centre. As the initiator of the project, the architects also tackled fundraising, programming and sourcing materials suitable for long-term use. Helen & Hard went a step further in its Geopark project, completed in 2008. In this case, the first thing to stimulate the architects’ interest was the physical infrastructure of the oil industry, such as buoys and other equipment stored along the Stavanger waterfront. Admiring the level of precision and the calculated intent of each component, they contemplated making something new and learning more about the industry at the same time. ‘It worked on different levels,’ says Stangeland. ‘We wanted to make a study of what we can learn from the oil industry. Not just the reuse of waste, but the production methods, the materials S e ctio n

and the equipment.’ The Geopark, in which Helen & Hard partnered with more than 30 collaborators, began with the architects’ concept painting, which envisioned how oil-industry objects could be used to produce a park landscape. With Stavanger about to assume the role of European Capital of Culture in 2008, the municipality had a keen interest in such projects and actively supported the idea. The oil industry, too, relished the chance to be involved in a communitybased project. Stangeland and Kropf were surprised and happy about the reaction to their proposals. ‘We thought there would be more resistance,’ says Kropf, ‘but because it was part of the Capital of Culture event, we got a lot of support.’ Unhindered by the processes and budgetary restraints of a regular commission, the firm found

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Some of the ribs have integrated reading niches. Photo Erieta Attali

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‘We’d like to bring oil into the city’

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Vennesla Library Vennesla / Norway 2011

The Vennesla Library features a series of timber ribs that define the interior space, form the structure and contain mechanical systems and furniture. The 27 ribs are made of prefabricated gluelaminated timber elements and CNC-cut plywood boards. They compose the geometry of the roof, as well as the undulating orientation of the open space and the private study zones along the perimeter. Each rib consists of a laminated beam and column, acoustically absorbent elements that contain air-conditioning ducts, bent glass panes that serve as lighting covers and signs, and integrated reading niches and shelves.

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Other projects by Helen & Hard 01 The Pulpit Rock Mountain Lodge accommodates 24 guest rooms, a café, a restaurant and a conference room. Double timber ribs serve as the loadbearing structure. A spacious public area on the ground floor contains cosy rib-defined seating areas along the sides. Photo Helen & Hard 02 B-Camp is an experimental development in which Helen & Hard used residue from the oil industry to create a low-budget living and working alternative for young people. Photo Helen & Hard 03 The Ratatosk folly, designed for the courtyard of London’s V&A Museum, was made out of ash trees. They were cut at their bases and split, scanned and 3D modelled. A CNC-milling pattern gave the interior surfaces of all ten half-trees a smooth sense of uniformity, in stark contrast to the installation’s rough bark exterior. Photo Pasi Aalto

04 The Norwegian pavilion for Shanghai World Expo 2010 invited visitors to view the construction of a field of treelike timber members. When the Expo closed, these elements were shipped back to Norway and used, individually, for things such as meeting points and playground equipment. Photo Patrick Wack

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‘Architects can learn about production methods, materials and equipment from the oil industry’ collaborators who bought into their vision and subsequently offered assistance. Helen & Hard’s largest collaborative project to date, Geopark garnered attention from a wider audience, including Peter Cook, who was instrumental in getting the architects a commission from London’s Victoria & Albert Museum. Perhaps the most lasting impact of the Geopark project, however, was an evolution in their thinking about large-scale collaborative work and the impressive results it can deliver. Stavanger has a long history of timber construction. ‘We learned about traditional handcrafted timber structures out of necessity,’ says Stangeland, ‘since all our early work dealt with the town’s old buildings.’ Timber construction, at various scales, has been a focal point of their work and has led to experiments with massive timber construction and to ongoing collaborative research with a Swiss company specializing in computercontrolled manufacturing. The Pulpit Rock Mountain Lodge in southern Norway, the Shanghai Expo Pavilion and the Vennesla Library all show the inventive results of this work. At the other end of the scale, yet based on the same technology, is the Victoria & Albert commission: Ratatosk. The installation – an archway made of five ash trees split lengthways and positioned with the cut sides facing one another – blurs the line between construction and deconstruction. ‘We let the materials inform the process,’ says Kropf. ‘We had already made the mountain lodge and the Expo pavilion; for the Victoria & Albert, we started with trees in a natural state and used technology as a way of finding and marking their intrinsic qualities.’ The fluidity needed to work across scales and to apply varied emphases to different projects strengthens their practice. Ratatosk gave the firm’s research an artistic outlet with a singular focus and beautiful execution. Stangeland and Kropf’s work with massive timber construction and computer-controlled manufacturing has also increased their understanding of

production processes. A good example is the prefabricated construction for the Pulpit Rock Mountain Lodge, which significantly shortened building time in a location where winter makes construction difficult for large parts of the year. Such methods are also evidence of Helen & Hard’s approach to sustainability, which goes beyond reducing a project’s footprint to make its case by being cheaper, faster and more efficient. Sustainable architecture that justifies itself on economic terms as well as on its prudent use of resources makes a stronger impact, while being more easily accepted and more convincing. Helen & Hard’s deeper level of expertise is revealed in a number of finely crafted buildings, and the architects’ understanding of context grounds the work. In considering the influences that affect a project, they analyse the location and the potential response of users. The resulting buildings have a strong connection to their sites. Demonstrating this link is a recently completed library in the small town of Vennesla: population 12,000. The building, with its bold form and inventive use of massive timber construction, seems right at home in its high-street location, among vernacular Norwegian shops, despite an appearance so wholly different from its neighbours. ‘Context’ has been the catchword of many architects; with differing responses and results, it has framed much of the debate in architecture and produced some iconic built works. While context at its worst can be used to justify poor decisions, Helen & Hard engage with it and use it – along with knowledge gained from previous projects – as a positive generator of ideas. When combined with the ideas of others, context becomes key to an open, collaborative approach that leads to confident, creative architecture. It’s an approach that also underpins work being done at the new Helen & Hard branch in Oslo, a second office that clearly signals an exciting expansion of the team’s work.

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De Vylder Vinck Taillieu couldn’t leave out the beeches Text Simon Bush-King Photos Filip Dujardin

Belgian firm De Vylder Vinck Taillieu has developed a varied body of work by treating the unique constraints of each project as opportunities in need of expression. In the case of House Bernheimbeuk, the architects’ approach involved a pragmatic yet playful consideration of site, budget and building regulations. The detached house they realized turned the ‘constraint’ represented by three 80-year-old beech trees into the defining feature of the project. In the words of architect Jo Taillieu: ‘We couldn’t leave out the beeches!’ Unlike a perimeter footing, the foundations of the building resemble the roots of a tree and are located as far as possible from the real roots of the beech tree that is part of the house. A treeshaped concrete column rising from the midpoint of the foundation supports the house. This column is the mainstay of

lightweight yet well-insulated exterior walls, which are clad in a type of slate siding commonly used in Belgium for houses that will probably be attached to new-build houses at a future date. At House Bernheimbeuk, however, the material has been applied in a way that appears less temporary and less likely to be part of a ‘waiting game’. Openings in the cladding are not cut out but formed by the omission of one or more shingles. The timber frame has been left exposed at one end. The design of a tree-focused house based on a set of constraints enabled the architects to create a number of interesting interior spaces. Taillieu speaks of ‘the luxury of space, unrelated to square metres’ and points out the gradual but distinct separation of inside and outside. This is a clearly executed project in which ‘not seeing the forest for the trees’ was never an option. architectendvvt.com

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Andrew Maynard has created a number of unique, optimistic houses in Melbourne over the last decade. Bogged down in a jungle of suburban regulations, he takes whatever a project has to offer and makes the most of it, always with enthusiasm. Just completed in February, Hill House is no exception. Here Maynard’s careful craftsmanship is expressed in the strong forms of a cantilevered box jutting over an Astroturf-clad hill. To maximize the benefits of sunlight, the architect eschewed the traditional ‘extension into the back garden’ in favour of building at the far end of the site, where he opted for a courtyard as the focus of the house. Within the courtyard, the Astroturf-covered hill is both a playful gesture and a pleasant place to lounge in the sun. A long 1-m-wide corridor connects the existing house to the hill. Because building regulations prohibited building along the boundary, the architects

sunk the corridor half a metre into the ground and called it a ‘fence’ – a 1-m-thick fence, in this case, that extends 2 m above ground level. The intensity and quality of the house are helped in part by its relatively small size. Although Australian houses are now the largest in the world, Maynard makes a point of ‘advocating for “small” as a concept’, regardless of the fact that his ideas ‘go against the grain here’. His clients agreed, realizing that the resources they might have put into a larger house would increase the quality of a smaller one. At Hill House, says Maynard, ‘We left nothing untouched.’ Despite all the fun so clearly visible in his work, Maynard approaches each project seriously. The architect admits that, for the first time, he’s completed a project – a simply planned yet richly layered house – in which he would change nothing.

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maynardarchitects.com

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ARCHITECT

De Cagna creates a cathedral of light Text Simon Bush-King Photo Luminarie De Cagna

Luminarie De Cagna, an 82-year-old company that began by illuminating buildings with oil and carbide lamps, created an installation for the 2012 Ghent Festival of Light last January. In a world of mega-malls, airports and skyscrapers, it’s easy to forget the awe-inspiring nature of churches whose size and grandeur dwarfed all other structures in centuries past. The radiant structure in Ghent made a tremendous impact on the many visitors who braved sub-zero temperatures to attend the festival and pass beneath its 28-m-high colonnade. Giuseppe De Cagna stresses the desire ‘to have people forget their everyday problems for a moment’. As a noticeable hush fell over the crowd, wide-eyed faces bore testimony to his ambition. Although the installation’s closest relations are the illuminated façades of shopping malls and the palaces lining the Las Vegas strip, perhaps the biggest achievement of the Ghent installation – apart from the sheer spectacle produced by 55,000 LEDs using only 20kWh of electricity – was its lack of connection to showcase consumerism. What Luminarie De Cagna’s ‘Cathedral’ did do, however, was to reveal the contrast between its delicately patterned surfaces, so suggestive of familiar religious interiors, and the historical streetscape of Ghent animated by the vibrancy of a contemporary public festival. A structure that appears both ‘timeless’ and ‘of its time’ is difficult to achieve, but this blend of cutting-edge technology, symbolic forms and sheer size manages to do just that. De Cagna says the firm ‘has received ten requests for installations’ since the Ghent show, including projects for the Eiffel Tower and the Tower of Pisa. The popularity of such projects raises an interesting question: How will future designers light buildings at the end of another 82 years? decagna.com

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Helen & Hard does the twist

The new entrance building connects two work areas.

Text Simon Bush-King Photos Emile Ashley

Working with a roofing manufacturer, Helen & Hard adapted prefabricated timber roof components to act as both roof and walls; visible inside the building, these elements give the interior its geometrically sculpted look. The resulting 24-layer, zinc-clad volume is, for that matter, essentially all roof. With its centralized reception and meeting spaces, the building bridges two adjacent work areas. As an added benefit, the architects designed an enclosed entrance courtyard that provides the complex of disparate buildings with a focal point and a strong identity. By rotating the insulated timber sections, they formed a reception desk and seating areas while creating

natural stack ventilation – important for a connecting building that must conform to stringent fire-code requirements. Stangeland likes to describe the building in terms of ‘trying to look towards the future’. Indeed, it does serve as a tangible reflection of the aspirations of I-Park’s creative tenants. Helen & Hard has used the pragmatic and the programmatic to realize a bold, self-assured building that makes an impact without shouting. And the smooth execution of the design belies the team’s effort. More please. hha.no

Small projects are great testing grounds for new ideas, materials and technologies, as well as for the architects who bring these elements together. Helen & Hard has recently completed a modestly scaled entrance building for I-Park, a creative complex in the firm’s home town of Stavanger, Norway. The stacked and twisting timber volume presents a confident face to the world, thanks to the single gesture with which the architects overcame a number of programmatic and site-related constraints. The project’s complexity is masked in simplicity. Architect Siv Helene Stangeland describes it as ‘an Illustrative building that solves challenges precisely’.

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Studio Pacific drops props www.mosa.nl

Text Simon Bush-King Photos Patrick Reynolds

With a myriad of committees to please and approvals to gain, public-space projects are not often known for whimsical design. One historically acknowledged exception is the folly, for which the obligations of a strict programme or a desire to cause the least offence are loosened. Public toilets in the form of follies exemplify such a typology, and a pair of recently completed sanitary facilities on Wellington’s waterfront has been causing quite a stir. The focus of Wellington is its waterfront – a continuous strip of public space developed under a watchful public gaze over the last 20 years. Working regularly in this harbour area, local firm Studio Pacific Architecture (SPA) has completed many well-thought-of projects. A proposal for new public toilets, identified as one of three follies in a master plan, provided SPA with an opportunity to break out of its more formal

Mosa Murals by Mosa. A new perspective on ceramic walls.

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approach. The commission was awarded by way of an internal competition, in which local landscape office Isthmus was involved. The jury, made up of regular players on the waterfront, chose as the winner SPA’s Bret Thurston, who describes the sea life-influenced project as a ‘found relic’. Wellingtonians have latched on to ‘Lobster Loos’ as a moniker for public toilets that have become a popular reference point in the area. SPA director Stephen McDougall describes the project as ‘having many lives’ despite ‘having often seemed politically dead’, a reference to the long and occasionally controversial gestation period that followed the 2007 competition. Now with controversy giving way to conversation, these crustacean-like conveniences prove there is still plenty of power and relevance in the folly. studiopacific.co.nz

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EL BATEL Dead straight, down by the water, Cartagena’s colouful El Batel auditorium is an exercise in plexiglas, polycarbonate and perspicacity. W O R D S B Y S I M O N B U S H - K I N G P H OTO G R A P H S B Y I WA N B A A N

DECEPTION

is a tricky word when discussing design yet many moments of great design rely on it for impact. Through design, the large appears small, inside becomes outside and, in the case of M.C. Escher, up is down. Usually we discuss this in terms of contradictions or playfulness and like, at a magic show, enjoy having our expectations confounded. Ultimately, deception is part of any designer’s tool box. It is a tantalising tool, free to be employed with the promise of surprising, even sublime architecture. It is testament to the power of design thinking in shaping a successful project under any constraint. Madrid-based Selgas Cano has recently completed an 18,500m2 auditorium and conference centre in Cartagena, Spain. It is a strongly formed, graphic building that appears easy to understand yet deceives our expectations at every turn. Known as El Batel, the auditorium appears large, complex and cheap — yet is none of these things. From the building’s size to its material choice, nothing is as it seems in this harbourside public space. Completed in late 2011, El Batel took almost a decade to build following a winning competition entry by the then relatively unknown firm. During this time, the Spanish property boom burned intensely before collapsing — just in time for construction. Like many waterfront cultural complexes, the auditorium was billed as the jewel of its host city. Architect José Selgas is quick to point out, “We are not working on the coast, the sea or the city – we work in the harbour. The harbour is the limit between the city and the sea with its own government and laws.” Assembled programmatically or, as Selgas describes it, as “unpacked boxes on a wharf”, the design appears clearly legible from the exterior as a relatively low-slung building

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‘distributor’ at El Batel auditorium. 2. The building’s cladding is plexiglas on the exterior, chosen for its UV-radiation-blocking properties, and polycarbonate, for its fire resistance, for the interior.

with taller towers for the auditorium. However, the building extends 15m below the quayside, providing the framework for an interior with dynamic level changes along its 210m length. The dominant material and one linking device between the exterior and interior are polycarbonate panels. It is a material with which the firm has had plenty of experience over previous projects, including a ‘youth factory’ in Mérida: a cross between a skate park, urban park and youth centre. The firm also completed another auditorium using large amounts of polycarbonate — the Palacio de Congresos in Badajoz – and even its own offices outside Madrid. In recent years, architects and designers have largely turned their backs on a material commonly associated with aged and yellowing buildings from the early boom period. Instead, Selgas Cano has invested time in detailing a new generation of polycarbonate that promises versatility, colour and translucence without the fading, cracking and yellow edges. “Most of the building is made with little details – always with little pieces,” explains Selgas. Surprisingly, for such a large building, most of the construction was done by hand with local builders. This goes some way to explaining an interior that retains a human scale where the programme naturally dictated large spaces, including a 200m2 stage and 850m2 exhibition areas. The exhibition hall offers fantastic vantage points through the various pathways and level changes and is also the home of sinuous seating elements cantilevered from the floor. Contrast this with an exterior where every element is expressed horizontally. The two exterior materials – aluminium and plexiglas – use the same extruded profile, “like a churro” as Selgas explains, referring to the delicious Spanish donuts. The result is a powerful reinforcement of a long, horizontal façade. While one criticism might be the lack of physical interaction with its quayside location, Selgas Cano also designed the timber boardwalk with seating elements and Ficus trees. The first-floor outside terrace is a popular vantage point and provides some degree of activity to the waterfront. With a final construction budget of €35 million, the auditorium was built for half the cost of similar buildings elsewhere in Spain. This is illustrated clearly in a façade cost of €150/m2 compared to a regular glass façade at upwards of €600/m2. The tight financial context of the project is clear: Selgas Cano assumed modest means into the core of its design strategy, choosing a cheap, locally sourced material and pushing it to its limits. The source – the local Sabic factory – is one of the largest employers in Cartagena as well as one of the largest producers of polycarbonate in the world. Lining the upper towers are two 60m x 15m orange panels which fill the lower levels with a permanent sunset

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– appropriate perhaps for a space used mainly in the evenings. Details have been carefully chosen and repeated throughout. Some of the material profiles have been trialled in this project for the first time; the main auditorium is lined with blue-hued panels that allude to its waterfront location – achieving both a theatrical atmosphere and a depth of surface with very limited means. Instead, the budget went towards comfortable seating for the 1420-capacity audience, acknowledging the importance of comfort over architectural gymnastics. As one of a few current European projects, an auditorium in Germany of a similar size to El Batel is currently occupying Selgas Cano’s time. With a budget considerably larger, Selgas seems momentarily distracted as he contemplates the prospect before stating with certainty that the project “will be under” budget. With his track record of delivering exciting projects with creative frugality, it would be hard to argue. Selgas Cano has received a lot of attention recently for bold, eye-catching projects. El Batel is no exception; however, the longlasting lessons from this project are not that of the shiny, the big or the new. In the midst of a major recession in an area of Spain hardest hit by the collapse of the property market, a small team of ambitious architects has delivered a public building with clarity and confidence. It is easy to admire large dynamic public spaces, where size alone guarantees an impact. Add to this, bright, clear materials and everyone will pay attention. To execute a project that retains its competition-winning ambition after a decadelong gestation period, and with what passes as a paltry budget, is a truly impressive story. More like this, please.

STUDIO IN GREEN, THE S E LG A S C A N O O F F I C E “What is being sought with this studio is quite simple: work under the trees. To do this we needed a roof that is as transparent as possible. At the same time, we needed to isolate the desk zone from direct sunlight. Hence, the northern side is covered with a bent sheet of 20mm colourless plexiglass. The south side, where the desks are, is more closed in – but not completely. There is double sheet of fibreglass and polyester in its natural colour on the south side, with translucent insulation in the middle. These form a 110mmthick sandwich. In the former case, the outward view is clear and transparent. Everything placed below ground level is in concrete with wood formwork: the wooden planks that are also used for paving, firmly bolted, painted in two colours with two-component paint with an epoxy base.”

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3. Aerial view of El Batel

Auditorium. 4. Architects José Selgas and Lucia Cano. 5. The architects’ studio ‘under the trees’.

FA C T S H E E T Project: El Batel Auditorium, Cartagena, Spain Architecture: Selgas Cano Area: 18,500m2 Budget: €35 million Project start: 2004, construction 2006-2011 Developer: Cartagena City Council Programme: Hall A 1,420 seats; Hall B 470 seats; 10 conference rooms, 1,000 seats; Exhibition zone 850m2; Restaurant zone, 560 m2; Outdoor terraces 1,400m2; Foyer distributor 1500m2; Dressing rooms 120 seats; Rehearsal room 120m2; Hall A stage 500m2; Hall B stage 200m2

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pa n ta r h e i , a m s t e lv e e n Design: i29; Snelder Architecten Floor area: 4,000m2 Poems: ErikJan Harmens

In the design of public school Panta Rhei, in Amstelveen, there is a lot of attention on the balance between freedom and a sense of security. Panta Rhei means “every-thing flows”. This led to a design that leaves space for the imagination of the users, offering elements that can be used flexibly. The furniture, made to measure, is informal and dynamic. Work takes place in groups and individually, so i29 designed tables in asymmetrical, angular shapes, which allow the furniture to be linked together in different configurations, such as square, circular or star-shaped. This means the pieces can be used in the general spaces as well as in the classrooms and staffrooms. The Magis One chairs and other furniture are strong and robust but not bulky. Remarkable in this context is the choice of the Grcic chair. It matches well here because of its technical aura, and it urges you to think about the design and production process. It is a vocational school after all. Just because this is not a university, it does not mean you do not have to challenge the students. (i29)

Dutch courage

Grey doesn’t have to mean boring and monochromes can be more than cool. Interior’s roving European correspondent, Simon Bush-King, catches up with Amsterdam’s i29 w o r d s b y s i m o n b u s h - k i n g p h oto s c o u r t e s y I29

I29, a small

Amsterdam-based firm of interior architects, has over the last few years developed a number of strong, clearly executed interiors with the ability to surprise. Founders Jasper Jansen and Jeroen Dellensen have a portfolio of work with a consistently minimalist appearance, an approach so favoured over the last decade for its ability to be all things to all people. However, it is i29’s all-encompassing manner, the way in which they confront a project, their continual refinement of problems down to a productive core and their graphic eye that gives their work a strong identity that retains the ability to surprise – not despite of its often minimalist appearance, but because of it. At first glance many of their projects appear too good to be true – that once complete and with the magazine photographs taken, the clarity and cleanness that defined the space would breakdown. Coffee spills, health and safety posters, and pictures of people’s cats on desks would overwhelm, consigning the project to a long list of good looking photographs unable to deal with the messiness and unpredictability of regular life. The grey felt, mono-clad offices of advertising agency Tribal DDB in Amsterdam, or Panta Rhei, a school with a black and white interior, are two projects that immediately beg such questions. I29, however, have honed an approach that seeks to combine their brief and pragmatics with a focus to make clear, legible spaces. Strategies that combine functions and maximise space, or where materials can fulfil wide performance criteria are sought after. This manner of working, while being inherently

1. Panta Rhei School, in The Netherlands.

The interior features a number of multipurpose spaces. 2-3. Throughout the school poems have been applied to the linoleum floors and the furniture. I29 modelled the poems in ‘carpets of text’ in which the letters stick together and seem to flow from each other. From a distance the texts form intriguing graphic patterns.

reductionist in approach, is through careful research and a close relationship with the client a very deliberate method where little is left to chance. An eye for a convincing graphic or opportunities to exploit identity are further tools in the design arsenal of i29 that reinforce their approach but are not substitutes for it. Jansen and Dellensen began their practice building what they designed. As Jansen puts it, “We started with putting a lot of boxes in houses,” referring to the small interventions in existing Dutch houses that fuelled their early work. This experience taught them not only the importance of buildability in achieving a simple, clean result but also the value of building strategies – designing details and methods of construction that are economical and have the flexibility to work in a range of situations. In the early years this manifested in finding ways to work with the existing fabric of old Dutch houses, while more recently in how to become inventive with material use and repetitive details on larger projects and tight budgets. The big move, or the unifying gesture, is a tactic many designers try to employ but it’s one in which Dutch designers are strongly identified – taking a single, strong element and using it as a creative catalyst for the project. If one were to paint in cultural generalisations, the conceptual melding of frugality, simplicity and practicality are an easy fit with a Dutch culture known for its practical approach to problems, simplicity in solutions and eye of a bargain. I29 attempts

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4. Herengracht, a gold-

and-silver-appointed “power office” for an investment group. 5-6. Gummo, in Amsterdam. This short-term fit-out is big on recycled, reused and second-hand furniture, which was then given a coating of hot spray to ensure all objects fitted with the company’s new monochromatic identity. As image 6 shows, even Jesus got the treatment.

this with every project, trying to find a common element through which they design. I29’s first foray into working with advertisers was with the Amsterdam-based Gummo. Taking their name from a Marx brother, Gummo aspires to project a playful professionalism to their work and appreciates a bold gesture. I29’s response was to recycle Gummo’s old furniture, while sourcing more from the Dutch equivalent of Trade Me. A short-term lease of the building encouraged a recycled approach that could be reconfigured in a new location. The furniture, along with the floor and walls, was painted in dark grey polyurea, a material more commonly found on the back of trucks, but perfect as a flexible 2–4 mm coating for the wide range of furniture. Gummo liked the grey so much it incoroprated it into its in-house style, as Dellensen puts it, “We advertised for them.” The hot spray coating was solvent-free with sustainable credentials that matched the green aspirations of Gummo and the reuse, reduce, recycle mantra of the project. The furniture was arranged in grey bands of workspaces, meeting areas and social areas, while the building shell was left painted but untouched. By understanding the client’s desire for a strong image and accepting the short-term lease as a positive opportunity, i29 delivered an unexpected solution that won The Great Indoors Award in 2009.

herengracht, amsterdam Design: i29; Eckhardt&Leeuwenstein Budget: €180,000 Size: 240 m2 Materials: Stained ash wood, gold and silver spray-painted MDF, perforated steel, white marble and plastering

The job to create a studio for Tribal DDB’s Amsterdam offices (following pages) was unrelated to their work for Gummo, yet the execution was similarly inventive and singular. This time the desire of the ad agency for a creative reflection of their brand remained. Joining this, was a desire for multiple work areas constructed within a historic building, and a view to mitigate the worst aspects of open plan. Bring on the grey felt. Used in a similar manner to the grey hot spray in Gummo’s offices, the felt solved a different set of problems but with the same unifying result. The felt was sound-absorbent, strong enough to use across surfaces, and flexible enough to deal with a building shell that, like many older Dutch buildings, had few straight edges or consistent levels. I29 often work in collaboration with architects who, along with their clients, respect what they bring to the table. “We are fresh blood,” says Dellensen referring to the fact that they often get involved at later stages of a project and bring an enthusiasm that the other parties may have lost over a long building process. Although they enjoy getting involved at any stage of a project and appreciate the benefits of being part of the team from day one – it is also testament to i29’s desire to turn the facts of the project as they receive it into an opportunity. Jansen and Dellensen are happy to work with what they have; creating out of the mix of desires, budgets and briefs, work that is playful, clear and resolved.

gummo, amsterdam Design: i29 Budget: €30,000 Size: 450 m2 Materials: custom made furniture: synthetic coated mdf; Krimpex-coated second hand furniture Gummo, an independent, full-service advertising agency, was only going to be renting this space for two years. I29 convinced it to embrace the mantra of “reduce, reuse, recycle” 5

to create a stylish office that would impact as little as possible on the environment or the agency’s wallets. The theme developed reflects Gummo’s personality and design philosophy – simple, uncomplicated, no-nonsense, yet unquestionably stylish with a twist of humour. Everything in the office conforms to the new house style of white and grey. All the furniture was locally sourced via Marktplaats (the Dutch Trade Me), charity shops and whatever was left at the old office. Everything was then spray-painted with hot spray (an environmentally friendly paint) to conform with the new colour scheme. Even Jesus wasn’t immune, as you can see in the picture below. The new office is a perfect case study of a smart way to fill a temporary space stylishly and at minimal cost. (i29)

A “power office” for the board of an investment group in capital stock, the keynotes for this company are money and power. The design concept expresses this by setting all members of the board literally in the spotlight. The golden and silver ovals shatter through the spaces like golden coins, which is what it is all about in investment and stock trading. Large round lampshades, spray-painted gold on the inside, seem to cast light and shadow oval marks throughout the whole space. A playful pattern of golden ovals contrasts with the angular cabinets and desks, which are executed in black-stained ash. The oval forms continue on the floor of light and dark grey carpet and these ovals also define the working areas. The existing space is a 17th-century historic building beside one of Amsterdam’s most famous canals, De Gouden Bocht. All the interior’s existing ornaments and details are painted white. (i29)

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7-9. Felt on the ceilings,

tribal ddb amsterdam

felt on the walls... on the lampshades, desks, ottomans, and some seats. At Tribal DDB, Amsterdam, the acoustic properties of felt were quite clearly embraced. The material, say the designers, was also selected to hide any scars to the envelope of the building. However, the simplicity of the idea expressed belies a more complicated process of application. 10. Tribal DDB, layout plan.

Size: 650 m2 Materials: White epoxy flooring, felt, HPL, steel Tribal DDB Amsterdam is a highly ranked digital-marketing agency. I29 designed its new office for about 80 people with the goal to create an environment where creative interaction is supported with as many workplaces as possible, in a new structure with flexible desks and a large open space. The design had to reflect an identity that is friendly and playful but also professional and serious. The contradictions within this brief allowed great flexibility in the design, although because the building had structural parts that could not be changed, it was a challenge to integrate these elements. I29 searched for solutions to various problems which could be addressed by one grand gesture. At first a material was sought that could be an alternative to the ceiling system, but that would also cover and integrate structural features such as the big round staircase. Beside that, acoustics became a very important issue, as open spaces for stimulating creative interaction and optimal usage of space were required. This eventually led to the use of fabrics. Felt is playful, and can make a powerful impact on a conceptual level. It is perfect for absorbing sound and therefore it creates privacy in open spaces, and it could be used to cover scars of demolition in an effective way. There is probably no other material that can be used on floors, ceiling, walls and to create pieces of furniture and lampshades. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also durable, acoustic, fireproof and environmentally friendly. Which doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mean it was easy to make

all of these items in one material! (i29)

Simon Bush-King is an Amsterdambased architect and urban designer originally from Wellington.

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camper, vienna Design: Capella Garcia Arquitectura

DESIGN WALKING

Simon Bush-King takes a look at the retail designs of Camper, and its constantly evolving retail spaces designed in collaboration with a revolving roster of designers.

words by simon bush-king p h oto s b y s á n c h e z y m o n t o r o

BRANDS USE

camper, rome Design: Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec “As for our first store in Paris, here we again found large quilted wall hangings that extend from the ceiling to the floor, creating an atmosphere of comfort. At certain points, the vertical cloth surface is broken by very basic structures, also in white, which create additional display space anchored directly to the wall. With all of this, we believe we have achieved a high degree of simplicity, a space populated only by the essential: the furnishings, the shoes and the softness of a cushioned ambience.”

design for different reasons – some apply it like a veneer while others embed it into their DNA. Success, failure and the mediocre are all rendered though design, the results of which build a company’s brand. Technology companies, exemplified by Apple, offer the clearest example of an approach that embeds design into everything they do. However, what about companies producing everyday objects, our needs rather than our wants – how to be design led when your business is making comfortable shoes? Camper, the Catalan shoe brand has developed a reputation for comfortable shoes since 1975, building on a heritage stretching back to 1871. A reputation for comfort, however, has not translated into a safe, dull and predictable brand. Instead, Camper has grown a loyal following of fans who identify strongly with a company as equally unafraid to try new things as it is unwilling to mess with a good thing. Such apparently contradictory approaches are difficult for any brand or company to manage. Camper, however, understands the power of design to both differentiate and reconcile contradictory attitudes. Positioning itself as a patron of strong design has given this Spanish company a track record of inventive projects, a loyal customer base and a growing business despite these current straitened times. The Catalan designer Martí Guixé helped Camper on their path with their ‘Walk in Progress’ stores in the early 2000s. During a period of expansion for the company, Guixé and Camper established a concept to immediately move into new

retail locations with temporary stores quickly crafted from recycled furniture using a hands-on approach. These stores would survive for six months to a year while a permanent design was produced. Lessons learned from the context and local market would be fed into the eventual design of the space. Adding to this the buzz of launching two new spaces in the same location in quick succession has proven to be a winner every time. The last few years have seen further expansion and renewal, with stores by Nendo in Osaka, Shigeru Ban in New York, Makkink & Bey in Lyon and Juli Capella in Vienna. All approached their work with a fresh gaze, or, as architect Juli Capella puts it, “We’ve all faced the same challenge, selling shoes, from different perspectives.” Japanese designers Nendo blended their own version of simplicity with that of Camper. Nendo states, “We decided that the raison d’être of Camper shoes is neither to help people run more quickly nor to give the wearer recognisable status through ‘bling’, but simply to help people enjoy walking.” Suspended on pins, shoes appear to float or ‘walk’ around the otherwise white store. It is a single move, executed boldly. Many brands claim to make it all about the product; however, few do so with such approachable clarity as does Nendo – who was rated Designer of the Year both by Wallpaper* and Elle this year. Rotterdam-based Studio Makkink & Bey translated what began as an abstract investigation of walking, into a bold, easily read execution. Stairs, pedestals and stepladders – all devices that mediate the experience of walking are used in the •

“Within the series of Together stores, this concept highlights Camper’s relationship with meaningful design, which is not about luxury but rather about service. A shoe is created, manufactured and marketed the same way as is a handbag or a lamp. It is also an industrial product and, as such, it is comparable with other everyday items. This is the idea behind a shoe store where objects are also exhibited; it is a different way of understanding shopping. Customers who enter the store will enjoy the added perks of a small exhibition. We can learn something about the design around us: mini-stories of ordinary objects we all recognise, which have been serving our needs since before we can remember. At the door, we are greeted by a gigantic trumpet and moka coffee pot. These are icons of meaningful, quality design – simple, practical and beautiful – whose unusual size puts them in the spotlight. The centre of the store is occupied by a long bench made of ordinary chair parts. The sides are lined with niches displaying a collection of objects which, like the shoes, come in pairs. Each is identified with its geographic and creative roots, and they are all painted white so that the shoes on sale provide the only touch of colour.”

1-2. A red and orange fabric-

covered Camper store for Rome, with wooden pegs for shoe display. 3-4. A clear contrast with Rome, Camper Vienna sports a more high-tec bright and white surface finish.

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camper, rotterdam

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Design: Alfredo Häberli

Design: Studio Makkink & Bey

“The idea behind the Camper in Rotterdam is a variation on what we did in San Sebastián. As in that project, we tried to achieve as much exterior projection as possible, installing large windows and using the configuration of the premises – an island in the middle of the street – to convey the impression of an aquarium. Given the store’s location in this particular city, its design is clearly inspired by the river that runs through Rotterdam. This is translated into layers of abstract terraces and the electric blue of the ocean used as a background colour for the wall and in the pattern of dots on the glass, which attracts the attention of passers-by from a great distance. The red logo contrasts with the fish floating in that blue environment. And the closer one comes, the more the eye is drawn to the most important part of this singular store – the shoes – which with their shapes, materials and colours look like coral, algae or exotic shellfish floating in a large aquarium.”

On designing the new store concept for Camper, Studio Makkink & Bey returned to the basic purpose of shoes: to support walking. Walking, as the most primary way of moving through space, has shaped the interior design with its lines of movement and the physical structures that form the landscapes in which we walk. The physical rendition of movements forward, upward or downward is outlined in the staircases and in bright red lines on the stairs, wall and floor. These lines form a red blueprint, a Camper model world of walking. "We've focused on the reality of movement that was documented by E. Muybridge in photographic records of real locomotion," say the designers. "His study of climbing stairs shows the anatomy of how the body interacts with our manufactured environments. The stairs in the interior are the embodiment of such an environment and extend the spaces upward and downward to create more surface to move, sit and lean on. The effect of extension carries on in the line drawings on the wall and floor, which is repeated in the mirrors to establish a notion of rhythm, depth and infinity. Stairs represent the conjunction of separate places, they can perform as place to meet. As part of the Camper store they could serve as a meeting point for a quick chat, a stand for spectators, a counter or just a seat to tie your shoe laces.

5. A spot of colour in the

middle of Lijnbaan – a street that made history in the Netherlands when, in 1953, it became the first exclusively pedestrian area. 6. Häberli took inspiration from the deep blue of the nearby sea, in this aquarium-like fit-out. 7-9. Camper Lyon by Studio Makkink & Bey waxes philosophical in fit-out form about the infinity of space.

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recently finished a store in Vienna. Giant objects form the window display: a coffee pot on one side and a nod to its Vienna location in the form of a giant trumpet on the other. As with his previous store in Madrid, Capella positions the shoes among everyday objects, albeit elevated in the gallery-like white space of the store. He explains that their aim “was to attach the shoe to daily industrial design”. “A shoe is among the few products we have to use almost every day – unless you’re on the beach and go barefoot!” The reaction was positive as Capella comments: “The store clerks loved it; the care they take to dust the objects and the fun they have explaining their origin to the visitors is fantastic.” Camper does not do cookie cutter and understands the power of design to differentiate. Juli Capella describes their approach as “the antithesis of chain stores and franchises, where everything is equal, as if there is a perfect design for everyone. Camper has shown that biodiversity is positive and profitable.” The characteristics of design are transferred to the brand with which they are associated. A boring interior can equal a dull brand; simple, refined spaces convey confidence, while the

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10-11. Shigeru Ban’s design is based around 45-degree cubby holes for shoes which, when viewed from the street, become a massive branding element. 12. Nendo’s concept design for Camper’s Osaka store was inspired by the effortlessness of a simple act, for most – walking.

Design: Shigeru Ban and Dean Maltz

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camper, osaka Design: Nendo “We decided that the raison d’être of Camper shoes is neither to help people run more quickly nor to give the wearer recognisable status through ‘bling’, but simply to help people enjoy walking, so we designed a shop interior in which the shoes float in the air, and seem to freely stroll around the shop on their own. Products displayed on shelves also seem to float on ‘footprints’ supported by thin pipes that rise from the floor. The angles of the different ‘footprints’ vary slightly from place to place, so the shoes mounted on them appear to be walking in slow motion. In the Osaka store, shoes lined up in shop fixtures seem to take off from the ground."

Simon Bush-King is an Amsterdam-based architect and urban designer originally from Wellington.

formed by a colonnade of 48 paper tubes covered by a large curtain. The pavilion can be dismantled easily, enabling the 16m-diameter structure to follow the race from port to port. Again with his trademark cardboard, Ban has built his first retail project in the United States, in Soho, New York. The rectangular space is dominated by a faceted wall that uses a parallax effect to divide our attention. At one end of the long space the wall reads as a giant billboard with Camper in vivid red. From the other direction, the billboard dissolves to reveal display boxes creating a wall of shoes. It is an enticing display that plays with the perception of pedestrians as they walk along the footpath. Juli Capella has designed two stores for Camper: the first in Madrid in 2010, and has

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duo’s first store for Camper, located in Lyon. As with Nendo in Osaka the space is rendered white, except for the shoes, with a thin red line outlining every element. The strongly graphic treatment creates extended perspective lines adding depth and volume to the otherwise small store. Shoes puncture the continuous red line either breaking out of, or sitting within, the red frame. The impact extends outside and across the street where the physical objects appear to blur with the wall and floor graphics, further increasing the sense of depth and street appeal. Closer to home but across the other side of the world is a pavilion for Camper’s partnership with Team New Zealand in the Volvo Ocean Race. Designed by Shigeru Ban, the circular plan is

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The existing building was gutted to make way for a 112m2 retail space on the ground floor with 112m2 of basement storage below. Atop the flat roof is Shigeru Ban’s signature Paper Tube Structure in the form of a triangle. The new gable shape celebrates Camper’s first owner-occupied building in New York. From the corner of Prince and Greene Streets, one first sees a red wall with white letters displaying the Camper name. It isn’t until one enters the store that a disintegration of the letters can be seen, and one discovers that the shoes are displayed in cubbies arranged at a 45-degree angle in plan behind the red wall. The 45-degree angle is echoed in a polished concrete floor with epoxy red stripes and a corrugated metal ceiling that is red on one side and white on the other. At the far end of the space, a mirror simultaneously allows one to see a reflection of the whitesided elements of both the shoe display and the ceiling that is in sharp contrast to the red, when seen from the front. In the space is a white seating area and shoe display made up of from Shigeru Ban’s 10-Unit System, manufactured by Artek and black floor-stand light fixtures, called Yumi by FontanaArte.

boundaries of crazy are continually being pushed. Often brands settle into an approach which then becomes familiar. While familiarity can be great for awareness, it can also be a double-edged sword for any brand wanting to appear fresh, aware and at the forefront of its industry. Ultimately, brands speak to the world through their relationships to design and designers. Camper understands its market well. It has developed a culture that experiments freely while retaining products and approaches that prove successful. This extends to its relationships with designers where new partnerships are developed and old ones nurtured. Camper does not try to reinvent the shoe and, like all companies, tries to sell more product this year than the last. However in small ways, through design, it extends its relationship with its customers to question, celebrate and play with our connection to one of life’s everyday objects: the shoe.

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casa camper hotel and dos pa l i l l o s , b e r l i n

Design: Fernando Amat and Jordi Tió Concept stores and Round The World races seem not enough for Camper. In late 2010, it opened the second of its design hotels – Casa Camper, in Berlin’s Mitte neighbourhood. The new building, designed by architects Fernando Amat and Jordi Tió, features Tentempié, a buffet bar, which provides guests with fine views of the German capital from the top floor, the eighth level, of the monochromatic building. At street level is Dos Palillos, a restaurant designed by the Bouroullec brothers. The architects say that light was a determining influence in the design of the hotel, specifically with respect to the distribution of space: in the hotel rooms, the bed is situated in a more inward position than the bathroom, which is on the façade, overlooking a city framed by large glass windows. At the same time, a ‘theatre stage’ effect towards the outside is generated by shadows projected against the glass, revealing activity inside. The façade “resembles a machine, all grey in colour... monochromatic due to the sole presence of zinc, not often used in Spain, although a material of great tradition in Germany,” says Amat. Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec have designed a restaurant on the bottom floor that they say resembles the large kitchen tables of their childhood memories of the French region of Bretagne. The space is conceived as a theatre where the kitchen is at the centre evoking a stage to which up to 30 guests are invited to enjoy the show provided by Albert Raurich, a former chef at elBulli, and his 10 cooks. The French designers were searching for a culinary experience where interaction and visual contact do not end within the restaurant space.

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13. The large expanse of windows at Los Palillos, a resturant on the ground floor of Casa Camper, Berlin, offers a tantalising view into the interior. 1415. A typical room at Casa Camper includes Eames furniture and carefully considered accesories. 16. Rooms are designed so bathroom spaces are aligned along the façade to access maximum sunlight. Opening the drapes allows light through to the rest of the suite.