Beneath the Surface Blog

Leather is no longer relegated to overstuffed couches in dimly lit, den-like spaces. With a luxurious aesthetic and sense of permanence, leather panels are moving into primary spaces as interior wall panels and flooring.

    
 (Above left: leather wall panels by Studioart, above right: from InteriorDesignTutor.net)

Qualities: luxurious, textured, tactile, sound absorbent

Appearance: uniform surface color in deep natural tones, optional geometric patterns, soft texture becomes more expressed as the leather ages

Found in: class A offices, high-end formal spaces

Design tip for stone: The deep natural tones found in leather and stone are complementary. To showcase the stone,  choose a leather that has a natural uniform surface and keep the leather panel sizes consistent. If leather is the main focal point, choose a stone with minimal veining and minimal color contrast.

Design tip for alternative surface: Backlit glass panels will lighten up the heavy aesthetic of leather panels while maintaining the sense of high-end luxury. Non-textured glass looks best with bold geometric leather panels.  Large expanses of backlit glass surfaces will relieve a busy pattern of small leather panels.

With Neocon 2010 fast approaching, your head is surely spinning with creative ideas and your desk will soon be filled with samples and swatches. How to bring them all together in a space? That’s the challenge.

GPI will be reviewing new innovative materials in the design world and giving ideas about how ato integrate these materials with our stone finishes. To kick off, we explore carved MDF panels. GPI will be investigating new interior material trends, so stayed tuned through the end of June. 

Carved MDF panels

    
(above images: Volta™ artistic dimensional panels courtesy of Marlite, Inc.)

Qualities: modern, creative, bold, fluid

Appearance: fluid lines, but in a more prominent and geometric pattern than found in stone.  Carvings and surface relief create pronounced shadows, while stone has a flat surface with the depth and layers being brought out when backlit. Carved MDF panels are often lit with grazers to highlight and shadow, while translucent stone and resin have the most pleasing aesthetic when evenly backlit.

Found in: lobbies, feature walls, reception desks, restaurants

Design tip for stone: Choose a more "modern" stone with uninterrupted surface. Distinct veins will compete with the sculptural MDF panels.  Keep both surfaces in the same color scheme or keep the stone to a neutral/white palette.

Design tip for alternative surface: Backlit resins are often well-suited for use adjacent to sculptural MDF panels.  The saturated color and uniform surface match the streamlined aesthetic, while the lightweight nature of resin allows for minimal structure, much like the MDF panels themselves.

Know of a product you’d like us to feature? Send material suggestions to info@gpidesign.com.

"Delicate", "soaring", "sparkling", "translucent"... when it comes to building materials, natural granite doesn't typically produce such evocative descriptions.

Think "granite" and most designers recall images of residential countertops, traditional lobby floors, historical stone monuments, and heavy building foundations. Associated with durability, heaviness, and traditional forms, granite is found in the palette of traditional architects and most often in residential project types.

Granite is found in abundance in nature, so it's no coincidence that we associate it with fairly standard or traditional spaces. But have you ever seen peppery black and white granite milled so thinly that it transmits light? In an upcoming project with GPI’s translucent stone, the traditional expectations of granite are completely challenged.The extensive curtainwall system of a California government building will incorporate stunning translucent granite panels visible from both the exterior and interior of the building. The translucent stone, situated in the interior face of the insulated glazing unit, will punctuate the glass facade with panel proportions that mimic columns.

Translucent stone has been used in architecture before, but glass-backed panels on the exterior have posed challenges for architects. And you’d be hard pressed to find a manufacturer that can effectively mill stone down to one or two millimeters. For the California project, GPI’s DURA-Lite™ glass backed stone panels were subjected to various applied tests (deflection, delamination, load compression, accelerated weathering, etc.) and passed with flying colors.

The architects chose a peppery black and white granite that will be milled down to 1.5mm and laminated to glass, reducing the weight of the typically coarse and heavy stone and allowing it to transmit light. This is made possible by an extremely precise production process, allowing the stone to be sliced thinly and laminated to glass.  But it’s more than the ability to cut thin stone- considering the surface finishing process (polishing, filling, etc) is imperative in maintaining sparkling translucency.

Check back soon for updates on GPI’s groundbreaking project, it will be the first time translucent granite is used in a curtainwall application!

Twitter now offers location-based tweets, and now there's a new website that allows building design searches by location.  Architizer, a new all-encompassing social media platform for architects (or should we say buildings?), ties building projects to their respective locations, design teams, consultants, and suppliers.