Beneath the Surface Blog

The July-August issue of Illuminate magazine opens with a pointed statement in the editor’s letter:

“there’s a chasm between those making LEDs and those attempting to employ them in the built environment”.

Ummm, Mr. Crockett, did you read our minds and/or uncover the fundamental reason GPI exists? There is a huge gap between what Jim Crocker of Illuminate refers to as “chipheads” and the architects/lighting designers that use the products to create emotional and aesthetic impacts on space.  And when we say "huge gap", we mean the a divide the size of the Grand Canyon.  This LED fixture has great performance and controllability, but how do I ensure that it is implemented to achieve the great aesthetic impact as promised in all of the promotional literature?

Designers need guidance, or rather suppliers need to guide designers, on how to integrate fixtures into the custom millwork, detail the attachment systems to hold the LED fixture, and situate the LED fixtures in a manner that allows electricians to easily run low voltage wiring.  When these important steps are ignored, designers just don't achieve the aesthetic they intended.

Manufacturers and designers can speak different languages. The good news is, our staff here at GPI is “multi-lingual” so to speak.  We speak supplier, owner, architect, lighting designer, electrical engineer, and even stone subcontractor. How’s that for bridging the chasm?

Photo Credit: UW Digital Collections via Flickr Creative Commons

Back in architecture school at the University of Cincinnati, my all time favorite project was what the DAAP architecture and interior design students lovingly refer to as “The Box Project”. The task was to design and build a nine foot cubic space in reaction to a piece of music- an intense violin concerto.  What did I love about this studio project so much?

1. Challenged us to translate an intangible abstract concept into built form.

2. We truly worked as a team- from project managers, shipping coordinators, detailers, 3D model builders, and physical model builders- 20 overworked design students attacked this thing in 4 weeks.

3. Being involved from concept through installation was incredibly rewarding.

4. Managing the project to stay on schedule and within budget (a huge learning curve for ambitiously creative freshman with little concept of real-world feasibility).

5. Working with the concepts of layers, tension, light, and transparency.

The most intense moment during the four week design-build duration was when the custom colored acrylic on order from Florida became lost in transport, and we had to make an exasperated last-minute trip to Pat Catans to buy stained glass paint and create the colored panels ourselves!

Looking back on my design career, I can see why my student experienced foreshadowed my exciting experience at GPI- collaborative teamwork, addressing a project from a multiple of angles, and exploring the manipulation of surfaces with reflected and colored light.  The similarities are eerily striking!

What educational experiences provided insight into your ideal career path?

By Caitlin Walsh, Design Director at GPI

Looking for an alternative to glass or stone for a translucent wall feature? If the application is suitable, you should consider using acrylic products. Not the paint, but rather sheet acrylic.

Acrylic is stronger, more scratch resistant, and lighter than glass. It comes in an almost infinite variety of colors and textures, and has stunning clarity- as good as or even better than glass. In fact, acrylic panels are typically half the weight of glass, and do not require bushings or gaskets when installing.  And although acrylic may be slightly more expensive initially, the durability, ease of installation, and longevity of acrylic may make it the cheaper in the long run.

So now that acrylic is your clear choice, what exactly is it? And what do all those industry terms mean?  Sheet acrylic is a form of plastic known as Polymethyl methacrylate, or PMMA.  Different brands of acrylic include Plexiglas, Gavrieli, Vitroflex, Limacryl, R-Cast, Acrylex, Acrylite, Acrylplast, Polycast, Oroglass, Optix, and Lucite.  But at the very basic manufacturing level, there are three main forms of sheet acrylic: extruded, continuous, and cell cast.

Extruded acrylic is mass-produced on giant rollers, and is usually produced in large volumes for commercial use.  Of the three types of acrylic extruded is the most budget friendly, but also the most susceptible to scratches and blemishes.

Continuous Cast acrylic is mass produced as well. Huge vats of acrylic monomer and other chemicals are poured on large steel belts, which carry the heated acrylic through a series of coolers. Continuous cast acrylic is slightly more expensive than extruded, though the quality is slightly better as well.

Cell Cast acrylic is the most expensive form of acrylic and the highest quality.  Molds, typically 4’x8’, are made, and acrylic is poured in.  This method allows for a number of different colors and textures to be produced, and produces acrylic with the best possible optical clarity

Which one is best for you?  If you’re looking for clarity, then cell cast acrylic has the best optical clarity as well as the greatest surface hardness.  However, cell cast acrylic tends to have greater variation in thickness.

Continuous cast acrylic is the material of choice for skylights, and is the next best for clarity. It is not as hard as cell cast materials, nor does it have as many color and thickness options. However, it is much cheaper and maintains uniform thickness as sheets.

Extruded acrylic is dubbed the “industry workhorse”.  It comes in a fair number of colors and sizes, and that combined with its low cost satisfies the needs of most acrylic applications. However, it is the softest of all acrylics, and is subject to expansion and shrinking over time.

It’s important to carefully consider your project before selecting which brand, and which type, or acrylic you wish to use.

For further reading, try:

http://www.plasticsmag.com/features.asp?fIssue=Jan/Feb-04

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-acrylic.htm

http://www.modernplastics.com/polycast-cellcast-acrylic-sheet-papermask-p-1003.html

Thank you to all those who visited the GPI Design/Marlite booth at Neocon 2010 in Chicago.  Aside from getting many project leads, it was truly rewarding to see the excitement and positive feedback from those who are just learning about us for the first time.  Some memorable quotes from our booth visitors:

"I've been walking around getting all these great creative ideas but not sure how to bring it all together. This is so great!"

"Is that stone real?!"

"Your stones are like using mother nature as art pieces."

"I'd like to use this on my next project, my client wants me to 'pimp his space'!"

"What a great idea! How did you invent this system?" To which we explained that we didn't stumble into this business overnight, we evolved from standard natural stone supply to exotic stone supply to complete integrated systems of surface, structure, and light.

And... the greatest finale was getting a hug and a knuckle pound from two very excited designers who were drawn into our booth just before we began disassembly!

If you missed the show or are back at your office needing inspiration, here is a photographic recap:

Thanks to all of our booth visitors for their positive energy and engaging conversations. See you next year!

Leather Wall Panels

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.

My first professor in architecture school concluded our first quarter of design lab by suddenly ordering us to get up from our seats.

He instructed, "Walk four feet to your right".

We all glanced at each other, puzzled, wondering why he interrupted our deep stares into our Mac computer screens plastered in AutoCAD and Photoshop.  

"Now walk four feet away from your desk. What do you see?"  

We moaned and groaned, as for some of us this was the most exercise we'd had since studio began.  Looking around, the view hadn't really changed.

"Now climb four feet upwards and stand on top of your desk.  What do you see?"  

We viewed the scene from our new perches, high above the wall dividers and scrambled piles of junk on the studio floor.  

"See how much your perspective can change just from making one strategic move in the right direction?"

Just as everyone sees space differently, so is the perception of obstacles.  We can often feel limited by our everyday surroundings and confined by typical modes of perception.

As for GPI, I propose weekly meetings "standing on your desk" meetings.  Spread the word!

-Caitlin Walsh, GPI designer

Have you ever seen an over scaled-zebra striped-curved-colored-lighted  wall with varying panel sizes and gaping reveals?  We haven’t, but there’s probably a reason for that. All of the conflicting visual elements would cause nausea and headaches for any sane designer!

In a primary space in your commercial interior design, you’ve allocated a prominent wall which has to pull the eye as soon as the user enters your building.  Or you need to set the mood in a swanky restaurant with a dramatic focal point. Considering the plethora of material and color choices alone, it’s easy to get swept up in all of the bells and whistles. Beware, using more than 4 or 5 dramatic design elements will result in visual overload.

What do you see when you look at the above image? First, you probably notice a substantially large area of a white surface.  Then, the fact that that surface is lit. Lastly, your eye sees the detailed sharp lines that run through the surface and mirrored patterns between panels.  Our summary of why the backlit white onyx feature wall at Signature Place condominiums is so visually appealing: scale, light, detail.

Constraining design choices can often generate more simple and sophisticated interior designs. While we're certainly advocates of highlighting the materiality of stone or glass as center stage in our interior feature walls, there are other design tools which should be considered and manipulated. While all of these aspects (whether prominent or downplayed) exist in every feature wall, elegant statements are achieved by employing 2 or 3 of the following elements in a hierarchical fashion:

1. Color 
Color drives many of the material selections for commercial interiors. Colors that occur most frequently in natural materials are greens, blues, and browns.  Man-made colors are available in a wide range, with an equally wide range of emotional reactions to those colors. The eye will be drawn to the area of greatest contrast first. Generally, bright vivid color combinations produce startling dramatic effects, and less bright colors tend to produce a soothing atmosphere.

Highly contrasting colors will make the wall advance and make the room appear smaller. If you are working in a small or dimly lit space, consider using RGB light to create the coloration of the surface. Could the surface material fade into the background and act as a canvas for light?

2. Scale
There are several dimensions of scale to consider when designing commercial feature walls.  At a large scale, the proportion of the feature in relation to the surrounding space will affect visual perception.  Should the wall reinforce the strong verticality in a tall lobby space?  Should a backlit feature wall have a horizontal force that pulls users through a long corridor?

Shifting scales down to the human body, pay attention to the relationship between the human body and the feature wall. How does it feel to stand next to the wall (imposing, comfortable, energizing)?
Where is the primary view of the wall located- in front of, below, above? How far away is the user when he/she first visually interacts with the wall?  

Whether the design surface is wood, stone, glass, resin, or fabric, the scale of the individual panels that compose the wall affects the perceived size of the entire wall.  Other things to consider include the scale of any surface patterns and finish trims. Where should seams be placed?

3. Material
The available choices of interior finishes can be seemingly infinite.  Take cues from the materiality of the surrounding spaces in order to guide your material selection.  Is the intent to provide a natural, harmonic spatial quality that brings the outdoors in?  Perhaps an onyx natural stone or wood surface is the appropriate surface choice.  A sleek modern feel with man-made materials? Consider using recycled glass, backlit resin panels, or carved MDF panels.

4. Light
Should light be incorporated? Is the material translucent? Should it be backlit? Is the material opaque? Should the wall be edge-lit or down-lit? Is the quality of light soft, glowing, bold, colored? Directional, diffuse, linear? What is the surrounding lighting environment?

5. Form
Is the feature wall designed to be curved or linear?  Is the design intent to appear as a heavy monolithic entity or a thin floating plane?

6. Depth
Is the feature wall surface a single plane, or should it turn a corner or have a return? The intended perception of depth can provide guidance on the design of form, shape, and architectonic details (how the connections and joints of a built assembly are expressed or suppressed).

7. Pattern
Often used in lower-end finishes, pattern shifts the focus from the materiality of the surface to the visual perception of that surface.  Is the surface pattern organic or geometric? Does the pattern interact with the form/shape of the feature wall? Be wary when combining bold patterns with bold forms; the two strategies will visually compete and overwhelm occupants of your space.

8. Texture
The perceived degree of roughness and smoothness in surface quality can be either tactile or visual. Distance alters our perception of texture; one must view fine textured objects at close range in order to see the texture. When viewed from a distance, fine textured surfaces blend into a single tone and appear flat. Coarse textured objects are distinguishable from greater distances. The infinite variety of textures that we experience in our daily lives is responsible for a great deal of our perception of objects and our visual interest in both natural and manmade features.Texture can also be implied, particularly through surface design and the manner in which it integrates with light.    Light itself can have texture- smooth, dappled, diffuse, or linear.

9. Detail
Scale of the detailing and finishes: exaggerated connections can interrupt surfaces and patterns while minimal seams and details showcase the feature wall surface.

10. Durability
The design surface as well as the feature wall system should physically durable (resistant to fading and scratching), but other design considerations include life cycle and maintenance.  Should a classic wall design outlast fleeting trends- or is a trendy statement necessary to support the overall design aesthetic?

What are the most memorable feature wall statements you have seen?  What made them so memorable?  What elements in the above list were employed, and in what order of importance? What elements would you add to the list?