Knoll Textiles Archives - Interior Design https://interiordesign.net/tag/knoll-textiles/ The leading authority for the Architecture & Design community Tue, 19 Dec 2023 20:08:27 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2 https://interiordesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/ID_favicon.png Knoll Textiles Archives - Interior Design https://interiordesign.net/tag/knoll-textiles/ 32 32 Suzanne Tick: 2023 Interior Design Hall of Fame Inductee https://interiordesign.net/designwire/suzanne-tick-2023-interior-design-hall-of-fame-inductee/ Thu, 07 Dec 2023 14:22:00 +0000 https://interiordesign.net/?post_type=id_news&p=218740 Weaver, textile designer, and founder/CEO of both Luum and her eponymous studio, Suzanne Tick is inducted into the Interior Design Hall of Fame.

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Matter, 2008, a weaving of plastic, tissue paper, wire, cardboard tubes, and sheath-core vinyl
Matter, 2008, a weaving of plastic, tissue paper, wire, cardboard tubes, and sheath-core vinyl. Photography courtesy of Suzanne Tick Inc.

Suzanne Tick: 2023 Interior Design Hall of Fame Inductee

Material innovator Suzanne Tick has the future on speed dial. She embraced sustainability before most of us knew what the word meant, developed a CEU on the post-gender society before it even happened, experimented with 3D knitting before it was a thing, and imbued the woven surfaces that surround commercial interiors with characteristics of transparency, digitalism, and illumination before we realized we needed them. Then there’s the fact that her New York–based textile brand, Luum, launched its Fabric of Space collection, with patterns based on star trails and the expanding universe, the very day the James Webb Space Telescope images of same were publicly released. “Everyone thought we were in cahoots with NASA!” she jokes.

No, Tick is not conspiring with the government’s space-research arm, but she has collaborated with a galaxy of big-name brands during her four-decade career: Tarkett, Tandus Centiva, and 3form are just a few for which she’s conceived upholstery and drapery fabrics, high-performance carpeting and broadloom, and cement-tile and LVT flooring. She has enjoyed a longstanding partnership with Skyline Design, for which she conceives etched panels that bring textile softness to hard glass, and maintains an active fine-art practice realizing tapestries, custom textiles, and experimental handweavings for such clients as the Gates Foundation and BlackRock.

Suzanne Tick on Her Futuristic Approach to Design

Earlier in her professional life, Tick served as in-house design lead for Knoll Textiles, Unika Vaev, and Brickel Associates, but she prefers the outsider perspective and risk-taking opportunities inherent to being an independent entrepreneur, her first taste of which was in 1995, when she colaunched Tuva Looms. “I need the autonomy”—a freedom she enjoys at the helm of her eponymous studio and the decade-old Luum, which recently pioneered the contract industry’s first multipurpose fabrics made entirely of postconsumer-recycled biodegradable polyester, plus other designs made from discarded garment waste.

Having ownership over product and process is Tick’s recipe for innovation—and her career driver from day one. In the early ’80’s, after earning textile-design degrees from the University of Iowa and the Fashion Institute of Technology, she talked her way into a job working for modernist fabric master Boris Kroll—“not because of my portfolio, mind you, but rather my outgoing personality and loquaciousness.” Tick was quickly disillusioned with the siloed production process she encountered, where design was divorced from the technical side. After months of laboring over her first pattern, she arrived one morning to discover it gone from her desk. “I thought, Wait, I don’t get to see what happens to the design next? I can’t live like that! I wanted to see the entire process so I could create the best fabrics.” Kroll ultimately moved her from the studio team to his assistant, a role that exposed her to what transpired at the mill and beyond. “I learned everything—from how to buy the fiber to how the patterns worked.”

The weaver, textile designer, and founder/CEO of Suzanne Tick Inc. and Luum.
The weaver, textile designer, and founder/CEO of Suzanne Tick Inc. and Luum. Photography by Martin Crook.

Get Ready for 2024: See what’s next for Interior Design‘s Hall of Fame event with a peek at what we’re planning for the 40th annual gala. Discover Hall of Fame details.


For Tick, Sustainability is Top of Mind

Her approach has always been holistic and sustainable, ranging from development of raw material and structures to revamping of manufacturing methods. At Luum, for instance, “The majority of what we do is to develop new fibers and invent constructions. That’s why our fabrics feel different.” Her handweavings also utilize novel materials—salvaged objects like dry-cleaning hangers. For a financial company commission, she’s currently warp-and-wefting two centuries’ worth of shredded ledgers; for a paint brand, she’s weaving cut-up sample discards.

Tick, a self-described “fourth-generation recycler,” comes about her salvage mindset honestly. Business at her dad’s scrap-metal yard was the main dinner table topic growing up. At the same time, her family was “very cultured and creative”—her mother was a graphic and set designer—and tapped into Eastern philosophy. “My dad had all the books: the Bhagavad Gita, a library of Ram Dass.” Also stacked on those shelves were her mom’s interiors magazines. Tick owes a lot to those glossies, which helped her home in on a vocational track when, late in her college tenure as a printmaker experimenting with etching fiber textures onto copper, she set about figuring out what the heck to do after graduation. “Flipping through them, I saw ads by Jack Lenor Larsen, Brunschwig et Fils, Scalamandré. I thought I could work for a company that makes fabrics like those—and that I had to move to New York to do it.”

Meditation Meets Design Innovation

Suzanne Tick working at the loom
Tick at the loom in the New York town house that serves as her residence, studio, and meditation center. Photography by Martin Crook.

Manhattan proved an energizing yet scary place at the time. “I arrived at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. Designers we were creating custom orders for would just stop calling us back.” To handle the stress, she tried Zen meditation, but it never stuck. She gave the pursuit of higher consciousness another try seven years ago, after a period of discontent despite her many achievements, which at this point included a TEDxNavesink talk and work exhibited at international museums. A last-minute opportunity to attend an introductory Vedic workshop coincided with a weeklong staycation, her first in 30-odd years. She found the mantra-based practice transformative, and since 2020 has been teaching it to others. It’s become a cornerstone of her studio culture that she credits with unlocking higher levels of collective creativity. “If I could get more firms to realize how incredible this practice is for design teams! Your awareness becomes open, everything becomes much clearer, you just see what needs to be done.”

Part of de-stressing her nervous system, she continues, has involved “figuring out what I can do to be of help.” She’s doubled down on her commitment to giving back via free weaving workshops and serving on the board of The Light Inside, which teaches meditation to prison inmates and corrections officers. Tick pays it forward to Mother Earth, too. Back in the ’90’s, she was the brains behind Resolution, the first-ever solution-dyed panel fabric (and the first Knoll Textile product to sell 1 million yards); today, her studio recycles all textile waste it produces (almost a ton annually) and has been instrumental in shifting our perception of circularity via envelope-pushing product designs attuned to nature yet equally informed by technology, craft, and human ingenuity.

Watch the Hall of Fame Documentary Featuring Suzanne Tick

Suzanne Tick working alongside Carol Lindsey
A working session at Tick Studio with product development designer Carol Lindsey, one of her five staffers. Photography by Martin Crook.
Suzanne Tick at a Vedic meditation initiator training in Rishikesh, India, 2020
Tick at a Vedic meditation initiator training in Rishikesh, India, 2020. Photography courtesy of Suzanne Tick Inc.

Explore Textiles Design by Suzanne Tick

Luum textiles at Harvey Mudd College's Scott A. McGregor Computer Science Center
Tick-designed textiles for Luum at Harvey Mudd College’s Scott A. McGregor Computer Science Center in Claremont, California, by Steinberg Hart, 2022. Photography courtesy of Steinberg Hart.
Luum’s 2013 Stitch embroidered textiles in Scale Factor, Arc Angle, Second Nature, and Navigate
Luum’s 2013 Stitch embroidered textiles in Scale Factor, Arc Angle, Second Nature, and Navigate. Photography courtesy of Tick Studio.
Luum Collective Conscious collection, 2021
Luum Collective Conscious collection, 2021. Photography by Tolleson.
Yarn components used during the design process at Tick Studio
Yarn components used during the design process at Tick Studio. Photography by Martin Crook.
red, orange, and yellow camo fabric for Knoll
Camo fabric for Knoll Textiles, 2003, designed by Stephen Sprouse under Tick’s creative direction. Photography courtesy of Suzanne Tick Inc.
Obscura collection PVC-free polyester film for Skyline Design, 2021
Obscura collection PVC-free polyester film for Skyline Design, 2021. Photography courtesy of Skyline Design.
Meta Firma carpet for Tarkett
Meta Firma carpet for Tarkett; 2021. Photography courtesy of Tarkett.
Spectral Array polyester upholstery, from Luum’s Fabric of Space collection
Spectral Array polyester upholstery, from Luum’s Fabric of Space collection, 2022.Photography by Tolleson.
Jot drapery for Knoll Textiles, 2012
Jot drapery for Knoll Textiles, 2012. Photography by Brooke Holm.
Woven Chunky Wools weave trials for Boris Kroll, circa 1983
Woven Chunky Wools weave trials for Boris Kroll, circa 1983. Photography by Brooke Holm.
Fila polyester fabric for Knoll Textiles, 2011.
Fila polyester fabric for Knoll Textiles, 2011. Photography courtesy of Knoll Textiles.
Pom Pom nylon carpeting for Tuva Looms, 1997.
Pom Pom nylon carpeting for Tuva Looms, 1997. Photography by Darrin Haddad.

Installations by Suzanne Tick on Display

Matter, 2008, a weaving of plastic, tissue paper, wire, cardboard tubes, and sheath-core vinyl
Matter, 2008, a weaving of plastic, tissue paper, wire, cardboard tubes, and sheath-core vinyl. Photography courtesy of Suzanne Tick Inc.
Woven Neon, 2019, by Suzanne Tick
Woven Neon, 2019, in neon, silicone, and aluminum, a commission for a private collection. Photography courtesy of Tick Studio.
A 1998 prototype for a stainless-steel woven art piece
A 1998 prototype for a stainless-steel woven art piece. Photography by Brooke Holm.
Fiber Optic Sail Cloth, a collaborative commission by Suzanne Tick with Harry Allen for a private collecto
Fiber Optic Sail Cloth, a collaborative commission with Harry Allen for a private collector, 2002. Photography courtesy of Suzanne Tick Inc.
A commission for the Stern Chapel at Temple Emanu-El Dallas, in discarded mylar balloons and mixed media
A commission for the Stern Chapel at Temple Emanu-El Dallas, in discarded mylar balloons and mixed media, 2016. Photography by Martin Crook/courtesy of Temple Emanu-El Dallas.
Transcend digitally printed glass for Skyline Design
Transcend digitally printed glass for Skyline Design, 2017. Photography courtesy of Skyline Design.
A 2016 sculpture woven by children who attended the Pratt Summer School Program
A 2016 sculpture woven by children who attended the Pratt Summer School Program via New York youth-development program Publicolor, where Tick served on the board. Photography courtesy of Publicolor.

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Inside Look: Dune CEO’s Southampton Home by Sawyer|Berson https://interiordesign.net/projects/dune-ceo-southampton-home-by-sawyer-berson/ Wed, 28 Jun 2023 19:22:55 +0000 https://interiordesign.net/?post_type=id_project&p=213642 A Southampton, New York, retreat by Sawyer|Berson is an artful stage for interiors by its design-forward homeowner, Dune CEO and founder Richard Shemtov.

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an in-ground pool surrounded by porcelain pavers at this home
Porcelain pavers surround the pool while a standing-seam zinc roof caps the 8,000-square-foot house.

Inside Look: Dune CEO’s Southampton Home by Sawyer|Berson

Over the past few decades, the New York architecture firm Sawyer|Berson has designed a bevy of houses in the Hamptons. Admired for their stylistic versatility, founding partners Brian Sawyer and John Berson have masterminded everything from stately Colonial Revival residences to bold, contemporary compounds. But never before had the studio worked on a home quite like the one proposed by Richard Shemtov for a wooded single-acre property in Southampton.

Shemtov, the CEO and founder of furniture company Dune, was looking to build a weekend retreat to share with his wife, Dominique, and their three daughters, who range in age from 14 to 26. He envisioned something modestly scaled, modeled after traditional gable-roof barns but in a rigorously pared-down style. Key inspirations were Herzog & de Meuron’s Parrish Art Museum in nearby Water Mill and the Baron House in Sweden by John Pawson.

“It wasn’t our typical commission,” says Sawyer, who has known and worked with Shemtov for years. “It was an exercise in discipline, really, a fun puzzle to work out. We could fit a certain amount of program in the box.” Adds Berson, “As it turned out, that was a deceptively simple idea, to coordinate the plan and section and make the entire composition sing.”

A Southampton Home Three Years in the Making

a lounge area inside the home of Dune CEO Richard Shemtov designed by Sawyer|Benson
With architecture and landscaping by Sawyer | Berson, the lower-level lounge in the Southampton, New York, home of Richard and Dominique Shemtov and family is outfitted with a Delta sectional, Toiny swivel chairs, a Jardin cocktail table, and a Torque side table, all from Shemtov’s furniture company, Dune. He also designed the home’s interiors.

To create a crisp silhouette, Sawyer and Berson sunk one of the structure’s two main levels entirely below-grade and devised the standing-seam roof, a weathered-gray zinc, so that it is flush with the perimeter edges and has hidden gutters. Expanses of 10-foot-high, black-painted aluminum–framed glass—most of which slide open—line much of the front and rear facades, while the rest of the exterior is clad in a distinctive recycled-glass brick.

The house’s ground floor encompasses an open living/dining area, the kitchen, and four bedrooms. The loftlike basement level—housing several entertaining areas, Shemtov’s home office, a laundry room, a gym, and a kitchenette—is completely column-free, which added significantly to the engineering complexity of the project. The house also expanded a bit as plans developed: A custom-fabricated carport was tacked on and room was carved out below the eaves to create a half level, a cozy attic den that can double as a guest bedroom. “It’s the house we wanted,” Shemtov says. “But we went way over budget and it took nearly three years to build.”

Interiors are by Homeowner Richard Shemtov

A big chunk of that time was devoted to fitting out the 8,000-square-foot interiors. It’s not uncommon for Sawyer|Berson to handle every aspect of a project—architecture, interiors, landscape—as can be seen in the duo’s forthcoming monograph, to be published by Rizzoli this fall in advance of the firm’s 25th anniversary. But in this case Shemtov oversaw the interiors himself, his first time designing a project of this scale. “Every inch of the house was considered and thought out, almost to the point where it was obsessive,” he admits.

Architectural detailing was kept to a minimum—just simple baseboard trim and crisp custom millwork in select spots. In the double-height living area, Shemtov devised a striking fireplace surround in richly grained wenge and, opposite, built-in bookshelves with a hand-glazed faux-linen finish, their back panels lined with mirror or hair-on hide to add layers of texture. On the ground level, 8-inch-wide pine floor planks were treated using a wire-brushed effect and then treated to a milky glaze. “You walk barefoot on it and it feels like a massage,” Shemtov enthuses.

All built-ins and seating and most of the tables were made by Dune, which employs some 60 full-time furniture makers at its New Jersey facility. Shemtov used a mix of Dune Collection pieces and original designs—some of which have since been added to the line, like the living area’s amoeba-shape ottoman/table, upholstered in harlequin-pattern panels of coral leather, and the dining area’s Donald Judd–inspired teal-aluminum sideboard. Downstairs, which offers billiards, ping-pong, Pac-Man, and pinball, two separate seating areas are anchored by exuberant Dune sectionals, one covered in a rusty-hued chenille and the other, a channel-tufted circular model inspired by Pierre Paulin, in a lemony suede.

a 21 feet tall vaulted ceiling in the home of Dune's CEO designed by Sawyer|Benson
The vaulted ceiling rises to 21 feet.

A Courtyard Garden by Sawyer|Berson Brightens the Lower Level

The art is mostly things the homeowners have collected over years, works by friends or that have a personal resonance. One new acquisition is the Bernardo Siciliano painting of a restaurant interior that hangs in the dining area. The scene felt distinctly familiar to Shemtov, who learned after he bought it that the artist had based it on Lincoln, a restaurant in Lincoln Center where Dune created a custom banquette.

To bring light down into the lower level, Sawyer|Berson, which oversaw landscaping, created a courtyard garden with a series of amphitheater-style concrete terraces that are arrayed with a profusion of potted plants. “I originally saw it as a kind of hanging garden with things tumbling down,” says Sawyer. “Richard came up with the idea of lining it with pots, which I think is fun and punchy.”

The focal point of the rear grounds is a minimalist swimming pool, surrounded by porcelain-tile coping and a sweep of precisely graded lawn. There’s an outdoor kitchen and a poolside dining pergola, as well as a covered terrace that’s become one of the family’s favorite hangout spots. Shemtov imagines spending weekends and summers here with the girls—and, eventually, their families—for many years to come. “Labor of love is a commonly used term,” he says, “but with this house, it resonates a lot.”

Inside a Southampton Home by Sawyer|Berson 

a bronze-tube console topped with a sculpture
In the foyer, a Michel Gribinski oil and a Paula Hayes sculpture accent Geo, a textured bronze–tube console that was a Dune prototype and is now available as a commission-only piece.
a living area with a sectional and accent chairs with a glass wall with views of trees
In the living area, a Brian Schmitt chandelier overlooks Dune’s DaBomb sectional and Cloud swivel chairs, a pair of Rick Owens antler side tables, and a hand-carved sycamore cocktail table by Caleb Woodard.
a built-in oak banquette in the mudroom of this home includes an Anna Navasardian painting
The colorway of Romo’s Kuba Cay pattern covering the mudroom’s built-in oak banquette coordinates with an Anna Navasardian painting.
an open concept kitchen with custom oak cabinetry
Custom oak cabinetry surrounds much of the kitchen, with Corian countertops, Piet Boon stools, and tractor headlight–inspired Outsider pendants by Jacco Maris.
a dining room surrounded by glass walls looks over a pool at this home
Dune’s Rhapsody table, Dash chairs, and Mason sideboard gather beneath an Anna Karlin pendant fixture in the dining area.
Dune's Stellar chair and ottoman face the bed in the primary bedroom
In the main bedroom, Dune’s Stellar chair and ottoman face the custom walnut-based bed and nightstands integrated into a linen-upholstered wall; the drapery fabric is Kelly Wearstler’s Grafitto.
butterfly kaleidoscope wallpaper accents a wall next to a built-in bed in this girls bedroom
Damien Hirst’s Butterfly Kaleidoscope wallpaper and a Samantha Gallacher rug animate the built-in bed and storage in a daughter’s room.
an electric guitar hangs on the wall of this girl's bedroom with a Lindsay Cowles wallcovering behind it
A Lindsay Cowles wallcovering enlivens another daughter’s bedroom, with a Patty bench by Lievore Altherr Molina and Dune’s Monolith desk.
a gold-tinted stainless steel wardrobe's doors are covered in lacquered rings
Beyond Dune’s Float bench in the guest bedroom, the console and the gold-tinted stainless-steel wardrobe doors with lacquered rings are custom.
an in-ground pool surrounded by porcelain pavers at this home
Porcelain pavers surround the pool while a standing-seam zinc roof caps the 8,000-square-foot house.
the exterior of a home designed by Sawyer|Benson that is built of recycled-glass brick
The house is built of recycled-glass brick.
a mint-green pergola
The pergola’s mint-green color is custom.
freestanding partitions separate a game table
Free­standing Modernica screens partition the lower level’s custom game table and chairs, joined by Bertjan Pot’s Non Random pendant and a Liz Collins wall work.
dark marble tile lines the walls of the main bathroom in this home
Variegated marble tile lines the main bathroom.
a cowhide rug in front of a red sofa in a lounge area of this home
Also on the lower level, a hair-on cowhide rug anchors a sitting area composed of Dune’s Yaz sofa and Peanut coffee table.
the attic den of the Dune CEO's home with sectional and ottomans
Built-in beds double as lounging spots in the attic den, where Dune’s Faux cork-patterned wallpaper, Turbo sectional, and Bump ottoman flank the custom oak TV cabinet.
PROJECT TEAM
sawyer|berson: alex taylor wilk
blue sky design: structural engineer
bk kuck construction: general contractor
PRODUCT SOURCES
FROM FRONT
toulemonde bochart: rug (lounge)
normann copenhagen: small side table
romo: chair fabric (lounge), drapery sheers (living area, dining area), banquette fabric (mudroom), bench fabric, window-treatment fabric (guest bedroom), settee fabric (main bedroom)
anna karlin: pendant fixture (dining area)
élitis: chair fabric
crosby street studios: rugs (dining area, guest bedroom)
schmitt design: chandelier (living area)
pollack: sectional fabric
kerry joyce: chair fabric
through jeff lincoln art & design: cocktail table, side tables
Ortal: fireplace
foro marble: fireplace stone
stone source: floor tile (mudroom)
renson: custom carport, custom pergola (exterior)
damien hirst: wallpaper (bedroom)
art + loom: rug
Knoll Textiles: wall fabric
robert allen: headboard fabric
brinklicht: pendant fix­tures (kitchen)
corian: countertops
piet boon: stools
wolf: oven
California Faucets: sink fittings
through lee jofa: drapery fabric (main bedroom)
c & c milano: bed fabric
céline wright: pendant fixture
beadlight: sconces
jab: chair fabric, ottoman fabric (main bedroom), chair fabric (game area)
mgs milano: outdoor shower (guest bedroom)
pelican pools: pool (terrace)
ceramiche refin: pavers
lindsay cowles: wallpaper (bedroom)
paul smith: lamp
loro piana: chair fabric
verzelloni: bench
jane churchill: bench fabric
modernica: screens (game area)
Moooi: pendant fixture
salvatori: wall tile (bathroom)
concrete collaborative: countertop stone
ann sacks: floor tile
brizo: sink fittings
&tradition: lamp (den)
THROUGHOUT
fleetwood windows & doors: windows, exterior doors
rheinzink: roof
harbour outdoor: outdoor furniture
Stonhard: resin floor coating
benjamin moore & co.: paint

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Knoll Textiles Celebrates its 75th Anniversary With Updated Archive Textiles https://interiordesign.net/products/knoll-textiles-celebrates-its-75th-anniversary-with-updated-archive-textiles/ Tue, 05 Apr 2022 13:50:52 +0000 https://interiordesign.net/?post_type=id_project&p=195307 To celebrate Knoll Textiles’s 75th, the company launches eight updated archive textiles under the Heritage collection.

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Intricate black and white patterned fabric.
Homage.

Knoll Textiles Celebrates its 75th Anniversary With Updated Archive Textiles

The 1947 founding of Knoll’s textile division was sparked by the lack of upholstery options available in the post-war period. So, to cover her modernist furnishings, Florence Knoll turned to menswear fabric. Now, to celebrate Knoll Textiles’s 75th, the company launches eight updated archive textiles under the Heritage collection. Evolving the original design, Evelyn Hill’s open-net Filigree drapery from 1965 now comes in flame-resistant Trevira CS polyester and more colorways. 1972’s Rivers by Gretl and Leo Wollner switches from 3-meter cotton panels to a fullwidth repeat in bleach-cleanable polyester. Another standout is the handicraft aesthetic of polyester-blend Homage, which fuses three archival finds, Buster (1947), Jupiter (1967), and Marabu (1972), into an eccentric patchwork with contrast stitching.

Archival image of Florence Knoll.
Florence Knoll.
Rivers.
Rivers.
Archival image of textiles.
Archival image of textiles.
Colorful fabric samples.
Colorful fabric samples.
Filigree.
Filigree.
Intricate black and white patterned fabric.
Homage.

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Huntsman, Pfau Long, RMW, and SHoP Deliver a Five-Star Campus for Uber Headquarters in San Francisco https://interiordesign.net/projects/huntsman-pfau-long-rmw-and-shop-deliver-a-five-star-campus-for-uber-headquarters-in-san-francisco/ Wed, 03 Nov 2021 15:17:27 +0000 https://interiordesign.net/?post_type=id_project&p=189670 A forward-looking foursome—Huntsman, Pfau Long, RMW, and SHoP—deliver a five-star campus for Uber headquarters in San Francisco.

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Uber HQ
In building two of Uber’s San Francisco headquarters, a 23-acre, a four-building complex with architecture by Pfau Long and SHoP Architects and interiors by Huntsman Architectural Group and RMW, the latter two firms also overseeing the master plan, powder-coated aluminum fronts the plaster enclosure of the ground-floor events space.

Huntsman, Pfau Long, RMW, and SHoP Deliver a Five-Star Campus for Uber Headquarters in San Francisco

It’s been 12 years since Uber disrupted the transportation system with its ride-hailing technology that’s now ubiquitous. Today, the company proves itself another disruptor, this time in workplace architecture and design. Uber’s new San Francisco headquarters is a consortium of four towers, not by one or even two firms, but four internationally renowned studios. Like dating, Uber paired them in a harmonious match. For MB1 and MB2, Uber’s first commissioned ground-up headquarters, SHoP Architects conceived the original building plan, and then RMW came aboard for interiors. Huntsman Architectural Group was mainly responsible for the interiors of MB3 and MB4, originally created on spec by Pfau Long (which has since merged with Perkins&Will). Then Huntsman and RMW collaborated with Uber on the campus master plan. MB, by the way, stands for Mission Bay, the city’s burgeoning, formerly industrial neighborhood. As for stats: MB1 is 11 stories, MB2 seven, including the partially enclosed rooftop, and buildings three and four rise 11 stories each. All told, interiors total just over 1 million square feet and will eventually bring together some 6,000 staffers. “We saw this as an opportunity to unite employees within a campus setting rather than have them scattered throughout the city,” begins Uber director of workplace and real estate Tracie Kelly, who worked alongside project executive Michael Huaco, Uber’s VP of global real estate. As for the design teams? “It was a happy marriage,” Huntsman associate principal Nicole Everett reflects.

A stadium stair connects two floors in building four.
A stadium stair connects two floors in building four.

On a grand scale, Uber is conceived as a micro-city, one within and connected to the urban area at large where the two pairs of towers align. This micro-city breaks down into boroughs signified by the towers, communities analogous to floors, and neighborhoods as sig­naled by teams. It’s a broad organizational device allowing for—and encouraging—qualities of contributing to a “sense of place bring­ing people together to a positive environment,” Alison Woolf, also a Huntsman associate principal, notes.

Thus everyone, no matter where their location, experiences a shared panoply of indoor-outdoor junctions: public spaces, collaboration areas, and quiet zones in the form of libraries, wellness facilities, terraces, cafés, and break rooms—specifically designed to be communal and active, or focused and calm. Each pair of buildings shares an approximately 30,000-square-foot cafeteria, supplemented by four coffee bars. All together the setting offers a work-from-anywhere scenario, albeit one with dedicated workstations, indicative of an autonomous office paradigm. The fact that each environment presents a uniquely textured fabric induces folks to interconnect and continuously explore the entire campus—much as they would San Francisco’s heterogenous streetscape.

  • For buildings one and two, with architecture by SHoP, the smaller of the two double-story lobbies is a cube surrounded by dichroic glass tubes.
    For buildings one and two, with architecture by SHoP, the smaller of the two double-story lobbies is a cube surrounded by dichroic glass tubes.
  • A pair of sky bridges, mirrored on the underside, connects the pair of SHoP buildings.
    A pair of sky bridges, mirrored on the underside, connects the pair of SHoP buildings.

Given their origins, the two sets of buildings are entirely different. Logic has the introduction start at MB1 and MB2, since the gateway to the campus occurs at the latter. Double-glass facades create layered transparency as a vertical atrium weaving through all floors be­tween the two skins—and a literal and metaphorical connection to the city. The design teams refer to this interstitial space as solariums, for gathering or working. “They give people the choice to choose their own adventure,” SHoP associate principal Shannon Han says. They also add the asset of fresh air. Computer-controlled, operable windows respond to weather conditions creating what she terms “breathing facades.” Yet, adds RMW design principal Hakee Chang, “We were essentially presented with 17 different floor plates due to the various ways in which the solariums engage with the building core.” Unlike typical buildings with a central core, he continues, “Circulation is concentrated along the sides to high­light the bridge connections.” Two reflective glass sky bridges, mirrored on the bottom and visible from outside the buildings, span levels four to six and five to seven with pathways both covered and uncovered.

Inside, the main lobby is a digital experience. “Conduits run from the feature wall behind the 40-foot-long concrete desk, up to the ceiling and along the length of the space,” RMW senior designer Jenna Szczech explains. Then come choices. Grab a coffee or proceed directly to the events space occupying most of the rest of the floor. Like moths to a flame, visitors are pulled to it, since it’s wrapped in a backlit and perforated white screen. Inside, the room is multifunctional and divisible, made so by an accordion-pleated partition that can rise to the ceiling.

Nike Schroeder’s threaded artwork spans the double-height wall of a break room on the top two levels of building four.
Nike Schroeder’s threaded artwork spans the double-height wall of a break room on the top two levels of building four.

These are two of what RMW calls “iconic spaces,” meaning places with campus-wide draw. The cafeteria is another. In MB2, it occupies the entire second floor in a setting every bit the hip restaurant: polished concrete flooring, serpentine white-oak banquettes overlooked by a curvaceous installation of acrylic tubes, and brass floater strips. Up on the sixth floor is the second and main events space. The Forum, preceded by an icy white pre-function environment with a mossy back wall hinting at the rooftop terrace above, counts as an all-hands venue. “The architecture is a beauty,” Szczech states. Indeed it is: a bright, double-height room enclosed on two sides by a floor-to-ceiling window system capped by a grid of skylights.

Work areas, with each team neighborhood introduced by a “front porch” and privy to break rooms, are focused and calm. Quieter still is the cobalt cocoon punctuated by oak and walnut millwork. Sssh, this is the fifth floor’s head’s-down library devoid of any AV component. What’s missing from this complex scenario? Art, as true walls are scarce. For that, all commissioned from locals, cross over to Huntsman’s component. The two buildings face each other across a plaza; MB3 has a terrace off its seventh floor. While the SHoP-RMW parcel has built-in wow factors, “We had to create these spaces after the fact,” Woolf recalls.

Inside, a double-height space has a painted, multi-panel artwork by Leah Rosenberg.
Inside, a double-height space has a painted, multi-panel artwork by Leah Rosenberg.

For starters, the firm cut through slabs in multiple locations. Now both structures have double-height lobbies, the larger with a slatted wood statement stairway, the smaller a cube framed with dichroic glass tubes, their colors changing according to one’s viewing stance. The ceiling above the bleachers, beneficiary of a cutout between floors four and five, has more fluctuating colors. A double-height break room, itself a novel amenity for the top 10th and 11th floors, has a fiber artwork extending upward over the expanse. Meanwhile, a vibrant, multi-panel painting is installed at the connector stair from yet another break room to the wellness suite.

Uber is particularly proud of this initiative. Almost every floor campus-wide has a mother’s room, but the big push is the mirrored studio for yoga, barre, or dance classes with a bird’s-eye view of the terrace below thanks to glass sliders. There are also adjacent pre- or post-workout chill zones that beckon with hanging wickerlike chairs.

Huntsman combined two local ceramic tiles with stitched fabric for the dividing wall between food service and seating in building three and four’s shared cafeteria.
Huntsman combined two local ceramic tiles with stitched fabric for the dividing wall between food service and seating in building three and four’s shared cafeteria.

Back inside, the cafeteria serving this part of the quad is anything but corporate. It presents a cheeky take on the green wall with verde tiles. The ceramics combine with stitched, white-bolster fabric to form a dimensional divider between servery and seating. Post-prandial, staffers can head to MB4’s makers’ room for collaborative work or MB3’s library for heads-down work. This version is “a digital and tech-enabled space prompting different neurological stimuli,” Woolf says. Regardless, Huntsman paid some homage to the old-school library format by furnishing it with long tables and carrels. It turns out, some things don’t need disrupting.

project team
huntsman architectural group: david link; david meckley; rene calara; adam murphy; greg dumont; edna wang; jena kissinger; saruyna leano; amy stock; sierra goetz; hadley bell; patrycja dragan; david hevesi; julio gutierrez; edward sweeney; elias horat; pam robinson; takrit jirawudomchai; joanna heringer; eric nelson
RMW: terry kwik; karen letteney; jin park; owen huang; britni williams; darren barboza; janet braden; sal wikke; oscar catarino; felice rosario; gloria n. rasmussen; annette litle; josh carrell; maurice farinas; jonathan chow; yinong liu
quezada architecture: architect of record (core, shell)
alfa tech: lighting consultant, mep
there: graphics consultant
swa group: landscaping consultant
hush: digital experience design
thornton tomasetti: structural engineer
salter: acoustical engineer
atelier ten: leed consultant, well consultant
acco: mep
mission bell; montbleu: woodwork
concreteworks: concretework
dpr construction; truebeck: general contractors
PRODUCT SOURCES FROM FRONT
Yellow Goat Design: custom screen (events space); custom ceiling installation (cafeteria)
steelcase through west elm workspace: bench, tables (lobby)
zehnder rittling: ceiling panels (library)
Interface: carpet tile
Allied Maker: sconces
watson: table
muuto: armchairs
gus modern: side chairs
& Tradition: stools
associated terrazzo co.: flooring (pre-function)
apparatus: pendant fixtures
menu: stools
skandiform: chairs
kristalia: table
filzfelt: acoustic wall panels
designtex: banquette back fabric
Knoll Textiles: banquette seat fabric
minus tio: tables (event space)
arper: stacking chairs
decoustics: ceiling panels
carnegie: wall panel fabric
bendheim: glass panel (break room)
martin brattrud: custom banquettes
global lighting: pendant fixtures (cafeteria)
molo: pendent fixtures: (coffee bar)
goldray industries: dichroic glass panels
pedrali: chairs
west coast industries: tables
muuto: stools (coffee bar, break room, counter)
hbf textiles: cushion fabric (stadium seating)
fermob: chairs (terrace)
kettal: sofas
CB2: tables
landscape forms: custom trellis
woodtech: tables, benches (makers’ room)
solid manufacturing co.: stools
lightolier: ceiling fixtures
ton: chairs (café)
V2 lighting group: pendant fixtures
statements: wall tile
geiger: wall fabric
garret: banquette fabric
sika design: hanging chairs (wellness center)
mafi: flooring
garden trellis co.: custom ceiling
Finelite: linear fixtures
schiavello: screens (library)
turnstone: tables
Hay: chairs
studio trevelyan: pendant fixtures (wellness)
throughout
caesarstone: solild surfacing
Mannington Commercial: flooring
grato: wood slats
stone source: stone
dunn-edwards paints: paint

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Ghislaine Viñas Creates a Calm Yet Vibrant Getaway in Palm Beach, Florida https://interiordesign.net/projects/ghislaine-vinas-creates-a-calm-yet-vibrant-getaway-in-palm-beach-florida/ Thu, 26 Aug 2021 18:30:24 +0000 https://interiordesign.net/?post_type=id_project&p=187088 Ghislaine Viñas creates a calm yet vibrant Palm Beach, Florida, getaway that celebrates the beauty of the Atlantic Ocean.

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Viñas designed TriBecCa, the wool rug that anchors the living area seating group, which is serviced by a custom bleached-ash coffee table and Ultrasuede-covered Taiko poufs by Tomoko Mizu.
Viñas designed TriBecCa, the wool rug that anchors the living area seating group, which is serviced by a custom bleached-ash coffee table and Ultrasuede-covered Taiko poufs by Tomoko Mizu.

Ghislaine Viñas Creates a Calm Yet Vibrant Getaway in Palm Beach, Florida

With the constant drama of crashing waves right outside, creating a beachfront home that feels restful can prove surprisingly challenging. But New York–based interior designer Ghislaine Viñas ran with that sense of theater at this 3,900-square-foot ground-floor condo in Palm Beach, Florida, artfully drawing in the colors and movement of the water visible at every turn through floor-to-ceiling windows.

This is Viñas’s second project for the clients, the first being their Manhattan apartment. (A third project is also underway.) The owners, a married couple with two teenagers, wanted a getaway where they could relax and spend time with relatives, many of whom live in the area. Because of their past collaboration, Viñas was able to nail the brief right out of the gate. “They wanted a feeling of joyfulness and relaxation—but in an energetic sort of way,” the designer says. Comfort, she adds, was paramount. She also knows the clients to be modernists with an abiding love of midcentury furniture; the wife grew up with Arne Jacobsen Egg chairs, Eero Saarinen Womb chairs, and many other iconic pieces in her childhood home. And because this is a beach house, everything had to be easy to upkeep. “It’s supposed to be a stress-free living environment—it’s not supposed to be fussy!” Viñas says.

A custom mirror and Menghan Qi’s Audrey’s Landscape animate the hallway leading to the primary bedroom.
A custom mirror and Menghan Qi’s Audrey’s Landscape animate the hallway leading to the primary bedroom.

Although the living area’s coffered ceiling was deemed worthy of preservation, one element original to the 1980s condominium that absolutely needed to go was the “hideous” dark-cherry woodwork in the kitchen and bathrooms, which felt very heavy and contrary to the open and airy atmosphere Viñas was aiming for: “We cleaned out everything and created a fresh, white, invigorating space.” She left stonelike ceramic-tile floors in some rooms, including the living area, but specified white-ash planks for the three bedrooms and installed new baseboards and architectural lighting throughout. She also opened up the kitchen to the public areas and added an eating bar with high stools—perfect for breakfasting, lunching, and general hanging out. Shaker detailing on the cabinetry doors echoes the gridlike coffers overhead. “It’s not a look-at-me kind of project, so the little details are important,” Viñas explains.

As for the palette, the clean white base is spiked with serene oceanic blues, soft corals, and moments of terra-cotta, plus Viñas judiciously placed more intense accents throughout. The wife loves bold hues, especially when they jump from warm to cold tones. Viñas accomplished this chromatic sleight of hand by letting artwork and a few carefully chosen pieces do the heavy lifting. For example, the custom-colored yellow poufs in the living room and a series of hanging lamps in the octagonal entryway, the rainbow shades of which were woven using recycled soda bottles as a sort of armature.

Viñas’s Sir Stripe-a-lot Sunbrella acrylic-polyester accents Mathilda dining chairs by Patricia Urquiola; above the credenza hangs Fox’s Grandma’s Lamp.
Viñas’s Sir Stripe-a-lot Sunbrella acrylic-polyester accents Mathilda dining chairs by Patricia Urquiola; above the credenza hangs Fox’s Grandma’s Lamp.

Just below that fixture, the classic Saarinen laminate-top pedestal table was a natural choice given the wife’s love of the classics. It softens the room’s hard edges, as do the round ombré rug and custom crescent-shape wall-mounted consoles. “The repetition of circular forms is very pleasing and relaxing,” the designer observes. Ditto the pair of paintings by Ludwig Favre that Viñas describes as “other-worldly underwater-y”: fantastical compositions of tropical leaves mixed with flashes of bright color.

Comfort was taken to what some might call an extreme: The clients asked to test-drive every chair and sofa before they agreed to live with it. (The Egg chairs, of course, didn’t need to interview for the position.) Wherever possible, Viñas used performance fabrics for seating upholstery, many from her own line for HBF Textiles. The L-shape sectional in the living room—substantial and deep enough to provide plenty of room for family gatherings—is clad in her Sister Solid polyester-acrylic, while dining room chairs sport her Sir Stripe-a-lot Sunbrella.

In the middle of the apartment, Viñas created a cozy media room, which can be shut off with glass doors to provide privacy without skewing cavelike. Two walls are dressed in another of her designs, Wild Thing for Flavor Paper, a tropical-leaf motif that can, in certain colorways, be quite wild indeed. Here, though, Viñas specified a custom shade—a subdued sand—which allowed her to introduce riotous pattern without overwhelming the smallish space.

The primary bedroom started with the view; namely, “how the color of the ocean changes all the time as the sun hits it,” Viñas reports. “And how, when the sun goes down, it transforms from green to blue in a really beautiful way.” She pulled those hues into the carpet (Vestry Street, one of her designs for Aronson’s) and lounge chairs (upholstered in a blue-and-coral stripe) and even the ombré walls, which transition from soft blue to white. “The room has a beautiful tranquil feeling,” she says, stating the obvious.

Although everything is done with great subtlety, the overall effect is quite striking, a sophisticated yet unpretentious take on the prototypical beach house. “It is definitely the kind of place,” she notes, “where, when you walk in, you say, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m so glad I’m here; it makes me feel good.’”

The entryway’s PET lamps provide a full range of vibrant color, while an ombré rug and console, both custom, soften the octagonal space; Ludwig Favre’s Hollywood Wildlife graces the walls.
The entryway’s PET lamps provide a full range of vibrant color, while an ombré rug and console, both custom, soften the octagonal space; Ludwig Favre’s Hollywood Wildlife graces the walls.
project Team
george beaver: general contractor/builder
custom cabinetry: woodwork
Product sources
aronson’s floor covering: custom rugs (living area, primary bedroom, entry, media lounge)
republic of fritz hansen: egg chairs
designtex: fabric (living area)
Property Furniture: poufs
Knoll Textiles: fabric
ligne roset: sectional (living area), sleeper sofa (media lounge)
hbf textiles: sectional fabric (living area); chair fabric (dining area)
interiors by laura: custom head-board fabrication (boy’s and girl’s bedrooms)
nectar: bed bases (boy’s and girl’s bedrooms)
febrik: bed and headboard fabric (boy’s bedroom)
the rug company: custom rugs (boy’s and girl’s bedrooms, entry)
cappellini: cabinet (dining area)
moroso: chairs
edelman leather: seat leather
dualoy leather: arm strap leather
material through scandinavian spaces: table
romo: headboard fabric (girl’s bedroom)
serena and lily: hanging chair
cowtan and tout: cushion fabric
zero through global lighting: sconces
flavor paper: wallpaper (girl’s bedroom, media lounge)
rich brilliant willing: chandelier (kitchen)
i colori through stone source: backsplash tiles
Design Within Reach: stools
richard schultz through knoll: chairs (patio)
acdo álvaro catalán de ocón through for me lab: lighting pendants (entry)
knoll through design within reach: table
regeneration: credenza (primary bedroom)
calico: wallpaper
rh: platform bed
perennials: upholstery
knoll through evensonbest: bench
herman miller through design within reach: lounge chairs
Janus et Cie: fabric
lekker home: side table
louis poulsen through ylighting: table lamps
kvadrat: curtain fabric
vitra: lounge chair
david sutherland: fabric
lepere: side tables
THROUGHOUT
collector nyc: ustom consoles (entry, hall); custom coffee table (living area); custom bedside tables (primary bedroom); custom mirror (hall)
artstar; scad artsales: artwork

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