Hasta La Ideas

When the top image arrived as a thumbnail in my inbox, I though it was a digital illustration. On closer inspection, the entire scene has been constructed and stitched in 3D! Jakob Westman, an art director for the Swedish ad agency Kärnhuset sent me a detailed description to share with UPPERCASE readers:

MONSTERS IN SCHOOL

This August a new set of milkbar posters will be released by (Swedish dairy company) Arla featuring characters from British Felt Mistress (Louise Evans & Jonathan Edwards).

Jakob Westman, Art Director at Swedish ad agency Kärnhuset says:
“I’ve known about Jonathan and Louise’s work for a few years and have always been on the lookout for an excuse good enough to get to work with them. And the Arla poster series seemed like the perfect match! I’m a big fan of illustration, and that’s how we approached this. Or like illustration deluxe. There’s been a healthy interest in crafts and textures in graphic design and illustration the last few years, and a big boom in retro-photography with apps like Hipstamatic and Camera+. We wanted a surreal (non-retro) look and we were very keen on having the handmade look come through.

I get such a kick from seeing the textures and the wires, to see that it’s NOT 3d-generated, and that there are a bunch of imperfections in there. I also get a kick from the scale of it, that we were able to work with actual props. The candles on the cake are actually burning, the balloons on the ground are real and the clasps on the farmer’s dungarees are actual full-scale clasps. That’s something you don’t get with CGI or traditional illustration and it brings a whole other level to the final poster and makes it so much fun to look at.”

The posters are displayed on milk dispensers (milkbars) in Swedish schools and lunch restaurants. Since the posters are on display for 4–6 months one of the requirements have been to come up with designs that lend themselves to new discoveries on the nth viewing. This was also the reason that Kärnhuset turned to German eBoy and their sprawling cityscapes for the first sets of posters, followed by fun and elaborate illustrations from British TADO.

The project with Felt Mistress started with a brief from the agency with a description of what they thought could take place in the two posters. They also pushed for the characters to not be too cute or cartoony, but to be more monster-ish in their appearance. Something Felt Mistress was more than happy to comply with. The agency also requested a very trippy and non-literal color-scheme.

After discussing with Louise how the characters should look Jonathan then made a first round of sketches which were approved after a few very minor tweaks. “Yeah, it worked out really well.” He says. “We tried to push the weird colors and make the characters a bit out there. Something that comes pretty natural for us [chuckle]. This is also the first time the felt characters have been used as illustration and not as expensive toys in a hipster flat or office. I’ve always thought of what we’re doing as illustration. That they’d be able to tell stories in editorial or advertising contexts.”

Once the illustrations were approved by the client, Louise cut patterns, picked out fabrics and started stitching it all together. “The cow took some thinking to work out.” Louise says. “They wanted her to look good both on her feet and sitting down. And Jonathan had cheated a bit and not thought about the mechanics. Fortunately we were able to make a setup with a hook that allowed for the cow’s head to be re-arranged. Also it’s always important to me when making clothed characters, like the farmer, to use actual clothing fabrics rather than felt – I used denim and checked cotton for the farmer’s dungarees and a shirt with real buttons and fastenings. I think it’s details like this that really bring a character to life.”

The finished characters (11 in total) were then shipped to Stockholm where the whole set – including flat cut-outs of clouds, trees and buildings – was built up and photographed by Daniel Lundkvist.

“It was also great to see what the photography was able to add” says Jakob. “The photos I’d seen previously of Felt Mistress’ characters had been more documentary and I think we were able to make them a bit surreal and trippy while still having the handmade qualities show. It’s been really rewarding to see how everyone involved have taken something already great and made it even better!”

CREATIVE TEAM:
Client: Arla Foods
Agency: Kärnhuset
Art Director: Jakob Westman
Illustrator: Jonathan Edwards
Character design and construction: Felt Mistress (Louise Evans and Jonathan Edwards)

As a final swansong for its two year old daily illustrated fact blog – Learn Something Every Day – creative agency Young has commissioned an illustrator a day this month to illustrate a bizarre, little known fact such as the one above (by Serge Seidlitz). Contributors include Al Heighton, Marion Deuchars, Andy Rementer, Matthew Hodson, Jon Boam, and Siggie Eggertsson…

Learn Something Every Day has run since August 2009, when Young’s founders Pete Jarvis and Geth Vaughan, began posting up a doodle each day illustrating a lesser known fact about something or other. Within two weeks of of it’s inception the site was recording 10,000 unique hits a day and May this year saw the release of a Lean Something Every Day book (published by Penguin) compiling dozens of the illustrated facts. Here are some of our favourite posts from this, the last month of the blog’s existence:

by Siggie Eggertsson

by Nicolas Tual

by Ryan Cox

by Andrew Rae

by Jon Boam

by Marion Deuchars

To see all of this month’s illustrated facts (and the last two years worth of facts illustrated by Jarvis and Vaughan), visit learnsomethingeveryday.co.uk

Fir trusses create triangles that meet in the middle of the ceiling at a community hall in California designed by Siegel & Strain Architects.

A grid of tension cables supports the structural trusses, while slatted pine panels fill the spaces between them.

A central skylight runs along the length of the ceiling to provide natural light.

The 25 metre-long hall has large wooden doors resembling those of a barn.

The hall was completed by the architects in 2009, as were a library, youth centre and meeting rooms contained within the same building.

Other popular multi-purpose halls featured on Dezeen this year include one with an arched steel shell and another with a facade of shutters.

Photography is by David Wakely.

Here’s a more detailed description from the architects:

Yountville Community Center

For decades, the residents of Yountville, California, a rural town in Napa County, relied on a small 1920s-era community hall and a hodgepodge of rented spaces to host community events. The hall was in need of renovation, ill-equipped to support art classes and lacking in outdoor recreation spaces. In addition, the town had outgrown its library. In 1998, after surveying residents’ needs, the municipality embarked on a planning process for an expanded town center at the heart of town.

The Yountville Town Center opened in November 2009, weaving new and existing buildings and outdoor rooms into a place designed to enrich community life. Designed by Siegel & Strain Architects and located on a 2.5-acre site on Yountville’s main street, the town center consists of a new 10,000-square-foot community center, the renovated 4,800-square-foot community hall, and the addition of a sheriff’s substation to the adjacent post office. The new community center houses a branch library, multipurpose room, teen center, and meeting and program spaces. It opens onto a new town square framed by the existing community hall and the post office.

Building exteriors blend with the rural character, while inside the spaces are light and airy. The large multipurpose room, 80 feet by 50 feet, is day-lit along the roof’s spine by a ridge skylight, which has splayed walls that soften the light as it enters the room. A unique combination of Douglas fir trusses and cables enables the roof’s structural support system to have a minimal presence in the room and avoids blocking daylight from above. A large, covered porch of red cedar on two sides of the town square connects the community hall and community center, providing shade in the summer. Barn doors extend the multipurpose room onto the adjacent barbecue patio.

Targeted to achieve a LEED Platinum rating from the U.S. Green Building Council and to achieve energy savings of 44% over Title 24, the design integrates a range of green features. Walkways and bike paths connect the center to surrounding neighborhoods and main street activities. Exterior sunshades, a highly insulated building envelope, and “cool” standing seam metal roofs reduce energy use.

Energy-efficient mechanical systems are integrated with ground-source heat pumps for heating and cooling. A building integrated management system takes advantage of the temperate climate by opening skylights and windows on days with mild temperatures. Operable skylights, controlled by CO2 and rain sensors, and operable windows provide natural ventilation and balanced natural illumination.

Roof-mounted photovoltaic laminates on the new and existing buildings supply energy. Water-conserving plumbing fixtures, harvested rainwater, drip irrigation, subsurface irrigation, and drought-tolerant native plants further reduce water use. The existing parking lot was regraded to slope naturally so that rainwater could be harvested in a bioswale. Overall, site design reduces storm runoff by 40% over preconstruction conditions.
Building materials were selected to minimize life-cycle impacts and provide light and airy interiors free of formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds. Buildings feature durable, recycled content cement-fiber shingles and metal roofs. The new building’s red cedar cladding and Alaskan yellow cedar sunscreens and entrances are regionally harvested. Slatted wood ceilings are locally sourced white pine, and the existing community hall’s oak floor was reused. Over 75% of the wood is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

Sustainability may not have been stated as part of the original vision, but the desire to incorporate green design grew over time as the project developed, championed by both civic leaders and the community. Now Yountville has a new “front porch,” bringing together residents of all ages while blending an agrarian vernacular with time-honored sustainable practices.

Architect: Siegel & Strain Architects
Location: Yountville, VA
Client: Town of Yountville
Date of occupancy: December 2009
Gross square footage: 20,000
Construction cost: $9.8M
Contractor: Swank Construction

Structural Engineer: Endres Ware Architects Engineers
Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing: Timmons Design Engineers
Civil Engineer: Coastland Civil Engineering
Landscape Architect: John Northmore Roberts & Associates
Lighting: Alice Prussin Lighting Design
Commissioning: Enovity Inc.
Specifications: Topflight Specs
Construction Manager: Pound Management

See also:

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Milson Island Sports Hall by Allen Jack+Cottier	Sports Hall by Franz Architekten & Atelier Mauch	Community centre by MARP and Dévényi és Társa

Dezeen Wire: Angela Brady will take over from Ruth Reed as president of the Royal Institute of British Architects tomorrow. Brady was elected in July 2010, as reported in Dezeen Wire last year.

Angela Brady becomes RIBA President

Angela Brady will become President of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the UK body for architecture and the architectural profession tomorrow (1 September 2011). Angela takes over the two-year elected presidency from Ruth Reed.

Angela is the 74th RIBA President, a position previously held by Sir G. Gilbert Scott and Sir Basil Spence among others; she is the second woman President.

Angela Brady is director of Brady Mallalieu Architects, an award-winning architecture practice specialising in contemporary sustainable design. She holds a number of significant posts including Ambassador for the Government Equality Office, advisor to the British Council, visiting critic and external examiner for a number of UK and Irish universities, and enabler for the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE). Angela has previously served as a member of influential panels including the CABE English Heritage urban panel; as Design Champion for the London Development Agency Board and as Vice-Chair of the Civic Trust Awards.

Angela Brady, RIBA President said:

“I am delighted and honoured to become RIBA President; and to represent an extremely talented and resourceful profession whose work benefits the whole of society. Architecture and the spaces around us have a profound affect on the way we feel and act and how we develop as individuals and as a community. During my term in office I intend to work to increase the understanding that the public and politicians have about the value that well designed buildings bring to peoples lives, and to help bring about the necessary political and education changes to enable the delivery of the best possible built environments.

“The economic collapse of recent years has been tumultuous for the whole construction industry, with many architects, amongst so many others, facing under-employment and cancelled projects. As part of our recovery from this situation, the construction industry must work even more collaboratively in order to cut waste and produce better affordable sustainable buildings. The Government can support us by ensuring short-term cost-saving decisions are not taken to the detriment of our longer-term health, education and prosperity.

“I am particularly delighted to be in office during 2012 – a time when we will be showcasing some of the very best of British architecture and design talent on a world stage at the London Olympics. As former design champion for the London Development Agency BOARD and daughter of a past Olympic competitor (my Dad competed in 1968 and 1972), I will be honoured to be RIBA President at this time and proud that the UK is delivering fantastic sustainable regeneration that will benefit our country during the Games and for many years to come.”

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