Design Academy Eindhoven graduate Matthias Borowski has created a range of furniture that resembles oversized confectionary (+ slideshow).
Matthias Borowski, one half of studio Kollektiv Plus Zwei, designed the collection of candy-like objects that can be used as seats and tables for his thesis, titled The Importance of the Obvious.
“I made objects looking like sweets to trigger all of our five senses,” Borowski told Dezeen.
Borowski experimented with a range of materials before he achieved the sugary effect.
He found that plastics could be manipulated and layered up to create the different patterns found in sweets. Also the artificial look of the material provided an apt analogy for the synthetic additives that go into confectionary.
“When I researched candies I realised the material [they are made from] is often very artificial and plastic is in my opinion a good equivalent,” Borowski said.
He also integrated other materials into the items to create the effects of nutty nougat and hard-boiled treats. “For the nougat object I used resin and wood, and for the layered candy I used transparent resin with colour pigments,” said the designer.
One seat looks like an arctic roll, a stool is formed like a Liquorice Allsort and a bench resembles an ice cream finger covered in sugar sprinkles.
Borowski completed the project for his Master thesis as part of the Contextual Design course at Design Academy Eindhoven.
Although these items can’t be eaten, earlier this year we published a series of edible furniture that included a coffee table topped with a giant hard-boiled sweet and a white chocolate chair.
A giant mound of sand appears to support an aluminium roof at New York studio Formlessfinder’s Tent Pile installation outside this year’s Design Miami fair, which opens to the public today (+ slideshow).
Formlessfinder was commissioned by Design Miami to create the temporary pavilion for the entrance to this year’s fair.
Although the gabled roof appears to be supported by the pyramid of sand at first glance, it is held up by timber columns and a plywood wall across its centre.
Photograph of the completed pavilion by James Harris
Five hundred tons of sand are piled up against the central wall, dividing the area beneath the roof into two.
The wall is kept upright by a number of diagonal metal braces, which prevent the weight of the sand from pushing it over and also transfer the cool temperature of the sand to the seating area on the other side of the retaining panel.
On this side, visitors can rest in the shade on milled aluminium benches and beneath fans before entering the exhibition.
The designers intend the pile of sand to be sat on and played in. “We’re hoping to create something that people would want to participate in,” said practice co-founder Garrett Ricciardi when the design was released in October.
The roof comprises a series of anodised aluminium trusses made by fabricator Neal Feay, which run lengthways and are connected by thin struts.
Dezeen is currently in Miami for the last leg of this year’s Dezeen and MINI World Tour and we’ll be posting video reports from the event soon.
Photography of the pavilion under construction is by Michael Landsberg.
Here’s some more text from Design Miami:
NYC-based architectural practice Formlessfinder to design a pavilion for Design Miami’s 2013 commission
Each December, Design Miami/ commissions early-career architects to build a designed environment for the fair’s entrance as part of its biannual Design Commissions program.
Harnessing multiple, often unexpected, properties of sand and aluminium, Formlessfinder’s Tent Pile pavilion provides shade, seating, cool air and a space to play for the city’s public. The pavilion appears as a dramatic aluminium roof miraculously balanced on the apex of a great pyramid of loose sand. Milled aluminium benches give resting space in the shade, where visitors will be fanned by the cool air naturally generated by the structure.
Formlessfinder describes itself as a “formless” architectural practice – a studio where an expanded range of ideas, material considerations, construction techniques and user interactions all take priority over the shape of the final building. “Form is often the default lens for thinking about architecture. Even when people think they’re talking about something else, like function or structure, there’s often some kind of formal idea underlying the discussion. We’re trying to shift away from form so that we can explore other qualities of architecture, such as new ways of experiencing space or innovative ways of using materials,” explains Julian Rose, who co-founded the practice in 2010 with Garrett Ricciardi. The pair refer to their practice as a “finder” because it has a multifaceted output, which includes research projects and a forthcoming book. But while the theoretical aspect is important to its work, Formlessfinder still has the creation of physical structures at its heart.
Formlessfinder approaches new projects with an interest in the specifics of geography and the use of available and appropriate materials, committing to use them in a way that allows for re-use. In researching ideas for Tent Pile at Design Miami/ 2013, Rose and Ricciardi ultimately focused on two phenomena very particular to Miami. The first was the ubiquity of sand in the region; those golden grains visible on the beaches also lie beneath the foundations of every building in the city and beyond. Any kind of construction in Miami must take into account the loose and shifting layer on which the final structure will ultimately float. The second was the architectural vernacular of the city; a kind of tropical post-war modernism distinguished by hybrid indoor/outdoor spaces of which the cantilevered roof seemed particularly emblematic. To design the roof and subsequent seating, the architects enlisted the support of materials powerhouse Alcoa and third-generation aluminium fabricator Neal Feay, both of which were integral in giving life to the ambitious truss design of the roof, executed in anodised aluminium.
 Formlessfinder’s pavilion takes the sand that is elsewhere so problematic and uses it to advantage. The sand which is so destabilising for architectural projects elsewhere in Miami here becomes the stabilising element of the structure, mooring the lightweight aluminium roof, in lieu of an excavated foundation, for the cantilever, while also being a zero-waste material, completely re-usable after its time at the pavilion.
A retaining wall appears to slice the pyramid of sand in half, creating a more ordered space immediately in front of the entrance to the fair. Bench seating in a variety of sizes is provided by large sheets of aluminium fixed to simple wood bases, foregrounding the raw nature of the materials used. Arranged in a 500-ton pyramid the sand has a thermal mass cooling effect – metal fins driven through the retaining wall into the sand will draw the cool temperature into the seating area, and simple fans will create a refreshing breeze rippling out from the wall.
The pavilion acts as a refuge for the more than 50,000 visitors who come to Miami for the fairs each year, as well as inhabitants of the city’s South Beach neighbourhood. It is intended as a public installation that marries the practical requirements of shelter and seating to spectacular creative architectural ideas from a young practice. Formlessfinder’s Tent Pile engages not only with materials and aesthetics specific to Miami, but with the location of the fair within the city – the pyramid of sand is there to be sat on and played in, the cooling fans to be approached, examined and enjoyed. “We’re hoping to create something that people would want to participate in,” says Ricciardi, and the result is a structure designed to be occupied and explored, as much as it is to be admired.
Dubai also saw off competition from Brazilian city São Paulo and Yekaterinburg in Russia, and will become the first Middle Eastern city to host the international exhibition in its 150-year history.
“This win is a testament to the commitment of the UAE citizens to create a prosperous future for their country and region,” said HOK Dubai’s Daniel Hajjar. “We are proud to have led the design of the Expo site and to be associated with producing a winning entry for Dubai so that this great country can continue to boost its reputation on a global stage.”
With the theme “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”, HOK’s winning masterplan encompasses a 438-hectare site in south-west Dubai, close to the new Al Maktoum International Airport and Jebel Ali Port.
The design features three major pavilions connected by an “iconic photovoltaic fabric structure” that will provide a gigantic canopy of solar panels across the main connecting walkways.
“Dubai’s win elevates its status as a global city with world-class infrastructure and highlights its commitment to sustainable energy,” said HOK president Bill Hellmuth.
The exhibition will be organised into three zones that will branch out from a central plaza modelled on the traditional Arabic marketplace, known as a souk. Larger pavilions will be positioned at the outer perimeter and smaller exhibition stands will be located nearer the centre to encourage visitors to explore the entire site.
Architecture firm Populous acted as venue planning and participant design consultants, while engineering firm Arup advised on the infrastructure and transportation systems included.
Young German designer Hanna Emelie Ernsting is producing her latest furniture collection herself following a “really tough” experience with a major brand, and has warned fellow designers to “watch out” for unfair contracts (+ interview).
Ernsting has launched her range of Petstools under her own name, two years after signing a contract to manufacture her graduation projects with a brand that then failed to produce them. “I couldn’t get out of the contract,” she said. “So I couldn’t use my designs even though they would not produce them.”
Soon after graduation she was awarded second prize in the [D3] Contest for young designers at imm cologne 2013 for her Moody Couch, a sofa with a cover that’s much larger than the structure underneath so it can be scrunched around the user. A few months later she signed a deal to produce it along with a similar armchair called the Moody Next and a loose cover to create the same effect with a standard chair called the Moody Bag.
“I thought that was the start so I was actually really excited about it, but I sort of realised I would be super relieved when it’s actually on the market,” she told Dezeen. However, after a year of developing the design the company changed its strategy and dropped Ernsting’s products.
“It was really tough and I was really angry as it was my diploma project – my beginning as a designer,” she said. “It actually said in the contract if they decide to not go on with the project then the contract would be terminated, but then they said we might produce it sometime. So they backed out of that, which was not really fair.”
Speaking to Dezeen as the contract finally comes to a close, Ernsting cautioned new graduates to be careful what they sign up for in the excitement of beginning their careers. “Designers should really watch out for these contracts,” she warned. “I would be careful about giving away the rights, even for two years. That can still be a very important two years.”
She also recommended talking to other designers who have worked with companies to find out what experiences they had. “As long as you communicate with other designers, you know what to watch out for – I think that’s really important.”
In addition, Ernsting noted that the royalty system where designers are paid according to how many of their products are sold “doesn’t seem modern any more”, echoing the sentiments of the #milanuncut debate that engaged dozens journalists and designers during Milan 2011 and exposed the poor royalties designers earn.
“It might have seemed a good idea 50 years ago, but a product will not be on the market for 50 years any more,” she explained. “Companies change their products every year so you’re not actually paid much for the work…. Right now some designers work for a producer for a year and are not paid anything.”
However, she points out that there’s not much incentive for companies to change the way they remunerate designers for their work because there is so much competition amongst young graduates. “It’s kind of tough to make them see why they should choose you and not some other young designer who is perhaps willing to go further with the deal,” she explained. “I was willing at the beginning to go for that deal as I didn’t realise what risks there could be. There are always going to be other designers who are going to work like that.”
She therefore believes that in order for the situation to improve, “change would have to come from the designers.” She advocates designers working together to put pressure on companies for better deals, rather than undercutting each other. “I think it’s really important that designers talk to each other and that there’s not this competition so much. In a way everybody has a different chance at a producer.”
For now, she’s taking production of the Petstools into her own hands. Like the three graduation projects, the footstools feature baggy covers for nestling into. In this case, each one is shaped like a different animal.
The base is MDF on metal legs, topped with the animal-shaped pillow containing expanded polystyrene beads. She has found a company to make them and is taking them to the market herself, having sold the initial batch quickly via her own website. “Designers who can’t afford to have a shop or don’t have [a retail] network yet pretty often do have a network with press,” she notes. “That’s definitely something you can use as a designer to bring your products out into the world.”
Although frustrated by the way her first relationship with a manufacturer turned out, Ernsting acknowledges that her experiences with a range of manufacturers so far gave her the knowledge and confidence to be able to take this step. “I learned so much from working with these producers – they’re not all bad!” she said. “Coming straight from university, you don’t know anything about what production costs could look like, or how shops work. Things like that scared me in the beginning. Perhaps it was good that I had these experiences because I have learnt a lot about how to approach business as a designer.”
Meanwhile, the two-year contract for the Moody collection is now due to expire. Once she regains the rights, she will consider whether to produce those pieces under her own label as well or try to work out a new contract with a different company.
Designers’ options for self-production are increasing further with the rise of crowdfunding platforms, like the recently launched Crowdyhouse, where designers are able to raise money upfront by inviting funding for products which investors eventually receive once they have been produced.
Here’s a transcript of the interview with Hanna Emelie Ernsting:
Rose Etherington: What made you decide to produce the Petstools yourself?
Hanna Emelie Ernsting: I had some difficult experiences with some bigger producers. It started off quite interesting and nice; after a while I realised that most of the energy had to come from me and I had to keep motivating the company. Then [my work] still might get taken out of the portfolio. There’s a lot of work to get the whole project going and a lot of things can go wrong.
Then I decided I could do it myself. I’ve learnt so much, [working with companies] is good training basically, and I decided perhaps I could give it a shot and try it myself. I’ve found a company to make them for me and I’m taking them to the market myself.
Rose Etherington: How do you get the products to the customers?
Hanna Emelie Ernsting: I think what’s quite exciting about that is the internet. The products aren’t even in the shops yet and I sold the first batch of them through my website. Designers who can’t afford to have a shop or don’t have [a retail] network yet pretty often do have a network with press. That’s definitely something you can use as a designer to bring your products out into the world. Also in terms of the production the world is so connected now – you can just email somebody and they can start sending the textiles over and everything goes faster.
Rose Etherington: Tell me what happened with the Moody Couch.
Hanna Emelie Ernsting: I signed a contract with a company for all three of my diploma projects – the Moody Couch, Moody Nest and Moody Bag. It seemed really exciting and good, then after about half a year of developing it further, it turned out that the company had to change their whole strategy. They had a new CEO and everything was put on hold. After that, development of my products stopped.
But I couldn’t get out of the contract, so I couldn’t use my designs even though they would not produce them. [The contract is] actually going to stop pretty soon, it terminates after two years, so now I’m getting out of it.
Rose Etherington: How did you get involved with the company?
Hanna Emelie Ernsting: They actually came through my textile producer. They were a very interesting company who are very involved with what is happening and they also helped me a lot by handing me out some materials that they couldn’t use any more so I could play around with it, then they helped me with the contact with the producers.
I thought that was the start so I was actually really excited about it. It was good of course, but I sort of realised I would be super relieved when it’s actually on the market. There are so many steps that still have to be done before you really know how it’s going to work out. I didn’t realise a lot of things still had to be achieved.
Moody Couch by Hanna Emelie Ernsting
Rose Etherington: How do you feel about the fact that they decided not to use your piece but still wanted to stop you from going somewhere else?
Hanna Emelie Ernsting: It was really tough and I was really angry as it was my diploma project – my beginning as a designer. Also it actually said in the contract if they decide to not go on with the project then the contract would be terminated. But then we talked about it and they said we might produce it sometime. So they backed out of that, which was not really fair. So I was of course angry about that.
This contract is going to be over in November, so I am going to have a new chance of finding a new producer, or perhaps I will find out that it is just a difficult as couple of years ago!
Rose Etherington: Would you consider producing the Moody Couch yourself?
Hanna Emelie Ernsting: I am definitely going to consider it. I think it’s different with a big piece of furniture like the couch. For some bigger pieces of furniture, it would be good to put it in stores, because with a couch you want to sit on it [before you order it]. I am not quite sure about that but I am definitely going to think about it.
Rose Etherington: Are you able to say which company it is that you had the contract with?
Hanna Emelie Ernsting: I would rather not. I don’t want to give the impression that I don’t want to work with producers any more – it’s not an idea that I want to give up. If I say the name then producers may not want to work with me.
Rose Etherington: So you would get involved in that relationship again? What would you change about it?
Hanna Emelie Ernsting: I still would consider the way of being paid only once the product is on the market. It doesn’t seem modern any more, though. It might have seemed a good idea 50 years ago, but a product will not be on the market for 50 years any more. Companies change their products every year so you’re not actually paid much for the work. So I would probably try to change that. Also, I would be careful about giving away the rights, even for two years. That can still be a very important two years.
Rose Etherington: Have you found that companies are open to the idea of changing the royalties system?
Hanna Emelie Ernsting: I don’t think its that easy yet, because there are so many other designers, especially when you’re a young designer, it’s kind of tough to make them see why they should choose you and not some other young designer who is perhaps willing to go further with the deal.
I was willing at the beginning to go for that deal as I didn’t realise what risks there could be. There are always going to be other designers who are going to work like that. I can imagine that it would be hard to talk to the producers about changing this contract but I would try.
Designers should really watch out for these contracts and they should also try to communicate more with each other. I think the designers should agree on a certain way of payment then producers would slowly have to warm up to that idea. It would have to come from the designers. Right now some designers work for a producer for a year and are not paid anything.
Moody Nest by Hanna Emelie Ernsting
Rose Etherington: What would your advice be to new graduates who have projects taken up by companies?
Hanna Emelie Ernsting: Talk to other designers about their experiences. If they know somebody who worked with this company, what experiences did they have? I think it’s really important that designers talk to each other and that there’s not this competition so much. In a way everybody has a different chance at a producer, so it could be that it doesn’t work out for one person and does for another. As long as you communicate with the designers, you know what to watch out for – I think that’s really important.
Rose Etherington: Would you advise graduate designers to start making their own products?
Hanna Emelie Ernsting: Coming straight from university, you don’t know anything about what production costs could look like, or how shops work. Things like that scared me in the beginning. Perhaps it was good that I had these experiences because I have learnt a lot about how to approach business as a designer.
I learned so much from working with these producers – they’re not all bad! I realised what to watch out for and how to approach producing something. I can’t really say that anyone once they come out of university should produce their own things. For me, I needed some time to understand how these things work and not to actually fear this scenario of producing your own product.
You have a big unknown territory in the beginning. But I decided that if I worked so much to get this product onto the market, perhaps I can even do this myself. It’s more than a design job that I’ve been doing with these producers. It’s also thinking about the price or what kind of people will use it, marketing knowledge flows into it, how to motivate the producers or the people you work with. You always have to be really encouraging and make them believe that the product you’ve designed is super special, then you have to convince the producers and they again have to use that to motivate shops and the buyer. I can use that knowledge for my own business.
News: architecture firm Foster + Partners and designer Thomas Heatherwick have unveiled images of a finance centre they are collaborating on, which is currently under construction in Shanghai.
The 420,000 square-metre Bund Finance Centre will feature two 180 metre-high office towers, alongside a mix of shops and restaurants, a boutique hotel, and an art and culture centre.
Located at the end of Shanghai’s popular waterside street The Bund, the complex is intended by Foster + Partners and Heatherwick Studio to connect the Chinese city’s old town with its financial district.
“Sitting at the gateway to Shanghai’s old town, on the river bank where boats would arrive from the rest of the world, this is an extraordinary site which stood unoccupied for many years,” said Thomas Heatherwick.
“In filling this last empty site on Shanghai’s famous Bund, the concept is inspired by China’s ambition not to duplicate what exists in the rest of the world but to look instead for new ways to connect with China’s phenomenal architectural and landscape heritage,” he added.
The art and culture centre will be located at the centre of the masterplan and will feature exhibition galleries and a performance venue based on traditional Chinese theatres. According to the designers, this structure will be “encircled by a moving veil” that can be adapted to suit changing activities inside.
Foster + Partners’ head of design David Nelson commented: “The project has given us an exciting opportunity to create a glamorous new destination, as well as a new series of spaces that create a major addition to the public realm, right in the heart of historic Shanghai.”
The glazed facades of the buildings will be complemented with bronze details, while the edges will be finished with strips of granite that taper as they rise.
This narrow house in Tokyo by local studio Another Apartment has no windows or doors on its front to prevent neighbours from seeing inside.
The house for a family of three is squeezed onto a 58 square-metre plot in a residential neighbourhood of the city.
It is surrounded on three sides by other properties, so Tsuyoshi Kobayashi of Another Apartment positioned the building on the northern edge of the site, and located the entrance and windows on the south-facing sidewall.
“We adopted a plan to make maximum use of openings on the south face and the roof for natural illumination, ventilation and views,” explained Kobayashi.
A spiral staircase with cantilevered treads and a minimal handrail links the ground floor with both the upper storey and a basement level designated for use as a home theatre.
The entrance opens into the living room, which also contains the kitchen and features a full-height sliding window that can be opened out to a narrow patio.
“The living room on the first floor is located a little higher than the ground level and has an atmosphere like a broad veranda as a whole,” said the architect.
Upstairs is a single space that can be separated into two bedrooms using sliding partitions that disappear into the wall when not required.
On the south facade, a series of windows spans the full length of the room, while the opposite wall features built-in storage and includes a hidden sink.
French office Topos Architecture used timber cladding and a pitched roof to give this kindergarten in Mayenne, France, a domestic appearance that the architects thought would be more welcoming to children (+ slideshow).
Named Maison de la Petite Enfance, which translates as House of the Early Childhood, the single-storey complex provides preschool education facilities for 100 children up to the age of five.
Topos Architecture, whose previous projects include a larch-clad nursery in Nantes, planned the building as three zones. Classrooms and activity spaces are positioned at the rear, while staff rooms and storage facilities run along the front, and a sequence of patios and gardens are sandwiched in between.
Narrow strips of Douglas fir provide a uniform cladding across the outer walls and roof of the structure, and were also used for the perimeter fences. “The use of a wood facade gives a unity and a natural tone to the whole building,” said the architects.
Windows face inward towards the patios and gardens, while the sloping roof is topped with a chimney-like structure that houses an attic filled with ventilation equipment.
“Overlooking the entrance of the building, the roof has a double slope that gives it the silhouette of a house – an architectural line that is also included in the typology of the surrounding urban fabric,” said the architects.
Four large multi-purpose rooms are contained within the building and can be subdivided to accommodate different activities.
Other spaces include a dressing room where children can put on and take off their coats, a sheltered entrance where parents are encouraged to interact and a network of corridors that help to prevent children bringing dirt inside.
Here’s a short project description from Topos Architecture:
Conception and construction of the House of the Early Childhood
The House of the Early Childhood, located in Mayenne, between the city Centre and the new railway station district, is an urban building of a single level.
The architects have imagined a soft and welcoming architecture for children, for parents, but also for nursery nurses.
In this way, the building is based on a domestic and hospitable universe: presence of wood outside but also inside, reception and common spaces user-friendly, roof partially built in double slope, omnipresent natural light, generous vegetation.
The garden (800 m2) is an outside room really private and there are four patios that give rhythm to the common spaces.
This building is emblematic on environmental plan. It has received from Certivéa, the certificate of conformity to the label for High Energy Performance. Certivéa certifies that it’s in accordance with the BBC level and with the requirements of the Effinergie brand.
Location: Mayenne (53) – France Surface: 1 300 m2 Architects: Topos Architecture Children in the House: 90 Project owner: Ville de Mayenne (City of Mayenne)
News: here’s a preview of the nearly completed Pérez Art Museum Miami by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, which opens tomorrow in downtown Miami and which suggests a new “kind of vernacular” for the city, according to Jacques Herzog (+ slideshow + photography is by Iwan Baan).
Taking over from the former Miami Art Museum, PAMM accommodates 3000 square-metres of galleries within a sprawling three-storey complex that features a huge elevated veranda, boxy concrete structures and large expanses of glazing.
Herzog & de Meuron designed the building to suit the tropical climate of Miami. The veranda, which in time will be filled with plants, is raised up on stilts to surround the building, creating an intermediate space between the galleries and the surrounding city.
“This building is just like a shelter,” said Jacques Herzog. “A roof just like the floor we stand on, under which volumes are assembled to collect, to expose and to show art.”
“Miami doesn’t have any local vernacular,” Herzog said on a tour of the building earlier today, explaining how he wanted to avoid recreating the “decorated boxes” of Miami’s iconic Art Deco District.
“It looks nice and it’s associated with Miami,” he said of the art deco buildings. “But in fact Miami doesn’t have any local vernacular. It has something that the tourists especially like which is this art deco style. This [the Pérez Art Museum Miami] is somehow deconstructing that. It’s the opposite: it’s not based on the box, it’s based on permeability.”
Herzog compared the architectural approach to the Miami building to Herzog & de Meuron’s barn-like Parrish Art Museum on Long Island, which was completed last year.
“As much as the Parrish is an answer to this more northern exposure and is a totally different typology, this is an answer for here, sitting on stilts, with the floods, with the shading, and especially the plants.”
“I think something that could become a kind of vernacular is a building that is specific for this place,” he continued, comparing architecture to cooking.
“The ingredients here are the climate, the vegetation, the water, the sun. The building should respond to all these things,” he said. “Like cooking in winter is different to cooking in summer because you don’t have the same ingredients so you shouldn’t make things that make sense in summer, in winter.”
Stilts support the base of the veranda, then turn into columns to support an overhanging roof that shelters both indoor and outdoor spaces. Clusters of suspended columns covered in vertical gardens by botanist Patrick Blanc hang from the roof structure.
“There’s a very thin layer between the inside and the outside,” added Herzog. “As soon as there are more plants, this will help to make that more accessible, and not such a shock.”
The interior is complete and the exhibitions are installed; when Dezeen visited earlier today contractors were still finalising the landscaping around the building and installing the vertical gardens.
A permanent collection featuring artworks from the museum’s 1800-piece collection occupy the two lower levels of the building. Special exhibitions will also be accommodated on the first floor, while the uppermost level is dedicated to education facilities.
PAMM opens with the first major international exhibition of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, alongside shows dedicated to Cuban painter Amelia Peláez and Haitian-born artist Edouard Duval-Carrié.
Here’s the transcript of Herzog talking about the building at this morning’s press tour:
“Since the early 90s I have been coming [to Miami] with my wife, long before we knew we were going to be building and we were shocked about what is vernacular here: the decorated box. There’s this climate and this reputation, this didn’t make sense, but of course it looks nice and it’s associated with Miami.
“But in fact Miami doesn’t have any local vernacular. It has something that the tourists especially like which is this art deco style. This [the Pérez Art Museum Miami] is somehow deconstructing that, it’s the opposite, it’s not based on the box, it’s based on permeability. Also this transparency with water, vegetation, garden, city and art. Art is intertwined with all these elements.
“In some ways I think this is really interesting because we are here at a crossroads between south and north: South America and North America and other parts. We, with this Eurocentric, America-centric view, didn’t have any focus until not so long ago. The building should help make that possible. This building is just like a shelter, a roof just like the floor we stand on, under which volumes are assembled to collect, to expose and to show art.
“What makes it local? I think thats it’s local because, if we compare it with cooking, the ingredients here are really the climate, the vegetation, the water, the sun. The building should respond to all these things. This sounds simple and it is simple but it’s not easy to achieve, to not make it so boring and generic.
“It is I think something that could become a kind of vernacular, a typical building, a specific building for this place. Just like the Parrish [Art Museum] in the north, which recently opened. We’ve done other museums, the Tate Modern, that answer to what is already there. Like cooking in winter is different in summer, because you don’t have the same ingredients so you shouldn’t make things that make sense in summer, in winter. As much as the Parrish is an answer to this more northern exposure and is a totally different typology, this is an answer for here, sitting on stilts, above the floods, with the shading, and especially the plants.
“We’re very happy to have a Patrick Blanc working on this. Because when we saw the old museum, and you come into the museum over this very hot plaza, and there is a black glass door and that says this is outside and that is inside, it’s like boom! Such a shock, because what it gives way to is an air-conditioned, climatically-controlled box with a very thin layer between the inside and the outside.
“The plants here should be like a filter to make the transition between inside and outside. As soon as there are more plants, this will help to make that more accessible, and not such a shock.”
Here’s a detailed description of the design from the museum:
Pérez Art Museum Miami
Designed by Herzog & de Meuron, the new Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) reflects the natural and urban landscape of Miami and responds to the city’s rapid growth as a cultural destination. The new facility borders the MacArthur Causeway with its front façade oriented toward the bay, making it a highly visible landmark amid Miami’s cityscape. PAMM includes 32,000 square feet of galleries as well as education facilities, a shop, waterfront café, and exterior plazas and gardens.
The new building supports the institution’s mission to serve local populations as a dynamic social forum, stimulating collection growth and enabling the Museum to better fulfill its role as the principal contemporary visual arts and educational resource in the region.
The Building and Landscaping
The three-story facility includes 200,000 square feet of programmable space, comprised of 120,000 square feet of interior space―a three-fold increase from the Museum’s previous facility―and 80,000 square feet on the exterior. PAMM sits upon an elevated platform and below a canopy, both of which extend far beyond the Museum’s walls creating a shaded veranda. Open to light and fresh air, surface parking will be located beneath the platform and surrounded by landscaping and terraces. Stairs as wide as the plot connect the platform to the bay and a waterfront promenade, creating a continuous, open civic space that conjoins community, nature, architecture, and contemporary art.
Designed by artist and botanist Patrick Blanc using his advanced horticultural techniques, native tropical plants hang from the canopy between the structural columns and platforms. The project team also worked closely with landscape architects Arquitectonica Geo to select a range of plant life that could withstand exposure to sun and wind as well as the city’s storm season. The platform provides a comfortable outdoor temperature by natural means. The intermediate space has the ecological benefit of minimizing the sun’s impact on the building’s envelope and reducing the cost of controlling the environment for artworks.
Curatorial Plan
In collaboration with the Museum’s leadership, Herzog & de Meuron developed a series of gallery typologies to best display and develop PAMM’s growing collection. Different modes of display are deployed in a non-linear sequence, allowing visitors to map their own experiences of the Museum’s collection and physical space. The permanent collection galleries are located on the first and second levels. The latter of which also houses special exhibitions. Offering natural light and views of the surrounding park and bay, outward-facing exhibition spaces alternate with more enclosed galleries that focus on single subjects.
Art is displayed throughout the entire building, including the garden and the parking garage. A mostly glazed envelope on the first and third levels reveals the public and semi-public functions within: entry halls, auditorium, shop, and café on the first level, education facilities and offices on the third. By offering a specific range of differently proportioned spaces and a variation of interior finishes, as opposed to a traditional sequence of generic white cubes, PAMM proposes a new model of curating and experiencing art.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
