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8 Solutions
Interior designers tackled
eight demanding projects that push the boundaries
of innovation.
 Whether
it’s a tight budget or a difficult client,
every design project starts with a problem. However,
the tightest constraints often yield the biggest
creative breakthroughs. Take a look at how these
eight interior designers approached challenging
projects — everything from restaurants and
apartments to retail stores and office spaces
— to shift negatives into positives.
Blowfish
Restaurant
Toronto
This new Asian-fusion restaurant in the competitive
King’s Street West entertainment district
needed to make a bold statement within a tight
space — only 2,700 square feet — and
on a tight budget. “We had to make it look
like they spent more money than they actually
did,” says Johnson Chou, principal of Toronto-based
Johnson Chou Inc.
The
firm took a decidedly DIY approach to cut costs.
Chou’s team designed large chandeliers —
a nod to the historic bank building where the
restaurant is housed — at substantial savings
over readymade versions. Designers produced large,
but simple fixtures with fewer arms.
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| At
Blowfish Restaurant, a unisex bathroom
promotes a sense of unity and offers
a distinct talking point for nightclub
patrons. |
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A
translucent screen that separates the bar and
dining areas is a nod to shoji screens, helping
reinforce the restaurant’s Asian-fusion theme.
It creates more intimate mingling spaces without
eliminating interaction between the two. “We
were trying to create a series of moments in the
restaurant,” Chou says. “It’s so
important that designers appreciate this notion
of dining as an experience.” Screens typically
used for this purpose would have blown the budget,
so designers created a less expensive version
from a stainless steel mesh normally used for
water filtration. “We’re one of those
firms that tends to feel like we need to design
everything, so it’s all consistent,”
Chou says. “We end up designing all the furniture.”
When
the restaurant turns into a nightclub after hours,
the space-saving unisex bathroom becomes another
spot within the restaurant’s limited real
estate where people can talk and mingle. “There
are those who are confused by it because co-ed
bathrooms are a relatively new concept, of course,
but I think the majority of people appreciate
it,” Chou says.
Thomas Patrick Footwear
Store
Dublin, Ireland
This family-owned store had to be classic and
attention-grabbing to compete with trendier Grafton
Street neighbors. “The client was reluctant
to put anything in the store that wouldn’t
last a long time,” says Stefan Zachary, a
managing partner with Zachary Design in High Wycombe
outside London. Another challenge was working
within the confines of a small and narrow space
that’s spread over three floors.
Since the client wanted
a design that would still be relevant in 15 years,
the retailer vetoed the use of lifestyle graphics
and most colors. Designers created a white interior
with a gallery-like feel and turned their attention
to lighting. “We used concealed light to
create excitement,” Zachary says. Florescent
lights under the shoe stands and behind wall panels
create a warm, inviting glow within the store
while long-focus, narrow-beam display lights make
merchandise pop. The lighting choices draw customers
in from the street, create a sense of glamour
within the store and make the products extremely
visible.
Diffused lighting and strategically
placed mirrors help the store appear larger. As
customers take the stairs between floors, for
example, a mirror lining the wall creates the
illusion of additional space. Floor-to-ceiling
mirrors within the shopping areas have the same
effect. “We used a lot of mirrors to relieve
the feeling of being in a compressed space,”
Zachary says.
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| A
Manhattan apartment renovation integrates
the past with the present, catering
to a modern lifestyle without denying
the building's context. |
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Apartment Renovation
New York
Architect Bill Peterson created an urban apartment
that effortlessly blends the past with the present.
“The main design objective was to do something
that dealt with and acknowledged the project’s
context,” Peterson says. In this case, the
framework was a railroad-style apartment in an
1880 tenement building in Manhattan. The chief
problem was marrying the clean lines of modernism
with the decoration and opulence associated with
Victorian-era design.
Peterson reinstalled period
molding throughout the apartment and chose a dark
floor color — a popular choice in the Victorian
area. Other elements are distinctly modern: A
tile wall topped with glass separates the stark
kitchen and bathroom. Still other details mix
the two: A George Nelson daybed is upholstered
in Victorian-style fabric. The living room chairs
modernize Victorian ideals by cross-dressing the
gender-specific chairs in fabric reserved for
the other sex’s seating. The woman’s
chair is covered with horsehair fabric (traditionally
male) while the man’s chair is upholstered
in velvet (traditionally female).
Beyond the bedroom lies
a combination bedroom/dining room to help economize
space in the 600-square-foot apartment. A Murphy
bed folds against one wall while a Victorian table
hangs on another like a piece of artwork. Both
pieces are functional. Another ingenious space-saving
solution is a living room floor hatch that reveals
storage space.
RTKL Headquarters
Baltimore
When RTKL Associates Inc. was designing the speculative
office building that would house the company’s
new headquarters, the firm sought a space that
would lead the local market in sustainable design.
“If we aren’t going to do it in our
own office, how can we educate our clients about
it?” says Jennifer Barnes, IIDA, associate
vice president. The challenge was creating a green
interior with the technology and visual appeal
necessary to attract high-tech tenants.
The base building, which
RTKL also designed, and RTKL’s finished space
use the latest advances in green design. Raised-access
floors help create a plug-and-play environment
and increase energy efficiency. For the headquarters,
designers chose attractive recycled materials
— everything from carpet and wheat board
millwork to poured-concrete countertops decorated
with recycled glass. A head-turning grand staircase
uses bamboo planks, a renewable alternative to
hardwood that doesn’t sacrifice beauty.
“A lot of local developers
were interested in the economics of this type
of building,” Barnes says. “We tried
to demystify the solution. If you come at a project
with a holistic approach, you can achieve a lot
more with sustainability than if you approach
elements individually.”
Andel’s Hotel
Prague
Prague, Czech Republic
When it was constructed, Andel’s Hotel Prague
was one of the first truly high-design hotels
in Prague. The client wanted to achieve the kind
of destination status that boutique hotels in
New York enjoy. “It was hard to make a clearly
contemporary hotel but also to make it comfortable,”
says James Dilley, an associate in the London
office of Jestico + Whiles. “Those two don’t
always happen.”
Another challenge was catering
to the hotel’s three distinct groups of customers:
business travelers, tour groups and independent
leisure travelers. A large lobby accommodates
busloads of guests at once but still feels welcoming
to individuals. To achieve the latter, there are
diaphanous curtain panels hanging from hidden
tracks that can be rearranged to define distinct
areas. The curtains are translucent when lit from
behind and opaque when lit from the front. Guest
rooms also offer a range of amenities to meet
varying needs — everything from a DVD player
and mini bar to a LAN connection and two phone
lines.
“It had to be a high-energy
environment but also had to be relaxing,”
Dilley says. In many cases, this goal is achieved
through material choices, including glass —
a nod to the glass-manufacturing tradition in
Prague — along with rough and smooth stone.
Natural materials soothe, and interesting juxtapositions
among them create excitement. Behind the reception
desk, for example, the limestone wall features
embedded strips of red glass.
 |
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The modern design
of Andel’s Hotel Prague
welcomes customers while creating
a sense of excitement and comfort.
|
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Women’s Pavilion
& Birthplace
Cary, N.C.
To compete in a sophisticated market with a highly
educated and affluent patient population, designers
needed to give the Wake Medical Center a competitive
edge. The resulting Women’s Pavilion &
Birthplace offers patients the privacy and amenities
of home wherever possible. “It’s more
of a hospitality feel than a hospital,” says
Wendy Parrow, an interior designer with FreemanWhite’s
Raleigh, N.C. office.
The center is connected
to the main hospital, but a separate entrance
and warm, inviting interior give it a distinct
personality. Transitional furniture, soft colors,
indirect lighting and carpeted hallways all give
the hospital a homier feel. Large planters separate
the common areas from labor and delivery rooms
to add another level of privacy. This friendly
atmosphere extends into the rooms themselves,
which have exterior views and wood elements. There
also are landscaped courtyards for relaxation
and sleeper sofas available for dads. Commissioned
artwork adds another layer of comfort and meaning
to the space.
One of the project’s
hallmarks is creating home-like spaces where families
can truly relax and bond. “When people are
in healthcare situations in hospitals, it’s
extremely stressful and anxious,“ says Lynne
Manning, Director of Interior Design. “The
correct lighting, the correct texture and colors,
any elements that make it look like home, or any
of the amenities of home, all those things reduce
stress in people.” She also notes that positive
distractions — things like aquariums, bubble
walls and artwork — allow people to interact
with the environment and take their minds off
someone who’s in surgery or the hospital.
The Pod
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Ben Checkwitch wanted to provide an industrial
loft with all the amenities of a bedroom —
namely privacy and storage — while maintaining
an open floor plan. The 6.5 x 15 x 8-foot Pod
creates a private sleeping space without the dividing
nature of walls. “I wanted to make something
that was a room but was also a piece of furniture,”
says Checkwitch of Ben Checkwitch Design in Brooklyn,
N.Y. “If you don’t think about it as
a room or as furniture, you can go beyond the
boundaries of what those can actually do.”
The structure blurs the
boundaries between architecture, furniture design
and interior design. The wooden base is on wheels,
so it can be rearranged within a floor plan just
like any other piece of furniture. Its translucent
walls further the illusion of open space and turn
the structure into an oversized lamp when the
built-in florescent lights are turned on. There’s
also ample storage space within each end piece.
“When you’re inside it, and it’s
all enclosed, there’s a womb-like feel to
it,” he says. “It was this private,
floating island.”
It’s also part of Checkwitch’s
overall push to bring the level of detail associated
with furniture design to the realm of architecture.
He believes that architecture is becoming less
grounded, less static and more flexible.
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| At
the Game Show Network’s new headquarters,
designers attempted to infuse the client's
unique personality without completely
replacing all of the existing accoutrements. |
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Game Show Network
Headquarters
Santa Monica, Calif.
Eighteen months after completing an award-winning
office design, HOK got word that the client was
downsizing. Helping to find a new space, HOK suggested
that the Game Show Network consider a newly available
furnished space. The big hurdle was overhauling
the space’s edgy personality without sending
a lot of high-end materials to the landfill.
“When we first got
it, they were talking about more of a major overhaul,”
says Pam Light, FIIDA, Senior Vice President of
HOK Los Angeles. “We took the old photographs
and drew on top of them and re-colored them.”
The client was sold on the selective remodeling
and retaining open spaces — a choice that
meant some employees sacrificed private offices.
After spending a great deal
of time getting a sense for the culture of the
company, designers walked away with a practical,
intuitive sense of who Game Show Network was.
This process allowed HOK to drastically alter
the feel of the space with a few well-chosen changes.
“We try to separate the personality of the
space from the architecture of the space in this
project to support the original design integrity
while supporting the client’s culture,”
Light says. Repainting soffits in warm colors
more appropriate to the TV network made a big
difference. Hot pink chairs were reupholstered
in silver. Fun gobo lights were added to project
the company logo, and a few additional offices
were built. “It totally changed the energy
of the space,” Light says.
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