Design Wire March/April 2024
Multidisciplinary designer GERE KAVANAUGH, who turns 95 this year, is finally seeing her signature chair concept come to life thanks to a collaboration with Detroit-based sustainable furniture company FLOYD. The original GERE EASY CHAIR prototype, which Kavanaugh designed in the mid-1970s, featured an interior structure made from plywood and Sonotube; today’s version offers a sturdier engineered wood frame wrapped in contemporary, semi-recycled upholstery from CRYPTON and KVADRAT. The unique circular swivel chair offers a comfortable, generous back angled toward the sitter’s knees and retails at $880, making it far more affordable than comparable signature chairs like the Eames lounger.
World-renowned architect FRANK GEHRY once again partnered with the iconic fashion brand LOUIS VUITTON on a set of 11 limited edition handbags unveiled during MIAMI ART WEEK. The unique collection is organized into three themes: architecture and form, animals, and material exploration. Architecture includes pieces inspired by several of Gehry’s popular buildings including the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the IAC Building in New York, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. The animal-themed handbags designed by Gehry are informed by a fish-shaped light feature created for the Foundation Louis Vuitton, a crocodile sculpture designed for a London restaurant, and the artist’s Bear with Us sculpture. Glass-like resin, multilayered calfskin, Plexiglas, and screen-printed leather, among other materials, are showcased throughout the collection.
If you’re heading to Canada anytime soon, keep your eyes peeled for Stella, a 35-foot-tall sculpture located near the new bridge at the MADAWASKA LAND PORT OF ENTRY. Designed by Pennsylvania artist RALPH HELMICK, Stella depicts a five-pointed star that represents the Acadian peoples’ unique heritage and strong connection to France; the same star can be found on the current Maine flag as well as the state’s original 1901 flag design. Helmick’s sculpture, which is illuminated at night according to the International Dark-Sky Association’s guidelines to reduce light pollution, is part of the U.S. General Services Administration’s ART IN ARCHITECTURE program that encourages American artists to create public works displayed at federal buildings across the country.
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY’s Philip and Cheryl Milstein Family Tennis Center sits on the northern Manhattan waterfront, making it particularly susceptible to extreme rainfall, storm surges, and flooding over the next 100 years. The team at architecture firm PERKINS AND WILL kept this in mind when designing the new facility, which features an elevated first floor with a network of vents that will let water flow into the building, through the lobby and locker rooms, and out via the tennis courts. Waterproof lockers and mechanical equipment are raised off the ground, and the concrete slab under the structure is only 6 inches rather than the standard 12. The building houses six indoor and six outdoor tennis courts for the university’s men’s and women’s varsity teams along with meeting spaces, training facilities, locker rooms, and coaches’ offices.
Argentinian architect DANIEL GERMANI drew inspiration from Dutch artist PIET MONDRIAN’s primary-color, geometric paintings to create a modular outdoor kitchen for DANVER’s new Cosmopolitan Collection. The weatherproof, stainless steel design features bold horizontal and vertical matte black lines alongside red, yellow, and blue soft-close drawers and slatted shelves that can hang from the top rail or attach to the bottom shelf. Additional outdoor kitchen appliances like drop-in grills, induction stovetops, and electric cookers integrate seamlessly into the Cosmopolitan Kitchen, which is ideal for outdoor spaces with size restrictions or cooking limitations.
A $35 million housing and office space project in downtown Waterville, known as the HEAD OF FALLS VILLAGE project, will kick off its first phase with the demolition of four buildings on the 1.7-acre site and the removal of contaminated soil from the area. Developed in partnership with Portland-based RENEWAL HOUSING ASSOCIATES and NORTHLAND ENTERPRISES, the project’s 63 housing units will provide relief from the recent housing shortage while adding beauty to the city’s downtown streetscape. A Front Street–facing building will feature a ground-floor boutique market offering prepared foods, beer, and liquor along with 45 market-rate apartments on the upper floors. The other building, facing Temple Street, will offer 15,000 square feet of office space as well as 18 rental apartments funded partially by MAINEHOUSING. Architect Jesse Thompson from KAPLAN THOMPSON ARCHITECTS, landscape architect Nick Aceto of ACETO LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN DESIGN, and civil engineer Adrienne Fine from TERRADYN CONSULTANTS are working together on the multiuse project.
Celebrated furniture company KNOLL commissioned a playful project from Chicago artist NOEL MERCADO that combines the interests of automobile aficionados and chair nerds alike. Using found objects from junkyards, body shops, and car washes, Mercado creatively modified three classic Knoll chairs while highlighting the mundane, repetitive aspects of driving a car like putting on your seatbelt and adjusting the rear-view mirror. The collection’s first piece, called Junkyard Dogs, features a deconstructed Wassily chair (designed by MARCEL BREUER in the 1920s) reupholstered with layered seatbelts. The second piece, named Little Trees, is a Cesca chair (also designed by Breuer) made of see-through boxes filled with colorful air fresheners. For the final piece, Noise Violation, Mercado took the popular Spoleto chair and replaced the seat and backrest with salvaged speakers connected to a radio.
For over 30 years, architects and designers from around the world have been coming to Portland to present at ARCHITALX, a series of lectures that broaden awareness and understanding of architecture, landscape architecture, and design while fostering dialogue between the design community and general public. This year’s lineup brings four outstanding individuals to the stage, including WILLIAM O’BRIEN of WOJR in Cambridge, Massachusetts, an organization of designers who consider architecture to be a form of cultural production; MARTHA SCHWARTZ of Martha Schwartz Partners, a leading international design practice situated at the intersection of landscape, art, and climate adaptation; HILARY SAMPLE, cofounder of the award-winning architecture firm MOS Architects in New York City; and JEFF DAY, founder of internationally recognized Actual Architecture Company based in Omaha, Nebraska.
