As the days get a bit longer and the ground gives way to spring, we are celebrating with the introduction of eight new designs – each bringing new life to the floor.
A Peeling™ captures the spring light through a painterly use of color and Exposed™ explores a whole new idea about what an organic pattern can be with all the diversity found in nature and none of the clichés. The subtle pattern of Grasmere™ softly shades the floor like the first confident blades of grass. Strong and reliable, Brickworks & Solidarity™ provide a foundation in this garden and the lively use of color and pattern in Straight Edge™ puts a little spring in our step. The path we’ve laid is fresh and inspired as we introduce Walk the Plank™, a new shape for the floor in 25cm x 1meter lengths. Cambria™ grounds it all with a super-tough construction that will withstand all the elements.
We caught up with Interface’s own, George Bandy, to find out what’s been on his radar since his election to the board of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) last October. The next big thing according to Bandy? The Center for Green Schools and LEED™ 2012. Get the details straight from the source – Bandy talks transparency, connectivity, giving back to the community and more.
AOL refreshes its home page with a new West Coast headquarters designed by Studio O+A
While the rest of the economy continues a slow recovery, everything from established global corporations to entrepreneurial startups are flourishing in the tech sector. But let’s not forget where it all started. At the age of (almost) 27, Internet pioneer AOL is already “old” by techy standards. But that has not prevented the company from adopting a fresh, young attitude, as evidenced in the design of its new West Coast headquarters in Palo Alto, CA, by Primo Orpilla, Verda Alexander and team, of San Francisco-based Studio O+A
In an effort to reinvent itself following its merger with and eventual split from Time Warner, AOL launched a company-wide initiative to adapt to changes in online culture. Part of that strategy involved re-thinking its real estate. In particular, AOL’s West Coast operation needed a jump-start, according to Trent Herren, AOL’s Vice President of Strategic Initiatives. “We knew that in order to be successful in our turnaround, we would have to change the way we were doing business,” Herren says “We needed an open, collaborative, creative workplace. And we kind of figured that we would know it when we saw it.”
AOL's West Coast headquarters in Palo Alto, CA, was designed by Studio O+A to revitalize the company's entrepreneurial culture and create an office environment that would appeal to the next generation of collaborative workers. The design, defined by transparency, openness, and the use of simple, genuine materials, uses carpet to help define space and delineate transitions. Photography by Jasper Sanidad.
The company hired O+A—a firm with an excellent reputation for creating high-performance workplaces for Silicon Valley clients—to provide the necessary injection of energy. “AOL needed to hit the reset button,” says Orpilla. “They had to rebrand their space if they wanted to compete for the best talent. This was an opportunity to get employees on board and energized. The workplace they had didn’t speak to that need.”
The existing space had a distinctly 1980s corporate aesthetic, including drop ceilings, high cubicle walls separating employees, dark finishes, and oblique lines. “The space had 12-to-15-year-old Silicon Valley details and functionality all over it,” says Orpilla. “The question became, how do we effectively remove those elements and get back to the basics.”
Some 80,000 sq. ft. on three floors were transformed into a clean white envelope with exposed ceilings and structure, 48-in. cubicle walls, expansive open space, and more shared areas, essentially creating the spatial equivalent of the transparency AOL was bringing to every aspect of its business. “Instead of five or six big conference rooms, we have 30 to 40 small conference rooms,” notes Herren. “It has encouraged our team to take a fresh look at their workspace. People are collaborating now.” Meeting spaces vary, from open lounge areas, platforms, and glass-walled conference spaces to a series of translucent, circular pods positioned throughout the main work areas and a common area that is part kitchen/part playroom, and even to corridors and tops of freestanding files. All are intended to encourage informal collaboration and spontaneous creativity.
“We also wanted to keep it real, with no frills, relating the space back to AOL’s new customer base,” says Alexander. “There is nothing overtly extravagant.” This pared down aesthetic is expressed with simple and genuine materials like concrete floors, oriented strand board, industrial lighting and detailing, and IdeaPaint (which turns vertical surfaces into white boards). Bold graphics and area rugs created from carpet tile help define space and add dimensionality.
“Space transitions were indicated by the ceiling systems above and the floors below,” says Orpilla. “We defined space via the flooring in many cases—for example, to delineate the change from corridors to work spaces. What’s underneath became very intuitive.”
How is AOL liking its new space? They know a good thing when they see it.
“Studio O+A’s work speaks for itself,” says Herren. “The space has a lot more energy. There is really something to be said for changing your physical environment.”
Construction Process, Butaro Hospital, Rwanda; Photography by MASS Design Group
Michael Murphy and Alan Ricks, co-founders of Boston-based MASS Design Group, are putting into action what other idealists of their generation may only dream about: The opportunity to change the world. Really. Unlike many of their recent architecture school graduate peers who go on to follow a more traditional career path, Murphy and Ricks are already turning the familiar model of design practice as we know it on its head-for a higher purpose.In 2007, while still in school at Harvard GSD, Murphy and Ricks founded MASS (an acronym for Model of Architecture Serving Society) in an inspired response to a lecture by Partners in Health (PIH) co-founder Dr. Paul Farmer, who talked about his own organization’s goal to deliver improved healthcare services to Third World populations impacted by the AIDS crisis. PIH’s mission to build better healthcare facilities in AIDS-ravaged countries—a challenge that is not without its need for creative architectural solutions—not only resonated with Murphy and Ricks, but called them to action.
MASS Design, a pending 501(c) (3) not for profit firm, is focused on designing, building, and advocating for buildings that improve health and strengthen communities in some of the most marginalized regions of the world. Its first project, Butaro Hospital in Rwanda, completed mostly pro-bono, has been the recipient of numerous design awards, has caught the attention of such dignitaries as President Bill Clinton, and serves as the young firm’s successful model for the transformative power of design.
Other projects include Butaro Doctor’s Housing in Rwanda (currently under construction); Girubuntu School, a non-profit school committed to the education of vulnerable and orphaned children in Rwanda; and GHESKIO Tuberculosis Hospital in Port Au Prince, Haiti (currently under construction). In all its work, MASS embraces holistic design solutions that result in job creation and training in sustainable building practices, creating models that can be used to inform building projects elsewhere.
Alan Ricks, Founding Partner and Chief Operating Officer, MASS Design Group (right) and Michael Murphy, Founding Partner and Executive Director, MASS Design Group, in a window at Butaro Hospital, Rwanda; Photography by Karen Conway
InterfaceFLOR caught up with Michael Murphy and Alan Ricks for a Q+A shortly after MASS Design Group was honored as 2012 Designer of the Year by Contract magazine.
IF: Describe the mission of MASS Design Group.
MASS: We design, build, and advocate for buildings that heal. We address not only immediate infrastructural needs, but also the construction of dignity and the development of systems to address the social determinants of failure. We build capacity at all levels—from training unskilled laborers, to teaching the next generation of impact-focused architects, to assisting government ministries in writing better policies.
IF: How did you first become interested in public interest design? Do you see this career path as an alternative to or an enhancement to traditional practice?
MASS: We would first posit the question: “What architect is against design for the public interest?” What has become apparent with the current economic climate is that as a discipline we need to fight for our relevance. In 2007, when we discovered that the lack of design or poor design was literally killing people by contributing to the spread of airborne disease, we recognized an opportunity to demonstrate the powerful instrumentality of architecture to affect positive change.
IF: What lessons did you take away from your experience designing and building Butaro Hospital, and how will you apply these to your other work?
MASS: We discovered the power of partnership. Joining the project early on, and working alongside interdisciplinary partners through the entirety of the project, allowed us to not only develop innovative solutions to global health challenges, but also produce a larger, more profound impact in the community at a range of scales. Using local materials and expertise, training and employing the community, and focusing on design strategies that actually facilitate the healing process are lessons that we have carried forward to our other work.
IF: In your opinion, what larger role can architecture and design play in society?
MASS: Architecture and design have significant power for affecting change when it is seen not only as the object produced, but also as the processes that produced it. Constructing Butaro stimulated local construction markets, trained 4,000 skilled craftsmen and employed a total of 12,000 members of the community. The boost to the economy, accompanied by the pride of ownership experienced by those who helped build the state-of-the-art hospital, eclipses the impact that only architecture-as-an-object can produce. The project also opened the doors to partnership with the government to rethink the standards of health facilities, the opportunity teach the first generation of Rwandan educated architects design strategies that can inform better health solutions globally.
IF: At the end of January, MASS Design was named Designer of the Year by Contract magazine. What does this award represent to you?
MASS: This award is a testament to the large team that has been a part of MASS and made the choice to support this work and fought to prove that our profession has the capacity to radically improve lives.
IF: What inspires you?
MASS: This quote from Paul Farmer, founder of Partners In Health, well articulates a call to action and the opportunity we have as architects.
“The architecture here (Butaro) responds to real problems, and does so in creative and efficient ways. Why are there so few examples of this kind of thoughtful generous-spirited design? The most honest answer to this question turns on the ‘political economy’ of design: those who have the resources determine who will design what, when, and where…One of the unusual strengths of Butaro Hospital is that it made the unusual leap from concept to construction through an exchange that pushed designers and engineers to listen to us, the health care providers; and, with us, to our patients.”
IF: What would advice would you give to young architects and designers just starting out?
MASS: Training in architecture and design provides you with a skill set and way of thinking that has the potential to go beyond the creation of beautiful objects. It teaches you a different way to think about problems, digesting information from an array of fields, to distill opportunities to improve the mission of the project. This is powerful.
Fall Head Over Heels with Interface HOSPITALITY’s modular carpet styles. With patterns ranging from whimsical to organic you can Design Your Floor to serve as the perfect palate for a common area, corridor or guestroom. Below Charley Knight discusses Interface HOSPITALITY, the Head Over Heels product line and the DYF concept:
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