Two From The Heart

Cindy Allen -- Interior Design, 6/1/2006 12:00:00 AM

Right before we go to press each month, I always enjoy jotting down a few bon voyage remarks about the portfolio you're about to read. In this issue, though, two stories in particular steal the klieg lights. It's hard for me to forego my usual personal ruminations on the other featured interiors—from a hip Miami apartment to a neo-baroque Stockholm opera house. But I'll try.

This issue's dynamic duo of projects rise above the rest because of the dedication that they demonstrate for our craft. Both teams provided their supersize talents—"and more," as they say—completely gratis. No jest. Albeit that we do not, as industry sentinels, generally approve of working for free, working for creative freedom is a different matter. And it must be rewarded.

Sacrificing other professional commitments and probably sleep for the sake of a pristine ideal, Patrick Tighe embarked on a time-bender of an experimental installation at Neocon West: a live-work space for 2026 AD. The fruit of his labor may not have lasted more than a week, but his brilliant moves with resin panels and quartz composite still constitute nothing less than a resounding whack at the edge of the envelope.

Meanwhile, Per Pedersen's group of nine students at the Universität der Künste Berlin whacked nails, with hammers. After part of a rustic family vacation compound burned to the ground, he volunteered his team's services to design and construct two small replacement buildings from scratch. Now, on warm summer nights, young children dash back and forth before retiring to a simply furnished bedroom. (OK, so they have a Panton chair.)

Three cheers for labors of love.