Freeze Frame

A closer look at the hottest solutions from April

Staff -- Interior Design, 4/1/2003 12:00:00 AM

Divide and conquer

Selldorf Architects installed a 30-foot-long row of inexpensive acrylic rods at New York boutique Rubin Chapelle to divide a small anteroom from the area where clothing is displayed. The 250 acrylic rods are supported by holes drilled into a run of wooden beams salvaged from the site—a former meatpacking plant—and held in place by a painted-hardwood ledger on the ceiling, 9 feet above. The rods measure 1 inch in diameter, and principal Annabelle Selldorf spaced them 1 inch apart to offer a tantalizing preview of the clothing behind. The rod wall also adds practical value, screening merchandise from the front door to discourage potential shoplifters. "The Raw and the Cooked," page 198. —J.R.

Girl power

For Stella McCartney's boutique in New York, Universal Design Studios brought flirty femininity to the rough-and-tumble meatpacking district. Firm director Jonathan Clarke separated merchandising zones with curtains of reedlike aluminum rods just 1/5 inch in diameter. Swaying 3 inches above the polished terrazzo of the floor, the ceiling-mounted rods are powder-coated in gradations of color from rose to ivory. "The coloration brings softness to the material," says Clarke. Partners Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby created the hexagonal ceramic tiles lining a curved sidewall. "The hexagon is nature's building block, found everywhere from cells to honeycombs," says Clarke. Viewed from afar, the tiles' raised floral motif abstracts to a circle. "The Raw and the Cooked," page 198. —J.R.