Life on the edge

It sounds like a designer's nightmare: a bland 600-square-foot box, a slim $25-per-square-foot budget, and a grueling two-week build-out. But anyone looking for proof that brilliant ideas often spring from strict limitations should check out the results of "West Edge: Spaces of Unlimited Creativity," a NeoCon West exhibition and competition sponsored by Interior Design. Adhering to the aforementioned parameters, six Los Angeles firms—Beckson Design Associates, DMJM Rottet, Gensler, HKS, Interior Architects, and Wirt Design Group—created temporary installations at the L.A. Mart. Manufacturers donated products, and sponsoring contractors Taslimi Construction Company, Turelk, and Environmental Contracting Corporation made it all come together.

A panel of judges from local design schools and associations deemed Wirt Design Group's health-care concept the most innovative, while HKS's reception space was the audience favorite. Competitive spirit aside, participants universally found the experience invigorating—inspiring them to look at the world a little bit differently. And encouraging visitors to do the same.

Alyssa Carter

WIRT DESIGN GROUP

Health-care facility

What was your intent?

Meeting the rigorous demands of a health-care environment while considering comfort and privacy for patients and visitors.

How did you address those issues?

By using soothing neutrals—a lot of white and natural wood stains. We also created a curtain system that's sheer at the top, allowing light penetration, and opaque at the bottom for privacy.

How did you create value for the end user?

Ribbonlike canopies offered privacy to each bed, folding up at the floor to form guest seating.

What new materials did you employ?

The ribbons were made from Panelite's cast-polymer panels. We also worked with Nemschoff to develop treatment chairs.

Steven Heisler

Beckson Design Associates

Entertainment executive's office

What was your intent?

We've had more and more entertainment execs asking for offices that don't feel corporate—that don't even have desks. With so much of their work centered around media, maneuvering between computer and television monitors becomes a challenge.

How did you address those issues?

By housing computers, televisions, and other media in a full-height image wall in backlit translucent Imago panels from Knoll Textiles. Voice-activated technologies liberated users from their keyboards, allowing a more fluid way of working.

How did you create value for the end user?

These days, people spend more waking hours at work than at home, so we designed an office that people could relax in. Visitors responded that they wanted to stay and hang out. And that they wanted a room like this at home.

What new materials did you employ?

Besides the Imago for the media wall, we used USG Building Systems's undulating Topo thermoplastic ceiling panels and Allsteel's wall panels—showing how plastics will play a bigger roll in workplace interiors.

Yvonne Colacion

Gensler

Educational facility

What was your intent?

To approach the classroom and workplace as extensions of each other—both address variables involved in learning. Educators and employers need spaces that support individuals and whole communities while fostering curiosity and collegiality.

How did you address those issues?

By exploring the process of exchanging knowledge. We put a room full of strangers in a bright pink box, gave them simple, subjective questions that spoke to personal, local, and global issues, and provided a Polaroid camera. Visitors were forced out of their comfort zones to share ideas—proof that learning occurs when you least expect it.

How did you create value for the end user?

Knowledge is personal. Meaning is unique to an individual's experience. The space itself, along with the activity occurring there, provoked users to walk away with a new perspective.

What new materials did you employ?

We were given a list of very basic materials, so we decided to use them in novel ways. Doug Mockett & Company's wire managers became a light sculpture. Johnsonite's custom pink rubber floor added impact.

Naomi Asai

DMJM Rottet

Retail concept for jeweler Lynn Nakamura

What was your intent?

Evoking curiosity and drawing public interest, without being trendy. We also struggled to accentuate the space with the available track lighting.

How did you address those issues?

We switched out the track-lighting spots with lower-wattage bulbs and utilized cross-directional positions to soften the wash. Additional light was reflected by mirrors in the central display case and backing a niche lined with textured panels from Joel Berman Glass Studios. To create curiosity and draw guests inside, we designed a succession of three curved walls that, along with sheer curtains, helped soften the look.

How did you create value for the end user?

Design is a necessity for Lynn Nakamura, because her jewelry epitomizes a similar architectural process. We created an appropriate backdrop for her collection, one that supports her aesthetic and sparks interest.

What new materials did you employ?

A display case in the entry was hung from Carl Stahl DecorCable Innovations's suspension system.

Douglas Giesey

HKS

Reception space

What was your intent?

Creating a space with soul in a windowless box surrounded by hundreds of other little boxes. Designing an environment with a serene presence, one that makes guests very aware of their surroundings. People tend to experience reception spaces in a transitional manner instead of staying in the moment.

How did you address those issues?

I was inspired by 18th-century Paris, architecture that's exquisitely detailed yet relies on simple means to achieve depth and substance. I moved beyond austerity, infusing modernism with color, texture, and light. And a sense of surprise—for the top of the reception desk, we used a rippled Joel Berman product that guests mistook for water.

How did you create value for the end user?

Visitors seemed to linger, look at details, leave, and come back again. That was the whole idea: getting people to think about what they're seeing, to take a different perspective. This space could have been for an office or a boutique hotel. I think that ambiguity excited the guests.

What new materials did you employ?

Wilsonart International's Velocity flooring, which we wrapped up the sidewalls in the main room, and USG Building Systems's beveled metal ceiling panels, which continued onto the back wall. It was so sculptural—most people had no idea it was a ceiling tile. In a number of places, we also used a lacquerlike Lamin-Art plastic laminate.

Francisco Jové

Interior Architects

Corporate office

What was your intent?

Rather than trying to solve issues related to corporate design, we treated this as an exercise in creating a unique space in a very small footprint.

How did you address those issues?

We created a street-level scene leading into an office-building lobby, complete with a revolving door and a faux elevator opening into a penthouse suite. "Windows" in the penthouse's back wall were printed with city scenes, giving the impression that the space extended beyond the confines of the box.

How did you create value for the end user?

It was a respite from outdoor activity. A virtual "fish tank"—really a TV monitor playing a loop of an aquarium video—enhanced the serenity. Theatrical lighting showcased new technology and emphasized how light alone can change the mood of a space.

What new materials did you employ?

Recent introductions like Abet's plastic laminates and Bentley Prince Street carpeting. The exception to the rule was furniture, which was mid-century modern: Florence Knoll tables, a Harry Bertoia bench, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe chairs. Classic designs juxtaposed with today's materials.

From left: Part of "West Edge: Spaces of Unlimited Creativity," Wirt Design Group's award-winning health-care installation featured treatment spaces defined by ribbons of Panelite cast-polymer panels. The ribbons curled to double as guest seating.

Clockwise from top: A media wall fabricated from Knoll Textiles's Imago dominated Beckson Design Associates's office for an entertainment executive; the thermoplastic ceiling panels are from USG Building Systems, the Pendulum chairs from Allsteel. Gensler's learning environment featured Mirra chairs from Herman Miller, set off by Johnsonite custom rubber flooring. The display also included visitor response cards and Polaroids.

Clockwise from top: In the reception area by HKS, Arrigado textured glass from Joel Berman Glass Studios topped a desk clad in plastic laminate; USG beveled metal tiles surfaced the ceiling and rear wall. A banquette comprised five Bretford stool cushions, removed from their bases. In a concept boutique for jeweler Lynn Nakamura, DMJM Rottet hung a display case Stahl DecorCable Innovations. An acrylic-topped ebony case terminated at a Paoli wingback chair upholstered in a Maharam cotton-rayon blend.

From top: Faux elevator doors opened onto a penthouse suite by Interior Architects. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Brno chairs joined by Florence Knoll's table and credenza.