Studio Parallel’s new cafe design is underway and we couldn’t be more excited. The Barista bar is coming together nicely and after today’s plumbing inspection, we are full steam ahead towards completing the kitchen. Meanwhile, our chef-duo clients are gearing up for the Pre-Christmas opening and busily planning their menu of handcrafted European pastries. Yum!
Materials Shown:
Counter Front - Laminam Tile
Counter Top - Carrarra Marble
Kitchen Tile - Metro Tile
On our new Showroom renovation for our wonderful client and team at Leota: Made in New York, we are exploring custom wall paper that is based on their own fabric designs. It's has been interesting working on translating fabric patters into design suitable to showcase a space and highlighting the clothes on display. Will the patterns overwhelm the clothes on sale? Will the wallpaper overwhelm the room? Is black too much? Is gold too gaudy?
Forthwith, some of our concepts..hits and misses.
Posted by: Nina
Working on a bakery project keeps your mind squarely in the realm of...you got it...All things baked. One cannot help but want to fill the stomach with fresh breads, bagels and pastries. After all that is what is on our minds. But since we cannot consume all without a care to our waistlines, there has been a lot of coffee drinking and consuming of scrumptious inspiration images bead in all its glory. Herewith, some shots that made us swoon.
The tug of war between a cultural object's internal logic and external form will remain with it as long as it remains an intended object (one could imagine an earthquake destroys a minimalists museum and intact pieces of art mingle with other debris and they become unintended objects for the cleanup crew). One could argue the unresolvable internal-external nature of art works is essential to it being an art work. If it was definitive it would not be art but something else.
But human nature as it is, when we create or interpret art works we inevitably favor ( due to accessibility, personal psychology, social conventions, etc.) one side or the other and slowly through critique and comparison the argument is born. The two different but integral parts of art now become polemic opposites or exaggerations (actual or argumentative) to be embraced or rejected.
Within this polemical web Form has been unjustly caught.
Posted by: Christopher Metz
Modern additions onto existing architecture can be a hit or miss. This project by Alison Brooks Architecture really hit the spot.
Posted By: Nina Kinoti-Metz
Often, designers believe that being published will bring a flood of new clients. However, it seems that clients rarely select an architect based on publicity, images in a magazine etc.; there has to be a relationship with someone. A client doesn't often flip through a publication and say "I'm going to work with that person", and it happens. Publicity may help when there are two equally qualified people; but for the most part, it comes down to someone who knows someone, who knows someone.
Too often, designer's chase after publicity because that is the ultimate medium of communication and what we as a community pay attention to. Only for the very few "start architects" and a handful of others, does reputation take precedent over the work.
The quality of referrals is based on the level of client service and commitment to high level of work. If one is worried about garnering new clients and projects, it seems focusing on the quality and delivery of work is a more productive use of our time and effort.
Posted by: Christopher E. Metz
We must face facts, once you have children, the stuff begins to pile up. Stuff for feeding, stuff for sleeping, stuff to get you from point A to point B and everything in between. There is no end to the things you need for your child. We try to limit the stuff we acquire and now that there are two additional little humans in our lives, we are certainly utilizing the "hand-me-down" method. That being said, I still find myself having quite a bit of clean up at the end of each day and during this time I often contemplate the worthiness of each item and as my kids get older and smarter, the function and/or lack thereof of all their stuff. Not to mention the fact that my house is being cluttered by ugly plastic toys and KID STUFF.
It's been a surprise to me that of all the pieces that we have obtained over the course of the last three years, the most functional and well designed item is our portable mobile. On a whim during one of our jaunts to IKEA for the cheap but "not horrible looking" supplies, my husband picked up this mobile and commented on how simple yet nice it looked. I for one was a skeptic and I blame it squarely on the hormones.
Turns out, this simple yet perfectly designed toy delights both my three year old and my five month old.
Posted by: Nina Kinoti-Metz