Innholdsfortegnelse for Spring 2023 i Frame

‘Across the design world, we have an obsession with making new things from the ground up,’ stated curator and educator Viviane Stappmanns in our previous issue. ‘We should be more focused on alternatives that make use of resources that we already have.’ In short: shift and pivot, rather than reinvent. Every page in the issue you’re holding is dedicated to exactly that: spaces and products that flex, move and change so that their users can make better and longer use of them. We present three studios that explore the notion of adaptability across typologies, materials and scales – from floating communities to cardboard constructions to an updatable kitchen. You can read about how flexibility is feeding food retail, why an agile workplace is about more than putting furniture on wheels,…

With different diameter and height options, Nardi’s Stack stool and Combo table make it possible to create a varied outdoor furniture landscape with one unified aesthetic. True to its name, the Stack stool is stackable, as well as lightweight for easy transportability. A hole in its centre doubles as a ‘handle’ and allows for water drainage. Raffaello Galiotto, long-term collaborator with Nardi and lead designer on the collection, explains that the stool’s innovative spiral design is ‘not a mere aesthetic whim’, but the answer to ‘the search for a shape that perfectly meets the need for rotational stacking’. Complementing the stools, the Combo table has a top with rounded edges, and can be transformed into a high table with the addition of an extension. Built for the outdoors, the collection…

Based in Copenhagen, designer Lukas Kauer is the founder of Fragile, a studio he established with support from sustainable construction leader Hubert Rhomberg. Focused intently on building a more agile world, Fragile is working on projects that facilitate greater flexibility and adaptation. Spaces that can evolve with us, Kauer believes, are tools for a better life. Flexibility has been Kauer’s leitmotif from the outset. Frustrated with the rigid, outdated environment of formal architecture education, he dropped out and cofounded interdisciplinary platform and festival Forward, which he says ‘brings together like-minded spirits across disciplines to get inspired and share their wisdom and know-how, as a foundation for innovations within their respective fields’. After meeting ArtRebels and Space10 founder Carla Cammilla Hjort through the festival, he joined the ArtRebels family in Copenhagen,…

CONSTRUCTIVE DISPLAY Counterbalancing the more common, waste-heavy practice of retail companies developing brand-new store fittings from scratch, excess components left over from commercial construction make up the fabric of the Beaster Concept Store in Suzhou, China. Design firm Some Thoughts aimed to emphasize the ‘uniqueness achieved by customization’, its design resulting in a dynamic, adaptable space defined by an industrial-style display system embedded with flexibility. ROLL AND REINTERPRET At Fishmarket, the studio of Japanese visual artist Hiraki Sawa, large moveable neon panels encourage alternative interpretations of the space and create separate areas within it. Responsible for the simple yet dynamic interior, Ab Rogers Design describes these zones as ‘playful chambers that inspire different ways of being, and can be reimagined in a number of scenarios’. GROUND CONTROL Display cases installed…

Furniture that can be deconstructed and reconstructed. FLEXIBLE, inflatable light fittings. Kits of parts and height-adjustable tables for AGILE working environments. MODULAR designs that can be endlessly stacked, rearranged and augmented. Luminaires inspired by scaffolding’s ever-evolving state. Panels that use AR SOFTWARE for assembly. Sofas that can serve as an eating, work, rest or social space. We share the products defining the market today. Modular and able to be deconstructed and reconstructed, the OFFCUT KITCHEN by Sydney studio SECOND EDITION is made with discarded, off-cut or scrap materials sourced within a 50-km radius from supplier waste streams, demolitions and online marketplaces. The designers have shared a DIY manual online, whose instructions can be adapted for different cases. secondedition.com.au U-BOLT FURNITURE is named for the piece of hardware typically used to…

How can standardization help maximize diversity indoors, how can we re-fit spaces for shifting purposes, and how can agility contribute to architecture becoming more climate-responsive? We put three studios with enticing answers in the spotlight as this issue’s Ones to Watch. TAKK takes an adaptive approach to ecological challenges, FRAGILE achieves flexibility with scalable systems, and LUO relies on modular design to transcend the lifespan of temporary constructions.…

One notable common denominator in Luo Studio’s portfolio is the impermanent function of its projects. From accommodating a temporary sales centre to housing an ‘interim’ marketplace, the designs of the Beijing-based firm, founded by Luo Yujie, often deal with locations that sport transient programming. The studio’s strength lies in making such spaces feel future-proof, rather than fleeting. Solving social problems such as reusing and repurposing temporary buildings are at the forefront of Yujie’s design endeavours, which rely heavily on sustainable construction methods. Take the temporary site of the Shengli Market, located in Puyang City, China. While its main location was undergoing a major transformation, Luo was tasked to rapidly construct an alternative site at a low cost on a nearby parking lot. Optimizing their concept’s potential to exceed its temporary…

A workspace for modular design and construction company Koma Modular reveals the untapped potential of prefabrication. Designed with Prague-based practice Chybik + Kristof and located on Koma Modular’s manufacturing site in Vizovice, Czech Republic, the 170-m2 building is envisioned as a think-tank for the development of new ideas and expressions of modular design and construction in line with the brand’s mission: to create innovative spaces using modular elements. Integrated into the factory environment, the one-storey building serves as a semi-public gathering space for employees and the local community. Instead of relying exclusively on right-angled modules, Chybik + Kristof explored a more elaborate construction that combines various shapes. The structure consists of three main modules – floor, container and roof units – which, in the name of agility and sustainability, can…

Founded by Mireia Luzárraga and Alejandro Muiño, Takk takes an intersectional, adaptive approach to architecture, using the practice as a medium to address contemporary issues, especially those raised by the age of the Anthropocene – something the duo behind the Barcelona-based studio felt was lacking in their education. With a portfolio rich in cultural and occasionally speculative and activist projects, they operate with an agile mindset, roaming outside of the architectural world to work in a more transdisciplinary way. The climate crisis and corresponding ecological challenges are at the top of the list of contemporary issues Takk navigates through its work, which is aimed at putting forward possible solutions to these problems. What those solutions have in common is a certain responsiveness to their environment. Take Arca, a portable garden…

ROBERT You reflect two sides of a coin in retail. While Miguel represents one of the world’s largest owners and developers of retail assets, Lara works for one of the biggest practices designing them. From your perspective, how is retail emerging from the pandemic? LARA When people are citing retail metrics, they’re usually measuring performance through retail real estate. However, the story is getting conflated; there are two parts to this: there are brands and there is retail real estate. Brands are measuring the value of retail touchpoints across their entire ecosystem to evaluate their overall success. The reality is that the purpose of places is changing in the hearts and minds of brands as they learn what matters most to their customers and employees. We started seeing this shift…

A comprehensive curtain system and combinable, moveable workstations on tracks are two of the flexible solutions in Studio A’s office in Hard, Austria. Designliga’s scheme supports the agile workflows required by Studio A – a subdepartment of the Alpla brand that develops new packaging solutions – through the likes of flexible workstations and reconfigurable workshop rooms, while facilitating easy interaction between different departments.…

1 PUSH MODULARITY Future modular design projects can combine the benefits of the approach – shorter lead times and lower costs – with a much greater possibility of design expression, a promising prospect for addressing issues such as static work environments and affordable housing shortages. 2 OPT FOR AMBIGUITY In an era of rapid change, spaces will constantly have to adapt to different use cases. To enable spatial fluidity, ambiguity – avoiding a strong correlation between space and function – will be key. 3 AMPLIFY AN AGILE WORK MINDSET A truly agile workplace consists of furnishings that can be quickly rearranged, a diversity of work atmospheres and – most importantly – the mindset to know how to use them. 4 CHAMPION ADAPTIVE REUSE Deloitte predicts that 90% of future developments will fall under…