20 December 2013

Merry Merry Xmas and Happy Happy New Year!

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To all our dear friends:

 
See you in 2014!

XXXX

5 December 2013

Blu Creativity on Archdaily

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Our project, Blu Creativity has been published on Archdaily!

...this time the image looks normal, hurray!

Click HERE to view the article
Click HERE to see other entries on Blu Creativity
Click HERE to see Blu Creativity in our official website
Click HERE to see other entries relating to ArchDaily


ArchDaily was founded in March 2008 with the one mission of delivering the most complete information to architects around the world; every week, every day, every hour, every moment: as soon as it happens . It is the online source of continuous information for a growing community of thousands of architects searching for the latest architectural news: projects, products, events, interviews and competitions among others.

M House on Archdaily

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M House has been published on Archdaily!
...obviously blogging in Japan after working till late on my smartphone...
Not sure if the image is showing up properly... Ugh! 

Read the article HERE

Read more about M House HERE

Find out more about other Facet Studio projects covered by Archdaily HERE

ArchDaily was founded in March 2008 with the one mission of delivering the most complete information to architects around the world; every week, every day, every hour, every moment: as soon as it happens . It is the online source of continuous information for a growing community of thousands of architects searching for the latest architectural news: projects, products, events, interviews and competitions among others.

4 December 2013

It is people that makes the world go around

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Meeting after meeting after meeting...

Our Osaka office has been very popular lately graced by many visitors! I think it was the ceiling manufacturer and timber supplier in the morning, concrete block manufacturer in the afternoon, and more. Doshisha Chapel Complex is now marching into the final crunching phase before tender package submission, for which we have temporarily merged our Sydney and Osaka office to operate from Osaka until mid December.

For this project many items are specially developed rather than off the shelf, which is why a lot of help was required of the manufacturers/ suppliers. (Can catch glimpses of the full scale mock ups in the photos..) They have been extremely helpful, even it can not be promised that they will get the project commission as we are going into tender and it's in the hands of the successful tenderer .. What I found is, sharing the vision is beyond important. If people see the same vision, they are a lot more excited and willing to participate.

1 December 2013

Blu Creativity on Designboom

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Our project Blu Creativity has been published on Designboom!

porous space..

Original article on Designboom HERE
Official page on Blu Creativity with more pictures HERE
Find out about behind the scene HERE
Other Facet Studio projects covered by Designboom HERE

founded in 1999, designboom is the world’s first and most popular digital architecture and design magazine.
TIME magazine chose designboom as one of the top 100 design influencers in the world, one of just eight online publications to be so named. in 2011, the french magazine architectural digest called designboom one of the top ‘les 100 qui comptent’ (‘people who count‘) in the design world… from the forefront of contemporary culture and global lifestyle.

20 November 2013

M House on Designboom

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Our project M House has been published on Designboom!

I love this night shot..

Original article on Designboom HERE
Official page on M house with more pictures HERE
Find out about behind the scene HERE
Other Facet Studio projects covered by Designboom HERE

founded in 1999, designboom is the world’s first and most popular digital architecture and design magazine.
TIME magazine chose designboom as one of the top 100 design influencers in the world, one of just eight online publications to be so named. in 2011, the french magazine architectural digest called designboom one of the top ‘les 100 qui comptent’ (‘people who count‘) in the design world… from the forefront of contemporary culture and global lifestyle.

11 November 2013

Meaningful Design in a Logical Way

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Facet Studio has been included in Shanghai's Designer & Designing magazine as one of the practices of outstanding young architects.

Multiple projects have been covered, including: Streetology, Blu Creativity, Watermoon, M House

The interview was named "Meaningful Design in a Logical Way", which I thought was apt for our approach and the Chinese translation was true to the original.  Overall, happy with the article.
And I must say it is flattering to know that people that far away are interested to hear about what we think of design and philosophies..



 

 

 

 

Cover of Designer & Designing Issue 65

6 November 2013

Heavy, delicate, plentiful

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The true test for Eki has begun.

Prefabricated steel panels were delivered, and our "thinking power" is to be put on trial (fingers crossed!).

With prefabrication, absolutely everything is in the head until the very moment it becomes reality, so we have to keep simulating situations in our head and find solutions that way before problems take shape. Especially with steel as there is so little can be done on site.

 
 
 
 

It was literally a truck-ful of panels... They were taken into the site one by one, heavy stuff.

We then went through all panels to measure and cross check against drawings, to understand the variations and tolerances. Turns out 3 panels were made incorrectly and one was missing... Good we found out early enough to rectify without holding up the project.

Panels were grouped according to types, each with "name tag" on it to make the builder's job a little easier... And to help him plan ahead. Most importantly is to avoid making mistakes...




So here's the "skeleton" we've prepared earlier...
Panels are forming part of the structure so the frames were propped on timber until fixed with panels.

Slowly, carefully, but surely, one by one....






24 October 2013

Anomaly on Australian Design Review

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Anomaly was published on Australian Design Review website!

Hehehe.. and of course our Coexistence stool is published as it is part of the inaugural collection to launch Anomaly amongst other designs.

As press material were submitted prior to the final prototype was completed, the image is still of an earlier prototype.
To see the final prototype together with the rest of the range, enter HERE.


 

22 October 2013

Illusion and physicality

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It is difficult to explain about Bay Road Hair Studio, because it is a simple concept for an ambitious program in a tiny space.  Or maybe it can be summarised into one question:

"How do we make a tiny space feel bigger?"

We created an illusion of ever continuous space as one enters into the space by repeating the same "frame" in the centre of the space.  The frames form into a tunnel, which continues into the mirror at the end...

The frames house different functions: cashier, nail booth, photo booth, shampoo space division...
Hence the tunnel they created is in fact an "organising spine" for the salon.  It also divides the salon into sections for a boutique atmosphere.
The functions physically define the illusion; the illusion physically divides the space....

...I can keep going....

More photos HERE.


  



14 October 2013

Different trade

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For the project Eki, we have been challenging prefabrication and customised fabrication...

Although we have been working a lot with timber prefabrication, the new field for us this time is steel manufacturing.
Major difference between steel and timber prefabrication is the flexibility to modify on site - with timber, it is a fairly flexible and workable material; with steel everything pretty much need to be spot on and there is very little can be done on site.  Hence the importance of prototyping.

For a small (but of vital importance) fixture we are designing for Eki's display system, I took a road trip (can I exaggerate any more?) to Sydney's South West and visited the metal workshop.

It is important for us architects to gain a good understanding of how different trades work... where did I hear this from?

"In order to design well, one needs to feel the weight a tradesperson carries"

fantastic blue sky.
Thanks to Joe from Impact Metalworks for picking me up from the station!

intimate workshop

 

bending ...

pressing ...

hammering ...

8 October 2013

"Coexistence" furniture series for Anomaly

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Facet Studio was invited by Anomaly to participate in designing their inaugural collection.  It was December 2012.

outside window of Anomaly showroom
Anomaly is a company made up of 2 very different companies, Axolotl and Evostyle.
One is good at surface treatment, one is good at timber work.
We wanted to acknowledge both Evostyle and Axolotl in our pieces. But how?

We researched into “volume” vs “surface”, “substrate” vs “finish” …and many more, just to come to terms in ourselves what the two distinct techniques mean in the material world.
It became very abstract, which is when we realized that, our message needs to be straightforward for it to be conveyed through a furniture piece.

What we also found is that within a single furniture piece there are 2 main parts – one interacts with human, one supports that interaction. For instance in a stool, it can be broken down into “surface people sit on” and “structure supporting that surface”.  The duality within furniture piece and the materiality started to talk.

There we assign one material representing one company – Axolotl (metal/ concrete) or Evostyle (timber) – to each part, with one rule: there need to always be a combination of the materials from each company. If we have concrete seating surface for the stool, its legs will be in timber, or vise versa. 

With the most basic form of furniture, by varying width, length and height, we were able to give different functionalities to the pieces.

Simple.
We like finding simple answers for complicated questions.

We named our range “Coexistence”.

We wanted to celebrate the 2 companies coming together with their different expertise.
Hence all pieces have timber (Evostyle) with metal/ concrete finish (Axolotl), coming together to a very fine line.

The duality of materiality and exploration of surfaces could become a constant theme in our approach.



bedside table (left) and bar stool (right)

......fine edge.....
concrete leg and oak top

plywood leg and concrete top version in dining table, stool, and bedside table
also to the left is the low coffee table in concrete leg and oak top

edge of plywood revealing honest materiality

beautiful seeing from any angle... 
delicate leg touching down

4 October 2013

3 October 2013

Anomaly Launch!

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Anomaly's very first collection was launched on October 2nd 2013.


Facet Studio's "Coexistence" furniture series is included in the inaugural collection by Anomaly, make sure you check it out while you are in the neighbourhood!

Showroom at: 104 Oxford Street (cnr Palmer) from 2 October - 17 November

To find out more about the "Coexistence" furniture series HERE.

buzzing atmosphere at the launch party!

"Coexistence" coffee table (left) and dining table (right) in front of the Anomaly sign

 

 

  
and we design this one as well!  Pop up bar for prestigious Scotch brand - Balvenie.
Best Scotch I have ever had. Honestly.
I need to blog about this one too (mental note)

curious people walking past on Oxford Street
"Coexistence" bar stool (left) and bedside table (right) 

chatting away with Anomaly's Kris (yes it is me with my big green shopper...):
"....next time we should try..."

catching up with Balvenie's Mark ....

Mark: "hmmm.......I definitely want one of these...."