Studio SPEC published in Malaysia!

Our project, Studio SPEC, is published in Space Magazine, Malaysia!

I am not sure if Space Magazine is selling here in Sydney (we have received our copy from the publisher in mail today), but if you happen to spot Issue 2011 #2, check out p114 - 117!

Facet Studio is on ArchDaily!

Our project, Studio SPEC, was published on ArchDaily!

(you can read the article HERE)

We are very excited about all the positive responses we have received from clients, press, and people we are working with - conceiving an idea is difficult, making the idea into reality is even more challenging. And to be recognised after completion.... feels like firework!

A big "thank you" from us!



ArchDaily is one of the leading and most influential architectural website, with a single mission: the best architecture around the world, as soon as possible.

It has over two million visits and eighteen million page impressions per month.

A little on SPEC - Part II

Where were we yesterday?...oh the 2 hurdles!  Every project has a bit of them, but this was one of the most extreme to date (you can read about yesterday's post on Part I HERE).

We took a step back, and examined the design scheme....our conclusion was that our approach was perfect in addressing all the difficult issues and totally logical, it was the only way we would have approached this project.  So.....

Hurdle 01 - Money -

We re-assessed the detailing of the carpentry boxes, and standardised the modularity to eliminate variation (ie, make it simpler), and minimised material waste by reducing the height of the box (so it can be made with 1 standard board, rather than cutting from 2 boards).  We also had minimal material choice left in our hands, so we went with the most basic (and economical...) colours - black and white, no "espresso" or "night galaxy" or "aubergine".

along circulation space; modularity of the boxes is visible

Hurdle 02 - Time -

we had to compress a 6-10 days construction program into 2.  So we reduced the amount of trades (ie people) involved in the construction. What happens normally is that the waiting time between different trades drags out the process (trade 1 comes in day 1, touch something and wait for trade 2 to come in next day to do something else before they go on to the next thing), here we had to manage the process closely and have that waiting time happening across the site on the same day rather than across different days (eg trade 1 starts at one corner and while he works across to the other corner of the site, trade 2 can come in and work on what was already started...then trade 1 can go back on top after....).

day 01 on-site: we started 7pm before the actual 2 days we had, so the traffic in the city settled and carpenter could bring in materials. To save time as soon as the carpentry plinth was in place, electrician started drilling holes in the plinth to run cables within, while the carpenters worked their way around to fix the rest of the plinths. This is so the day after, bigger carpentry boxes can come in and sit over the plinths without waiting.  This could have easily been 3 days work under normal circumstances..

So why did we go invert black / white boxes - something our carpenter swore to never do again - ?

The graphic designer and his wife, the beauty consultant, have very strong (and opposite) characters.  Whilst the graphic designer requested for a "night" atmosphere so he can concentrate on the monitors (and he wears a lot of black), the beauty consultant preferred a more relaxing, neutral atmosphere for visitors and consultation (and she wears a lot of white and pink).  This hinted us a kind of characterised colour scheme when we were going through the restricted material palette.

This way with the inverted boxes, from within the beauty consultation box, everything (the box interior and the other box's exterior) is white; from within the graphic designer's box, everything is black...everyone was happy.

view from within the graphic designer box, which is black inside but white outside. The inside of the beauty consultation box is visible in the background

at the doorways into the 2 boxes. the floor linear lighting replaced the original harsh fluorescent in the ceiling grid 

In the end although the spaces were defined and separated from each other, there is a strong sense of "togetherness" and "openness" due to the opened top boxes and how programs and facilities were designed to allow cross-over of user groups, and a sense of interactivity.

The creative process of making architecture (or anything creative) is not easy.... we can choose to either suffer and complain through the process or enjoy the challenge...

Since the project completion, every time we meet with the graphic designer and the beauty consultant, we were greeted with their satisfied smile and expressions of "everyday I come into work I think of how good it was to have you designing our space".....now that is bonus for us!

A little on SPEC - Part I

This morning started with a message from our IT manager: "Which horse do you have in mind?"

Yoshi looked over to me with a puzzled expression....that was when we both realised that it is Melbourne Cup Day today! (To all the people not overwhelmed by the horse fever in Australia ... you can find out more about it HERE ), and of course Sydney takes half a day off unofficially..... well, not at Facet Studio!

We had a meeting with our graphic designer, Studio SPEC, regarding redesigning our official website.

It has been a while since we completed the fitout design and construction at their office, was nice to see how everyone works happily within.  I must admit it is always a strange nostalgic feeling ....a space we were once so familiar with, like our own child.  So I thought today we can talk a little about the process we went through... a little on SPEC.

view from meeting space looking at the 2 boxes "inserted" into the original office context

We had an irregular site of 75m2 in an old office building to work with.  The site came with original office fitout from probably the 1980's.  Whilst there was temptation to renew the entire space, touching the original context (painting or nailing to it etc) presents solution for today and problem for future; when the tenancy lease contract terminates in few years, everything will need to be restored to its original state with tenant's cost.

Here we took CLUE (01) :  detach from the original context, whatever we were going to put into the space.

The next challenge came with programs.  Our client was the graphic designer; who currently employs 4 staff members and potentially expanding; who runs a graphic design seminar with students coming in and out; whose wife runs a beauty consultation service.  Of course everyone was to come into this 75m2 space without interrupting each other!

That was tough... we first analysed the activities of different user groups to understand what activities can be shared, what need to be private, and the degree of privacy.  Then we analysed the timeframe of each space usage and frequency/ duration of activities.

Here we took CLUE (02) : build 2 giant boxes in the space to accommodate the more private activities of graphic designer studio and beauty consultation room.  Spaces of various dimensions, between the boxes and the original context,  formed circulation, utility, student gallery and meeting space/ seminar room.

standing inside the beauty consultation box (which is black outside and white inside) looking towards the graphic designer box (which is white outside black inside).....keep reading to find out why...

Just when we thought we had everything sorted, lets not forget about architectural logistics....

A good business address in the centre of Sydney Central Business District equates to close to zero possibility in material delivery and contractor vehicle access during office hours, and restrictions with construction methods in respect to construction noise and dust for neighbouring businesses.

CLUE (03) : build whatever we can off site, and bring in for assemblage to minimise construction on site and disturbance to neighbours.

Easily said then done, this one...  we decided to build the giant boxes with small boxes - cupboard units - in the carpenters factory, and piece them together on site like life-size building blocks.  The giant boxes house (apart from people) all the electrical wiring and lighting; the small boxes house all the graphic designer's archive materials and library / beauty consultant's beauty products and packaging / graphic design seminar's stationary and resources.  We were then hit with 2 hurdles: money and time.

Money - the carpenter's price doubled the budget because of the sheer quantity of cupboards;

Time - given the lead time of carpentry work in factory, we ended up with 2 days on site for construction in time for scheduled client office move.

........ to be continued tomorrow.............