A bit more on other projects....

Rounding up some recent publications....

Hospitality:

Powerful imagery of Uchi Lounge has a strong presence in WORKshop issue 08.

Nice to read in the blog of our structural engineer for Uchi Lounge: "...It is interesting how tight budgets and great architects drive great engineering."

I guess true creativity spark when being confined by restrictions...

 Cover of WORKshop issue 08

Watermoon is published by Chinese publishing house Sandu (available via PageOne) in "Taste It! - Innovative Restaurant Interiors".

It is also published by German publishing house Gestalten in "Let's Go Out! - Interiors and Architecture for Restaurants and Bars".

Watermoon was completed in 2010 May.

In the retail / hospitality world, where fitouts require constant renewal, Watermoon is considered an "old project".  Yet it continues to be picked up by publishing houses and gathering attention.  I think this says something about our consistent attitude towards architecture (permanence) and interior (transience).

Cover of "Taste it!"

Cover of "Let's Go Out!"

Retail:

Sneakerology and Streetology continue to gather attention after their completion in 2010 / 2011.  The design took place in 2009.

Again, they should be considered "old projects"....but still looking refreshing and stunning (hopefully I am allowed to say that myself...).

We consider longevity of design = ultimate sustainability 

"Brand Spaces - Branded Architecture and the Future of Retail Design" published by Gestalten (Germany)

  

  

Retail Design International Vol 74 No 5 (US)

End of Day 8

We arrived on site at Bay Road Hair Studio on the 8th Day into construction, when it was starting to get dark outside.

There was an unspoken tranquility in the little space, within the lovely setting overlooking the bay outside.
The builders finished boarding up the wall frames, ready for tiling on the next day, and started working on the frames for the mirrors. The frames house a few functions: mirror, lighting, table for customers, hanger for hairdresser tools.. And we just threw in mitre corners to add to the fun.

We have worked with our builder Ken quite a few times now (Watermoon, Uchi Lounge, Phamish..) and it is funny how he always started out complaining about how tricky our projects are, but always ended up gracing over the projects with loving and proud glance.

 

 

 

 

Multiple Dimensions

Here comes our complementary copies of Hinge magazine, all the way from Hong Kong, covering our projects Water Moon, Habitat Antique, Phamish, and S House.

I liked the short description Hinge poised to introduce our practise;

...Growing in recognition, the duo (Olivia Shih and Yoshihito Kashiwagi) is poised to break into the relative 'medium-time' [someday bigtime...] ... Their work is clean and quietly imaginative, avoiding histrionics and not afraid of proposing practical, cost-efficient solutions to a client's brief.  Nothing wrong with simplicity....

Although I would not necessarily say that we intentionally avoid histrionics; the simplicity in our works is more so a reflection of our perspective on space and architecture.  

Maybe it is more appropriate to say that we avoid creating spaces that could be "consumed"? 

We aim for a beauty in the simplicity, which could be embedded in the materiality, the logic, the construction, and/ or the philosophy.

The physical space is the outcome of series of decisions we repeatedly examined throughout the design process, in order to reassure that we have not deviated from what we set out to do for each project.

There are times that we were distracted and lost... but then I always remembered that when we set up Facet Studio, we told ourselves that we will be creating meaningful design; when there is meaning behind our design, there is beauty in what we do.

parcel from Hong Kong!

Water Moon to the left, Habitat Antique to the right

Phamish to the left, S House to the right

Friday afternoon tea thanks to Soo Jin, who will be heading back to UK to complete her study shortly

Embodiment of Light

Today we did a small experiment on the lighting effects for Uchi Lounge.

We made a 1:1 sectional model of the lightbox we are designing, organised large scale sample from fabric supplier, borrowed light source from electrician (don't we love our team!), and tested the effect of light if the light source is at different distance and direction from the fabric.

The difference is subtle at this scale but will be magnified once built.... can you tell the difference?

light source at the furtherest point in the lightbox from the fabric

light source at half the distance in the lightbox from the fabric

We did similar experiments for the Water Moon lightbox; but it was to test out the clarity of shadow projection from within the lightbox.
We had to go for the compact fluorescent rather than the linear fluorescent as the result (the linear fluorescent produces very diffused light and was not projecting much of any recognisable shadows...).
There was also a rather sensitive relationship with the interrelated distance between light source, bottle, and fabric......well, we had a lot of fun and are happy with the result!

Initial concept stage, when testing with paper lampshade material

During construction, testing with actual fabric sample on site

Freshly installed...the day before Water Moon opened for business

Professionally photographed (c) Katherine Lu

Water Moon has been widely recognised:
> Restaurant & Bar Design Awards UK - International Lighting Design Category - Shortlisted (refer HERE)
> Intergrain Timber Vision Awards 2010 - Commercial Interior Category - Winner (refer HERE)
> IDEA Awards 2010 - Best Hospitality Design - Shortlisted (refer HERE)

Restaurant & Bar Design Awards UK - Water Moon shortlisted

Our project Water Moon Japanese Restaurant is shortlisted in Restaurant & Bar Design Awards UK - International Lighting Design category.

Shortlist was announced today, and winner will be announced in July 2011....feels so far away...I want to know now!



You can view the shortlist HERE

View our entry HERE

More about the Restaurant & Bar Design Awards HERE

vote for Phamish and Water Moon!

We are thrilled with the shortlisting of our projects - Phamish Darlinghurst and Water Moon - at one of the most prestigious interior design awards in Australia, Interior Design Excellence Awards (IDEA Awards) 2010.

Voting for IDEA Awards' Designer of the Year: People's Choice Award is now open to public, voting closes Nov 10.

Please vote for Facet Studio under either Phamish Darlinghurst (HERE) or Water Moon (HERE)!!

overview of Phamish - panels featuring chrysanthemum flowers can be seen enclosing the shop, and lightbox projecting patterned shadows on the left.  Our task was to utilise the colours red and gold, together with patterns of chrysanthemum flowers, to create modern Asian-ness for this Vietnamese restaurant

close-up of the panels with backlighting.  We scattered the panels to maximise the effects of the chrysanthemum flowers, and incorporated indirect lighting behind to give sensitivity to the space

close-up of the lightbox.  The chrysanthemum pattern is also projected onto the ceiling to complete the sense of being surrounded by the flowers

atmosphere of the seating area within the shop. one of the triggering imagery for us was the view of people dining amongst chrysanthemum flowers....

view of Water Moon from the street. The design intension of inserting a new space into the existing context is clearly visible

plywood floor platform works in with the panelling on the side, and provides a smooth transition of various floor levels throughout the shop. horizontality at the centre (stacking plywood panels at the bar, horizontal gap between bar and lightbox, and the general geometry of lightbox) forms a subtle contrast with the verticality to the side of the shop (linear lighting, vertical panelling)

backlit sake bottles in the lightbox emits subtle and gentle light to illuminate the space as a centre focus point; like the moon in the night sky..

close-up of plywood wall panelling. the panels form a new enclosure of the interior space within the existing old building by offsetting and expressing the differences; space within a space. The panels also incorporate concealed linear lighting to subtly envelop the space.

Water Moon awarded!

clink clink* Small announcement...

Water Moon Japanese Restaurant has won the Commercial Interior Category of the inaugural 2010 Intergrain Timber Vision Awards!

view of central lightbox and bar. Central bar is constructed of stacked plywood. Plywood wall panels enclose the space softly with hidden light source, allowing the central lightbox to project from within, colourful backlit shadows of sake bottles, illuminating the dark space

The judging panel said:

The interior of Water Moon restaurant is a celebration of the beauty of timber in its purest geometric form. An intuitive piece of design, the jury applauded the enchanting use of timber to recreate Japanese culture humbly and beautifully.

A timber light box in the core of the restaurant provides a canvas for the inviting colour and shapes of the sake bottles, while creating what the judges called "a subtle manifestation of a bento box". Timber sliding doors and panelling in hoop pine plywood complete the picture with a clever alternative to traditional paper screens.

To find out more, check out Intergrain Timber Vision Awards