Client: JH Drum

Overview

The client approached Radlab to create two feature walls as part of their customer's office fit-out for a new 60k square foot space in Cambridge, MA. The book and oar walls are whimsical studies of the field condition and the wave condition respectively. The 'reclaimed' books aggregate to form an objectscape of physical voxels, each with their own dimensional, color, and texture qualities. Using the functionality of the oar as a driver for the composition of the oar wall, not only do the oars undulate in elevation, they also gently rotate in plan.

Goals

Integrating commissioned artwork into this new office space was important for the client's customer because it reinforced a number of their interests: supporting small companies, allowing the city to directly impact and influence their office culture, and cultivating their focus on a theme they have coined, 'design for delight'.

Process

The iterative design process moved from sketches, material samples, and crude digital models, to generating algorithms and building full scale mock ups. The client, architect, general contractor, and art consultant all contributed to the process through emails, in person meetings, phone calls and video conference sessions.

Additional Information

You can view a video, here (https://vimeo.com/87901657), that was made about the collaborative effort that made this project possible.