design and planning for the interior of an engineering office

For Schöne Neue Welt, an engineering office for structural and façade planning (www.snw-ing.de), a customised interior concept was developed for the new location. The frame is provided by a textile zoning concept: coloured and greige curtains structure the rooms subtly and effectively. The entrance areas on either side of the staircase are clad in restrained shades of grey, while the three adjoining meeting rooms are each characterised by their own colour scheme.

A sculptural bar table welcomes visitors in the entrance hall – as a central gesture of greeting. It invites both informal exchanges with guests and internal dialogue and provides space for all employees to gather. Its geometry follows the flow of movement in the room and creates an elegant interplay of volume, cantilevering and load transfer. The flamingo colour lends the piece of furniture additional lightness and presence.

In two smaller meeting rooms – designed for discussions between two or three people or for online meetings – tables at different heights (sitting and standing height) and with warm wooden surfaces form a platform for focussed communication by organically placing the participants in relation to each other and to the screen.

In the central work area, an elongated sideboard provides a sculptural counterpoint to the rhythmic arrangement of the desks. It integrates technical infrastructure, storage space in the form of cupboards and open shelves and transforms into a small bench at one end. At the other end, the furniture builds an upper protrusion into the room – like a small bar – which can be used both as a meeting place while standing and as a reading desk.

All furniture is developed specifically for a particular location, but can easily be reused in other places. They are made from wood or wood-based materials. Both the bar table in the entrance area and the sideboard are coated with a cradle-to-cradle-certified lacquer. The sustainability claim is thus taken into account.

All of the individually designed pieces of furniture are characterised by polygonal geometries that alter their shape as you move through the room: New worlds are created through a change of perspective.

realisation:
- bar table and sideboard: Kathrein Tischlerei und Innenausbau Gmbh, www.tischlerei-kathrein.de
- meeting room tables: Der Raum Tischlerei, www.der-raum.de
- made-to-measure curtains: Unique Factory, www.unique-factory.com, with fabrics from kvadrat

tacti(ca)l/e play

Throughout the centuries, the theory of cognition has associated thinking with the sense of vision and therefore considered this sense to be the superior one. Therefore vision has been promoted as the controlling instrument, dominating the other senses. Because of this the sense of touch with its significance has been consistently neglected. The senses of sight, hearing, smelling and tasting are spatially confined to sense organs in the head. Indeed, in the process of active perception we navigate these organs with our body, gathering information with them. They also work, however, when the body is in a state of motionlessness of the body, like, for instance, while watching a video screen. The sense of touch, however, is distributed over the entire body like a sophisticated space suit with millions of sensors and incorporates the entire nervous system, the muscles, tendons and joints. This means that active touch is not only linked with movement, but also conversely that the sense of touch is incorporated into every sensorimotor process. Active perception is always an explorative movement in space involving the sense of touch. The sense of touch itself is distributed over the entire body and therefore has a spatial dimension, while also taking part in every movement through space. Because of these qualities, it is the sense that most connects us with space.

design, planning and crafting of a media installation for the fusion festival, with jörg lorenz, videos by thomas harzem

kinetour – a play of perspectives and movements created for the cinehangar, the cinema at the Fusion Festival in the Kulturkosmos Müritzsee. For this installation, the three essential elements of the cinema – projector, screen and chair – have been reinterpreted for the outdoors. The setting was arranged in such a way that the exterior of the cinehangar became a film set. In this space the visitor was not passive while the camera did the movement for him, but rather he or she navigated through multiple perspectives. Within the set, the screens were accompanied by bed/u/ins – double-sided recliner seats with a gauze roof – that invited people to linger, providing a view of the screens as well as the surrounding landscape. The video material projected had been created in Italy by the video artist Moontan especially for this occasion. Spectators who moved between screens and bed/u/ins cast shadows to the screens when coming closer to them, becoming physically involved with the imagery of the video clips. A small platform was situated directly in front of the hangar on to which stills were projected. These stills could be set into motion: high-backed chairs designed to function as partial screens for the projections were mobilised with casters on the platform so that sections of the entire projection could be selected and distorted. Continuing the theme of re-interpretations, the theatre bar was augmented with sensomata – inviting red velvety elements in various body-like shapes attached to the bar. These tactile qualities enhanced communication at the bar by creating intimate spaces when leaning onto them in conversation.

design, planning and crafting of computer terminals for a media festival, with jörg lorenz

Four terminals were conceived and produced for the presentation of a variety of online-projects at the festival garage 2002. Addressing the issue of the playground, these terminals function like advanced wooden toys for adults. Like the elements of a wooden disentanglement puzzle, the units add up to a cuboid-shaped volume when positioned together. According to use and spatial concept, there are various arrangements: rotated symmetrically, aligned in a row or a combination of the two. Four boxes complete the total volume while also becoming two additional stools for seating, according to the arrangement. Assembled as a cuboid, the terminals can also be used as a table. The formation of the wooden elements allows for a communicative situation despite being engrossed in play. The tilted screens provide a view for surrounding observers, while the neighbours seated opposite can also see each others’ monitors. The handcrafted surface creates a sensory component that both contrasts the virtual content and anchors the users’ presence in real space.

design for an analogue visual telephone, with siegfried miedl and jörg lorenz

As comfortable seating furniture, zwischengesicht (literal translation of interface) provides the opportunity to become engrossed in a cosy, face to face chat. While enjoying a cold drink, one can light-heartedly discuss difficult issues or make an acquaintance in a relaxed context. Additionally, thanks to state-of-the-art mirror technology, one also has the opportunity to talk via analogue visual telephone despite being in the same place. In this era of modern communication one prefers speaking through technological interfaces, even when it is unnecessary. Therefore, zwischengesicht has been developed to make mediated communication possible in situ. The communicating parties, situated in direct proximity to each other at either end of the seating, insert their heads into the casings of the coupling – and can immediately see the communication partner at the other end of the mirror duct and start the conversation. Due to number and sophisticated arrangement of the mirrors, the inversion effect of the reflections is cancelled out. Because of this, one perceives the conversation partner as if gazing directly into his or her eyes – and yet one finds oneself in the virtual space of a communication transmitted by technological means. zwischengesicht therefore excels as a truly advanced means of communication. Appointments for chatting can be arranged directly – face-to-face and in situ; the privacy and the spatially virtual experience of technologically mediated communication are fully guaranteed.

design for a media installation

anthrolab ° neuroland creates a sensual environment as a testing ground where communication takes place under very specific conditions. The laboratory houses five cages that serve as body casings. These can be opened at the back so that they can be entered and surround the entire body of the user. Hidden reels are situated underneath the casings and a handrail at the inside at hand level, allowing the cages to be moved: They follow the movement of the user in space. A vision panel is provided at eye level, which is mirrored on the outside. It allows for an outlook but no view of the inside. Speakers and a microphone are embedded at the inside of the casings, to provide a simultaneous verbal communication of all five users via teleconference. A camera situated inside, above the vision panel, records the eyes of the communicating parties and this image is projected onto the walls of the laboratory.