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By Pari Syal Photography: Brett Boardman & Peter Murphy; courtesy LAVA Working with a design that can maximize the architectural vocabulary with minimum application of material, two Australian architects design a simple yet engaging commercial space. It isn’t everyday that an interior stops you in your tracks with a ‘wow’; yet it isn’t easy either to come up with something new each time you have to showcase a set of requisites for your client. Australian architects, LAVA – the Laboratory of Visionary Architecture in collaboration with PTW have risen to the challenge of transforming what could have been a boring estate office selling commercial and residential fit-outs into an interesting connect that leisurely spills the beans – enticing new estate buyers. Combining digital workflow, nature’s structural principles and the latest digital fabrication technologies with the aim of achieving more (architecture) with less (material/ energy/ time/ cost), the architects have designed an organically-shaped display suite to market the Sydney Greenland Centre on Sydney’s old Water Board site. The lobby of the 1960s Water Board building now sports an undulating interior envelop with freeform furniture and curvy walls and ceilings. The fluid space features white terrazzo floors, illuminated timber desks, and walls lined with white leather and timber battens. Continuous lighting ribbons create a luminous and airy environment. The latest technologies include GRP - a lightweight, strong material that can be formed into fluid shapes. Parametric modelling and rapid prototyping mean that the design went straight from a 3D computer model to the fabrication workshop, where the reception and display desks were CNC cut and coated. Says Chris Bosse, director of LAVA, “People in the 21st century are looking for spaces that link them to nature, and the forms found in nature - waves, canyons, clouds; together this can create beautiful, efficient and connective spaces.” While LAVA purports to explore frontiers that merge future technologies with the patterns of organization found in nature, believing that this will result in a smarter, friendlier, more socially and environmentally responsible environments, one wonders whether there could be other more engaging methods to resonate with nature instead of mimicking/simulating forms? Wouldn’t a real connect (however big or small) between nature and technology be more appropriate? to view images click on globalhop.indiaartndesign.com
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