Blueprint Awards 2015: The winners
Best Interior Design Project or Product - Work
Winner: Clive Wilkinson Architects, Culver City, US
The Barbarian Group, New York, US
JUDGE'S COMMENTS
'A bold statement on collective working and teaming. Beautifully implemented, where praise should be shared with the craftsmen and fabricators in creating such structure and space.' Phil Hutchinson
Clive Wilkinson Architects adapted an existing 1,800 sq m office space in New York into a flexible space for The Barbarian Group, a company that creates consumer experiences for the digital world. With a tight budget, the architect recycled services for acoustically controlled spaces and transformed perimeter rooms to create a clear space in the centre of the office.
'Conventional office tools are now largely redundant,' it says. 'People need to connect to other people: they need flat surfaces to work on, and easily accessible places to meet and collaborate. We got excited about the idea of massively simplifying this concept to show how radically different an office could be when you alter the "job description".'
The result is an endless table that weaves through the space. The plywood structure rises from the existing oak wood floor, lifting up in places to form grotto-like spaces underneath for meetings, private workspaces, shelving and storage. 'Like an electrical wire, the table surface itself becomes a medium for connecting and centring the community,' says Wilkinson.
After being initially drawn by hand and then moulded with a physical model, the plywood supporting structure was shaped by computer. A detailed computer model was constructed by the architect and then laser-cut in sections off-site by robots. In its final form, the table is made up of 870 unique plywood panels and has a table surface of 400 sq m.
Commended
BuckleyGrayYeoman, London, UK
Henry Wood House, London, UK
draisci studio, London, UK
Cathedra and Crucifix, Leicester, UK
Paul Crofts Studio, London, UK
Fold 7, London, UK
Image: Hufton + Crow
PearsonLloyd for Modus, London, UK
Edge table
Studio Makkink & Bey, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Interior, De Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Image: Scagliola - Brakkee
Finalists
Cottrell and Vermeulen Architecture with Studio Myerscough, for Vital Arts, London, UK
Royal London Hospital, London, UK
Grimshaw Architects for Cassina, New York, US
Elements Table
Hassell, Australia
Medibank, Melbourne, Australia
HLW International, London, UK
Post Office Ltd, London, UK
Scott Brownrigg, London, UK
Circle Housing, London, UK
Veech x Veech Design, Vienna, Austria
Al Jazeera broadcast studio and newsroom, London, UK