Nobu, Project 1

Floorplan and Elevation of Wall, Selected Obj



Detail of rendered elevation and floor plan


STUDIO 2, P1
The deliverable was to design a wall for a showroom based on a charity organization. The design was to be focused around a selected casepiece and accessories.

I chose to design for Invisible Children. In summary, the Invisible Children organization is comprised of loads of young artists and humanitarians working to promote awareness of war-affected Ugandan children. They work to tell the story of these children through films and photography, and also to bring about educational opportunity and technology.

Focusing on the opportunity and growth Invisible Children provides, I developed my concept into a "garden" motif, illustrating rebirth, growth, and prosperity. I believe design should be a commentary comparing and contrasting multiple elements, so I also wanted to incorporate the aspect of media and technology. Thus, "urban garden" was born.

The design began with the casepiece, the WrongWoods credenza by Richard Woods and Sebastian Wrong. The wood grain block print of the front surface is reminiscent of leaves. Selected accessories are an antique birdcage, wooden bird sculptures from the MoMa store, a wooden crate from MATTER, Peace and Love hand sculptures by Johnathan Adler, and a terrarium from Anthropologie. Inside the terrarium is a Nikon camera, a design metaphor for "growing awareness." I decided to arrange the accessories in a delicately haphazard way, almost unbalanced, like a wild plants. However, the linear, urban quality of the space serves as an adequate juxtaposition to re-instill proper order.

On the back wall, the colorblocked motif from the credenza is carried up and repeated in glass blocks. A custom designed film-strip sculpture intersects this, with inserted photographs taken by Invisible Children. Newsprint with a blue wash and lacquer cover serves as wallpaper, reminiscent of the sky. Flower sculptures comprised of recycled and stained water bottles are interspersed around the sculptures in a dynamic composition. A fiber-optic chandelier reaches down, connoting water running from the holes in a watering can, bring the space alive with its streams of light.

Incorporating the duality of organic concept and industrial design, an interactive and dramatic sophisticated garden captures the story of the enthusiasm of the Invisible Children organization.