An Office of Stacked Things / Takram, London
As the London studio for the Tokyo-HQed design innovation studio the aim was to create a flexible space accommodating the breadth of their working modes from digital to physical making.
As the home of a design studio, the approach was to create a raw yet refined atmosphere, a space where each of the components of the space is articulated.
By making the decisions and assembly visible in the projects finished state it retains a sensation of the design process and thinking.
The design developed a rich mix of materials. Industrial materials like cement board are set next to marble panels, cast concrete objects are used alongside chunks of timber. These are brought together to create language of contrasting materials with different values, texture, finish and reference. Rather than resolving into a single aesthetic, the pallet feels more like an architects material library, where unexpected juxtapositions occur through cataloguing.
This variety is held together by frameworks and armatures that give the space its structure.
Powder coated steel frames are used to create the skeleton of the kitchen / workshop space, with appliances, panelling, cupboards and storage simply slotted in.
The same powder coated frames are used to create the specially designed furniture including a long central table for the office. Panels of marble, plywood and cement board are dropped into these simple frames to create table tops.
New partitions and shelving are created through assembling materials in a series of ‘stacks’ and ‘piles’. White horizontal planks are supported by a series of objects and material fragments. O’s and X’s cast in concrete, orange tinted acrylic tubes, sections os silver birch tree, reflective chromed pipe, even stacks of material offcuts salvaged from the process of fabrication are used to creates the stacked structures.
It’s a system that learns from the most basic ways of placing one material on top of another where the process of assembly becomes hjisthe formal arrangement. Shelves created by the act of putting things on a shelf.
Sam Jacob said: “It’s always great to work with clients who themselves are designers. Takram work in a very different field but our discussions were very fluid and inspiring. We wanted to articulate something of the process of design through the project, a place where the practicalities of project making become inspiring and unexpected.
Yosuke Ushigome from Takram said: “As an international design studio, we value ‘collective openness’ and celebrate different viewpoints and skillsets – we wanted to reflect this into space through material usage. With Sam’s interpretation and design work, our studio now doesn’t only represent how we work in a down-to-earth manner, but also gives us inspiration and surprises.
