i have a small tenant improvement office project with an even smaller budget, so i'm searching for the best materials that are cheap but unique- anything for partitions/walls, ceiling, flooring, casework, etc...
I'd be interested to hear about what fellow archinecters have used in situations where the budget is tight. Also, if anyone can think of published precedents, that would be great.
I know, but you can't say it cardboard is not a cheap material and what they did with it was not impressive.
We did an office for an ad firm where we made partitions out of metal studs and polygal. the polygal we stopped short of the floor about 12" and at about 7' at the top. we covered up the runner at the bottom with inverted runner pieces. they were pretty cool. we also used chainlink fence for a work area - at the owners request - and will say it did not work too well.
another great detail i've seen is bare 4" x 1/4" steel plate wall base lag bolted into the studs behind the drywall. i wouldn't call it cheap though.
"utility grade" hardwood flooring = 1$/sf
it is a mix of discarded red and white 3/4" hardwood flooring. the imperfections give it character. (from Lumber Liquidators)
"plasti-perf"- not sure how much but have been wanting to use it on something. from mcnichols.com
Corrugated poly roofing. = a few cents/sf easy to install. the white color reflects light and color very nicely.
Allthough i am sure it has been done before, there is the bar in SF called OSB (Ofarrel Street Bar) which had polyurethaned OSB flooring that looked phenomenal.
I worked on a design that used industrial felt over an armature with slits cut in the felt and light behind it. It never got built, but I'd like to do a project with it.
Kennedy & Violich did a wall out of water bottles that is pretty cool. (See Children's Science Playground)
imo - make one solid move that is easily comprehended, otherwise the budget
dilutes multiple thoughts and you get value engineered into white bread - I'm taking your word that your budget is really low - good luck and have fun
Part of my point in suggesting the water bottle example was to find a relatively inexpensive everyday material or object, and use it in a different way (easier said than done, I know.) I think the water bottle is a very succesful example of doing this, taking a non building material and creating partitions out of it.
I saw Kennedy give a lecture on this project, and I think the bottles were filled to increase their stability, but the lecture was almost 10 years ago, so my memory is a little foggy on what exactly went into it.
They had another project (a boston bathroom renovation) where they used a translucent plastic in place of gypboard and lit it from with in. You could see the structure (studs) and it was a nice alternative to gyp.
Check out the Metropolis from last month, LTL has three projects in there with interesting materials. They however had the luxuriy of doing design build with what sounds like an army of interns to keep it cheap.
The City Museum in St. Louis is a great example of this type of thing (water bottle wall). They used stainless steel bins (some sort of food warming dish?) to divide the bathrooms from the lobby. If you look at this panoramic view (in quicktime - a little annoying) pan right or left until you see the wall. I'm with rayray - find some materials, get some ideas and really blast them with it. Make them think they never even heard of drywall.
pencrush, industrial felt is a beautiful product but quite pricey, for the 1/2" thick+ stuff - did you find a source for it for your not-built project?
It never got that far, unfortunately. I imagine it's probably cheaper in large quanities (how most people purchasing it would get it,) but I don't know.
thanks, lots of great ideas. the polygal is something i have been thinking about, though i kind of feel that it has been done a lot. However, i have noticed that the way it is detailed varies widely. perhaps i can find a new way to use it.
pencrush- thanks for the Kennedy & Violich link; interesting material research going on there.
rayray- good advice. most of the work will go into designing the conference room, since the office is a fairly open plan with an enclosed conference room in the middle where it is visible from all sides.
Posting about Will Bruder on another thread reminded me - he did an open office plan once where he used that snakey ribbed aluminum electrical conduit,
in a cool way. The ceiling structure was exposed, and the conduit was bundled and anchored in a big spiral that wrapped around the interior space, feeding through the open-web ceiling joists. It was all functional, it just made a cool pattern across the ceiling while doing its job.
liberty, i believe that conduit (BX) is steel not aluminum.
i also have seen a nice office project where the architect suspended exposed BX conduit and misc. wiring from the ceiling. the wiring hung down over the workstations and imparted a nice feeling of connectedness. it also created a very dynamic and interesting workspace using necessary ordinary wiring in an aesthetic manner.
most common raw materials are relatively inexpensive compared to labor and craftsmanship needed to install them in architectural 'manner'.
sure you can use even romex in a manneristic way, granted that you will be available on every step of the way to get the final result and have the construction time to improvise. not to mention to satisfy the building inspector's doubts.
those water bottles above cost 75$ per sq. ft. when finished. it is rare you will find an installer who will get the idea right, when told on paper or otherwise.
design build firms are the way for this kind of installations, because they design and install in house. otherwise you are talking 'unique' to a regular contractors who will charge you for the unknown.
it is also not uncommon, your design of unorthodox installation of a given material will hit you on the face couple of years later when you see the flawless and expensive version of it in a design magazine done by gensler, som or the likes, for whom a 1500$ sq. ft. small installation is just a gift for their big clients.
enough said. i am on my way to hardware store to get some chicken wire for a secret application. :)
3ifs, you are absolutely right - I googled aluminum but got steel as my example. Had aluminum on the brain from my recent home inspection.
As to your concerns, abra, Bruder says the spiral conduit installation was accomplished via a ten-minute discussion on site with the electrician, to whom he spoke with respect and from whom he solicited input. Design build is definitely one way to go, but personally I can often get good results from just working together with, not against, the installers. A fancy drawing with lots of notes may freak them out, as opposed to a respectful discussion and sketch done during the conversation.
ironically, i picked up a book today with a similar design(the felt slit to expose light behind it) that has, in fact, been built--the book--references a salon--joli hair design in chestnut hill, MA designed by Office dA...the book--SALONS AND SPAS--the architecture of beauty.
I regulary scour construction sites & dumpsters for discarded materiel for my design-build projects. I get these really neat yellow jump suits with "HAZMAT", and "FORENSICS UNIT" labelled on them so that I look real offical. It also minimizes the hurtful taunts from passers-by. "Hey!! Dumpster-Boy, Whadd-R-Ya Doin? An Architectural Thesis or something? hahaha!" That hurts me so.
But for real, you can get some great stuff + IT'S FREE. You just have to do a little reverse-design, because you're usually designing around the 'found objects' . A little strange for the control-freak nature of archtiects, but it is kinda fun.
bump... in today's economic climate, companies may be contracting... downsizing could mean work too, economizing space, or moving to smaller offices spaces requiring interior work, as well as perhaps creating an opportunity to provide new inspiring spaces on a budget... any new material ideas in 2010?
great materials that are cheap
i have a small tenant improvement office project with an even smaller budget, so i'm searching for the best materials that are cheap but unique- anything for partitions/walls, ceiling, flooring, casework, etc...
I'd be interested to hear about what fellow archinecters have used in situations where the budget is tight. Also, if anyone can think of published precedents, that would be great.
I saw (I think in record) a tea/coffee shop in new york done entirely in cardboard for about $17,000. it was incredible.
yeah and the designers built it all themselves... the clients were probably friends of theirs.
I know, but you can't say it cardboard is not a cheap material and what they did with it was not impressive.
We did an office for an ad firm where we made partitions out of metal studs and polygal. the polygal we stopped short of the floor about 12" and at about 7' at the top. we covered up the runner at the bottom with inverted runner pieces. they were pretty cool. we also used chainlink fence for a work area - at the owners request - and will say it did not work too well.
another great detail i've seen is bare 4" x 1/4" steel plate wall base lag bolted into the studs behind the drywall. i wouldn't call it cheap though.
i'm sure i saw a partition wall made from the plastic crates they ship milk or bread in
"utility grade" hardwood flooring = 1$/sf
it is a mix of discarded red and white 3/4" hardwood flooring. the imperfections give it character. (from Lumber Liquidators)
"plasti-perf"- not sure how much but have been wanting to use it on something. from mcnichols.com
Corrugated poly roofing. = a few cents/sf easy to install. the white color reflects light and color very nicely.
Allthough i am sure it has been done before, there is the bar in SF called OSB (Ofarrel Street Bar) which had polyurethaned OSB flooring that looked phenomenal.
I worked on a design that used industrial felt over an armature with slits cut in the felt and light behind it. It never got built, but I'd like to do a project with it.
Kennedy & Violich did a wall out of water bottles that is pretty cool. (See Children's Science Playground)
second-hand Ozite carpet (or are you too young to remember that?)
imo - make one solid move that is easily comprehended, otherwise the budget
dilutes multiple thoughts and you get value engineered into white bread - I'm taking your word that your budget is really low - good luck and have fun
love pencrush's water bottle example. it's beautiful. but it looks like they're full...and with the cost of water these days?!
if its the one i am thinking of, that coffee shop with cardboard interiors was by lewis tsurumaki lewis. just fyi in case you want to go looking.
Part of my point in suggesting the water bottle example was to find a relatively inexpensive everyday material or object, and use it in a different way (easier said than done, I know.) I think the water bottle is a very succesful example of doing this, taking a non building material and creating partitions out of it.
I saw Kennedy give a lecture on this project, and I think the bottles were filled to increase their stability, but the lecture was almost 10 years ago, so my memory is a little foggy on what exactly went into it.
They had another project (a boston bathroom renovation) where they used a translucent plastic in place of gypboard and lit it from with in. You could see the structure (studs) and it was a nice alternative to gyp.
mmmm. sodapop IS pencrush? ah ha!
like i said, i like the water bottle example. makes more sense when you say they filled 'em after placing them. (duh, steven.)
i do remember seeing a wall made of stainless steel sinks. can't say wether it is cost effective or not, but it was interesting. maybe by LOT/EK.
Yeah I think LoTEK did do that... or they did something similar in their book.
Check out the Metropolis from last month, LTL has three projects in there with interesting materials. They however had the luxuriy of doing design build with what sounds like an army of interns to keep it cheap.
The City Museum in St. Louis is a great example of this type of thing (water bottle wall). They used stainless steel bins (some sort of food warming dish?) to divide the bathrooms from the lobby. If you look at this panoramic view (in quicktime - a little annoying) pan right or left until you see the wall. I'm with rayray - find some materials, get some ideas and really blast them with it. Make them think they never even heard of drywall.
pencrush, industrial felt is a beautiful product but quite pricey, for the 1/2" thick+ stuff - did you find a source for it for your not-built project?
It never got that far, unfortunately. I imagine it's probably cheaper in large quanities (how most people purchasing it would get it,) but I don't know.
thanks, lots of great ideas. the polygal is something i have been thinking about, though i kind of feel that it has been done a lot. However, i have noticed that the way it is detailed varies widely. perhaps i can find a new way to use it.
pencrush- thanks for the Kennedy & Violich link; interesting material research going on there.
rayray- good advice. most of the work will go into designing the conference room, since the office is a fairly open plan with an enclosed conference room in the middle where it is visible from all sides.
i love this project:
above was by brian murphy, santa monica. aka bam.
Posting about Will Bruder on another thread reminded me - he did an open office plan once where he used that snakey ribbed aluminum electrical conduit,
in a cool way. The ceiling structure was exposed, and the conduit was bundled and anchored in a big spiral that wrapped around the interior space, feeding through the open-web ceiling joists. It was all functional, it just made a cool pattern across the ceiling while doing its job.
liberty, i believe that conduit (BX) is steel not aluminum.
i also have seen a nice office project where the architect suspended exposed BX conduit and misc. wiring from the ceiling. the wiring hung down over the workstations and imparted a nice feeling of connectedness. it also created a very dynamic and interesting workspace using necessary ordinary wiring in an aesthetic manner.
most common raw materials are relatively inexpensive compared to labor and craftsmanship needed to install them in architectural 'manner'.
sure you can use even romex in a manneristic way, granted that you will be available on every step of the way to get the final result and have the construction time to improvise. not to mention to satisfy the building inspector's doubts.
those water bottles above cost 75$ per sq. ft. when finished. it is rare you will find an installer who will get the idea right, when told on paper or otherwise.
design build firms are the way for this kind of installations, because they design and install in house. otherwise you are talking 'unique' to a regular contractors who will charge you for the unknown.
it is also not uncommon, your design of unorthodox installation of a given material will hit you on the face couple of years later when you see the flawless and expensive version of it in a design magazine done by gensler, som or the likes, for whom a 1500$ sq. ft. small installation is just a gift for their big clients.
enough said. i am on my way to hardware store to get some chicken wire for a secret application. :)
3ifs, you are absolutely right - I googled aluminum but got steel as my example. Had aluminum on the brain from my recent home inspection.
As to your concerns, abra, Bruder says the spiral conduit installation was accomplished via a ten-minute discussion on site with the electrician, to whom he spoke with respect and from whom he solicited input. Design build is definitely one way to go, but personally I can often get good results from just working together with, not against, the installers. A fancy drawing with lots of notes may freak them out, as opposed to a respectful discussion and sketch done during the conversation.
and to add to that thought - there is nothing like a self executed mock-up
to show the client and the eventual contractor how easy it "should" be
let us know what you end up with - cool projects throughout the topic
pencrush--
ironically, i picked up a book today with a similar design(the felt slit to expose light behind it) that has, in fact, been built--the book--references a salon--joli hair design in chestnut hill, MA designed by Office dA...the book--SALONS AND SPAS--the architecture of beauty.
it might not actually be inexpensive but it's neat nonetheless. check out the Softwall by Forsythe + Macallen http://www.unicahome.com/catalog/item.asp?id=17121
I regulary scour construction sites & dumpsters for discarded materiel for my design-build projects. I get these really neat yellow jump suits with "HAZMAT", and "FORENSICS UNIT" labelled on them so that I look real offical. It also minimizes the hurtful taunts from passers-by. "Hey!! Dumpster-Boy, Whadd-R-Ya Doin? An Architectural Thesis or something? hahaha!" That hurts me so.
But for real, you can get some great stuff + IT'S FREE. You just have to do a little reverse-design, because you're usually designing around the 'found objects' . A little strange for the control-freak nature of archtiects, but it is kinda fun.
bump... in today's economic climate, companies may be contracting... downsizing could mean work too, economizing space, or moving to smaller offices spaces requiring interior work, as well as perhaps creating an opportunity to provide new inspiring spaces on a budget... any new material ideas in 2010?
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