Stories On Design // 3D Grids.

I still remember my first Design Studio back at University – our ‘project’ had to be contained in a 3x3x3m volume in which we designed a room. For our second assignment, we were given two 3x3x3m volumes that could be stacked on top or placed next to each other, and this time we designed a little library. Space was at a premium, so we had to take great care to divide our volumes into smaller grids to help guide our planning decisions. It’s almost as though my brain became conditioned to think into girds ever since these first assignments, and it’s never stopped since.

Over the years, I’ve come to realise that I wasn’t the only one who was obsessed with grids – in fact, most designers and architects think exactly the same way. Sometimes this is not even conscious awareness – it’s simply an underlaying principle to everything we do. It’s how we break up spaces and volumes, give things scale, evaluate proportions and ratios, make planning decisions etc.

And so today we celebrate 3D Grids in a Story that brings together many inspiring projects from around the world, ranging from architecture, interiors, furniture, art and installations. As it turns out, 3D Grids have proven to be the perfect building-block for many applications, thanks to the grid-based obsession that exists in so many of us.

What I personally really love about Grids are their more etherial and conceptual qualities. 3D Grids suggest volume without limitations – they provide a framework, an idea of implied space. They are a symbol of infinite possibilities, ready to be filled with our own design imagination. Perfect.

See More ‘Stories on Design’ Curated by Yellowtrace.

GRID Modular System // The super flexible modular system GRID, devised by the founder of Danish furniture firm Montana, has been developed and optimised over several years. The basic module is a cube with the dimensions 40 x 40 x 40 cm with mounting holes. The assembly is easy and the compounds are invisible. The various additional components walls and spaces can be defined and even drawers and upholstered modules can be created.

Image courtesy of Bureau Betak.

Lacoste Ready-To-Wear SS14 Fashion Show produced and designed by Bureau Betak // The absolute magicians of fashion sets, Bureau Betak, used nothing but white steel grids to build a landscape of volumes around which the Lacoste models meandered and strutted their stuff during the SS14 fashion show at the Lincoln Centre in NYC. Abstract simplicity at it’s best.

String Prototype Installation by Numen/For Use // Visitors were able to suspend themselves within a 3D grid of ropes inside this inflatable installation created by Croatian-Austrian design collective Numen/For Use. When the cube was deflated the ropes loosened, allowing the installation to decompress. When inflated, the ropes tightened into a grid strong enough to hold the weight of a person.

Reveal the Absence: The Un-Built by Guillaume Mazars // Inspired by Russian artist El Lissitzky’s most famous projects Wolkenbrugel, this proposal reveals the notion of space and depth within three-dimensional structures. The system highlights emptiness, depth, projections, disclosing its physical absence – The Un-Built.

Images courtesy of Hayon Studio.

Smart Grid Gallery by Jaime Hayon // An imaginary world connects the various forms of renewable energy. The pavilion is a luminous grid that constantly transforms, creating an aseptic environment but one that is dynamic and enveloping at the same time. The furnishings inside, heterogeneous in terms of form and function, represent different energy sources and their concatenation: luminous elements power a table whose top is made with photovoltaic panels (solar energy) that, in turn, is connected by coloured wires to a cabinet completely covered with small propellers (wind energy) and rotating vases (nuclear energy), all moving with self-produced energy. In the development of the details of each single work, with great creativity and a very high level of productive quality, Jaime Hayon wants to make the most complex technology more human and comprehensible.

Photo by Jacek Majewski.

Zuo Corp Pop up Store by Super Super + Inside Outside // Polish architects Super Super and Inside/Outside collaborated to design the temporary pavilion inside a mobile office container for clothing retailer Zuo Corp in Warsaw. Lengths of LED lights reflect in mirrored walls and ceilings, creating the illusion of infinite illuminated grid.

Image courtesy of Antony Gormley.

Sculptures & Installation Art by Antony Gormley // British artist Antony Gormley is widely acclaimed for his sculptures, installations and public artworks that investigate the relationship of the human body to space.

Gormley’s series “BREATHING ROOM, 2006 – 2012” (above) of three-dimensional drawing in space is what I’m particularly drawn to. Both a diagram and an object, they redefine the very idea of space. The volume outlined by the frame remains constant whilst being extended in each case on a different axis. A mandala-like drawing on the floor forms the plan from which the seven ‘rooms’ grow.

Read the full article about this project & see more images here.

Images courtesy of Coordination Asia.

NIKE Studio in Beijing, China by Coordination Asia // Coordination Asia transformed a former art gallery into a Nike Studio’s slick new training centre. The project includes 1,200 square meters of immersive experiences where motifs of infinity and transparency are relayed through interactive installations and LED-lit display cases. The Studio includes two high-impact, high-energy workout labs, plus one-of-a-kind product exhibition. Pretty damn sexy, if you ask me.

Photography by Christine Francis.

Squint/Opera Melbourne HQ by Sibling // Visualisation and animation studio Squint/Opera render reality every day. The fit-out for their new Australian headquarters designed by Sibling reinforces this trait: physical space and its digital doppelganger confluence in the workplace.

The office uses the wireframe space of modelling software as real-time infrastructure through the installation of custom-steel grid-mesh. Work spaces are carved out of this matrix to provide a sense of spatial division and privacy while retaining views across the entire studio.

Read the full article about this project & see more images here.

Photography © Daniel Portilla.

The Serpentine Pavilion by Sou Fujimoto // Built on the lawn outside the Serpentine Gallery, Sou Fujimoto’s cloud-like pavilion comprised a grid of white poles that ascended upwards to form layered terraces with circles of transparent polycarbonate inserted to shelter from rain and reflect sunlight.

Images © Studio Bouroullec.

Screens: Bouroullec Brothers’ Installation at Tel Aviv Museum of Art // The Bouroullec Brother’s 17 Screens installation incorporated interweaving sequences of modular elements made of ceramics, aluminium, glass, wooden sticks and textile, held together by unique developed joints and hanging systems. The resulting sensorial view of overlapping tactile elements, activated the space in a web of uniquely-made prototypes that manage to convey a human touch.

Read the full article about this project & see more images here.

Image © Balenciaga. Photo by Naho Kubota.

Balenciaga Boutique by Alexander Wang & Ryan Korban in New York City // Spread over 500sqm, the boutique features various intimate rooms where different segments of Balenciaga’s women’s collections is presented. A soaring curved skylight is the hero within the space, connecting the triple height ceiling to the marble tiled gridded floor. Stupendous.

Images courtesy of Johnston Marklee.

A Grid is a Grid is a Grid by Johnston Marklee at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago // To coincide with the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial, Johnston Marklee designed an intervention in the museum’s café space that refers to the predominant grid of the building’s original architect, Josef Paul Kleihues. The immersive installation further emphasises the proportions of the MCA’s grid system by applying a repeating square graphic on the café walls, as well as creating a gridded translucent ceiling plane that cuts the double height space in half, hinting at a more intimate scale.

Marie-Stella-Maris Flagship Store in Amsterdam // The distinctive cinema light box wall inside this luxury body-care flagship makes for an impressive retail display, referencing the Marie-Stella-Maris’s beautiful packaging.

Photo © Shengliang Su.

Ports 1961 Shanghai Flagship by UUFIE // Located at a major high-end commercial district in Shanghai, Toronto-based architecture firm UUfie has designed a new façade for Ports 1961 flagship store. The facade is composed of two types of glass blocks, sculpted into an arresting three-dimensional façade. In the evening, the view is icy and crisp, as the surface illuminates with embedded LED lights integrated into the joints of the masonry.

Read the full article about this project & see more images here.

Photography © Pedro Pegenaute.

AMORE Sulwhasoo Flagship Store in Seoul South Korea by Neri&Hu // Inspired by the concept of the lantern, Sulwhasoo Flagship Store by Neri&Hu features a delicate lattice of brass rod cages, linking the five storeys of the Asian skincare brand’s stunning retail space. The literal and mythological meaning of the lantern is highly significant throughout Asian history — it leads one through the dark, showing the way and indicating the beginning and end of a journey.

Read the full article about this project & see more images here.

Photography by Giorgos Sfakianakis.

Sweet Alchemy in Athens, Greece by Kois Associated Architects // Sweet Alchemy is a pastry shop designed for a celebrity pastry chef Stelios Parliaros. The dialogue between the refined detailing and the robust materials creates an incredible sense of tension and drama. Floor-to-ceiling bronze grid shelving gives the illusion of a golden cage, set agains the raw concrete walls and untreated timber floor. It’s sexy, sassy and delicious, but also gutsy and not too overdone. It just works. All of it. F*ck yeah.

Read the full article about this project & see more images here.

Photography by Peter Dixie for LOTAN Architectural Photography.

The Noodle Rack in Changsha, China by Lukstudio // Commissioned to conceive a contemporary identity for their first noodle restaurant, Lukstudio have celebrated the tradition of noodle making by reinterpreting a noodle rack made out of a box steel grid.

Photography by Dirk Weiblen & Olivier Hero Dressen.

Baoism Restaurant in Shanghai by Linehouse // Linehouse used the concept of stacked and directional lines to create two structures that frame the dining and the kitchen/ service area. Custom lights float in-between the structure at high level, creating a broken rhythm above. A datum line of bronze columns defines the lower half of the structure, with raw steel floating above. The two materials create a playful composition of rough vs. refined.

Photography by Chris Tubbs.

Southerden Patisserie by Eley Kishimoto and Studio MacLean // Graphic wallpaper by Eley Kishimoto creates the illusion of a three-dimensional grid across the walls and floors of this bakery in south-east London. Tricky!

Image courtesy of Camper.

Camper Shop in Milan by Kengo Kuma // Japanese architect Kengo Kuma has covered the interior of Camper’s Milan store in a grid of pale ply that stretches from floor to ceiling. The plywood grid formation divides the vertical surfaces into a series of grid openings for displaying shoes.

Photography © David Foessel.

Cafe Coutume Aoyama by CUT Architectures // At the crossing between a Parisian coffee shop and a laboratory, Café Coutume Aoyama offers a two sided space – the entrance side of the laboratory is set-up under a white grid ceiling with integrated LED panels lighting up the bar. The bar and cashier is composed of two tiled blocks referring to the chemistry boards. On the other side, the seating area is set under the hollow version of the bar ceiling: white lacquered frames in continuity with the ceiling grid of the lab area. The grid motif continues throughout the interior – on counters, table tops, floors etc.

Photo by Hugo Santos Silva.

Glam Space by Bruno Dias arquitecturas // Items are displayed on a series of timber structures inside this accessories store in Ansião, Portugal, designed by the local architect Bruno Lucas Dias.

Photography by Boys Play Nice.

Guest House in Prague by DDAANN & Mjolk Design // A timber framework is used to define each area in this guest house in Prague. With the exception of the bathroom, every amenity is located in the singe open space, including the kitchen and the sleeping area sitting towards the back of the room.

Photography by Takumi Ota.

Le Mistral Gift Shop in Tokyo by JP Architects // This Tokyo gift shop selling European sundries is defined by its white gridded pattern that delineates the store’s shelving units, furniture and door frames. The base colour is navy blue, the signature tone of the company, also providing a stark and refined backdrop. At the centre of the store, products can be placed on a table with markings designed to accommodate each size of display tray. The nature of the plan means that items can be presented in a variety of formats, with the possibility to rearrange the objects daily.

Images courtesy of Anna Wigandt.

Science Café & Library in Moldova by Anna Wigandt // Anna Wigandt has visualised a concept space that aims to stimulate and inspire people’s interest in science. Located in Chişinău, capital of Moldova, The Science Café and Library combines informal and work environments to promote independent learning. (And yes, these images are renderings! OMG – I know, they are getting so good these days, right?)

Read the full article about this project & see more images here.

Photography by Arjen Schmitz.

House of Smart by Maurice Mentjens // Design agency Maurice Mentjens referred to the convoluted structures of the brain when creating the interior for this boutique selling stimulants in Eindhoven. Inside the store, an irregular grid of slender grey timber beams – inspired by “the interconnectedness of the neural pathways of the brain” – covers the ceiling and walls.

Photography by Eugeni Pons.

EG10 Gallery at the Gran Palas Hotel in Spain by Francesc Rifé // Storage spaces, closets, display stands, containers, even cash registers are built in to the overall design with no visible demarcations or distinguishable characteristics, seamlessly interwoven into the infrastructure. A timber cabinet might function as a temporary storage compartment while doubling as a cash register. A backlit wall is outfitted with a steel structure upon which products can be hung, folded, or displayed.

Photo by Edward Hendricks, CI&A Photography.

Monoform Living Singapore by Produce Workshop // The central element in this Singapore apartment is based around a single continuous black metal wire structure which is part sculpture and part functional object. The monoform structure creates a continuous flow which ties the different spaces of the apartment together, fulfilling different functions in different spaces: as a bookshelf in the living room, wine rack and support for the dining table in the kitchen area and as a wardrobe in the dressing room.

Maison de Verre, Paris by Pierre Chareau + Bernard Bijvoet // Maison de Verre, translating as ‘House of Glass’ saw a pivotal shift in how architecture responded to its time. Built in 1932, it was the collective brainchild of French Interior Architect Pierre Chareau, Dutch Architect Bernard Bijvoet and French metal craftsman Louis Dalbet fusing as one. Their vision was a combination of a progressive-thinking client, unusual site constraints and a want for a style that juxtaposed the expected. The time of industrialisation surfaced numerous opportunities for the launch of a new, less decorative style.

Read the full article about this project & see more images here.

Images courtesy of Ippolito Fleitz.

Bolon Eyewear’s Flagship Store in Shanghai by Ippolito Fleitz // The design of this eyewear store centres around a clear, iconographic and instantly recognisable product presentation. White square panels, set at right angles to each other, create a strict, three-dimensional grid on the presentation walls. Each pair of glasses sits on its own mini stage.

Read the full article about this project & see more images here.

Images courtesy of nendo.

Nendo’s ‘Siam Discovery’ a Retail Complex in Bangkok // Japanese studio nendo has recently completed a complex redevelopment plan, covering both interior and exterior design, for five floors of “Siam Discovery” – large-scale retail complex in Bangkok, Thailand. Beginning from the entry atrium and throughout all the retail floors, the fitout seems to pay homage to a series of grids expressed in different materials and scales.

Read the full article about this project & see more images here.

Image courtesy of Jean-Pierre Raynaud.

La Maison de La Celle-Saint-Cloud House by Jean-Pierre Raynaud // In 1974 Jean Pierre Raynaud opened ‘La Maison de La Celle-Saint-Cloud’ in Paris, a house and art installation comprised entirely of white tiles. Sadly the house closed down in 1988 and was subsequently knocked down in 1993, the fragments of which, have since been exhibited in various installations including the CAPC, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Bordeaux, and on show in Tilburg.

Read the full article about this project & see more images here.

Concrete no-stop Furniture by Sophie Vaugarny for the Saint Etienne Biennale // Manufactured from the primary construction materials that comprise the built world around us, ‘no-stop furniture’ by designer Sophie Vaugarny is a project meant for interior spaces, yet built from the same elements of the dwelling that shelters it. Four wire frame seats are interconnected to the silhouette of a table, with concrete slabs serving as the surface of two chairs and corresponding tabletops.

The work seeks to offer a critique of housing estate homes, developed in mass amounts area by area, forcing their occupants to conform to the houses’ normality with standard furniture in standard rooms. Forming a continuous trellis, the pieces that comprise the installation are extruded to become part of the property itself, while the concrete makes it possible to reintroduce the functions necessary to use them.

Images courtesy of Peter Kogler.

Installation Art by Peter Kogler // For 30 years, Peter Kogler has been adorning floors, walls, and ceilings with hypnotising line and grid designs that seem to move and bend the space in unnatural ways. For his most recent work, a new exhibit at Zagreb Museum of Contemporary Art, Kogler once again takes an ordinary “box-shaped” space and transforms it into a “virtual maze” of time and space.

Photography by Tobias Titz.

On/Off Exhibition at the University of Melbourne, 2013 by Sibling // On/Off takes an extreme position on connectivity through the construction of a type of Faraday cage. Discovered by Michael Faraday in 1836 it is a structure covered by a conductive material that prevents electromagnetic charges reaching its interior. It is the ultimate disconnection space.

Within the mirror-clad monolith created by SIBLING sits a starkly warm space where smartphone reception is blocked. It is a gesture to physically connect people in a space with architecture creating a filter (or temporary firewall) between the individual and the world. The space of disconnection is situated within a red grid, which provides a flattened interior without hierarchy or end. This vastness is reflected by the mirror into infinity creating a neutral environment from which to begin social experiments in cold spots.

AR/GE Kunst Galerie Museum Bozen, 2004. Photo by Martin Pardatscher.

“Unlimited Space”, Gallery of Modern Art, Roudnice nad Labem, 2013.

The Essential Collection, Zürich, 2011. Photo by Romy Rodiek.

Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, 2012. Photo by Frank Kleinbach.

Geometric Rooms by Esther Stocker // Italian installation artist Esther Stocker creates stunning geometric environments that can often be explored by the viewer in an immersive way. The construction of each piece appears to follow a type of an equation, resulting in unusual linear patterns and planes that completely transform the physical pace.

images courtesy of Massimo Uberti.

Neon Light Installation by Massimo Uberti // Massimo Uberti is renowned for his gravity-defying sculptural light installations throughout the world. Simple forms, symmetry and pursuit of elegance characterise his work. Uberti paints, sculpts and recreates spaces by inserting elegant neon tubes that create secondary reality-altering 3D forms.

Read the full article about this project & see more images here.

RO/LU’s Uncertain Surface // RO/LU’s Uncertain Surface wire-mesh furniture collection was shown against a gridded backdrop at Design Miami 2014, creating an immersive grid-on-grid effect. RO/LU’s welded steel-mesh furniture pieces include a simple square table with four legs and smaller stools in the same shape. The collection also includes a standing figure, and a coffee table made in the shape of a person kneeling on all fours.

Images courtesy of Thea Djordjadze.

Sculptures by Thea Djordjadze // Georgian–born, Berlin-based sculptor, Thea Djordjadze, works in a number of mediums, although she is best known for her sculptures and installations. Combining traditional materials, such as plaster and timber, with more mundane elements, including foam, sponge, and linoleum, the artist creates minimalist environments that often pay homage to regular or abstracted grids. Djordjadze draws on her experience growing up in the formerly Communist-ruled Georgia in her work. “I see my practice as a reorganising of time,” she explains.

Photo by Ian Bartlett.

Grid System by Ying Chang // Royal College of Art graduate Ying Chang has created a modular system of furniture based on a two-dimensional grid system used for architectural drawings and graphic design. The landscape of gridded surfaces and translucent volumes offer a versatile alternative to the often expansive, static planes of archetypical furniture.

Image courtesy of Zanotta.

Quaderna Table by Superstudio for Zanotta // The Quaderna range was designed by Superstudio for Zanotta in 1971, and is considered one of the clearest expressions of the theories of the ‘Radical Design’ movement which was born in Italy in the late ’60s (a precursor to Memphis and Post-Modernism). A silk screen printed white plastic laminate coats an ingenious honey-combed core, allowing the piece to be both relatively light and strong. A true classic.