Projects

Y Interact Office, NY NY

2008-02-06T15:30:52Z

Y Interact, a website and print design studio, asked us to delineate different zones within the office which includes a main work area, meeting room, storage space and display system.

]]> We proposed a thermo-formed translucent wall containing a flat panel display that rotates 180 degrees. The digital panel can be displayed in the office or rotated to appear in the meeting room.

In the main workspace, we designed a simple aluminum horizontal frame and color zones that allow mounted work samples to be displayed.

Design and Fabrication: Lauren Crahan, John Hartmann, Brian Briggs

Architecture Inside/Out Exhibition, New York NY

2007-09-20T00:26:01Z

The concept of the exhibition was to relate similar themes, color & light, materiality, inner worlds, etc., inherent in the different projects by cutting view channels which allowed one to see an overlap of projects. On view from 19 September - 8 December 2007 at the Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place, NY NY.

]]>
CURATORIAL TEXT: Architecture Inside/Out demonstrates the unfolding of space by exposing architectural interiors through a range of typologies with an inward focus, including libraries, hotels, retail and work spaces. This exhibition challenges conventional categories and explores alternative typologies. The design of interiors has evolved into a complex and nuanced problem and addresses circulation patterns, use and adjacencies, sociologies of hierarchy and networks, and sustainability. The fully integrated interior considers light, color and materiality, but also new ways of programming space, the latest technological advances, innovative methods of construction and green practices.

Traditional representations such as section, plan and elevation, in addition to models and details will provide a lens to reveal inherent characteristics of featured interiors, exposing materials, structure and spatial relationships. Architecture Inside/Out takes the familiar architectural conventions and places them parallel to alternative ways of seeing and revealing. When these alternative methods of understanding space are applied to typologies, they provide views of the interior that shed new light on familiar places.

Curator: Lois Weinthal, Director of Interior Design, Parsons
Graphic Design: Language Arts
Exhibition Fabrication: Certified Construction

Exhibition Design: Lauren Crahan, John Hartmann, Brian Briggs

The Park at the Center of the World Exhibition, NYC

2007-09-04T15:29:49Z

The exhibition, located on both Governors Island and the Center for Architecture in Manhattan, used similar devices to tie the spaces together. The design used a blue line as representative as a datum, waterline and horizon.

]]>

The edges of extruded display boxes are "wrapped" with transparent blue Plexiglas to represent water and sky. These items tried to reinforce thematically the content but not overpower it. The show “The Park at the Center of the World: Five Visions for Governors Island” features five landscape architecture and architecture teams selected to present their compelling design visions for the future open spaces on Governors Island, the 172 acre Island off the tip of Manhattan.

May 31 - August 25, 2007 - Center for Architecture
June 2 - September 2, 2007 - Governors Island

Exhibition Website: park-centeroftheworld.org
Graphic Design: WSDIA | WeShouldDoItAll
Photography: floto+warner

Design / Fabrication: Lauren Crahan, John Hartmann
Assistants: Jake Ewert, Jackie Saccoccio, Gia Wolff, Corey Yurkovich

Shrinking Cities Exhibition, New York NY

2006-12-01T19:31:22Z

A traveling exhibit featuring artists, architects, filmmakers, and journalists who examined the phenomenon of urban decline within changing urban landscapes.

]]> Four focus cities, Detroit, Halle/Leipzig (Germany), Manchester/Liverpool (Britain), and Ivanovo (Russia) were explored by artists and architects examining the phenomenon of urban decline. Projects included a worldwide study of urban depopulation, the change of urban landscapes, everyday practices and political conflicts under decline. The collected observations were displayed at the Van Alen Institute which hosted part one of the exhibition, “Shrinking Cities: International Research.” Pratt Institute, Manhattan Gallery hosted part two, “Shrinking Cities: Interventions.”

Van Alen Institute, New York NY

We divided the Van Alen Institute gallery into two spaces with a narrow connector which housed the Urban Scan videos. The front space was filled with illuminated cylinders displaying maps and data. Hung at eye level, the cylinders enveloped the gallery viewer into a space where boundaries receded and information intensified.

We lined the walls of both galleries with an industrial white mesh, similar to those used on construction and demolition sites. Openings were cut to reveal the wall where the art was hung and videos were projected. The mesh made new divisions within both galleries, and conversely created connections through the scrim's gridded openings. It became a skin through which the information and images were digested, visually tying one project to the next.

Shrinking Cities, Pratt Institute, Manhattan Gallery, New York NY

Design / Fabrication: Lauren Crahan, John Hatrmann, Tighe Lanning, Corey Yurkovich
Assistants: Lucky DeBellevue, Darren Guyer

Fifth Ave Sound Studio, Brooklyn NY

2006-08-28T17:42:53Z

A sound studio surrounded by an air gap was added to renovations made in this Brooklyn residence. When music is produced, the air gap contains the sound.

]]> Access is gained from the living space by exiting onto the roof deck and descending a spiral stair to ground level where the sound studio is partially recessed under the living space. The desire to extinguish sound transference while allowing light to enter was achieved by correlating windows on either sides of the air gap.

Design / Windowsill Fabrication: Lauren Crahan, John Hartmann, Corey Yurkovich

Pearl Street Apartment, New York NY

2006-07-03T23:05:09Z

The goal was to have the apartment utilities unfold into the space and then appear as a large plywood box when closed.

]]> The client's desire tapped into a lifestyle commonly found in New York. He wanted a fully operational kitchen in the rare instance when he cooks, and a kitchen that would disappear in order to have a larger and unencumbered space.

The door pivot is reminiscent of a Delorean automobile, and the large door hinges in two parts in order to reveal all the necessary appliances: range, refrigerator, sink, dishwasher, and microwave.

We worked closely with the client to develop this unusual and particular solution, and all the cabinet work was produced in our studio and delivered to the jobsite, creating minimum distribution to the apartment.

Design / Fabrication: Lauren Crahan, John Hartmann, Corey Yurkovich
Photography: Christopher Payne

DOT DOT DOT Beaux Arts Ball Installation, New York NY

2006-05-20T21:30:03Z

This installation for The Architectural League of New York was inspired by the city and building’s structure which give measure and scale to space. Navigable paths are determined by the perspectival alignment of points defining lines or edges.

]]>

10,000sf of abandoned space was filled with a 12” x 12” grid of suspended, glowing orange beads hung on string. The beads were set at a constant height, approximately eye level, to create an atmospheric ambiance. Within the grid of string, zones were carved out to allow areas of occupation and gathering. The strings bounced and swayed as people moved through them; black light caused the beads and the myriad congregation of dot-themed outfits to glow.

Design / Fabrication: Lauren Crahan, John Hartmann
Assistants: Michell J. Cardona, Terri Chiao, Minna Colakis, Molly Cronin, Milan Dale, Lucky DeBellevue, Anne Guiney, Teri Harris, Rebecca Harting, Jill Jerabek, Jaffer Kolb, Ersela Kripa, Karen Kubey, Nicholas McDermott, Kimberley Mok, Stephen Mueller, Sara Murado, Rachel Reese, Polyanna Rhee, David Riedel, Meredith Sattler, Quang Truong, Tom Wu, Andrew Yang, Elefteria Zagoreos

Warren Street Bathroom, Brooklyn NY

2006-01-12T03:04:12Z

A bathroom renovation directs attention to spaces beyond the bathroom. Variations in transparency, mirrors, and reflections were used to shift the view inward and outward at given points inside the bathroom.

]]>

Programmatic blocks house the bathtub and shower, and the vanity, passage space, and toilet are stacked adjacent to one another. Between them the properties of glass are explored and used to unify the spaces within the residence, while still retaining privacy. One-way mirrors, sanded glass, and silver sandwiched between layers of glass are used deliberately to allow views outward while refusing views inward.

Design / Cabinet Fabrication: Lauren Crahan, John Hartmann, Corey Yurkovich

SIP Fine Wine, Brooklyn NY

2005-12-03T18:48:46Z

Custom shelving wraps two walls of the store. Wine bottle necks are placed into the perforated back of the shelving resting at an angle to keep the cork wet.

]]>

SIP Fine Wine is located in the newly chic neighborhood of Park Slope's Fifth Avenue. The warm, minimal interior allows over 500 different labels to be viewed, and the each unit within the shelving can hold one case vertically or in the neck-balancing horizontal configuration.

We worked with a woodworker and contractor to build SIP's space.

Design: Lauren Crahan, John Hartmann, Andrei Pogney

Spiral Installation, Romanian Institute, Rome Italy

2005-11-01T21:46:54Z

String was used to extenuate existing architectural geometries.

]]> With an interest in the inherent qualities of stairwell spaces, I wanted to clarify and address the action of peering into the layered wrapped vertical space of the stair. Utilizing string, a simple and lightweight material, the seeming volumetric drawing reveals the complexities of geometric conditions in everyday life. Spiral is an instrument which makes ephemeral space legible, allowing one to occupy with the mind the spaces that cannot be occupied by the body.

Design / Fabrication: John Hartmann, Lauren Crahan
Assistant: Gia Wolff

Earth Cinch

2005-07-01T21:38:21Z

Made with corn-based fabric, quilted pockets contain soil to grow vegetation.

]]> The stitched pockets can be filled with organic matter, creating a vertical or horizontal planting surface. As the roots take over, the Ingeo fabric biodegrades and the plants remain.

Imagine the sensual qualities of lying on a grassy hill, but now afforded on a urban rooftop. Or consider Earth Cinch as a cover for derelict parking lots of abandoned buildings, replacing blight with pre-packed green growth.

The Ingeo fabric, by Designtex, is a glittery, sheer material, uncharacteristically subtle as a geotextile. Made from 100% corn, it is sustainable yet remarkably strong.

We decided to use the shimmering Ingeo with organic matter because this delicate-looking material could provide a sturdy frame for the vegetation that will ultimately prevail.

Design / Fabrication: Lauren Crahan, John Hartmann, Corey Yurkovich

Artisan Office, New York NY

2005-06-23T16:54:24Z

Artisan Inc. contacted Freecell a second time to help develop their second New York office. The space offered advantages the first did not, notably windows and light on two adjacent sides of a square plan.

]]>

Our idea was to provide light, sound privacy, and varying degrees of visual privacy using glass that was etched at a specific datum line. The space has qualities of reflectivity and transparency.

The clients were happy to have private meeting rooms and offices without compromising natural daylight. We worked with one of our preferred contractors to realize this project.

Design / Fabrication: Lauren Crahan, John Hartmann, Andrei Pogany, Corey Yurkovich

Fifth Ave Renovation, Brooklyn NY

2005-06-06T11:00:00Z

Two rookies ventured to purchase and renovate a 90-year brownstone that had been unoccupied for over 10 years. The clients asked us to push the limits of the building by extending it outward and upward. They required that the building house two residential spaces, one commercial space, and a private sound studio.

]]>

The upper apartment received a rooftop addition reaching upwards with a sky-lit loft and roof deck. This addition fights the horizontality of the existing space and creates a rich volume open to the sky. Because it is angled away from the street, it creates more privacy while allowing light to penetrate deep within the space. The outward addition reaches into the backyard on the ground level, creating a physically separate sound studio for the middle apartment occupant while also giving the middle floor an expansive deck. In a unique condition, each addition is hidden since the top floor is canted away from the street, and the ground floor studio is in the rear. Therefore, the building appears unchanged, maintaining its original context.

Design: Lauren Crahan, John Hartmann, Corey Yurkovich

NYC Velo, New York NY

2005-05-16T16:51:17Z

Designed and constructed on a tight schedule, the goal was to balance maximized display with visual simplicity.

]]>

Three diverging paths disseminate from the entry of NYC Velo's door leading to the cyclist’s lounge and repair shop in the rear of the store. The paths rise from the floor to reveal merchandise shelves below.

The solution was in the development and fabrication of bent steel rod clothing display. One sample of each product is displayed with sized stock folded on shelving below.

NYC Velo Website
Design / Steel Fabrication: Lauren Crahan, John Hartmann, Andrei Pogany, Corey Yurkovich

Fifth Ave Kitchen & Bath, Brooklyn NY

2005-05-14T15:41:18Z

The kitchen responds to site, use, and the aesthetic desire for physical and material durability. Simplicity in organizing programmatic use allows the inventions of overhead refrigerators and integral dish rack / cabinet supports.

]]>

The use of concrete in this project continues the idea of a simple and durable cast surface. Cast as self supporting pieces, the countertops touch the steel boxes underneath only at the ends. The steel boxes frame and support the appliances like the overhead refrigerators, supported only lightly by the continuous dish rack. The steel frames also house the cabinetry in the same fashion as the appliances- the cabinetry is not stacked or load bearing; it is inserted into the steel frames later in the construction process. Below the refrigerators, panel lights fill the gap above the compressors.

In this bathroom renovation the viewer experiences a solid, durable vanity as something slender and light.

This bathroom vanity, countertop, and sink are realized as one monolithic element. The physical weight of the concrete is made visually weightless through both cantilever and scale, achieved by recessing the steel and the concrete into the wall. The appearance of framework articulated as trim disguises the mass of the cabinet. The quality of light can be controlled by using the overhead spotlight, or the lightbox within the backsplash, or both.

Design / Fabrication: Lauren Crahan, John Hartmann, Corey Yurkovich, Andrei Pogany