Wednesday, January 20, 2010

eco FLATS


eco FLATS is a mixed-use retail and housing development that will serve as a new model for sustainability and affordability in urban living.  eco FLATS is a partnership co-owned by Jean Pierre Veillet and Doug Shapiro, with architectural design generously provided by the supremely creative folks of works partnership architecture.

Press is rolling in for this hyper-ecologically-minded new mixed-use development on North Williams Avenue:

GreenLandLady Elizabeth Madrigal's Article February 23, 2010
Urban Works Real Estate blog January 10, 2010 
Daily Journal of Commerce Article June 3, 2009
Portland Architecture Review December 11, 2009.
Oregonian Article January 28, 2010

KEETSA

3.10.2010 Keetsa Mattresses at the Luxurious New James Hotel in Soho!!
According to the Luxury Travel Advisor blog, Keetsa will be outfitting the new James Hotel with their mattresses!  This marks the first time Keetsa has ever supplied a hotel with their product.  Congratulations Keetsa, may this be the first in a long line of hotel partnerships!

Interested in reading more?  Read the blog here.

3.4.2010 Press
DesignMilk has posted a blog about the Keetsa store!  See it here

Mike Thelin of Portland Monthly writes about pop-up stores here

2.4.2010 Finished!
 
welcome to the neighborhood!

keetsa

 
reclaimed headboards

repurposed steel pipe frames

 
nathan and amy install the cash wrap logo

tea area



curtains, genius bars, and tea area


 
from the front door


the nest





2.2.2010
almost finished!

 
nick at the genius bar

 
tea table




1.31.2010
the tea table is almost done!

the nest gets its first visitor

nest detail

bright idea




1.30.2010
 logo mock-up

 
eco-felt peers through the grass

 eco-felt table legs

nathan works on the genius bar


 1.29.2010
 
 buttons we made out of sticks

 
curtains


1.27.2010
cable wheel

headboards

open up

 
mr. wood

1.26.2010

jp works on the nest

the chair bases come together

headboards of reclaimed wood 

taking care of business in the nest...

thinking green


1.19.2010

Keetsa comes to SoHo!

An environmentally friendly mattress company, Keetsa contacted Siteworks after seeing Jean Pierre's work at the pop-up store nau in SoHo.  They liked the way he repurposed found materials into sculptural and functional pieces of art.  In fact, Keetsa is going into the same location where nau's pop-up store was located.  How's that for re-use?

In addition to our blog, feel free to view Keetsa's blog, which will be updated throughout the process of opening their showroom in NYC.

When Jean Pierre began the nau store, he was met with a blank canvas.  He scoured the City's waste stream in search of materials to re-purpose, materials that were already local and begging to be used.  The idea was that the materials JP brought into the store would be re-purposed yet again by the next tenant of the space. 

Now, with Keetsa, we are met not with a blank canvas, but a space ripe with materials for re-use.  Siteworks' design|build process reflects an acutely sustainable outlook.  Minimize the amount of new materials brought into the space; minimize waste; maximize the use of existing materials; and with these existing materials, creatively transform what was one brand identity into a completely different brand.

We are shifting from a culture which creates excessive waste to one which uses what may have previously been considered waste to a purposeful and creative end. 

For example,

clothing rack at nau

mattress display frames at keetsa

In order to accommodate keetsa's program, we needed to modify the display area.  There's always a little bit of demo...but why would we send this material to the dump when we can use it? 

i think we found our chair bases!

perfectly useful leather chairs JP found in the waste stream!

This project constitutes an exploration and experiment in retail design.

Can we design a store that many different brands can use, with a kit of parts that would come with the space, therefore extending the life cycle of the materials?  What is common?  What is needed?  What are the basic elements of a store that can always remain?  What makes a store brand specific and its own?  What makes design great?

From JP, "I would like to make a store that as a working example of this concept would be open for one year.  In that year I would have 12 different Brands in the store.  It would be less about selling things at that point but to see if we could create a store with a kit of parts and place well known brands into it with a small and subtle amount of new materials each time, while convincingly creating that brand each time in that space.    Thus making a model of a changeable environment that once created has a much longer life cycle and reduces our consumer waste enormously."


construction tape = art


We're embracing the idea of transformation.  The idea that the life of a thing does not end permanently, it takes on new form; old becomes new.  Stay tuned to watch nau become keetsa!




nau

It was shortlived, but that was the idea.  The nau pop-up store in SoHo, NYC was open long enough to attract some major buzz!  Check out what the New York Times had to say about Jean Pierre's work at nau:

New York Times Article: "Fresh Idea From Recycle Bin"




And then the folks at coolhunting got word...


jp navigates his way through the waste stream

discusses Siteworks' involvement in the pop-up store trend

GENOA

Siteworks recently completed Genoa Restaurant and it's attached cafe Accanto, located in Southeast Portland, on Belmont Avenue.  Design was a collaboration between Siteworks, works partnership architecture, and fix studio.

Read the Portland Architecture review here.




 
images by john valls