Blog 3
-Aesop in Bleecker street has very interesting materials used to keep the the atmosphere and the environment needed for the shop. The floor is made out of leather tiles, It feels hollow when tapped, but it also feels a bit soft when you step on it. It is very unconventional, because it is a 1/4″ thick leather with nails on the corners to keep it from peeling. But it is still very flexible in the corners. Leather is a very absorbing material, so when it is cleaned you can see the colors of the leather changing in the corner. The floor is very deceiving as you feel like it is regular tiles just losing its color, however you don’t know it is leather until you actually touch it. The leather flooring is very inked with the philosophy behind the products, and goes well with the smell presented in the store.
-Another very special material in Aesop is the use of wood in the shop. It has Plywood shelves, and we can tell the type of wood because you can always see the different layers of ply when it is cut. It has many very thin layers of ply which makes the wood a lot stronger and sturdier, however it is also a lot heavier. Therefore the more layers the more stable it is. This is because they are glued then laminated together with a binder. The binder makes it strife and stable. However the binder adds weight to the wood. There are triangular pieces cut used to connect to the wooden wall where it is placed flush to the surface. You can see different finger oil marks on the surface of the shelves which shows you that the surface has been sanded down but there is not finish on it. The color of any wood usually changes as it absorbs the finish.
-There is a carpet in Aesop Bleecker that uses coconut hair as a mat. They made it into a textile and cut it down to make it into a rug. You can see that it picks up moisture. It is not a synthetic material. And is sensitive to moisture. Very natural. I think that it is not very aesthetically pleasing as it is a bit messy as well as picks up dust and moisture, however it is very natural and sustainable as it is not synthetic. But it is a good slip resistant so it is a safe material to have. In total the store has a philosophy behind it where the materials, lighting and smell are all incorporated into the design of the store.
-There is a beautiful sink in Aesop made out of a brass which is a metal that increases in strength when it is manipulated like folding or rolling. It functions very well in tension apposed to concrete. Rolling it gives it a shape which is very Ridged. Next to it is a bent steel shelf the finish makes it look like brass. It has a similar finish to brass and bronze. You can chemically alter the finish of metals. It is a chemical process that changes the metal. Causes it to change color. So that the steel can look like brass or bronze. The sink is brass that’s why they made it similar. You can see a discoloration of the shelves. when you look at the edges and the body of the pieces. It is a bent steel shelf that has a chemical finish. It is also sanded down naturally. You can see brush marks where the light hits it. And the chemical finish is applied after that.
Brass sink
Steel shelf
-Bobst library has very interesting design features. The whole building is red sandstone. With a hammered finish. Cut straight not Cory cut then the finish was hammered. They shoot it with large pieces of stone that they hit it with which makes it irregular surface. The stone has not been clef cut which means it is irregularly cut, however it is cut straight and perfect but instead of sanding it down, they decided to hammer it to create a larger effect. The stone is not polished.
-The floor at Bobst has a very intricate marble tiling. The geometries are interesting there are 3 different types of marble which are 3 different colors but cut in the exact same shape just layed out against each other. I appreciate that it’s complex but very simple because it creates an interesting effect by using different colored marbles.
-The building was actually designed in 1979 with the whole idea of having a panoramic view of the building where you can have an experience of the whole space. However in 2008 they designed the screen due to 3 suicides so they made the perforated screen. It is designed to look like a 70s building even though it was newly renovated. The screen was a very interesting addition which people have several different views about. The screen was anodized metal with a brassy matt finish. With anodized aluminum you can change the color to either gold or silver or a rose gold color, the most common is silver. The screen was designed as a digital fabrication. It could’ve been done using a laser cutter because aluminum metal is really soft so its easy to cut. The intricate shapes In the past would have been steel and welded together to create the shape. A lot of work it would have been a larger section of aluminum of 3/4″ to 1.5″ big shapes and then milled. There are clip systems holding it to the rail and the floor. All the clips are screwed to the vertical rails. And are fastened to the floor. If you look across you can see plates fastened to the verticals and there’s a large plate of aluminum that used a laser cut because the cuts are so sharp, it is about 1/4″ thick sheet of aluminum and it is a perfectly clear cut. In terms of the pattern it is a “digital waterfall” pixilating falling water which i believe adds a beautiful effect. It is both contemporary and old. It has a 70s character which makes it very beautiful. Very effective and you still get a panorama of the the space.
-Aesop University place has the exact same philosophy background as the store in Bleecker, however there were some alternatives. The whole background was felt rather than wood so that the the store can absorb the sound, and it can stay quiet to feel like a natural environment. The felt is laminated to the wood. Felt is an animal textile because it is wool and wool comes from sheep. Another difference it haas is that the floor was made out of terrazzo rather than leather tiles. This is completely different as the leather tiles are there to help with the sound and give a natural environment feeling. However the concrete floor is just really hard expensive concrete. Therefore the designer used the felt to over power that concrete. They used very small stones so that the concentration of concrete to stone is a lot more compact. There is more concrete than stone so you can begin to see the cracks in the floor. There are then Steel rods to hold up the wood but it is threaded (this is opposed to the triangular plywood drilled flush into the walls on Bleecker). The rods have ribs in it. They have teeth. So it can grab onto the material. You would use it when you wanna use it with other hardware. You thread it through other materials cause it holds on very tightly. The wood has a different finish than the store in Bleecker it is glossy and shinier and softer. The felt and all the plywood on the walls is doing a good job acoustically. it absorbs all the sounds. In my opinion I prefer the Aesop in University place because i feel like the store is a lot more comfortable, the felt make it feel very homey, and i think i prefer the atmosphere more than the one on Bleecker. Because i feel like it is too much wood and it gets overwhelming after a while.
Felt wall
Terrazzo floor
Metal rods with teeth
