Apr 25, 2013 Author: Carrie Moore
The new Relish Burger Bistro, located in The Westin Seattle Hotel, serves up their "perfect burgers" on TorZo Tiikeri dining tables. The Seattle location is 6700 square feet, located just off the Westin lobby, and in the heart of downtown. The project is the interior design work of Kay Lang + Associates and Julie Brezina. Brezina, the lead project designer, commented, “I have specified Torzo products on a few projects over the past two and a half years...The product has a textural depth that creates an amazing look. As a LEED Green Associate I prefer to specify materials that are FSC or part of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative whenever possible.” In addition to Tiikeri, recycled lighting was used for sustainability. Brezina shared that everyone is thrilled with the space, from the hotel owners and management to the chef.
Tiikeri resin-infused panels and flooring are made from recycled and rapidly renewable sorghum straw. Like all TorZo products, Tiikeri has no added urea formaldehyde. It comes in 8 colors and can be used for both horizontal and vertical applications. Its durability makes it ideal for commercial applications. To learn more or request samples, contact us.
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Mar 26, 2013 Author: Carrie Moore
TorZo Tiikeri was used for end panels on bookshelves at the University Park Library project in University Park, TX. This 14,000 square foot library, located within a mixed-use development, is the design of Dewberry Architects. Dewberry sought specialty materials to accompany the prevalent carpet, tile, and cherry wood being used in the space. They landed on Tiikeri and end-grain mesquite, to elevate the design. Tiikeri was used for all end panels on bookshelves. Mesquite was used for a monumental stair. Mia Ovcina, from the Dewberry Project Team, commented, “Torzo has a very cool look and is a sustainable product. We were looking for a unique and sophisticated material to use in our end-panel design and Torzo was a no-brainer.” Ovcina went on to say "Generally, Dewberry strives to use sustainable products in all of our projects, even when the client does not identify a need to do so. Although there were no strict guidelines for sustainability with the library, the client was very enthusiastic about using sustainable design features. The library staff and patrons are thrilled with the finish out, especially the creative materials used. The Torzo end panels are commented on regularly; everyone wants to know what the material is." For more information or samples of TorZo Tiikeri, contact us.
CREDITS:
Project Team - Denelle C. Wrightson, Eddie Davis, Lenda Sturdivant, Mia Ovcina
Contractor - Rogers-O’Brien
Millworker - LibraryWorx, LDS Group
Client - City of University Park
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Feb 20, 2013 Author: Carrie Moore
After winding down a long, pastoral, gravel road in Pittsboro, NC, we arrived at the soaring modern home of musician, Michael Rank. At four floors, it’s the tallest house ever created by Tonic Design, the architect and builder. Its black aluminum and gray cement exterior cut through the country landscape and sky. Ranks’ favorite “colors” – black, gray, and white – canvas the exterior and interior.
Rank, who just released a new album, “In The Weeds”, with his band, Stag, also just completed construction on his new modern home, and used ECOfusion Color Fusion strand woven bamboo flooring from CaraGreen throughout. The ECOfusion bamboo flooring is a dark gray grounding color, called Morning Mist, with subtle flecks of blue and brown. The effect is created when ECOfusion uses its thru-color technology to dye the bamboo strands using pure plant-based pigments.
As Rank welcomed us into his home, the stark white walls stood in marked contrast to the dark floors. The colorless walls enable his extensive art collection – amassed through many years frequenting galleries while on tour – to be the focal point. “When art is always in the same place, your eye stops looking at it,” Rank said, explaining why he wanted picture ledges installed throughout the home. “Now I can change out the art as often as I like.” Rank still had a rack of unhung art in his library, so he should have plenty to move into fresh rotation.
The sheer height and open core of the home are remarkable. While some of the passages induced vertigo for me, the catwalks made of open grated steel and stairs without risers enable the intentional vertical design to be ever present. The concept of building up was Rank’s own. “I overcame my fear of heights when working construction and now I get perverse pleasure from it.” For those of us who have not yet overcome our fear of heights, Rank does have a back spiral staircase, which I took down. Rank interjected, “My son prefers this one, too.”
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Jan 29, 2013 Author: Carrie Moore
A newly opened Ashley Furniture HomeStore in Raleigh, NC, installed a Bark House feature wall in their showroom. They used Bark House's Poplar Bark Interior Shingles in 26" lengths with random widths. Their Visual Showroom Merchandiser told us that all of the art they had displayed on the wall had sold and he was in the midst of restyling it.
Bark House shingles come in three different grades: Standard, Premium, and Interior. The siding is Cradle to Cradle certified and made from bark obtained from sustainable foresters in the Appalachians harvesting yellow poplar for the plywood and furniture industries. Bark House obtains bark that would otherwise be discarded, or ground into low-grade mulch, and instead turn it into a unique and long-lasting finish material. These shingles can be used both inside and outside. Bark shingles can last up to 80 years and are maintenance free. Large Poplar panels are also available.
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Oct 14, 2012 Author: Carrie Moore
We recently visited the new James B. Hunt Jr. Library at NCSU to see Durat vanities that CaraGreen provided for the bathrooms. The building is the work of two architecture firms: Pearce, Brinkley, Cease + Lee and Snohetta. Upon arriving, we marveled at its modern architecture with a glass and metal exterior that stands out amid a campus of traditional brick buildings. More than the facade distinguishes this library though, which is designed to be sustainable (they’re tracking LEED Silver), technologically advanced, and to foster collaboration.
When you enter Hunt Library, there’s not a book in sight. Yet, it houses nearly two million tomes that can be delivered to you within minutes via bookBot. You may not even realize this anomaly because of the architectural eye candy that abounds. A brilliant yellow monumental staircase cascades through the lobby amidst a field of white. Just around the stairs, there’s a glass wall that overlooks a mass of steel boxes that span multiple floors. This is the heart of the library, the inner workings where those two million books reside. Roaming the library, the expert use of color, lighting, and sustainable practices impress.
Color is used powerfully. Large blocks of yellow, teal, purple, green, and red interrupt expanses of whites and neutrals. Intensity is achieved through placement, repetition and continuity. For instance, all monumental staircases in the building are yellow and all elevator cores are teal. The yellow stairs have yellow treads, risers, handrails, and sidewalls. Elevator cores are teal and when the elevators open, they are clad in glass that has been back-painted in the same teal giving a seamless color experience. Project Architect, Shann Rushing, from Pearce, Brinkley, Cease + Lee, shared with us that when they saw Durat, they immediately fell in love with it for its colors and shape ability. They also liked that Durat was a visual way to show their sustainability goals with its exposed recycled plastic chips. Durat vanities with integral oval sinks were ordered in both bright red and pale gray for all of the library’s bathrooms.
After color, the linear lighting used throughout the space, stands out as another brazen design element. It dashes along ceilings yielding energy and movement. And, in a more intimate reading room, long light rods hang from the ceiling, giving ambience. On the backside of the yellow stairwell in the lobby, LED lights zigzag up the shape of the stairs like racing stripes.
Sustainability is integral to the building’s design. Solar blades clad the exterior and allow natural light in while mitigating glare and heat gain. Lights are on sensors, which detect both daylight and occupancy to help reduce energy. LED lights are used. A Smart Mechanical System uses radiant heating and cooling versus forced air. All rainwater is collected and filtered through landscaped rain gardens to help minimize stormwater impact on the environment. The gardens are filled with indigenous plants. There’s a green roof and trellises for vines to cover select areas of the exterior. And finish materials contain natural and recycled materials, such as the Durat, Marmoleum floors, and pavers made from concrete and recycled brick.
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