Bubble Diagram

Karim Rashid

One of the contemporary designers whom I focused on his interior projects is Karim Rashid. He is a leading figure in the field of product and interior design, fashion, furniture, lighting and art. Through my research process I researched in depth his commercial interior design projects, specifically restaurant and café designs. What grabbed my attention towards his project are the use of organic forms and sensible use of color.

Barbounia Restaurant

Located in New York city

Barbounia restaurant has a contemporary, flexible and highly experiential interior. The space, forms, materials, colors and texture speak of our digital age. Karim Rahsid uses of tactile surfaces gives the occupant comfortable and engaging physical experience. The restaurant somehow similar to my idea of Oraluom café in the use of organic forms, colors and variety in seating areas.

What I like about this restaurant the casual atmosphere and the fact that it’s kind of divided in to two area’s, socializing area and a quite area. A wall with organic openings separates the two area’s. In the socializing area the seating are arranged in way that promots big groups to gather around and socialize. As you enter the restaurant the lunch bar is situated in the middle space. While on the left and right side the seating are designed in three different forms, the ones that are located on the ground level are rectangular dinning tables with dinning chairs and the seating with circular and organic forms located on a higher platform and they are adjacent to the windows. Whereas the seating in the quite area are spaced out, have privacy, and promotes smaller groups to gather around.

Jones Cafe

Located in Philadelphia

Jones café is a casual, inexpensive, contemporary dinner. Karim Rashid found the idea of revisiting the classic American diner very inspiring and immediately considered developing a wallpaper and plastic laminate motif for the diner surfaces. The space designed to be practical and more fluid where scale and color would vary from one surface to another. In the middle space of the café facing the entrance cantilevered bar is project outward, displaying the menu with scrolling LEDs on the top.

Oishii Janpanese Restaurant

Located in Moscow

Oishii is a high end sushi restaurant aimed at Moscow’s new young urban crowed. It’s a contemporary space with touches of vibrant colors. The space reflects Karim Rashid vision of creating digitally inspired technorganic interiors that cross and blur boundaries of new artificial and natural materials. The organic shapes can be observed through the ceiling, furniture and walls.

Gourmet Cafe

Located in Paris

Deutsche Bank Lounge

At the Art Cologne 2006

Karim Rashid’s intended to create a design for the Deutsche Bank VIP Lounge that would stand out from the usual design that consisted of white cubes. In his novel design, he combined bright colors and lounge comfort with a new ambience that opens up unusual perceptions. He created mirrored floors, organically shaped walls, and computer graphic network ornaments in pink and blue rooms. The rooms serve as a communicative meeting point and exhibition space for works from the Deutsche Bank Collection. The design and installations of the space reflects Deutsche Bank’s commitment to providing access to contemporary art in new ways.

Reference: http://www.karimrashid.com/

Sustainable Design ( 3 )

Natural Paint

Natural paint based on plant oils, milk or lime and it’s completely safe and free of toxic
chemicals:

• Solvent free paint


• Milk paints


• Clay paints: they are less durable but provide richer earth tones. You can use organic minerals and pigments to tint your own paint to the color you desire.
  

Companies I found online that offer natural paint:

• http://www.bioshieldpaint.com/
• http://www.aglaiapaint.com/
• http://www.eco-decorator.co.uk/
  
  

Environmetal Fabrics

ArcCom

ArcCom company offers a wide range of textiles for drapery, upholstery, panel, and wall covering applications. Custom products and designs available for any textile request by designers. ArcCom offers sustainable textiles and wall coverings woven from 100% recycled, recyclable polyester.

Upholstery Fabrics

Durable, stain, moisture and bacterial resistant

Reference: http://www.arc-com.com/

KnollTextiles

Knoll company is a leading textile company in the design industry. Knoll textiles are made out of 49% of recycled contents and 75% of natural fibers. Knoll has received Green guard certification on over 95% of their fabric line. Knoll offers drapery fabrics, upholstery fabrics, panel fabrics, and wall coverings.

Uphlostery Fabric

Panel Fabrics


Wall Covering

http://www.knoll.com/knoll_home.jsp

Angela Adams Sustainable Fabric Collection

Angela Aadams offers sustainable, colorful, contemporary style fabric collection that are made from 100% post-industrial recycled polyester.

http://www.angelaadams.com/architex.php

Design Matrix

Sustainable Design ( 2 )

Cork flooring

• Corkfloorings comes in in three different forms tiles, planks, and cork mosaic tiles.


• Cork granules, in various sizes and shapes, are shredded from the cork oak trees, and then mixed with a low-VOC and inert binder
  
• Used both commercially and residentially
  
• Cork is highly durable
  
• Comfortable, it's soft underfoot


• Sound and thermally insulating
  
• It is easy to maintain
  
  
  

Cork tiles

Cork planks

Wine cork mosaic suitable for commercial and wet environments

Reference: www.sustainablefloorings.com

Sustainable Design ( 1 )

Terms such as "green design" and "sustainable design " are being used more frequently these days. This is because people became aware of Green or sustainable designs and materials as a solution to protect the environment. Professional interior designers considered to be the ones that are more conscious to approach sustainable designs. Nowadays many interior designers express a preference for sustainable designs and materials produced sustainably.


Designers can provide sustainable designs by enhancing indoor air quality and environmentally preferred materials.

• Provide thermal comfort with a maximum degree of personal control over temperature and airflow.
• Avoid the use of materials high in pollutants, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or toxins.
• Use materials that do not contain CFCs
• Assure acoustic privacy and comfort through the use of sound absorbing material
• Create a high performance luminous environment through the careful integration of natural and artificial light sources .
• Use durable materials
• Try to find recycled material
• Use natural renewable resources
• Try to find materials obtained from local resources and manufacturers
• For wood or bio-based products, they employ "Sustainable Harvesting" practices
• Maximize the use of biodegradable Materails
  

Bamboo Plywood

Bamboo is made from quick growing bamboo stalks. It's unique and beautiful, and a great alternative to other hardwoods because it's much more stiffer and stroger than normal plywood. Some of it's characteristics anti-microbial, water resistant, eleganct, versatile, durable, renewable, stable and it's non toxic. Bamboo used for flooring, countertops, walls, furniture, molding, shelving, cabinetry, desks, and much more.

Bamboo Veneers

Bamboo Flooring

Their is several types of bamboo floorings:

Strandwoven bamboo flooring

"The most durable bamboo product. Strandwoven™ bamboo is considered the most stable natural wood known for flooring, and one of the hardest woods known. Strandwoven bamboo is made by compressing "strands" of the bamboo fibers under intense pressure, while using a heat-sensitive low-VOC adhesive. Strandwoven bamboo is extremely exotic and rich looking - through the "woven" process, the consistency found in the "traditional" bamboo styles is completely removed". ( http://www.sustainableflooring.com/)

Horizontal grain bamboo flooring

Vertical grain bamboo flooring

Cubed bamboo flooring

Through my research for bamboo as a material I became more conscious as a designer that so many unique creative designs can be produced using bamboo, for exapmle in NewYork city in a small restaurant called Tides, the designer shaped the ceiling of the restaurant by using 110,000 bamboo skewers composed togather to produce atopographical effect, evoking sea grass.

References:

http://interiordesign.lovetoknow.com/Green_Design
http://www.sustainableflooring.com/

Customer Questionnaire Results

A questionnaire for Zayed University Interior Design student, designing a café targeting students and employees seeking for a place to work in with a suitable environment provided by the interior space.

Questionnaire



1. How often you visit the café?

A. One time in the week ( 10 people )
B. Two times in the week ( 3 people )
C. Three times in the week ( 10 people )
D. More ( 6 people )

Most people choose B and C.

2. At what time of the day would you visit the café?

A. Mornings ( 6 people )
B. Afternoons (11 people )
C. Evenings ( 16 people )

Most people visit the cafes in the Evenings and Afternoons.

3. Maximum hours you spend in a café?

Their was a verity between the hours spent in cafes by customers. The majority would spend 2 to 4 hours in a café.

1 Hour ( 6 people )
2 Hours ( 11 people )
3 Hours ( 6 people )
4 Hours ( 8 people )
More ( 2 people )

4. Do you -------------- during the time you spend in a cafe?

A. Work ( 13 people )
B. Socialize ( 20 people )

People socialize more during the time spent in a café.

5. What sort of tasks you like to practice in a café?

A. Reading ( 9 people )
B. Writing ( 1 person)
C. Surfing on the internet ( 9 people )
D. Group discussions ( 16 people )
E. Other ( 4 people )

Most people visit cafés for group discussions, to read and surf on the internet.

6. What do you like about cafes in general?

Most of the answers were that atmosphere of the café that helps them change their moods.
Some people like cafes with semi private areas, quite areas, quick service.

7. What makes you visit a café again after your first experience?

The majority would visit a café again for the food and the ambiance, and some people mentioned details like lighting, and comfortable sofas.

8. What are your dislikes about a café in general?

The majority pointed out the crowd and the noise.
Some of the other answers were lack of private spaces, smoking area, space layout.

9. Do you prefer

A. Self serving ( 14 people )
B. Waitress serving you ( 14 people )

Equal in results

10. Do you like ------- space?

A. Open ( 19 people )
B. Closed ( 10 people )

Most people preferred open space.

11. Would you like to have more access to natural lighting?

A. Yes ( 21 person )
B. No ( 3 people )

Most people preferred to have more access to natural lighting.

12. What kind of music would you like to listen to during the time you spend in a café?

The majority favored Classical and Relaxing music.
Others favored Jazz, Piano, Buddha Bar.



13. What is your favorite color?

These are the different colors favored by people, purple, blue, yellow, white, brown, wood, green, maroon, light colors, red, beige, black, orange, pink.

14. Favorite café?

Different cafes favored by people Coffee Bean And Tea Leaf, Starbucks, Central Perk, Havanna, Coffee Bean, Coin Press Coffee, Caribou Coffee, Costa, Second Cup, Barista, Mug And Bean.

15. Favorite Restaurant?

Restaurants favored by people Italian Restaurants, Chain of restaurants in Al Marina, Noodles House, Beilla, Dim Sum, Janpengo, Karam Beirut, Goodies, Chilli’s, The Meat Company, Friday’s, Johnny Rockets, Tohnny Carrions.

16. What are your interests?

Different type of interests, Travel, art, photography, surfing on the internet, music, shopping, fashion, socializing, reading, writing, graphics, drawings, designing, technology and development, sports.

Most people are interested in socializing, reading, art, shopping and sports.