January 31, 2011
When FRCH landed the tasty design gig to partner with A&W Canada, I was tickled with excitement at the opportunity to combine two of my more overt passions: delicious burgers and environmental design! Read more of this post
October 28, 2010
In architecture today, Sustainable, Green Building, and LEED are the catchphrases that signify that you or your company “gets it” and has the street credibility to woo a new client. While no one will argue that being wasteful is the way of the future, our clients have come to demand that we critically evaluate anything that costs money. And Green costs money. So what does Green building mean when you pull back from the shelter magazines and HGTV promotions?
A few weeks back, I attended a presentation for Italian Porcelain tile. The representative went through all the usual technical and performance issues, and then came to the part, nowadays the inevitable part, of the conversation that all reps have to include in their presentations:
“And we would like you to know that our product is Very Green. Nothing is more sustainable than a product that comes from the earth, and lasts a lifetime!”
True statement, but let’s think about this for a minute. First off, we use very little extraterrestrial material in our building products, so of the earth can best be described as relative. Secondly, last time I checked, there is a tremendous amount of energy necessary to fire these tiles, and that should be accounted for somewhere. Last, but certainly not least, once these tiles are created 3000 miles away, they must be crated and shipped to our project site.
The real question here is what does this product, or any product, do for the bottom line? Tile is durable, so that’s a plus. Does it help get a LEED certificate on the wall? Maybe, but it’s a very small part of that. Do your guests know that its “Green”? Probably not. Does using this product make the building better than using some other product? Maybe.
When you get down to it, what does make a Green Building? That answer is easy: If it can fulfill its use for a long period of time and be cost effective to operate, you pretty much are Green. Good mechanical systems, a solid exterior envelope, and a form that can be easily adapted to changing needs will trump certificates and snappy materials. Why? Because it saves money. And that’s the green that will never go out of style.
The FRCH offices are as good example of Green building. Take a building built over 100 years ago, put in new mechanical systems, double glazed windows, and refit for use for another 100 years. Efficient, Effective, and affordable.
October 19, 2010 1 Comment
I am psyched to share some of the first photographs we have received from Harley-Davidson that show our latest collaboration with H-D’s Retail Environment Group. Read more of this post
February 3, 2009
Oracle Jr must apologize for being absent from The Lab for this amount of time. She was stricken with an ailment that required time away from the blog and all other things work-related. But now we’re back and geared up to continue to share the latest in materials, resources and inspirations to the masses!
December 24, 2008 2 Comments
The Lab will be taking a wee vacation while the Mothership is closed for the holidays. Will be back to posting on January 5th. Have an excellent holiday season and will see you in 2009.
Enjoy the video holiday card above made by FRCHs Media Design Group. They do amazing stuff. (Oracle Jr. is the short person in the front row!)
December 10, 2008
Oracle Jr. received an email from Silver Hill Atelier (who noticed the mothership being in Interior Design Magazine this month) outlining their recent projects and capabilities.
Silver Hill Atelier is a studio specializing in custom decorative artworks, murals, sculpture, and faux finishes. They do both large and small scale projects in all markets of design.
Pictured above is a sculpture Silver Hill Atelier produced for Nobu 57 in which they used 100,000 sea urchin spines to create the undulated effect. Read more about this specific project and the process of making this amazing piece here.
Check out more of Silver Hill’s work here.
November 26, 2008
The Lab will be off for a few days as we celebrate Thanksgiving with our friends and family.
AND, to participate in all the Day-After-Thanksgiving shopping fun!
We’ll be back with the coolest new resources and technology on December 1st! In the meantime, check out our parent site for FRCH Design Worldwide!
November 26, 2008
MicroLite by KMDI is a Class A fire-rated fully encapsulated material which can be used for architectural elements, soffits, fascias and more.
MicroLite can be painted or covered with wall paper, wood veneers, laminates, metals and more.
The installation photo shown is a design from us, FRCH Design Worldwide, for Helzberg Diamonds. By using MicroLite for the upper wall panels and awnings, the construction and design manager for Helzberg said that he would be able to shorten his construction time by one week.
See more examples at KMDI’s website.
November 18, 2008
The use of printing on different substrates has been a great new trend for designers.
Short article here on how this new technology is being used in retail and graphic design.
September 23, 2008
The Lab apologizes for being lax in posting this past week. Here in Cincinnati, we got hit with a double whammy. First, it was Hurricane Ike traveling north and leaving a giant windstorm and mess in its wake. Several days without power, the neighbor’s tree on Oracle Jr.’s house, and then came the flu.
Anyways, back at it and hitting you with a flurry of posts!
(That’s Oracle Jr.’s house pictured. It’s the cute taupe one with the tree in top of it.)
