Darlene Byrne
Trespa
Trespa International, B.V. has launched a new and exciting program in 2010, the Architecture & Design Program. As a part of this program, Trespa hosts global workshop where we solicit the ideas and feedback of today’s top designers. During …
What is the role of your materials and products in the development of today’s leading architectural ideas?
Trespa International, B.V. has launched a new and exciting program in 2010, the Architecture & Design Program. As a part of this program, Trespa hosts global workshop where we solicit the ideas and feedback of today’s top designers. During these workshops we discuss the design and development of sustainable rain screen systems and product/material innovations that Trespa is currently working on. Our goal is threefold: Discover new ideas for product innovation, gain top professional feedback on product innovations in process and confirm that current developments and trends in architecture and design are recognized and desired by the market. To date we have held workshops in New York, San Francisco, Denver, Orlando, London, Barcelona, Eindhoven, Paris and Mexico City. Trespa continuously works to build, improve and maintain our high-end architectural brand using trends in contemporary architecture as a basis for development of facade concepts and products.
What are the latest innovative developments that you are working on?
As part of our Perspectives Platform, launched in 2005, Trespa continues to develop facade concepts based on the themes of Depth, Rhythm and Character. Trespa draws its inspiration from areas such as the arts, fashion, design and nature to create diverse, exciting and enduring architectural designs. Trespa will be unveiling its 2011 concepts at exhibitions worldwide, including the 2011 AIA Expo in New Orleans, LA. For more information about our current Perspectives Concepts visit http://perspectives.trespa.com/us
How can vendors and material developers push the boundaries of what is possible in advancing innovative design and architecture?
By becoming an integral part of the A&D community via our workshops and the various programs we run at our New York Design Centre, we have been able to focus on the needs, requirements, challenges and opportunities facing architects today. With this interaction we can react to the needs of the market and funnel this direct input to our R&D Department and begin real time product and system development to meet these needs. Vendors and material developers need to look beyond the products and/or systems they currently sell into the market in order to push the boundaries of what is possible. By looking to the market for feedback on trends and architectural movements vendors will be able to create new innovative materials for the next generation of designers.
Explain how your product or material was used in and contributed to the success of a particular project?
The East Harlem School is an independent, non-profit, year-round middle school that provides scholarships for low-income families in Harlem. Regarding the building design, Ivan Hageman, Co-Founder and Head of School, had a defined vision. He wanted a design that possessed a clean austerity that would be both calming and expressive of the schools energy and determination. To achieve this vision, the design firm Peter Gluck and Partners created a fabric like weave of varying colors and degrees of reflectivity to convey both the serious work of learning, studying and discipline that takes place in the building as well as the creative and energetic character of the young students. Stacie Wong, project architect, chose Trespa Meteon® rain screen cladding to realize this vision. Wong selected Trespa panels due to the fact that Trespa panels are one of the few products available in the market that have the bright white, matte black, reflective aluminum and gradations of grey that are necessary to make a composition both sophisticated and playful. As a result of Trespa’s product offerings, approximately 7700 square feet of Trespa Meteon was installed on this project. This project has gone on to win various design awards including a K-12 Educational Facilities Design Award for Design Excellence for the Boston Society of Architects.
