The Globus Design Associates Blog

Happy Holidays

Happy Design Holidays

It's that time of year when many of us feel like

Photo: Suzan Globus

Thanks to sustainable designer  Emily Piloton's recent post, University of San Francisco's Gleeson Library  may have set the bar for libraries with their  green tree made from reference books.

If you do find some time to put your feet up to reflect upon the year and plan for the year ahead, these industry leaders in a  BusinessWeek story make a strong case about the value of design to your business regardless of what your business is.  Here's to implementing the lessons learned in the new year.

 

Green City Initiatives - Lessons from Denver

During a quick trip to Denver, CO, I was impressed by some simple sustainability programs that make the city more accessible and enjoyable.

Leaving the Newark terminals behind. Photo: Suzan Globus

Landing in Denver. Photo: Suzan Globus

Although Denver is home to some progressive interior design like the multi-use lobby of The Jet Hotel

The Jet Hotel lobby.  Photo: Suzan Globus

which transforms into the Jet Bar at night when the draperies get fastened to the columns,

The Jet Bar.  Photo: Suzan Globus

I was more interested in city planning than facilities.  Here is what makes green Denver work well:

1. A pedestrian mall that transverses a mile long retail district.  Free service on hybrid, accessible buses that run frequently 20 hours a day. Photo: Suzan Globus

2. Public art installations, adequate lighting and lush landscaping make the mall a pleasant place to be.  Photo: Suzan Globus

3. Street performers. I didn't get a chance to ask this musician if his performance was subsidized by the city. Photo: Suzan Globus

  4. Ample, well located bike racks.  Photo: Suzan Globus

5. Bikes available to rent and return to various spots around the city including the train station.  Rates range from a dollar an hour to five dollars a day.  Photo: Suzan Globus

6. Public buses with front mounted bike racks to accommodate cyclists. Photo: Suzan Globus

Design Inspiration from City Patterns and Colors

I appreciate having a coastal setting for a home base and yet I always welcome the inspiration I get from nearby New York City.  There is plenty to look at where I live: Sailboats in Highlands, NJ. Photo: Suzan Globus

Tortoise in bog, Cranbury, NJ.  The pattern of the light reflecting from the algae bloom in this bog lends itself to a fabric design.

And plenty to notice in the city.  Here's what caught my eye yesterday:

Photo: Suzan Globus

The fibrous paper panels displayed in the window of Kate's Paperie in the West Village repeat the scrolls in the panels under the windows across the street.

Photo: Suzan Globus

A closer look at the random pattern in the floor of The Standard Grill in the Meat Packing District revealed it was made with pennies coated with resin.  

Photo: Suzan Globus

The array of colors offered in the glasses lining the walls creates an intriguing display in glassybaby in the West Village.

Photo: Suzan Globus

The color of the setting sun reflecting off the Brooklyn skyline reminds me of the glassybaby display above.  The pattern and color I see wherever I go keeps feeding my design inspiration library.

Green Eats-Supporting Sustainability through your Stomach

Small plate of fresh corn, limas, soy beans and oyster mushrooms over home made pasta from the Staunton Grocery. Photo: Suzan Globus

I don't talk about why I became a vegetarian unless asked because it seems to make people uncomfortable. What one ingests is a private affair, but food is inextricably related to sustainability.  The short story for me is that after ruining my appetite from deboning a raw chicken 20 years ago, I started reading about the environmental impact of food, especially beef, production.  The trigger book was Diet for a New America, 1987, by John Robbins, the heir of the Baskin-Robbins ice cream fortune. My self education about the relationship of food production to the environment and spiritual reflection lead me to a decision to stop eating meat. 

I am very happy to see that more people have begun to contribute to the conversation and production of sustainable food.  It enables me to search for restaurants when I travel under the heading of "local food".  That usually gets me to restaurants who are cooking with local ingredients and using local suppliers. I've found some great results. Here are a few standouts:

1. The Staunton Grocery Staunton, VA.  This unassuming storefront restaurant is turning out some exceptional food in a small, historic Virgina town. Staunton, VA at sunset. Photo: Suzan Globus

2. Cochon New Orleans, LA. This may seem like a surprising pick for a vegetarian, but this restaurant, who's name translates to "pig" features well prepared authentic regional cooking. Those are decent search words if you are looking to eat green. By definition, if regional recipes are being used, they are based on food at hand. At Cochon, like Staunton Grocery, local wines and beers are also featured on their menus.

New Orleans street musician. Photo: Suzan Globus

3. Avec Chicago, IL.  This small wooden boite of a restaurant offers casual dining on serious cooking in a wine bar atmosphere with communal dining tables. The menu features fresh local ingredients used in Mediterranean inspired dishes. One of my favorite aspects of this restaurant is its ample offering of small plates because eating less food makes my health more sustainable.  Their site mentions that the restaurant is closed until September.  I hope this award winning restaurant continues to operate. Chicago geen. Photo: Suzan Globus

Associations  are springing up to encourage sustainability in food service, such as Dine Green. My selections are based on food supply alone, although both Cochon and Avec both appear to be built using natural materials in a minimalist setting and Staunton Grocery is employing a less is more approach to the restaurant's interiors.  The food industry has far to go in producing and supplying sustainable choices, but the restaurants are showing promise.

Are Custom Library Circulation Desks Worth It?

Absolutely

I am frequently asked this question by library design clients.  The answer is always, "Yes!  Almost all circulation desks are custom made. Similar to kitchen cabinets, circulation desk cabinets are constructed on a 36" wide standard base, open box cabinet.  Just like kitchen cabinets, the 36" wide units are outfitted differently with drawers, doors and shelves and joined together in various sequences to fit into a variety of foot prints. A continuous counter top and front panel is cut to fit. Unless the desk is small and bought as a single piece of furniture from a catalog, all library service desks are customized. So why not get exactly what you want out of a circulation desk?

Designed to suit

Designing and building a circulation desk from scratch - an expression that makes some librarians erroneously see dollar signs - is in fact a financially reasonable and sustainable approach.  The staff gets to help determine exactly where certain tasks should occur and what shape and size storage best supports those tasks with the designer's guidance.  Efficient and happy staff is difficult to translate into dollars, but the value is real.

More rewards

A custom designed circulation desk offers additional advantages:

1.  Sustainability: the most sustainable materials can be specified in the design. FSC woods, countertops made from concrete or recycled content solid surfaces and no VOC finishes are easy to use in custom designed casework.

2.  Durablility: custom casework can be made to last which is much less expensive in the long run. 

3. Productivity: it has to increase when the workspace is designed to precisely fit the client's needs.

For example

A former client, upon her retirement as Hunterdon Central Regional High School librarian, recently sent me a note thanking me for the redesign of her library 17 years ago. My firm was hired to select new carpeting for the refurbishing of the library. After we toured the library, we recommended the atrium be enclosed to gain space and eliminate a supervision challenge.  The assessment garnered us a contract to completely redesign the library interiors. Here are the results.

The atrium (top photo center) becomes the location of the custom designed reference desk (bottom photo).

Thirteen years later, an addition to the library was built.  Custom casework is still a valued element of the design. 

Can Green Design Translate to Boats?

If not green design, then good design certainly translates to boats. Is it the connection to sustainability or a romantic notion that draws me to the thought of jumping into a wooden boat and sailing off under the power of nature? I am not going to try to understand my attraction to classic wooden boats, especially sail boats; I'm just going to continue to admire the design of some of my favorite boats during my travels.

Oyster Boats

They aren't sail boats, but wooden Chesapeake Bay oyster boats get high marks for clean, honest design.

Oyster Boat, St. Michael's, MD. Photo: Suzan Globus.

Work boat, Chestertown, MD. Photo: Suzan Globus

Whether used for work or sport, these boats have  simple, elegant lines.

New work boats, Tilghman Island, MD. Photo: Suzan Globus

Model Boats

Far from simple, this wooden boat model being restored captures my eye for design details.

Model boat restoration work room, St. Michael's, MD. Photo: Suzan Globus

It's difficult for me to choose if the models or the organization of the workspace is more intriguing.

Antique wooden boat models, St. Michael's, MD. Photo: Suzan Globus

Sail Boats

Hinckley 42 Sail Boat, St. Michael's, MD.  Photo: Suzan Globus

The Hinckley Company stopped making wooden boats but retained the classic lines of this blue beauty on the right.

Cape Dory Typhoon, Navesink. NJ  Photo: Suzan Globus

I've had my eye on this Cape Dory sailboat on my way to work. Although she isn't made of wood, there is enough mahogany trim coupled with vintage lines to make my head turn.  I'd have to move my office off shore to justify her purchase as a commuting expense.

 
Navesink River sunset  Photo: Suzan Globus

For now, I'm looking forward to spending a few days away and wish soothing seas and good design to all.

Rain Garden Sustains Library Landscape

The recent drought and water restrictions on the East Coast of the US highlighted the sensibility of using indigenous plants to landscape public facilities and private residences.  The staff of the Red Bank Public Library in Red Bank, NJ took broader action when they had a rain garden installed in front of the library.

The Eisner Memorial Red Bank Public Library.  Photo by Suzan Globus

A rain garden provides an opportunity to capture and absorb run off from adjacent impervious surfaces and to return water vapor to the atmosphere.  In the library's case, the root systems from the new plantings surrounding the wrought iron fenced patio and adjacent to the walkways on the left collect moisture from the building's roof, patio, sidewalks and parking lot (not shown).

A closer look at some of the native plants used for the rain garden.  Photo by Suzan Globus

Indigenous plants are the best to use for a rain garden because they don't require fertilization and are tolerant of their native climate.  Notice how the grass in front of the garden is suffering from the water restriction in comparison to the native plants in the garden.

The Rudbeckia hirta L. (Black-eyed Susan) is keyed to a plant plan available in the library.  Photo by Suzan Globus

In addition to potentially reducing the Library's operating cost by reducing water consumption, the rain garden provides an educational opportunity for library visitors who can tour the garden with a plan identifying the plants.  The library has wisely capitalized on the garden installation by offering horticulture programs to attract potentially a new group of library customers and is leading the community by example with this visible measure of sustainability.

Gulf Coast Observations

While visiting Mississippi last week, I had the opportunity to travel along the Gulf Coast from Waveland to Ocean Springs, MS and see some of BP's oil spill clean up efforts. As usual, I took these photos from a moving car. The area is still grappling with the effects of Katrina, so the BP catastrophe seems especially unfair.

Hurricane Katrina winds flattened miles of  Mississippi forests.

The orange booms were visible crossing between Bay St. Louis and Pass Christian, MS.

Miles of beautiful white sandy beaches were dotted with clean up crews.  The shoreline was not visible from the car, so I did not see oil on the beach.

Clean up crews equipped with plastic bags to capture oil balls of oil.

Porta-potties and tents to provide relief from the sun for the workers stuck up like warts on otherwise pristine beach sand.

New fences erected to warn bathers of the water pollution lined the coast for miles.

Acres of empty parking lots issued an eerie reminder of the compromised water.

A sign of hope

Some of the forests devastated by Katrina have begun to reseed themselves. 

In preparation for a fourth of July observation, flags were erected in the sand as if in testament to the human spirit.

Library Seating from NeoCon

NeoCon is fun to attend because it is a social as well as product platform. Take a look at some impromptu meetings:

 

The Suits (top) vs. The Skirts (below)

Taking a cue from the skirts, I will review seating choices which might be useful in a library.

Staff Seating  

The Wilkhahn On chair won a show gold and is touted as moving as your body does which this man is demonstrating.  The design is clean and strong, just wish the sustainability story was better.

Lounge Seating

This Cateby's Collection chair reminded me that there are some opportunities for crossover from the healthcare industry into libraries, except that most healthcare chair designs still scream "healthcare".  This one is trying to move the style forward. Not surprisingly, I've been met with resistance from librarians when suggesting certain libraries try a recliner or two in a controlled setting.  Too bad the library customers aren't given the opportunity to weigh in on this topic.

I imagine Vitra's Cocoon chair would gain several loyal fans in a library setting.  It provided me with some much welcomed adult time out from the bustling show crowds.  Sight lines would be a critical factor in locating this lounge seat in a library setting.

Versteel's IMMIX bench seating looks like it would function well in libraries with space to afford individual lounge seating with tables in between.  The tablet arm option helps.  When are the finish options going to increase for those of us interior designers who want a great looking and durable frame finish for public spaces and won't specify chrome due to its negative environmental impact?

Teknion's dna lounge seating gets high marks from me because of its flexibility. It can be used as lounge seating for individuals and meeting spaces for small groups - at the same time.  The data connections are included in the backless center module.   

Young Adults Seating

Librarians are on the prowl for hip seats for the teens.  These fill the bill:

Leland International's Pluto seats attracted more than teens.

Itoki Design's CH Bench offers a variety of grouping possibilities which is an attractive feature to teenagers.

More to come

I'll be featuring other furniture finds from NeoCon in additional categories suitable for libraries in the future.