Great Design from Cheap Materials - 5

Ever since I saw the newly designed The Wright Restaurant in NYC's Guggenheim Museum I've been thinking about how this idea could be adapted for a church space.

The museum's site-specific artwork, by Liam Gillick, is of high-end custom extruded aluminum.  But it kind of looks like painted 2x4s, doesn't it?  Note how in the first photo you can see that the widths and depths of the pieces vary; as if some are mounted on their side and some on their edge.

Pick your colors, then mock your project up carefully using paper strips of varying widths on graph paper scaled to your wall size.  With a little planning, you too can have a site-specific work brightening up the children's or youth space using more thought than money!

[images by Andre Kikoski Architects]

Wayfinding Wallpaper

"Wayfinder is a line of wallpaper designed to serve a functional purpose within the context of architecture. Wallpaper is typically decorative. Symbols are typically functional. The combination of the two creates new possibilities for architects, interior designers and space planners."

And churches...these are an interesting solution for larger buildings in which bold wayfinding is needed, for contemporary retrofits, and for older church spaces in which the bathrooms are hidden down a hallway and difficult to find!  They would also be a great graphic addition to a youth space.

The Wayfinder wallpaper is by Mike and Maaike Inc, manufactured by Rollout.

More DIY ideas for the Youth Room

Please no more of those over-literal themed youth rooms in the vein of surf shacks or western lodges...a few high-impact design additions are cheaper, last longer, and will serve as a background to the group's own decisions about the space.

Vintage automobile headlamps attached in series to conduit.

Foosball coat hangers--available from Loony Design, but DIY would be more fun...the foosball table was a center of my own youth room growing up.

The simple addition of painted black corner lines to solid features makes everything look like a cartoon! This is from the Luise Hotel in Berlin. 

Make a stack of old school TVs and speakers, as here at the Facebook headquarters, at the entrance to your space.

Have a google for the designs of Odili Donald Odita, whose work fuses modernist and African influences, for color inspiration.   Plan carefully, number, and tape the sections in advance for a massive paint-by-numbers day!

Definitely get the youth involved in these projects...they love group DIY.

Cheap Fix - Linoleum remnant flooring

Above, a lineoleum remnant floor as a study model, partially laid, and completed. Via materialicio.us , this lineoleum is a surprisingly stylish fix for the church kitchen, or for nursery or youth areas where a hard floor is required. As indicated, make a quick study model before laying the floor. And use the 'real' linoleum, whose color goes all the way through and is highly scratch resistant, rather than the cheap plastic flooring sometimes referred to as linoleum.

It appears that the red linoleum has been used on the countertops as well...another 'cheap fix' which can be finished off with either a wood or aluminum trim piece on the counter's face.

In my neck of the woods, lino remants can be found at salvage yards and the Habitat for Humanity ReStore.

Youth space DIY Round-Up

DIYable ideas for the youth room: (top to bottom) fluffy clouds made from coffee filters, tennis ball table (lots of hot glue needed), bicycle wheel table, and some funky lighting that looks to me like it is made of guttering that has holes drilled in and rope lights passed through.

But can I call it stained glass?

The pendant light made from Campari soda bottles by Ingo Maurer. About $600 (for soda??) so make your own. Great for the youth room.

Tangram shelves

These running shelves, from the Italian firm Lago, would be great in a space for children or youth. They're not currently available here in the states, but are of simple construction well within the range of an inspired carpenter.

The designs are based upon the tangram, a common children's puzzle that I remember from my own school days. From the same shapes you can also make a rabbit, a cat, a swan...all of which could be scaled up and made into shelves by the same technique. How tos for making a paper model to plan are at enchantedlearning.