Project Overview
In the start-up world it is easy to become so focused on the details of getting an enterprise off the ground that founders can forget that a sense of wonder is what inspired them to take the chance of starting a company in the first place. With this in mind we designed the interior experience of the Urban Future Lab, a start-up incubator, to give the tenant companies that work there things to spark imagination, to play, and to find inspiration in unexpected places.
Project Commissioner
NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering
Project Creator
Team
Stephanie Lukito
Wendy Qi
Elise Pyo
Jon Gronberg
Pranav Behari
Project Brief
In the start-up world it is easy to become so focused on the details of getting an enterprise off the ground that founders can forget that a sense of wonder is what inspired them to take the chance of starting a company in the first place. With this in mind we designed the interior experience of the Urban Future Lab, a start-up incubator, to give the tenant companies that work there things to spark imagination, to play, and to find inspiration in unexpected places. All of this is a subtle push in the service of reminding founders that amidst the pressure of starting a business you can't forget to let your mind wander, for it's in wandering that you see the biggest picture.
Project Innovation/Need
Any device that offers the reminder to founders starting companies that they must not lose their sense of wonder is novel, because it's such a simple matter to become myopically focused on survival, and that myopia drains them of the very wonder and excitement that led them to start a business in the first place.
Design Challenge
Limited budget and time-frame meant we needed to look around us to see what was readily, and quickly available while still telling the right story.
Sustainability
Because the Urban Future Lab primarily houses the ACRE incubator (Accelerator for a Clean and Resilient Economy), which focuses on incubating start-up companies concerned with using technology to improve resource efficiency sustainability is a clear interest. Much of the interior design work throughout is created through the use of obsolete technology re-purposed creatively throughout the space. To facilitate this we were given access to a lab NYU's Polytechnic School of Engineering (of which UFL is a part) maintains where it stores hundreds of old electronic gadgets of all shapes and sizes. In doing so, not only were we able to use these machines in creative ways, but we were also able to both keep them from being discarded and avoid the future waste of purchasing additional new materials.
Interior Design - Public or Institutional
This award celebrates innovative and creative building interiors with consideration given to space creation and planning, furnishings, finishes and aesthetic presentation. Consideration also given to space allocation, traffic flow, building services, lighting, fixtures, flooring, colours, furnishings and surface finishes.
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