Malaysian Materiality

December 09, 2007

British India Offices

Archie Bunker Chair

Board Formed House


Kevin Low's Malaysian design firm, Small Projects may produce projects that are small in scale, but they are large in ideas.
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Shown at the top is the British India Clothing Company's Corporate Headquarters. With an understanding of the local climate and materials, Kevin Low designed a project with full clay brick walls providing ample insulation, and deep overhangs to provide shade for the large upper windows.
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The middle project is a chair created from chicken wire, timber, and filled with maple leaves as upholstery. Its a clever use of widely available materials, and its apparently very comfortable. I'm not surprised either... who doesn't love lounging in a pile of leaves!
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The bottom project is a very lovely (and expensive) new home for a client looking for a Tadao Ando-esque home. Rather than allow the cast in place walls to take over the project, Kevin Low limited their use to two walls and then continued the use of concrete in other ways throughout the house. The ceilings became carefully detailed boardformed concrete surfaces spanning throughout the different rooms. Additionally, the extraordinarily thin concrete roof creates a very delicate profile.
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Small Projects uses a variety of materials, predominantly indigenous, as well as finely tuned details to create some truly spectacular spaces and objects. The office's understand of materials and their inherent abilities enables them to create the spectacular detailing in turn helps to create spectacular projects. I would absolutely recommend taking the time to peruse the website... the black and white photos are spectacular as the architecture and design that they represent.
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