art takes center stage
For the main residence of a long term GHD client, one whose 20th Century Art collection is one of the most important privately held collections in the world, Gary was tasked with designing a space that, at every turn, provided a blank canvas for sculptures, paintings, and art installations.
The original redwood boards in the living, dining room, and entry way walls were white washed, extending the neutral palate at the center of the design plans, providing maximum flexibility for the constantly evolving collection.
dining as art: For the dining room, the objective was to address the clunky aesthetic of the client’s rectangular dining table for 10.
The GHD team set out to find an unusual material, or an object as a starting point in the design process, and came across a new material called Panel Tech in a magazine.
The team ordered a sample of the honeycomb synthetic material used in aircraft partitions. Upon playing around with the sample they found a unique sound quality emerge from placing drinking glasses and other objects down on the surface. Since edges are always bad with this sort of material, the team decided to inset the table top into a stainless steel edge. To enable dining functionality for a party of 10, Gary chose an elliptical shape to allow for a greater communion of the guests, an impossible feat with the parallel seating of a long rectangle.
The team wanted the top of the table to appear to be floating in space, hence designing an elegant lucite base.
a lucky mistake: Lucite transfers light in a very different way, and the 2” thick pieces allowed for the light coming from above to travel through the lucite, hit the floor, and spread out. The entire table lit up from underneath magnifying the appearance of a floating table.