Estación Glocal Design

We were invited by Glocal Design Magazine to design their exhibition booth for a design and furniture fair in Mexico City. The construction and material for the booth was sponsored by Masisa, the leading manufacturer of MDF panels in Latin America who requested that the structure should showcase a large range of their finishes as a way to sample the possibilities of the material. We chose two color sequences, one from black to white including some wood texture materials and the other one ranging from dark green to orange. Since the MDF panels can’t be bent to generate curves we decided to use them as a sequence of plans that would generate the virtual form of a complex curved surface as the wireframe negative of the volume contained in a orthogonal box made by the module of the panels cut with a cnc router. When the plans intersect in the three directions of space they form a grid of shelves that serve as display and storage space for the magazines and other products. The whole booth was intended as a resting station, where the visitors to the fair can take a seat and read the magazine while sheltered inside a wrapping cocoon that keeps them away from the surrounding noises, lights and agitation. Four twisted elements act both as benches and as storage space. The 170 components of the Glocal Design Station where assembled and presented for the first time in Habitat Expo in Mexico City from 26th to the 28th of May 2011 and will be present in several other trade fairs for the rest of the year. Once this year’s exhibition cycle is over it will become a permanent feature of the meeting room of the publisher’s offices. About Masisa: Masisa is the leader in Latin-America in production and sales of wooden panels for furniture and architectural interiors. Masisa Mexico created Masisa Lab, a think tank dedicated to develop projects that have a bigger and better use of the Masisa products line in the market, working with different areas of the furniture industry, creating alliances to find opportunities for development trough innovation, to create Mexican proposals according to the needs of their clients. The product used in the booth is the 15mm DecoMDF Masisa, a panel covered on both sides with a decorative foil in a wide range of colors and designs, impregnated with a melamine resin with low emissions of formaldehyde, that give them a completely enclosed surface, free of porosities and resistant to surface wear. Masisa makes sure that all the raw materials used in the process of production its panels come from certified and sustainable sources. Project Data: Architects: ROW Studio – Álvaro Hernández Félix, Nadia Hernández Félix, Alfonso Maldonado Ochoa. www.rowarch.com Use: Exhibition Booth Client: Glocal Design Magazine (Greta Arcila) www.glocal.mx Construction Material: Masisa Deco with the support and sponsorship of Masisa Lab www.masisa.com Design Team: Luis Larumbe and Daniel de Leon Digital Fabrication: Design and Cutting (Alex McGrath, Ignacio Piedras) www.disenoycorte.com.mx Built Area: 258 sq. ft. (24 Sq. Mts.) Completition Date: May 2011 Photographer: Sófocles Hernández