Gem Ceiling

The designers at Ralph Applebaum Associates wanted a special ceiling for an exhibit at the University of Arizona Alfie Norville Gem and Mineral Museum. The museum’s exhibits trace gems and minerals from their origins in mines all over the world to production facilities where they are cut and polished, to jewelers who mount them in their final settings. The final exhibit is the Treasury, in which are displayed the museum’s finest examples of gemstone jewelry, worth millions of dollars.

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Tags: Light Diffusion, Textile Architecture, Museums, Luminaire

Ship mobile

In New England, traditional restaurants and public spaces in maritime communities often display hand-carved half-models of sailing ships, or ship models in showcases.
Faulkner & Locke, art consultants of the Hyatt Place Boston/ Seaport Hotel, took a much less traditional approach to the maritime art pieces that decorate its public spaces.

Arriving visitors are greeted by this large sculpture suspended above the grand lobby staircase. The sculpture is a deconstructed view of a container ship’s multiple levels, naval architectural drawings brought to life.

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Tags: Custom, Wayfinding, Graphics, Textile Architecture, Interior Design, Mesh, Multi-layered Graphics

Biophilic design for healthcare

Coastal Women’s Health Care

This project is an excellent example of biophilic design. A calming image from nature, it is a welcoming sight to patients and visitors. The image is printed on mesh fabric mounted to an aluminum frame with FasTen, our proprietary fabric retention system, and set one foot in front of the white back wall. Fluorescent lamps wash the white back wall evenly. The project designed by Rob Verrier of Curvwork, manufactured and installed by Transformit

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Tags: Textile Architecture, Acoustic Treatment, Health Care, Shade, Hospitality Design, Daylighting, Biophilic

Doves

These elegant fabric doves, suspended in the atrium of St. Vincent  Ascension Hospital in Indianapolis, are another great example of biophilic design. The doves symbolize that this is a place of peace and healing. The doves were made with an aluminum frame and fire-rated architectural stretch fabric. The project was designed by Hamilton Exhibits, manufactured and installed by Transformit.

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Tags: Textile Architecture, Acoustic Treatment, Health Care, Shade, Hospitality Design, Daylighting, Biophilic

Shade Wings for Portland Schools - Outdoor Classrooms Part II

Portland Outdoor Classroom - Deering HS

As summer was coming to a close and COVID-19 remained pandemic, schools preparing for in-person learning were integrating outdoor classrooms into their plans. The outdoor learning initiative within the Portland, Maine public schools was looking for structures that would give spatial definition to outdoor classrooms while also providing teachers and students with outdoor shade and some protection from the elements.

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Tags: Textile Architecture, Education, Shade, Exterior

Interactive Kiosk

Transformit recently fabricated and installed a large fabric projection cone at the request of the Toronto offices of Kubik, the exhibit, event, museum, retail, and interior design company.

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Tags: Custom, Wayfinding, Textile Architecture, Projection, Museums, Health Care, Interior Design, Hospitality Design

Social Screens

When COVID arrived last March, the first thing Transformit thought of was how will all of the restaurants in Portland survive without the space needed for safe social distancing. Rolling walls seemed like a good idea to augment the actual distance with a fabric barrier. 

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Tags: Wayfinding, Textile Architecture, Projection, Museums, Health Care, Interior Design, Hospitality Design

Outdoor Classrooms - Part I

This is Part I on our experience working with schools to create solutions for outdoor classrooms. Stay tuned for Part II:  Outdoor Classrooms for Portland Schools.

Transformit was asked to provide quotes for dozens of outdoor classrooms to be used at a public school in Maine. The Cares Act had provided the township with a budget to work with, and they needed to research the best places to invest their resources. Cindy and Tom came out the next day to spend two hours walking the Elementary, Middle, and High School combined campus. It was a hot day, and you could certainly understand that the students would need shade in order to concentrate and even see their laptops. There were many wonderful ideas and requests for us to consider:

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Tags: Custom, Textile Architecture, Shade, Rooms, Exterior

Five Transformit Projects Receive International Achievement Awards

At the 2019 Industrial Fabrics Association International Expo, the IFAI announced the winners of their annual International Achievement Awards. Five projects that Transformit designed, fabricated, and/or contributed to were recipients of an IAA. Each of these installations represent a collaboration of art and design with multiple partners.

Special thanks and congratulations to our co-winners and collaborators:  Conservation International, Cool Shadow (of Loisos + Ubbelohde), Maine Craft Gallery, Quiring General, Scattergood Design, SmithGroup, Thinc Design, Vision3, and Studio HHH, who's original sculpture 'Serpentine', created for Illuminus Boston and featuring eight Transformit 'Pixies', won Best in Category for Fabric Environments as well as receiving top honors with an Award of Excellence in the Fabric Art sub-category.

 

2019 Industrial Fabrics Association International / International Achievement Awards
TopWinner

Serpentine
Best in Category — Fabric Environments
Award of Excellence — Fabric Environments / Fabric Art

Sudio HHH ILLUMINUS Serpentine_MG_9822 square

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Tags: Custom, Textile Architecture, Exhibits, Acoustic Treatment, Interior Design, Shade, Mesh, IFAI, Awards & Recognitions, Fabric Art, Virtual Reality

Interior Shade, Artfully

Using daylight simulation to design artful and effective interior shade.Photo: L+UTransformit’s artful tension-fabric sculptures are ideally suited to diffusing direct sunlight and providing interior shade. With this in mind, the architects at SmithGroup commissioned Transformit to create an installation in the atrium lobby of a new medical building for the Valley Children’s Medical Group (VCMG) in Modesto, California. Artistically, the client wanted something that evoked a flock of birds in flight. Practically, the sculptural installation needed to provide interior shade for the lobby, particularly over the reception area.

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Tags: Light Diffusion, Ready-Made, Textile Architecture, Shade, Fabric Art, Daylighting