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    Twelve scenes from America’s “hidden” industrial world

    Pencil production in New Jersey and the fabrication of massive turbines for wind power in North Dakota feature in this roundup of American industrial facilities photographed by Christopher Payne.

    Payne has spent the last decade exploring factories in America, ranging from “traditional industries” like wool carders to the production of contemporary technological machines that he says are often “hidden from view”.
    His reasons for creating Made in America stem from the lack of awareness of where products come from, and from American manufacturing “making a comeback” after Covid-19.
    “Most people I know have never set foot in a factory,” said Payne. “Decades of global outsourcing and a flood of cheap imports have decimated sectors of American manufacturing and hollowed out once-thriving communities.”
    “Yet, we still live in a physical world, and we surround ourselves with material things, and many of these things are still made in America. As environmental concerns and the pandemic have become urgent wake-up calls for us to rethink global supply chains, US manufacturing is making a comeback.”

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    The book includes close-up photography gathered from Payne’s personal exploration and editorial commissions and has an introduction from British author Simon Winchester.
    Payne said that he wanted to preserve the legacy of certain industries while showing the continued innovation and skill of workers – many of whom are featured in the photography.
    “All of these places share a commitment to craftsmanship and quality that can’t be outsourced,” he said.
    “There is, for sure, a certain romance in the idea of making our own goods here in the US, but it is no longer entirely nostalgia; it is also necessity and opportunity.”
    Read on for Payne’s commentary on scenes from twelve industrial facilities in the United States:
    Wool carders at the S & D Spinning MillS & D Spinning Mill, Millbury, Massachusetts
    “In 2010 I discovered an old yarn mill in Maine that reminded me of the state hospital workshops that I photographed for my book Asylum. While most such places had long been abandoned, this mill was fully operational, a scene from the past miraculously coexisting with the present.”
    “I learned of other mills around New England, remnants of a once-dominant industry that had moved south long ago, and then overseas, in search of cheap labor. I befriended mill owners, who, in addition to opening their doors, would inform me of a colorful production run, an invaluable tip that transformed a drab, monochromatic scene into something photogenic and magical.”
    A tipping machine adds metal ferrules and erasers to pencils General Pencil Company, Jersey City, New Jersey
    “General Pencil is one of two remaining pencil companies in the US, and it took five years to win the trust of the owners and gain access to the factory.”
    “I focused on essential steps in the manufacturing process to reveal a fresh look at this humble, everyday object.”
    Wafer (a thin slice of semiconductor material used to make microchips) sorterGlobal Foundries, Malta, New York
    “There is a familiarity to traditionally made objects like pianos and pencils that makes them easier to photograph than tiny microchips [featured above] or complex, one-of-a-kind spacecraft; they’re recognizable in all stages of production and we know exactly what they do.”
    “Whenever possible, I try to include people in my pictures to humanize a subject that might otherwise seem incomprehensible.”
    Vertical assembly of a CFM LEAP jet engine core
    GE Aerospace, Lafayette, Indiana
    “From the window of a plane, it is impossible to appreciate the size and complexity of a jet engine.”
    “Seen up close and uncovered, it becomes an intricate, dazzling work of art, the perfect balance of form and function.”
    Inspection of a low-pressure steam turbine rotorGE Gas Power, Schenectady, New York
    “Gaining access to modern factories is never easy. There are concerns about safety and intellectual property that didn’t exist in the 1940s and 50s, when American companies spent lavishly on annual reports and were eager to pull back the curtain for popular magazines like LIFE and Fortune.”
    “Sometimes I’ll make a beautiful picture only to find out later that I can’t use it, prompting me to look elsewhere for a replacement, like this one, which was my second – and successful attempt – at photographing a turbine rotor.”
    A technician tracing a part template for optimized glass utilization on a boule of Corning HPFS fused silica Corning Inc, Canton, New York
    “Glass is an ancient material continually being pushed to new limits, but it is not easily photographed. It’s transparent, reflective, and often quite thin and fragile.”
    “Finding this technician hovering over a massive circle of glass, lit up like an ice sculpture, was something I had never seen before, and it remains one of my favorite pictures.”
    An R1 vehicle hood in the closures area of the body shopRivian, Normal, Illinois
    “Car factories are so vast that a golf cart is needed to get around. The environment is visually overwhelming and everything beckons the camera.”
    “I never have enough time to show even a fraction of the production process so I search for quiet, simple moments that serve as stand-ins for the larger story.”
    Workers weld parts to the steel frame of an electric public transit busBuild Your Dreams (BYD) factory, Lancaster, California
    “I approach industrial subjects and busy, cluttered factories the same way I do buildings: I try to find an underlying order within the visual chaos.”
    “Here, I was able to use the bus frame as a geometric backdrop upon which the action could unfold, like a stage set.”
    Gathering yarn to be fed into a carpet tufterInterface, LaGrange, Georgia
    “New technologies are often integrated seamlessly into everyday products in ways that are indiscernible, as is the case here, where captured carbon dioxide will be fused into the backing of a commercial carpet.”
    “Even though the product is ‘high tech’, the manufacturing process still requires the deft touch of the human hand.”
    Sanding infused fiberglass inside a wind turbine blade shellLM Wind Power, Grand Forks, North Dakota
    “Clean energy is another booming sector in manufacturing. Wind turbine blades are 200 to 300 feet long (60 to 91 metres), so there’s no elegant way to show their length without including a lot of distracting context.”
    “Seen in section, though, the half circle of a blade shell becomes a pleasing composition that fills the frame.”
    Inside Stargate, the world’s largest metal 3D printer, prints a Terran 1 rocketRelativity Space, Long Beach, California
    “Essential technologies like aerospace have been reenergized by the private sector and new technologies, like 3D printing, and some factories I visited had the buzz of tech startups.”
    “Relativity Space 3D prints rocket engines, reducing the time to do so from years to months. To work around the UV light of the laser we had to wear protective gear to avoid a nasty sunburn.”
    American flags in production on a rotary screen printerAnnin Flagmakers, South Boston, Virginia
    “Even in its unfinished state the American flag is instantly recognizable, a whole greater than the sum of its parts.”
    “I like to think that a factory is similar, a whole that is only complete when everyone works together as a team. These are the people who make the stuff that fuels our economy, and in this time of social polarization and increasing automation, they offer a glimmer of hope.”

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    Spacon & X adds kombucha brewery to 1930s functionalist building in Copenhagen

    Danish studio Spacon & X preserved “different layers of unique history” when designing the Folk Kombucha brewery, which is set within a listed building in Copenhagen’s Meatpacking District.

    The factory belongs to fermented-tea brand Folk Kombucha and features a production area for kombucha brewing overlooked by a mezzanine level used for workshops and other social events.
    Spacon & X designed a brewery for Folk Kombucha in CopenhagenLocal firm Spacon & X aimed to balance the history of the 1930s functionalist building with its contemporary needs when designing the interior, which is led by cobalt blue, orange and pink accents.
    “The buildings in the Meatpacking District are from the 1930s and have a strong character,” said architect Malene Hvidt.
    “Our design team aimed to preserve different layers of unique history,” she told Dezeen.

    Mustard-hued floor tiles were preserved in the renovationSpacon & X maintained the building’s “archetypal Meatpacking white-tile walls” as well as mustard-yellow and green marble floor tiles.
    Translucent iridescent panels were placed behind the various stainless steel fermentation tanks to delineate spaces within the brewery.
    The studio also maintained the building’s green marble flooringStainless steel was also used to form the extensive network of pipes connected to the tanks as well as custom tables and benches topped with bright blue rubber.
    This tangle of tubes was echoed with the addition of spaghetti-shaped wire lighting.
    “The buildings in the area are all known for their white facades with windows and panels painted in a strong cobalt blue colour,” explained Hvidt. “Cobalt blue was chosen to pay tribute to the area itself.”
    A mezzanine overlooks the main production areaSpacon & X created lounge tables by recycling plastic packaging salvaged from fish and other food waste, which was industrially produced at the site before it became the Folk Kombucha brewery.
    “Instead of throwing out this long-lasting hygienic material, we transformed it into unique custom-made tables,” Hvidt said.
    Hand-hammered steel lamps also feature on the interiorArtwork made of scoby — a culture of yeast and bacteria that kickstarts the kombucha fermentation process — was used to decorate the interior alongside bespoke hand-hammered steel lamps.
    Other spaces within the multipurpose building include offices, a separate lounge, a laboratory and various storage areas.

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    “The brewery’s spatial design was created in a way that resembled and preserved the listed building’s long history and strong character,” said Hvidt.
    “The design also incorporates subtle, organic and innovative spatial solutions with functionality and uses the building’s industrial nature as a guiding principle.”
    Cobalt blue, orange and pink accents define the breweryElsewhere in Copenhagen, Spacon & X previously created the interior for a burger restaurant filled with natural materials and plants.
    The studio has also completed an Ace & Tate glasses store in the city, taking cues from colourful artists’ studios.
    The photography is by Hedda Rysstad.

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    Most Architecture creates micro factory with “everything on display” for Charge Cars

    UK studio Most Architecture has converted an industrial shed in west London into an all-black-and-white showroom and production facility for electric car start-up Charge Cars.

    Created to manufacture Charge Cars’ first vehicle the ’67 – an all-electric version of the 1960s Ford Mustang Fastback built using components from electric vehicle brand Arrival – the facility also acts as an office and showroom.
    Most Architecture has created a factory for electric car start-up Charge Cars”Charge designs and makes its unique cars in a single facility,” said Most Architecture founder Olga McMurdo. “Like an open-kitchen restaurant, everything is on display to the staff and customers.”
    “So we created an environment that allows immediate access to every aspect of the process from design through to production,” she told Dezeen. “The factory, and all of its contents, are at once an agile design and manufacturing centre, a customer showroom, and a design statement.”
    The building is arranged around the workshopThe facility in Stockley Close, west London, was designed around the idea of promoting a connection between Charge Cars’ clients and the engineers building and customising the cars.

    At its centre is a large open workshop where the cars are built and customised, which is overlooked by various offices and meeting spaces.
    Charge Cars’ ’67 will be manufactured in the factory”Our client came to us with an ambition to re-define a classic design icon using cutting-edge electric vehicle technology and to create a customer experience that engenders a visceral response to the product, and the process of creating it,” said McMurdo.
    “Their space had to accommodate both the manufacturing and the design process, facilitating teamwork and recreation, testing, a showroom, and areas for customer engagement,” she continued.
    “All that had to happen within one architectural volume, and so the primary challenge was to facilitate all of these activities simultaneously and symbiotically, whilst projecting a clear and coherent design statement reflecting the client’s philosophy.”
    Office spaces overlook the workshopUnlike the majority of car factories, the Charge Cars facility was designed so that its customers can visit at any time to observe how the vehicle is designed and assembled.
    “Charge wanted the customer journey to be mapped out by the design of the building,” said McMurdo.

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    “The customer’s access to, and experience of, the factory is an integral part of the product,” she continued.
    “They have a personal relationship with the engineers that are making their car, and are able to see the car as it is being constructed.”
    The Charge Cars factory is almost entirely black and whiteMost Architecture designed the spaces with a stripped-back aesthetic united by a largely white and black colour palette, including a black light fixture above the building’s entrance.
    “The white and the black amplify each other by contrast, representing the fusion of a laboratory and a garage, and the constant dynamic between research and production,” explained McMurdo.
    “Using this pallet we also wanted to make an impactful design statement on entry to the building. The result was a large anamorphic light fixture, which coalesces into a Feynman diagram from a single vantage point, becoming a composition of independent pieces.”
    Cars are designed, built and tested at the facilityOther recent electric car factories featured on Dezeen include a black steel and glass facility designed by Snøhetta for car brand Polestar in Chengdu, China. In Sweden, Danish architecture studio Cobe is designing a development centre for Chinese car manufacturer Geely, which it describes as a “chamber of secrets”.
    The photography is by Paul Riddle.
    Project credits:
    Client: Charge CarsLead architect: Most ArchitectureInterior concepts: Evgeniy BulatnikovMechanical engineer: AironElectrical engineer: Smart Techno SystemsStructural engineer: HLS StructuralLighting: Gaismas MagijaBuilding control: The Building InspectorsWind consultant: Buro HappoldFire engineer: QFSMCDM advisor: Andrew Goddard AssociatesMain contractor: Hansa GroupSteel mezzanine contractor: System Store SolutionsLighting manufacturer: Esse-Ci

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    SSdH tucks Melbourne warehouse apartment into former chocolate factory

    Local studio SSdH has designed a split-level, mezzanine-style apartment characterised by eclectic furniture, which is housed within an old chocolate factory in Melbourne.

    Kerr is a warehouse apartment in Melbourne’s Fitzroy suburb, located in a building that was once home to the historic MacRoberton’s Chocolate Factory before being converted into residential units in the late 1990s.
    Kerr is one of a number of apartments arranged around a central atriumAdapted into “apartment shells” arranged around a striking central atrium, the units were first designed with only basic amenities to allow occupants to determine their own interior designs.
    SSdH recently renovated Kerr, one of these units, as a three-bedroom, two-bathroom dwelling that intends to expose but also refresh the building’s original architecture.
    “The design pays homage to history while being decidedly contemporary,” studio director Jean-Marie Spencer told Dezeen.

    The home is divided by a white-painted staircaseThe mezzanine-style apartment is split across two levels by a staircase with a white-painted gridded steel mesh balustrade. Doubling as a lightwell, the staircase is illuminated by the apartment’s original single factory window.
    Upstairs, the open-plan living space includes a kitchen fitted with geometric cabinetry made from local spotted gum timber, as well as brushed stainless steel and nickel fixtures.
    Spotted gum timber and stainless steel define the kitchenThe similarly minimalist lounge area is delineated by smooth sliding doors made of the same spotted gum, which are offset by existing structural beams and columns painted in bright white.
    A sage-green two-seater armchair is positioned next to a chunky column floor lamp by emerging designer Annie Paxton and a distinctive coral-blue vase.
    A two-seater armchair features in the lounge area”Old wall and ceiling linings, trims and details are stripped back to expose original materials and structural framing,” explained Spencer.
    “An application of white unifies what was, subsequently giving the ‘new’ its own platform through contrast,” she added.
    SSdH also included timber accents downstairsTwo bedrooms and a bathroom are contained downstairs, while a bedroom and an en-suite feature on the upper level.
    All three bedrooms are defined by the same pared-back white and wooden elements as the communal areas. Inside one of them, a mushroom-like floor lamp made from lumps of blue sculpting plaster adds a playful touch.
    Among the eclectic furniture is a mushroom-like lampGleaming geometric tiles in shades of blue and yellow feature in each of the bathrooms, which also have bulbous sconce lights.
    Timber operable doors and translucent curtains leading to the sleeping areas were designed to balance the airy openness of the living spaces, according to Spencer.
    One bathroom is clad in bright blue tiles”Living areas, where privacy is less of a concern, invoke a spilling out to the street to make the most of the light and air,” said the studio director.
    Other sculptural accents inserted throughout the apartment include boxy aluminium corner stools under the stairs and a fluted side table crafted from a solid piece of timber.

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    SSdH added double glazing to Kerr’s existing large factory window to provide both thermal and acoustic benefits to the apartment, which is located in close proximity to a busy street.
    “This glazing, along with the thermal mass embodied within the heavy masonry building allowed the apartment to remain un-airconditioned, relying on passive cross ventilation from the shared building lobby to maintain temperatures and reduce energy consumption,” said Spencer.
    Boxy aluminium corner stools are tucked under the staircaseFormerly industrial spaces are popular locations for residential conversions.
    Local firm Studio McW transformed an east London warehouse into a live-work space for climate activists and filmmakers Jack Harries and Alice Aedy while Auba Studio designed an apartment in a 1980s bakery in Palma de Mallorca.
    The photography is by Pier Carthew.

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    Freitag's Sweat-Yourself-Shop is a tiny factory for making bags

    Swiss brand Freitag has created a shop in Zurich, which is a “micro-factory” where customers can help make their own bag out of recycled tarpaulins.Named Sweat-Yourself-Shop, the interactive retail space on Grüngasse was designed by Freitag to take their existing customisation options one step further.

    Freitag bags are made of recycled truck tarpaulins
    The 80-square-metre retail space was originally a standard shop for the brand but has been given a factory-style makeover.
    “We were looking for a unique pilot retail experience to reduce used truck tarp leftovers from our factory,” explained Freitag.
    “With the new shop, customers can get further involved by assembling their bag to their own taste and getting involved in the final production steps,” added the brand.
    “From now on, Freitag is transferring the final stages of production and the entire responsibility for the bag’s design to future owners, in our newly converted micro-factory.”

    Customers can operate a conveyor belt of material

    Founded in 1993 by graphic designers Markus and Daniel Freitag, Freitag specialises in practical bags made out of recycled tarpaulins.
    Used tarpaulin bought from trucking companies in Europe are cleaned, cut up and fashioned into bags. The material, polyester fabric coated with polyvinyl chloride (PVC), makes for durable and waterproof accessories.

    The shop is set up as a “micro-factory” for bags
    At Sweat-Yourself-Shop, customers can make their own shopper-style bag.
    The interiors of the micro-factory are designed to look “functional and industrial”, with grey walls and floors. Freitag painted all the machinery in Colour Index industrial green, the brand’s signature shade.

    The shopper bag is fully customisable
    A rainbow of tarpaulin panels are clipped to hangers dangling from a looped conveyor belt that runs along the shop’s ceiling.
    Customers can press a button to power the conveyor belt, bringing more colour choices out from behind windows of frosted glass.

    Customers can watch their bag being stitched
    Workshop stations allow them to pick out colours for the main bag and the outer pocket and watch them be cut and stitched together.

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    “The sheer amount of colour choices for tarp pieces that go into the F718 BUH shopper will probably have our part-time bag makers in the new Sweat-Yourself-Shop perspiring more heavily than the production work itself,” joked the brand.

    The whole process is visible through big display windows
    Large windows frame the shop so that passersby can also watch the process from the street.
    Sweat-Yourself-Shop is shortlisted for Dezeen Awards 2020 in the small retail interior category, alongside projects including a tiny bakery in Japan and beauty brand Glossier’s Seattle shop that’s covered in moss.

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  • Old nylon factory converted into “cathedral-like” office space

    HofmanDujardin and Schipper Bosch have inserted a steel frame into the expansive production hall of an old nylon factory in Arnhem to create the KB Building offices. The office is housed within one of several 1940s factories on a 90-hectare chemical-industry plant in the Netherlands, which local developer Schipper Bosch is transforming into a campus
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  • McLaren Excell channels church interiors for The Splash Lab's LA showroom

    Arched doorways, altar-like tables and a nave-style display area feature in this Los Angeles showroom that McLaren Excell has designed for bathroom brand The Splash Lab. The Splash Lab’s showroom takes over a converted factory in LA’s Culver City area that was originally built back in the 1930s. As this is the bathroom brand’s US […] More