Pollen Studio, a local design firm, partitioned a busy shopping mall lobby to house a foot massage centre entirely out of paper, creating a temporary business location that is both affordable and attracts the interest of potential clients. The space the massage centre occupies was made available to the firm for a limited time. The business felt the cost of wood partitioning was prohibitive. Blank walls were also unappealing and they felt it may turn off tired shoppers even if they would be interested in a foot massage. Paper was the most cost-effective material. “It was one of those serendipitous moments,” says Pollen Studio
Director Kanishka Perera of when he suggested the way-out idea of a paper enclosure to his client, but the end result speaks for itself.
The four-man design team first folded thick, 250gsm sheets of paper into triangles. By gluing the triangles together, they created a block form. This was the “brick” they used to create the partition walls. The triangles were folded with perforations to allow people to see through it at the right angles. The 490 smaller triangle blocks were then aligned with each other to create bigger structural forms. The different levels had six varying perforations – larger as it went higher. The team took two days to put together the final 36 structures at the site.
For the project, the team creased 80kg of paper into 1,470 triangles. The paper has a protective coating so that, when dust collects, it can just be brushed off. The final structure is four walls of different heights held together by 3.5 litres of Uhu glue and 36m of masking tape.
The inside of the foot spa is just big enough for three full-size recliners, stools for the massage therapists and massage equipment holders also designed by Pollen Studio. The spa has no roof or door, but enough privacy for a foot massage. It is also appealing and can attract customers simply due to its interesting design.
[pullquote]Pollen Studio is a design collective headed by Kanishka Perera that is behind several design architecture projects around Colombo – including the redesign of Ramada Colombo[/pullquote]
Perera says what took the longest time was precision planning. The slightest miscalculation sent them back to the drawing board. The team calls the project ‘Erosion’ in resonance with the dry pedicure offered at the foot spa. (The Erosion by Pollen Studio clip on YouTube is worth checking out.)
Pollen Studio is also behind the recent refurbishment of Ramada Colombo. Backed by his father’s architecture and interior design company, Perera’s team redesigned the entire hotel. The concept of the renovated lobby was light and illumination of spaces, achieved through the glass walls that expose it to the main street. The studio also designed the flat ivy wall that decorates the lobby and redesigned the Trunk jewellery store at the hotel.
However, Pollen Studio is more than just an architecture company. Its portfolio includes several design projects like a meditation retreat centre in the heart of the 260-acre Jathika Namal Uyana in Dambulla. This project was given over to a foreign counterpart to complete.
True to its namesake, the studio cross pollinates across disciplines like designing, sculpting and creating. The dream, according to Perera, is to one day have their own workshop.
Pollen Studio
109A, Gothami Road, Colombo 08
071 680 2253 (Kanishka )
[email protected]
www.thepollenstudio.com