Continuing its relationship with OMA, Knoll has called upon the architecture studio, co-founded by Rem Koolhaas, to design "This is Knoll." The Salone display is a hypermodern interpretation of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's modernist masterwork, the Barcelona Pavilion, with a focus on chromatic effects, stylistic twists and timeless furnishings. OMA designed the space to adapt to flux and flow of visitors, employing mobile partitions. These sliding walls make it possible to divide the Knoll display area into two separate sections or to create an open space, depending on need.
OMA deployed a range of materials that reinforce the concept of heterogeneity and create lush backdrops for the Knoll collections. These contrasting materials range from soft and solid, organic and synthetic, to transparent and opaque.
As in the original Barcelona Pavilion, designed by Mies van der Rohe in 1929, the OMA design puts luxe, natural stone at center stage. SolidNature, a longtime partner to OMA in realizing complex architectural projects, contributed stunning material offerings, testing the limits of material expression with some of the world's most exclusive marbles, including SolidNature's signature travertine.
OMA juxtaposed the marble materials with "Architectural Glass Panels," a custom project by the designer Sabine Marcelis that combines glass, metal and touches of color to create spatial dividers or theatrical wings. The work, specifically commissioned for Knoll at the Salone del Mobile 2016, reflects OMA's own signature theatrical choreography.
A series of scenes unfolds throughout the space, with new products playing the characters in a story of innovation and creativity—new ways of living at home and at work, from the most private rooms to the most public facilities. New designs by Piero Lissoni and Marc Krusin are highlighted just beyond the entrance (where the kinetic 04 Counter worksurface of the "Tools for Life" collection, designed by OMA for Knoll in 2013, is on display). Visitors who follow the OMA-designed circulation will discover new interpretations of design icons mixed with the latest pieces in unexpected settings.
For Benjamin Pardo, Executive Vice President of Design, Knoll, "OMA has created our stand to emphasize the contribution of our founders, who brought the benefits of modern design into both homes and places of work."
"Knoll is Modern Always® because modern always works."
