Design CommissionsDesign Commissions

Architecture firm Monadnock (Job Floris and Sandor Naus) shaped the spatial design of the _Designing the Surface _exhibition (2017).

Every finish of every product has a purpose, whether to tempt, protect or imitate. Designers are no longer confined to applying a protective coating; besides protection or decoration, it has become increasingly common to optimise and even to apply totally new properties as finishes. _Designing the Surface_, an exhibition on the final layer of products, presents a collection of artefacts grouped in five sections: Lustre (gloss), Patina (surface texture), Faux (disguise), Teflon (repelling) and Agency (militancy). Product surfaces are exposed as symbols of glamour and denial. At the same time, the credo 'form follows function' proves out of date now that a simple coating can enable new functions irrespective of form.

In Designing the Surface, exhibition curators Chris Kabel and Koehorst in 't Veld distinguish five themes in relation to the different functions of the final surface with which products are finished, such as tempting, camouflaging, protecting and ageing. To house these themes, "We designed a series of autonomous pavilions, varying in format and character, that engage in dialogue with one another as individuals," says Monadnock's Job Floris. "A fairground setting is the point of reference."

The pavilions are constructed from simple building materials and are distinguished from one another by their different finishes. "Precious and poor were two qualities that guided the choice of materials and techniques," Floris explains. "The construction consists of a simple, standard wooden skeleton. Sometimes that construction has been left visible, sometimes it has been hidden from sight. In each case, one side has been carefully finished and the other left untreated, as is the case with theatre props. This contrast combines well with the theme of the surface layer."

The contrast between front and rear is a characteristic feature of the design. The exhibits are also presented variously inside or outside the pavilions. "Each pavilion offers a different experience and perspective on the theme," says Floris. "For instance, the closed Lustre pavilion has peepholes giving a view of the interior, where a reflective world almost explodes with glitter and dazzle. The Faux pavilion looks solid at first, but as you get closer you discover that what looked like marble from a distance is actually painted chipboard. Here too there's a play with construction and finish, reality and illusion."

That tension between representation and construction is a rich architectural theme that is a regular feature of Monadnock's designs, he adds: "Not trying to achieve a constructional honesty, but playing with the power of suggestion, is a recurrent theme in our work. Working on the exhibition helped us to reflect on this theme on a conceptual level. It was really inspiring to work together with industrial and graphic designers, who work in different ways and on different scales from what we architects are used to."

Monadnock, a Rotterdam-based architecture practice, was founded by Job Floris and Sandor Naus in 2006. Monadnock designs, researches, writes and produces discourse in the fields of architecture, urbanism, interior and staging, shifting in scale between the city, the street and the interior. Monadnock creates buildings that embed architecture in contemporary cultural production. By examining key themes such as the current and the traditional, convention and banality, and constructive logic and illusionary representation, Monadnock aims for an architecture that combines beauty, efficiency and the transfer of architectural knowledge.

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