Dubai Mall Medical Centre

Bloomingdale’s, Giorgio Armani, and Catherine Malandrino aren’t the only major imports at the Burj Khalifa, the 2,600-foot-tall United Arab Emirates tower formerly known as the Burj Dubai. On the third story, health care based on a Western model is offered at the Dubai Mall Medical Centre, an NBBJ-designed alternative to local public options.

Whether circumstances call for an echocardiogram, a capped tooth, or a touch of Botox, traffic is heavy and truly multicultural: local elites rubbing shoulders with expats from Asia, Europe, and the U. S. To avoid an “airport lounge” feeling, senior lead designer Karen Eskandari explains, her team prepared a mood video exploring the sensory aspects of a visit to the medical center. What would it smell like? How would a door handle feel?

The 60,000-square-foot project borrows luxury-hospitality elements such as marble flooring. A color palette emerged when NBBJ pixellated photographs of the region’s landscape: taupe, pearlized cream, white, silver blue, and sea blue. Water, the ultimate luxury for desert dwellers, became a metaphor not only in terms of color but also in terms of shapes. CNC-milled MDF wall panels ripple like the surface of a pond.

Imagining how rain puddles, Eskandari designed free-form carpet insets to anchor separate seating groups in the spacious central waiting area. Semicircular ceiling tracks allow sheers, highlighted by recessed LED fixtures, to be pulled around each grouping for partial privacy. The sofas and ottomans inside are round or curved in deference to the region’s traditional flowing clothing, prone to snagging on sharp corners. It’s seating that would not appear at all out of place in the designer shoe department at Bloomingdale’s.

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Herman Miller Ardea

The Ardea light has earned both Gold and Silver honors from the International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA), while the Twist LED task light earned dual Bronze awards. The products and their respective awards across multiple categories secured a place for Herman Miller among the top corporate winners for 2010 and also for the past five years, with 8 awards in total during the period.

2010 marks the 30th year of the annual design competition, which recognizes design excellence in products, ecodesign, research, strategy, packaging, interactive design, and concepts. The IDEA awards are sponsored by the Industrial Designers Society of America and held in collaboration with the Henry Ford Museum and media sponsor Fast Company Magazine. Herman Miller’s Ardea and Twist lights were selected among 1900 product entries from 29 countries.

Designed by Yves Behar and fuseproject, Ardea took top honors in the Ecodesign and Home Living categories. Its elegant design, inspired by the long, slender, and flexible necks of great herons, is also highly functional: Users can infinitely direct illumination. Juror Mieko Kusano of Sonos, Inc., summarizes Ardea’s impression on jurors: “Organic form inspired by nature and design to have minimal impact on nature through high efficiency lighting and green design.”

Also designed by fuseproject, the Twist LED task light won recognition both in the Ecodesign and Office & Productivity categories. The Twist LED light consumes up to half the energy of other undershelf lights, while its energy-efficient, eco-friendly design is matched by its simple aesthetics and easy-to-control illumination.

Both lights are part of Herman Miller’s Thrive Portfolio, its collection of research-based, ergonomic products

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Thrive Portfolio from Herman Miller

Feel Better. Work Better

Herman Miller’s research-based ergonomic products makes it possible for people to thrive. Described as Total Ergonomic Solutions, Herman Miller rolls out the Thrive Ergonomics Portfolio to better organize their health-positive line of products and help guide clients in their proper use. With their acquisition of UK-based Colebrook Bosson Saunders, Herman Miller rounds out their ergonomic product offerings to make people safer, happier, healthier and more comfortable.

Check out the new Thrive Portfolio for yourself at http://www.hermanmiller.com/Thrive-Portfolio

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Campo Chair from Kimball Office

JASPER, IN (May  2010) — For those in the market for task seating, Kimball(R) Office interstuhl(R) is offering a new, ergonomic and affordable option, with many of the same features found in higher-end office seating. Campos(TM) allows employees from all corners of the office to experience the comfort found when intuitive controls integrate with simple design. The line will debut in June, in the Kimball Office Chicago showroom, during the week of the NeoCon World’s Trade Fair.

“Campos revolutionizes the expectations of traditional task seating by including many of the same luxury features found in other Kimball Office  interstuhl seating products, and not currently available in the general task chair market,” said Jeff Fenwick, Vice President and General Manager at Kimball Office. “Campos combines solid quality with a light aesthetic, to provide the market with a budget-friendly, sustainable task chair.”
Crafted by world-renowned designer, Reiner Moll, Campos incorporates features such as a synchronous mechanism, tension adjustment, the option for a seat slider, adjustable lumbar pad, and a mesh or upholstered backrest. The line also includes large casters, backrest height adjustment, the choice of 2D or 4D armrests and a polished aluminum or black plastic base. Moll previously designed the award-winning Axos(TM), Best of NeoCon Gold 2007, and Xantos(TM), both Kimball Office  interstuhl lines.

Campos is ergonomic, Euro-styled seating, which encourages proper posture, respiration, circulation, and supports the vertebrae correctly. The line is available in a variety of mesh and upholstery colors. Orders for Campos will begin in early July 2010.

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