bumble and bumble salon

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bumble and bumble salon

Type

Government + Health ›

YEAR

1996

SIZE

10,000 sqft - 25,000 sqft

On April Fool’s day 1995, an
electrical fire swept through Bumble & Bumble completely gutting the 19th
Century former carriage house.
Instructed by the owner to make it “fabulous” and give it a unity of a
“single enterprise”, the salon’s formerly two stories were expanded to occupy
the entire building.

Architecture with a “loose-fit”
was employed as a means of organizing and signifying the different
architectural spaces. The spatial
strategy was to create open areas within which specific architectural and
programmatic elements could be inserted,
and sometimes moved. Bumble could
be thought of as a series of linked places that share materials, a quality of
light, a sense of movement. A
floor-by-floor approach was employed with certain architectural gestures common
to the entire interior, but with each area acquiring a distinct identity and
presence. Flexibility within a tautly
organized plan address the diverse and articulate program.

The floors are distinguished by
program: the basement houses
support/storage spaces; the ground floor consists of the main entry, cutting
salon and the cafe; offices are on the second
floor; the color salon, with its own reception and make-up studio, are on
the third floor; the executive
offices are on the mezzanine.

From the street, the building’s
interior reveals itself. A robotic
device in the window serves as an indicator of what is within. Animated and mysterious in nature, it greets
you as you enter. While displaying
information with still photographs and customized video monitors, it stands on
metal feet and attaches itself to the window with industrial suction cups. Immediately upon leaving the street, there is
a sense of dislocation. The salon places
you on display while you simultaneously view others creating an ambiguous
experience of looking and being looked upon.
Transparency, translucency, opacity; spaces and objects are linked and
revealed through materials and shapes creating a feeling of anticipation and
curiosity.

The ground floor salon is a blue plaster box with a poured acrylic
cement floor. Smaller, discreet structures were inserted into the larger space
where they serve as both signs and directional devices which lead one through
the salon. They are buildings along a
route: reception, product/store, salon, cafe. The reception box, visible from
the street, glows like a lantern after dark.
A galvanized metal-paneled wall contains storage, computers, graphic
display and a cafe as well as an entry to the stair tower which accesses the
rest of the salon. The cafe, clad in maple and chalkboard swallow light while
softly glowing. The cutting stations are
assembled from poured concrete counters, lights and mirrors supported by
aluminum brackets supporting, and fiberglass panels mounted over a steel
frames. They provide a dynamic mix of
privacy and exposure. The last component
of the ground floor are the dressing
rooms and adjacent shampoo area defined by a continuous bolt of fabric tautly
woven around steel pipes, private enclosures for changing are formed. The
lighting in the salon is a combination of incandescent and fluorescent fixtures
establishing flattering light levels and color balance.

The floors are linked by a stairwell with specific
lighting, sound and material characteristics.
A two-story tower made of steel angles clad and metal grating rises
within the space, housing lighting and sound equipment. Greenish plaster walls and floors mixed with
the steel give the space an “aquatic feel”.
The structure pins the program together as clients move from floor to
floor.

Translucent fiberglass and acrylic screens form the
reception and transitional spaces from the stair tower to the color/third floor. Giving partial privacy while transmitting
light, this combination of materials is found throughout the project. Against a blackboard backdrop, the second
reception desk receives the visitor.
Below the mezzanine, the maple and stainless steel color dispensary and
its galvanized work table are available for scrutiny. Out from under the maple soffit of the
mezzanine, the color stations plug-in to a power grid in the stained plywood
floor, which is based on a drawing by Brice Marden. The painted floor addresses the inevitability
of stains with additional drips and splatters accumulated over time helping to
complete the drawing. The color stations or “steamer trunks” of maple plywood
and blackened steel frames, fold up
and roll away for photo shoots and seminars.
Equipment fits inside, and each unit contains lighting and storage. They are hinged and lockable, offering the
users complete adaptability as well as the ability to reconfigure the space.

The maple ceiling bends and folds
over the double height space with clear industrial globe lights dripping from
the ceiling and scattered above the work area.
Natural light pours in through three giant galvanized light scoops. Along the north side of the double height
space a fiberglass, acrylic and poplar “billboard’ is hinged to the mezzanine
and leans out over the space, a screen with light and silhouettes animating the
color floor below.

A green plaster wall reaches up
to the mezzanine level to anchor the
glowing acrylic and steel grating bridge which leads to the mezzanine. One wall of the space is actually the
‘billboard’ through which the executive offices have an over view of the
studio’s frantic pace below.

With unexpected combinations and
assemblages of architectural elements, reiterated materials with depth and
texture connections and dichotomies are formed creating the coherent feel and
function of the salon. Quiet and
private, public and noisy, our task was to make it a destination. Clients coming to participate in their own
transformation also participate in ours.