Colour Interior Design Article
Turning Design Outside-In
The use of colour is a central aspect of all interior design and those who attended the Surface Design Show in London during March left with a clear view that there is a new kid on the block offering them a fresh combination of colours and textures.
The ‘new’ kid is, in fact, nothing of the sort. Expanded metal is a time-tested and well-known product within the construction industry where it has long been used as a carrier for other materials such as plasterwork. Its characteristics of strength, lightness and flexibility have recently begun to attract the attention of architects who have sought to release it from its secondary and, literally, supporting role so as to expose the product in its own right.
Now, however, designers are beginning to appreciate that a material which is starting to appear on the exterior of a number of iconic buildings also has a virtually limitless list of possibilities for interiors as well.
Colour and texture are important elements for the designer seeking to imbue a space with moods appropriate to a building’s function. Expanded metal mesh offers a range of natural as well as applied colours. Among the natural finishes are corten which provides a rusted effect, familiar to anyone who has seen Antony Gormley’s Angel of the North sculpture. Alternatively, the mesh can be supplied in a rich, bright copper finish that provides an excellent depth of colour as well as good reflectivity. Prepattinated copper mesh is currently finding great favour with architects and designers with its green and aged appearance. Stainless steel can be polished to a reflective shine whereas brass creates natural golden hues. Aluminium can provide a natural sheen or, if anodised, will enhance natural colours.
But there is another important ingredient that enriches the potential for any designer and that is light. Being metallic, expanded metal is naturally reflective and this was a principal consideration for architects Sanaa who specified an aluminium cladding from the Expanded Metal Company for the seven-storey outer envelope of the prestigious New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. The anodised finish of the mesh ensures that the building continually changes colour and intensity as it catches the natural light during the course of
each day.
Using light to create mood is the quality which has been used to great effect in the newly-refurbished Young Vic in London where architects Haworth Tompkins are displaying the advantages of using expanded metal both outside and inside the theatre where it ‘performs’ a number of roles; as cladding, a lighting feature and an artistic decoration.
The theatre’s auditorium has been re-clothed in a mixture of hand-painted cement board panels and expanded metal mesh which is held away from the painted panels and lit from beneath. This design allows a transformation between an understated, workmanlike daytime appearance and what the architects describe as the “celebratory night-time modes of the theatre.”
This is an example of combining mesh and lighting to achieve colour and mood changes, a concept which has also been fully embraced by Edinburgh architects Reiach and Hall who designed the Forth Road Bridge Toll Booths. The main feature of the building is a façade and soffitt composed of mesh which is lit internally, diffusing light through the mesh at dusk, to provide a luminescence and calming ambience intended to have a soothing effect upon queuing drivers.
The Expanded Metal Company also offers its products in the full spectrum of RAL colours, not to mention a range of patterns and shapes: square, slatted, hexagon, circular or curved to create an infinite variety of textures and finishes. As knowledge of the material and the technology that produces it increase, so the design possibilities multiply.
The mesh provides the interior designer with an extensive palette from which to create some truly inspirational solutions to the requirements of a project for features such as wall panelling, ceiling tiles, reception desks, shelving, screening, lighting, balustrading and walkways.
Practicality and sustainability are considerations that are now part of every architects’ and designers’ stock in trade and on these counts The Expanded Metal Company’s products score highly. Each mesh is formed from a single piece of metal which ensures there is nothing to work loose. The production process is not wasteful of material as the holes are not punched through but created by expanding the metal. The fact that a solid sheet is used to create each mesh also results in the product having a higher strength-toweight ratio than sheet metal – a factor that offers many opportunities to the designer and which competes more than favourably with materials that are merely decorative.
Expanded metal has proved itself as a product that is extremely functional but, thanks to the multiplicity of patterns, colours and textures available, it is now being appreciated as the latest means by which interior designers can make a bold fashion statement as well.
