by: admin
Event: New Practices 2010 Winner Presentations: Tacklebox
Location: Center for Architecture, 04.07.11
Speaker: Jeremy Barbour, AIA — Principal, Tacklebox
Sponsors: Lead Sponsors: Dornbracht; MG & Company Construction Managers/General Contractors; Valiant Technology; Sponsors: Espasso; Hafele; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Media Sponsor: The Architect’s Newspaper
Saipua, Soap and Flower Shop in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
Tacklebox
Jeremy Barbour, AIA, has a talent for repurposing found objects and celebrating the ways that materials weather. As the principal and founder of Tacklebox, a recent AIANY New Practices New York award winner, he has completed designs ranging from boutique store interiors to print bandanas.
Tacklebox designed the flagship boutique for fashion label 3.1 phillip lim in SoHo with a five-month schedule and limited budget. Barbour discovered a pile of tongue-and-groove hardwood flooring in a construction bin and was inspired to stack the planks, exposing the edges, to create a textured entry wall surface. However, “it’s one thing to convince your client to put the flooring on the wall, but it’s another thing to convince a contractor,” explained Barbour. Fortunately, he found a contractor who appreciated the design concept, but later encountered another obstacle when an invitation for a Vogue-sponsored opening party was mailed with the incorrect date, pushing the already tight deadline back another month. The team managed to finish even earlier because, Barbour believes, “everyone had something at stake.”
The use of found objects also guided Tacklebox’s design for the storefront of Saipua, a shop in Red Hook that specializes in handmade soaps and floral arrangements. Barbour acquired some silvery, weathered wood that originally clad a Shaker barn. Guided by the dimensions of the boards, he designed a freestanding structure with niches carved out for displays. The result is a functional space that also serves as a “front porch” for the store.
Aside from his work with Tacklebox, Barbour also formed design collaborative Box & Flea with former classmate Andrew Woordrum, of Fleaheart. They handcraft bandanas, totes, and tool cases. An unexpected benefit of this side project has been the ability to meet potential boutique clients while coordinating to sell their wares.
Murrye Bernard, LEED AP, is an architectural journalist and contributing editor to e-Oculus.