The Home Front: Conscious design
Reflecting on how we live and how to improve on it is pretty much what designers and architects do for a living. Finding solutions to everyday problems or irritations — many we aren’t even conscious of until they’re pointed out — is part of what drives them.
2020 has been a huge year for inner reflections; on things we take for granted and will no longer. Interior design shows are a great place to hear the reflections of leading international design talents like New Yorkbased architect-designer Nina Edwards Anker.
Anker has spent a good deal of time considering the way we live, and she specializes in sustainable architecture and design.
Founder of Brooklyn-based Nea Studio, Anker is an accomplished architect, having taught at Manhattan’s Pratt Institute and the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. She designed her Long Island, N.Y., home, calling it the Cocoon House. It is LEED Gold-certified and a manifestation of her sustainable design ideals, built from timber.
“Timber is sustainable. It’s good for the planet, but it’s also good for human lungs.
I had no choice but to build an entirely wood structure because I have two family members who have asthma, so I’m thinking a lot now about the human lungs with COVID-19. Interiors that are built with organic, non-toxic materials are good for your lungs and breathing and wellness,” she says.
Achieving wellness in our homes is very much connected to materials we use, and the amount of natural light that gets in, says Anker.
The architect used skylights throughout her home to allow for different cinematic light experiences in every room, she says, ranging from sunset to vermillion.
These colours represent the “phases of the sun,” says Anker, referencing William Turner’s paintings — famous for the way he captured light.
Anker was first inspired to become an architect by some Hollywood producer friends, when she witnessed the passion they showed for their creative projects, she says.
“I thought, wow! I want to do something I’m as passionate about. And the reason they’re so passionate is that their work changes so many people, and moves people,” she says.
Anker says she set out to achieve a similar thing with architecture, wanting people to think wow when they see her design, such as her Cocoon Home. She wants people to hear the ocean, see the sun reflected in the pool, smell the natural materials and even be scared a little bit when they consider the impact they’re having on the planet in their day-to-day lives.
She used many curves in designing her Cocoon Home as they help with air circulation and act as screens that project the natural light that comes in, she says.
Anker’s passion for sustainable design that promotes wellness is also reflected in some of her furniture collections.
“I do a couple of sofas that are made out of natural foam. I actually push fabricators and manufacturers to move away from the traditional way of making things. It’s our responsibility to not use toxic polyurethane foam,” she says.
Maynard Johnny Jr. is a Coast Salish artist who is passionate about sharing the beauty of his Coast Salish culture through his art and getting people to think about the impact they’re having on the environment.
Of the recent Californian wildfires, the artist says, he took it as a pretty big sign that as human beings we really need to slow down a bit, and focus on how we can change the world for the better: “All we’ve done is take, take, take. I think all this stuff that’s happening is forcing us to really look at ourselves.”