A chance to talk about three of our favorites in one post. We take a look at Soundwave acoustic tiles from Finland and their stylish use in the stunning offices of Fahrenheit 212 in New York. Offices that were totally redesigned earlier this year by the architectural firm, David Howell Design.
We recently had lunch in New York with our friend Marcus and we agreed to meet up at Fahrenheit 212, the company where he works. Whilst there we noticed another of our favorite Scandinavian designs, Soundwave acoustic tiles, being put to good use.
Fahrenheit 212 is a product development company and earlier this year they moved into a new office space. A space designed to be a branded space rather than a space with a brand in which every detail of the design not only reflects the company’s philosophy but also its distinctive orange and grey logo. This includes the use of grey Soundwave acoustic tiles to cover an entire wall of an otherwise sparse and all white meeting room.
The Soundwave series of sculptural wall panels are designed to enhance the acoustic properties of interiors used for communication or social interaction. While acoustic products are usually hidden in the fabric of the building, Soundwave is deliberately designed to resemble some sort of 3D wallpaper, turning acoustic control into a highly attractive environmental object. Soundwave tiles come in a number of different styles (with great names such as Swell, Scrunch, Luna, Swoop and Diffuser) and a range of colors….including our favorites black, white and grey.
Soundwave was designed by the Finnish designer Teppo Asikainen when he was a member of Snowcrash, the famous design group formed in Finland during the late 1990’s. Teppo is now one of the partners of Valvomo, an architecture and design office based in Helsinki and the Soundwave product is now owned and distributed by Offecct, a Swedish design company.
It turns out the Fahrenheit 212’s offices were designed by another friend of ours, David Howell of David Howell Design, a New York based architectural practice. We happen to know that David’s as much a fan of Soundwave as we are and he’s used it in a number of his commercial projects in New York. For more information on his design for Fahrenheit 212 there’s an interesting article in the New York Times here.
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