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DECORATIVE & DESIGN / PROFILE
DESIGN FILE KINETURA
Championing their concept of ‘Metamorphism’, design team Kinetura hope to reinvigorate modernist architecture and design with functional forms that respond organically to their environment
Top Barbara van Biervliet and Xaveer Claerhout of Kinetura
Above The Santiago is part of the Kinetura range designed by van Biervliet and Claerhout for TAL. The rectangular lid slowly folds back to allow light to flood out in response to the needs of the occupants
Architecture and design have undergone some dramatic changes since the modern- ism that dominated the 20th century. The strict rationality that created those pure, functional forms has in many cases been replaced by built spaces as complex as the societies that use them. These newest expressions of human achievement are in many ways testament to advancements in computer design technology and produc- tion possibilities. For Xaveer Claerhout and Barbara van Biervliet, the couple behind architecture/design firm Kinetura, this elaborately formed architecture, while beautiful, often doesn’t in itself offer a practical solution to specific problems. For the past five years, their objective has been to bring a renewed modernism back to architecture and design with the creation of ‘modern forms – strict, severe, functional, but with a metamorphic dimension’. Metamorphism is the credo that informs all of Kinetura’s works. A term borrowed from geology, for them it encapsulates their con- cept of form and function that flexes and adapts with time. The Kinetura project grew naturally from the couple’s architectural practice. Claerhout’s background in art history – with particularly focus on sculpture – and van Biervliet’s civil engineering and archi- tectural education perhaps gave the pair a heightened interest in the meeting of the technical and aesthetic. The husband and wife team were often encouraged by clients to fill the spaces they created with forms and furniture; lamps and light. They realised that, instead of dictating the final character of the buildings, they were able to enhance it in such a way that the spaces would adapt to suit the needs of its oc-
cupants.
One such piece was New York, a skyscraper- like tower with flexible sides that slowly bend outwards to allow a light source inside to illuminate the room to the required level. After exhibiting a prototype at SOFA art fair in New York in 2008, they were contacted by a curator of the Abitare il Tempo cultural exhibition and furniture fair in Verona. Taking up the offer of 250sqm of exhibition space, they were able to expand on the Metamorphism theme, filling the room with more lamp prototypes as well as screening a short movie of the Kinetower – their concept for a building with an outer skin that flexes to allow in differing levels of light. The tower’s design may seem ambitious, perhaps even fantastical, but Claerhout is clear he wants to avoid becoming an archi- tect of impossible structures that remain in a purely conceptual form. Kinetower, he insists, is rooted in reality. “It is not our goal to create utopic and futuristic images. What we want to achieve is innovative but real products and buildings. That is why we cooperate closely with engineers and research and development departments.” As Claerhout recalls, the prototype lamps alongside the Tower movie provoked an enthusiastic response from those that expe- rienced the exhibition. But these were the last moments of optimism before the col- lapse of Lehman Brothers led to the world of construction getting collective cold feet. One very positive outcome for the Kinetura team’s trip to Verona, however, came after a meeting with representatives from TAL Lighting. The Belgian light fixture manufac- turer was impressed by the prototypes and took on the range for production.
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