
15 May 2008
New Trespa Design Centre Opens in New York City
Trespa’s new Design Centre in New York will offer a unique experience for American architects. It will not only be a showcase for Trespa’s building design concepts and other Dutch products but will also be an inspirational place for meeting, learning and networking.
Trespa North America Ltd is opening a new Design Centre in New York. The Trespa Design Centre is a unique concept. The main purpose is to meet and inspire the large concentration of trendy and innovative architects who work in the city but are involved with projects nationwide. The Design Centre is situated on Greene Street in the SoHo area of lower Manhattan where many of these architectural practices are based. This is also the design district where many interior showrooms, architectural product companies and associated activities proliferate.
The interior has been designed by Hans van de Schoot of Studio Schoot in the Netherlands. This Dutch designer has spent 25 years creating inspirational spaces, showrooms and exhibitions around the world. The well-known practice of Gage Clemenceau was commissioned to be the local project architects. Their work has been featured in Chicago’s Museum of Art and New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
The Dutch have a long association with America; New York, for example, was originally founded by the Dutch and called New Amsterdam. Many American architects recognise that Europe in general and Holland in particular are often ahead in innovative building concepts and product design. To emphasis the Dutch design theme, the facility integrates products from other well-known Dutch suppliers. These include, for example, Forbo flooring, Brand van Egmond lighting, Tichelaar Makkum ceramic products and Ahrend Bcrea and Montis furniture.
It will also feature products designed by Marcel Wanders, Li Edelkoort, Hella Jongerius, Piet Hein Eek, Job Smeets, Evelyn Merkx, William Brand, Arnette van Egmond and many other famous Dutch designers.
Design concepts and products
The idea behind the Trespa Design Centre is to promote design concepts rather than isolated products. It will inspire the architectural community to “Think Trespa” for new building design and refurbishment, especially by encouraging study of the Trespa Perspectives concept and to translate these ideas into innovative, imaginative and long-lasting building facades. It will be the place in which regular seminars will be held to educate architects about Trespa’s exterior cladding panel Meteon® and the sustainable and design qualities of Trespa.
The Design Centre will be more of an experience than a showroom. It will also provide a large networking and discussion space for architects, designers and their clients. By offering meeting rooms, free internet, printing facilities and other benefits, it will be an inspirational place in which to share ideas, work and learn. To that end, it will encourage participation and meetings by committees and external organisations. These will include the American Institute of Architects’, Center for Architecture, located near Greenwich Village and founded by the NY Chapter of the AIA, and by Material ConneXion, the largest global resource of new and innovative materials. In addition, the Dutch design partners will also use the Design Centre as a platform for their design events and product exhibitions.
American architects are very interested in products, such as Trespa, which are environmentally friendly and sustainable. Particularly those which meet the requirements of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Green Building Rating System™ are highly regarded by encouraging and accelerating the adoption of sustainable green building and development practices. Trespa has also been particularly active in ensuring that all their products meet or exceed stringent US building regulations and testing procedures.
For these reasons, over the last 18 years, Trespa panels have become increasingly popular and widely specified by many well-known architects. Currently, over 100 projects are in the course of design and/or construction in the US alone. All incorporate large areas of Trespa products, particularly Meteon external cladding and Virtuon internal surface panels.
Reader enquiries
Trespa International b.v.P.O. Box 110
6000 AC Weert
Netherlands
+31 495 458 353
P.Waterschoot@trespa.com
Notes for editors
Trespa Meteon
The Trespa Meteon range of architectural panels is widely specified for exterior cladding. The panels are available in a large range of different colours, effects and finishes.
The Meteon panel is based on thermosetting resin, homogeneously reinforced with 70% wood fibres and manufactured under high pressure and high temperature. This results in a panel which is very tough and exceptionally durable, with dimensional stability and workability similar to hardwood. The smooth, non-porous surface resists the accumulation of dirt and retains its high physical performance and appearance in any weather or in extremes of temperature. The high impact-resistance of the panel means that it cannot be easily damaged, scratched or abused. It is also easy to clean and is unaffected by cleaning materials.
A new design source
Trespa Perspectives is a new source of inspiration for architects, designers and specifiers – the means to stimulate new ideas and realise new designs. By visiting http://perspectives.trespa.com and clicking on Projects, they can meet other architects and designers whose imaginations have been inspired by the Perspectives concept and who have used it to create some of today’s most exciting building façades. Visitors to the website start with a click and finish with inspiration!
Trespa
Trespa International, with head office in Weert, The Netherlands, specialises in the manufacture of high quality panels for exterior cladding, interior surfaces and other applications. Trespa has the expertise and in-house resources to provide specific products for many different applications and markets. In addition to their exceptional performance, Trespa products offer the specifier and user the very widest choice of designs, colours and surface textures.