"We're not building a playground for kids," say founders of Fosbury & Sons

The founders of Fosbury & Sons explain to Dezeen how their fast-growing roster of spaces offer a more "grown-up" and personalised take on co-working than those of leading competitors like WeWork.

Established in 2016 by Stijn Geeraets and Maarten Van Gool, Fosbury & Sons has opened a series of co-working spaces across the Belgian cities of Antwerp and Brussels.

The company has recently gone international, opening a canal-side branch in Amsterdam, and has plans to launch a further three locations by the end of this year – a success that the founders put down to their strong "dialogue" with each property's setting and occupants.

The lobby of Fosbury & Son's Amsterdam branch inside a 19th-century hospital

"What you see at WeWork is good and I think we can exist next to each other, but if you're in a WeWork, the spaces in Amsterdam kind of look the same in Berlin," Geeraets and Van Gool told Dezeen in an interview.

"Every [Fosbury & Sons] location looks different. It's based on the original building, it's based on the city we're in. So it gets personality from the building and the people working in it."

"It's an exercise in being humble and open to what the city and location gives us, instead of forcing yourself into a framework. And understanding the needs of the other party – therefore you need to listen," they added.

"WeWork is a lot of shouting. When people shout, they are not listening."

The co-working company's inaugural property in Antwerp, fitted with luxe light fixtures and art pieces

Geeraets and Van Gool also think the sophisticated aesthetic of their spaces – which are typically decked out with bespoke furnishings, dramatic light fixtures and contemporary artworks – helps set them apart from the bean bags and ping-pong tables seen in other co-working offices.

"We're not building a playground for kids, we're building a working environment for mature, grown-up human beings to do their job," they added.

"The future of work environments is not open-plan"

Geeraets and Van Gool went on to discuss how they speak extensively with prospective members of each new Fosbury & Sons location to get a clear picture of the various ways in which they work.

The pair also closely consider what they describe as the "four basic functions of the brain: individual work, collaborating, focused work – really diving deep into a matter – and rest. The brain needs to rest".

"It's like a date, you really want to get to know each other. Otherwise, the solution will be off and the proposal will be far away from what they have in mind," said Geeraets and Van Gool.

The pair also feel that open-plan offices, which have been widely adopted, don't work in every context.

"The future of work environments is not open-plan. It's really about getting to the dialogue, on an individual and team basis," the said.

Homely sitting areas feature in one of Fosbury & Sons' Brussels offices

As a result, every branch features a mix of private offices, closed-off booths, and sprawling lounges dotted with plush sofas where individuals can casually work and hang-out throughout the day.

Becoming familiar with clients also helped Geeraets and Van Gool ensure they have the right mix of professionals in Fosbury & Sons properties.

"We don't want to be a design ghetto, or a tech ghetto or startup ghetto – creativity arises when you get things together from different places and you can connect the dots," they added.

"Whether it's a lawyer, or financial guy or corporation selling vacuum cleaners, that actually doesn't matter. It's a kind of mindset, the emotional intelligence that the people of the company have."

"You have to accept it will never be finished"

Plenty of research was also required before doors were thrown open to the inaugural Fosbury & Sons branch in Antwerp.

Coming together in what they describe as an "atelier-like" process, Geeraets and Van Gool spent 18 months meeting, travelling and drafting ideas to consolidate their concept of the company.

Geeraets, in particular, wanted to create something that was far from the bleak, light-starved offices where he had worked in the past, "drinking coffee out of a plastic cup".

Another Fosbury & Sons space in Antwerp will open this year

"We had something in mind, but we didn't know what it was – it wasn't clear," they explained, "it was about visiting places, finding balance between different products, looking at service level, space needs, design, budgets, income costs."

But despite having the "building blocks" to Fosbury & Sons, the duo believes there's always room for improvement in the trio of spaces that are set to open in 2020.

One will be set inside a former warehouse in Amsterdam's Westerdok neighbourhood, and another property will be in Antwerp. The third branch will be located at the port of Valencia, Spain.

"You start evaluating what can be better, what do we have to do differently – it's a process that will be going on and on and on," they concluded.

"You have to accept that it will never be finished and that it will never be perfect. And it doesn't have to be too perfect."

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Skinny house squeezed into dense Tokyo neighbourhood

A skinny house clad in black steel by Apollo Architects & Associates slots into a tiny plot of land in Tokyo, Japan, and features minimalist interiors.

Named Jewel, the L-shaped home was designed by Apollo Architects & Associates for a couple with one child.

It measures just 1.4-metres-wide on its smallest side, and has a total floor area of 80.58 square metres.

Its stark black facade made of galvanised steel sheets, while bright white interiors make a blank canvas for the family's belongings.

"The client is well versed in design. They liked minimal design like John Pawson," said Satoshi Kurosaki, principal of Apollo Architects & Associates.

"The only decorative item is the dark brown shelves on the wall. This is where people who live in this house decorate themselves and express their good taste," he told Dezeen.

Jewel comprises two storeys stacked in an L-shaped form.

The shape of the house was dictated by the constraints of its "flagpole" site – a square plot with a narrow approach – in the dense residential neighbourhood.

This design approach is common in contemporary Japanese houses built in cities, as land is limited and expensive to buy.

Inside, Jewel's layout is modelled on the couple's request for a private zone on the ground floor and a more public area on the first floor. Both levels share the same minimalist aesthetic informed by the client's interest in the work of British architectural designer Pawson.

The black cladding outside was chosen to contrast with these pared-back finishes, and help create a feeling of openness upon entering.

On the ground floor, the house comprises two bathrooms, a master bedroom and the child's bedroom. A minimal open-tread staircase lit by a skylight provides access to the first floor.

Above is an open plan living, dining and kitchen area punctured by a balcony on one side. Together with the skylights, this balcony brings natural light into the house while maintaining the client's privacy.

The first floor balcony has also been lined with the same ceramic flooring as the living spaces to make the floor space feel bigger.

"Although one cannot see the inside very well from outside because it's surrounded, once you step in side, there is a courtyard and expansive feeling space filled with natural light," Kurosaki explained.

Apollo Architects and Associates is a Japanese architecture studio founded by Kurosaki in 2000.

Other projects that the firm has completed in Tokyo include a steel-clad house that hides an "external living room", an earthquake-resistant house made of concrete and a monolithic black house that conceals an internal courtyard.

Photography is by Masao Nishikawa.

---

Project credits:

Architecture: Satoshi Kurosaki/Apollo Architects & Associates
Structural engineer: Nomura Structures
Lighting design: Sirius Lighting Office

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Desert X installs 14 site-specific works in Saudi Arabian desert

A host of large-scale installations have been built amidst the canyons of the Al Ula desert in Saudi Arabia that reflect the landscape and its heritage for the returning Desert X exhibition.

Previously located in the Californian desert, in the area known for hosting the annual Coachella music festival, Desert X Al Ula is the first site-responsive exhibition of its kind in Saudi Arabia.

Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim's Falling Stones Garden features 320 brightly coloured sculptures informed by the natural rockfall of the surrounding cliffs

Participating artists include Copenhagen studio Superflex, American artist Lita Albuquerque and Saudi Arabian artist Nasser Al Salem.

Each of the works, which range from artificial puddles that double as trampolines to a three-seater swing, are intended to encourage dialogue about the desert and reflect on the area's history.

eL Seed's Mirage sculpture takes inspiration from Al Ula's ancient trade routes

The installation by French-Tunisian artist eL Seed, for instance, was informed by the ancient trade routes that formerly ran through the Al Ula desert. The work itself sits on site of what once was an oasis.

Titled Mirage, the sculpture resembles a pile of muddled letters taken from the Arabic script, which viewers can enter and walk underneath.

Instead of using striking colours as featured in the artist's other works, eL Seed opted for muted beige tones that blended in with the surrounding environment to make the sculpture almost "disappear", giving the impression of a mirage.

Rashed AlShashai's work references Al Ula's natural rock formations that were once used for shelter by travellers

Rashed Al Shashai also reflects on the desert's trading history with a pyramidal structure made from plastic pallets typically used for the transportation of goods.

Al Shashai's A Concise Passage installation aims to represent Al Ula as a centre for the exchange of ideas rather than goods, and a generator of meaning and understanding rather than commerce.

Manal Al Dowayan created a set of puddle-like installations made from large trampolines

According to Desert X artistic director Neville Wakefield, who co-curated the exhibition with Raneem Farsi and Aya Alireza, site-specific works such as these are informed by land art from the late 1960s and early 70s.

At this time, artists "consciously gravitated towards the remote as a means of breaking down the walls – physical, experiential and economic – of the institutions to which they felt bound," Wakefield said.

Zahrah AlGhamdi placed thousands of old date tins in a glistening river-like formation as an ode to the desert's agricultural wealth

"Since then, globalisation has left us with a radically altered perception of the world," he continued. "The universe may have contracted but cultural walls remain."

By bringing a site-specific contemporary art exhibition to the Saudi desert, the curators hope to create connections between different individuals by sparking conversations about culture.

Gisela Colon's work is juxtaposed against the natural canyon backdrop to reflect the precariousness of human life in the anthropocene era

Designed to be both futuristic and as a hint to ancient totems, Gisela Colon's monolithic work The Future is Now brings together old and new, while Rayyane Tabet's Steel Rings installation references the Trans-Arabian Pipe Line.

Around 6000 tin date containers, which were once integral to Al Ula's agricultural wealth, make up Zahrah AlGhamdi's Glimpses of the Past work, while Muhannad Shono's The Lost Path is made from thousands of plastic pipes that come together to form a snaking, almost hair-like, sculpture.

Sherin Guirguis wedged a sculpture of a Bedouin anklet in between a rock crevice for her Kholkhal Aliaa work, while Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim's Falling Stones Garden sees rock-like forms painted in vibrant colours to express the fragility of the desert ecosystem.

Nasser Al Salem installed a short tunnel in the Saudi desert for his Amma Qabl artwork

Other contributing artists include Lebanese artist Nadim Karam, Egyptian artist Wael Shawky and Saudi Arabian artist Manal AlDowayan.

Organised in collaboration with the Royal Commission of Al Ula (RCU) for the Desert X biennial art festival, the exhibition has taken place each year since its inauguration in 2017.

This year's edition runs from 31 January until 7 March 2020.

Superflex studio's One Two Three Swing! features several sets of three-seated swings conjoined by a zig-zagging support

Last year's Desert X exhibition saw a total of 18 artists and groups create installations to the biennial, which were spread across California's Coachella Valley.

Designs included Sterling Ruby's monolithic fluorescent orange block, titled Specter, and Pia Camil's rainbow arches designed as a comment on current immigration policies.

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UK retail trade body sets standards for vegan fashion

Fashion industry guidelines released this week by trade association the British Retail Consortium say that retailers shouldn't claim that vegan products are sustainable.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has created the guidelines for the UK fashion industry seeking to sell to the growing vegan market.

The voluntary guidelines are intended to help consumers buy products that are labelled as vegan with confidence.

"Vegan" and "sustainable" are not the same

It includes a series of questions that retailers should ask suppliers during the sourcing process, internal checks that companies can make, and a checklist of animal-derived products.

Vegan design products are fast becoming as popular as vegan food, as Dezeen reported last year, but the guidelines stress that labelling a product as vegan does not necessarily mean that it is sustainable.

"It should be stated emphatically that retailers should not claim the product is sustainable simply because it is 'vegan'," the guidelines read.

"'Vegan' relates to the absence of animal-derived materials whereas 'sustainable' will mean different things depending on the issue analysed (including embedded water, carbon footprint, and more)."

Confusion over the terms "sustainable", "biodegradable" and "circular", as well as a lack of precise definitions has left them open to abuse.

Many brands wrongly claim their products have no negative impact on the environment, known as greenwashing, whether deliberately or from a lack of understanding – an issue that Dezeen editor-in-cheif Marcus Fairs recently said was on the rise.

Vegan product must replace animal-derived item

The BRC guidelines seek to avoid retailers capitalising on the increase in spending on "ethical" products – which hit £41 billion in the UK by the end of 2018, according to The Guardian.

It states that only items that would otherwise be made with an animal-derived product should be labelled as vegan.

"Vegan products should offer consumers with an alternative to products that are traditionally made using animal-derived materials or ingredients, where the animal-derived component (e.g. leather) has been replaced with a non-animal derived alternative," the document continued.

"Any product that is not traditionally made with animal-derived materials is not in scope. This means a cotton T-shirt should not be labelled as 'vegan' as it is traditionally made from cotton."

Supply chain must be monitored

In order to classify as a vegan product, the guidelines state, retailers must remove obvious animal-derived materials from its supply chain.

However, many glues, dyes, pigments and inks used in the fashion industry contain animal-derived products, such as dyes made from beetles. These must also be eliminated.

The document lists the wax found in water-resistant items, casein glue that uses milk proteins, purple colouring derived from sea snails and urine from mammals – which is used to dissolve dyes – as some of the potential pitfalls.

"Classing a product as vegan not only rules out using leather, wool and natural silk (which comes from the silkworm), but also many glues, dyes, and chemicals derived from animals," said the BRC guidelines.

"Despite some tests available, retailers believe there is currently no test to definitively confirm the presence of animal DNA in products that will also support supply chain transparency."

Demand for vegan products is rising

The number of vegans in the UK has doubled between 2015 and 2019, the document reports, and those consumers expect their clothing purchases to be clearly labelled.

"Consumers wishing to purchase vegan products are looking for assurances from retailers in the form of certification, labelling, or registration," said the document.

Last year, British fashion brand Mother of Pearl collaborated with retailer Net-A-Porter on a collection of cruelty-free clothes.

Creative director Amy Powney told Dezeen that "it isn't that hard" to make a business as sustainable as possible, if you pay attention to every aspect.

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Norman Foster and Paola Antonelli to judge Dezeen Awards 2020

British architect Norman Foster will be joined by designers Joyce Wang and Michael Anastassiades as well as Italian author and curator Paola Antonelli to judge Dezeen Awards 2020.

Dezeen Awards 2020 is now open for entries until 9 June, with discounted entry fees available until 31 March.

Now in its third year, the awards programme has become the benchmark for international design excellence and the ultimate accolade for architects and designers around the world.

Dezeen Awards 2020 judges Daniel Libeskind

London-based designer Adam Nathaniel Furman, whose work includes colourful furniture and interiors, will be one of the Dezeen Awards 2020 judges.

He will be joined by Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde, whose project Windvogel was crowned Dezeen Awards 2018 design project of the year.

New York-based designer Dror Benshetrit, who leads The We Company's future cities initiative, will be sitting alongside Roosegaarde and Furman to assess entries in the design categories. They will be joined by Stockholm-based designer Emma Olbers and founder of India Design Forum Rajshree Pathy.

Natsai Audreu Chieza has joins Dezeen Awards 2020 design jury

American landscape architect Matha Schwarz and founder of UNStudio Ben van Berkel will judge the architecture project categories alongside London-based architect Arthur Mamou-Mani, who designed the 2018 Burning Man temple.

The 2020 jury also includes Polish-American architect Daniel Libeskind, founder of London-based architecture practice WilkinsonEyre Chris Wilkinson and director of the Architectural Association Eva Franch i Gilabert.

Mariam Kamara will be judging architecture categories

Brazilian architect Laurent Troost and founder of Mackereth Studio Sally Mackereth will judge the architecture categories alongside Norman Foster.

Architect Mariam Kamara, designer and founder of Faber Futures Natsai Audrey Chieza, and Warsaw Home founder Kasia Ptak are also among the first Dezeen Awards 2020 judges to be announced.

London-based architect Arthur Mamou-Mani will be joining this year's architecture panel

Brad Wray of Studio Branch Architects, whose project Piazza Dell’Ufficio won interior project of the year in 2019 will be participating as a judge for the interiors categories this year. He will be joined by Dubai-based interior designer Pallavi Dean and founders of Istanbul-based multidisciplinary design studio Autoban Seyhan Özdemir and Sefer Çağlar.

Fashion designer Ruchika Sachdeva and Hong Kong-based curator Talenia Phua Gajardo will join Antonelli and Anastassiades as judges for the design categories.

Founder of India Design Forum Rajshree Pathy is also on the panel for Dezeen Awards 2020

Dezeen Awards 2020 will be judged by a panel of a total of 75 industry-leading professionals.

We’ll be announcing more judges soon, so keep your eyes peeled!

To sign up to our newsletter to stay up to date with all awards-related news click on dezeen.com/awards/subscribe.

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