Showcases Products Against a Mystical Backdrop of Fantasy and Fable

Our latest collections are right on trend so it seemed only natural to promote and showcase them in a way that is equally of the moment.  Modern takes on fables and fairy tales are a major theme this year in movies, social events and design, so we decided to explore this mysterious world and delve into the darker side of some of the best-known children's fairy tales. The result is a visually stunning, dramatic and edgy backdrop which shows off our new collections to spectacular effect.

Michele Iacovitti, Vice President of Marketing & Branding, InterfaceFLOR EMEAI

InterfaceFLOR, a worldwide leader in the design of innovative modular flooring and a recognised environmental pioneer, has unveiled a series of new collections inspired by today's top cultural, social and artistic trends.  The influence of vintage revival, a desire for luxury, the industrial look, and a return to more natural, organic shapes can all be seen in the company's latest designs.

Reflecting the trends of the moment, whilst evoking nostalgia for all things past, these latest collections include a wide variety of colours, textures and installation techniques, allowing customers to create an ultra-modern interior with a certain timeless quality.

Several of the new products are designed to reduce environmental impacts, reflecting InterfaceFLOR's commitment to sustainability.  Features include recycled content in the pile yarn and backing, random installation to minimise waste, Microtuft construction which uses less yarn and Cool Carpet, which means the product's carbon emissions are offset during its entire lifecycle.

In keeping with InterfaceFLOR's design credentials, the products are being launched in a highly original campaign called Once upon a Tile – a mystical and edgy interpretation of the classic fables and fairy tales currently in vogue.

Products available in the new collections include:

Courtesy InterfaceFLOR

Luxury Living
This range showcases indulgence, a trend driven by a growing desire by consumers to invest in high-quality long-lasting products that provide comfort and reassurance.  Luxury Living offers three tufted cut-pile styles in a range of 36 opulent colours, with an option for customised colours for areas over 100m2.  Its extra-high pile ensures good acoustic performance, as well as resilience and comfort, making this range ideal for hospitality and leisure environments. The range also includes post industrial recycled content in its backing.

Courtesy InterfaceFLOR

Vintage Collection (Ornate, Refine, Reissue)
Inspired by a trend towards heritage, history and a 'lived-in' look, reflecting a current nostalgia for days gone by, the Vintage Collection features authentic yet subtle decoration with longevity. With high durability and a range of installation methods and colours, this range keeps appearances up and costs down, while offering complete freedom of expression. Pile yarns and backing contain post industrial recycled material and Cool Carpet is included as standard.

Courtesy InterfaceFLOR

Cellular
This range picks up the shapes and patterns of cell structures and organic forms, which are set to be a key theme for interior design as people go back to basics and evoke the simple patterns and structures of the natural world. Each tile is truly distinctive and explores layering through pile heights and textures, providing inspiration you can feel as well as see. Cellular also includes post industrial recycled content in both the pile yarn and backing, Cool Carpet as standard and non-directional installation, reducing environment impact.

Courtesy InterfaceFLOR

Concrete Mix (Brushed, Blended, Broomed, Lined)
Based on the trend for all things structural, linear and layered, Concrete Mix is architectural and industrial, softened through subtle shading. This range is available in four loop pile styles that complement each other and can be combined with a range of installation techniques, providing endless design options. Highly resistant and hardwearing, with a great castor-chair rating, Concrete Mix is ideal for high-traffic areas. The tiles include post industrial recycled material in both pile yarns and backing, reducing environmental impact.

Courtesy InterfaceFLOR

Scribble
Random, even chaotic doodles feature strongly in the latest trend forecasts, evoking a sense of unpredictability and freedom as people react against the growing sophistication of today's design. Scribble features tiles with non-geometric and meandering tufted design patterns, in a wide range of colours and the option to customise colours for spaces over 300m2. Scribble also minimises its mark on the environment, with post industrial recycled content in both the pile yarn and backing, Cool Carpet included as standard, plus non-directional installation, resulting in lower installation costs and less waste.

Consolidation
With its distinctive printed design, Consolidation has a feel that is both 'constructed' yet organic, capturing today's fascination for yesterday's craft skills combined and the current trend for creating texture through layering. This range includes Cool Carpet as standard and has a Microtuft construction that uses minimal yarn improving the environmental credentials of 'less is more' The result is flooring with the durability and look of a hard floor but the acoustics of a soft floor.

Circles
This range is based on a simple shape, yet plays with its proportions to produce something unique. Patterns have been created this way since the dawn of time and using this ancient principle, Circles transports any interior into an ultra modern future.

+ Check it out these 7 promotional videos for enjoyment (another 6 at the end of video)

+ For more information about InterfaceFLOR, please visit http://www.interfaceflor.eu/.

The urban refurbishment of Largo San Giorgio site in Pordenone, Italy follows the main topic of returning the citizens of Pondenone again a part of the town which was inaccessible due to the different levels of the streets and to the fact that it had been private for many years.

A path sews together the lake, the park and the square of San Giorgio church designing a public open space where the new housing and the church servces face. As many of C+S works the architectural design focuses on the strong relationship between architecture and landscape.

ULH-Urban Lake Houses, image courteys C+S Associati | Photo by Alessandra Bello

The buildings mould themselves with the lake boundaries and their elevations are designed by big wood-made windows which both reflect the landscape and bring it inside the houses' sitting-rooms.

The buildings design two sides of San Gorgio square which is open to the town during the day and closed for security reasons in the night thanks to a metal gate which folds on when not used. The skirting board of the buildings is made of Prun stone, the same material which the square is made of.

ULH-Urban Lake Houses, image courteys C+S Associati | Photo by Alessandra Bello

The plaster surfaces of the buildings, light grey and light ochre coloured, is on the same flush of the stone and, as an effect of the buildings' folds, one couldn't easily tell whether the slight differences of the chromatic effetcts are those of a colour or simply of the shadow.

The buildings grow with the levels of the paths surrounding the lake designing a new urban connection whcih specifically changes material: Prun stone on the square, larch wood on the bridges crossing the lake and ochre concrete on the paths of the park.

ULH-Urban Lake Houses, image courteys C+S Associati | Photo by Alessandra Bello

The path following the lake leaves the earth and jumps in the water with a metal structure suspended on sloping metal pillars.

The volumes  facing the square host the spaces of the church services.

ULH-Urban Lake Houses, image courtesy C+S Associati | Photo by Alessandra Bello

Detailed architectural design defines also the other public parts of the buildings: entrance halls and public stairs, which are made of red-coloured wood, the auditorium (partially dag in the ground), with grey and red acoustic panels, the church classrooms which are graphically designed, All these spaces are naturally enlighted and look the marvellous landscape of the lake outside.

All the houses are opened to the lake with large wood-made windows and sliding wood panels to darken the spaces inside.

ULH-Urban Lake Houses, image courteys C+S Associati | Photo by Alessandra Bello

C+S design has always a very deep attention to sustainability. All materials used are ususally specific of the site where the project is found and all buildings are studied for low-carbon emissions.

In this case, the lake itself is not only the expression of the landscape of Pordenone, which is a very beautiful small hystorical town in the Northeast of Italy, built on the boundaries of the river  Noncello, but it becomes also the energetic structure to make the complex work. ULH is designed with a innovative heating and cooling system of pumps exchanging with the different temperature of the lake.

In this sense the lake itself becomes the main character of the architectural design as it is the background of the new urban scenography, the new liquid soil where to walk over and finally an energetic resource for the buildings' functioning.

ULH-Urban Lake Houses - Site plan, drawing courteys C+S Associati

+ Project credits / data

Project: ULH-Urban Lake Houses
Location: Largo San Giorgio, Pordenone, Italy
Construction: 2008 – 2010
Gross Floor Area: 11.000 m²
Site Area: 75.000 m²
Typology: Residential

Client: San Giorgio S.r.l. (Rizzani de Eccher S.p.A. / Prospettive JV)
Architects / Landscape Design: Carlo Cappai, Maria Alessandra Segantini, C+S Associati | http://www.cipiuesse.it/
Project Leader: Carlo Cappai, Maria Alessandra Segantini, C+S
Design Team:  Carlo Cappai, Maria Alessandra Segantini, Carolin Stapenhorst, Guido Stella
General Contractor: Rizzani de Eccher S.p.A.
Photos: Alessandra Bello and Luca Casonato

Project Management: Prospettive S.p.A.
Structural: Aisatec
Botanic Consultant: Studio Leoni
Mechanical / Electrical: Aisatec
Thermal Insulation and Building Acoustics: Aisatec
Lighting Design: C+S Associati – Aisatec
Energy Concept: Aisatec
Fire Protection: Aisatec

+ About C+S Associati

Carlo Cappai & Maria Alessandra Segantini

Carlo Cappai and Maria Alessandra Segantini founded their architecture office C+S Associati in Treviso, Italy, in 1994.

They have been visiting professor in architectural design in several universities and they won many international awards.

Their work is published in the most important architectural reviews such as: 2G (E), Abitare (I), AD (GB), Area (I), A+U (JA), Architectural Review (GB), AW (DE), Bauwelt (DE), Casabella (I), D'Architettura (I), Detail (DE), Domus (I), L'Architecture d'Aujord'hui (F), Loggia (ES), Spazio e Società (I) and The Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century World Architecture (UK). Their work was exibited in Venice (8th and 12th Biennale of Architecture and 50th Art Biennale), Milan, Paris, London, Essen, Vienna, Piran, Muenchen.

+ All images and drawings courtesy C+S Associati | Photo by Alessandra Bello & Luca Casonato