RUCKSTUHL NEWS

From the Dream to the Dream House

ruckstuhl carpets — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 10:07:59 +0000

One of the founders of the WOGG furniture company, Willi Glaeser, was able to make his dream of a house on the shore of Lake Neuchâtel come true. In conjunction with the architecture and design office Atelier Oï he developed an exceptional and colourful house right on the water.

Ruckstuhl was asked to supply a big customised rug in its Flatwool quality for the living room.

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After I had been searching for decades, the opportunity at last offered itself of acquiring a property directly on Lake Neuchâtel – right next to the natural conservation area, with a fabulous view of the opposite shore of the lake and of the Alps. In conjunction with Atelier Oï from La Neuveville – with whom I had worked on previous projects – I developed a design for a house in this exceptional setting.

If I had to sum up what we achieved in just three words, it would be view, light and colour. All the rooms have a view of the lake. Only if you are staying in the visitors’ studio, which faces the south, do you need to go out onto the forecourt in order to see the water. The funnel-shaped terrace surround is open to the lake along the entire length of the building, and so is largely responsible for enhancing the fabulous prospect. Another important factor is the height of the rooms – four metres generally, though reduced by inserts and lowered ceilings in places. This makes for refined and agreeable light effects.

Highly significant aspects of this project are the materials and the choice of colour. White doesn’t feature at all. That was a requirement on my part, and there isn’t any exposed concrete either, even though the concrete work has been carried out with extreme care and precision. I wanted to have proper colours. After thorough discussion we arrived at a solution in harmony with the lake and the green natural setting. A muted aubergine for the outer skin, as a discreet connection with nature. The big flat roof, the fifth façade, is laid with broken stones in the same shade, and then inside it is all yellow, orange and red. These warm tones make an exciting contrast with the water and its varying nuances, which still give the effect of coolness at all times. As a central fixture of the decor, the kitchen is made from aluminium. The material returns a soft reflection of the strong colours of the interior. You feel good in every part of the house, even if you are entirely on your own. This feel-good effect is also partly due to the textile elements – curtains on the façade and to separate the rooms, and the big woollen carpet in the sitting room.

In 2009 our house was chosen as the ‘Swiss Dream House’ in a survey organised by a highly regarded lifestyle magazine.

Willi Glaeser, 2011

Image © Cédric Widmer, Lausanne

On the Poetry of Colour

ruckstuhl carpets — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 09:00:10 +0000

At Ruckstuhl we are intensively engaged with colour whenever we develop a new product. The colour must match the material of the carpet, and be capable of fitting in with a wide range of styles of interior decor. It should be contemporary, but not too trendy.
Ruckstuhl has been working on a number of projects with Katrin Trautwein, a chemist and colour specialist. She has written an essay for Ruckstuhl on the Poetry of Colour.

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What do pullovers, painted walls, bedlinen, bunches of flowers and carpets have in common? With every one of these objects, colour plays a central role in the decision to purchase. So it is hardly surprising that we, as carpet manufacturers, should be constantly preoccupied with colour. We are concerned with questions like the following – What appeals to our customers? How do we find colours that are sought after and make people happy? What objective criteria make one colour more attractive than another? Are there colours that survive all passing trends? What is it that makes a classic colour special?

If there are colour classics, they could form the basis of our assortment. Fashionable colours and seasonable favourites could then round off the range. But the fashionable colours should also have intrinsic value – making them not just fashionable colours but in a truer sense, modern colours. Colours that are not yet classics, but could become classics – because they too really are ‘beautiful’ in accordance with these marks of beauty which we have yet to discover. If we think and dream on, you could take these two sections of the assortment, the classic and the modern, and combine them in a single range of colour that is so beautiful that you would be emotionally affected when contemplating it and would wish to be given an overview of the colour tones. The individual colours are fascinating in themselves, and the combinations remind a person at once of a peaceful landscape, a lyric poem or a fine melody. The assortment of colours we are looking for is made up of the colours of poetry.

How can we find it? What criteria of beauty do we impose on the individual colours? How do we ensure that a combination is harmonious? What recommendations can we pass on for the use of colour? If a colour looks good on the ceiling, that doesn’t mean it will be decorative on the floor. In the end we have to be sure that our rules of beauty and harmony meet with general acceptance, and do not just reflect our own individual preferences.

There are no simple answers to these questions. Otherwise everyone’s assortment would be made up of the same ideal colours. In our search for the best colours and colour combinations, however, we did hit upon some interesting approaches. We found some surprising and at the same time illuminating ideas in descriptions which distance themselves from the short-lived fashion concepts of the present – in the writings of artists and the letters of architects, in texts written to accompany old colour charts and carpet sample books. These writings all endeavour to develop a logic for the application of colour to surfaces and the use of colour in space. They are in search of the generally valid rules which ensure that the totality of colour, surface, light and space makes a harmonious impression.

Paul Klee, for example, was a master of compositional balance in form and colour. The colour, as quality, had to be harmonised with quantity and situation – ingenious equations, which can be translated into colour strategies for domestic interiors. In an approach followed by few today, Vassily Kandinsky divided colours into warm and cold tones. Following his idea, we can arrive at a palette of colours that make space appear larger and cause the floor to recede, and other colours that have the opposite effect.

2008, Copyright Baumann-Prase

Heinrich Helfenstein, 2006, Copyright kt.COLOR

The rooms of Luis Barragán had an intimate relation to the landscape and to the folk art of his homeland. Colour served to orchestrate the light, and created atmosphere. Frank Lloyd Wright, who used coloured pencils for his architectural drawings, saw simplicity and peace as a basic requirement for the good life. The colours in a room should relate to the colours in the environment. Le Corbusier, finally, who based his approach on purist principles and developed a system of colour concepts, associated colours with functions. For Le Corbusier colour was a material – it was a component of outline and form, and an important principle of order in his architecture. We can learn from him what colours endow architecture with atmosphere, order and transparency.

Kuokkala Church, Jyväskylä, Finland

ruckstuhl carpets — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:19:52 +0000

The finnish architect Lassila Hirvilammi Arkkitehdit used various products by Ruckstuhl for the Kuokkala Church in Jyväskylä, Finland. Remarkably is the Feltro color used as cushions. Images by Henry Ahlavuo

Case study: Kindermuseum Stuttgart, Germany

ruckstuhl carpets — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 21:11:01 +0000

See how our woolen carpet Crespo custom is used as round cushions in the Kindermuseum Stuttgart – Junges Schloss. See more images of Rep.

Floorcovering: Ruckstuhl Rep 222

Case study: Fondation Baur, Geneva – Switzerland

ruckstuhl carpets — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 08:07:17 +0000

Ruckstuhl was asked to furnish the building with its Calicut coir carpets in a special colour variant.

Fondation Baur in Geneva is a collection of Japanese and Chinese art assembled by the collector Alfred Baur (1865-1951). Originally intended as a domestic dwelling, the building dates from the early 20th century. In the autumn of 2010 the Japanese section, recently redesigned by Bassi Carella Architects, was reopened to the public. Ruckstuhl was asked to furnish the building with its Calicut coir carpets in a special colour variant.

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Reference: Interstuhl

ruckstuhl carpets — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 13:41:20 +0000

Since 2010 the chair manufacturer Interstuhl has carried on its research and development activities at the new Interstuhl Arena in Messtetten-Tieringen, Germany. The Silver collection developed by Hadi Teherani is on show here, displayed on a fitted carpet from Ruckstuhl. Ruckstuhl’s Flatwool stripe (col. 688) woollen quality is the ideal complement for the bold design of the office chair.

‘My Silver range of office chairs is already close to becoming a design classic – not just in the office, but in domestic settings as well,’ the designer writes. ‘This has stimulated an increasing interest in material variations, above all in natural materials like wood and leather. The factory Edition from the chair manufacturer Interstuhl goes beyond the high technical requirements of the chair, and is atmospherically suited to the creation of a domestic ambiance in the office as well. This objective is perfectly met by a presentation like that of the Ruckstuhl company. With its carpets made from natural fibres, Ruckstuhl has a very similar ideal – design becomes lifestyle. So I can only say that I am delighted with the harmony the presentation achieves. It is very important for me to create an atmosphere in the room, whether in a real setting or for presentation purposes, by a combination of all the elements that are involved.“

Hadi Teherani, architect, Hamburg

Jimmy Wales on Ruckstuhl area rug «Element»

ruckstuhl carpets — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 12:19:18 +0000

Jimy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, obviously feels comfortable on the Ruckstuhl area rug Element.

Here are some more pictures of Element, which finds its application mainly in the residential filed as well as lobbys as shown above.

Custom made Pannello acoustic panel at private villa in Germany

ruckstuhl carpets — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 07:51:59 +0000

Learn more about the «Villa in Niedersachsen», where the interior design company POPO used Pannello murale in a pretty unique way.

Characteristics of this project are:

Acoustic panels match the facade panels on the outside
Custom size production
Acoustic panels beautifully dissolve in the architecture

Entry area from the outside «Villa in Niedersachsen».
Interior Design: POPO GmbH, realized in 2010.

Entry area from the inside «Villa in Niedersachsen».
Interior Design: POPO GmbH, realized in 2010.

Entry area «Villa in Niedersachsen».

Interior Design: POPO GmbH, realized in 2010.

Entry area «Villa in Niedersachsen».

Interior Design: POPO GmbH, realized in 2010.

Room acoustics – interview with physicist Dr. Christian Nocke

ruckstuhl carpets — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:28:30 +0000

In 2007 Ruckstuhl launched a collection of acoustic panels on the market, which it supplemented in 2009. The success of this collection is primarily based on the following four elements: maximum acoustic absorption, acoustic effectiveness in all frequency ranges, timeless design and a high quality felt surface made from pure new wool. The field of acoustics is extremely complex, and is comprised of various disciplines. That is why Ruckstuhl worked closely with the highly regarded Akustikbüro Oldenburg acoustics office to develop Pannello. In the following, physicist Dr. Christian Nocke answers a few questions concerning room acoustics.

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What, in your opinion, is the importance of room acoustics today, and what changes have you seen over the past five years? What changes do you expect over the next five years?
The importance of room acoustics has been growing for quite some time now, particularly over the past five to ten years. It is clear that the issue of noise and its negative impact have become increasingly important for the population as a whole, and I expect this trend to continue in the years to come, as room acoustics, particularly in the office, but in the private sphere as well, will be seen as an important factor for the comfort of a room. It appears that room acoustics are becoming more firmly anchored in the planning process, and thus recognised as an important factor for rooms.

How have requirements for room acoustics in modern offices changed?

From what I have seen, the requirements for room acoustics have not been subject to major changes. Overall, new forms of work and organisation have become evident in recent years that have made it necessary to adapt room acoustic requirements in some areas, such as for communication-intensive utilisations. When evaluating room acoustics, an important factor to remember for today’s construction methods is the fact that the reliance on open structures means that few sound-absorbing surfaces are utilised. As a result, extremely poor room acoustic conditions occur more frequently, and this can quickly lead to complaints.

What was the deciding factor in your decision to take responsibility for the technical development of Ruckstuhl’s Pannello? What motivated you during the development process?

At first, it was the attraction of doing something new that drove me to work with Ruckstuhl. From a purely technical acoustics standpoint, I found it somewhat surprising that a manufacturer of floor coverings was looking to enter into new fields of room design with Pannello. Another important factor for this development collaboration was the fact that not only acoustic quality, but also other aspects such as design and sustainability played an important role. I’m certain that ‘only’ developing a sound absorber would not have been a particularly attractive proposition. From an acoustic standpoint, I was driven to develop a highly effective sound absorber that would also boast numerous other properties.

In what areas do you believe that Pannello is suitable for use?

In addition to the professional office environment, I can see it being used in residential applications, as well as for highly specialised uses such as equipping studio and control rooms, be it in private recording studios or small cinemas, as these applications all benefit from highly effective sound absorbers. As a result of the very good sound absorption values, the Pannello collection delivers highly efficient sound absorption to any rooms that need it.

In your experience, what is it that sets the Pannello collection apart?

The Pannello collection is distinguished by its combination of outstanding acoustic effectiveness, exquisite design and flexible, wide-ranging scope of application. In my opinion, there are few products that are able to combine these qualities like the Pannello collection does.

What have been the most frequent sources of error regarding room acoustics in your experience? Please make a distinction between new buildings and the renovation of existing structures?

A frequent error in construction processes, regardless of whether new buildings or renovations are at issue, is the fact that the field of room acoustics is shut out of the planning process. As a result, the acoustic properties of a room are left to chance. In addition, the importance of room acoustics for the subsequent use of the room is often underestimated. If other areas, such as structure and colour, were left to chance in the same manner, many buildings would simply be unfit for use.

What is the impact of new developments, such as concrete core activation, on room acoustics?

Numerous technical construction developments, including concrete core activation and the use of glass for a large proportion of the structure, result in unfavourable room acoustic characteristics in the rooms. In addition, design aspects, such as the desire for homogenous and smooth surfaces, have yet to be given a great deal of weight among the manufacturers of acoustic products.

What, in your opinion, is the current state of the manufacturer market for effective acoustic products, and what are your expectations for the future?

From what I have seen, the market for acoustic products is currently undergoing a major transformation. Traditional acoustic products such as grid ceilings and spray plasters are also changing or disappearing from the market. The products in high demand are those that are able to perform a number of functions at once, such as heating, cooling and sound absorption, or even bulletin boards and sound absorption. I believe that the future will see a growing demand for cleverly designed and efficient acoustic solutions.

What do you think can be done to highlight the distinction between the topics of reverberation in rooms (room acoustics) and sound insulation of building components (building acoustics)?

In our experience these things are often seen as interchangeable.

It is true that numerous rumours and half-truths regarding the field of acoustics are quite prevalent, and the only way to deal with this is to provide a well-founded explanation of the subject so that discussions can take place on a factual basis. A room that is subject to reverberation will not be improved acoustically by upgrading the sound insulation of the walls, nor is it possible to compensate for the insufficient sound insulation of a wall by using sound absorption to regulate the reverberation in the room. The fields of room acoustics and soundproofing / building acoustics can be clearly distinguished from one another. The confusion of these two subdisciplines of acoustics can probably only be remedied through education and by repeatedly highlighting the differences between them.

What impact do deficient room acoustics have on the performance of employees in an office?

Poor room acoustic conditions in the office can sometimes have dramatic consequences. Performance is generally reduced, employee satisfaction lowered and sick days increased. In some circumstances, poor room acoustics are not recognised as the cause, and solutions are wrongly sought in other areas. It is therefore necessary in offices in particular to create a high level of room acoustic comfort, as this is the only way to maintain and promote performance that lives up to its potential over the long term.

What do you particularly like about working with Ruckstuhl?

I have been working with Ruckstuhl for quite a few years now, and it is a relationship that has been made special by its openness and reliability. In addition to personal contact with many employees, I particularly like the fact that there is always an interest in new ideas, something that also gives rise to products whose fascination goes beyond the field of acoustics.

The interview with Dr. Christian Nocke was conducted by M. Groth.

Rollerwool carpet in office environments

ruckstuhl carpets — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 08:22:56 +0000

Wool carpets offer numerous advantages: they are made from a renewable resource, have a positive effect on the indoor environment, are easy to care for and have a long service life. The architectural firm KLP in Zurich uses the Rollerwool 700 new wool carpet in its own offices. In the following, Andreas Bühler, a partner at KLP Architekten SIA in Zurich, discusses various aspects of these quality carpets.

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Mr. Bühler, you are a partner at KLP Architekten SIA in Zurich. The same carpet has been in use in your offices for nearly 20 years now: the Rollerwool from Ruckstuhl. Why is that?

Yes, it’s true – we are very impressed by the quality of this carpet.

What is it that makes this carpet in particular so attractive?

The Rollerwool is a product with an extremely long service life. There are 16 of us working in this office, and every day we put this carpet to the test, not only by walking on it, but also by rolling our office chairs across it.

Why is it particularly suited to office use?

It has a very short pile, making it easy to roll an office chair on it, and dirt is not immediately visible, something which helps to keep the office looking neat and tidy at all times. After all, wool is a natural material that is dirt-repellent and stain-resistant.

Does your carpet require special care?

Naturally it is cleaned every week and vacuumed on a regular basis. Our staff are often returning from building sites, so it is not uncommon for people to be a bit dirty when they get back, but caring for this carpet is very easy.

Why did you opt for a natural material such as wool?

Not only is wool a renewable, and therefore sustainable, resource, but it also boasts a much more pleasant feel than synthetic fibres, which are often prone to producing static charge. Once its long service life has been completed, it can also be disposed of more ecologically.

You selected a black Rollerwool carpet interwoven with white fibres for your office – why?

This carpet goes perfectly with our white furniture. In addition, we always advise our customers to select a floor colour that is darker than the walls, as this makes the floor a calm contrast to its surroundings.

KLP recently replaced sections of its old carpet with new ones. Was any thought given to trying out a different material?

No, wood and stone floors are out of the question in our office for acoustic reasons, for carpets are able to absorb footfall sound, as well as noise arising from the numerous discussions and phone calls taking place. In addition, we often advise the banks for which we design and furnish offices to select carpets for their back office areas for acoustic reasons.

When old and new sections are located side by side, the colouration often does not match. What does it look like in your offices?

It is really amazing how closely the colour matches – in fact, our old carpet can hardly be distinguished from the new sections. We are quite happy about this, as renewing only what is needed is more ecological.

What do you mean?

If you purchase a low-priced carpet whose quality is likely to be lower, you would generally have to replace the entire thing. With Rollerwool, it is sufficient to replace only those parts that are worn.

You have been impressed by the quality of this carpet. Have you recommended it to any of your clients?

Yes, we have been able to convince a number of our clients to choose Rollerwool, for our offices are the perfect calling card for its quality and appearance. Are you a fan of carpeting?

Selecting the flooring is always a long and involved process, and the design of the rooms and questions of suitability play an important role. Whenever we are certain that a textile floor covering is the right choice for a particular place and use, we recommend a corresponding product. Careful selection of the design is always a priority, for the colour, type of processing and raw material used all play a key role. Once a product has been selected according to these principles, I am certainly a fan of it. Used correctly, a carpet can create a prestigious ambience.

The Rollerwool has been produced since 1985 – it is a true Ruckstuhl classic. To what do you ascribe this lasting success?

It says a lot for Ruckstuhl that the company not only maintains faith in its products, but also brings new innovations to market on a regular basis.

www.klp.ch

The interview with A. Bühler was conducted by B. Willmann (Zürich). Photo: Bruno Augsburger, Zurich