NOOC: A Collection by WJA

Wannemacher Jensen Architects is an interdisciplinary architecture firm in the heart of St. Petersburg, Florida. The WJA team collaborated to design and build NOOC, a collection of objects that celebrates architecture through detail, form, and storytelling. By reimagining everyday objects found in a house, WJA explores form and function through a scene that can be found in the corner or nook of any home… a game of chess. The scene is set with a table, two stools, a chess board, two espresso cups, and a pendant light that illuminates the tablescape and anticipates each player’s next move. Though each object serves a different function, a common theme unifies the collection through materiality and form. The scene encapsulates a moment in space and observes as two people come together for a game of chess.

CHESSBOARD:
The chessboard is the generative device for all five NOOC objects. The pattern simultaneously considers and challenges the already established framework of a chessboard by reimagining the checkered layout and introducing a new pattern that pays homage to tradition. Likewise, the form of the chess pieces is extracted from the board pattern while keeping the recognizable qualities of each piece. The chessboard establishes the minimal material palette for the five objects and becomes the unifying piece that brings the collection together.

STOOLS:
The stools are designed to complement the collection’s table. The stools are developed through a series of movement studies: bending, turning, creasing, pinching and wrapping.

TABLE:
The design intent behind NOOC is to create a scene that can be found in the corner or nook of any home. This idea is reflected not only in the scene but in the form of each object as well. The table was developed through the movement study of “bending” to complement the bending lines in the chessboard pattern. A liminal space is created in between the two planes by abstracting the idea of a table to two bending moves. This liminal space becomes a “nooc” at a smaller scale and demonstrates how the repetition of form becomes an identity system that is recognizable in all five objects.

CUPS:
Throughout the collection, NOOC explores a series of movement studies used every day in the architecture discipline. Movements such as bending, turning, pinching, and wrapping become the driving force behind all five objects, including the ceramic espresso cups. The pinch where the hands would naturally grip the cup is reminiscent of the chessboard pattern. The pinched handle then becomes not only a functional design choice, but it also further establishes the repetition of form from object to object.

PENDANT:
The pendant is designed to create intense yet intimate lighting to illuminate a scene or corner of a home such as a game of chess. The intent behind the design was to carry through the identity systems established by the movement conventions of bending, turning, pinching, and wrapping found in the other objects. The pendant is the one object other than the chessboard that shows the play between two contrasting materials. The connection between the ceramic shade and the walnut handle is celebrated through a small gap that contrasts the two materials while at the same time alluding to the idea of a “nooc” at a much smaller scale.