Frieze 2017
For the fourth consecutive year, Universal Design Studio returns as the architects of Frieze London, creating a series of new restaurant interior concepts and a reconceived entryway installation for 2017, highlighting the fair’s approach to sustainability.
For 2017, Universal has designed a new reflective installation as the entranceway marker to the fair, one of a series of aluminium screens created using ‘borrowed’ materials from industry leader SAPA, which are considered waste products due to micro tolerances in the material and are to be recycled after the Fair. The use of aluminium draws attention to the sustainable nature of the material, which can be recycled and reused infinitely without any reduction in quality.
The monolithic screens will be constructed from an ensemble of pleated aluminium extrusions – the same extrusions used to build the fair – and will reference the forms within the overall tent structure whilst creating shifting reflections and movement that act as changeable viewing devices of the surrounding vista.
The reflective aluminium entryway and accompanying screens are constructed by art fabricator Joseph Waller Fabrications, and will frame an external courtyard, which will house an art project by Donna Kukama as part of Frieze Projects. The remainder of the courtyard is built from a kit of parts of scaffolding and fibreboard, which will be either reused or recycled after the fair.
For the fourth year in a row, the Studio has masterplanned the art fair across 24,500 sq m, using colour and tone to help visitors navigate the Fair. The structure for Frieze itself is built from over 400 tonnes of aluminium. In addition, this year Universal has reconceived the restaurants’ interiors, which act as social meeting points and a source of respite from the busy fair.
Each of the restaurants have been designed using framing, enclosure and colour to create spaces which directly reference their original restaurant sites while celebrating Frieze’s Regents Park location through the use of natural earthy hues and planting.
Deep hues will be used in Social Wine & Tapas’ restaurant area which will be positioned above the tree canopy, featuring large apertures that frame views to the park, with a bar and seating area as a central feature. At Moro, the colours are richer and warmer in tone, reflective of Moro original interiors, with planting used throughout the space as spatial dividers. The short-term event has expected attendance of 62,000 people over the Fair’s five days, and is the major event in London’s art calendar.
