STYLE : DESIGN : A Delicate Balance
What’s that huge pyramid of polished and sandblasted marble doing on DeSoto Avenue? The imposing--not to mention enigmatic--Woodland Hills landmark has been a mystery to passersby for slightly more than a year now.
Once a single-story warehouse, the building was transformed by Santa Monica architect Johannes Van Tilburg into the multi-purpose headquarters of hair-care and cosmetics company Sebastian International. The firm’s commitment to the environment (it donated $250,000 to help preserve the Amazon rain forest last year) is evident in its products--and now in the design of its corporate offices, C.E.N.T.R.E. hair salon, educational facilities and retail store.
The whole place is meant to reflect today’s ecological concerns, says president John Sebastian, who also wanted “a stimulating work environment where people would feel good.” So designer Enrico Bressan and his architectural studio, Artecnica, created interior spaces and furniture that combine intriguing geometric shapes and organic forms. The message, Bressan says, is that “man-made and natural objects can coexist.”
In the corporate lobby is a triangular reception desk made of richly stained domestic oak and walnut, both unendangered woods. Bressan’s wife, artist Tahmineh Javanbakht, fashioned a bench out of sinuous walnut and an upholstered roll. Nestled in two waiting rooms are snail-shaped couches that seem to spiral from a gray concrete floor imbedded with seashells.
In the salon, a philosophy of energy conservation dictates that the incandescent and fluorescent lights be triggered by motion detectors; heating coils heat water instantly. The floor consists of recycled wood chips, and movable work stations are constructed of birch plywood.
But perhaps the best example of Sebastian’s Earth-first attitude is the company’s very own miniature rain forest, created by designer Bernhard Meck. The two-story biotope holds catfish, perch and caimans from the Amazon, blooming bromeliads and orchids, and a waterfall. It also features artist Liz Young’s steel tree hung with wax fruit and her tornado-shaped bird cage.
The idea of saving the planet is clearly alive and well here. No mystery in that.
