Original concept rendering
Client: Creative Global Concepts | Starbucks Coffee Company
Project: Evolution Fresh Pilot Stores | Die Wall Bar Panels | Concept Design, Development and Prototyping
Duration: 11 Months (Development through production for complete pilot rollout)
BACKGROUND:
This commission came to the studio because of a concept sample I created as a favor to a designer. When the idea was later approved as a bar panel concept for the Evolution Fresh pilot stores, she asked me to take on the project. The scope was fairly complex. She wanted the pattern to be more varied than the rendering, with a repeat of no less than 4 feet. The panel faces were to be composed of a mix of different wood species that were flat-sawn, quarter-sawn, and cut across the end grain. All were to be placed with the grain running in different directions. As to coloration, the woods would need to fall naturally within a particular tonal palette as the panels would only be clear coated. There were to be no visible fasteners. And panel thickness was set by the die wall system with little variance. Lastly, each store lay out was different, so the panels would all need to be custom sized.
Conventional wisdom said these panels would never fly in practical application because of the extreme likelihood of compound warping, both in the individual wood pieces and the overall panels. I was intrigued by the challenge, but shared my concerns openly. Leadership was apprised, but wedded to using the design. I agreed to take on the job if Starbucks would first commission four full scale proof of concept panels so I could determine if we could work out the inevitable issues.
While picking up a job at OB Williams we took the opportunity to run the concept by the shop wood guru. He immediately said it wouldn’t work. I listened to his reasoning, and from that extrapolated some of what would need to be actively addressed in the concept proofs. I balanced the panel face design aesthetically, but with elements intentionally grouped in blocks of similar warp factor. These were placed strategically to counteract competing warpage along both the x and y axes. Beyond that I concentrated on panel structure, composition, and glue up. Before milling, I mapped different woods into shapes per the pattern as a cut list and test control. I selected kiln dried hickory, white oak, red oak, alder, and elm for color and tone. The boards were mix of different dimensions that were flat sawn, quarter-sawn, and rift-sawn along the grain. We also glued up a section of 2 x 2 sticks that would be cut into end grain tiles. All were resawn efficiently to similar thicknesses, with minimal waste. These boards were planed, sanded, and cut into ‘tiles’ as dictated by the full panel pattern. We cut sufficient quantities of each component to clad four panels. The rest of each panel build would be comprised of different sheet goods.
We devised a proprietary system for lay up that was set up on a rack to allow for close clamping. I settled on four different iterations of panel composition and structure. The only constant was the pattern on the face. After the panels were all built, they were thickness sanded and then sanded for finishing. Each panel was finished using one of two different non-pigmented finishes.
It was the dead of winter, and we moved the finished panels around the studio over the course of a couple weeks to expose them to different temperatures and levels of humidity. We even left them in the loading area with the doors up while it was raining. We checked on the condition of the faces and overall flatness every day.
At the end of the test period Panels A and B had remained dead flat. Starbucks was building a partial store mock up and ordered two new panels. It was agreed that we would build one A and one B panel to see if either performed better than the other when installed in the die wall system. We also learned that there would be four pilot stores, opening within weeks of one another. We were given the very preliminary bar design for each store.
While the mock-up was being built, I composed unique runs of panels for individual stores, all without pattern repeats. I found this more creative and interesting; but it would also give Starbucks more panel design options to call out for future production. Panel lengths varied from three feet up to eight feet. Three store layouts included angled setbacks in the runs and return panels. Since these panels were laid up, I designed vertical edges as part of the face pattern but worked out in solid wood with an extra inch in panel length on each end. This would enable the installer to trim and join in the field as needed without creating a visual interruption in the pattern. This also meant runs and returns would terminate without exposed cores.
There were no issues with either panel in the mock-up. Starbucks ordered working prototypes to be placed in four stores. For the sake of more performance data, Bellevue Square and University Village got A panels. B panels were shipped to the Pine Street store in downtown Seattle, and the Fillmore District store in San Francisco. We included the two original proof of concept panels in these orders. The new prototypes also came out dead flat, and all of the panels remained so for the five years they were in service at the test stores.
One side note, I have never intended the studio to run as a production-only shop. Already aware of this, Starbucks shopped the concept around to national vendors in anticipation of additional stores. Several tried, but no one else was able to successfully execute the panels.
