General info:
Graft is a full service architectural firm located in Los Angeles, California; Berlin, Germany and Beijing, China, with the collective professional experience that encompasses a wide array of building types including Fine Arts, Educational, Institutional, Commercial and Residential facilities. The firm has been awarded numerous awards in Europe as well as in the United States of America. Graft was established in 1998 in Los Angeles, California by Lars Kruckeberg (03/17/67) and Wolfram Putz (06/16/68). Thomas Willemeit (03/03/68) joined the firm in 2001 and opened an office in Berlin, Germany the same year.
Recommended book: –
Official: Website
Some of the works:
“Flowing from the lobby into the lounge and restaurant, curvy, red-linoleum-clad surfaces glide seamlessly from floor to wall. Couches and built-in furniture similarly bear the mark of the architects, Graft. Throughout the 32,000-square-foot building, Graft succeeded in imposing a unified aesthetic. At Q!, continuous, streamlined surfaces wrap not only the street-level public areas but also the guest-room interiors, where the palette shifts to white against smoked-oak floors. Here, walls meld into desks and ceilings. Overhead, curved ceilings lightly printed with Christian Thomas’s photographs of a woman, aim to give these quarters what Putz calls a “cocoonlike feeling.”” Brad has visited the Q! hotel at least once (that we know about) in 2006.
“While filming in New Orleans, Brad Pitt, fascinated with the sharp color contrast between a pink CGI set and its lush green surroundings, identified the visual potency of assembling pink houses as a metaphor. Together with Graft, the idea was born to merge film and architecture into an installation that would focus immediate global attention onto a pervasive local issue. Filmic concepts drive the narrative of the installation, framing the architectural development.”
Quotes from Brad:
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Quotes from Graft:
“Brad is extremely interested in the drama of rooms and knows exaclty how to move in them. Due to his filming experience he has a great sense for the effect of Light“, Willemeit says. So it’s hardly surprising that the actor is friends with star architects such as Rem Koolhaas or Frank Gehry. When the Musicians from ‘Graft’ discuss achitecture with the actor Pitt, “it’s almost like a Jam Session“, Willemeit says. Over the years the constructor Pitt became not only a friend but also sort of a steady freelance worker. Though the ‘Graft’ architects are keen on experimenting, sometimes they even find Brad’s ideas over the Top. “He ads a fair measure of megalomania to his ideas“, Willemeit smurks. However, a certain excessive way of thinking is helpful he says. “You have to aim for the Stars if you want at least reach the Mountain Top.“