Foster School of Business

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Strictly Business

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An installation that gets right down to business, integrated directly into the fir-clad walls of the Foster School of Business.
Project
Strictly Business
Location
Seattle, Washington
Year
2014
Team
Principal: Kristine Matthews, in collaboration with Karen Cheng
Partners
Architect: LMN Architects
Photography
Sam Cook; Video: Nick Simmons
Categories
Installation

After the success of the Change Elevators and Business Is… installations for the Business School at the University of Washington, Kristine Matthews and her collaborator Prof. Karen Cheng were invited back to design a new permanent installation. This was slated for a new building under construction called Dempsey Hall, designed by LMN Architects. A compact entrance and lobby meant that the design solution could not take up valuable floor space. As the walls were clad in fir, the installation was designed to integrate directly into the wooden slats. At first, the etched quotes—from Margaret Thatcher to Obi Wan Kenobi—seem wildly eclectic, but upon closer reading, a common thread emerges: each features the word ‘business’.

View a two-minute video of the project here.

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