New Work: 1100 Architect

1100 Architect, the New York and Frankfurt-based architecture firm founded by David Piscuskas and Juergen Riehm, is known for its warm yet minimal residential, commercial and institutional spaces such as the MoMA Design Store, the Deutsche Film Museum in Frankfurt and the Queens Central Library in Jamaica, New York. Capturing the discreet functionality of their work, Abbott Miller and his team recently designed a website for the firm that takes its inspiration from a long table blanketed with books that greets visitors as they enter the New York office.

The table concept is reflected in the website's horizontal band upon which projects are presented. Each project is represented by a single image, and as the visitor moves the cursor, the images roll by, the virtual equivalent of walking the length of the table. When the cursor is run over a specific image, the project’s name and location appear, and when the image is clicked on, it increases in size to become a portfolio, laid out as a book. The double page spreads, composed of images and text, flip in book format.

The projects can be sorted alphabetically or chronologically, and they playfully fly around the table to rearrange themselves. At the bottom of the page is a space into which projects can be dragged and dropped, creating a bookmark for favorites. The project portfolios can also be emailed from here. The other four sections of the site (offices, clients, news and publications) are organized on the same table/book concept. The result is a website that holds a great amount of information while being uncluttered and easy to navigate.

Miller also designed the book 1100 Architect written by Donald Albrecht and published by The Monacelli Press in 2006.

Project Team: Abbott Miller, partner-in-charge; John Kudos, designer; Christian Swinehart, programmer.