The Botanist & Her Thieves by Laank
The Botanist & Her Thieves is a space in Singapore designed by LAANK to be lifestyle and community-focused.
Description
This is a space that’s designed to be lifestyle-driven and community-focused. The entrance opens up to a welcome lobby and plant project collective The Botanist and Her Thieves which offers modern plant solutions–such as soil, custom fertilizers, planters to accessories–sits to the left.
Doubling up as meeting and hot-desk spaces for the Section office upstairs, the space embodies the flexibility to host workshops and guerrilla events that unite people with common interests. Tapping on Section’s digital expertise, we wanted to re-interpret the typical retail/event experience into one that is experienced more collectively for both the private occupants and the larger community.
The overall experience of the space is cashless, seamless and fully integrated with the visual display that you can actually touch and smell. The final missing piece to this multi-sensory experience is Zul Mahmod sound-art installation “of nature and technology” which gently echos in the background as you browse. This centerpiece helps define the other areas in the space.
To best facilitate encounters and collaborations, the layout is kept open and fluid and the overall color palette is chosen to be neutral, in different shades of sand and wood. Details are instead expressed through textures and the nature of the space. The lines between the indoors and outdoors are consciously blurred as we placed emphasis on the greening of an indoor space. Large potted plants and an indoor pebble garden helped further this intent. The walls are coated with a handmade texture in imperfect lines, painstakingly applied layer by layer, and were painted cream, to create a neutral and natural backdrop for the vibrant plants and plant accessories. The flooring was kept to a subtle grey in a natural raw tile finishing.
Ultimately, we wanted to create a space that provides respite for the community and allows for endless possibilities. It’s a space that enhances the constantly changing arrangements and expressions of People & Nature.
Photography courtesy of Laank
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- by Matt Watts
