Just thought I'd share what I think is a very clever idea by Morgan over at The Brick House blog. Design on a shoestring!
http://www.the-brick-house.com/2011/05/rope-wall.html#comments
From the blog post...
"With this open warehouse space, one big design issue Shelly needed help with was figuring out how to layout and define areas for various work and private ?zones?. She needed areas for tools, areas for storage, an area for a personal office, a waiting area, an area to teach and work with students and so on and so forth."
I don't see much privacy there. I get the need to keep costs low and to do something non-permanent since it's a rental space. And they wanted to keep it open so that the light from the windows isn't blocked. But it's barely a divider at all. Maybe they don't really care that much about privacy, in which case, ok.
I don't like jute rope, though. I can't stand the smell of jute or hemp or whatever it is. Also, dust is gonna cling to that stuff like mad, especially in that place where they're doing upholstery. I could see it maybe with glossy white nylon rope, though that is considerably pricier than jute if costs are an issue.
The technology
is a challenge -- as can be seen by the irregularities in the panel at the right. Keeping those ropes tight -- all at the same tension -- is a nightmare.
The easy solution is to use a stretchy fiber, so that slight tension will keep all the lines "straight." I would have employed gravity: the bottom (weight) bar would float just above the floor.
It's certainly true that this is a cleaning nightmare. But I like the look of the natural fiber. As to the basic form, the idea is a space division, not a real barrier or privacy wall. The ideal would be to have no bar at the bottom; more elegant would be a weighted cylinder terminating each rope . . .
It looks bad, and creates a...
It looks bad, and creates a division only in usable space. I would like to think that sometimes it's better to not do something then to waste money and do something unappealing. The dust on the rope and the fiber from the rope as it sheds seams like a mess to me and yes the smell. I think that I might consider separating the spaces if absolutely necessary but not like that. Translucent paper is cheap and enhances light as it diffuses, or even stretched fabric, but rope, no thanks.
If you need any help, please contact us at – info@designaddict.com