You have reached the official website of Arts Corporation, New York. Arts Corporation is a multimedia laboratory interested in the intersections of architecture, art and technology. Mike Latham is the principal; the corporation is made up of a tightly knit group of individuals from disparate fields including architecture, industrial design, fine arts, and technology. The products and services of Arts Corporation range from the fine arts to furniture, interior and product design, and architecture, but their logic is always rooted in the aesthetic and artistic rigour of the work of art.
Link to artscorporation
FURNITURE Arts Corporation has produced a line of furniture which integrates the firm's interests in art, architecture and technology. Available in extremely limited numbered runs, each piece is produced either in Arts Corporation's Brooklyn studio or by a carefully supervised craftsperson. Arts Corporation also works with clients on custom furniture commissions. Clients occasionally purchase the rights to the design, ensuring that the reproduction of these often one-of-a-kind works of art is in their hands. Please make an appointment at our Brooklyn showroom to see more of our work, or visit our products section.
VISUALIZATION Arts Corporation maintains a sizeable staff of experts and consultants in 3-D modeling and rendering which enables us to provide a range of visualization services customized to match the needs of your company. Clients include architects, industrial designers, and businesses of several types. Let us turn your ideas into visual reality, always with the unique aesthetic and professionalism of Arts Corporation.
INTERIORS Arts Corporation has designed a number of interior projects. The approach, while always client-specific, generally involves application of the firm's architectural premises and use of customized Arts Corporation furniture. Whether commercial or residential, we can work with you to make your space unique.
ARCHITECTURE At Arts Corporation, our architectural work is defined by the technology by which we are fascinated and by the work which we do in the fine arts. Architectural commissions usually involve close collaboration with a visionary client and produce unique and noteworthy results. Arts Corporation generally partners with local interests, a practice which increases our experiential capabilities and which has allowed work to be completed worldwide in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. Current architectural projects include a group of five vacation houses outside of New York City and a number of design and conception projects, including mid-sized hotels in Manhattan, and Washington, D.C.. We would like to work with you on your project of any scale.
CONTACT INFORMATION
ARTS CORPORATION
a: 184 Kent Ave, #341, Brooklyn, New York, 11211.
t: +1.718.302.4164
e: info@artscorporation.com
All images, pages, text, and site design and content remain the copyright of Arts Corporation, 2003, and are not to be reproduced in any manner without permission.
Website design: Hui Min Chan
e: minchan@mac.com
Mike Latham
Principal
mike.latham@artscorporation.com
B.A.
Columbia College
M. Arch.
Columbia University G.S.A.P.
Founder, 2000
Photo Credit: Jen Campbell
Jon Spiegel
Technology Director
jon.spiegel@artscorporation.com
B.S.
Columbia University
M.B.A.
U. of Chicago (2005)
Member since 2001
Photo Credit: Jen Campbell
Viet Nguyen
Project Architect
viet.nguyen@artscorporation.com
B. Arch.
University of Arizona
Member since 2002
Photo Credit: Jen Campbell
Molly Ackerman-Brimberg
Product Designer
B.A. in Industrial Design
Stamford University
Member since 2002
Photo Credit: Jen Campbell
Brendan Colthurst
Programmer
B.A.
Columbia College
Member since 2002
Photo Credit: Jen Campbell
Alyce Waxman
Graphics Designer
B.A.
Carleton College
Member since 2002
Photo Credit: Jen Campbell
Vikram Gandhi
House Film Maker
vikram.gandhi@artscorporation.com
B.A.
Columbia College
Member since 2003
Photo Credit: Jen Campbell
Jen Campbell
House Photographer
jenny.campbell@artscorporation.com
B.A.
Columbia College
Member since 2003
Aaron Cattani
Consultant Architect
aaron.cattani@artscorporation.com
B.A.
Ohio State
M.Arch.
Columbia University G.S.A.P.
Member since 2000
Photo Credit: Jen Campbell
Winthrop Han
Visualization Consultant
B.A.
Berkeley
M. Arch.
Columbia University G.S.A.P.
Member since 2000
Photo Credit: Jen Campbell
Michael Stevens
Consultant Project Architect
B.A.
M. Arch.
Columbia University G.S.A.P.
Member since 2000
PRESS & PUBLICATION
2004
PUBLICATION
Interview Magazine, Page 5, May 2004, p. 128
Cubes Malaysia, Loft in Space, March, 2004, pgs. 90-95
EXHIBITION
Marithe+Francois Girbaud, Dress Code, February 4th- 18th, 2002
2003
PUBLICATION
Wallpaper* Wallpaper High 5, 5 Emerging Interiors Experts, October 2003, pgs 128, 129
AD Magazine Algemeen Dagblad (Netherlands) Creatieve Chaos, September 27, 2003, pgs. 38-43
The New York Times House+Home Section May 1, 2003 p. F3 Currents
Columbia College Today, Wheeling and Dealing in Architecture, March 2003, p. 51
AWARD
Young Architects Award. The Architectural League of New York, 2003
2002
PUBLICATION
Architectural Record, AR2, Mentorless in Brooklyn, July 2002, pgs. 51, 52
The New York Times Magazine, Mobile Home, April 14th, 2002, Cover, pgs. 16, 20, 74-78
TELEVISION APPEARANCE
New Yorkers, N.H.K. Network, Japan. Mike Latham: Designer, episode # 754-402, first aired June 9, 2002
2000
AWARD
William J. Kinne travel fellowship, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, May, 2000
Portfolio Award, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, May, 2000
2003 PUBLICATION
AD Magazine, Algemeen Dagblad (Netherlands) Creatieve Chaos, September 27, 2003, pgs. 38-43
2003 PUBLICATION
Wallpaper*, Wallpaper High 5, 5 Emerging Interiors Experts, October 2003, pgs 128, 129
2002 PUBLICATION
The New York Times Magazine, Mobile Home, April 14th, 2002, Cover, pgs. 16, 20, 74-78
2004 PUBLICATION
Interview Magazine, Page 5, May 2004, p. 128
2002 PUBLICATION
Architectural Record, AR2, Mentorless in Brooklyn, July 2002, pgs. 51, 52
2004 PUBLICATION
Cubes Malaysia, Loft in Space, March, 2004, pgs. 90-95
EMPLOYMENT
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR TALENTED INDIVIDUALS ARE AVAILABLE ON A REGULAR BASIS. CONTACT
info@artscorporation.com
Position Available: Project Architect.
A self-motivated, diligent, detail-oriented and intelligent individual trained in architecture to oversee projects at all stages. Autocad proficiency and construction documentation and supervision experience required, along with excellent 3-D modeling skills. Minimum one year work experience and B. Arch or M. Arch.
Position Available: P.A., Office Administrator.
A well-spoken, highly organized, efficient, attractive individual with know-how to manage office affairs, including financial, and complete tasks in the New York metropolitan area. Should have a current driver's license and good driving record and skills.
PROJECTS
LOFT.1
A loft space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is limitlessly reconfigureable in response to changing programmatic requirements for studio, meeting, and living space. A design element is the vitrine, a mobile glass storage space measuring 6'W X 2.5'D X 6'H. Defined by their contents, these vitrines activate in specific ways the voided space which surrounds them. They reconfigure and recombine to take the place of walls. The vitrines have uniform exterior measurements, but standards on the interior are adjustable at increments of 1", allowing for great variation in function. CUBE, another main design element, serves as guest room, light fixture, and storage space for large objects.
Design team: Mike Latham, Aaron Cattani, Michael Stevens, Winthrop Han. Photo Credits: Andrew Bordwin.
The library.
Vitrines create a moving wall separating a bedroom from a living area.
Vitrines combine to form walls.
Like the vitrine, CUBE is fully mobile.
Like the vitrine, CUBE is mobile.
One side of the CUBE is two-way mirror, allowing for privacy when turned off.
Cube, detail.
One side of CUBE remains open for access; the box can be completed with any existing stationary wall.
A bedroom, with Arts Corporation bed.
A vitrine serves as a mobile office.
"The kitchen cabinet is a party on wheels." The New York Times Magazine, April 14, 2002, p. 76.
A vitrine serves as kitchen storage and defines the kitchen space.
The plan is limitlessly reconfigureable.
HOME.in.1 had a limited budget for the creation of storage space and furniture-- a bed, bookshelves , and a desk, in a New York studio apartment. The solution conflates the furniture program and the client's possessions in a mobile six foot cube or pixel made of standard 1 1/4" shelving angles, glass, and acrylic. In its photographed location (map), the result is a high level of openness and organization in a space which might otherwise be overwhelmed by objects. Home.in.1, and all of its contents, can be moved against a wall allowing for open studio work space. The unit can be disassembled and reassembled by two people in two days of work. Design team: Mike Latham, Aaron Cattani, Michael Stevens. Photo Credits: Andrew Bordwin. MISSION CONTROL: Electric is provided to the desk and night stand area (not shown.) Glass desk and shelves rest on the standard 1 1/4" steel angles. Photo Credit: Andrew Bordwin The front section of a prefab aluminum ladder is the means of access to the lofted bed Photo Credit: Andrew Bordwin. Home.in.1 is the client's home. Where that home resides is of less importance. Home.in.1 currently resides in Las Vegas, NV (map) . Fluorescent bulbs are incorporated into the interior of the structure. When off, the cube assumes a serene white appearance. When on, light and color permeate the translucent acrylic. Photo Credit: Andrew Bordwin. Exterior doors allow access to the desk , bookshelves, closet and the ladder to the bed above. Photo Credit: Andrew Bordwin. One of twelve doors allows entrance to the interior of the structure which is used for less accessed storage. Ahead is the back of the desk. Photo Credit: Andrew Bordwin. Visualization
HAYDEN HALL A Manhattan S.R.O. is transformed into a boutique hotel through refurbishment and new furniture design for its 82 rooms, expansion of the lobby area, and the creation of a bar in the basement space under the lobby. The visible layering and history on the surfaces of the eight story building, constructed in 1902, are the basis of the conceal/reveal strategy. In light of the economical budget, rather than stripping and smoothing, rough walls with peeling paint are covered in flat sheet rock. However, architectural features such as moldings and windows are left untouched, framed out by the new additions and left as highly textured installations. Hayden resumes life as a chic boutique hotel with its economically disadvantaged past undestroyed and apparent just beneath the surface. Design Team: Mike Latham, Mick Walsdorf. A glass bar anchors the basement bar, which is connected to the above by a glass staircase. The hallway lighting scheme highlights retained architectural detail, including doors and moldings. Section showing lightshaft installation, lobby, bar, and a series of rooms. Fluorescent bulbs keyed to the front desk key system run 94 feet from the basement bar to the roof, and switch on or off in response to room occupancy, unifying the guest experience. The lobby floor has a thick polyurethane coat over the original baseboards and raw concrete where walls have been removed. The front desk key system is keyed to the light installation in the air shaft.
FIELD HOUSE In the foothills of the Catskill Mountains in Northern Pennsylvania, rock ledge lies an average of four feet beneath the ground surface and fresh, warm water aquifers which feed trout streams about 75. Besides as the land of heart shaped jacuzzis and beautiful Mt. Airy Lodge, this area is thus known for its concrete factories and fishing. FIELD HOUSE serves as a prototype in several ways, both as a seminal investigation in cooperation with A.C. Miller Concrete, a regional concrete producer, into the feasibility of mass-produced pre-cast concrete homes, and as the first in a development here of several homes for casual, vacation living, on large pieces of property with spectacular views of the Catskill mountains. In deference to this pristine setting and economic realities (some of the houses are as much as a mile from an existing power line) the houses have a sustainable relationship with their surroundings. Field House is a collaboration with Paul Ochs of Woho Beaux Arts. Design team: Mike Latham, Paul Ochs, Viet Nguyen, Allen Jones The front side of field house is composed of sliding glass doors which fit into the prefab concrete structure in a fashion identical to the prefab rear wall. Front night view with the highly detailed core visible in the interior and garden on the roof, which restores the landscape covered by the footprint of the house and provides deer-free gardening space. Interior view of the great room from the kitchen area, with model. Exploded Axonometric Exploded Axonometric The house is powered off-the-grid by a propane generator and is heated through custom radiant slabs by geothermal means. The only customized piece of the house is the central core. Conceived as a sculpture inside a pre-fab box, the core divides the living area from the bedrooms and houses all functional components. The house is assembled like a contemporary kit of parts, resulting in substantial cost savings. The front wall of the house is of double paned sliding glass doors, to take advantage of the sweeping views of the mountains in the distance. High insulation value is maintained throughout the house with the help of features such as foam inside the concrete slabs and a garden roof. The rear wall is constructed of pre-fab insulated exterior wall panels with openings for standardized double-hung windows and doors.
WALIS is a 3,000 ft^2 bar and restaurant located in Washington D.C. which accomodates 250 patrons. Everything in the bar--the scotch, the bar stools, the V.I.P. room , is fluid. Advanced back of bar technology borrowed from disciplines such as ship-building and energy production allow for bars unencumbered by hard-fixed plumbing. Extensive use of two-way mirror, careful lighting technique, and mobile screens combine to create a series of ever-changing spaces with varying degrees of intimacy, privacy, light, shape and size, and eventuality. One of infinite possible bar layouts. One of infinite possible bar layouts. There are a total of three identical bar units, which can be paired for a closed, central bar. Extensive research on bar performance leads to economic and ergonomic maximization at the customized back of bar. The V.I.P. room is a mobile twenty foot square mobile box. It can accommodate couches and tables or be emptied to a clear floor incorporating a light installation. Walls of one way mirror create a complex play of privacy and exposure and allow the very important people to be in a private space while never feeling isolated from the life of the bar. Arts Corporation designed furniture in the lounge areas is mostly on wheels and easily rearranged. Dining rooms are highly reconfigureable. The V.I.P. room is obscured from outside, from within the walls are nearly transparent. The bar is serviced by overhead water and soda delivery lines. Waste disposal is through quick disconnect at various points in the floor.
WILLIAMSBURG BRIDGE/LOFTS The over structured steel towers of early 20th century bridges are harbingers of the modern skyscraper, or skyscrapers before they are coated in their curtain walls. The Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, has for many years been a center of the conversion of disused industrial buildings into live/work space for the arts community. As real estate prices rise, every last recess of the city is candidate for colonization. Williamsburg Bridge/Lofts takes these eventualities one step further by proposing to fill out the empty spans of the bridge tower with city-subsidized lofts of between 900 and 1500 square feet, in effect building on what is now fallow city-owned land. The missing curtain wall is reinstated in a flexible, pliable form. Design Team: Mike Latham , Mick Walsdorf. The mobile shower unit and the mobile toilet unit use POLYVISION (tm) film insert which becomes opaque when charged with electricity. Plumbing is supplied via flexible polyurethane piping attached by quick disconnect at nine gridded wet stations. The east and west facades are made of double-paned sliding glass doors which sandwich a photovoltaic film. A 10 degree tilt upwards aids in energy harvest. Doors hang on the intermediate level structure in a three foot grid. All are completely mobile and latch together in series or at 90 degrees to form interior or exterior walls. The Brooklyn tower. Patricia Belen enjoys a glass of champagne on the front porch. A space frame gridded at three feet is inserted into the bridge superstructure at increments of 11 feet and becomes the intermediate level structure for the floor slabs, hanging doors , and HVAC, electrical, and plumbing. Section through the bridge tower shows added parking and viewing platforms under the road level. A new subway could service lobby level, with living space perched high above. A section through several lofts shows the almost limitless ways in which spaces can be rearranged with the kit of parts and empty canvas provided. Plan for summer. The north and south curtain walls push back to create flexible outdoor space. East and West curtain walls are fixed sliding panels incorporating glass with photovoltaic film. In the winter, interior space increases by moving doors to the exterior perimeter. Additional panels can be used to create a more efficient thermal barrier. Storage cabinets are mounted with ball bearings to the three foot gridded space frame . Shelves are adjustable. A combination of translucent and transparent glasses allow for varying degrees of privacy. As the built-in cabinets fill up with possessions, they become opaque walls, and the space is personalized The Manhattan tower.
A.C.1 is a self-propelled, self-contained automaton which processes images and stimuli from its surroundings via video, photo, and sound capabilities. Numerous practical applications are envisioned for mass production.The structure of specialized chips, sensors, outputs, mechanical parts, and processors represents a highly complicated and advanced investigation of the interests of the practice in the integration of structure, technology, mobility, transparency, and sculpted objects in an experimental and developmental practice of architecture. Design team: Mike Latham, Jon Spiegel, Molly Ackerman-Brimberg, Dionisio Bustillo de Galvez. Arts Corporation 1. Photo Credit: Vikram Gandhi. The adjustable, panning camera captures snapshots and video, both on demand and spontaneously, and stores them in a large database to create a constantly changing base of experience. The robot remembers, perhaps better then you do. Photo Credit: Vikram Gandhi. The reversible laptop screen allows A.C.1 to function alternately as a work station. Photo Credit: Vikram Gandhi. A.C.1 is recrafted from scores of specialized parts including motion sensors, motors, batteries, specialty chips, SONAR range detectors, and a laptop processor and screen. Photo Credit: Vikram Gandhi. Generation 2 carries a standard laptop allowing for integration with any machine running Arts Corporation software. Rendering credit: Winthrop Han.
5.CD CHANGER Work for gallery EXHIBITION is the core of what Arts Corporation does and informs all of our other pursuits. Under the direction of Mike Latham, the Arts Corporation studio works in an atelier system to produce one-of-a-kind sculptures and pictures for sale in the art market. Currently in production is the show A.C.1. Generated by the intricacies and technological difficulties of robot manufacture, the show includes several one-of-a-kind robot and electronic sculptures which reclaim familiar household objects and appliances by reducing them to their essential, functional parts and reforming them in essentially voided but immaculately crafted glass boxes, and a series of silkscreens and prints. Photo Credits: Vikram Gandhi. 5.CD CHANGER is an integrated unit including CD player, receiver, speakers and remote. 5.CD CHANGER, detail. 5.CD CHANGER treats and subjects those who come in to contact with it to a hermetically sealed mixed performance from 2002, the year of its' creation.
T.OASTER Work for gallery EXHIBITION is the core of what Arts Corporation does and informs all of our other pursuits. Under the direction of Mike Latham, the Arts Corporation studio works in an atelier system to produce one-of-a-kind sculptures and pictures for sale in the art market. Currently in production is the show A.C.1. Generated by the intricacies and technological difficulties of robot manufacture, the show includes several one-of-a-kind robot and electronic sculptures which reclaim familiar household objects and appliances by reducing them to their essential, functional parts and reforming them in essentially voided but immaculately crafted glass boxes, and a series of silkscreens and prints. Photo Credits: Vikram Gandhi. T.OASTER toasts. The rather elaborate mechanations of the every day toaster, for which Arts Corporation can be credited, since the previous designers choose to conceal them behind opaque white plastic.
T.D.V.D Work for gallery EXHIBITION is the core of what Arts Corporation does and informs all of our other pursuits. Under the direction of Mike Latham, the Arts Corporation studio works in an atelier system to produce one-of-a-kind sculptures and pictures for sale in the art market. Currently in production is the show A.C.1. Generated by the intricacies and technological difficulties of robot manufacture, the show includes several one-of-a-kind robot and electronic sculptures which reclaim familiar household objects and appliances by reducing them to their essential, functional parts and reforming them in essentially voided but immaculately crafted glass boxes, and a series of silkscreens and prints. Photo Credits: Vikram Gandhi.
T.PHONE Work for gallery EXHIBITION is the core of what Arts Corporation does and informs all of our other pursuits. Under the direction of Mike Latham, the Arts Corporation studio works in an atelier system to produce one-of-a-kind sculptures and pictures for sale in the art market. Currently in production is the show A.C.1. Generated by the intricacies and technological difficulties of robot manufacture, the show includes several one-of-a-kind robot and electronic sculptures which reclaim familiar household objects and appliances by reducing them to their essential, functional parts and reforming them in essentially voided but immaculately crafted glass boxes, and a series of silkscreens and prints. Photo Credits: Vikram Gandhi. T.phone, integrated answering machine, speaker phone, and caller I.D. T.phone receiver.
T.V.CR Work for gallery EXHIBITION is the core of what Arts Corporation does and informs all of our other pursuits. Under the direction of Mike Latham, the Arts Corporation studio works in an atelier system to produce one-of-a-kind sculptures and pictures for sale in the art market. Currently in production is the show A.C.1. Generated by the intricacies and technological difficulties of robot manufacture, the show includes several one-of-a-kind robot and electronic sculptures which reclaim familiar household objects and appliances by reducing them to their essential, functional parts and reforming them in essentially voided but immaculately crafted glass boxes, and a series of silkscreens and prints. Photo Credits: Vikram Gandhi. T.V.CR, T.V. or V.C.R. T.V.CR tube. T.V.CR combines a television and a video cassette recorder. T.V.CR is housed in a custom Arts Corporation glass box and continuously loops a performance of the Japanese network N.H.K.'s feature New Yorkers #754-402 (press).
CHANDELIER / TABLE The chandelier/table, designed for a large London residence, further integrates the symbiotic relationship between dining room table and chandelier. It incorporates a digital projector; images are viewed in a novel, non-directional way and become colorful abstractions. Ceiling wiring is unnecessary. The table surface is one-way mirror, which reflects the white ceiling when the table is off. When the table is on, the light show underneath is clearly visible. Four fluorescent bulbs increase the transparency of the glass. A smaller version for the kitchen, with incandescent light. The bulbs are a constantly shifting pattern of light. A visualization of an alternative, with fluorescent light in one of several patterns.
POWER+LIGHT BOX is a cube which balances a plane of glass on its open top. It acts as a power hub, lighting fixture, and light box. From the top view, the box reveals its working mechanisms. Photo Credit: Andrew Bordwin.
TVTable uses a mechanical jack to change from side table to dining table height. The television and VCR can be pivoted forward as well for standard viewing angles. TVTable. Photo Credit: Andrew Bordwin.
UMBRELLA TABLE was developed for an apartment with very limited space. It uses either a car jack or customized hardware that mimics of an umbrella to convert at one touch from an 18" cube to a full height dining table for four. open, jack version closed, one-touch customized version
VITRINE The vitrines are mobile, transparent storage units of variable dimensions. They reconfigure and recombine and define and color the space around them through their contents. They also serve as an architectural solution, such as in LOFT.1 where they act as walls, screens and define rooms. Details are expressive of the transparent nature of glass, and the spirit in which the vitrines reveal their contents. Shelves are adjustable at 1" increments. The role of the detail as the mechanical fulcrum of the structure is expressed. Off-the-shelf handles, glass clips, and casters are combined with glass shower door hinges which support the three foot wide doors. LONDON SIDE is an alternately sized vitrine. At three feet high and nine feet long, it acts to divide a great room into parlour and dining , as a side table, and as a display case for a very special Anselm Kiefer book.
e-SYSTEM TABLE integrates improvements to a New York loft by incorporating a personal computer, stereo system, and projection television hub into a dining room table/control center. A skeleton of steel, glass, mechanical slides and a jack allows for access to the electronic equipment when in open position. When closed, the table is a standard eating surface. The dining room table becomes the social and technological nexus of the space. The stereo and computer are on sliding planes of glass. The computer monitor, encased in a custom glass box, can be jacked up and down.