Pattern Gets the Silent Treatment With ARO Block

Designed by longtime collaborators, Architecture Research Office, ARO Block is a series of modular acoustic tiles that add sound control in a customizable, easy-to-install system. Available in several standard shapes inspired by geometry, spoke systems, and architectural shingles and cladding, ARO Block tiles are 100% Wool Design Felt mounted to a über-thin Akustika 10 acoustic substrate. Over ninety wool felt color options allow for endless configurations and one-of-a-kind sound softening solutions that install wall-to-wall or in small areas to add color, texture, and unique patterning. ARO Block arose out of a need to reuse post-industrial remnant material at FilzFelt’s manufacturing facility. This material is generated from FilzFelt’s CNC cut products and projects and tends to be narrow strips that require smaller or modular products.

A play on the triangle, ARO Block 1 uses the negative space between tiles to create secondary patterning. The triangular shape of ARO Block 2 is at a slightly smaller scale than its cousin, ARO Block 1, and the hexagonal negative space between tiles becomes the focal point. The dynamic shape of ARO Block 3 uses asymmetrical angles that nest together while simultaneously creating voids. Inspired by architectural shingles and cladding, ARO Block 4 takes the ubiquitous rectangle and shifts it slightly to convey movement and variation in customizable patterns.

Speaking of the new collection, Kim Yao, principal at Architecture Research Office comments “ARO Block emerged from a simple challenge posed by the FilzFelt team—what can we create to utilize remnant felt? Working with typical remnant dimensions, we brainstormed about a smaller unit size made useful through tiling. Like our other products, ARO Block is modular. Inspired by masonry construction, each block laid adjacent to another makes a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.”

And regarding the expansion of FilzFelt’s modular product line and the reuse of post-industrial remnants, Traci Roloff, FilzFelt’s co-founder and Vice Present of Marketing + Communications, remarks “Since FilzFelt was founded in 2008, we have been committed to our reuse policy. All offcuts and remnants produced during our manufacturing process are collected and repurposed into sampling, products, or sold to customers requiring smaller quantities. As our manufacturing volume has increased, we’ve been challenged with finding new uses for our remnant inventory. Our company has made efforts to seek out design and production partnerships to establish new uses for our remnants.”

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About Architecture Research Office

Architecture Research Office is the New York City firm led by Stephen Cassell, Kim Yao, and Adam Yarinsky. Founded in 1993, ARO has earned a reputation for elegant, innovative and imaginative architecture born out of relentless exploration and engagement. Architecture Research Office received the 2011 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Architecture, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters honored the firm with their 2010 Academy Award for Architecture. The firm’s work has been exhibited widely and is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.

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