Project Description
From ARCHITECT, November 2013
J. Mayer H. Architects in Georgia, by Ian Volner:
A kind of 18th-century garden folly redone for the 21st, the Batumi café-pavilion is somewhat out of step with Jürgen Mayer H.’s other projects in Georgia, more of an architectural sketch than a fully realized building. Its clover-like plan—represented vertically by the tall standing sculpture outside of it—is vaguely (if only vaguely) suggestive of a seashell, one more case of the designer flirting with a figurative architecture. The interior design, including the floor-to-ceiling curtains that block off some of the openness Mayer had intended for the glazed-in structure, wasn’t his own work, having been carried out by a young local firm. But that demonstrates how the German designer’s activity might yet have a lasting influence on the Georgian design scene for years to come. “An outsider can become a catalyst to generate opportunities for locals,” Mayer says—and already a few native firms with a similar, contemporary sensibility have received commissions for public projects around the country.
For more from this article, visit: http://architectmagazine.stg.zonda.onl/projects/firm-profiles/j-mayer-h.aspx