How 3form is Bending the Rules of Design

How 3form is Bending the Rules of Design
When Ruben Suare leans across a Manhattan caf� table and says the word "plastics", he isn't dispensing the modern-day career advice of Mr. McGuire in The Graduate.

He is explaining, in the simplest terms, the signature product of 3form, the Salt Lake City materials manufacturer where he is a vice-president running the architectural division.

But saying that 3form makes plastic is like saying an iPod is a hard drive.

Rather, 3form is generating buzz in design circles with a hotshot proprietary material called eco-resin and an architectural unit, led by Suare, ready to collaborate with architects on their most elaborate visions -- whether it's translucent undulating walls or exuberant stages for the circus.

Already, 3form has bagged a crucial role in a highly anticipated building project: Diller Scofidio + Renfro's renovation of Alice Tully Hall at New York's Lincoln Center.

The architects, known for high-concept, high-tech designs, imagined the revamped concert hall with curvaceous, glowing wood walls -- not exactly a form found in nature.

"There wasn't a product in the marketplace that met what we proposed," recalls Diller Scofidio + Renfro project leader Ben Gilmartin.

"We needed people who were willing to go down an R&D path with us to develop it."

At its facility in Utah, 3form built a 22-foot-tall wall