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    Byró Architekti “blurs old and new” at renovated House in Kutná Hora

    Prague studio Byró Architekti has renovated a 19th-century house in the Czech town of Kutná Hora, adding unexpected openings and colourful joinery that create a playful contrast with the original interior.

    The studio was tasked with restoring the character of the existing house, which had been compromised by a previous programme of renovations in the 1970s.
    Pastel green defines the entrance of House in Kutná Hora by Byró ArchitektiThe project improves the connection between the home’s internal spaces by introducing new windows and openings while aiming to seamlessly layer new elements on top of the original built fabric.
    “Our main goal was to rediscover the house’s memory and original layers, which were actually quite rare, and seamlessly blend them with new layers to create a cohesive whole,” Byró Architekti explained.
    Chequerboard tiles in the foyer match the painted joinery”We aimed to blur the boundary between the old and the new rather than highlighting it,” the studio added.

    The house’s main feature is a spiral staircase that forms a vertical circulation core at the centre of the plan. Internal windows and glass-block walls were added on each level to provide a visual connection to the living spaces.
    Plywood cabinetry and wall panelling feature in the ground-floor music roomAn original stone staircase links the ground floor and first floor, while a new stair leading to the attic has floating steel treads that allow light from a skylight to reach the lower level.
    A spacious entrance hall on the ground floor connects with a music room and a bathroom on one side of the staircase, while utility areas and an artist’s studio face onto a courtyard at the rear.
    Also on the ground floor is a small artist’s studio with colourful joineryThe main living space containing the kitchen is housed on the first floor along with the principal bedroom and a home office. The attic contains two bedrooms for the children as well as a bathroom.
    Light and colour are used throughout the project to create spaces with different atmospheres. While the building’s exterior is decorated modestly to fit into the streetscape, a more expressive colour palette is applied internally.

    Plus One Architects uncovers original paintwork of 100-year-old Czech apartment

    “Overall, muted shades are chosen combined with more pronounced colour surfaces or accents in several specific situations,” Byró Architekti said.
    The entrance hall features chequerboard floor tiles in a pastel-green hue that matches the painted joinery of the surrounding doors and windows. The balustrade and the treads of the new staircase are also finished in the same colour.
    Stairs lead up to the living spacesByró Architekti designed various pieces of custom furniture for the project, including a plywood shelving unit with a bright-red metal structure that extends along one wall of the ground-floor studio space.
    The playroom also features plywood cabinetry and wall panelling, inset with an internal clerestory window that lets light into the adjoining bathroom.
    Kitchen cabinets are painted in a powdery blue colourThe main living area features a vaulted ceiling lined with plywood. A concrete bench is positioned along one wall to support a tile-clad fireplace while a window behind looks onto the stairwell.
    The kitchen has cabinets and internal doors painted in a pale blue colour. A porthole window in this space also offers a glimpse of the spiral stair.
    The vaulted ceiling of the living room is lined with plywoodThe courtyard and garden at the rear of the building were also renovated as part of the project. This outdoor space can be accessed from the lower floor or via a new terrace outside the main living area.
    Byró Architekti was founded by Tomáš Hanus and Jan Holub, who studied at the Czech Technical University in Prague and worked in various practices before setting up their studio.
    The garden can be accessed via a new terrace outside the main living areaPreviously, the duo completed a cabin with a sweeping roof and red timber cladding in the Šumava mountains.
    Other renovations in the Czech Republic that have recently been featured on Dezeen include a 500-year-old home filled with contemporary furniture and a 1920s villa in Prague that was revamped by No Architects.
    The photography is by Alex Shoots Buildings.

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    Gensler redesigns its own LA office to have “warmth and comfort” of home

    The team at global architecture firm Gensler’s Los Angeles office has redesigned a floor of its workspace with a hospitality approach, as a pilot for the remaining spaces.

    The Gensler LA team’s renovated its space to give it more of the “warmth and comfort” that its staff became used to during its time working from home.
    The team at Gensler LA redesigned the third floor of their offices to better suit their current workplace needsThe studio’s return to the office post-pandemic came seven years into a 15-year lease of its spaces in Downtown Los Angeles, the firm had converted from an empty bank building in 2011 then expanded to two floors in an adjacent, connected structure.
    With a growing workforce and a desire to rethink the layout, functionality and appearance of the office, a group of the studio’s “next generation” of designers and strategists led an effort to redesign the interiors of the third floor.
    The pilot project incorporates several products from Gensler collaborations, including open shelving and communal tables”The look and feel of our space, though contemporary, lacked the warmth and comfort of the hospitality touches we integrate for our clients’ workspaces and that we had become accustomed to while working from home,” Gensler senior strategist Sarah Koos told Dezeen.

    “Coupled with the changing nature of hybrid work, the space necessitated a transformation that would support a renewed sense of a work-lifestyle.”
    A warm aesthetic that captures the essence of Los Angeles was chosen for the interiorsThe group spent a year listening and learning from surveys, workshops and feedback sessions in which each of the 500-plus employees was able to have a say about their future work environment.
    Many team members had been highly mobile even before hybrid working became popular, so the previous dedicated desk system seemed redundant.
    “Working from home for two years effectively rewired peoples’ expectations of their work environments, a sterile, single-use corporate office no longer spoke to the warmth, variety, and comfort they were afforded in their own homes,” said Koos.
    Plenty of lounge areas with comfy seating were created for employees to useThey therefore set about redesigning the offices with a focus on flexibility, communal work areas and presentation spaces.
    “Rather than confine our designers to a desk or a conference room, we developed a kit-of-parts inclusive of typical sit-stand workstations, communal tables, focus pods, booths, material layout islands, and more,” said Gensler senior designer Kirk Bairian.
    “Gensler is built on a studio system which is critical to our design culture, and each studio was able to use this kit-of-parts to customise their space to reflect the specific ways in which they work.”
    The team devised a “kit of parts” for the different studios to customise their own workspacesA warm, hospitality-forward aesthetic that mirrors the “informal but elevated, casual but curated” essence of Los Angeles was chosen.
    Materials including maple plywood, blackened metal and subtle textiles provide a backdrop for more colourful additions in the form of ever-changing pin-up display boards, styled shelving, artwork by local students and books from local creative businesses.

    Eight interiors and architecture projects by Gensler

    Lounge-style furniture and jewel-toned textiles are placed in the co-working areas to evoke a hotel lobby or coffee shop vibe.
    Several of Gensler’s furniture and fixture collaborations were also introduced, among them the communal tables and open shelcves from a product line created with Fantoni and custom focus pods from a partnership with Tangram’s Studio Other.
    Traditional conference rooms are available alongside more flexible spaces for group workSince the project completed in 2023, the data from badges suggest that employee office attendance has increased by 35 per cent for the studios located in the renovated pilot space, according to the firm.
    “Studios in the new space shared that they felt that working in the renovated space made them more productive, enabled more effective collaboration, and overall, greatly improved their in-office experience,” the team added.
    Maple plywood and blackened metal were among the materials chosen to give the space more of a hospitality feelGensler is the world’s largest architecture firm and has locations 53 locations globally. Its European head offices in Wapping, London, was longlisted in the business building category of Dezeen Awards 2020.
    In 2022, co-CEO Andy Cohen told Dezeen in an exclusive interview that architecture should abandon “top-down” management to improve working conditions.

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    LG OLED and Shepard Fairey present digital street art at Frieze Los Angeles

    Electronics brand LG OLED has collaborated with American street artist Shepard Fairey to exhibit digital versions of his artworks in this exclusive video produced by Dezeen.

    Called Peace and Justice, the installation is being presented at Frieze art fair in Los Angeles and features select works by Fairey that address global issues while advocating for positive change.

    Dezeen has produced an exclusive video for LG OLED
    Fairey was directly involved in the design of the installation space, which features a reimagined version of his 2018 piece Damaged Wrong Path Mural.
    Other works presented at the exhibition include Fairey’s 2023 Swan Song print, a reflection on the state of the environment, as well as a piece titled Make Art Not War, echoing the 1960s anti-war slogan “make love, not war.”
    The video explores artworks reimagined by Shepard Fairey for Frieze Los AngelesFairey is the founder of OBEY Clothing and is widely known for his Hope portrait of Barack Obama – which was widely circulated during the 2008 US presidential election campaign – as well as a series of posters called We the People that were released the day before the inauguration of Donald Trump in 2017.
    The LG OLED Art initiative invites artists to exhibit digital versions of their works using LG OLED TVs.
    The exhibit includes Fairey’s Damaged Wrong Path Mural with added digital elementsEach pixel in the OLED TVs emits its own light and can be controlled individually, creating an emissive display that was designed to produce accurate colour reproduction.
    The LG OLED TVs currently on show at Frieze Los Angeles aim to accurately express the prominent red tones in Fairey’s artwork.
    The LG OLED Art installation is on display at Frieze Los Angeles until 3 MarchLG OLED Art has collaborated with over 27 artists from around the world, including Anish Kapoor, Barry X Ball, Damien Hirst, the late Kim Whanki and Kevin McCoy.
    The photography is by LG Electronics.
    Frieze Los Angeles takes place from 29 February to 3 March 2024 at Santa Monica Airport. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
    Partnership content
    This article was written by Dezeen as part of a partnership with LG OLED. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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    Eight homes kept cool and bright by central courtyards

    In this lookbook, we’ve collected eight homes from Vietnam to the USA that are kept ventilated and illuminated by central courtyards.

    Courtyards have been used in ancient and contemporary architecture as a tool to trap and funnel breezes and natural light into the core of a building.
    Most often, they are completely open to the elements and can extend upwards through multiple levels of a building, with some surrounded by balconies, loggias, or walkways.
    Vegetation and water features placed at the centre of courtyards also help to cool the surrounding air, while seating or lounge areas provide a place to take it all in.

    One or more courtyards were dispersed along the footprints of the eight homes below, for interiors that are relaxing, open and bright.
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring tranquil interiors with oversized windows, enclosed staircases and metallic furnishings.
    Photo is by Hoang LeHouse for Young Families, Vietnam, H-H Studio
    Designed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, this house in Vietnam features green spaces throughout its entirety so its owners could be connected to nature while working remotely.
    Its interior was organised around three courtyard gardens that were dispersed along a linear plan, while the structure extends upwards around them in a series of stacked white volumes.
    Find out more about House for Young Families ›
    Photo is by Rory GardinerQuarry House, Australia, Winwood McKenzie
    Australian studio Winwood McKenzie renovated the Quarry House by inserting a garden and internal courtyard through its narrow site, which split the residence into three distinct portions.
    The house’s newly built living, dining and kitchen border the courtyard on one side, while a multi-purpose room and study sits across the way.
    Find out more about Quarry House ›
    Photo is by César BéjarCasa Ederlezi, Mexico, Práctica Arquitectura
    Práctica Arquitectura divided this narrow concrete infill house in Mexico into two distinct portions centred around a courtyard.
    Hallways and staircases were oriented around the perimeter of the double-height space in plan and a living space and second floor bedrooms were placed on either side.
    Find out more about Casa Ederlezi ›
    Photo is by Matthew MillmanSanta Monica Modern, USA, Walker Warner Architects
    This L-shaped home in California encloses a spacious courtyard that features multiple seating areas, a ping-pong table, plantings and a concrete fire pit.
    Walker Warner Architects designed the courtyard to be suitable for entertaining, as well as to take advantage of the southern California climate.
    Find out more about Santa Monica Modern ›
    Photo is by Francisco NogueiraPortugal house, Portugal, Bak Gordon Arquitectos 
    Bak Gordon Aquitectos split this Portgual home into two portions by inserting a courtyard at its centre and populated the area with an interior garden, which is surrounded by windows and openings.
    “The small functional patio allows for natural light and cross ventilation as well as a permanent natural garden presence,” said Bak Gordon Arquitectos architect Nuno Tavares da Costa.
    Find out more about Portugal house ›
    Photo is by Javier Agustín Rojas.Casa Vedia, Argentina, BHY Arquitectos
    Two courtyards were inserted into the corners of Casa Vedia in Argentina, which the studio explained were employed to optimise interior spaces.
    Each courtyard is double-height, with plantings tucked along its perimeter. Additionally, two terraces were placed on top of the structure’s roof that sits in between them.
    Find out more about Casa Vedia ›
    Photo is by Rory GardinerCasa VO and Casa WO, Mexico, Ludwig Godefroy 
    Located in Puerto Escondido, Casa VO and Casa Wo are a series of houses organised underneath two large, circular concrete openings that fan upwards from a central meeting point.
    An entryway and garden sit under one such opening, while the remaining living spaces are tucked underneath the opposite across two levels.
    Find out more about Casa VO and Casa WO ›
    Photo is by Oki HiroyukiTile House, Vietnam, Bloom Architects
    Bloom Architects designed this home in Vietnam to stay cool despite the hot climate by creating a sloping, tiled roof that traps wind and pushes it into the interior of the house.
    “[In the] sunny season, tiles surrounding the house prevent it from being radiated [with] heat. Combined with natural ventilation, the house is always cool,” architect Dinh Anh Tuan told Dezeen.
    Find out more about Tile House ›
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring tranquil interiors with oversized windows, enclosed staircases and metallic furnishings.

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    “Subtle luxury” defines Shoreditch jewellery store by Hollie Bowden Interiors

    Interior design studio Hollie Bowden Interiors has created fine jeweller Rachel Boston’s flagship store and showroom in London.

    Located in Shoreditch’s Redchurch Street, the store is split into four main areas – the retail space, private appointment area, workshop and office space for the jeweller’s team of 12.
    The space blends a neutral palette of glass, steel and sycamore wood veneerThe store aims to blend a neutral material palette of glass and steel with sycamore wood veneer and velvet mohair upholstery.
    “Jewellery stores can be read as quite uninviting and exclusive,” Hollie Bowden Interiors founder Bowden told Dezeen. “I wanted to create the opposite experience to that, something that felt open and un-intimidating, yet special and elevated.”
    Bowden and designer EJR Barnes have created bespoke displays from mirror polished steelPlacing the jewellery centre stage was a key objective for Rachel Boston when briefing Bowden’s team.

    “Even though our pieces are striking, they are ultimately small objects by nature, so I didn’t want a huge amount of fussy furniture or bold colours to detract from the experience of customers viewing our pieces,” Rachel Boston told Dezeen.
    In response to the brief, Hollie Bowden created a compact 19-square-metre front retail space “inspired by the concept of a jewellery box that draws your attention into the small, intricate objects within”.
    The store on Redchurch street is split into four main areasSycamore veneer wall-cladding, limestone flooring and lining the display cases with ivory silk combine to create the jewellery-box effect, “emphasising this feeling of being cocooned in the space” Bowden told Dezeen.
    “I wanted to focus on materials that have a quiet beauty about them, that you have to get up close to really appreciate,” she continued.
    Bowden employs a refined approach to materials for this retail project in LondonThis process of refinement has been a hallmark of Bowden’s style since establishing her London-based studio in 2013.
    “Not over-designing projects with too many materials is very important – to give objects the space to sing,” she explained. “I’m always trying to reduce and simplify.”

    Hollie Bowden converts London pub into pared-back jewellery showroom

    Jewellery is displayed in floating window vitrines and a cantilever display desk, designed in collaboration with London-based artist and designer, EJR Barnes.
    Made from mirror polished steel, these bespoke displays introduce a “vertiginous moment that makes the space feel unique,” according to Bowden.
    For these cabinets, Bowden and Barnes drew on the utilitarian design language of archives which “display, protect, and organise what they contain in quite a neutral way”.
    Hollie Bowden’s retail space in Shoreditch has been designed in reference to jewellery boxesRather than using big ornamental gestures more common in jewellery retail, Bowden says this approach “represents a unique and original way of presenting jewellery”.
    “The idea of ‘subtle luxury’ feels like a great counterpoint to retail design at the moment that can feel like you’re in a casino,” she added.
    The frames of the cases are simple and uninterrupted, maximising the display of the jewellery and encouraging guests to roam freely around any area.
    The red cab chair placed at the front of the store is by Mario BelliniA Mario Bellini Cab Chair in a deep wine red, placed at the front of the store, works along the lines of the unexpected-red-theory interior trend, featured in our recent lookbook.
    Through a stainless steel-lined open doorway, the rear space is curtained off for private appointments. This larger 42-square-metre showroom in the back has a more relaxed and intimate feel that mirrors the art-deco style of Boston’s jewellery.
    The rear of the store is reserved for private appointmentsUpon entering the rear space, a brown short-pile carpet and bespoke sofa upholstered in Claremont mohair signals the transition from the storefront.
    “We wanted to create two distinct spaces, independent of each other yet with a subtle link that reflects Rachel’s jewellery,” Bowden said.
    “While the spaces contrast, the continuations of steel and limestone allow for a striking continuity throughout.”
    The rear showroom features a bespoke sofa upholstered in Claremont mohairOther projects by Hollie Bowden Interiors featured on Dezeen include a pared-back jewellery showroom and a London office space inspired by the sultry lighting of gentlemen’s clubs.
    The photography is by Richard Round-Turner.

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    Samsøe Samsøe’s Paris pop-up gallery is a “blank canvas” decorated with clothing artworks

    Danish fashion brand Samsøe Samsøe has launched a pop-up gallery for Paris Fashion Week that features an all-white interior decorated with artwork and furniture made from the brand’s T-shirts.

    The exhibition space was designed to have a pared-down feel in a nod to the brand’s Basic collection, which is launching during the fashion week in the French capital.
    Samsøe Samsøe’s in-house design team created the gallery together with set designer Fatima Fransson to be a “blank canvas” and bring the brand’s vision of “Scandinavian simplicity” to life.
    The minimalist pop-up is located in Paris’ Le Marais area”The overall design is inspired by the way in which our Basic collection is structured,” Samsøe Samsøe art director Jelena Fijan told Dezeen.
    “We took the timeless, long-lasting approach of the product to be central at the space, which gives it a contemporary art gallery feel,” she added.

    “[We wanted] to create a welcoming but abstract feeling for the visitor.”
    It features a central counter covered in white T-shirtsThe resulting space, located in Paris’s Le Marais neighbourhood, has a stark all-white interior punctuated by a central counter partly made from the brand’s clothes.
    “By creating a high-block bar, the installation functions both as an art piece and as a community table for people to connect and talk,” Fijan said.

    Halleroed references Swedish Grace and Carlo Scarpa for Toteme flagship store

    “As this is the central piece in the space, we left some room for the brain to work, and we wanted to create a minimalist and long-lasting feel,” she added.
    The block was made from plywood and epoxy resin, which was then covered in reclaimed T-shirts worn by the Samsøe Samsøe team.
    Grey jumpers were turned into artworks on a concrete backgroundThe space also features artworks made from cashmere knits that were placed in plywood forms layered with a concrete-mixed plaster.
    After Paris Fashion Week ends, the set will be moved to the brand’s headquarters in Copenhagen.
    The space was designed to reference Samsøe Samsøe’s “Scandinavian minimalism”Other fashion stores with a minimalist interior include Swedish brand Toteme’s flagship London store, designed by Halleroed, and Balenciaga’s concrete Berlin store, which references the city’s modernist architecture.
    The photography is courtesy of Samsøe Samsøe.
    The Samsøe Samsøe gallery is located on 16 Rue Caffarelli, 75003 Paris, and will be open 28 February to 3 March. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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    Bench Architecture tops Brooklyn brewery with tile-lined pizzeria

    Local architecture studio Bench Architecture has topped a Brooklyn brewery with a pizzeria and bar outfitted in a “colourfully tactile palette” including a wall of aqua-blue tile.

    In East Williamsburg, Lala’s Brooklyn Apizza shop is located above the Grimm Artisanal Ales brewery – a converted automobile shop that opened in 2018 and was also designed by Brooklyn-based Bench Architecture.
    Local studio Bench Architecture has topped a brewery with a pizzeria in BrooklynThe second-floor pizzeria consists of a large open space flanked on either side by a pizza kitchen and terracotta-clad bar, while a series of bi-fold doors lead out onto a rooftop terrace.
    “A colourfully tactile palette was used to frame two poles of the space,” the studio said.
    The space sits on top of a converted autobody shop The space sits on top of a converted autobody shop
    At one end of the interior space, a pizza oven is surrounded by light green Portuguese tile, while a white mosaic tile was used to clad the oven itself.  A bar counter topped with moonstone and wrapped in corrugated wood frames the oven, with a small service window lined with the same moonstone placed to the side.

    Across the space, a service bar was wrapped in fluted terracotta tiles and topped with a dark grey Mexican Cantera stone counter.
    The studio organized the interior into “nodes”A wall of aqua-blue concrete tile sits behind the bar, extending along the space and outside onto the terrace.
    Magenta-pink curtains line the back wall and a wood-slatted ceiling connects these two bars, which the studio refers to as “nodes”. The two countertops were designed to have contrasting materiality.
    Wood and terracotta-clad bar counters on either end of a dining space”These ‘rough’ and ‘polished’ nodes are unified by a curved wood-slat ceiling and magenta curtain which accent primary surfaces as well as soften the acoustics of the space,” said the studio.
    An angled mirror was placed above the curtain and spans its width to visually connect the interior space to the terrace, according to the studio.

    Six pizzerias that feature unusual interiors

    Outside, the terrace is flanked on both sides by walls of light pink and blue tile, with a Cantera stone floor covering the entirety of the space.
    Simple wooden picnic tables populate both the interior dining area and outdoor space, with shelving and a rack of firewood dispersed around them.
    Colourful tile was used to line the interior and exterior wallsBench Architecture expanded upon similar themes it used for the brewery and taproom on the ground floor below, which opened in 2018.
    Similar red-hued curtains line the space and a corrugated metal-clad bar was placed along the building’s front windows to provide space for brewery production.
    The space opens onto a terrace through a series of bi-fold glass doorsA series of pendants hang from the ceiling, which marks an original mezzanine design for the space.
    “A grid of hanging pendant lights create a ‘ceiling’ to the space, which outlines the extent of the original mezzanine design for the room, which was superseded by the rooftop extension,” said the studio.
    Bench Architecture is a Brooklyn-based architecture studio founded by David Bench in 2020 that specializes in residential, retail and event spaces.
    Other interior projects recently completed in the Williamsburg area include a residential loft that doubles as a performance space and a Kith store featuring a brick silo at its centre.
    The photography is by Nicholas Venezia
    Project credits:
    Architecture and interiors: Bench ArchitectureConstruction manager: Bench ArchitectureMEP: ABS EngineeringStructural: Becker

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    Ten highlights from Design Doha exhibition Arab Design Now

    A disaster-proof chandelier from Lebanon and a towering sand dune-style stone installation feature in Arab Design Now, the main exhibition at the inaugural Design Doha biennial.

    Arab Design Now was curated by Rana Beiruti to capture the spirit of contemporary design across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), the curator told Dezeen ahead of the opening of the first Design Doha.
    Set within the Qatari capital’s M7 building, the design biennial draws together a range of collectible design and installations.
    Selected works from 74 participants paid homage to the MENA region’s “extremely harsh and unique geography” and investigated the “use of materials as a guiding principle,” explained Beiruti.
    Here are 10 of Dezeen’s highlights from Arab Design Now, which is on display in Doha until early August.

    Sites – New Sites by Studio Anne Holtrop
    Bahrain- and Amsterdam-based architect Anne Holtrop has designed a cluster of large-scale mobiles made from vast slabs of lumpy resin.
    Holtrop took casts of a series of manmade and natural sites that he found across Qatar to create the textured pieces, which hang from bearing mechanisms and can be manually rotated by visitors to produce continuously moving formations.

    Constellations 2.0: Object. Light. Consciousness by Abeer Seikaly
    Over 5,000 pieces of Murano glass were woven together by Jordanian-Palestinian designer Abeer Seikaly to create this chandelier, which combines Bedouin weaving practices from Jordan with traditional Venetian glassmaking techniques.
    Brass and stainless steel were also integrated into the lighting, made flexible by the glass mesh.
    Once illuminated, the sculptural piece creates dramatic light patterns that nod to a starry night sky seen from the Badia desert, according to Seikaly.

    House Between a Jujube Tree and a Palm Tree by Civil Architecture
    Kuwait and Bahrain-based office Civil Architecture has designed a looming fibreglass roof proposal for a majlis – the traditional term for an Arabic gathering space.
    “It’s a 1:1 model of a roof of an actual house that we designed in Bahrain,” studio co-founder Hamed Bukhamseen told Deezen.
    Supported by steel and suspended from tension cables, the majlis features openings designed to accommodate tall trees and was created to explore the “symbiotic but blurred” relationship between indoor and outdoor settings.
    Photo courtesy of Design DohaNubia, Hathor and Gros Guillaume Stool by Omar Chakil
    French-Egyptian-Lebanese designer Omar Chakil was informed by his father’s homeland of Egypt when he chose alabaster onyx to create this monolithic shelving, a bulbous coffee table and a stool that glides across the floor on wheels.
    Taking cues from ancient practices, Chakil carved the rounded furniture from raw blocks of the material, which was sanded down over time using water rather than covered in varnish – something that the designer said had became common in Egypt, especially when making “cheap” souvenirs.
    “The whole idea of the collection was to use Egyptian alabaster, which was a healing stone,” Chakil told Dezeen.
    “The pharaohs used [the material], then it transformed it over time. It lost its soul. So I tried to put it in the contemporary context by using the shapes that healing emotions would take – so they are round and soft, even though they are very heavy,” he added.
    “I see that people are afraid to, but I want them to touch the furniture.”

    Tiamat by AAU Anastas
    Palestinian architecture office AAU Anastas is presenting Tiamat, a dune-shaped installation that forms part of the studio’s ongoing project, Stone Matters, which explores the potential of combining historical stone building techniques with modern technologies to encourage the use of structural stone.
    Positioned for visitors to walk through, the installation is a towering structure made of stone sourced from Bethlehem and informed by the Gothic-style architecture found across Palestine, Syria and Lebanon.
    According to AAU Anastas, the light, sound reverberations and climate control within Tiamat’s internal space is unique to stone construction.

    Clay in Context by Sama El Saket
    Jordan-born architect and ceramicist Sama El Saket took cues from her native landscape when creating this “taxonomy of Jordanian clays”.
    The result is a set of spindle bottle-style vessels, each made of a different natural clay found across Jordan. This gives the pieces their distinctive colours, textures and character.
    “These are all natural clays with no pigments added,” El Saket told Dezeen. “The colours are attributed to the different minerals that are found within the region. Some are sandier, some are rockier.”
    The designer noted that while Jordan features an abundance of clay deposits and a rich history of ceramic production, today most Jordanian clay is imported.
    Photo by Sabine SaadehLight Impact by Fabraca Studios
    Lebanese industrial design brand Fabraca Studios has created Light Impact, a solid aluminium lighting fixture that was designed as an alternative chandelier, resembling durable ropes.
    The piece was made to replace a glass chandelier that shattered in the aftermath of the 2020 Beiruit explosion, which destroyed a large part of Lebanon’s capital city.
    Light Impact is defined by “flexible characteristics designed to withstand another disaster,” studio founder Samer Saadeh told Dezeen. He added that the piece, which includes internal brass components, was designed as an ode to Beirut’s adaptability and resilience.

    Eleven by Sahel Alhiyari
    Eleven is a cluster of tall fluted terracotta columns by Jordanian architect Sahel Alhiyari that were made through moulding and forming rather than traditional cutting and carving.
    The architect handcrafted the segments, which are vertically stacked, using a similar technique to pottery-making,
    “As you twist and turn the material, it creates all of this stuff,” Alhiyari told Dezeen. The designer explained that the columns were deliberately created to celebrate imperfections, despite referencing classical architecture.

    Sediments by Talin Hazbar
    UAE-based Syrian designer Talin Hazbar is featuring her Sediments project, which previously gained recognition at Dubai Design Week.
    The work consists of blocky seating made from fishing ropes and fishing cage ropes extracted from the Persian Gulf with the assistance of the Dubai Voluntary Diving Team.
    Also made up of recycled rubber grains, the heavily textured seating was created to serve as a reminder of how we might attempt to clean up damaged coastlines, according to Hazbar.

    Whispers from the Deep by T Sakhi
    Lebanese-Polish sisters Tessa and Tara El Sakhi of the studio T Sakhi combined discarded metal salvaged from factories in Veneto, Italy, with Murano glass to create amorphous glassware that takes cues from underwater sea creatures.
    These pieces were arranged atop dramatic shelving inside the elevator connecting the first and second floors of the Arab Design Now exhibition.
    The result is a playful installation that draws together the Venetian lagoon and Lebanese glassblowing traditions.
    The photography is by Edmund Sumner unless stated otherwise.
    Arab Design Now takes place at Design Doha from 24 to 5 August 2024 in Doha, Qatar. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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