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    Three weeks left to enter Dezeen Awards China 2023

    There are only three weeks left to complete your Dezeen Awards China 2023 entry!

    Dezeen Awards China, in partnership with Bentley Motors, is open for entries. The entry period ends at midnight Beijing time on Thursday 24 August, after which late entry fees will apply.
    Why enter Dezeen Awards China?
    Dezeen Awards China will celebrate the best Chinese design talent and highlight Chinese architects and designers’ growing global influence.
    Shortlisted and winning entries will receive significant recognition! They will receive a page on Dezeen’s WeChat account and on the Dezeen Awards China site.

    Projects will also be featured on Dezeen’s social media, with a following of seven million, as well as in Dezeen’s newsletters to over half a million subscribers.
    Find out more about Dezeen Awards China ›
    Who are the judges?
    Your work will be judged by a panel of 15 leading professionals from the architecture and design world in China including Ma Yansong and Rossana Hu, as well as high-profile international figures such as Ilse Crawford and Michael Young.
    Our judges are not only looking for beauty and innovation but also for projects that strive to benefit users and the environment. Full details of the judging process can be found on the terms and conditions page.
    See the judges announced so far ›
    Who can enter?
    Dezeen Awards China is for studios based in China! Entries from international firms will only be eligible if they have an office based in China that primarily delivered the project. It is open to studios large and small, with adjusted entry prices to avoid large companies dominating the categories.
    Your project must have been completed between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2023 and doesn’t have to be located in China.
    Read our terms and conditions ›
    How do I enter?
    For more information on how to create and submit your entry please click here. You can also drop us a line at [email protected] if you have any questions and someone from the team will get back to you!
    For information about Dezeen Awards China in Chinese, please visit our WeChat mini program by scanning the code below with WeChat.
    了解中文版有关 Dezeen 设志大奖的信息，请使用微信扫描右方太阳码访问 Dezeen 设志大奖的微信小程序。

    Dezeen Awards China 2023
    Dezeen Awards China is the first regional edition of Dezeen Awards, to celebrate the best architecture, interiors and design in China. The annual awards are in partnership with Bentley Motors, as part of a wider collaboration that will see the brand work with Dezeen to support and inspire the next generation of design talent in China.

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    Piles of green-hued books characterise London Aesop store

    The interior of London’s most recent Aesop store in Marylebone was organised to reference a bookshop and features bespoke timber cabinetry by furniture designer Sebastian Cox.

    Skincare brand Aesop’s in-house design team created the concept for the Marylebone store, which recently relocated from its original home in the London neighbourhood to Marylebone High Street.
    The Marylebone store features piles of green booksThe team took “material references” from the British Library on Euston Road and attempted to emulate the layout of traditional bookshops by choosing warm timbers and towering piles of pale green books to decorate the interior.
    Divided into a main shop and an area for personal skin consultations, the L-shaped store features handmade cabinetry by Cox throughout.
    Olivier Cousy added frescos to the ceiling troughsThe shelving is defined by gently rounded edges, which Cox crafted from lime-washed oak and stained with linseed oil to enhance the timber’s warm appearance.

    He designed the cabinetry with flexible joinery that would allow the furniture to be disassembled and transferred elsewhere if needed.
    Sebastian Cox designed timber cabinetry throughout the interiorOversized rattan lampshades were also chosen for the main shop area, which displays uniform rows of Aesop products and includes large, metallic communal sinks built into the timber cabinetry.
    The store’s also features ceiling troughs with custom-made geometric frescos by artist Olivier Cousy.

    Brooks + Scarpa recycles cardboard tubes and paper for Los Angeles Aesop store interior

    Cousy was informed by Marylebone’s many green squares when painting the designs, which are geometric arrangements of autumnal colours – compositions that take cues from expressionist artist Paul Klee’s 1922 work Tower in Orange and Green.
    “Architecturally, our design method is to connect to the context of the locale, weaving ourselves into its fabric,” said Aesop chief customer officer Suzanne Santos.
    Wooden sinks characterise the skin consultation areaIn the skin consultation area, a sandy-hued, floor-to-ceiling curtain can be pulled to give customers privacy while geometric timber sinks were built into the space’s cabinetry.
    Known for its array of stores that pay homage to their individual locations, Aesop’s other outlets include a branch in London’s Piccadilly Arcade with marble fixtures that filmmaker Luca Guadagnino designed to reference the area’s jewellery boutiques, and a Cambridge store by British studio JamesPlumb with hemp and bulrush accents that nod to the nearby River Cam.
    The photography is by Alixe Lay. 

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    Lab La Bla uses “hyper-ordinary materials” for energy operator HQ interior

    Local studio Lab La Bla sourced diabase rock from a nearby mine and created seating from MDF and recycled cork for the interior of energy company E.ON’s headquarters in Malmö, Sweden.

    Lab La Bla designed the headquarters’ reception area, coat room and lounge area, while also creating furniture, sculptures and other accessories across nine floors of the 22,000-square-metre building.
    The studio aimed to create a sequence of space that had variety, while taking inspiration from sources including airport terminals.
    The studio used recycled materials for the interiors”Creating work for an office that houses 1,500 employees is both challenging and inspiring,” co-founders Axel Landström and Victor Isaksson Pirtti told Dezeen.
    “It’s about creating spaces and functions that cater to the many while offering a mix of focus, creative and social environments, so it’s really about designing for the masses without making it boring or generic,” they added.

    “There’s a current fascination about airport interiors in the studio, so for the reception area we drew from that source of inspiration.”
    Seating was made from MDFIn the reception area, the studio created a set of sunny yellow furniture made from medium-density fibreboard (MDF) covered in nylon fiber.
    “The overall project for us is sort of a reaction to dysfunctional and non-sustainable processes inherent within our industry,” the studio explained.
    “For the reception area MDF and screws have been coated with repurposed nylon fiber using a technology commonly seen in the automotive industry, resulting in furniture that celebrates leftover material but without compromising on durability.”
    A bench features a “melting” diabase stone detailFor the building’s central atrium, Lab La Bla designed an unusual bench that features a gloopy stone decoration resembling an oil spill.
    This was created using diabase stone, which is famous for its blackness and was mined nearby in southern Sweden. The process of creating it was informed by its setting at an energy company headquarters.
    Lab La Bla sourced local materials for the project”Since electricity and magnetism are essentially two aspects of the same thing – and E.ON being an electric utility company – we thought it suitable to introduce magnetism as a modelling tool,” Landström and Isaksson Pirtti explained.
    “The shape of the piece comes from dropping a lump of magnetic slime on top of a conductive material,” they added. “The slime seemingly randomly slump and drapes over a metal bar before settling in its final shape.”

    Moving Forward exhibition shows work by emerging designers at Stockholm Design Week

    Lab La Bla then scaled this shape up and hand-sculpted the shape from a single block of diabase, which was finally sandblasted and polished.
    “We see this process as an adventurous exploration in making a physical representation of the invisible force that shapes our world,” Landström and Isaksson Pirtti added.
    Mouth-blown glass panels form a three-metre-high sculptureThe studio also turned brick beams, left over from the construction of a school in Malmö in the early 1900s, into umbrella stands, and sourced mouth-blown glass panels from one of the few remaining producers of the material.
    This was used, together with dichroic glass, to create a three-metre-high glass sculpture with a graphic pattern that depicts a CT-scan of a wood-fibre material.
    Glass sculptures were formed inside hollowed-out tree trunksLab La Bla also created decorative vases and glass sculptures using molten glass blown into tree trunks that had been hallowed by fungal decay. The trunks were sourced from E.ON’s own local heating centre.
    These trunks “serve no industrial purpose, but are burnt for energy by E.ON and used for teleheating for Malmö,” the studio said.
    “We borrow these tree trunks to blow glass in them, before returning them to their final purpose.”
    Lounge sofas were made from ground-down wine corksIn the headquarters’ lounge areas, the designers created modular sofas made from ground-down wine corks sourced from restaurants.
    “The modular cork sofa uses a unique process where 100 per cent recycled cork is sprayed onto a foam structure, proudly incorporating signs of imperfection into the design while bringing superior durability and sustainability to your furniture,” Landström and Isaksson Pirtti said.
    A table has an office-style glass relief with a keyboardTo the designers, the aim of the interior design was to use disused or forgotten materials, as well as ones that were recycled and recyclable.
    “We took a conscious decision of picking hyper-ordinary materials such as MDF and aluminium to pinpoint and educate people about cyclic and sustainable qualities inherent in the processes of creating these materials,” the studio said.
    “We often try to celebrate the beauty and intrinsic qualities of everyday, industrial materials otherwise consigned to temporary or low-cost construction solutions,” it added.
    “We wanted to design objects which require significant time and skills from craftspeople, usually reserved for expensive, rare and high-quality materials – to some of the very inexpensive and found materials that we used throughout the project.”
    Lab La Bla’s designs have previously been shown at the Moving Forward exhibition at Stockholm Design Week and as part of the Metabolic Processes for Leftovers exhibition in Malmö.
    The photography is by Lars Brønseth.

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    Bursts of colour punctuate minimal interiors at Lackawanna Café in Jersey City

    Local studios Inaba Williams Architecture and Kyle May have created a cafe in New Jersey oriented around massive structural columns and bright, colourful elements.

    Called Lackawanna Café, the project occupies the ground floor and mezzanine of a mid-rise apartment building in Jersey City designed by Fogarty Finger Architecture.
    Inaba Williams Architecture and Kyle May have designed a cafe in Jersey CityInaba Williams led the interior design of the project, creating the floor plan and cladding the large structural columns in glass-fibre reinforced concrete (GFRC), while Kyle May fabricated the colourful millwork elements spread throughout the space.
    Many details of the envelope were left in their “raw” conditions in order to create a strong contrast with new elements including glossy cladding on the 22-foot-tall structural columns and the colourful millwork.
    Colourful millwork punctuate the spaceInaba and May took advantage of the expansive windows, using light as a guide for the placement, colouration and material of the colourful millwork installed by May.

    “The salient feature of the envelope is the double-height storefront window wall, which lets in generous amounts of indirect daylight,” said Inaba Williams principal Jeffrey Inaba.
    “This accentuates the finishes of the details – the GFRC columns’ semigloss undulating surface, the countertop and table’s matte seamless surfaces, the pastry case’s translucent gradient exterior, and the shelves’ translucent texture.”
    GRFC clads the structural columnsFor the display case, the team chose an expressive red Valchromat that contrasts the white, grey and wood tones of the space and complements the blue of the built-in display case, which is illuminated from above.
    The lighting in the case and the “prismatic” undersides of the shelving was designed to “reveal the silhouettes of the objects on display”.
    A bright red pastry case contrasts the blue shelving and service counterNext to the shelving is a white refrigerated display, a nine-foot-tall curved structure made from bent wood that houses additional products for sale at the cafe.
    Surfaces feature more toned-down colours. Tucked under the mezzanine, the service counter is 24 feet long and was painted with a light matte blue. A large “butter-colored” table occupies the middle of the space, sitting on top of the polished concrete flooring.
    A large communal table sits in the middle of the dining roomInaba said that the primary goal for the cafe was to create a community hub and that the mezzanine space will be used as a gallery.
    Because of the expansive light from the storefront windows, the team only needed to include three additional fixtures, which Inaba said reduced the lighting energy load for the cafe.

    Sukchulmok adds curved brick forms to rooftop of Parconido Bakery Cafe

    Inaba and May have worked on other projects in the area, including an office in Brooklyn.
    “Kyle and I share similar interests in art and industrial design,” said Inaba. “We both admire the know-how of making, and the technical nitty-gritty of fabricating.”
    “Working together, we’re able to dream up objects, figure out smart ways to produce them, and have people experience them arranged together in a space,” he continued.
    Much of the envelope was left exposedOther projects recently completed in New Jersey include Rubenstein Commons at Princeton by Steven Holl Architects.
    The photography is by Naho Kubota.
    Project credits:
    Creative direction, interior architecture: Inaba Williams – Jeffrey Inaba, Darien Williams, Nabila Morales PerezFabrication and millwork: Kyle May, architect – Kyle May, John Diven, Cameron KurselMEP engineer: Roger Tan Engineering – Roger Tan

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    Giannone Petricone Associates rescues Ontario hotel from ruin

    Toronto studio Giannone Petricone Associates has spent a decade restoring a dilapidated hotel in Ontario, linking the building’s past and present through regionally influenced design details.

    Located in Picton, a town in Prince Edward County (PEC) that lies close to the shores of Lake Ontario, The Royal Hotel was in bad shape when the Sorbara family purchased it in 2013.
    The Royal Hotel’s interiors draw upon a mix Victorian and contemporary influences, as seen in the reception area. Photo by Graydon HerriottThe new owners hired Giannone Petricone Associates (GPA) to save what they could of the existing building, which was first completed in 1879, and transform it into contemporary lodgings.
    “Its central staircase was lined with a lush carpet of green moss, and early in the planning phase, the roof caved in,” said the hotel team.
    One of four hotel bars is lined with tambour panelling”But the family vowed to restore the property and bring it back to life as a nexus for both locals and guests of PEC’s burgeoning food and wine region.”

    The architects were able to salvage three of the original brick walls, and within them created a cafe, three bars, a fine-dining restaurant; and a spa, gym and sauna.
    Playful design elements include ceiling rosettes that mimic water ripplesA landscaped terrace overlooks a fourth bar and a brick patio with lounge seating, while an outdoor swimming pool flanked by a row of cabana beds lies beyond.
    A total of 33 guest rooms are available: 28 in the main three-storey hotel building, and a further five suites in a rebuilt stable named The Royal Annex.
    Another cosy lounge area features dark tambour panels around its fireplaceFor the interiors, GPA played on tropes of Victorian railway hotels, mixing formal elements of British tradition with PEC’s more laid-back rural sensibility.
    “The Royal is designed to be a transporting experience while deeply rooted in the local context,” said GPA principal Pina Petricone. “The experience benefits from the charged contrast between ‘genteel’ and ‘real’ elements.”

    Ace Hotel Toronto by Shim-Sutcliffe Architects features a suspended lobby

    In the lobby, the reception desk is wrapped in a floral pattern and a wooden shelving system forms a boutique displaying items for sale.
    Tambour panelling lines the adjacent bar area, which flows into a lounge where softly undulated plasterwork frames a fireplace.
    The hotel offers 33 guest rooms, which feature details like cross-stitched headboardsA variety of checkered and tartan patterns are found across hallway carpets, mosaic bathroom tiles and cross-stitched headboards. Ceiling rosettes throughout the spaces are designed to mimic mushrooms and water ripples.
    “We wanted to have moments in the hotel that were a bit nonsensical,” Petricone said. “The Royal is about escapism, and our research into the hotel’s history demonstrated that it was always a pretty quirky place.”
    A variety of checkered patterns are found throughout the hotel, including in the mosaic bathroom tilesOther recently opened hotels in Canada include the Ace Toronto, which boasts a suspended lobby and rooftop bar.
    Last year, the 1 Hotel Toronto by Rockwell Group and The Drake Hotel Modern Wing by DesignAgency, also in the city, were longlisted in the Hotel and Short Stay Interiors category for the Dezeen Awards.
    The photography is by Doublespace, unless stated otherwise. Main image is by Jeff McNeill.

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    Ten homes featuring clever wine storage solutions

    For those who don’t want to keep their wine collection hidden away, our latest lookbook showcases some of the most inventive ways of showcasing wine bottles within a contemporary home interior.

    Wine storage solutions can be created in homes of any size, by cleverly integrating shelving into wall niches or built-in furniture.
    For those with enough space for a wine cellar, or even just a dedicated wine fridge, well-designed glazing and lighting can turn these spaces into focal points.
    A more casual wine drinker could simply slot a small wine rack into a kitchen island or bookshelf.
    Read on for 10 examples to suit homes of any size, including a wine cellar that doubles as a lightbox and a blue wine-rack wall.

    This is the latest in Dezeen’s lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from our archive. Other recent editions showcase serene bedrooms and wood-panelled dining rooms.
    Photo by Maxime BrouilletMaison du Parc, Canada, by La Shed Architecture
    Visible from both the staircase and a grand basement bathroom, this wine room was designed to be a key feature in a three-storey home in Montreal.
    With frosted glass walls and stark lighting, it makes the bottles visible but partially obscured. They appear as a grid of spots across the surfaces of the bright white volume.
    Find out more about Maison du Parc ›
    Photo by Pedro KokAML Apartment, Brazil, by David Ito Arquitetura
    Bright blue wine storage extends floor to ceiling in this apartment in São Paulo, lining up exactly with a doorway in front.
    The wine rack sits alongside a utility area but it is also visible from the living and dining room, so it made sense to make it a feature. It offers space for 108 wine bottles.
    Find out more about AML Apartment ›
    Photo by Agnese SanvitoGallery House, UK, by Neil Dusheiko
    Wine bottles are not the primary focus in this kitchen extension in north London, which features an entire wall of treasured objects including ceramics, glassware and framed pictures.
    Instead, they neatly slot into 10 circular cubby holes within the oak kitchen island. These holes extend through, creating room for two bottles in each opening.
    Find out more about Gallery House ›
    Photo by Nelson KonCasa em Cotia, Brazil, by Una Arquitetos
    The kitchen of this family home in São Paulo centres around a full-height glass-fronted pantry, offering plenty of storage space for food and crockery.
    Wine storage is located within the front cupboard, slotted in underneath shelves for mugs and glasses. This places it within easy access of the adjacent dining room.
    Find out more about Casa em Cotia ›
    Photo by Jack LovelCity Beach Residence, Australia, by Design Theory
    Hexagonal terracotta modules are stacked up to create storage space for 50 wine bottles in this renovated 1960s beach house in Perth.
    The arrangement slots into a niche in the wall, with the clay-based material helping to keep the wine at a stable temperature.
    Find out more about City Beach Residence ›
    Photo by Mark WickensRaft Loft, USA, by Dash Marshall
    There is plenty of space for storing wine in this two-level home in New York’s Tribeca, which was converted from two previously separate apartments.
    In addition to the main kitchen, the residence has a kitchenette that features both a wine fridge and a wine rack that slots in above the wall-mounted high cupboards.
    Find out more about Raft Loft ›
    Photo by Dror BaldingerSki Slope Residence, USA, by LaRue Architects and Britt Design Group
    The owners of this lakeside cabin in Austin, Texas, also own a vineyard in Argentina, so they were understandably keen to put their wine collection on full display.
    A wine room takes pride of place near the main entrance. It is visible behind a glass door that extends from floor to ceiling, creating an unusual backdrop to a grand piano.
    Find out more about Ski Slope Residence ›
    Photo by Adam ScottCharred House, UK, by Rider Stirland Architects
    In this London home, wine storage forms part of a bespoke kitchen created by Plykea, a British brand that specialises in customising IKEA kitchens.
    The bottles are held in place by simple supports that sit within a series of shelves, offering space for 30 bottles.
    Find out more about Charred House ›
    Photo by Asier RuaSalva46, Spain, by Miel Arquitectos and Studio P10
    Storage helps to organise the floor plan in this highly compact Barcelona apartment.
    A very simple wood-framed wine rack slots alongside a set of drawers, which together create a soft divide between the entrance lobby and the kitchen.
    Find out more about Salva46 ›
    Photo by Michael Moran and Julian King ArchitectSoho Loft, USA, by Julian King
    This warehouse apartment in New York offers a highly simple wine storage solution.
    The living space features a series of shelves that together form a sizeable bookcase. A wooden rack slots into the bottom shelf, allowing wine to sit alongside the literature.
    Find out more about Soho Loft ›
    This is the latest in Dezeen’s lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from our archive. Other recent editions showcase serene bedrooms and wood-panelled dining rooms.

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    Ivy Studio converts historic bank building into offices for Montreal ad agency

    The offices that Montreal’s Ivy Studio has designed for digital advertising agency Cardigan include a mesh-wrapped mezzanine and a “futuristic” basement within a former bank building.

    For Cardigan’s expanding team, Ivy Studio has renovated a stone building that was built as a bank in 1907, in the Rosemont area of Montreal.
    Ivy Studio inserted a steel mesh mezzanine inside the historic bank building to provide additional spaceThe structure has had many uses, including most recently a religious establishment, and boasts plenty of historic architectural details.
    While the upper floor is a residential condo, Cardigan occupies 1,250 square feet (116 square metres) across the ground and basement levels – spaces with very different ceiling heights and light conditions.
    The mesh was painted white to accentuate the bright and airy feel in the office space”One of the main challenges of working with the building was the contrasting ceiling heights between each floor,” said Ivy Studio. “This made the spacial blocking very important at the start of the project.”

    To benefit from the 16.5 foot (5 metres) clearance and abundance of natural light, all the workstations are positioned on the ground level.
    Under the mezzanine sit multiple phone booths and meeting roomsHowever, the floor plate was not sufficient to accommodate all 25 employees as well as meeting rooms, so the studio took advantage of the ceiling height and added a mezzanine.
    This addition was placed in a corner to avoid blocking the arched windows, and was painted entirely white to accentuate the bright and airy atmosphere of the space.
    During the renovation, the building’s large arched windows were fully uncovered to let in more lightThe structure is made from perforated steel mesh, allowing light to enter the phone booths and meeting rooms tucked underneath, and a gap was left between the mesh and the glass partitions behind to make space for planters.
    Additional workstations are located on top of the mezzanine, which is curved at its corner. “The newly-built mezzanine structure interprets the curves of the existing space without competing with them,” Ivy Studio said.

    Ivy Studio populates MAD Creative Hub with pink and purple elements

    To let even more light in, the boarded window arches were reopened to their original form, while the parquet flooring was replaced with natural oak to retain the warmth.
    Meanwhile, in the basement, low ceiling heights and a lack of windows called for an entirely contrasting strategy.
    “It is a different universe of its own,” said Ivy Studio, which took a “futuristic, in your face” approach to the sub-grade space.
    In the windowless basement, a contrasting “futuristic” aesthetic was chosenThis level accommodates the bathrooms, kitchen, lounge and storage, and features a mix of plastered ceilings, ceramic walls and epoxy floors.
    In the kitchen, all of the surfaces are coloured baby blue, while the adjacent bathroom block is completely grey.
    The spaces are colour-blocked to heighten their visual impactAcross the kitchen island, a circular mirror faces an opening that’s exactly the same shape and leads into a room painted in orange.
    “The spaces are all monochromatic, to increase the visual impact of their intense colors but also help camouflage the imperfections of the existing building,” said Ivy Studio.
    Baby blue and stainless steel cover the kitchenThe office’s levels are linked by two staircases: an older one made from wood and a newer minimal design that emerges from under an arched portico.
    Both are painted navy blue and are intended to reflect Cardigan’s contradicting “hard-working yet playful values”.
    The adjacent bathroom is executed entirely in greyIvy Studio’s portfolio of projects in its home city spans from workspaces and restaurants, to a spinning studio and a dry cleaners.
    Recently completed interiors by the firm include a creative hub populated with pink and purple elements, and a renovated eatery that was damaged in a fire.
    The photography is by Alex Lesage.
    Project credits:
    Design and architecture: Ivy StudioConstruction: Group Manovra

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    Eight space-efficient bedrooms with understated yet productive desk spaces

    For our latest lookbook, we’ve rounded up eight bedrooms with desks that provide much-needed workspace while maintaining a peaceful environment.

    Not every house has the space for a designated office room, so adding a desk to the bedroom is a popular choice for those requiring a place to work or study at home.
    The examples in this lookbook show how a workspace for productivity can be added to a bedroom without detracting from the calm and serenity needed for sleep.
    It includes understated fold-out desks, desks built into wall storage, a cosy reading nook and a study area that can be closed off with sliding screens.
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring interiors informed by Mediterranean living, interiors that adopt wabi-sabi principles and interiors covered in Barbiecore pink.

    Photo by Gavin GreenFisherman’s Cottage, Australia, by Studio Prineas
    Architecture studio Studio Prineas designed a concrete tower extension containing four bedrooms for a fisherman’s cottage in Sydney, separating the private rooms from the rest of the house.
    The studio added dark timber built-in wardrobes, shelving and a small desk along a wall in one of the bedrooms, adjacent to a large window that overlooks the nearby bay and lets natural light onto the study space.
    Find out more about Fisherman’s Cottage ›
    Photo by Sanden+Hodnekvam ArkitekterHouse in Red Concrete, Norway, by Sanden+Hodnekvam Arkitekter
    The pine-panelled interior of this bedroom contrasts with the home’s red-pigmented concrete exterior, designed by Oslo architecture studio Sanden+Hodnekvam Arkitekter.
    Pine plywood furniture that decorates the space was built on site, including the wall-mounted desk at the end of the bed.
    Find out more about House in Red Concrete ›
    Photo by Ballman KhapalovaPine Lane House, USA, by Ballman Khapalova
    Two bedrooms were combined into one main bedroom suite with a study space, as part of the renovation of this 1980s ranch house in Saugerties, New York, by architecture studio Ballman Khapalova.
    The studio designed custom wood furniture for the home, including a minimalist fold-out desk that stretches the length of the bedroom’s designated office nook.
    Find out more about Pine Lane House ›
    Photo by Masao NishikawaLaxus, Japan, by Apollo Architects & Associates
    A desk space sits in line with glossy wall storage in the bedroom of this Tokyo home, which is lit by strip lighting recessed in the overhead cupboards.
    Designed by Japanese studio Apollo Architects & Associates, the bedroom overlooks a courtyard with trees and shrubs, adding a serene and calming quality to the space.
    Find out more about Laxus ›
    Photo by Timothy SoarApartment Block, UK, by Coffey Architects
    Local studio Coffey Architects overhauled the interior of this two-storey London flat and decorated it with surfaces made from wooden blocks, including a mezzanine study area with a long desk and storage.
    Behind the study area is a main bedroom. Here, Coffey Architects separated the two zones by changing the flooring from wooden blocks to a grey carpet and adding Japanese-style timber screens inlaid with translucent panels.
    Find out more about Apartment Block ›
    Photo by Rafael SoldiWhidbey Dogtrot, USA, by SHED
    American firm SHED added a reading nook with views of the surrounding landscape to the bedroom suite in Whidbey Dogtrot, a cedar-clad home in the Pacific Northwest.
    Slim black shelving covers the three walls in the nook and provides a worktop space for reading and studying.
    Find out more about Whidbey Dogtrot ›
    Photo by Simone BossiMA House, France, by Timothee Mercier
    An oak desk paired with an aubergine-coloured Cassina chair sits behind a large picture window in the bedroom of this farm building in southeast France.
    Architect Timothee Mercier converted the rural building into a home for his parents, creating a purposefully pared-back interior “clear of fuss and clutter” and adding splashes of colour in the choices of furniture.
    Find out more about MA House ›
    Image by Kevin KunstadtFinancial District apartment, USA, by Light and Air
    Brooklyn studio Light and Air removed partition walls in this 1,200-square-foot New York City apartment to create an open space with increased storage.
    Custom-built furniture creates separation between the rooms, including an L-shaped desk with open shelves that helps divide the bedroom area from the living room.
    Find out more about the Financial District apartment ›
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring interiors informed by Mediterranean living, interiors that adopt wabi-sabi principles and interiors covered in Barbiecore pink.

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