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    Hotel guests not ready to pay more for sustainability says Conscious Hotels CEO

    Only “hardcore sustainable” customers are currently willing to pay extra for eco-conscious hotels, according to Marco Lemmers, CEO of hospitality company Conscious Hotels.

    Lemmers predicts that hotel guests will be prepared to pay more for sustainability in the future, but it will be “a few years from now”.
    “I think people will be prepared to pay more for a sustainable solution,” he told Dezeen.
    “We’re not there yet, because the hotel business is still quite price-sensitive. You have to be hardcore sustainable to want to pay €10 euros extra for a sustainable stay. But slowly it’s moving in that direction.”
    Marco Lemmers is CEO of Conscious Hotels. Main image: the all-electric Westerpark venue is one of four Conscious Hotels in AmsterdamLemmers, who founded Conscious Hotels in 2009, spoke to Dezeen during The Lobby hospitality design conference in Copenhagen in August.

    Conscious Hotels has four properties in Amsterdam. These hotels have eco-friendly policies in place for all of their operations, including interior fit-out, energy and water use, food and drink, and cleaning processes.
    According to Lemmers, the company’s sustainability ethos has enabled it to build a loyal customer base.
    “We’re the most sustainable option in Amsterdam, so we see a lot of returning guests” he said.
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    The brand’s mantra is “eco-sexy, big smiles”
    However this alone is not enough to make the business thrive, Lemmers explained. Conscious Hotels aims to be competitive in terms of design and cost, so it can also attract non-eco-minded customers.
    “The only way to make change is to seduce people,” he said.
    “We have our sustainable planet promises but we also have to make it sexy. Sexy is about having beautiful places, beautiful food and drink, and beautiful people.”

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    Looking forward, Lemmers predicts that changes in legislation will soon give eco-minded hotels a competitive advantage over rivals.
    He believes that hotel owners in Europe will soon be legally obligated to meet much stricter rules on the sustainability of their buildings and operations.
    “We’ve already seen it happen in the Netherlands with offices and the same will happen with hotels,” he stated.
    “Even if you don’t believe in sustainability, do a SWOT analysis in the next business planning cycle and see the threat.”
    The Tire Station of one of two Conscious Hotels with its own source of solar powerThe CEO says that hotels lagging behind need to urgently rethink their approach, or risk playing catchup.
    “There’s an opportunity now – if you have sustainability in order, you have a competitive advantage,” he said. “Pretty soon legislation will push you to go there anyway, and there’s usually not a lot to be gained by being one of the last movers.”
    Conscious Hotels implements a number of guidelines in order to reduce its environmental impact.
    All the materials used for hotel fit-out are either natural products with cradle-to-cradle certification, or they are recycled or second-hand.
    Interiors only use materials that are recycled, second-hand or certified cradle-to-cradleConscious Hotel Westerpark is 100 per cent electric-powered, with most of its energy supplied by the brand’s own windmill, while two of the other hotels generate energy from rooftop solar panels.
    Restaurants serve organic food, with more than 50 per cent vegan or vegetarian dishes, and almost all produce is sourced from local suppliers.
    Other initiatives include green walls, passive heating and cooling systems, organic cleaning products, water-saving showerheads and faucets, refillable toiletries and waste separation.
    All food and drink is sourced from local suppliersWhile Lemmers acknowledges that some of these initiatives require time and investment, particularly for large hotel chains, he claims that others are easy to implement.
    He believes that all hotels could easily take at least one step towards improving their sustainability credentials.
    “Start with the operation; you can do it today,” he said. “Just procure stuff that’s local instead of having it come from the other side of the world.”
    “FF & E (furniture, fixtures and equipment) comes slightly later, but you have to invest in that every seven years anyway, to maintain and renew.”
    Conscious Hotels currently has 318 rooms across its four Amsterdam hotels, although the brand plans to increase this to 1,500 as part of a Europe-wide expansion.

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    Nina + Co brings biomaterials into MONC eyewear store in London

    Cornstarch-foam shelves meet mycelium display plinths in this London store that Nina + Co has designed for bioplastic eyewear brand MONC.

    Nestled among a parade of high-end shops in Marylebone, MONC sells glasses made from bio-acetate – an acetate produced completely without fossil fuels – which are packaged using recycled leather cases and compostable cornstarch foam.
    The first MONC eyewear location sits along a row of shops in MaryleboneWhen local studio Nina + Co was brought in to design MONC’s debut store, the team was keen to incorporate biomaterials throughout the interior, while also taking the brand’s short-term lease of the retail unit into account.
    “Circularity was key,” said the studio. “Almost everything we brought into that building was entirely bio-based or recycled.”
    “The furniture is expertly built to last but can be disassembled for re-use, recycling or return to the earth as nourishment.”

    The store features a ceiling installation made from cornstarch foamUpon entering the store, visitors find themselves under an undulating ceiling installation crafted from corrugated panels of cornstarch foam.
    Thicker blocks of the material were used to create rows of squishy-looking shelves, which can be used for packaging or simply dissolved in water when they eventually start to show signs of wear and tear.
    The foam was also used to form small shelvesDisplay plinths made out of mycelium – the vegetative part of a fungus – were dotted across the store to showcase different eyewear models.
    In between the shelves, a couple of long mirrors are balanced on hunks of concrete that were salvaged from roadworks nearby.
    A recycled PET island sits at the centre of the store beside mycelium display plinthsThe craggy concrete was chosen as a subtle nod to the rugged Dolomite mountains, which can be seen from the Italian town where all MONC eyewear is produced.
    Nina + Co worked closely alongside Welsh manufacturers Smile Plastics and London joiner EJ Ryder to design the store’s recycled PET island and bench seat, which are an apricot-orange hue.

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    As both furniture pieces were joined with mechanical bolts rather than glues, they can easily be taken apart, flat packed and transported to a different MONC store for reuse.
    Walls throughout the interior were finished with VOC-free clay paint while the unit’s existing floor was covered with a water-based sealant.
    The plastic was also used to form a bench seat”Previous tenants had ripped up their floor to leave a plywood subfloor, with markings of the adhesive still evident and some paint bucket outlines,” the studio explained.
    “After a test patch, we were convinced that a simple water-based sealant would give it a beautiful depth and sheen with the industrial feel of concrete [while being] kinder to the planet and the budget.”
    Walls were washed with a calming clay paintMONC is one of five projects shortlisted in the small retail interior category of this year’s Dezeen Awards.
    It’s going head-to-head with the Durat showroom by Linda Bergroth, which is decked out in an unusual mix of colours, and Aesop’s Yorkville store by Odami with its oxblood-red balusters.
    The photography is by Handover.

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    Fourteen Stones Design revamps Tokyo warehouse into “coffee gastronomy” cafe

    Tokyo-based Fourteen Stones Design has designed the Koffee Mameya Kakeru cafe for barista Eiichi Kunitomo in a former water transportation hub in Kiyosumi Shirakawa.

    Set in the Kiyosumi Shirakawa area of Tokyo, the coffee shop occupies a warehouse which Fourteen Stones Design renovated and extended “to preserve the appearance of the old warehouse as much as possible”.
    Koffee Mameya Kakeru is in an old warehouseThe studio removed the shutters from the front of the warehouse, adding a glass facade. The rest of the building, including the interiors, remains as it was – with minimal repairs made to the walls.
    It aimed “to make everyday coffee an extraordinary experience” with a full “course of coffee” served by baristas and the renovation has been designed to facilitate this.
    The white oak structure frames the coffee barA staggered rectangular frame of white oak at the entrance of the cafe, which echoes the coffee package design, dominates the interior space and provides a central visual motif for the scheme.

    This frame divides the entrance space from the main cafe where a U-shaped bar surrounding the barista workstations was placed.

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    The barista’s workbenches, which were made from black granite, were deliberately placed at the centre of the space to create “a stage set-up, which enables baristas to fully demonstrate their skills”.
    Besides the new seating area, restrooms, a kitchen, a laboratory and office space have all been renovated.
    Baristas work at black granite counters
    The service and bar countertops were made from “Jura Yellow” limestone. Featuring fossils from the Jura period, it was chosen for its texture and also for allusions to the passage of time – not only echoed in the coffee growing, roasting and brewing processes but also the journey of the brand from its inception 10 years ago.
    Fourteen Stones Design’s Yosuke Hayashi designed the custom furniture for the cafe in the same white oak as the frame structure. It was manufactured by Japanese company E&Y for the project.
    The space aims to create a “gastronomic experience” for coffee drinkersThe cafe’s owner Kunitomo believes baristas “act as a bridge between the customer and the roastery” and should be given “a social status comparable to that of a sommelier”.
    Baristas at Koffee Mameya Kakeru will serve single cups of coffee through to full courses of coffee, “elevated by the newly designed space to the realm of gastronomy”, according to the practice.
    Fourteen Stones Design has been shortlisted in the restaurant and bar interior category of this year’s Dezeen Awards. Other projects in the running include a rattan restaurant in Bangkok by Enter Projects Asia Co. and YODEZEEN’s Japanese restaurant in Kyiv’s city centre.
    The photography is by Ooki Jingu.

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    Ginza Ecological Map designed by Hakuten presents the “hidden story of Ginza”

    Design studio Hakuten has created a three-dimensional map of Ginza, Tokyo, that presents the ecology that exists in the district.

    The Ginza Ecological Map, which was featured in the Japanese makeup brand Shiseido’s Hakuten’s window, was designed to “carefully express the impression of the location and the history of the city, with a hidden story of Ginza”.
    The map showcased the local ecology in the areaIt spotlighted the natural elements found throughout the district, including samples of trees, plants, insects and earth, with the intention of enhancing the local community’s knowledge of its district’s ecology. Each item was presented in one of 72 windows – similarly to how scientific specimens are exhibited in museums.
    The exhibition ran throughout 2021 and across two themes: Organisms, which presented insects and cuttings from plants, and Earth – showcasing the diversity of soils found throughout the district.
    Parts of the glothistle plant were arranged in a clock-like motif to represent the district’s Wako clock tower”We care­fully displayed this ecology in the window as if they were scientific specimens,” said Hakuten.

    “The exhibition ran throughout the year across two different ecological themes – Organisms and Earth – and brought to light a new and beautiful Ginza that had not been seen before in the form of the Ginza Ecology Map.”
    Ginkgo biloba trees were planted in Ginza in 1906The materials were collected during a number of fieldwork studies in addition to the knowledge gained from speaking to people local to Ginza. Once collected, the items were exhibited in creative ways with the aim of becoming a tool to communicate the connection between Ginza’s natural world and society.
    For example, the plant named glothistle was collected from under the city’s Wako clock tower, and as part of the exhibition was displayed in a clock-like motif to represent it.

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    In addition, the district’s ginkgo biloba trees were planted in 1906, and according to the designers, they represent a “turning point for modernisation in the city”.
    As a nod to the tree’s heritage in the district, images of Ginza’s buildings were printed onto the collected ginkgo tree leaves as part of the exhibition.
    The exhibition showcased a number of plants and insects”Unlike most window displays that show objects and installations that only suit its occasion, not only did Ginza Ecological Map provide a new perspective of Ginza city, but through research from local residents it also expanded into a communication tool between the city and the people,” said Hakuten.
    “By looking at the usually unseen ecology that exists in a metropolis, we were able to rethink the relationship between the city, people, and nature in an attempt to approach a more sustainable society.”
    Earth was collected as part of the exhibitionAs part of the Earth theme, the colour of the soil across the district was documented, including samples collected from sidewalk ditches and from around various plants such as dogwood and camellia.
    The exhibition also shed light on creating a number of creative resources from the city’s soil – including pottery and crayons – and clothing dyed using local plant’s pigments.
    The map featured in the Japanese brand Shiseido’s windowAccording to the studio, the pandemic provided the opportunity to reflect on the human-nature relationship as Ginza was “emptied” because of the pandemic.
    The project was conceived of this change, and aimed to rethink the district’s approach towards creating a society more mindful of enhancing and protecting its nature.
    The exhibition also presented the ways in which local plant pigments can be used as textile dye”In Covid-19 where we were provided with more opportunities to deeply reflect upon the global environment, this project allowed us to rethink the relationship between the city, people, and nature in an attempt to approach a more sustainable society,” said Hakuten.
    Ginza Ecological Map has been shortlisted in the exhibition design category at this year’s Dezeen Awards alongside, Weird Sensation Feels Good – The World of ASMR, Greenwood Rising: Black Wall Street History Center exhibition and Journey of the Pioneers.

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    One Plus Partnership adds sculptural stage spotlights to Shenzhen cinema

    Chinese studio One Plus Partnership used reflective bronze panels and a variety of spotlights to create a light-and-shadow effect at the Wan Fat Jinyi cinema in Shenzhen, China.

    The studio chose “stage lighting” as the theme of the interiors to match the concept of the cinema, which caters to both film screenings and live performances. The project has been shortlisted in the leisure and wellness interiors category of Dezeen Awards 2022.
    Spotlights form the key design element applied throughout the cinema”This project’s core design concept for the cinema was the ‘stage’,” the studio said. “Since the old days, the stage has served as a space for actors or performers and a focal point – the screen in cinemas – for the audience.”
    On the lobby ceiling, two lines of spotlights are assembled with the lights pointing outwards at each side to form a series of rectangular blocks. They hang randomly at different angles to make it look as if they are floating above people.
    The spotlights have a sculptural designAlso in the lobby, One Plus Partnership covered the interiors using bronze as the main material to create more reflective surfaces. The reflective quality of the bronze helps to create a light-and-shadow effect when it is hit by the spotlights.

    Yellow and orange were chosen as the main colour palette of the interiors since the colours are closely associated with light.
    Lighting dots on the hallway walls serve as signageIn the hallway, the spotlights are used as single units and have been added to the floors and walls at different angles. By arranging these lighting dots into groups, the studio created decorative patterns on the all-black walls, highlighting the lighting effect.
    Some of the spotlights are formed into signage that help visitors to identify locations and directions.

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    The studio used the same colour palette for the auditorium. The geometric patterns on the walls and seating were designed to resemble traces of light shot from spotlights.
    “By using just different combinations of colours, we have managed to give variety to the design with the lowest possible costs,” explained One Plus Partnership.
    The geometric patterns in the auditorium resemble traces of light shot from spotlightsOther Chinese projects in the running to win a the Dezeen Awards 2022 include a second-hand bookshop that uses supermarket-style crates to display its wares and a timber and travertine reading room, both located in Shanghai.
    The photography is by Jonathan Leijonhufvud.

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    Shaw Contract announces the winners of its 2022 Design Awards

    The winners of the Shaw Contract’s 2022 Design Awards, which include an orthopedic hospital in USA and a workplace in a restored building in Brazil, are revealed in this captioned video produced by Dezeen for the brand.

    Flooring company Shaw Contract recognised five winners in the 17th edition of its Design Awards, which celebrates impactful living, working, learning and healing spaces around the world.
    Each of the winners was awarded a $2,000 charitable donation in the name of their studio to an organisation of their choice.
    HGA’s design of the Crystal Clinic Orthopaedic Centre was noted in the awards.”The Shaw Contract Design Awards program is our chance to recognise the spaces that inspire new ways of living, working, learning, and healing through the design lens,” said Shaw Contract.
    “The awards place a spotlight on a diverse range of talents from across the globe, celebrating design in action and purposefully rewarding the innovative and truly inspiring work being done by the architecture and design community.”

    In total, five winners were chosen from 37 finalists, narrowed down from almost 600 project submissions from 37 countries by a panel of design professionals.
    The Hilton Singapore Orchard hotel was awarded in the hospitality categoryThe winners included architecture firm HGA , which won an award for its Crystal Clinic Orthopaedic Centre in Akron, USA.
    Three workplace design projects were also recognised. These were the mining IGO offices in Perth, Australia, designed by Rezen + Templewel, the headquarters of Sede Insole Energia in Recife, Brazil, designed by Mobio Arquitetura and the EY Melbourn workplace in Australia by Gensler.
    EY Melbourn was recognised for workplace designThe final winner was the Hilton Singapore Orchard hotel in Singapore, designed by Avalon Collective, which won an award in the hospitality category.
    Read more about all of the winners on Shaw Contract’s Design Awards website.
    Partnership content
    This video was created by Dezeen for Shaw Contract as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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    AIA Estúdio designs cave-like interior for clothing store in Rio de Janeiro

    Organic shapes and stone-like surfaces characterise the interior of the Haight clothing store in Rio de Janeiro, which was designed by interior and landscaping design practice AIA Estúdio.

    A large pillar with a rough, textured surface dominates the 110-square-metre shop interior, expanding as it ascends before merging into the ceiling to create a cave-like space.
    A pillar transforms into a cave-like structure”Its height starts small and in the back part it ends higher in a nonlinear form, just like a cave,” AIA Estúdio founder Alice Tepedino told Dezeen.
    “The infinite and diverse processes of erosion that form cliffs, caves, stalactites, sands, stones and the movements of water with its tracks and shapes led to our creative process being part of the concept developed for the store’s spatiality.”
    Stone slabs around the pillar are used to display objectsRather than being a cumbersome obstacle, the pillar helps organise the shop’s circulation and movement of shoppers, according to the studio.

    “It is from the occupation around the pillar that the space fluidity is achieved. This disposition is enhanced by curved lines that define the path inside the store,” said Tepedino.
    Curved stone plates balance on rocksSlabs of soapstone and Bahia beige marble encircle the pillar at different heights and are propped up by Bahia beige marble rocks that create a display surface and a place for shoppers to sit.
    On the perimeter walls, niches with stainless steel bases display Haight’s clothing on brushed-brass rails.

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    The metallic surfaces and straight edges of the niches contrast with the organic shapes and materials in the centre of the shop, which is located in the Shopping Leblon retail centre.
    Tepedino used indirect lighting in the niches to illuminate the space, mimicking cracks in cave walls where sunlight can seep through.
    Clothing is displayed on brushed-brass rails”The exhibition interspace was thought of as a cut in the walls, an operation emphasised by the transition of materiality,” said Tepedino.
    “Inside, there are exhibition racks in brushed brass, which, with their more solar aspect, contribute to subtly warming up the store’s ambience, together with the soapstone and its greyer tone.”
    The bottoms of wall niches are lined with steelTepedino’s design is the first of Haight’s stores to be located inside a shopping centre, which prompted the designer to approach the project in a different way.
    The entrance to the shop is a large opening that provides open access from the shopping centre to the nature-inspired shop interior.
    It is the first Haight store to be located in a mall”The design adopted a contrasting strategy between the store and mall, which, despite the rigid and controlled environment, offers opportunities such as the possibility of not having a door,” said Tepedino.
    “The brand’s conceptual basis is related to natural landscapes but when you are inside the mall, you find a language that is the opposite of Haight’s conceptual basis, with artificial elements and cold materiality.”
    Natural materials and surfaces were used throughout the shop interior”Once you’re inside the store you get disconnected from the artificial atmosphere of the rest of the building,” Tepedino continued.
    The project has been shortlisted in the small retail interiors category of Dezeen Awards 2022, alongside a surfaces showroom in Helsinki with colourful terrazzo-like walls and an oxblood red shop interior with walls decorated with Victorian-style balusters.
    The photography is by Maira Acayaba.

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    ASA Studio Albanese references mid-century offices for Thom Browne store in San Francisco

    American fashion label Thom Browne has opened its first retail location in San Francisco, designed by ASA Studio Albanese to feature dramatic marble against white slatted blinds.

    The flagship store is situated at 432 Jackson Street in the historic Yeon Building, which dates back to 1855, in the heart of the city’s luxury shopping district.
    Thom Browne’s San Francisco store pairs decorative marble walls with white slatted blindsIts interior is the latest collaboration between Thom Browne’s eponymous founder and architect Flavio Albanese of Italy-based ASA Studio Albanese, who has designed over a dozen stores for the brand since 2017.
    Like its counterparts around the world, the 1,250-square-foot (116-square-metre) space is outfitted to look like a Mad Men-era workplace.
    A selection of mid-century furniture pieces was curated for the spaceThis is achieved by pairing highly decorative marble surfaces with strips of white slatted blinds and tube lighting.

    “Behind Thom Browne’s signature slat blind-covered windows is a minimalist mid-century style office with rows of fluorescent tube lighting, polished with white Calcutta and Carrara marble floors, and banker grey Bardiglio and Carrara marble walls,” said the Thom Browne team.
    The store’s desaturated colour palette is reflective of the brand’s clothingAmong the furniture pieces curated to embellish the theme are a glass-topped desk placed in the centre of the room at one end and chairs that form a small seating area at the other.
    “Thom continues to outfit this space with mid-century furniture by American and French designers — including seating and lamps by Jacques Adnet, a desk by TH Robsjohn-Gibbings, office chairs by Knoll, benches by McCobb, coffee tables by Mathieu Mategot, and display etagere’s by Maison Jansen,” the team said.
    Accessories are displayed on minimalist shelving unitsThe largely desaturated colour palette – reflective of the brand’s clothing – is interrupted by brass accessories and details on the furniture, as well as a few camel-toned garments.
    A black band wraps around the rooms at floor level, separating the grey marble on the walls from the lighter toned stone underfoot.

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    Clothes are presented on metal rails mounted on wheels, while bags, shoes, eyewear and fragrances are displayed on minimalist freestanding shelves.
    The fitting rooms are hidden behind doors covered in the same material as the walls so that they blend in seamlessly when closed.
    The store is located in the historic Yeon Building on Jackson SquareThom Browne founded his label in 2001 with five suits in a small by-appointment shop in New York City’s West Village, and eventually expanded to include ready-to-wear and accessories lines for both men and women.
    Browne’s Autumn Winter 2022 collection was an ode to toys and featured sculptural tailoring, presented at New York Fashion Week in front of an audience of 500 teddy bears.
    The photography is courtesy of Thom Browne.

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