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    Get your event listed in Dezeen's London guide for London Design Festival 2022

    If you’re exhibiting during London Design Festival, there’s still time to get your event listed in our digital guide to the festival on Dezeen Events Guide.

    Our London guide will list the key events taking place during the week-long festival, which runs from 17 to 25 September 2022.
    London Design Festival hosts hundreds of events across its 12 districts, including the trade fair Design London and exhibitions, installations, talks and open studios.
    Dezeen will publish its London guide one week before the festival, which will include listings for all the key events.
    The digital guide will benefit from Dezeen’s high-ranking SEO and will sit on Dezeen Events Guide, which has received over 700,000 views since it launched in 2020.

    The London guide follows the success of our Milan design week 2022 guide, which received over 40,000 page views.
    If you want to be considered for the guide, please contact [email protected]. The Dezeen team will review the events to ensure the best are featured.
    Get listed in Dezeen’s digital London guide
    For only £100, you can feature your event in the guide, which includes up to 75 words of text, the date, location, a link to your website and an image.
    For more information about partnering with us to help amplify your event, contact the team at [email protected].
    About Dezeen Events Guide
    Dezeen Events Guide lists events across the globe, which can be filtered by location and type.
    Events taking place later in the year include Helsinki Design Week 2022, France Design Week 2022 and Copenhagen Architecture Festival 2022.
    The illustration is by Rima Sabina Aouf.

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    Hotel Rosalie encourages nature to “reclaim its rightful place in the urban landscape”

    French interior designer Marion Mailaender has worked with hotelier Joris Bruneel to create a hotel in Paris informed by overgrown and abandoned buildings.

    Conceived as a hidden oasis in the city, Hotel Rosalie is set in a courtyard behind a tall iron gate on a tree-lined street in the 13th arrondissement.
    Marion Mailaender has designed nature-informed interiors for Hotel RosalieGreenery is incorporated into every aspect of Mailaender’s design for the 60-room hotel, including a plant-filled terrace and a hidden roof garden.
    Parisian urban gardening collective Merci Raymond was brought on board by Bruneel to make the hotel’s outdoor spaces seem “overgrown” and help nature “reclaim its rightful place in the urban landscape”.
    The hotel’s terrace features outdoor furniture by the Bouroullec brothersBruneel was particularly influenced by Urbex, a series of images by French photographer Romain Chancel that is displayed in the hotel’s guest rooms and depicts abandoned urban buildings that have slowly been reclaimed by plants.

    In a nod to this work, Merci Raymond encouraged lichen and moss to grow and seeds to germinate in the hotel’s nooks and crannies. Meanwhile, Mailaender incorporated urban design elements into the scheme ranging from “Roman-style statues” to an old Peugeot 205 car that is seemingly left abandoned on the rooftop.
    Mirrored yellow columns traverse the lobbyOn the ground floor, the hotel’s Open Garden is accessible to the local community and features steel outdoor furniture by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec set across a two-level terrace linked by a little staircase.
    A towering six-metre hop plant provides shade while its flowers will be used by a microbrewery in the 11th arrondissement to make beer.
    A Gae Aulenti sofa in the lobby is upholstered in clover-patterned fabricThe hotel’s Secret Garden lies behind a hidden door on the third floor. This is furnished with deck chairs, wooden benches and planters, offering a space where guests can read, relax in the sun, do yoga classes or participate in workshops organised by the hotel.
    Inside, Mailaender has included plenty of nature-inspired elements. In the lobby, a giant coconut-fibre rug leads guests inside while armchairs and couches by Italian architect Gae Aulenti are upholstered in clover-patterned pop art fabric.

    Luke Edward Hall stirs print and colour inside Hotel Les Deux Gares in Paris

    Meanwhile, guest rooms feature galvanised steel furniture, which is typically used outdoors, and floral William Morris carpet that extends up from the floor and across the headboards.
    The interior blends new and reclaimed pieces in an approach that Mailaender describes as “intentional ambivalence”.
    In the bathrooms, for instance, traditional baths are paired with counters made from terrazzo-style recycled plastic.
    Floral William Morris carpet covers floors and headboards in the guest roomsAll materials were chosen for their aesthetic as well as their environmental impact, according to Mailaender.
    For example, the carpet in the guest rooms is made from recycled fishing nets and wood offcuts were used to make a marquetry tabletop in the lobby.
    Bathrooms feature counters made from recycled plasticCork clads the restaurant’s floor and the walls of the elevator, and many of the chairs are pre-owned pieces that were carefully restored.
    “I believe that we can mix furniture designed by the Bouroullec brothers with random pieces from a gardening catalogue,” explained Mailaender. “Embracing current concerns means selecting sustainable materials alongside aesthetically pleasing design pieces.”
    Planting surrounds an old Peugeot 205 in the hotel’s rooftop gardenThe hotel has its own coffee shop The Common, finished in a distinctive blue hue that nods to 90s air hostess uniforms.
    This colour is echoed on a glossy pillar in the bar, a trellis in the secret garden and on the guest room doors, where it offsets the grass-green carpet that winds through the hotel corridors.
    Dezeen recently rounded up ten verdant hotel interiors from our archive that show how adding greenery to public spaces can help give them a friendlier, more organic feel.
    The photography is by Christophe Coenon unless stated otherwise.

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    Charlie Luxton Design reworks Oxfordshire farmhouse to create Studio Richter Mahr

    Composer Max Richter and visual artist Yulia Mahr have set up a multimedia production studio inside a former farmhouse in Oxfordshire, which Charlie Luxton Design has updated with more sustainable features.

    Bordered by 31 acres of forested woodland, Studio Richter Mahr will serve as a space where both emerging and established creatives can come to develop their work.
    Studio Richter Mahr is a multimedia production studio in a former farmhouseRichter and Mahr – who are collaborators as well as a couple – first had the idea for the site some 20 years ago.
    “Studio Richter Mahr is about dreaming the future into existence, a better way to live and work,” said Mahr. “It’s about forward motion and borderless creativity. It’s about offering time and opportunities for people to really experiment.”
    The studio occupies a farm building that had already been modernised to a decent standard but needed adjusting to reduce the operational carbon footprint of the new amenities on site. Local practice Charlie Luxton Design was assigned to the task.

    New skylights allow natural light to flood the facility’s interiorThe building’s roof now accommodates solar panels that provide electricity to the site and several skylights to reduce the need for artificial lighting.
    To keep the building warm, air-source heat pumps were installed alongside a ventilation system powered using recovered heat.
    A large picture window features in the orchestral recording studioCharlie Luxton Design preserved the building’s original steel framework to conserve its embodied carbon and celebrate the site’s agricultural past.
    The existing concrete floor slab was also retained and strengthened in some areas.
    Inside, the studio houses a series of state-of-the-art creative spaces devised with the help of sound specialists Level Acoustics and Studio Creations. This includes a video editing suite, programming room, art studios and a Dolby Atmos sound mixing room alongside an exhibition area and a cafe that creates dishes from produce grown on-site.

    Studio Bua transforms derelict Icelandic farm building into artist’s studio

    The plan culminates in a spacious orchestral recording room fronted by a huge picture window that offers uninterrupted views across the rural landscape.
    Charlie Luxton Design applied a restrained material palette throughout the interior.
    Most of the walls were washed with textured lime plaster or overlaid with Dinesen oak boards while the building’s exterior was clad with simple black metal to contrast the surrounding greenery.
    “The brief was always to be very simple, using quality materials,” founder Charlie Luxton told Dezeen.
    Many of the studio’s rooms are clad with timberGoing forward, Richter and Mahr plan to add more amenities including an on-site creche with the aim of hosting artist residencies and composer labs.
    This isn’t the first time a farm building has been repurposed for creative pursuits. Last year, Studio Bua converted a derelict Icelandic barn into an artist’s studio and holiday home.
    The workspace sits inside a double-height gabled volume that was erected within the site’s existing time-worn walls.
    The photography is by Lorenzo Zandri.

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    Artchimboldi Menorca is a work retreat inside an abandoned girls' school

    Hospitality company Artchimboldi and Spanish architect Emma Martí have teamed up to transform a forgotten girls’ school in Menorca into a bright and contemporary retreat for professionals.

    Established by Anna Truyol in 2007, Artchimboldi provides design-focused spaces where businesses can host meetings or team-building sessions.
    Artchimboldi Menorca’s ground floor has a living and dining spaceThe company already has two locations – a pair of modernist apartments in Barcelona – but has now opened a third, larger site in Menorca that can be used for corporate retreats.
    “In designing Artchimboldi Menorca, I wanted to transfer everything I have been able to observe and witness from my experience of welcoming all kinds of companies to the spaces in Barcelona,” explained Truyol.
    “Menorca retains its authenticity, has a very close and accessible nature, and brings a very different rhythm than the city.”

    The central table can be rearranged to suit different work and dining set-upsArtchimboldi Menora occupies an old girls’ school in Sant Lluís, a quaint village in the southeast of the island.
    The school was constructed in 1900 but was eventually abandoned, leaving the interior in less-than-ideal condition. Truyol brought in Martí, a local architect, to carry out a revamp.
    Guests can write down ideas on a four-by-four metre slate boardAlthough the building’s roof had to be completely rebuilt, insulated and waterproofed, Truyol and Marti took a light touch with the rest of the renovation works in order to highlight “the history, experiences and soul of the space”.
    The building’s original marés stone walls were preserved and freshened up with a coat of white paint, and many of its timber ceiling beams were left in place.
    Seating poufs and a wood burner appear in the lounge areaAn airy living and dining area occupies the first floor. At its heart is a custom-made table made of lacquered wood, which can be easily reconfigured into different formats for group meals, meetings or workshops.
    Beyond the table is a cosy lounge that features amorphous grey seating poufs and a wood burner with a four-metre-high flue that accentuates the height of the room.

    The Olive Houses are off-grid retreats hidden in Mallorca’s mountains

    In a nod to the building’s past, Tyrol and Marti have also included a large antique bookcase and a schoolroom-style slate board, where guests can scribble down any thoughts and ideas.
    At the rear of the room, timber-framed doors lead out onto a gravel patio with a micro cement pool.
    The patio features a micro cement poolGuests can catch some rest on the building’s first level, which much like the ground floor has white-painted stone walls. But here, polished concrete flooring is replaced with bold chequerboard tiles.
    Pre-existing partition walls were knocked through to make way for a sequence of boxy Flanders-pine sleeping pods.
    Each one is fronted by a linen curtain that, when drawn back, reveals a comfy woollen futon.
    Flanders-pine sleeping pods were incorporated on the building’s first floorSlender black ladders grant access to the top of the pods, where guests can relax during the day. Alternatively, there is a small seating area dressed with a grey sofa and woven rugs.
    Personal belongings can be stored underneath the pods or in the bespoke sage-coloured shelving unit that sits at the room’s periphery.
    Additional sleeping pods can be found in the building’s loft.
    Ladders allow guests to sit and relax on top of the podsOther retreats on Spain’s picturesque Balearic islands include The Olive Houses, a pair of off-grid dwellings in Mallorca where architects, writers and artists can work uninterrupted.
    The two buildings are minimally finished and rendered with stucco that complements the surrounding olive trees.
    The photography is by Pol Viladoms.
    Project credits:
    Design: Anna Truyol and Emma Martí ArquitecturaTechnical architecture: Manel Alzina SintesDeveloper: ArtchimboldiConstruction company: Construcciones Virfin SLCarpentry: Biniarroca SLCollaborators: Cristina Pons (North Agent)

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    AMO recreates “Provence atmosphere” with clay Jacquemus shop-in-shop

    Dutch studio AMO has created a terracruda-clad shop-in-shop with curving tiered shelving for French-fashion brand Jacquemus at luxury department store Selfridges.

    The boutique was installed as a permanent retail space located on the ground floor of London department store Selfridges and is host to Jacquemus bags and accessories.
    The permanent Jacquemus shop-in-shop was designed by AMODesigned by AMO, the research and design arm of architecture firm OMA, it incorporates curving, floor-to-ceiling display shelving clad in a clay-based material that is said to echo materials local to Provence.
    Between rows of curving and tiered display shelving, plinths, totems, tables and chairs decorate the retail space’s interior and display the brand’s latest bags and accessories.
    Terracruda clay was used across the interiorHidden compartments and cabinets were fitted within display units to create a sense of discovery while also tying the space to the trio of surrealist Jacquemus pop-up installations that ran through May in and around Selfridges and Oxford Street.

    The permanent retail space follows as a result of the success of the Le Bleu surrealist pop-up installations that were created by Dutch experience design firm Random Studio and invited customers to explore and discover the brand’s products.

    Jacquemus creates surrealist interpretation of his own bathroom for Selfridges pop-up

    Terracruda clay was applied by hand across the interior of the store to create an uneven surface and natural look. The earthiness of the clay visually juxtaposes against the rigid and solid forms that are populated by colourful bags and accessories.
    Seating areas set within the curving displays are framed by views out to Duke Street and the nearby David Chipperfield-designed entrance that was added to the store in 2018.
    Terracruda clay was used to reference the South of France”The inspiration for the design of the Jacquemus space owes to the brand’s origins in the south of France,” said OMA partner Ellen van Loon.
    “We wanted to capture the atmosphere of Provence through the materiality of the space, which led us to approach the design in a different way altogether,” she continued.
    “Instead of working with form and deciding on the materials afterwards, we chose the materials at the outset and let them guide the shape of the space.”
    Seating areas decorate the boutiqueSwedish streetwear label, Axel Arigato recently unveiled its “upside-down” pop-up sneaker store in the luxury department store that features an office-themed interior.
    In Paris, Acne Studios opened a monolithic store on Rue Saint Honoré that is clad in Parisian limestone and references a Stockholm skatepark.
    The photography is by Lewis Ronald.

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    Michael Hsu converts 1940s Houston church into Asian smokehouse

    US firm Michael Hsu Office of Architecture aimed to preserve the character of a gabled church in Texas while transforming it into a lively Asian smokehouse called Loro Heights.

    The project – located in Houston’s Heights neighbourhood – involved the conversion of a red-brick church dating to 1948 into a restaurant with an “active and casual atmosphere”, the team said.
    Michael Hsu has converted a gabled church into a restaurant named Loro HeightsRoughly L-shaped in plan, the building consists of gabled volumes that are set around outdoor space. Original elements included a sanctuary with a vaulted ceiling and exposed wooden trusses.
    Local firm Michael Hsu Office of Architecture wanted to honour the building’s history while incorporating features that align with Loro’s style and character.
    The building’s features include exposed wooden trusses and gabled roofs”It was important for us to preserve the existing character of the church,” said architect Michael Hsu, who founded his studio in 2005.

    “The design celebrates the vast sanctuary space and maintains the existing wooden trusses, while other elements relate directly to the Loro brand.”
    The smokehouse was informed by old Texan dance hallsIn addition to Houston, Loro restaurants are found in Austin and Dallas. The eateries offer barbecue fare with an Asian twist, such as char stew pork belly with a hoisin sauce and smoked beef brisket with Thai herbs.
    In terms of ambiance, the restaurants are designed to evoke old Texan dance halls and the “welcome feelings of socializing around a family table”, the team said.
    A lighting installation by Fibrous hangs from the ceilingWith these factors in mind, Hsu and his team re-conceived the building’s exterior and interior.
    On the front elevation, the team clad one side of the building in Western red cedar and Douglas fir, and cut away a portion of the wall to form an opening partly covered by a wooden lattice.
    Dining tables were added to the front porch and the former church sanctuaryJust behind the opening is a “front porch” with dining tables. Suspended overhead is a custom lighting installation by Fibrous, a studio in Austin.
    “The piece consists of massive ropes knotted together to form a delicate network akin to a chandelier, which grounds the high ceiling,” the team said.

    Wooden ceiling curves over restaurant in Austin by Michael Hsu

    The porch connects to the former church sanctuary, which has been transformed into a dining hall and bar.
    In addition to the vaulted celling and trusses, the space features newly added windows and skylights, which bring in daylight and brighten up the formerly dark space.
    White-oak furnishings complement the dark-stained cedar interior wallsInterior walls are clad in dark-stained cedar that mimics the appearance of charred wood. Wall pegs offer a clever spot for hanging coats and potted plants.
    Seating options include booths and long, communal tables, along with counter tables in the bar area.
    Woven chandeliers created by the architects with León León Design are suspended above the tablesThe white-oak dining furniture, along with other decor, was custom designed and fabricated for the space. Woven chandeliers were created by the architects in collaboration with Mexico City’s León León Design.
    Beyond the main dining hall, there is a kitchen, an outdoor beer garden, and a smoker yard for the preparation of meat. A portion of the building has a second level, which holds mechanical equipment.
    The studio preserved the church’s exposed wooden detailsOverall, the adaptive reuse project has provided a welcoming space for diners while also preserving the community sprit of the church building, the team said.
    “Today’s Loro restaurant serve as a space for neighbourhood gatherings and community connection,” said Hsu.
    Michael Hsu Office of Architecture is based in Austin and has an outpost in Houston. Other projects by the studio include the conversion of a former Manhattan printing house into Shake Shack’s headquarters, and a Miami sushi restaurant that embodies the “perfect contrast” between the materials, techniques and styles of Japan and Florida.
    The photography is by Chase Daniel.

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    Ten residential interiors bolstered by exposed wooden beams

    From a refurbished apartment in Barcelona to the home of an architectural designer in London, our latest lookbook rounds up 10 interiors that celebrate the tactility of exposed wooden beams.

    Beams are joists that support a building’s ceiling or roof. Rather than covering the interior beams, the designers below have left them as they were originally constructed, giving the homes a rustic yet industrial feel.
    Interior designers from Japan to Australia have incorporated exposed beams and columns in their projects, often integrating the existing wooden structures with contemporary elements such as cabinetry, shelving units and lighting fixtures.
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks showcasing gardens with swimming pools, steely kitchens and interiors with a natural and calming organic modern design.

    Photo is by Alice GaoMorehouse, US, by James Veal and Christine Stucker
    Renovated by Brooklyn studio Stewart-Schafer for the company’s co-founders, this home in Connecticut is designed to reflect the 18 acres of woodland that surround it.
    The studio opted to fill the home with Japandi style decor and a natural, woody colour palette to complement the existing wooden floors, ceilings and other joinery.
    Find out more about Morehouse ›
    Photo is by Ulysse LemeriseThe Barn, Canada, by Louis Beliveau
    Nestled into a hillside in Mansonville, Québec, The Barn is a three-storey building that Montreal designer Louis Beliveau of La Firme studio converted from a decrepit building into a holiday home for two city dwellers.
    The 418-square-metre, light-filled interior has white oak floors, white-washed wood walls and exposed wood beams throughout, which the designers chose to keep the property’s “rustic character”.
    Find out more about The Barn ›
    Photo is by Nieve I Productora AudiovisualBookcase, Spain, by Nook Architects
    This Barcelona apartment refurbished by Nook Architects was designed to allow light to flow through the entire space. A central lightwell casts daylight into the bathroom, kitchen and storage rooms while Crittal glass partitions bordering the master bedroom give the occupants some privacy while they sleep.
    The apartment’s original colourful tile flooring, which the studio uncovered during the restoring, completes the space.
    Find out more about Bookcase ›
    Photo is by Eric PetschekChelsea Loft, US, by Worrell Yeung
    Timber columns, beams and ceiling joists were left raw and exposed in this Manhattan loft that Worrell Yeung renovated for an artist with an eclectic art collection.
    Part of the playful overhaul also involved installing new pieces of Cassina furniture, painting the walls and ceiling white and adding reclaimed pine wood floors.
    Find out more about Chelsea ›
    Photo is by Adrian GautVipp Studio, US, by Vipp
    Danish design company Vipp’s pared-back aesthetic characterises this showroom-cum-apartment in Tribeca, which serves as the founder’s pied-à-terre when they visit New York.
    Set in a former factory that dates back to 1883, the showroom is clad in a neutral grey-beige paint that matches the grey soft furnishings in the fully functional living room and bedrooms.
    Find out more about Vipp Studio ›
    Photo by James BrittainCollage House, England, by Jonathan Tuckey Design
    Architectural designer and founder of Jonathan Tuckey Design, Jonathan Tuckey chose “simple and everyday” materials in his renovation of this 19th-century steel workshop to create a characterful London home for his family and their dog.
    The designer decided to restore the original beams in the ceiling and left the bare brick walls tarnished with black marks to add to the weathered look.
    Find out more about Collage House ›
    Photo is by Yago PartalEnd of the Roc, Spain, by Nook Architects
    Situated within an apartment building in the gothic quarter of Barcelona, End of the Roc features a number of quirky designs including geometric patterned floor tiling, a 40-year-old wall covering and original wooden ceiling beams.
    Other surfaces and furnishings that Nook Architects chose to flesh out the apartment have been crafted from oak or painted black to create a sense of cohesion.
    Find out more about End of the Roc ›
    Photo is by Joe FletcherGowanus Loft, US, by General Assembly
    New York studio General Assembly deliberately left the chunky timber columns and beams exposed during the renovation of this apartment in Brooklyn, sanding them down to expose more of the original woodwork.
    While an effort was made to retain the character of the former textile mill, the studio added lighter touchers to the space through grey tilting in the kitchen, polished concrete flooring and rift white oak cabinetry.
    Find out more about Gowanus Loft ›
    Photo is by Koichi TorimuraY House, Japan, by Studio Kwas
    Several striking sets of angular spruce wood columns protrude like tree trunks throughout Y House, a two-storey city dwelling in Kamakura designed for a family of five. Three sets fill the open plan living area, which has a dining room, lounge and kitchen.
    The open plan design continues on the second floor of the house, where pine beams and diagonal columns create playful partitions that divide the sleeping and play areas.
    Find out more about Y House ›
    Photo is by Suzanna Scott PhotographyCalistoga Residence, US, by Wade Design Architects and Geremia Design
    The vineyards, barns and farmhouses of northern California’s wine town Napa Valley informed this wood-clad home designed by American studios Wade Design Architects and Geremia Design.
    Awash with white walls and pale tones set off against darker tiled flooring and black window frames, the home is filled with antiques that the client collected over many years.
    Find out more about Calistoga Residence ›
    This is the latest in our series of lookbooks providing curated visual inspiration from Dezeen’s image archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks showcasing parquet flooring, terrazzo flooring and wood-clad kitchens.

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    Cake Architecture creates London office space spread across two contrasting floors

    Cake Architecture has designed a workspace for London agency Ask Us For Ideas using materials and forms that are in “complimentary contrast” with each other.

    Split across the ground floor and basement of a building in southeast London’s New Cross, the office offers a new home to Ask Us For Ideas (AUFI) – a consultancy founded in 2010 to connect brands with creative studios.
    The Ask Us For Ideas office occupies a basement (top image) and ground floor (above) in southeast LondonThe interior consists of a crisp white street-facing gallery and office space on the ground floor, as well as a “speak-easy style” subterranean space with a meeting, lounge and bar area used for collaborative co-working.
    “We’re a business that centres around making connections,” AUFI founder Nick Bell told Dezeen.
    “The brief, in essence, was to create a space that was a physical manifestation of the role we play within the creative industry – a space for connection, somewhere that above being a beautiful place to work was a place that brought people together.”

    A white gallery and office space are housed on the ground floorOn a practical level, the brief called for office space for the company’s ten staff members alongside a street-facing gallery and concept store space for various events, plus enough room to host clients and agencies.
    In response, London-based Cake Architecture set out to create a place that “feels somewhere between the home and the office”, using a mixture of materials and textures to divide up the large open-plan areas into multiple zones.
    A grey carpet runs up the walls of the work area”There were a couple of references and key drivers pushing the concept for this project forward,” said Cake Architecture.
    “Firstly the AUFI website itself. It has this layered, multi-dimensional aesthetic and we thought it could be really interesting to try and translate this into 3D physical space,” the practice added.
    “We started thinking about this layered approach to space-making, removing all internal partitions, maximising light, space, air and experimenting with layers of material, texture, colour and form as a kind of 3D collage.”
    The same carpet coats a central volume that conceals the staircaseSolid partitions were removed and a spiral stair was inserted into the centre of the plan, unlocking the basement for use and further rationalising the layout and flow around the office.
    The two separate floors also provided an opportunity to create two very different moods and atmospheres.
    A spiral staircase runs between the two levels”For us, this project was an attempt at realising a holistic quality of space with materials and forms that are in complimentary contrast with one another,” explained Cake Architecture.
    “In this sense, the consistent theme is really an exercise in playing with contrast.”

    Emil Eve Architects retrofits own office in brutalist building in Hackney

    The crisp white gallery and office space on the ground floor features mesh panelled walls for mounting and displaying work.
    A silver-grey carpet applied to the walls and floors takes visitors through to the main office area at the back of the room.
    Custom steel-framed desks topped with Marmoleum-lined birch plywood provide workspace for the permanent members of staff.
    Darker walls and furnishing create a different atmosphere downstairsIn the centre of the room, a large monolith clad in the same silver-grey carpet conceals a spiral staircase made of galvanised steel that draws guests downstairs.
    Cake Architecture worked with interior designer Max Radford, who consulted on the project and steered the furniture selections including Robin Day’s injection-moulded Polyside chair from 1963 and upholstered swivel Howe 40/4 chairs.
    A long table provides space for collaborative work sessionsThe materials and colours used downstairs in the co-working space are warmer and calmer than those used upstairs, with the walls and ceilings finished in a dark brown limewash render.
    Dark hardwood flooring contrasts with areas of soft and shaggy carpet while mesh screens and a neon-yellow mesh curtain provide further subdivision.
    A bespoke aluminium and glass table takes centre stage in the meeting room and a long table stretching through the middle of the basement is used for collaborative work sessions. A selection of mid-century armchairs provides space for quieter moments.
    The dimly lit meeting room features an aluminium and glass tableA stainless steel kitchen and bar with a raised floor area serve as a platform for socialising before, during and after work.
    Furniture pieces include green Alky lounge chairs by Artifort from the 1970s, Handkerchief chairs by Massimo Vignelli and Howe 40/4 side chairs.
    Green Alky chairs by Artifort feature in the lounge areaLos Angeles design studio Spiritual Objects was commissioned to create a series of unexpected interventions for the space such as a hand-painted bouquet of flowers on the gallery window and a tulip-shaped door handle powder coated in fluorescent yellow.
    “The Tulip Pull door handle is an amazing illustration of the power and impact a beautifully made object can have on a space,” explained Bell.
    “It marks the threshold of the building and is the first thing you physically come into contact with. I believe these moments consciously and subconsciously impact people massively, setting a tone for their experience as they continue through the building.”
    Spiritual Objects created a tulip-shaped pull handle for the office’s main doorPreviously, Cake Architecture has collaborated with Max Radford on a subterranean cocktail bar in London’s Soho that uses colours borrowed from Indian artworks.
    The photography is by Felix Speller and the styling by Tamsyn Mystkowski.

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