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    Chloé Mason Gray utilises “masculine” elements for Mexico City renovation

    Mexico City interiors studio Chloé Mason Gray has renovated a house in Colonia Condesa, embracing its lack of natural light to create a space for a bachelor.

    Built in the mid-20th century with a pared-back art deco style, the two-storey house is currently rented long-term by an American tech worker, who hired studio founder Gray to improve the interiors with the owners’ permission.
    The home’s lack of natural light led to the embrace of dark colours and materials, such as brown plaster in the bedroomCombining antique Mexican design pieces with those by contemporary Mexican artists and designers, the aim was to create a home that felt rooted in its place.
    “It is a place where playfulness and restraint in design happily coexist, and a source of relaxation and inner peace for the inhabitant,” said Gray.
    Dark green was chosen for the upper-floor libraryThe 154-square-metre property is shaded by large trees on the avenue outside, preventing much natural light from entering some of the rooms.

    Embracing the dark and moody atmosphere, the designer chose colours and textures that would make the spaces feel “masculine, rich, and interesting”.
    Furniture made from red cedar complements the earthy palette”I wanted to create a space that was functional, comfortable, masculine and dynamic,” Gray said. “It had to feel both a bit unexpected, and approachable. I strove to reflect quiet luxury and a sense of richness through the colors and materials.”
    Dark green walls and ceiling envelop the upper-floor library, where the fabric of a Bastiano two-seater sofa by Tobia Scarpa and plants add variations on the hue.
    Gray custom-built a dining table using a quartzite slabMeanwhile, the primary bedroom was covered in brown textured plasterwork, complemented by a leather headboard, and green linen bedding and curtains.
    In other spaces, a variety of off-white plaster finishes sit in contrast to dark furniture – much of which is made from warm-toned red cedar.
    A mix of Mexican vintage and contemporary furniture roots the space in its context”I think red cedar pairs beautifully with the green tones in the house,” said Gray. “In Mexican spaces, you tend to see a lot of either very pale wood, tzalam or walnut, and I liked the idea of using a medium red-toned wood instead.”
    One of the most dramatic interventions involved coating the original sculptural staircase in indigo-pigmented concrete.

    Ambrosi Etchegaray inserts four homes and three courtyards behind an old Mexico City facade

    A custom dining table was built from a quartzite slab, which is flecked and veined with colours found across the home.
    Upstairs, an office is outfitted with a restored vintage desk by Clara Porset for DM Nacional, and a Brno chair by Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich.
    The original staircase was coated in an indigo-pigmented concreteEuropean oak floors were laid throughout the interior, while furniture by Roberto Michelsen was placed on the roof deck.
    A variety of artwork and smaller accessories bring the design together, but adding these touches turned out to be the designer’s biggest challenge.
    A vintage desk and a Brno chair furnish the office”It’s a very oddly-shaped house,” said Gray. “I don’t think there is a single straight wall in the whole house.”
    “Every wall and room is at an angle, so at times positioning furniture and art in a way that felt natural and correct was challenging,” she added.
    The home also has a roof terrace, populated with furniture by Roberto MichelsenMexico City’s historic Colonia Condesa is a popular place to live for locals and long-term visitors alike, thanks in part to its rich architecture.
    Examples of projects completed in the central neighbourhood include four new homes built behind a historic facade and an apartment block covered in small wooden squares.
    The photography is by Fabian Martinez.
    Project credits:
    Interior design: Chloé Mason GrayInterior finishings application: Marco Villa Mateos

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    Ten homes that feature decorative ceilings and ornate plasterwork

    A home in Williamsburg with a bathroom that saw its original tin-panelled ceiling restored and intricate 19th-century plasterwork set within a modern apartment feature in this lookbook, which showcases decorative and ornate ceilings.

    Mouldings are decorative architectural elements that are used as focal elements in interior spaces, contouring the corners of ceilings and light fixtures in the form of ceiling roses, cornices, architraves and coving.
    These elements typically have a highly decorative and ornate finish incorporating seamless patterns, created through reliefs and recesses across their surfaces.
    Mouldings and ornate plasterworks are typically associated with the Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian eras and were drawn from classicism and ancient Greek and Egyptian architecture.
    The architectural elements were often constructed from plaster and timber, however the 20th century saw people look to alternative materials to obtain more durable and cost-effective finishes.

    This is the latest in our lookbook series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring deliberately unfinished interiors, maximalist interiors and homes with walk-in wardrobes.

    Stockholm Apartment, Sweden, by Note Design Studio
    Swedish design firm Note Design Studio transformed this Stockholm office into a home adding shades of yellow, green and pink across its walls and mouldings and window frames.
    Rooms of the home were painted entirely in single colours adding pastel hues to its 19th-century features.
    Find out more about Stockholm Apartment ›
    Photo is by White ArrowHistoric Schoolhouse, US, by White Arrow
    Brooklyn-based interior design studio White Arrow’s founders, Keren and Thomas Richter transformed this landmarked building in Williamsburg into a bright and airy home while restoring some of its original features.
    In one of the home’s bathrooms, the interior design duo tracked down its original decorative tin ceiling tiles and reinstated them across the vanity area. Tin ceiling tiles are an American innovation and were created as a low-cost and more durable alternative to ornate plasterwork.
    Find out more about Historic Schoolhouse ›

    Bakers House, Sweden, by Färg & Blanche
    This residence, which has belonged to the family of Färg & Blanche co-founder Emma Marga Blanche for four generations, features a traditional and extravagantly ornate interior. The home formerly contained a traditional Swedish crispbread bakery at the rear of the building and is now mainly used to host events.
    Intricately detailed furniture, such as carved-wood trimmed sofas and gilded photo frames complement the home’s decorative ceiling mouldings and ornamentation. In each room, the ceiling details are painted bold colours and incorporate frescoes-like paintings.
    Find out more about Bakers House ›
    Photography is by Norbert TukajYoung family house, Lithuania, by ŠA Atelier
    Lithuanian architecture studio ŠA Atelier renovated the interior of this formerly dilapidated 19th-century apartment in Vilnius, Lithuania. Set within a townhouse built in 1862, the apartment has a minimal finish with some of its remaining original features restored as focal points throughout.
    Expanses of plasterwork mouldings and ceiling roses stretch across the ceilings in the home while parquet wood flooring boasts a neutral, light tone.
    Find out more about Young family house ›
    Photo is by Adrià GoulaPasseig de Grácia, Spain, by Jeanne Schultz Design Studio
    Ornamental details and finishes were added to the renovation of this apartment on Barcelona’s Passeig de Grácia.
    US design firm Jeanne Schultz Design Studio incorporated and re-energised the home’s period and original features. In the main living space, it painted the ceiling’s stepped coving, that runs through the interior of the home, a shade of green which was also applied to the doors, window frames and skirting of the room.
    Find out more about Passeig de Grácia ›
    Photo is by David FoesselNapoléon apartment, France, Freaks
    French studio Freaks renovated this apartment in Paris. It retained period mouldings and architectural features throughout but added modern touches including fluorescent lighting and freestanding angular volumes.
    “One of the main interventions consisted of opening the new kitchen towards the dining room, while taking charge to use a contemporary architectural language,” said the studio.
    Photography is by Salem MostefaouiWood Ribbon apartment, France, by Toledano + Architects
    Set above a ribbon-like plywood wall and contrasting against the apartment’s contemporary decor, ornate plasterwork, which has largely remained untouched since the 19th century, subtly defines and zones this apartment.
    Where French architecture studio Toledano + Architects wanted the home to feel more contemporary, it installed a false, polycarbonate ceiling over its original decorative ceilings.
    Find out more about Wood Ribbon apartment ›
    Photo is by Alex LesageMontreal Home, Canada, by Vives St-Laurent
    Canadian interior design studio Vives St-Laurent renovated and remodelled a family home in Montreal to better highlight its existing architectural elements. The studio looked to incorporate as much of the home’s original 20th-century characteristics including its plaster mouldings.
    In the home’s open-plan kitchen and diner, coving informally zones the dining room from the kitchen while a ceiling rose anchors a pendant light above a light wood dining table and four Marcel Breuer Cesca chairs.
    Find out more about Montreal Home ›

    Carrer Avinyo 34, Spain, by David Kohn Architects
    British architecture studio David Kohn Architects renovated this Barcelona apartment to better reveal and highlight its large windows, high ceilings and ornate mouldings.
    Above the dining space, cornices bound the edges of the room while coffered ceilings stretch across the living areas. Ceiling roses throughout the home became focal points across the ceilings without light fixtures fitted to them.
    Find out more about Carrer Avinyo 34 ›
    Photo is by Mariela ApollonioCasa Cas 8, Spain, by DG Arquitecto
    Panel moulding and corbels protrude from the ceilings at Casa Cas 8 in Valencia, Spain, which was created by Valencia-based architecture studio DG Arquitecto. The 1920s penthouse aims to celebrate its original features including its mosaic floors, mouldings and arched doorways.
    “Small changes in the distribution, very limited by the initial idea of ​​completely maintaining the original floor of the house and the ceilings with mouldings, helped us to transform the existing spaces,” said DG Arquitecto.
    Find out more about Casa Cas 8 ›
    Find out more about Napoléon apartment ›
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring deliberately unfinished interiors, maximalist interiors and homes with walk-in wardrobes.

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    AMO cocoons Jacquemus store in pillows to create “bedroom-like” interior

    Dutch studio AMO has used pillows to form the display stands and line the walls in this tactile womenswear boutique by fashion brand Jacquemus in Paris, France.

    The 60-square-metre shop, set in the department store Galeries Lafayette Haussmann, was designed to feel like a bedroom according to AMO, which is the research and design arm of architecture firm OMA.
    AMO has lined a Jacquemus store with large cream-coloured pillows”The location of the shop within the Galleries Lafayette – without windows or daylight – led to the idea of creating a bedroom-like environment: a room entirely made of pillows,” said OMA partner Ellen van Loon.
    “It is a cocooning and relaxed atmosphere, inviting customers to lounge and browse for as long as they want,” she told Dezeen.
    The store is designed to feel like a bedroomThe linen pillows were designed to reference the textiles of Provence, where Jacquemus founder Simon Porte Jacquemus grew up.

    “We explored a material palette that aims to capture the atmosphere of Provence,” said OMA architect Giulio Margheri.
    “The fabric of the pillows is a reference to the linens of the South of France,” he told Dezeen.
    Linen pillows reference the textiles of ProvenceAMO also added a stack of pillows to serve as a seating area for shoppers, as well as a spot to showcase Jacquemus’ signature tiny bags.
    The studio completed the store’s easy-going atmosphere with the help of a stripped-back scheme, including cream-coloured carpet, soft lighting and clothing rails in a milky beige hue.

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

    AMO previously designed another store for Jacquemus inside the London department store Selfridges. Much like the brand’s Paris outpost, the shop was wrapped entirely in a single material – clay.
    “The design of the Jacquemus boutiques in London and Paris began with the idea of testing the limits of working with a single material,” Van Loon explained.
    “Instead of working on the design first and deciding on the materials afterwards, we let the materials dictate their presence in the space.”
    Changing rooms are coloured in the same creamy hueThe Jacquemus store is one of many retail interiors AMO has designed in Paris.
    Among them is a pop-up shop by Tiffany & Co that showcases an array of jewellery pieces and a flagship store for clothing brand Off-White that features abstract interpretations of Parisian courtyards and flea markets.
    Project creditsPartner: Ellen van LoonArchitect: Giulio MargheriTeam: Valerio Di Festa, Camille Filbien and Mattia Locci
    The photography is by Benoit Florençon, courtesy of AMO.

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    Mixed Seats aims to show “what a chair could be”

    Designer Ali Shah Gallefoss invited 15 creatives to design their own interpretation of a chair that is suitable for a public space, all of which were presented as a recent exhibition in Oslo, Norway.

    Called Mixed Seats, the exhibition was curated by Shah Gallefoss and exhibition platform Pyton.
    Mixed Seats featured a series of concrete chairs including one by Henrik ØdegaardIt featured an installation of concrete chairs from Norwegian creatives including designers Henrik Ødegaard and Maja Pauline Bang Haugsgjerd, which were arranged in a cluster outside at a square next to Oslobukta shopping centre.
    The project stemmed from Pyton inviting the participants to a dinner party for which they were asked to design and bring their own chairs.
    Tron Meyer designed a blue chair while Jonas Løland made a stoolArchitect, designer and artist Tron Meyer created a textured blue seat with a chunky backrest while architect Jonas Løland offered a sandy-hued stool with three-pronged legs.

    “The chairs are individual suggestions for what a chair could be,” Shah Gallefoss told Dezeen.
    “They’re fun, bold, weird, serious, and playful, just like the group of individuals that made them.”
    Maja Pauline Bang Haugsgjerd created a swirling stoolWhile the creatives were free to add additional materials to their chairs, they were instructed to use concrete as their base material. The furniture was made at a collective workshop held in Drammen.
    Some of the offerings feature colour while others were kept simple, such as an ambiguous, rough concrete stool in the shape of a star or flower by designer Christoph Boulmer.
    Spindly wooden legs make up Kevin Kurang’s abstract stool”The variation in shapes and sizes made an appealing composition,” reflected Shah Gallefoss.
    “When they arrived at the square at Oslobukta they looked like small ants, with the huge Munch museum in the background.”
    Christoph Boulmer designed a flower-shaped chairShah Gallefoss himself contributed a chair design to the exhibition with a squat concrete seat attached to a sculptural metal backrest.
    After the exhibition was dismantled, the curator explained that each of the chairs has travelled to a new location to be repurposed in various ways.
    Shah Gallefoss contributed his own design to the exhibitionIndustrial designer Falke Svatun created seating made from two abstract cylindrical concrete components that has now been placed in Oslo’s Sentralen restaurant while product designer Bjørn van de Berg’s stool featured at Stockholm Design Week.
    “It is [often said] that Norwegians don’t like to sit next to another person on the bus,” joked Shah Gallefoss.
    “But the majority of outdoor furniture [created] is benches that invite people to sit down and disturb your peace and quiet. That made me think about personal space in a public setting.”

    Primary school children design wooden seats in Grade Three Chairs project

    As well as exploring suitable seating for public spaces, another key objective of Mixed Seats was to showcase and encourage multidisciplinary creativity across Norway, according to Shah Gallefoss.
    “I hope that by introducing fifteen creatives [to each other], the exhibition will plant a seed that will grow and strengthen collaborative efforts between the different disciplines, and in the end, build a stronger design industry,” he concluded.
    Two cylindrical components make up Falke Svatun’s chairOther recent chair designs include a chubby furniture collection by Holloway Li and Uma Objects that was presented at London Design Festival and a chair made of plastic rubbish by design studio Space Available and DJ Peggy Gou.
    Mixed Seats was on display as part of Oslo Runway in Norway, which took place from 23 to 28 August in Oslo, Norway. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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    Superimpose Architecture creates subterranean conference centre based on Victorian shopping arcade

    Superimpose Architecture used a traditional shopping-arcade typology to transform the dark basement of a commercial development in Hangzhou, China, into The Arcade conference centre.

    Designed to appeal to a young audience, The Arcade is a subterranean space made up of a wide L-shaped corridor lined with meeting rooms, a cafe, a lobby and an auditorium.
    The Arcade is a subterranean conference centre that was designed by Superimpose ArchitectureInserted between structural concrete columns, the spaces have white facades that resemble shop fronts.
    When designing the centre, Rotterdam and Beijing-based Superimpose Architecture looked to the design of traditional shopping arcades that were popular in Europe from the 18th to the 20th century.
    Wide L-shaped corridors are lined with work and social facilitiesThe Victorian arcades typically connected two busy streets and were lined on both sides with shops sitting under a series of arches supported by a colonnade.

    Lit by daylight funnelled in through glass skylights, the shopping arcades served as protected indoor retail environments and social gathering spaces.
    To combat the lack of natural light in The Arcade conference centre, Superimpose Architecture inserted two long linear “floating” acrylic ceiling boxes that mimic the colour and intensity of natural daylight along the ceiling of its two main corridors.

    Buero Wagner makes inventive use of industrial materials in Munich office extension

    “The light boxes have an immediate visual impact in the basement and serve as a clear indicator for circulation,” said Superimpose Architecture. “The two axes can also be used as exhibition space.”
    Each conference room was given a distinct character through the use of different colours, light fixtures and materials.
    Acrylic ceiling boxes mimic natural daylightThe seating in the large auditorium is organised in a semi-circle that runs the entire length of the space to create a forum-like setting.
    Linear light boxes follow the seating arrangement, while wooden louvres and red carpet help to improve acoustics and add warmth. The facade of the auditorium can be fully opened, allowing the room to expand and become part of the entrance area for events.
    Other subterranean office interiors include this silver-coloured office extension in Munich and an office in London with a “speak-easy style” basement.

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    In Common With opens lighting studio and showroom in Brooklyn warehouse

    Lighting brand In Common With has opened a studio, showroom and production facility inside a Brooklyn warehouse.

    The 3,500-square-foot (325-square-metre) space is located in a former industrial building in Gowanus, which was recently renovated by Morris Adjmi Architects and is home to a variety of creative companies.
    In Common With founders Nick Ozemba and Felicia Hung gave their showroom a residential feelBringing all of In Common With’s operations under one roof, the set-up allows founders Nick Ozemba and Felicia Hung to assemble and showcase their products in a residential-style setting.
    The opening of the space also coincides with the launch of In Common With’s 20-piece glass lighting collection, Flora, which was created in collaboration with French-American designer Sophie Lou Jacobsen.
    Lighting from the brand’s Flora collection join vintage and contemporary furniture”Five years ago, Felica and I set out to create a different kind of lighting brand based on a collaborative model with other makers and centered around material exploration,” said Ozemba.

    “Our new space will allow us to push this approach further, grow our team and take on more ambitious projects.”
    Plastered walls and custom millwork contribute earthy tones to the interiorThe showroom presents new and previous lighting collections – designed with ceramicists, glassmakers and metalworkers from around the world – amongst a mix of vintage and contemporary furniture.
    A Mario Bellini sofa and a Tapestry Chair by Giancarlo Valle anchor a living room area, lit by a chandelier and a floor lamp from the Flora range.

    In Common With launches lamps with handmade clay shades

    Plastered walls and custom millwork join the exposed wooden ceiling, uniting a selection warm earthy tones.
    Artworks by Charlotte Hallberg, Al Svaboda and more were also commissioned for the showroom.
    The studio and production space features custom workstations”Highly tactile and hand-crafted details create an immersive environment while celebrating the architectural details, generous proportions, and ample light of the industrial building where they are based,” said the team.
    In the studio, custom work tables, oak shelving, storage and technical lighting were all installed to aid production.
    There’s a dedicated area for prototyping new productsComponents for In Common With’s modular Up Down Sconce and Alien Orb Pendant are arranged by colour on the shelves. There’s also a dedicated area for the team to prototype new products.
    Ozemba and Hung met while studying at RISD, and founded their brand in 2017 before debuting a range of handmade clay designs a year later.
    Components for In Common With’s Up Down Sconce are arranged by colour on oak shelvingBrooklyn is home to a thriving creative community, with many artists and designers living and working in the New York City borough.
    Other workspaces that have opened there recently include a series of historic factory buildings converted by Worrell Yeung, and retailer Radnor’s studio and showroom in another former factory.
    The photography is by William Jess Laird.

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    Venice floodwaters inform two-tone interior of Warsaw bar Va Bene Cicchetti

    Sea green floors and skirting tiles are contrasted against the all-red interior of this bar in Warsaw, Poland, which local studio Noke Architects has designed to recall the high waters of Venice.

    Billed as Poland’s first cicchetti bar – an Italian bar selling drinks alongside small plates of food – Va Bene Cicchetti is located in a huge Socialist Realist housing estate from the 1950s called the Marszałkowska Housing District.
    Va Bene Cicchetti is a bar in WarsawCustomers enter the bar via an arched doorway lined with antique mirrors. Inside, they are met by a huge red travertine counter with a large drinks cooler, which is hollowed out of the stone and filled with ice and bottles of prosecco.
    Most of the interior is rendered in warm hues of red and gold in a nod to the colours of the Venetian flag.
    But the floor, and everything up to about 20 centimetres in height, is finished in sea green to suggest the high waters of the Veneto region, locally known as acqua alta.

    Its interior was informed by Venice’s floodwatersSeveral times a year, when the tide in the Adriatic Sea rises, these floodwaters will cover streets and piazzas in Venice in a layer of water.
    To recreate this “flood effect” inside the interior of Va Bene Cicchetti, Noke Architects coloured the floors and skirting tiles, as well as the base of table legs, chairs and plinths in a watery shade of turquoise.
    Tables resemble Venice’s red-and-white striped mooring poles”We wanted the place to be unambiguously associated with Venice but we also wanted for this reference to be fresh and unique,” said Piotr Maciaszek, who co-founded Noke Architects alongside Aleksandra Hyz and Karol Pasternak.
    “We took inspiration from the colours of the Venetian flag, which dominate all finishings, and incorporated the acqua alta motif in the interior as an element of surprise.”
    Turquoise skirting tiles run along the perimeter of the roomThe scheme is completed with glass lamps that resemble rippling water and bespoke furniture pieces including tables that pay homage to the red-and-white striped mooring posts found in Venice’s canals.
    Taking over an entire wall of the bar is an intricate mosaic made from reclaimed materials including glass panes from the Murano glass factory in Venice and fragments of wine bottles from Va Bene Cicchetti’s sister restaurant Va Bene.

    Moroccan carpets line walls of Warsaw’s Aura cocktail bar

    The mural depicts the bar’s owners and their dog Koko enjoying wine and food at a table in Venice.
    “Veneto is where the famous Murano glass and antique mirrors are manufactured,” Maciaszek explained.
    “The region is famous for its ceramics and wine. We came up with the idea to use mini pieces of Venice as the building blocks of our artwork. Mosaic was the perfect solution for this.”
    The bar is centred on a red travertine counterThe bar’s basement level is completely saturated in the same greeny-blue hue as the floors upstairs to create the impression of being underwater.
    Bathrooms, meanwhile, are finished in black and white stripes and topped with a red ceiling in a reference to the uniforms worn by Venetian gondoliers.
    An intricate mosaic covers an entire wall of the barPolish illustrator and graphic designer Ola Niepsuj was responsible for creating the bar’s visual identity, which depicts the Lion of Saint Mark – a winged lion that represents the patron saint of Venice and is found on buildings across the city.
    At Va Bene Cicchetti, this motif can be found in the form of door handles and the neon light above the entrance.
    The bar’s basement level is covered in sea green tilesElsewhere in Poland, local practice Paradowski Studio recently channelled the glamour of Kraków’s interwar cafes and the clean functionalism of its mid-century modern cinemas for a hotel renovation.
    The Puro Stare Miasto hotel is located next to Kraków’s historic old town and spans 138 rooms alongside an extensive open-plan reception, lobby space and restaurant.
    The photography is by Piotr Maciaszek.

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    Vibrant glazed tiles divvy up Madrid apartment by Sierra + De La Higuera

    Spanish architecture studio Sierra + De La Higuera has used traditional Moroccan zellige tiles to define the different spaces in this open-plan apartment in Madrid.

    Housed in a 1940s building in the city’s bohemian Conde Duque neighbourhood, the apartment belongs to a well-travelled couple that wanted to stamp its Mexican and Galician heritage onto the interior.
    Colourful tiling features throughout the Conde Duque apartment”Our clients wanted to bring part of their origins to Madrid,” Sierra + De La Higuera told Dezeen. “This project is the outcome of a quest to find colour in Madrid, a characteristic marked by the owners’ journeys and origins.”
    The studio was commissioned to carry out a complete refurbishment of the apartment, which included totally changing its layout.
    The apartment is housed in a 1940s building in MadridThe original plan consisted of a series of rooms laid out along a long windowless hallway. Sierra + De La Higuera removed as many walls as possible to create an open-plan kitchen, dining and living space.

    “Historically in Madrid, houses had a lot of rooms and partitions,” the studio told Dezeen.
    “But nowadays, we like to live on a more open-plan basis. The main aim of the new layout was to open spaces, eliminate corridors and hallways, and to gain as much natural light as possible.”
    A wood-panelled entrance hall separates the living and dining spacesTwo bedrooms – one with a walk-in wardrobe and both with adjoining bathrooms – are located at the north end of the apartment while a bright sitting room wrapped by south-facing terraces sits at the opposite end.
    Throughout the apartment, natural timber, terracotta tiles and white walls were used as foils to the zellige tiling, which is distinguished by its imperfect hand-moulded surfaces.
    Emerald green zellige tiles distinguish the kitchenThe wood-panelled entrance hall with its arched doorways was conceived as a buffer between two different zones. On the one side is the Mexico-influenced kitchen and dining area finished with emerald green tiles.
    And on the other side are the living room and the terraces with their bold yellow colour scheme, which were informed by the couple’s travels to Singapore.
    “We focused on vivid colours: bright yellows, greens, blues and reds, paired with materials like tiles, ceramics and fine wood,” explained Sierra + De La Higuera.

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

    In the sitting room and the two bathrooms – finished in red and blue respectively – the tiles were used to create decorative striped skirting that frames the different zones.
    In some areas, the colours of the tiles are applied to other furnishings to create a cohesive feel, with the green upholstery in the living room echoing the glazed green tiles in the kitchen.
    Yellow was applied liberally throughout the terraces and in the living roomA large bookshelf that runs around the kitchen, dining and living room area was custom designed for the space by Sierra + De La Higuera.
    “This element is very important to the clients, as it holds all the objects they have collected on each of their journeys in addition to all their books,” the studio explained.
    Tiles were also used to create decorative striped skirting in the bathroomsIn the bedroom, the architects designed custom cabinetry and specified a cloud-grey carpet to create a calm and cosy ambience, which is intended to evoke Galicia.
    Other projects that use tiles to delineate rooms include a Barcelona bed and breakfast by Nook Architects that features vibrant blue tiles and cobalt-blue paintwork.
    The photography is by German Sáiz.

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