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    David Chipperfield Architects designs minimal Akris boutique in Washington DC

    The Milan office of David Chipperfield Architects has designed a minimalist boutique for fashion brand Akris in Washington DC, featuring pleated walls and displays suspended from thin wires.

    The store in the US capital is the first execution of a new retail concept created for Akris, a family-run fashion house founded in Switzerland in 1922.
    The Akris store is located on I St NW in the US capitalBrothers Albert and Peter Kriemler, the grandchildren of founder Alice Kriemler-Schoch, collaborated with David Chipperfield Architects Milan (DCA Milan) on the concept that debuted in DC, and has since also been applied in Tokyo.
    “DCA Milan’s design intent for the project was to enhance the materiality and fine craftsmanship of Akris collections through a solid, three-dimensional architecture associated with a light display system, defining a space where carefully chosen materials take centre stage,” said the design team.
    The boutique debuts a new design concept for the brand’s retail spacesLocated downtown, a few blocks from the White House, the boutique is lined with white-painted maple panels arranged to look like fabric pleats.

    These panels wrap three walls and also cover the ceiling, giving the impression of a room within a room.
    White-painted wood panels form pleats across the walls and ceilingGrey limestone flooring, large cylindrical columns and other surfaces continue the neutral colour palette, providing a backdrop for the brand’s bright clothing and accessories.
    Shelves, clothing rails and mirrors are suspended from thin cables connected to the ceiling or high up on the wall panels.
    Mirrors and rails are suspended from thin wiresInfluenced by the work of Italian artist Bruno Munari, the taut wires form subtle lines across the pleated panels.
    “The design references Bruno Munari’s tensile spatial structures, whose fundamental nature lies in the contrast between two opposing forces: tension and compression,” DCA Milan said.

    David Chipperfield designs metallic interiors for Ssense’s Montreal boutique

    To partition the space, large sheets of stainless steel mesh hang from the ceiling. Anodized aluminium counters create a flow of movement around the store.
    Ivory-coloured horsehair – a material long associated with Akris – is used on the fitting rooms walls and ceiling along with grey felt furniture, while wool carpet covers the floor.
    Lighting is hidden with the shelving displaysSpotlights installed on ceiling tracks are directed at specific products and other lighting is hidden in the shelves.
    Overall, the interior is designed to be subtle and restrained, to keep focus on the items for sale.
    David Chipperfield Architects Milan collaborated on the design concept with Albert and Peter Kriemler, the grandchildren of Akris founder Alice Kriemler-SchochBritish architect David Chipperfield founded his eponymous firm in 1984, and it has become best known for cultural venues like Berlin’s Neues Museum and Mexico City’s Museo Jumex.
    But the studio, which has offices in London, Berlin, Milan and Shanghai, also has past experience in luxury retail with projects including the New York headquarters for watch brand Rolex and a minimal Montreal boutique for fashion label Ssense.
    The photography is by Alberto Parise.

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    Ten contemporary living rooms with cool stone surfaces

    Rough-hewn granite and smooth marble are among the materials chosen for the living rooms in this lookbook, which use stone to create elegant interiors.

    While stone surfaces can help rooms feel cooler during hot summer days, they also create a warm, organic atmosphere in modern interiors – especially when contrasted against glass surfaces and other natural materials, such as wood.
    For our latest lookbook, we’ve chosen 10 living rooms from the Dezeen archive in which different types of stone add textural interest and bring a touch of the outdoors into the home.
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks on light-filled glass extensions, exposed wooden floorboards and timber-clad bathrooms.
    Photography is by Timothy KayeGrange Residence, Australia, by Conrad Architects

    Australian studio Conrad Architects described its design for Grange Residence as a “split form of minimalist stone blocks.” Inside the four-bedroom home, concrete and stone were used to create a minimalist interior.
    The living room is a smorgasbord of stone detailing, with marble used for both shelves and furniture and a contrasting stone chosen for a built-in bench.
    Find out more about Grange Residence ›
    Photography is by Prue RuscoeBudge Over Dover, Australia, by YSG
    The original travertine flooring was kept in interior design studio YSG’s renovation of Budge Over Dover house in Sydney.
    The smooth, glossy floor is contrasted with an aubergine-hued plaster ceiling and a pale green statement wall, while a black marble coffee table and maroon chairs complete the interior.
    Find out more about Budge Over Dover ›
    Photography is by Joe FletcherAtherton Contemporary, US, by Pacific Peninsula Architecture and Leverone Design
    Texas split-cut limestone was used for both the exterior and parts of the interior of this house in Silicon Valley, California.
    In the living room, the chunky wall creates an interesting backdrop to a low wooden sofa and a warm wooden floor. A shaggy pillow and ridged floor mat pick up on the uneven textures to create a subtly matching interior.
    Find out more about Atherton Contemporary ›
    Photography is by Durston SaylorWriter’s Studio, US, by Eric J Smith
    Located in a forest in Connecticut, US, this writer’s studio, which was designed for a poet, has an unusual writing and living room that has seemingly been attached to the exterior of the cantilevered building.
    The house’s exterior wall, which is made from fieldstone and bluestone, forms the back wall of the glass-cube room. Rough-hewn stone walls are featured throughout the studio.
    Find out more about Writer’s Studio ›
    Photography is by Darius PetrulaitisGreetings from Rome, Lithuania, by 2XJ
    A structured stone wall with arched openings has become a decorative centrepiece in this apartment in Lithuania, designed by local studio 2XJ. The studio clad the wall in slabs of Italian travertine to turn it into an elegant feature.
    “We decided to highlight this wall and create the home around it, to separate the house into active and restful spaces,” the studio explained.
    Find out more about Greetings from Rome ›
    Photography is by Bruce ColeLoghaven Artist Residency, US, by Sanders Pace Architecture
    A decorative rustic stone wall holds the hearth in Sanders Pace Architecture’s Loghaven artist campus, nestled within a forest in eastern Tennessee.
    The rough-hewn stone contrasts against a wooden ceiling and white plaster walls, while a patterned rug and leather daybed add cosy touches to the large living room.
    Find out more about Loghaven Artist Residency ›
    Photography is by Mark Seelen, Ambroise Tezenas and François HalardChalet, Switzerland, by Liaigre
    Paris studio Liaigre refurbished this Swiss chalet in St Moritz, excavating a basement to add a sauna and a spa.
    The granite leftover from the excavation was used to line the living room walls, creating an interior that nods to the snow-capped mountains outside.
    Find out more about this Swiss chalet ›
    Photography is by Jeremy BittermannLaurelhurst, US, by MW Works
    US studio MW Works updated this 1960s home in Seattle to create a more open layout. A material palette of wood, concrete, stone and glass was used for the renovation.
    The studio aimed to create a stronger connection between the interiors and the outdoors, as seen in the living room. Here, floor-to-ceiling windows open up to the outside, while the fireplace has been re-clad in dry-stack limestone to create a decorative textural contrast.
    Find out more about Laurelhurst ›
    Photography is by David CerveraRaw House, Mexico, by Taller Estilo Arquitectura
    Located in Yucatán, Mexico, Raw House opens up towards a leafy courtyard garden. Just inside the courtyard, the living room floor is covered in smooth grey marble, creating an elegant and cooling interior.
    Dark-brown wooden and leather furniture, including a pair of classic Barcelona chairs by Mies van der Rohe, give the room an organic feel.
    Find out more about Raw House ›
    Photography is by Building NarrativesStone House, UK, by Architecture for London
    This extension to a family home in London was designed as a monolithic stone shape, with a playful interior that includes a small arched entrance for the family’s cat.
    The tiered terrace that extends from the outside to form a plinth inside was built from an agglomerate stone made from recycled waste quarried in Lombardy, Italy.
    Find out more about Stone House ›
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks on light-filled glass extensions, exposed wooden floorboards and timber-clad bathrooms.

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    Philippe Starck draws on mid-century modernism for Saint-Tropez hotel

    French architect and designer Philippe Starck used warm tones and modernist references in his renovation of Villa W, a boutique wellness hotel on the coast of Saint-Tropez.

    Created as a little sister to the existing Starck-designed Lily of the Valley hotel which is located nearby, Villa W is a fitness and wellness hotel located in an existing villa that was renovated by Starck.
    Villa W is a hotel in Saint-Tropez designed by Philippe StarckThe 1,559-square-metre villa, which is situated on the southwestern corner of the peninsula in the French Riviera town, was designed as “a romantic hideaway” where guests can relax as well as work on their fitness and health.
    “We’ve all dreamed of a little cabin, chalet or fisherman’s hut by the sea,” Philippe Starck said. “We don’t have to dream anymore, because we’ve made that dream a reality – a romantic hideaway nestled in a pine forest that looks down onto the Mediterranean at La Croix-Valmer.”
    It has a 17-metre-long swimming pool along the frontSet over two floors, the boutique hotel has three double rooms and can cater to up to six guests at a time. Each bedroom has its own private terrace with views of the surrounding lush landscape and the Mediterranean sea.

    During the renovation process, Starck decided to emphasise the original architectural features of the villa. It was built in the 1960s by a local architect called Jean Nielly.
    The interior is dominated by brown and beige coloursMade from vast sheets of glass, concrete and steel, the villa already had unparalleled views onto its surroundings. In a bid to celebrate this, Starck focused on drawing attention to the length of the villa, adding arbours made from chestnut wood along its long, south-facing glass facade.
    Large French doors set in aluminium frames allow plenty of natural light to brighten up the interiors and merge them with the exterior, while a decked terrace that wraps around the edges of the building has a private 17-metre-long pool.
    There are six double bedrooms on the second floor”Villa W boasts views that have remained unchanged for hundreds of years,” said owner of Lily of the Valley Lucie Weill. “So, when we were designing it, we felt it was essential to keep this unique, panoramic view of the Mediterranean.”
    “That’s why we placed so much importance on the length of the villa so that guests would be able to see the sea from every room,” Weill told Dezeen.
    “The effect is quite something: instead of feeling like a building nestled against the hillside, Villa W feels more like a boat moored on the coast.”

    Philippe Starck restores time-worn interiors of the Quadri restaurant in Venice

    Inside, Starck Starck drew on the mid-century modern style found in Charles and Ray Eames’ home in Los Angeles’ Pacific Palisades neighbourhood for Villa W.
    Guests enter the hotel through a main lobby and reception area where tan leather sofas, wooden ornaments and rust-coloured rugs can be found.
    Off to one side of the lobby is the terrace area with rattan seating, while a bar at the back of the space serves what the hotel calls “a healthy Mediterranean gastronomy.”
    Extra touches of warmth are provided by the wooden flooring and soft furnishings.
    Starck sourced vintage furniture for the roomsThe warm colour palette is continued upstairs in the hotel’s bedrooms where vintage items sourced by Starck, such as a brown Egg Chair by Arne Jacobsen for Fritz Hansen and wooden Walnut Stools designed by Charles and Ray Eames, can be found.
    The three bathrooms have a cleaner, lighter aesthetic with marble floors and floor-to-ceiling mirrors, which the designer incorporated to emphasise the omnipresence of the Mediterranean.
    Each room has views of the Mediterranean seaStarck is one of the most prolific designers in the world. Although is best known for his product designs such as the Icon Chair and Juicy Salif citrus squeezer, he has also produced a number of notable interior projects.
    These include renovating the interior of the Quadri restaurant in Venice. Earlier this year, he led the art direction for Villa M, a hotel in Paris covered in plants.
    Photography is by Novembre Studio.

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    “Homes manifest mechanisms of power via relationships of gender, class and age”

    The way our homes are designed is intrinsically linked to domestic power struggles, write Charles Holland and Margaret Cubbage.

    What is the relationship between architecture and power? How can buildings – inert piles of stone and steel, glass and concrete – exert power over us?
    The obvious place to look might be examples that clearly aim to control or confine us, such as prisons. Alternatively, power may be found in buildings for political institutions or corporate HQs. There is, however a subtler realm in which architecture exerts control over our lives. That place is one that almost all of us experience: the ordinary domestic spaces that we inhabit every day.
    Our homes shape our lives and inform the dynamics of our social relations
    What can such spaces say about power? Surely the rooms in which we live, eat and sleep are an escape from the hierarchies of the workplace or our increasingly CCTV-controlled public spaces? The home is associated with being a place of refuge but also somewhere to connect, or disconnect from the outside world.

    As innocent as they may appear, our homes shape our lives and inform the dynamics of our social relations. They manifest mechanisms of power via relationships of gender, class and age. Why do we separate functions into separate rooms? Why are some spaces more private than others? These questions are of course culturally specific. Not all societies organise their houses in the same way. And what might seem like an ordinary convention to some might be an unimaginable luxury to others.
    Radical Rooms, an exhibition currently running at the Royal Institute of British Architects’ (RIBA) Architecture Gallery, explores this knotty subject, examining the micro-territories of our homes. It begins with the plan – the most basic of architectural drawings – and examines the way that the arrangement of rooms in our houses reflects the way that individuals, couples, groups and families organise themselves.

    Women-led studios create sculptural pavilions for Women in Architecture exhibition

    The exhibition focuses on a history of housing in the UK, mining the RIBA Collection of drawings to find examples where traditional power relations have been subverted and where new ways of living have emerged as a result.
    It also looks at the characters behind the buildings, revealing figures within architectural history that have not always been acknowledged or accurately documented.
    Gender relations are inscribed in the plans of our houses. This is a question of both how spaces are organised – think of traditional male preserves such as the study or the historic association of women with kitchens – and of who owns and authors them. The history of famous houses is often also a history of the famous men who designed them, or the men that wrote about them.
    Houses are innately collaborative ventures
    Radical Rooms shifts that focus instead onto houses that were designed, commissioned or curated (and sometimes all three) by women. In doing so it draws on the work of important historians including Lynne Walker, Elizabeth Darling and others.
    Houses are innately collaborative ventures. We share them and they are extended and added to over time. The history of architecture though is largely a history of individuals, of single authors and buildings preserved as static objects. Prior to the development of discrete roles for architects, clients and builders however, authorship was less clear. This ambiguity might well have allowed (admittedly wealthy) women who were otherwise formally disempowered from designing buildings to exert a powerful influence on the development of architecture.
    Take A La Ronde, an eccentric, sixteen-sided house built on the Devon coast in the late 18th century. The house was built for two female cousins, Jane and Mary Parminter, but its authorship has been the subject of much debate. Keen to find a male architect, historians have traditionally plumped for John Lowder, the son of a relative who would have been just 17 when the house was completed. It is more likely that the house was a collaboration between Lowder and the cousins, who had just returned from a Grand Tour of Europe’s classical architecture.
    Hopkins House uses Venetian blinds to distinguish between spaces for living and work. Photo courtesy of the Historic England ArchiveThe degree to which Jane and Mary Parminter designed the house might be unclear, but their unique way of occupying it wasn’t. Arranged in plan like a clock face, the cousins moved around the house during the day, following the path of the sun. When they died they stipulated that it be left only to unmarried women, an explicit rejection of the patriarchal system of male inheritance. A man eventually did come to live in the house and, revealingly, he was responsible for drastic changes to both its layout and appearance.
    The design of Hardwick Hall, an Elizabethan mansion in Derbyshire, is generally ascribed to Robert Smythson. The house was commissioned though by Bess of Hardwick, an immensely wealthy 16th-century aristocrat. Her involvement in the design of her house, the fourth that she commissioned, extended well beyond the role of client as it is currently conceived. Principles of the house’s layout, its material choices and decorative scheme reflect Bess of Hardwick’s intense involvement.
    Prejudices around authorship have continued into the current era. Take Team 4, a well-known but short-lived collaborative practice from the 1960s that consisted of three women and two men. The subsequent fame of the men – Richard Rogers and Norman Foster – has tended to eclipse the role of the women – Wendy Cheesman, Su Brumwell and Georgie Wolton.
    Field House pursued an interest in dissolving boundaries
    Wolton was the most short-lived member and the only fully qualified architect of the group at the time. She subsequently designed Field House, a radical, steel-framed, open-plan residence that has remained somewhat below the radar of architectural history ever since.
    Field House pursued an interest in dissolving boundaries within the home as well within the discipline of architecture. Its interior was conceived largely as a single, fluid space with minimal separation. The exterior walls were entirely made of glass so that the interior merged with the external landscape. Intriguingly, the house is currently described as dismantled rather than demolished, reflecting an interest in adaptability and moveability on the part of its designer.
    This blurring of uses and of the inside and outside also manifests itself in the Hopkins House in north London, designed in the mid-1970s by Patty and Michael Hopkins. Originally used as their office as well as their home, the house has no corridors and minimal separation of functions. The combination of its delicate steel structure and Venetian blinds helps to subtly delineate the different zones of family and work-life within the home.

    “The irresistible draw of Bridgerton reflects our need for a new aesthetic”

    Some 50 years before, in 1926, Eileen Gray designed an apartment in Paris that consisted solely of moving screens and metallic curtains. The remarkably innovative interior, designed for her sometime lover Jean Badovici, also rejected the discrete division of domestic space into separate functions in favour of a dynamic internal landscape that could be re-made every day.
    Radical Rooms looks not only at power within the plan but at who gets to design those plans. The exhibition provides a platform for the exposure of (mainly) overlooked women designers and architects, revisiting the ways in which women influenced design prior to formalised architectural education. It deconstructs the domestic plan and exposes it as something intimately bound up with the power structures in which we live.
    Radical Rooms: Power of the Plan is free to visit and will run throughout July and between 5-24 September at the 66 Portland Place in London. For more information, see Dezeen Events Guide.
    Charles Holland is a professor at the University of Brighton, the principal of Charles Holland Architects and a former director of London studio FAT. Margaret Cubbage has been curating design and architecture exhibitions for 15 years.
    The top photo is by Gareth Gardner, courtesy of the RIBA.

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    Cells in former Berlin prison turned into guest rooms for hotel Wilmina

    German practice Grüntuch Ernst Architects has converted an abandoned women’s prison and courthouse in Berlin into a “tranquil” hotel.

    Called Wilmina, the hotel occupies a duo of listed 19th-century structures in Charlottenburg that had been forgotten for decades prior to their renovation.
    Grüntuch Ernst Architects has converted a prison into the Wilmina hotelThe former court, which sits at the entrance on Kantstraße, accommodates the hotel’s reception as well as a temporary gallery called Amtsalon.
    An extension housing Wilmina’s restaurant connects the courthouse to the prison’s U-shaped cell block, which fits 44 guest rooms across five levels including a new penthouse floor at the top.
    Grüntuch Ernst Architects also added a roof terrace above the penthouse alongside a library, bar, spa and gym.

    Guest rooms are arranged on narrow galleries around the atriumInteriors were designed to respect the buildings’ existing architecture and reveal traces of their former use.
    “The process involved reversing the spatial configuration and its meaning so that an anti-social space can become an inviting place,” said the architecture firm, which was founded by husband-wife duo Armand Grüntuch and Almut Grüntuch-Ernst in 1991.
    “Through sensitive interventions with deliberate openings, build-ups, superimpositions, relocations and penetrations, the existing structures were expanded, connected and reprogrammed.”
    The rooms occupy the prison’s former cellsVisitors enter the Wilmina via a bright lobby and journey deeper into the hotel through a sequence of courtyards, passages and rooms that become increasingly private.
    In the hotel proper, narrow galleries with wrought-iron balustrades are wrapped around a central atrium, leading to the guest rooms that were set up in the former prison cells.
    Windows were enlarged to offer views into the courtyardA lighting installation with glass pendants is suspended from the ceiling of the atrium to emphasise its height.
    Although no two guest rooms are exactly the same, all of them are finished in light colours, soft textures and warm, tactile materials to create a soothing ambience.

    EPR Architects transforms historic prison into NoMad London luxury hotel

    Where possible, the cells’ small high windows were enlarged to provide views into the main courtyard. But their prison bars remain intact to remind visitors of the building’s history.
    The new penthouse level features floor-to-ceiling windows that offer views down across the complex and its gardens. The new rooms are designed to be minimalist, clear and calm, with fine metal chain curtains that shimmer in the breeze.
    Minimalist bathrooms blend in with the larger interior schemeAt the centre of the site sits the hotel’s restaurant Lovis in an extension constructed using bricks that were removed elsewhere during the prison’s transformation.
    The eatery occupies the site of the former lock yard, its old gates now replaced with large windows providing views of a small enclosed garden with rare ferns, vines, climbing plants and an old birch tree.
    The hotel occupies a U-shaped red-brick cell block”The unique location and the detailed, sensitive transformation make the forgotten place a special experience in Berlin,” said Grüntuch Ernst Architects.
    “Wilmina is a place of discoveries, of surprising visual links, ambiguous layers of space and traces of the past. Wilmina is also a place of natural tranquillity, relaxation and comfort – an oasis in the middle of the city.”
    An extension formed from reclaimed bricks houses the Lovis restaurantMeanwhile in London, EPR Architects and interior design firm Roman and Williams recently transformed the former Bow Street Magistrates Court and Police Station in Covent Garden into the first overseas outpost from American hotel brand NoMad.
    The photography is by Patricia Parinejad.

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    Fabio Novembre launches first concept store in Milan dedicated to his designs

    Italian architect and designer Fabio Novembre has opened IoNoi Gallery, a hybrid retail space and gallery in Milan with “strongly postmodern” interiors designed to showcase his work.

    Located on a street corner a few steps from Novembre’s studio, the shop sells a range of products the designer has created throughout his career for companies including Italian furnituremaker Kartell, lighting brand Lasvit and glassmaker Venini.
    IoNoi Gallery showcases Fabio Novembre’s works on a street corner in MilanNovembre designed the minimalist interior himself, conceiving it as a blank page in an architect’s sketchbook.
    This is represented through the grid pattern printed on the store’s white melamine laminate walls, which allows the bold colours and forms in his work to take centre stage.
    “The design of the interior is like a blank squared page, the perfect canvas for an architect,” Novembre told Dezeen. “It allows objects to float in space, suspended on a system of interchangeable luminous shelves.”

    Yellow plinths display the designer’s productsThe displayed items, which straddle the realms of art, design and fashion, are arranged across simple shelving with embedded LED strip lights.
    A bright yellow wall that leads to the rear of the store and three yellow display plinths provide accents of colour against the grey stone floor.
    A yellow wall leads to the far end of the storeIn keeping with his other work, Novembre describes his first dedicated concept store as “strongly postmodern”.
    The gallery’s name, IoNoi, is derived from an ongoing research project of the same name, conceived by Novembre to explore the relationship between the self and the collective, between objects and their “universe of reference”.

    Thomas Phifer creates monolithic concrete gallery as home for Richard Serra artwork

    “IoNoi started as a blog in 2008,” Novembre explained. “Its point was that people and things are born from other people and other things. The research of connections, often unplanned and undeclared, helps pave the way for an inclusive and cross-cutting approach to knowledge.”
    “Today, the project evolves into IoNoi Gallery, a physical space that contains and exhibits my world made of industrial objects and art design in the continuous link between design, architecture, art and fashion.”
    Floating shelves are mounted on the wallsThe store will double up as a venue for hosting exhibitions, research projects and collaborations.
    Novembre also hinted that he is working on more ceramic products following his recent work for Italian porcelain brand Villari.
    The walls are finished in a pattern reminiscent of gridded sketchbook paper”I find it interesting to continue with the formal experimentation on porcelain, carrying on the tradition of Italian design masters such as [Ettore] Sottsass and [Alessandro] Mendini – my maestros,” he said.
    Novembre’s wide-ranging portfolio includes a number of other architecture and interior projects. Among them are the headquarters of football club AC Milan and a house on a man-made island in Abu Dhabi that is wrapped around a reflecting pool.

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    DIY Under Desk Cord Management Solution

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    Learn how to assemble this easy office organization solution for under desk cord management that you can DIY in about 30 minutes. Your wires and cords can all be hidden, even the cords running to a faraway wall outlet.

    This is what the cords and wires under my desk in my home office used to look like. An unsightly mess!
    Table of ContentsHow to Declutter and Organize Your Work Space with Under Desk Cord ManagementItems I Used:

    Desk centered in room with an easy DIY cable management solution.
    They cords and wires dangling all over are no more.

    There are a variety of products available to help with under desk cord management, but did a little DIY desk cable management yesterday. All the needed, but pesky cables, cords and wires that go to my lamps, computer, and chargers are how hidden.

    Cord management can help to prevent tripping hazards and improve the overall appearance of the space. I have been meaning to corral and manage all the cords since moving my desk to the middle of my office over a year ago and finally did it.

    My Under Desk Cord Organizer
    How to Declutter and Organize Your Work Space with Under Desk Cord Management
    Most of the items you will need to make this organizer can be purchased at the dollar store which makes the price for this under desk cable management system budget-friendly.
    It will help keep the cords organized, electrical outlet easily accessed, and the wires out of sight as much as possible.

    supplies needed:
    Wire basket – I found mine at The Dollar StorePower strips or surge protector outlet stripExtension cord long enough for length needed to wall outletZip ties or Velcro wrap strips4 – 6 cup hooks (You can use screws, but cup hooks are easier to use.Clear cord organizing clips with sticky back adhesive – 4 flat damage-free cord clips and 2 organizer clips from Command BrandWire cuttersWire Mold cord protector – home improvement store

    Items I Used:

    Note: When working with electrical cords, keep safety in mind at all times. Running a cord under or over a rug could become a tripping or fire hazard if not done correctly.

    Time needed: 1 hour. Installation Overview: The wire basket becomes a cable management station. It is going to hold the power strip and be hung upside down under the desk using cup hooks.  Cut Wire Basket Using wire cutters, cut one of the corner sections of wire off the basket. This will allow you to thread the cord and wire plugs into the side of the basket. Attach a Power Strip Place power strip in basket so it is face up.Once the power strip is in the basket, tie it down on both ends to the bottom wire on the basket using cable or zip ties. Optional: If running cords under a rug: If needed, attach the power strip to an extension cord. I have an outlet on the floor under my desk so I didn’t need to run the cords to a wall outlet. Best invention ever that conceals the outlet under a rug or carpet.To keep the cord from getting damaged under the rug, cut a piece of rubber cord protector to the size needed and thread the cord into it. Make sure you keep the cords flat and as well as the cover. Cover the Cord Cover Cover the protected cord with the rug to conceal it. Attach Basket to Underside of Desk Attach the basket with the attached power strip to the underside of the desk using a cup hook at each corner. The power strip outlets should be facing down.Optional: Depending on the hardness of the wood under the desk, you can pre-drill the holes needed for cup hooks. Attach Sticky Back Cord Holders Attach the clear cord holders/organizers that have sticky backs to the side leg of the desk. These will secure the cords along the surface of the desk. They open and close like a hair barrette. Run the Cords Through the Clips Run the floor power cord up through the clips. I used two on the leg of the desk. Optional – Flat Cord Clips For the lamp cords on my desktop, I used 4 flat cord clips. Attach Along Desk Attach them along the front lip of desktop and then run the cords through each clip as needed for the length of your cords and wires. Bring Cords to Underside of Desk Once cords are clipped in, bring the excess cords under the desk and weave each through the basket and then use another cable tie to tuck in and secure.Leave enough cord excess to plug in each item into the power strip.For a large laptop cord with the bulky box, screw in 2 cup hooks about 6-inches apart on the under side of the desk to hold it out of sight.When laptop is taken away from desk, you can simply grab the tied up cord and unplug it.

    As you can see with a little bit of effort, under desk cord management can be easily achieved! The space around my desk looks so much better now. Neat and tidy! No more disorganized jumble of cords and wires on the floor.
    More Cord and Wire Hiding Ideas:

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    Holloway Li transforms Munich office building into Wunderlocke hotel

    Wassily Kandinsky’s abstract paintings influenced the colourful yet understated interiors that design studio Holloway Li has created inside the Locke hotel in Munich.

    The aparthotel, called Wunderlocke, contains 360 serviced studio apartments and is situated in Munich’s Obersendling district, taking over an office building that previously belonged to German tech company Siemens.
    A timber desk anchors Wunderlocke’s receptionLondon-based Holloway Li aimed to celebrate the building’s raw structure and reveal its “inner voice”, avoiding a more traditional “material intensive” approach to retrofitting.
    This decision was chiefly informed by the work of 20th-century Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky – a pioneer of abstract art who spent a significant portion of his career in Munich.
    Adjacent to the reception is a co-working area”Kandinsky’s work explores how we can develop a closer relationship to nature through abstraction, rather than through more figurative approaches favoured at the time,” explained Holloway Li.

    “He believed that by connecting with the ‘innerer klang’ (inner voice) of things, an artist could reveal the natural essence of objects and materials.”
    Teal-coloured leather runs around the edge of the bar counterIn line with this idea, the studio stripped back the building to its concrete shell and added a carefully curated selection of furnishings using natural colours and materials where possible.
    At the heart of the ground-floor reception is a curved timber desk inset with panels of wheat-coloured carpet, which were also used to wrap the lower half of the room’s structural columns.
    Yellow and red furnishings bring a burst of colour to the barBeyond the reception is an informal co-working area dressed with plush sea-green sofas and communal timber desks.
    Holloway Li placed leafy potted plants around the periphery of the room and along the trellis-style shelves, creating the impression that the nearby Grünwald forest has “grown into and occupied” the interior.

    Fettle designs Schwan Locke Hotel in homage to early German modernism

    This floor of the Wunderlocke hotel also houses a drinks bar, with the lip of its countertop upholstered in supple teal-coloured leather to encourage guests to get comfortable and hang around for longer.
    Mustard-yellow tub chairs and a red seating banquette provide extra pops of colour.
    The building’s terrazzo staircase dates back to the 1960sThe upper floors of the hotel can be reached via a terrazzo staircase, which dates back to the 1960s but was updated with a stainless steel handrail.
    Painted in natural blue and green hues, each guest suite is designed to function as a small studio apartment with its own lounge area and kitchenette.
    Guest suites are decked out in shades of blue and greenIf guests don’t want to cook in their room, they have the option of eating at Mural Farmhouse – a group of five food and drinks venues spread across seven floors of the Wunderlocke building.
    Run by the founders of Munich’s Michelin-starred restaurant Mural, the complex encompasses an all-day restaurant, a wine bar, cocktail bar, coffee shop and an upscale eatery.
    All of the venues follow a farm-to-table ethos, making use of hand-picked herbs and vegetables from the hotel’s rooftop farm, which offers views over the Bavarian Alps.
    Each suite comes complete with a lounge and kitchenetteWunderlocke is the second Munich outpost from British aparthotel chain Locke. The first, called Schwan Locke, pays homage to early German modernism and features a colour palette informed by the work of Mies van der Rohe.
    Holloway Li was previously tasked with designing Locke’s location in the London district of Bermondsey, which evokes sunny California deserts.
    The photography is by Ed Dabney.

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