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    Marmol Radziner creates club space in modernist Park Avenue skyscraper

    The third floor of the iconic Lever House skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan has been renovated by architecture firm Marmol Radziner to complement the building’s original modernist design.

    Marmol Radziner completed the interiors for the Lever Club within the office tower at 390 Park Avenue, which was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in the International style and completed in 1952.
    The entrance to Lever Club is lined with green marble flooring and soapstone wall panelsSOM finished restoring the building last year, after it was purchased by developers Brookfield Properties and WatermanClark in 2020, and Marmol Radziner worked on updating its communal spaces that had fallen into disrepair.
    “Lever House is a globally renowned architectural marvel, symbolising the era’s shift to modern skyscrapers,” said Marmol Radziner.
    The green hues used through the interior nod to the colour of the building’s curtain wall facade”Recognised with the prestigious Twenty-five Year Award from the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the building remains an icon of architectural excellence,” the studio added.

    Originally a cafeteria and repurposed several times over the years, the third floor now serves as a lounge, bar and dining space that continues onto a terrace projecting from the tower’s elevated base.
    The club’s layout revolves around “a series of paneled volumes”Design cues were taken from SOM partner Gordon Bunshaft’s own residence, and other modernist masters, to create an interior that feels in keeping with the building’s history and architecture.
    “From the beginning, we felt that the design of Lever Club should feel like a sympathetic insertion within the iconic curtain wall of the building,” said Marmol Radziner partner Ron Radziner.
    The bar is bookended by rosewood volumes and backed by a screen from John Lewis GlassThe club is entered via a lobby area where floors and walls are covered in panels of green marble and soapstone, contrasted by a simple cuboid reception desk made from wood.
    Inside, the layout revolves around “a series of paneled volumes set within the glass perimeter, taking advantage of the views and access to the most superbly sited outdoor terrace in the city”, according to Radziner
    The dining area overlooks an expansive terrace on top of the building’s elevated baseThe marble flooring, which echoes the green hues of the building’s pioneering facade, extends into the lounge area where tone-matched carpet demarcates soft seating areas.
    Many of the armchairs and sofas are upholstered in a complementary green hue, while chocolate-coloured leather is used to cover other seating options such as bar stool and banquettes.
    The curved banquettes are wrapped in chocolate-brown leather”The furnishings, largely bespoke, respond to and soften the hard edges of the architecture with plush texture and rich tones most often seen in a residential setting,” Radziner said.
    Rosewood tables match the large vertical elements that bookend the bar, which is backed by a John Lewis Glass patterned screen.

    SOM completes restoration of New York’s historic Lever House

    Aluminium also appears as table bases and chair frames that echo the slender window mullions.
    “It was important to us that the design respond intelligently and reverently to the building while also creating a real sense of comfort, warmth, and luxury,” Radziner said.
    Aluminium chair frames echo the slender window mullionsThis isn’t the first time that Marmol Radziner has created interiors for a SOM-designed skyscraper – the firm was also behind the penthouse at Fifteen Fifty in San Francisco, which was temporarily turned into a collectible design gallery in 2021.
    Earlier this year, Marmol Radziner completed California’s tallest residential skyscraper in Downtown Los Angeles.
    Lever Club can be used by the building’s tenants during the day and at nightLever House is one of several Manhattan office towers from the mid to late 20th century to have been retrofitted in recent years, aiming to attract new tenants.
    Among them are the postmodern AT&T Building by Philip Johnson, which was rebranded as 550 Madison after it was overhauled by Snøhetta and its lobby was transformed by Gensler.
    The photography is by Scott Frances.

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    Rudy Guénaire draws on American modernism for Matsuri restaurant interior

    French designer Rudy Guénaire has created the interiors of Japanese restaurant Matsuri in Paris, combining wooden furniture covered in lacquer with pastel-coloured domes informed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

    Located in Paris’ 16th arrondissement, the 200-square-metre restaurant was given a full redesign by Guénaire.
    As the menu focuses on “Japanese sushi from a Californian angle”, Guénaire drew on Japonisme – the Western fascination with Japanese design – for its interior.
    Matsuri is located in Paris’ 16th arrondissement”I drew on everything that has marked me from these two countries that I adore,” Guénaire, who runs Nightflight Studio, told Dezeen.
    “From Japan, I took this idea that fascinates me, which is that the Japanese frame everything,” he added.

    “As if everything had to be an island, firmly delimited by something that protects it and makes it unique.”
    Rudy Guénaire referenced American modernist design for the interiorThe American influence comes across in the shapes used to decorate the interior, which features colourful ceiling domes that are lit from the inside.
    “From California, I took these incredible obliques that make me melt,” Guénaire said. “The kind you find in Frank Lloyd Wright or John Lautner’s work.”
    “A slant that recalls the Native American tent, the primordial shelter,” he added.
    “American modernists loved Japan and sometimes, they’d never even been there. It’s this Japonism that I wanted to prolong.”
    The restaurant features Japanese postersAt the centre of Matsuri is the kaiten – conveyor belt – on which the sushi comes out. The designer used wood throughout the restaurant and covered it in lacquer for this centrepiece.
    “The kaiten is covered in high-gloss lacquer, reminiscent of the beautiful lacquer worshipped by the Chinese and then the Japanese,” he said.
    “I used wood throughout because in Japan, everything is made of wood, that’s just the way it is and has to be!”
    The central kaiten was covered in glossy lacquerPastel-hued domes decorate the ceiling above the kaiten, creating soft lighting and adding a touch of colour to the mainly white and wood interior.
    “For the ceiling, I think I got the idea from the amazing ceiling of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Penfield House,” Guénaire said.
    “I used industrial skydomes that I turned upside down and lit from the inside.”

    Space tourism informs design of Ichi Station sushi restaurant in Milan

    The colour was toned down to create the right atmosphere for the restaurant.
    “We set up a sophisticated lighting system with very subtle colour control,” Guénaire added.
    “I chose cheerful, very American colour bases, and then, we subtly desaturated them to approach the Japanese aesthetic where nothing is ever garish.”
    Guénaire added pastel-coloured domes to the ceilingGuénaire also designed chairs for Matsuri that draw on those found in traditional Izakayas – Japanese pubs – though he says the original ones don’t correspond to his memories of them.
    “While searching for photos of Izakaya, I never found this chair shape,” the designer said.
    “Yet, as I recall, it’s exactly this chair that I’ve seen everywhere. All small and cute,” he added.
    “Maybe that’s what Japonism is all about. You invent a lot when you think you’re bringing back memories.”
    The designer created chairs that reference Izakaya furnitureThe interior of Matsuri, which is part of a restaurant chain founded in 1986 by a French-Japanese couple, is also decorated with old posters brought back from Japan.
    “We always have friends coming back from Japan. We asked them for a little help!” Guénaire said.
    Other Japanese restaurants on Dezeen include a sushi restaurant and sake bar with oxblood tiles and the Aragawa steakhouse selling “UK’s most expensive steak”.
    The photography is by Ludovic Balay.

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    BoND’s PatBo Miami boutique features soft curves and floral touches

    New York studio BoND has created a “feminine, organic” interior for Brazilian brand PatBo’s store in Miami Design District, complete with a dramatic sweeping staircase.

    The two-level retail space was designed by BoND following the studio’s work on the PatBo headquarters in Manhattan, which opened last year.
    The ground floor space at PatBo’s Miami store features tall ceilings, terrazzo flooring and sculptural displaysThe team took a similarly soft, feminine approach in the Miami flagship, pairing white and pale pink with rich woods and brass accents.
    “The new store is an artful and site-specific reinterpretation of the feminine, organic aesthetic that is synonymous with the brand’s stores in Brazil,” said BoND.
    A ribbon-like balustrade follows the staircase up through the store, circling oversized silk flowers by Hana FormEntering under a dramatic arched canopy, customers find themselves within a tall, bright space featuring terrazzo flooring, geometric wooden display plinths and brass rails.

    Hints of green marble can be spied in custom furniture pieces, as well as the stair treads and risers hidden behind a solid, ribbon-like guardrail.
    An arched opening leads through to bright coral-coloured fitting roomsAn arched opening beside the register leads into a bright, coral-coloured changing area, where terracotta tiles cover the floor.
    The staircase glides up the curved back wall of the store, and rises through a gap in the upper floor plate, around which the balustrade circles back on itself.
    Darker woods and carpet create a more intimate atmosphere on the upper level”A winding white and green marble staircase serves as a focal point of the space connecting visitors to the second-floor salon and dressing area,” said the studio.
    Curved wood panels and caramel-coloured carpet provide a more intimate atmosphere upstairs, exaggerated by the lower ceiling height.
    The warmly lit fitting rooms on the upper level are lined with curved wood panelsThe brass railings continue, whereas the coral fitting rooms are swapped for wood-lined chambers with curved corners and warm lighting.
    “An overarching geometry of soft curves is a running thread that ties all spaces together,” the studio said.

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    Furniture pieces including Frank Gehry’s Wiggle chair, a green marble coffee table and a curved grey sofa form a seating area for customers to relax while they shop.
    Overhead are a pair of oversized silk flowers by artist Hana Form, which also appear on the ground floor suspended through the staircase void.
    Green marble appears behind the facade, as well as on the staircase and custom furniture insideBoND also created a facade of pale pink wooden slats to help the building to stand out in the Miami Design District, where brands are encouraged to get creative with their frontages.
    A Louis Vuitton store wrapped in a diamond-patterned facade by Marcel Wanders and a Kengo Kuma-designed block of sculptural buildings are among other examples.
    BoND wrapped the store exterior in pale pink wood slats to help it stand out in the Miami Design DistrictBoND was founded by Noam Dvir and Daniel Rauchwerger, whose studio has also completed a bold yellow scheme for a men’s apparel store in New York.
    The firm’s other projects include the renovation of a mid-century Sears Catalog kit house in Fire Island Pines and a Manhattan hair salon featuring wooden frames and moveable styling stations.
    The photography is by Studio Pyg.

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    Eight contemporary kitchens brightened by skylights

    Residential kitchens illuminated by skylights are the focus of this lookbook, which includes homes everywhere from Australia to Mexico and Japan.

    A popular feature in many contemporary kitchens, skylights are typically used to maximise natural light in rooms that sit below ground or in the depths of a plan.
    However, they are also helpful for saving valuable wall space in areas for food preparation, leaving more room for cabinets and shelving, or they can simply be installed to create a focal point.
    The eight examples below show how skylights can be made in all shapes and sizes to enhance and brighten kitchens in any style.
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration, see previous lookbooks featuring exposed structural ceiling beams, clerestory windows and nightclub interiors.

    Photo by Helen CathcartThe Maker’s Barn, UK, by Hutch Design
    A square-shaped skylight casts light over the glossy tiled kitchen in The Maker’s Barn, a home that Hutch Design created on the site of a concrete pig shed near London.
    The soft light from overhead enhances the warm and tactile finish of the space, which is finished with wooden cabinetry and a mix of rough terracotta and wooden floor tiles.
    Find out more about The Maker’s Barn ›
    Photo by Peter BennettsBismarck House, Australia, by Andrew Burges Architects
    Rather than opting for a traditional square skylight, Andrew Burges Architects punctured the ceiling of the Bismarck House’s kitchen with a curved sheet of glazing.
    It follows the shape of the undulating first floor above and helps brighten the industrial aesthetic of the room, which pairs utilitarian tiles with exposed brick walls and concrete flooring.
    Find out more about Bismarck House ›
    Photo by Danny BrightMontauk House, USA, by Desciencelab
    Desciencelab slotted rectangular skylights across the pitched roof of Montauk House, maximising natural light in the teak-lined cooking and dining area below it.
    The light drawn in through the glazing bounces off the white-painted ceiling, helping to distribute it around the open-plan room, which also contains a lounge area.
    Find out more about Montauk House ›
    Photo by Rory GardinerHouse VO and House WO, Mexico, by Ludwig Godefroy
    This kitchen skylight has been carved into the sculptural concrete form of a Mexican house designed by Ludwig Godefroy.
    It helps to illuminate the kitchen counters, which would otherwise be lowly lit due to their position below ground level.
    Find out more about House VO and House WO ›
    Photo by Tololo StudioYamaguchicho House, Japan, by Slow
    Exposed concrete walls form a backdrop to this black kitchen, which is partially lit by angled, fluted skylights on one side.
    This was designed by Slow to provide the owners with ample light while cooking, due to the Japanese house having a mostly windowless exterior for privacy.
    Find out more about Yamaguchicho House ›
    Photo by Jim StephensonWalled Garden, UK, by Nimtim Architects
    Nimtim Architects placed skylights to one side of this kitchen, which sits deep in the plan of a townhouse it has extended in London.
    The square panes are framed by Douglas fir beams and filter just enough light to brighten the space while retaining the cosy, earthy quality achieved through a palette of exposed brickwork, rough plaster and concrete flooring.
    Find out more about Walled Garden ›
    Photo by Benjamin HoskingBrunswick Apartment, Australia, by Murray Barker and Esther Stewart
    Murray Barker and Esther Stewart kept it simple for the skylight in this kitchen, opting for a square-shaped design that sits above the dining table.
    It helps light up the space that would otherwise have little natural light, due to its other windows sitting close to a brick wall and reducing the amount that can filter inwards.
    Find out more about Brunswick Apartment ›
    Photo by Virtually Here StudiosMalibu beach house, USA, by Sophie Goineau
    In Malibu, Sophie Goineau has renovated a family beach house to allow more light in. In the kitchen, this involved adding skylights to its wavy roof.
    The skylights are partially obscured with ash battens that cloak the entire ceiling, letting in light but blocking out the bright overhead sun.
    Find out more about this Malibu beach house ›
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration, see previous lookbooks featuring exposed structural ceiling beams, clerestory windows and nightclub interiors.

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    This week we revealed Buckingham Palace’s interiors

    This week on Dezeen, we published photos of the inside of Buckingham Palace’s newly refurbished east wing.

    Opened to the public for the first time in its 175-year history earlier this month, the chinoiserie interiors contain porcelain lions, nine-tiered pagodas and a lotus-shaped chandelier.
    The wing also contains the room with the palace’s famed balcony that overlooks the Mall.
    OODA has designed Bond Tower for TiranaIn architecture news, Portuguese studio OODA unveiled the latest eye-catching design set to be built in the Albanian capital, Tirana.
    Named Bond Tower, the studio designed a pair of connected skyscrapers that bend away and towards each other.

    OMA unveils the Simone Veil BridgeIn France, the Simone Veil Bridge in Bordeaux designed by Dutch studio OMA opened to the public.
    Described by the studio as “anti-iconic”, the bridge is overly wide with a 28-metre-wide unprogrammed public space.
    “Our design for the Simone Veil Bridge is like a stage but without the theatre,” explained OMA partner Chris van Duijn.
    Dyson launched its first headphonesIn design news, technology company Dyson unveiled its first audio-only headphones with the aim of disrupting the market.
    “At Dyson, we are driven by the opportunity to disrupt established categories,” Dyson principal industrial designer Phil Douglas told Dezeen.
    “The Dyson OnTrac is our first standalone pair of headphones,” he continued. “So, our main aim was to create a piece of technology which really serves its primary purpose well – to create a pair of headphones that people want to listen to.”
    On launched a trainer with a sprayed-on upper ahead of the OlympicsAhead of the Olympics starting next week, Swiss running brand On unveiled its latest trainer, which will be worn by athletes at the Games.
    Named Cloudboom Strike LS, the trainer is topped with a lightweight, low-carbon upper created by spraying filament using a robotic arm.
    A lookout in Belgium was one of this week’s most-read storiesPopular projects on Dezeen this week included a lookout on a Belgium beach, a multi-generational Melbourne home made with pale bricks and a giant bubble added to a century-old Japanese house.
    Our latest lookbooks featured interiors with exposed structural ceiling beams and interiors brightened by clerestory windows.
    This week on Dezeen
    This week on Dezeen is our regular roundup of the week’s top news stories. Subscribe to our newsletters to be sure you don’t miss anything.

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    You can still be listed in Dezeen’s guide to London Design Festival 2024

    Ahead of London Design Festival’s 22nd anniversary, there’s still time to feature in Dezeen Events Guide’s digital guide to the festival.

    The 2024 edition takes place from 14 to 22 September, inviting hundreds of thousands of people to 11 districts in the UK’s capital city.
    If you’re hosting an event as part of the festival programme – including an exhibition, workshop, product launch, talk, tour, fair or market – you can feature in our guide and festival map.
    The London Design Festival (LDF) celebrates a range of disciplines, including craft, art, architecture and fashion, as well as graphic, interior and urban design.
    There’s still time to be listed in Dezeen’s digital guide to London Design Festival 2024

    Get in touch with the Dezeen Events Guide team at [email protected] to book your listing or to discuss a wider partnership with Dezeen. There are three types of listings:
    Standard listings cost £125 and include the event name, date and location details plus a website link. These listings will also feature up to 50 words of text about the event.
    Enhanced listings cost £175 and include all of the above plus an image at the top of the listing’s page and an image in the listing preview on the festival guide homepage. These listings will also feature up to 100 words of text about the event.
    Featured listings cost £350 and include all elements of an enhanced listing plus a post on Dezeen’s Threads channel, inclusion in the featured events carousel on the right hand of the festival guide homepage for up to two weeks and 150 words of text about the event. This text can include commercial information, such as ticket prices and offers and can feature additional links to website pages such as ticket sales, newsletter signups and more.
    About Dezeen Events Guide
    Dezeen Events Guide is our guide to the best architecture and design events taking place across the world each year.
    The guide is updated weekly and includes virtual events, conferences, trade fairs, major exhibitions and design weeks.
    For more details on inclusion in Dezeen Events Guide, including in our guide to London Design Festival, email [email protected].
    The illustration is by Justyna Green.

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    Aesop store interior references Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

    The Danish bricks and narrow floor plan of this Aesop store in Copenhagen nod to the “humble” design of the nearby Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.

    Located on Kronprinsensgade in Copenhagen’s old town, the neutral-hued store was created by skincare brand Aesop’s in-house design team to complement its setting without “unnecessary flourishes”.
    The Aesop store is on Kronprinsensgade in CopenhagenThe interior takes cues from the architecture of the famed Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, completed in 1958 in Humlebæk, 35 kilometres north of Denmark’s capital.
    A long and low-ceilinged rectangular room makes up the store, which features a circular space at the back with a curved brick-clad basin.
    Danish red bricks feature throughout the interiorThis floor plan mirrors the museum’s “understated horizontal building” with its thin glass corridors, according to Aesop’s head of store design Marianne Lardilleux.

    “We were drawn to the Louisiana Museum because it was designed as a home for Danish, rather than international, modern art,” she told Dezeen.
    A backlit circular opening illuminates the curved basinDanish red brick tiles were laid across the floor by local stonemasons, arranged in a “radiating” pattern that recalls several Copenhagen landmarks, according to Lardilleux. These bricks replaced the store’s original painted concrete screed flooring.
    Stained oak timber was used to create sleek geometric shelving, which spans the length of one of the walls and provides a gallery-style display unit for neat rows of Aesop products.
    This material was also applied to the ceiling, characterised by slatted wood interrupted only by an oversized and backlit circular opening above the brick-clad basin with aged brass elements.

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    A smooth timber door leads to the back-of-house area, concealed behind a sandy-coloured curtain.
    “The focus is on the warmth of the materials,” explained Lardilleux.
    “At the museum, the humble materials used – bricks, wood, white paint – come together in a way that is simple yet striking. At Aesop, we hope to design spaces that are similarly direct in their approach.”
    Stained oak was used to create the slatted ceiling”Just as every work of architecture relates to its site and context, every Aesop store is sensitive to its environment,” added the designer.
    “We are not interested in rolling out identical interiors – our surroundings have always inspired us.”
    Since the first Aesop outlet was designed in St Kilda, Melbourne, in 2003, the brand has opened hundreds of global stores that respond to their settings.
    Recently, architect Jakob Sprenger installed 1920s plaster medallions above a sculptural sink as the centre of a Paris store while design studio Odami chose minty green interiors for a location in Los Angeles.
    The images are courtesy of Brian Buchard.

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    Danielle Brustman designs Harbour Early Learning facility to “inspire delight and joy”

    Bold colours and graphic elements that represent the sea and sky add personality and context to the interiors of this Sydney children’s centre by Australian designer Danielle Brustman.

    Brustman was responsible for the interior package of the Harbour Early Learning educational facility, which is situated in the city’s Vaucluse suburb and aims to connect children with educators, nature and the broader community.
    The brief for the project called for a high-quality facility arranged over three levels with a focus on design integrity and the well-being of both the children and staff.
    Danielle Brustman has designed the interiors of Sydney’s Harbour Early Learning facilityBrustman employed oversized graphic elements throughout the spaces to help stimulate the imaginations of the children and create thematic experiences that respond to the building’s harbourside setting.
    “I wanted the design to inspire delight and joy for the people occupying the spaces,” the designer told Dezeen.

    “I also wanted to create a healthy space using environmentally sustainable and quality materials that would stand the test of time and toddlers!”
    The educational children’s centre responds to the building’s harbourside settingBrustman worked closely with architects SJB and Supercontext, as well as with landscape designer Fiona Robbe and signage experts Citizen to deliver a range of bespoke indoor and outdoor play and learning spaces that reflect the client’s educational philosophy.
    The building’s external and internal spaces were designed to reference the surrounding nature, with large openings framing views of the neighbouring mature fig trees.
    The interior was heavily influenced by the building’s seaside context, with each room given a specific theme including the Sky room, Sunset room, Rainbow room, Under the Sea room and Boat room.
    Oversized graphic elements and large openings frame neighbouring mature fig treesThe themes lend the rooms a unique character whilst reinforcing the thoughtful layout of spaces, with water-based elements on the ground floor and sky references on the upper floor.
    Graphic details were used throughout the interior to complement architectural features, including the arched windows and circular skylights.

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    Marmoleum flooring and carpet inlaid with geometric shapes also feature alongside bespoke murals depicting simplified elements like waves and clouds.
    The raw materials and neutral tones used for the exterior give way to more vibrant hues inside the building.
    Murals, marmoleum flooring and carpet inlaid with geometric shapes depict seaside waves and cloudsBrustman selected colours that she said have “a slightly muddied feel to them” to maintain consistency and a connection to nature.
    “It was important that the colour and materials palette was unique in each room but there was also a cohesive thread throughout,” she added. “The palette was designed to be enjoyed by both children and teaching teams.”
    Materials that appear on the building’s exterior, such as raw concrete and pale wood, recur in the reception area where they contrast with colourful elements that help with wayfinding and circulation.
    Primary colours, including a vibrant blue staircase, inform a palette enjoyable to children and teaching teamsThe primary hues in this space reference the work of Dutch abstract painter Piet Mondrian, while the blue staircase in particular evokes the colours of Sydney Harbour.
    Wherever possible, Brustman chose furniture that was designed and made in Australia, focusing on pieces that are robust enough to handle being used by children.
    Many of the furnishings have a graphic quality to them, including the Love benches by designer Daniel Emma, the stacked-cone pendant light by designer Edward Linacre and the Big Friendly sofa designed by CJ Anderson for Dowel Jones.
    Graphic furnishings are featured throughout the interior design, including the Love benches by Daniel EmmaBrustman is based in Melbourne and specialises in residential interior design and commercial design for the education, hospitality and retail sectors.
    The designer’s previous projects include a children’s centre in Melbourne featuring similar graphic elements in various pastel hues and a hair salon decorated using the client’s signature yellow colour.
    The photography is courtesy of Harbour Early Learning.

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