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London studio SODA based the bold interiors of The Office Group’s Liberty House offices on Regent Street on the colourful prints of the adjacent Liberty London department store.The studio created the interiors for two separate, flexible workspaces in the same building, called Liberty House and Liberty Rooms.
While the designs vary in the two areas, both were informed by the classic fabric Liberty prints produced by the department store next door.
Above: warm terracotta hues were used for the interiors. Top image: arched doorways decorate the rooms
The larger workspaces of Liberty House features a calmer, more neutral palette of colours and materials than the bold event spaces and meeting rooms in Liberty Rooms.
The department store originally traded out of Liberty House, before moving one door down.
“The relationship with the Liberty’s department store was the starting point for the graphic identity and the interior concept,” SODA architect Parvathy Vipulendran told Dezeen.
“The iconic Liberty prints inspired the colour palette of the design, while the mock-Tudor building inspired the high-end retail aesthetic and crafted objects positioned throughout the scheme.”
The building hosts two contemporary workspaces, Liberty House and Liberty Rooms
The studio wanted to ensure that the interior had a coherent design language, something it thought especially important for “a building of this grandeur.” Liberty House is a Grade II-listed building.
In order to keep the interior design coherent, the studio chose to remove a number of non-load bearing walls to open the space up and create an “appropriate” sense of scale for the rooms, which include meeting rooms, focus booths, breakout spaces, lounges, private offices and a kitchen and dining area.
Cold and warm colours are mixed in the kitchen and dining area
SODA used a colour palette of neutral warm beiges for the office spaces and bolder colours, such as dark petrol blue hues, bright yellow and warm terracotta, for the more public spaces, the meeting rooms and the bathrooms.
The material use and form language inside the building was also informed by its well-known neighbour as well as by the Liberty House building itself.
The colour palette was inspired by the building and by Liberty London fabrics
“We built a core material palette that was inspired by Liberty House and the Liberty fabrics, which comprised of scalloped panelling, tiling, oak joinery and floors, reeded glass, and more functional materials such as vinyl,” Vipulendran said.
“The scalloped surfaces can be seen in the facade of Liberty House, so it was a really nice way to bring the language of the exterior internally and apply it on key joinery elements.”
Terrazzo adds pattern interest to a kitchen in warm neutral colours
The scalloped design of the house’s facade was also referenced on some of the doors inside Liberty House.
“The routing on the upper floor tea points and doors has the same rhythm as the scallop and elevate these doors above a standard office door,” Vipulendran said.
“The rhythm of these vertical lines are beautifully complemented by the lines of the curtains through the scheme.”
SODA creates contemporary MYO offices inside 1970s London building
In some of the spaces, including tea points and bathrooms, SODA chose to use Altrock and Durat terrazzo material to create more striking patterned interiors. The studio collaborated with Altrock to create bespoke coloured surfaces that would match the design.
Handcrafted objects decorate the space
As well as informing the colours and shapes of the office space, the Liberty department store also lent some of its in-store aesthetic to the interior, which features a number of hand-crafted objects throughout as well as pieces that nod to display cases.
“This is expressed most clearly in the main lounge and reception, where we used light, bright tiled surfaces to highlight key joinery objects,” Vipulendran said.
“These were inspired by the craftsmanship and the display of high-end items in Liberty. These jewel-box cabinetry pieces are arranged through the reception and lounge to create islands of social activity along the length of this open space.”
Large period windows allow light to fall into the lounge
SODA’s branding for the project also plays off Liberty London’s typeface, with an abstract pattern derived from the letters “Liberty” used to create prints on both textiles and surfaces inside Liberty House.
While the final design encompasses many different types of rooms, one stands out to Vipulendran.
“The lounge is particularly spectacular as from this space you can really appreciate the richness of Liberty House and its prominent location along Regent Street,” the architect said.
“The room comes to life in the afternoon when the sunlight falls through the big period windows and illuminates the variety of surfaces.”
SODA recently designed the interiors for a flexible workspace in a gridded 1970s building, while The Office Group’s latest London workspace prior to this one was designed by Note Design Studio.
Photography is by Ed Reeve.
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Double-height shelving and custom glass vitrines create ample storage space in this Amsterdam apartment, which was designed by local studio i29 to accommodate the owner’s vast collection of art and books.Located in a former industrial area in the north of the city, the 180-square-metre apartment is on the second floor of a residential block and belongs to a writer and art collector.
Above: double-height storage walls divide the space. Top image: they include a mixture of cabinets and open shelving
Built in 2020, the apartment block was set up as a Collectief Particulier Opdrachtgeverschap (CPO), which means collective private commissioning. In the Netherlands, this is a form of social project development in which a group of individuals act as the client for a new-build project.
The building is developed as a group and each owner buys an empty shell. They can then design and build partitions in their own apartment according to their specific needs.
A green couch anchors the open-plan living room
Local studio i29 was commissioned to create a custom interior that would showcase the owner’s expansive personal library and an art collection of around 100 pieces.
“Having such a huge collection of artworks, our client wanted only one thing: to have the ultimate display and storage space,” i29 told Dezeen. “We started making a programme of requirements and calculating the exact amount of shelving we would need.”
i29 created a mezzanine level to house two bedrooms
The designers were presented with an open loft space with double-height ceilings and no fixed layout.
On the ground floor, i29 created an open-plan space for the entrance area, kitchen and living room. A series of small sculptures are displayed on glass shelves in the kitchen, while larger artworks are placed up against the walls or mounted on them.
The apartment accommodates more than 100 artworks
A mezzanine level was inserted within the double height space, housing a bathroom, two bedrooms and an office.
Two custom-designed larch wood storage walls span the full height of the apartment and include a mixture of cabinets and open shelving. They help to create a visual connection between the two levels, while concealing an integrated staircase that runs up to the mezzanine level.
The bespoke kitchen is finished in larch wood and matt grey HPL
The bespoke kitchen and all of the cabinets throughout the apartment are finished in a combination of larch and matt grey high-pressure laminate (HPL).
The floor is made from matching resin, as i29 wanted to keep the material palette deliberately neutral in order to let the art take centre stage.
i29 and Spacon & X named interior designers of the year at Dezeen Awards
“The stark and simple spatial interventions stand in contrast to the colourful pieces of art, balancing and supplementing each other,” the studio explained.
The mezzanine also houses a home office
In a similar apartment project featured on Dezeen earlier this year, EBBA Architects used structural ash and pine joinery – including a staircase, mezzanine and double-height storage wall – to connect the levels within a refurbished, open-plan apartment in London.
Photography is by Ewout Huibers.
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In this special lookbook sponsored by natural finishes brand Clayworks, we’ve selected 10 interiors from our archives that feature walls finished with the brand’s clay plaster.Clay finishes are a healthy, breathable alternative to paints or wallpaper on internal walls and ceilings. Naturally pigmented and free of toxic ingredients, they are made of natural materials, do not require painting and are compostable.
Clayworks’ plaster finishes are manufactured in Cornwall, England. Here are 10 homes, restaurants and offices that showcase their products.
Porteous’ Studio, Edinburgh, by Izat Arundell
Design studio Izat Arundell converted this former blacksmith’s workshop in Edinburgh into a compact apartment with a muted material palette.
Clay-based plaster was applied to the walls to create a calm tone, with a simple palette of stone and wood used to create an overall natural feel.
Find out more about Porteous’ Studio ›
Birch and Clay Refugio, London, by Rise Design Studio
As its name suggests, this renovated and extended London flat called Birch and Clay Refugio makes extensive use of clay finishes.
The kitchen features light grey plaster walls, while a calming light grey-green shade was used for the master bedroom and a light pastel pink in the children’s bedroom.
Find out more about Birch and Clay Refugio ›
Sticks n Sushi, London, by Norm Architects
This London sushi restaurant by Danish studio Norm Architects was designed to have a series of spaces each with its own atmosphere.
Light clay finishes were used in the larger, more open restaurant spaces, with darker tones applied to create a more intimate feel in the private dining areas.
Find out more about Sticks n Sushi ›
Devon Passivhaus, Devon, McLean Quinlan
This low-rise Passivhaus home by McLean Quinlan is set behind a red-brick wall that obscures the textured interiors and art-filled hidden courtyard.
The studio aimed to create a “serene” environment inside the home by pairing rough sawn oak flooring with clay plaster walls and charred wood cabinetry.
Find out more about Devon Passivhaus ›
Dulong store, Copenhagen, by Norm Architects
Norm Architects combined natural materials to create a calm finish for this jewellery showroom in Copenhagen, which was informed by modernist artists’ studios.
The studio used a light clay plaster with a smooth finish as the backdrop for the store that has oak flooring and travertine furniture.
Find out more about Dulong store ›
Barbican apartment, London, by Takero Shimazaki Architects
Takero Shimazaki Architects was informed by a client with strong ties with Japan for the interiors of this apartment in central London’s Barbican estate.
Throughout the flat, the studio aimed to balance Japanese architectural language with the concrete structure of the brutalist Barbican complex. Walls finished with clay were combined with tatami mats and numerous timber finishes.
Find out more about Barbican apartment ›
Hoof cafe, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, by Bone
Design studio Bone used rustic clay plaster for the walls of this cafe in the United Arab Emirates as part of its design that aims to recall horse stalls.
Named Hoof, the spartan cafe was furnished with blocky hand-brushed steel counters to contrast the naturally finished walls.
Find out more about Hoof cafe ›
Highgate home, London, by House of Grey
Interiors studio House of Grey chose the furnishings and finishes of this London home with the health of its occupants and the health of the planet in mind.
Along with custom-designed timber furniture and a bed upholstered using coconut husk fibres, the home’s walls are finished with natural clay.
Find out more about Highgate house ›
Leaf House, London, by Szczepaniak Astridge
Designed to be a peaceful retreat in south London, this loft extension contains a master bedroom focused on a wooden bath with views across London.
Japanese interior design, as well as sustainability, was important for the choice of materials used in the loft, which has clay covering its roof and walls.
Find out more about Leaf House ›
Clay House, London, by Simon Astridge
Architect Simon Astridge uses layers of coarse clay to line the walls of this one-bedroom apartment on the top floor of a Victorian mid-terraced property in London.
Appropriately named Clay House, the material was used to give an unfinished appearance to the walls and ceilings of the open plan living space and create a calm atmosphere in the bedroom.
Find out more about Clay House ›
This is the latest in our series of lookbooks providing curated visual inspiration from Dezeen’s image archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks showcasing green kitchen interiors, peaceful bedrooms, calm living rooms and colourful kitchens.
This lookbook was produced by Dezeen for Clayworks as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.
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Amsterdam studio Barde + vanVoltt has inserted skylights and glass partition walls into this former garage to transform it into a light-filled family home that celebrates the building’s industrial past.Located in central Amsterdam, just a few steps away from the Rijksmuseum, the 100-square-metre space is on the ground floor of a residential terrace built in the 1930s. It originally hosted a hardware store but was most recently used as a garage.
Above: wood-framed glass doors lead into the bedrooms. Top image: a wood-panelled kitchen is located at the front of the apartment
Barde + vanVoltt was asked to transform the building into a wide and open family home for four that brings in as much natural light as possible. The brief also called for the use of sustainable and natural materials as well as a simple, minimalist interior that allows details to stand out.
“We wanted to keep the space as wide as possible without having corridors or a hallway because that’s what makes this space unique in Amsterdam,” Barde + vanVoltt co-founder Valérie Boerma told Dezeen. “Most apartments are divided over multiple levels and are very narrow.”
The dining room, kitchen and lounge share an open-plan space
Working to a six-month deadline, the studio’s first challenge was to channel natural light from the street-facing front of the building to the rear.
The large, double front doors that open up onto the road were switched from solid wood to glass, maximising the amount of light in the apartment’s open-plan kitchen, dining and living area.
The wooden doorframes are arched in a nod to art deco
At the rear of the building, Barde + vanVoltt raised the roof and converted the ceiling into skylights. Underneath, the plan accommodates a total of three bedrooms – a master with an en-suite and two children’s rooms that double as playrooms.
Each is delineated by timber-framed glass walls and doors, allowing natural light to filter into these darker spaces.
The apartments clay walls have built-in storage
The designers’ second challenge was balancing the integrity of the property with the needs of a young family.
“We drew inspiration from the building’s industrial past into the choice of materials and refined the selection based on durability and sustainability,” said the studio.
A free-standing tin bath anchors the en-suite bathroom
The building’s original concrete floor was retained and offset against natural clay walls and arched wooden door and window frames reminiscent of the art deco period.
“We wanted to add warmth to the concrete floor, so we designed the wooden Meranti doors with a reference in the arching detail to the 1930s when the property was built,” Boerma explained.
Standard Studio use skylights to funnel light into Amsterdam loft
The studio added industrial fixtures such as untreated wooden frames, a freestanding tin bath and sink in the en-suite, brushed and burnished copper tapware in the wet areas, and a kitchen island made from rolled steel with a quartzite benchtop.
Outside, the original hardware store signage on the building’s facade was left in place. In the summer, the wide double doors can be opened up and the pedestrianised street outside the apartment can be used as a terrace.
The kitchen features quartzite worktops
“The neighbourhood – made up of a few streets – is a very unique area in the city centre of Amsterdam,” explained Boerma. “It feels like a village, everybody knows each other and kids are playing together on the streets.”
Former inner-city garages can offer unique but sometimes awkwardly-shaped sites for development. In east London, architect Zoe Chan built Herringbone House on the non-linear site of a former car workshop, while in south London Tikari Works squeezed Pocket House into the space of a former garage, where the buildable area was only 35 square metres.
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For this interior design lookbook we’ve chosen 10 stylish kids’ bedrooms featuring bunk beds, raised beds and whimsical cloud-shaped lights.This is the latest roundup in our Dezeen Lookbooks series providing visual inspiration for the home. Previous articles in the series feature inspiring outdoor living spaces, calming green kitchens, and living rooms with beautiful statement shelving.
Adorable House, Japan, by Form
Skylights funnel daylight into this family residence in Tokyo, which has a main living space along with a bedroom on its first floor. Its pared-back children’s room features white walls and simple wooden furniture.
Find out more about Adorable House ›
A Room for Two, London, UK, by Studio Ben Allen
An elaborate plywood structure built inside one of the rooms of this flat in London’s Barbican Estate turns it into a bedroom for two children.
Designed by Studio Ben Allen the structure contains two beds and a desk as well as playful archways, steps and a fold-down desk.
Find out more about A Room for Two ›
Fahouse, Quebec, Canada, by Jean Verville
Canadian architect Jean Verville designed this holiday home on a gently sloping site in a hemlock forest in southeastern Quebec. At the back of the home, the children’s bedroom is located in the pointed roof space.
Find out more about Fahouse ›
100.60 Apartment, Bilbao, Spain, by Azab
As part of the refurbishment of this apartment in Bilbao, architecture studio Azab created a pair of triangular-shaped children’s bedrooms underneath the sloping roof.
Both bedrooms have beds that can be rolled away to create more space for playing and are fronted with corrugated plastic walls.
Find out more about 100.60 Apartment ›
The Mantelpiece Loft, Stockholm, Sweden, Note Design Studio
Stockholm-based Note Design Studio reconfigured this loft apartment so that the parents and both children could have their own room.
The children’s bedrooms are on mezzanine levels and include inbuilt wardrobes and a bed painted in blush pink.
Find out more about The Mantelpiece Loft ›
Room for One More, London, UK, by Studio Ben Allen
Studio Ben Allen updated this apartment in the Barbican Estate by reconfiguring it to include a child’s bedroom – a feature that lends the project its name of Room For One More.
The bedroom has a raised teal bed that is accessed by a short flight of stairs, which can be pushed in to form a small desk. A chunky armchair upholstered in grass-green fabric sits beneath the practical bed.
Find out more about Room for One More ›
House for a Photographer, France, by Alireza Razavi
Paris architect Alireza Razavi designed this summer house in Brittany for a photographer.
A mezzanine level added to the attic room contains beds for two children and is connected by a ladder to the children’s play area below.
Find out more about House for a Photographer ›
House-within-a-House, London, UK, by Alma-nac
Architecture studio Alma-nac has extended a 1950s property in Brockley, south London, to create a contemporary family home.
Its second floor contains three bedrooms beneath the peak of the roof, including one for a child, which the studio describes as having “cathedral-like proportions”.
Find out more about House-within-a-House ›
Budge Over Dover, Sydney, Australia, by YSG
Interior design studio YSG has revamped a house in Sydney using terracotta brick, aged brass and aubergine-hued plaster.
The children’s bedroom has lighter tones with sky-blue walls and whimsical cloud-shaped lamps hanging from the ceiling.
Find out more about Budge Over Dover ›
Tel Aviv apartment, Israel, by Toledano Architects
This apartment in Tel Aviv has a plywood cabin located in its children’s bedroom.
Toledano Architects designed the space, which is laid out like a playground and filled with objects that promote creativity, to be a nook for the home’s youngest residents to escape to.
Find out more about Tel Aviv apartment ›
This is the latest in our series of lookbooks providing curated visual inspiration from Dezeen’s image archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks showcasing peaceful bedrooms, calm living rooms and colourful kitchens.
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Indian office MAIA Design Studio has designed a Pan-Asian restaurant in Bangalore, which brings local crafts together with a Tokyo-inspired palette of colours and patterns.Lucky Chan is a casual restaurant serving sushi and dim-sum, which takes over the grand floor of a two-storey house.
Lucky Chan takes over the ground floor of a two-storey house
Because it’s a residential building, the space is divided up into a series of rooms. MAIA Design Studio founder Shruti Jaipuria saw this as an opportunity to explore a variety of different concepts.
Her interior design scheme gives each room its own character, but they all share an eclectic mix of colour, pattern and material.
Mosaic tiles create stripy walls in the open-air section
Large surfaces of grey Sadharalli granite feature alongside ceramic tiles that combine candy shades of red, yellow, pink and green.
“We were inspired by the hip Harajaku style of Tokyo while developing the colour palette,” said Jaipuria, “but the material palette is more local”.
“As an office, we aspire to use local material and craft in contemporary and unexpected contexts,” she told Dezeen.
The main dining room combines granite walls with a ceiling installation
Lucky Chan can be divided up into five different zones: the main dining room, the open-air section, the passageway, the sushi bar and the private dining room.
The main dining room is perhaps the most simple of the spaces, although it features a very unique detail – hanging from the ceiling is an installation of 250 turned-wood sculptures, created in collaboration with local artisans.
These 250 turned-wood sculptures were made by local artisans
These curvaceous wooden objects celebrate the tradition of hand-lathe woodwork in the nearby township of Channapatna.
Each piece is coloured with natural lacquers, made using substances that include turmeric, walnut bark and manjista root.
A passageway section features a neon sign that reads #heretogetlucky
Mirrors lining the surrounding ceiling beams create the impression that the installation goes on forever.
“The visual effect makes the large 900-millimetre beams disappear, thus opening up the otherwise small space and making it lighter,” said Jaipuria.
The sushi bar is made from birch plywood and covered in green tiles
Wooden chairs provide seating in both this space and the adjoining open-air section. These chairs feature seats hand-woven with coir, a coconut fibre, making use of another local craft technique.
John Anthony restaurant by Linehouse is “British tea hall turned Chinese canteen”
Mosaic tiles create a pattern of stripes on the end walls. The same tiles feature in the sushi bar, where they create a grid effect. They also form a chequerboard pattern on the table in the private dining room.
“Parallel lines and cross-grids started to play an important role while we were designing the space,” said Jaipuria.
The private dining room has panelled walls and a chequerboard-patterned table
Birch plywood brings a more lightweight feel to these rooms, providing custom furniture and also panelling on the walls.
These wooden elements include a sushi bar with an integrated conveyor belt, which Jaipuria believes is the first of its kind in India.
Other details include silk lamps that were handmade in Pondicherry, an array of plants in colourful pots, and a neon sign that reads #heretogetlucky.
Norm Architects also looked to Japanese design for its Sticks n Sushi restaurant in Copenhagen, while Linehouse referenced a retro Chinese canteen for its John Anthony dim sum restaurant in Hong Kong.
Photography is by Gokul Rao Kadam.
Project credits
Design studio: MAIA Design StudioDesign team: Shruti Jaipuria, Roshni Ramnane, Rahul ChughChannapatna execution: Atul Johri, Mubarak
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Belgium-based Adjo Studio has used large wooden joinery elements to organise the interior of a penthouse apartment in Hasselt.Penthouse BV features a broken-plan layout, meaning that it is neither open-plan nor divided into rooms. Instead, a series of partitions and furniture elements help to subtly divide the space into different areas.
Spanning floor-to-ceiling and made from cheery wood veneer, these elements include bookshelves, kitchen cabinets and wardrobe closets.
Wooden joinery elements include a hearth that frames the lounge and library areas
The penthouse is the home of an entrepreneurial couple who relocated from the suburbs to the city centre.
Adjo Studio designers Adriana Strojek and Joachim Bekkers wanted to give the pair the same feelings of spaciousness and connection to nature that they had experienced in their previous residence, even though they are now five storeys up.
However, they also needed to create a practical home with separation between different functions. For instance, the couple needed a dedicated office so that work and home activities didn’t clash.
Made from cheery wood veneer, these elements have a warm tone
As Penthouse BV was originally open-plan, the designers had free rein to draw up a layout that met both of these requirements.
The apartment is also positioned at the centre of a roof terrace, with glazed walls wrapping most of the exterior, so it was easy to create light-filled spaces facing planted terraces.
The joinery is set back from the glazed walls of the penthouse
“The couple wanted to preserve the qualities of living in a house with a garden, so the brief required a spacious, open plan with as much natural light incidence as possible,” said Strojek and Bekkers.
“This request triggered us to locate the circulation space on the perimeter of the penthouse, to strengthen the relation between the inside and the 360-degree private city garden,” they told Dezeen.
The kitchen island has an integrated dining area
The joinery elements not only organise spaces, but also create flexibility. One of the closets integrates a bathroom entrance, while another includes a sliding wall that allows the bedroom and office to become a single space.
Other furniture elements are just as grand in ambition, like the combined kitchen island and dining table, or the full-height hearth that frames the lounge and library areas.
A simple colour scheme brings together shades of grey, brown and beige
The designers chose a sophisticated palette of materials and colours for the interior, with shades of grey, brown and beige. The aim was to provide a “cheerful yet restful environment”.
Apartment on the Belgian coast balances natural and industrial materials
The grey Italian limestone that clads the walls surrounding the terrace was one source of inspiration. Natural stone features throughout the home, with subtle beige tones in the living spaces and a more decorative finish in the bathrooms.
Bathrooms are finished in polished grey limestone
Furnishings bring together classic designs of the past and present, with highlights including an Eames Lounge Chair and the Lumina DOT pendant light by Foster + Partners.
Other details reveal the owners’ tastes. A pair of armchairs in the living room are coloured in a favourite red ochre shade, as are various other objects dotted through the spaces.
A sliding wall allows the bedroom and office to become a single space
“The details are kept simple in aim to reach minimalist objectivity, stripping away the layers of ornaments to create clean perspectives and frame the outside,” added the designers.
Other recent residential projects in Belgium include an apartment on the Belgian coast with seaweed-coloured joinery and a Ghent penthouse organised around three blocks of furniture.
Photography is by Renaat Nijs.
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