Markus Andrews

More stories

  • 113 Shares169 Views

    in Rooms

    Laurent Troost turns abandoned Brazilian building into co-working venue

    Workspaces look upon a mini jungle in this 125-year-old brick building in Manaus, Brazil, which has been thoughtfully revitalised by design studio Laurent Troost Architectures.Called the Cassina Innovation House, the project entailed the adaptive reuse of a dilapidated historic structure in Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonas.

    Cassina Innovation House sits in a 125-year-old building
    The building, which now serves as a co-working venue, is located in an emerging digital district within the city. Its name was selected through a public vote organized by the municipality, which owns the building.
    Its original structure was constructed in the late 1890s to house the luxurious Hotel Cassina, owned by an Italian man named Andrea Cassina.

    The building was abandoned and taken over by vegetation

    After a financial crisis devastated the region, the building became a spot for gambling and prostitution called Cabaré Chinelo.
    It closed around 1960 and began to deteriorate, according to local firm Laurent Troost Architectures.

    Laurent Troost Architectures inserted a prefabricated steel structure
    Over the decades, the interior crumbled and vegetation overtook the building, resulting in a striking visual image that the architect wanted to honour in some way.
    Troost said that artists and designers have long been intrigued by ruins, citing figures such as Piranesi, Gordon Matts-Clark and Robert Smithson.

    Greenery and exposed walls evoke the building’s crumbling grandeur
    “The beauty of the ruin’s imperfection raises interest and questions, and invites reflection on the past and the action of time and man in the city – and on heritage buildings in general,” the architect said.
    The team opted to preserve the building’s exterior brick walls, along with the remaining foundation walls made of stone. It decided to reconstruct the interior using a prefabricated steel system, and to add a glazed volume atop the roof.

    The staircase is open to the sky
    The building now totals 1,586 square metres, spread across four levels.
    The facades were cleaned, and great care was taken to preserve original elements such as a plaster made of pigment from red sandstone powder. On the eastern elevation, new shading devices help mitigate solar heat gain.

    Laurent Troost Architects folds weathered steel roof over concrete house in Brazilian Amazon

    “The east facade, hit by the rising sun, has received contemporary frames with tempered glass fins to create a ventilated, double-skin facade that keeps the heat out,” the studio said.

    Glazed walls overlook the gardens
    Inside, the team used the steel system to form new floors and a stairwell, along with space for an elevator. The system stands independent from the building’s outer shell.
    “We have basically constructed a squared tower with four new columns,” Troost told Dezeen. “The perimeter beams of our structure have allowed us to anchor the existing facades to avoid the collapse towards the street.”

    There are a variety of co-working spaces available
    The metal system was prefabricated off-site, which sped up the project timeline.
    Moreover, it reduced the number of on-site construction workers, which helped with social distancing – an important factor given that Manaus was hit hard by the coronavirus, the studio said.

    Greenery is visible through areas of glazing
    A tropical garden was planted in a triple-height space just inside the front door.
    “The building houses an exuberant garden behind the main facade, creating its very own microclimate,” the team said. “A walkway crosses the void over the garden, reminding one of Manaus’s intrinsic reason for being: the Amazon rainforest.”

    There are desks and meeting rooms in the offices
    Adjoining the stairs are open rooms with glazed walls that provide views of the interior garden. A range of flexible spaces can be found within the building, including work zones, meeting rooms and training areas.
    The rooftop addition holds a restaurant with sweeping views of the city’s historic centre and the Rio Negro. Large roof overhangs clad in ipe wood – also known as Brazilian walnut – help shade the structure.

    An overhanging roof shades the rooftop restaurant
    The team noted that the building’s design allows for physical distancing and the circulation of fresh air, which will remain important considerations in our post-pandemic world.
    Born in Brussels, Laurent Troost has worked in various countries and taught at several Brazilian universities.
    Other projects by his studio include Casa Campinarana in Manaus, which won a 2019 Dezeen Award for Rural House of the Year. The concrete house features outdoor living areas and a swimming pool that are elevated above the forested surroundings.
    Photography is by Joana França.
    Project credits:
    Contractor: Manaus MunicipalityArchitect-in-charge: Laurent TroostArchitecture team: Rejane Gaston, Juliana Leal, Nayara Mello, Erick Saraiva, Eloisa Serrão, Victor Marques, Marcelo Costa, Ingrid Maranhão, Eduardo Corrêa, Amanda Perreira, Fernanda Martins, Kauã MendesRestoration: Landa BernardoHistory consultants: Centro Cultural Reunidos, Fábio Augusto de Carvalho PedrosaArchaeology: Margaret Cerqueira, Vanessa BeneditoInteriors: Rejane Gaston, Juliana LealLighting: Juliana LealVisual communication: Elter BritoLandscape: Nayara Mello, Hana Eto GallConstruction: Biapó Constutora and MCA EngenhariaSteel structure: Marco Antônio de OliveiraConcrete structure: MPa Engenharia EstruturalHVAC: LR EngenhariaLightning protection system: Raimundo OnetyDatas CCTV electrical: Alah Emir VeronezHydraulics: Gerson Arantes Consultoria e EngenhariaFire protection system: Andrey Costa Barbosa

    Read more: More

  • 100 Shares169 Views

    in Rooms

    Mid-century Melbourne apartment modernised with pistachio green kitchen

    Architect Murray Barker and artist Esther Stewart worked together to retrofit this two-bedroom 1960s apartment in Melbourne’s Brunswick neighbourhood using colours and materials that pay homage to the original mid-century interior.When the current owners bought the walk-up apartment, it had been empty for 20 years and had its original decor including linoleum and carpet floors and salmon pink walls. The owners wanted to retain its character while updating the living spaces to suit modern life.
    Built in 1961, the 65-square-metre apartment is split into two zones with a living space and kitchen at the front on either side of the entrance and two bedrooms on either side of a bathroom at the rear.

    A skylight lets light into the kitchen

    “The apartment’s layout was typical of many apartments of this typology, with a clear division between living and private spaces and with frontage on two sides,” Barker told Dezeen.
    “We wanted to retain room divisions, but at the same time improve connections, extend sightlines and bring more natural light into the kitchen.”

    Austin Maynard Architects adds steel-and-glass extension to brick cottage in Melbourne

    The apartment’s original large windows provided ample natural light and effective cross ventilation. The owners felt that the existing kitchen, however, felt disconnected from the living room as the space was too confined to accommodate a dining table and lacked adequate natural light.
    To remedy this, Barker and Stewart reconfigured the plan to improve the connection between the living room and the kitchen.

    The Pistacho-coloured kitchen has a terrazzo floor
    The dividing walls between the two rooms were partially demolished and joinery elements were inserted to reorder circulation paths between the home’s central entrance, the reoriented kitchen and the living room.
    “We expanded the use of integrated joinery, considered existing proportions and details, and the use of high quality, robust but interesting materials,” said Murray.

    The interior of the cabinets is a rich terracotta colour
    The new kitchen layout has an L-shaped plan that is open to the living area and anchored by a custom-made steel frame table with a Rosa Alicante marble top and fixed banquette seating.
    Visible from the living room, a long kitchen countertop made from the same red marble as the table completes the L-shaped kitchen plan and incorporates a stove, oven and sink.

    Red marble was used across the work- and tabletops
    A skylight above the kitchen table lets sunlight into the space through thick glass roof tiles. The ceiling is insulated and the roof window is double-glazed to minimise additional heat gain and to retain winter warmth.
    Murray and Stewart selected the pistachio green colour for the joinery in a nod to the original 1960s-era kitchen that it replaced. Details include visible framing around doors and drawers and custom finger pulls. Sliding-pocket doors reveal a hidden appliance area in the pantry to hold a toaster, kettle and coffee machine.

    Barker and Stewart retained the apartment’s original 1960s bathroom
    The apartment’s bathroom is the 1960s original and features speckled flooring, dusty pink tiles and baby blue sanitaryware.
    “Each apartment in the block has a unique toilet, bath and sink set in contrasting colour palettes, in combination with unique terrazzo flooring in the bathroom,” Murray explained. “The interior materiality was specific and robust but enthusiastic and this was something we wished to explore and elaborate upon.”
    The terrazzo floor tiles that are used across the rest of the apartment were salvaged excess stock from a larger project and were chosen to complement the original floors.

    The apartment is housed in a typical red brick complex
    “These buildings are visually robust, but there is beauty in the material nuance of the brown brick and subtle ornamentation through the considered design of ordinary things,” he continued. “The original interior aesthetic was far from white walls and plain tiles.”
    Last year, London studio Archmongers renovated a duplex mid-century flat in one of the city’s most well-known housing estates, using shades of red, yellow and blue to complement the modernist material palette. Meanwhile in Rome, Italian architecture office La Macchina Studio renovated a 1950s apartment, revealing original terrazzo floors and adding bold colours.
    Photography is by Benjamin Hosking.

    Read more: More

  • 125 Shares199 Views

    in Rooms

    Kelly Wearstler creates sculptural oak staircase for hotel in Austin

    Interior designer Kelly Wearstler included eye-catching details such as vintage rugs and a white oak staircase that doubles as a ceramics display in her design for the Austin Proper Hotel and Residences.Built in 2019 by New York firm Handel Architects, the 32-storey hotel and apartments managed by McGuire Moorman Hospitality is located in Downtown Austin, Texas.
    Los Angeles-based Wearstler, who will be on the interiors panel as a Dezeen Awards 2021 judge, created the aesthetic for the 244 rooms and 99 “branded residences.”

    Panels of Shou Sugi Ban cypress clad the walls

    Her interior design for the hotel revolves around local art and textiles, with some eclectic vintage elements thrown in.
    A focal point is a sculptural staircase made of white oak wood with stepped balustrades.

    Vintage rugs are draped over the wooden stairs
    An interesting backdrop has been created by showcasing the underside of the staircase steps, while a ziggurat of plinths below is used to display a range of glazed earthenware pots and vases.
    Custom panelling along the walls of the hotel is made from cypress wood, charred using the traditional Japanese technique of Shou Sugi Ban to create a tiger-striped effect.

    Patterned tiles and rugs feature in the Peacock restaurant
    Mismatched vintage rugs run up the stairs, and a mix of chairs and armchairs upholstered in patterned fabric are scattered around the lobby.
    Tiles by Austin ceramicist Rick Van Dyke appear as inlays on furniture such as cabinets, and fibre artwork by local artist Magda Sayeg, known for her yarn bombing installations, are hung in the bedrooms alongside antique mirrors.

    Wine racks and botanical wallpaper decorate the restaurant
    The fifth floor features a pool deck clad with locally quarried travertine, where Mexican restaurant La Piscina serves small-batch tequila.
    There are three other eateries in Austin Proper Hotel and Residences including Peacock, which serves Mediterranean food against a backdrop of parquet floors covered in more vintage rugs and walls covered in Portuguese-style tiles.
    A private dining area, screened off by walls made of full wine racks, features botanical wallpaper.

    Pastel tiles decorate the Mockingbird cafe
    The interior of The Mockingbird, a coffee shop that serves Greek frozen yoghurt, was decked out in more colourful tiles by Wreastler.
    Small square tiles cover the walls and form a pattern of powder blue, seafoam green, inky navy blue and pale burnt orange colours.

    The bar has a flocked wallpaper ceiling
    Austin Proper Hotel and Residences also has a drinking establishment called Goldie’s Sunken Bar, which has a cobalt blue-painted bar, low stuffed armchairs and a high ceiling covered in opulent wallpaper.
    All over the hotel, walls are hug with art and niches are filled with ceramics. Pot plants filled with hardy desert species add splashes of greenery.

    Pot plants and mismatched furniture
    The 99 apartments attached to the hotel also have interiors designed by Kelly Wearstler. Their occupants have access to the hotel’s amenities as well as a private pool, along with dog grooming and concierge services.
    Kelly Wearstler is an interior designer based on America’s west coast. Recent collaborations for the same hotel franchise include the San Francisco Proper and the Santa Monica Proper.
    Photography is by The Ingalls.

    Read more: More

  • 125 Shares159 Views

    in Rooms

    Kingston Lafferty Design creates “otherworldly” interiors for Dublin skin clinic

    A palette of plaster, marble, terrazzo and stainless steel was chosen to create interiors that customers want to “reach out and touch” in this Dublin skin clinic by Kingston Lafferty Design.The local firm was commissioned by the Fitzgerald Private Clinic to capture a sense of calm, quiet luxury while maintaining the cleanliness expected from a surgery.

    Top image: the Fitzgerald Private Clinic has a marble-clad archway. Above: its retail space features marble counters
    “The service offer is premium and luxury, and the spaces that encapsulate it were designed to echo that at every touchpoint,” Kingston Lafferty Design founder Roisin Lafferty told Dezeen.
    “We wanted to design a space that was tactile and all-encompassing with a sense of otherworldliness, incorporating associations of sterility with a balance of warmth.”

    Kingston Lafferty Design plays with scale inside Dublin restaurant Cinnamon

    Spread across two tight, 46-square-metre floors, the Dublin clinic houses retail, storage and waiting areas on the lower level while the first floor encapsulates three treatment rooms, a toilet, staff room and secondary waiting area.
    “It is a very small space, so we needed to be clever when designing the layout to get the absolute maximum use from the space,” explained Lafferty. “Every element is jigsawed together to double up, offering both functionality and beauty.”

    The interior of the arch is finished with terracotta-coloured tiles

    Customers enter the clinic through a street-facing, pink-hued retail store with a micro cement floor and a curved wall lined with plaster tubes. According to Kingston Lafferty Design (KLD), these were designed to resemble putty and made from multiple layers of warm-toned plaster that were built up within a custom mould.
    “We wanted the different surfaces to be tactile and combined in unexpected ways, almost calling for people to reach out and touch, and for everything to appear as though it was formed from the structure of the building, as though it was all meant to be there,” said Lafferty.

    The clinic’s undulating pink plaster wall has three inset shelves
    Set with three brass shelves, the undulating wall doubles as a retail display area and also conceals added storage space behind a fully tube-clad door.
    The entrance area is anchored by a black and white terrazzo reception desk that sits under an Acquasanta marble archway. The underside of the arch is clad with zig-zagging matt red tiles that complement the tone of the marble.

    The walls and floor of the waiting area are covered in black and white terrazzo
    “The arch is the strongest element that frames the clinic experience,” the designer explained. “It highlights the sales and reception desk while encasing and concealing an existing structural beam. We built the arch to align with the depth of the custom reception desk, focusing on materiality both on the front facade and the inner depth.”
    The skin clinic, which sits beyond the arch, contrasts with the soft pink tones of the store. It features a stainless steel staircase and black and white terrazzo flooring, with the archway marking the junction between the two.

    Treatment rooms are clad in stainless steel
    “The staircase was the only structural element that we kept in the design. We sought to make a feature of its angular form and framed it in steel and glass, the steel providing both a tactile wall covering and a vital storage bank with additional retail display for product,” Lafferty said.
    An intimate waiting room wrapped in terrazzo and housing a bench seat upholstered in blue leather is located on the other side of the store’s curved, undulating wall.

    Brass accents in the toilets add an element of warmth
    On the first floor, mirror- and walnut-clad boxes create a series of interconnecting treatment rooms and corridors.
    “The treatment rooms needed to be highly clinical, sterile and very easy to keep clean,” said Lafferty. “Hygiene was of the utmost importance to the client. So we wanted to find a balance so that it didn’t feel cold and unwelcoming.”

    Blue terrazzo counters the sterility of the stainless steel
    Lozenge-shaped mirrors were added to disrupt the rooms’ clean lines and add softness, while subtle colour changes were introduced through a blue tone in the terrazzo and a hint of green in the textured plaster walls and ceilings.
    A seamless, full-height wall of walnut wood was added to the corridor outside the treatment rooms to contrast against the steel cabinetry and add warmth to the upper floor.
    Health and self-care was a central theme in another of KLD’s recent refurbishment projects. Earlier this year, the studio incorporated green walls, a yoga studio and rooftop terrace into a co-working office in Belfast to help workers unwind.
    Photography is by Ruth Maria Murphy.

    Read more: More

  • 125 Shares139 Views

    in Rooms

    Casa ai Bailucchi is a two-level apartment overlooking Genoa port

    Italian studio Llabb has combined two apartments in Genoa, creating a quirky home that combines nautical references with contemporary art.Casa ai Bailucchi is the home of a young creative couple – one is a gallery owner and music lover, the other is a freelance graphic designer.

    The L-shaped upper level contains the kitchen and living spaces
    The two-level, 135-square-metre apartment is located on the upper levels of a building overlooking the port, so the design was heavily influenced by the huge machinery that can be seen occupying the waterside.
    Locally based Llabb, led by designers Federico Robbiano and Luca Scardulla, planned the layout to take full advantage of the views and also peppered the interior with very subtle maritime references.

    Nautical details are combined with vintage furniture and contemporary artworks

    These references include a staircase with a rope handrail, a porthole window, and a colour palette featuring shades of blue and yellow.
    Other details include a mix of custom-made and vintage furniture, decorative tiles, large plants and a variety of artworks from the clients’ personal collection.

    The upper floor leads out to a 100-square-metre roof terrace
    The starting point for the design was the addition of a staircase, connecting the two previously separate apartments. With four metres of height between the two floors, it was a challenge to fit this in.

    Studio Venturoni warms up Rome apartment with earthy hues

    Robbiano and Scardulla’s solution was to create a staircase that winds up in several different sections. As well as the blue rope handrail, it features oak treads and a steel frame with open risers.

    The nautical-inspired staircase features a rope handrail and a porthole window
    “The result is pretty dynamic and allows the visitors to see the apartment from different views,” Scardulla told Dezeen.
    “It guides you, almost like the stepping stones in Japanese gardens.”

    The bedroom features plaster walls and terrazzo flooring
    Both levels have their own character. The lower level is more compartmentalised, with two bedrooms, a study room, and a bathroom.
    Original terrazzo floors have been preserved in these rooms. There are other nods to the building’s history too, for instance, the master bedroom features an arched window and exposed plaster walls.

    Patterned tiles feature in both the bathroom and the kitchen
    The upper level is mostly open-plan. The L-shaped floor plan naturally separates the lounge area from the dining space and kitchen, with the space further subdivided by cutaway walls.
    “It was a big challenge to manage the long and narrow living space on the upper floor; the risk was to have a ‘corridor effect’,” said Robbiano.
    “We used different layers of perceiving and living the space, making it more interesting to explore.”

    Studio workspaces can be found on both floors
    The apartment contains two work-from-home spaces. As well as the study room on the lower level, there is a “studiolo” on the upper floor, which the designers liken to the cockpit of a crane.
    The living space also opens out to a 100-square-metre roof terrace, which the owners have filled with even more plants.
    Photography is by Studio Campo.
    Project credits
    Design: LlabbDesign team: Luca Scardulla, Federico Robbiano, Linda Consiglieri, Laura Davite, Riccardo Gelmini, Martina Pisano, Floria BruzzoneConstruction: Zena CostruzioniCarpentry: Carlino SantoMetalwork: Metal ProjectTiles and sanitary ware: NobiliFlooring: Effebi parquet

    Read more: More

  • 150 Shares159 Views

    in Rooms

    Studio Anton Hendrik Denys designs Belgian office informed by 1960s colour schemes

    Studio Anton Hendrik Denys and Steen Architecten have transformed an industrial office building in Belgium by cladding it in corrugated metal and adding colourful graphic interiors.Studio Anton Hendrik Denys, in collaboration with Steen Architecten, stripped the existing office building in Heverlee back to its core and used the company’s corporate identity to create a design that it calls a “contemporary twist on modernism”.
    The AEtelier office was designed for an IT consulting company in Belgium and contains a combination of private workspaces, meeting rooms, open plan communal areas, and event rooms that can be used for events and conferences.

    Top: AEtelier by Studio Anton Hendrik Denys. Above: walls and the ceiling are painted a deep blue.

    “I love and always apply a minimalistic design-language, but simultaneously I feel the need to add something extra,” studio founder Anton Hendrik Denys told Dezeen.
    “Modernism often balances minimal shapes wonderfully with splashes of colour and new, unfamiliar materials.”

    Wood-panneled areas provide a contrast against the blue walls
    Informed by the bold interior colour schemes of the 1960s, the designer chose a deep blue colour for the walls of the office and used teal carpeting and a green floor throughout.
    A welcome desk and lockers at the entrance of the office have a muted grey colour palette and are framed by a wood-panelled backdrop, while the blue walls and ceiling create a colourful contrast.

    Midcentury-inspired seating areas are built into nooks
    An existing dropped ceiling was replaced with circular soundproofing panels that expose the height of the space and its industrial piping and fixtures.
    Circular acoustic panels have been added to the ceilings throughout the interior. These are mimicked in large halo lighting fixtures suspended over tables, as well as on cabinetry details that feature circular cut-outs, and have also been added to a wall in a private office.

    Colours zone different spaces within the open-plan areas
    Denys used colour in an informative way to define different spaces. The orange hue used for the company’s corporate identity was chosen for kitchen areas, bars, toilets and soft furnishings, to make these easy to find.

    Studio Aisslinger designs LOQI office with social distancing in mind

    “The main colour of my client’s corporate identity happened to be orange, which was both a welcome coincidence and a perfect starting point to build my midcentury-inspired colour palette,” Denys said.
    “In the meeting rooms eventually, less bright shades of the main colours were applied to create a more relaxed atmosphere,” he added.

    Bars are painted one block colour, so that guests and users can easily navigate the space
    A visual language was developed by Jaap Knevel, an information designer, to create iconography and signage so that staff and guests can easily navigate within the space.
    The green floor defines shared spaces and guides users through the building. These hard floor surfaces are juxtaposed with a soft teal carpet that covers the floors of private offices and meeting rooms.

    Halo lighting fixtures match the circular acoustic panels
    Studio Anton Hendrik Denys and Steen Architecten also renovated the exterior of the building, which is now clad in corrugated aluminium that contrasts and frames glimpses of the bold interior that can be seen through the windows.
    The aluminium cladding continues into a central landscaped courtyard that houses plants, as well as bright red furniture and a concrete bridge that connects two parts of the office.

    A concrete bridge runs through the courtyard between wild landscaping
    “For the outdoor renovation, the goal was to create a calm and subtle look that would serve as a frame for the bright interior,” Denys explained.
    “Creating a contrast between a silver-ish facade with windows framing shots of blue, orange, green and pink behind them,” he added.

    Opal-framed windows and doors sit within the corrugated aluminium facade
    “I wanted to move away from the general perception of how office spaces should look like nowadays,” Denys explained.
    “Besides that, I wanted to create a space that could be reorganised as time evolves and people might have different needs for their work environment.”
    Studio Anton Hendrik Denys was founded by Anton Hendrik Denys, a Belgian-born designer based in Copenhagen who works across art, furniture design, interior and spatial design.
    Colourful office interiors are on the rise. Beyond Space recently completed this colourful office designed around a reconfigurable grid system, while Note Studio also created a bold interior that aims to “break the grid” of 1930s office buildings.
    Photography is by Hannelore Veelaert.
    Project credits:
    Designer and creative lead: Studio Anton Hendrik DenysCollaborating architect: Steen ArchitectenLandscape design: Van Dyck Tuinarchitectuur

    Read more: More

  • 150 Shares179 Views

    in Rooms

    Timber Trade Federation exhibits six “conversation pieces” made from responsibly sourced timber

    Dezeen promotion: the UK Timber Trade Federation is showcasing the winning entries of its Conversations about Climate Change design competition via a virtual exhibition and event series.The competition, which received more than 100 responses from around the world, called on entrants to create an installation that would provoke discussions about global warming while showcasing the environmental benefits of responsibly sourced, tropical hardwoods.

    Top image: Joseph Pipal’s Carbon Print is one of the winning projects. Above: The Extraction pillar is by Julia and Julian Kashdan-Brown
    “Responsibly forested timber is an essential part of the climate change solution; however, tropical forests have too often been undervalued and their forest land cleared for other uses,” said David Hopkins, CEO of the Timber Trade Federation (TTF).
    “Our competition asked architects and designers to respond to tropical timber, think about the materials they usually work with and consider how the role of materials specified is vital for implementing change.”

    Tree Whisperer are sound sculptures by Sheryl Ang and Yuta Nakayama

    Selected by a panel of judges including Yinka Ilori and Julia Barfield of Marks Barfield Architects, the six winning “conversation pieces” are now on display at London’s Building Centre for the next three months (temporarily closed due to the lockdown restrictions) and via a virtual 360-degree tour.
    Among them are a series of sound sculptures by Singaporean designers Sheryl Ang and Yuta Nakayama, which are shaped like various tree species and emit different “heartbeats” that their particular response to climate stress.
    A simple teak column by UK-based Michael Westthorp shows today’s sea level as well as its projected rise by 2120, while Julia and Julian Kashdan-Brown took a pillar of sapele wood and drilled holes through its heart to visualise the impact of uncontrolled deforestation – “take too much, and the system will collapse”.

    High Tide by Michael Westthorp shows the effects of sea-level rise
    Meanwhile British furniture maker Joseph Pipal created a series of blocks reminiscent of gold bullion, made from meranti, sapele and iroko wood, each emblazoned with the amount of carbon they are able to sequester from the atmosphere and store.
    “I’ve been uplifted, as a maker, by the simple realisation that using sustainably sourced wood can help with the climate crisis,” he said.
    Design duo Jeremy Yu and Tomos Owen as well as architect Tom Wilson are also among the winners.

    The Carbon Print project shows the amount of carbon that different tree species can sequester and store
    All timber for the installations was sourced from countries that are currently working towards being licensed via the United Kingdom and European Union’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) initiative.
    This sees countries commit to a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) and an action plan for overhauling their legal, social, business and environmental infrastructure to combat illegal logging and timber trade as well as deforestation.
    “This landmark shift in governance and procurement means that FLEGT-licensed timber is safe, responsible and legal,” Hopkins said.

    Also among the winning projects was the Sapele Sound Pavilion by Jeremy Yu and Tomos Owen
    Alongside the exhibition, Hopkins will be speaking to Dezeen’s founder and editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs as part of a live-streamed interview that will delve deeper into the environmental benefits of responsibility sourced timber, and how the materials specified today can have a positive impact on the world’s forests and climate change.
    The talk is set to take place on Thursday 11 March at 3pm and will be broadcast exclusively on Dezeen.
    Explore the virtual exhibition and discover more about the six winning installations made from VPA tropical hardwoods on the Building Centre’s website.
    Partnership content
    This article was written by Dezeen for the Timber Trade Federation as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

    Read more: More

  • 125 Shares169 Views

    in Rooms

    Ministry of Design creates lush “banking conservatory” for Citibank Singapore

    Offices and meeting rooms are nestled among tropical plants in this wealth management centre in Singapore by local studio Ministry of Design.Conceived as a “banking conservatory”, the verdant scheme won an international competition launched by Citibank Singapore last year that invited entrants to reimagine the conventional interiors often associated with financial institutions.

    Ministry of Design has created a conservatory within the Citi Wealth Hub
    The brief set out by Citibank was to create a wealth management centre dedicated to its high net-worth clients, over an area of 2,787 square metres across floors six to nine of an office building on Singapore’s Orchard Road.
    Across its four levels, the Citi Wealth Hub has more than 30 client advisory rooms alongside flexible office and event spaces, making it the bank’s largest wealth advisory hub in the world.

    Levels seven and eight are filled with sinuous brass planters

    The site is distinguished by its soaring atrium with tinted glass walls and skylights that create ideal conditions for growing tropical plants.
    In recognition of this, the studio proposed an office scheme based around a lush conservatory that would anchor the entire office.

    Seating alcoves are nestled into the greenery
    On floors seven and eight, a series of social spaces are nestled within the greenery, including a bar, observation deck, garden pods, banquette seating and a central garden lounge with a honed Grigio Carnico marble bar.
    “The choreographed verdant and lush greenery evokes an atmosphere where everything seems to flourish in a natural and sustainable manner – a nod to the ideals of wealth management,” said Ministry of Design’s (MOD) director of development Joy Chan Seah.

    Garden pods replace traditional meeting rooms
    “Although drawing from the virtues of biophilic design, the scheme aims to create a cultured conservatory and not a wild forest,” she added. “Introducing a measure of control and order amidst nature’s abundance, we created a series of carefully detailed planter box arrangements.”
    These sinuous, hairline brass containers are lit from below to signpost pathways and meeting spaces among the foliage.

    They are outfitted with TV screens and acoustic panels
    On the seventh floor, garden pods were installed as an alternative to traditional meeting rooms. These are lined with acoustic panels and equipped with curved TV screens, concealed power points and cables for connecting laptops.
    In collaboration with landscape architecture studio ICN Design, MOD carefully selected plants that would adapt easily to an air-conditioned environment, thrive even in the shade and create four distinct vertical layers to offer varied views at every level.

    The planters are lit from below to help signpost pathways
    For the tallest level, the designers selected betel nut feature palms, while elegant, feathery parlour palms sit below their crowns at the second level with bushy saplings and big-leafed arums in the foreground.
    Feathery Boston ferns, rosette-leafed bird’s nest ferns and money plants occupy the lowest level, fringed by jungle-floor plants that are spotlit at night.

    Marble planters decorate the eighth floor
    The eighth floor is dedicated to Citigold Private Clients, leading the design team to opt for more luxurious materials such as walnut and marble, while an observation deck offers aerial views of the conservatory on the level below.

    SelgasCano completes plant-filled co-working space inside Lisbon market hall for Second Home

    Since this floor is less open to natural daylight, the planting here is smaller in both the horizontal and vertical scale, with planters set between desk alcoves and pathways.

    Walnut wood lines the walls to create a high-end finish
    Floors six and nine were conceived as “backstage areas” offering office space for the bank’s 210 relationship managers.
    They hold a variety of hot desks, collaboration tables and a town hall for meetings.

    Collaborative tables are fringed in planters
    Large planters help create a calming work environment on these levels and are filled with shade-loving plants that, in the wild, would grow low on the rainforest floor.
    Throughout the office, the temperature of the lighting is programmed to mirror human’s natural circadian rhythm and the movement of the sun, changing from blue to reddish undertones over the course of the day.

    A marble reception centres the eighth floor
    To keep the plants healthy the project uses a hydroponic system, in which plants are held in place by absorbent granules instead of soil.
    Grow lights with special LED bulbs that mimic natural sunlight are integrated within the recessed architectural lighting.

    Integrated lighting follows humans’ circadian rhythm
    “We’ve had really good responses from Citibank and from their clients so far,” the studio said. “They’ve said this is unlike any other wealth management hub they have seen.”

    10 plant-covered buildings that point to a greener future

    Studies have shown that access to green spaces, or even pictures of nature, can benefit workers’ mental health and improve performance in the office.
    As a result, a plethora of plant-filled workplace interiors have sprung up over the past few years, including this co-working space in Lisbon with over 1,000 potted plants and trees, while tropical flora provides privacy for workers inside an office in Utrecht.
    Photography is by KHOOGJ.

    Read more: More