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    RA! clads Mexico City taco restaurant with broken tiles

    Local architecture studio RA! took cues from Latin American art deco design when creating the tiny interior of Los Alexis, a small taqueria in Mexico City’s Roma Norte neighbourhood.

    Los Alexis is a taco eatery – or taqueria – in Roma, a famed district in Mexico City, which features examples of art deco architecture.
    Los Alexis is a small taqueriaRA! drew on the “vibrant personality” of the area when designing the single 15-square-metre room restaurant, housed within a former beer depository.
    “One of the most important requests of our client was for this tiny space to shine among the rest of the retail premises on the street,” said studio co-founder and designer Pedro Ramírez de Aguilar.
    RA! clad the floors and walls in a mosaic of broken tilesRA! clad the walls and floors in a distinctive mosaic of broken ceramic tiles with green joints as an ode to Barcelona, where chef Alexis Ayala spent time training, the designer told Dezeen.

    A curved bar finished in slabs of ribbed green material fronts the open kitchen, which is positioned on the right of the small open space.
    Utilitarian materials were selected for their resilienceUtilitarian materials, including the tiles, were chosen throughout the restaurant for their “endurance and fast cleaning processes”.
    White-painted steel breakfast-style stools line the bar, which has a bartop made of steel – selected for its resistance to grease, according to Ramírez de Aguilar.

    Canadian surf town informs design for taco restaurant by September

    The studio decided to preserve the space’s original, peeling ceiling “to create a wider contrast [within the eatery] and to remember the old premises”.
    Informal seating lines the pavement just outside of the taqueria where customers can eat and socialise.
    The one-room eatery is defined by its bar and open kitchenOther than a small bathroom at the back of Los Alexis, the one-room restaurant is purposefully defined by its bar and open kitchen.
    “Typical ‘changarros’ [small shops] in Mexico City are all about the conversation with the cookers, so we tried to have this interaction between people as a main objective,” explained Ramírez de Aguilar.
    Founded in 2017, RA! previously created the interiors for a restaurant in the city’s Polanco neighbourhood with a bar counter shaped like an inverted ziggurat.
    DOT Coffee Station is another hole-in-the-wall cafe in Kyiv, Ukraine, which YOD Group designed with a similar floor-to-ceiling mosaic of tiles.
    The photography is courtesy of RA!

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    “We must abandon the ordered, rational, learned good taste and comfort we’ve become used to”

    Interior design must begin facing up to uncomfortable truths about our planet and health in 2024, Michelle Ogundehin writes in her annual trends report.

    This must be the year of truth. It’s no time to be distracted by talk of trends, new or latest looks. The tactic of holding facts at arm’s length has only enabled denial, obfuscation, and fakery, as well as cauterising our moral obligation to change. Mark Twain aptly summarises our current malaise with the pithy: “What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know, it’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.”
    Thankfully, the zeitgeist is shifting. We see it in current TV programming, ever a prescient reflection of public mood. Consider Channel 4’s punchy The Great Climate Fight, which volubly charges the British government with incompetence, to ITV’s Mr Bates vs The Post Office, dramatising the scandalous lies behind a huge miscarriage of justice.
    It’s no time to be distracted by talk of trends, new or latest looks
    The desire for unvarnished veracity is there in Netflix’s new tranche of documentaries. Think Robbie Williams: Behind the Scenes and its Jeffrey Epstein exposé. Even Disney’s Wagatha Christie vehicle was about truth-telling.

    It reflects the shattering of any persistent facade that everything’s just fine. In the face of extreme weather patterns – from tornados in Manchester in the north of England to record-breaking monsoons in Pakistan – and the escalating rates of chronic disease, anxiety, depression, loneliness epidemics, and other mental-health disorders seen worldwide, surely, finally, our eyes are opening?
    In case not, here are a couple of truths that we may need to be reminded of.

    Maximalism to make way for “quiet refinement” in 2024 say interior designers

    One: the perpetual quest for economic growth is unsustainable on a finite planet, yet it prevails because we’ve been hoodwinked into believing that better always means newer, faster, or more. We are entreated to consume for the good of the economy – the work-to-spend cycle. The implication being that if we don’t, we’re responsible for mass unemployment and the failure of honest businesses.
    Ergo, consumer-driven economies are routinely prioritised over basic citizen welfare, and material goods have become proxies for our dreams and aspirations, even our expressions of love.
    Two: the environments in which we live are increasingly toxic – physically, socially, and mentally. Yet we’re reneging on personal responsibility for our wellbeing with the misguided assumption that big industry would never create products dangerous to human health, and that our healthcare providers are there to patch us up if they do. We need to focus on causes and prevention instead of lucrative (but futile) searches for cures for diseases like cancer.
    It wasn’t so long ago that the desire to exercise, seek wellbeing, or be social were reasons to leave the home
    What’s tricky is that potential solutions to the above don’t wash well with legislators or many politicians because they appear slow, unduly restrictive, difficult, or inconvenient. Immediate results (i.e. within a single term of office) are seldom forthcoming, thus a stance of head-in-the-sand, or a default to fast fixes, becomes entrenched as the go-to action.
    And yet, research suggests that we, the people, feel differently. According to the 10th annual Life at Home report produced this year by IKEA (one of the world’s largest home surveys, encompassing the views of 37,428 people aged 18-plus across 38 countries), searches for “slow living” have doubled since 2015.
    So where does this leave us?
    We’re being pushed and pulled in many contradictory directions. It wasn’t so long ago that the desire to exercise, seek wellbeing, or be social were reasons to leave the home. Now these activities all happen within the same four walls.

    “Peach is the right colour, but for all the wrong reasons”

    This creates many tensions. Should our domestic caves be linked to the world via the latest high-tech gizmos, or be our deliberate respite from the techno-frazzle? How do we square a wish for personal privacy with the sensation of living in more open spaces? Can we work from home without feeling like we live at work?
    It was no surprise to me that Squishmallows were the hit toy of 2023. These soft, malleable cute-character cushions are acutely comforting to hold. Even the revered investor Warren Buffet now has the company in his portfolio. They are a potent symbol of a need.
    In response, the popular press touts voluminous La-Z-Boy-style recliners as the next big thing, but is an inducement to lounge ever further into denial really what’s called for?
    Our ability to thrive must become the guiding principle for all design
    Humans are the ultimate adaptors, but we require stimulus to learn and grow, if not an element of discomfort. While your genes may load the gun, your environment pulls the trigger. Currently, for many, that’s somewhere hyperconnected yet also physically disconnected, temperature-controlled and sedentary.
    Align this with the current cult of convenience – that which enhances personal comfort or advantage over everything else, and therein lies the downward spiral.
    We must abandon the ordered, rational, learned good taste and comfort that we’ve become used to in favour of something more instinctive and rugged. Less a singular design aesthetic than a profoundly sensory desire to touch, smell and feel intensely. It is the personal over the predictable. The umami in the dish. The idea that owes its genus to a singular moment of unique creative vision, or innovation.

    Dezeen readers name Casa Tres Árboles best home interior of 2023

    We must aim for a societal stability that does not rely on the continuous fetishisation of “novelty” to drive ever-increasing consumption if economic activity is to have a hope of remaining within ecological scale. Our ability to thrive must become the guiding principle for all design, if not perceptions of success.
    Most importantly, we can no longer be afraid to speak or hear these truths, starting at home – the environment over which we have the most agency.
    Here, then, are some final “home” truths that bear repeating.
    Most homes are more polluted on the inside than a busy street corner outside due to the build-up of invisible toxins therein, yet we spend 90 per cent of our time indoors. Some examples: gas hobs leak benzene, a known carcinogen, even when they’re off – this has been linked to one in eight cases of childhood asthma.
    We have been living in a time of fantastical storytelling
    Microplastics have been found in the placentas of unborn babies. Chemicals in everyday personal care products can cause chronic hormonal disruption that leads to breast cancer. Chemical flame retardants legally mandated for use on your upholstery increase smoke toxicity more than they reduce fire growth.
    And Wi-Fi may not be as benign as you think. The World Health Organisation, in association with the International Agency on Cancer, formally classified electromagnetic field radiation (as emitted by Wi-Fi connected devices) as a Class 2B human carcinogen (potentially harmful to health) over a decade ago.
    In summary, we have been living in a time of fantastical storytelling, fictions of delusional positivity that obscure the truth. Plato considered that truth is a correspondence between belief and reality. Time to wake up then if we are to stand a chance of survival, as our current reality almost beggars belief.
    Michelle Ogundehin is a thought leader on interiors, trends, style and wellbeing. Originally trained as an architect and the former editor-in-chief of ELLE Decoration UK, she is the head judge on the BBC’s Interior Design Masters, and the author of Happy Inside: How to Harness the Power of Home for Health and Happiness, a guide to living well. She is also a regular contributor to publications including Vogue Living, FT How to Spend It magazine and Dezeen.
    The photo, of a Kyiv apartment designed by Olga Fradina, is by Yevhenii Avramenko.
    Dezeen In DepthIf you enjoy reading Dezeen’s interviews, opinions and features, subscribe to Dezeen In Depth. Sent on the last Friday of each month, this newsletter provides a single place to read about the design and architecture stories behind the headlines.

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    PSLab’s monochromatic Berlin showroom is a “sacred place for light”

    A pared-back palette of raw materials creates a calm backdrop for PSLab’s lighting products inside the brand’s Berlin workshop and showroom space, designed in collaboration with Belgian firm B-bis architecten.

    The newly opened studio occupies the ground floor and basement of a 1907 residential building in the city’s Charlottenburg district.
    PSLab has opened a new workshop and showroom in BerlinPSLab, which designs and manufactures light fixtures for architectural projects, set out to create a showroom where customers can experience lighting effects in a home-like environment.
    “PSLab is not a digital platform where clients pick and buy products,” the company’s founder Dimitri Saddi told Dezeen. “Therefore the physical space as a ‘home’ is most important for one-on-one communication.”
    “In Berlin, as with all our studios, we wanted to design a canvas to show the quality of our light and to show the process of our bespoke design approach by integrating a material library of endless opportunities and possibilities.”

    The space includes a materials library with a movable ladderWorking together with B-bis architecten, the design team looked to create a contemporary space that contrasts with Charlottenburg’s classical architecture whilst retaining references to common elements like colonnades, arches and symmetrical forms.
    The entrance takes the form of a large zinc-and-glass sliding door that is set into the facade of the building on Niebuhrstrasse. Moving the door aside reveals a full-height opening that welcomes visitors into the studio.
    The interior was designed to present the brand’s lighting to its best advantageInside, a double-height space with a six-metre-high ceiling allows lighting products to be hung in various heights and configurations.
    Arched openings on either side of the staircase void lead through to a garden room that looks onto a leafy courtyard. Daylight streams into the space through large windows to create a tranquil atmosphere.

    JamesPlumb converts Victorian tannery into London HQ for PSLab

    The workshop space includes a materials library where visitors can touch and explore the physical qualities of the brand’s lighting products. A movable ladder provides access to items on the library’s upper rows.
    The cosy basement level is a place for informal conversations with clients. A projector in this parlour space also allows the team to display the company’s extensive digital library.
    The basement serves as a cosy loungeThroughout the studio, PSLab chose materials and finishes including lime wash, concrete, zinc and textiles that focus attention on how the space is lit rather than its architectural features to create a kind of “sacred place for light”.
    “It is all about monochromatics and textures, which are specific to the location,” said Mario Weck, a partner at PSLab GmbH. “The atmosphere lets people focus on our approach.”
    Gantries provide support for various light sourcesOn the ceiling of both the front room and garden room is a grey-steel gantry that helps unify the spaces whilst supporting various light sources as well as technical elements, much like on a theatre stage.
    Furniture is mostly built in, with simple cushions providing casual seating while cylindrical wooden side tables and coffee tables offer somewhere to place a cup or catalogue.
    The showroom is set in Berlin’s CharlottenburgPSLab has studios in Antwerp, Bologna, London, Stuttgart and Beirut, where the firm originated. For its UK headquarters, the company commissioned JamesPlumb to convert a Victorian tannery into a space that evokes the “quiet brutalism” of the former industrial building.
    Previously, the lighting brand has collaborated with Parisian studio Tolila+Gilliland on the design of an Aesop store in London featuring felt-covered walls and slim black pendant lights.
    The photography is by Nate Cook.

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    Jialun Xiong highlights “intricacies and textures” at Sichuanese restaurant in LA

    Subtle nods to traditional Chinese architecture can be found throughout this restaurant in California, designed by LA-based Jialun Xiong.

    Sichuan Impression’s third outpost, located in Alhambra, occupies a 2,000-square-foot (186-square-metre) space that “takes an elegantly pared-down approach to family-style dining”.
    Jialun Xiong chose a pared-back palette for the Sichuan Impression interiors, creating a relaxed atmosphereJialun Xiong took an equally relaxed approach to the interiors, combining warm and soft colours with walnut furniture and metal accents.
    “For Sichuan Impression, I chose a muted palette and natural materials to encourage guests to look a little longer and see the intricacies and textures that aren’t so obvious at first glance,” said Xiong.
    A free-seating area beside the bar features walnut furniture and floating metal cabinetsThe restaurant is roughly divided into four dining areas, each open to one another but defined by the style of seating.

    To the left of the entrance is a sequence of partitions that alternate between heavy grey plaster and delicate metal mesh screens supported by antique brass frames.
    Plaster partitions separate the various sections of the restaurantEach has a circular opening, which align to provide a continuous view along the minimalist walnut tables and benches that run along the same axis.
    One table extends through an opening, accommodating larger parties when needed, and each compartment features an oversized, raw silk cloth light shade suspended above.
    Walls and screens of different heights and thickness create a hierarchy of spaces”The custom chandeliers nod to traditional Chinese lanterns and reflect Xiong’s skeletal furniture designs,” said the restaurant team.
    In front of the bar is a free-seating space furnished with more wooden tables and chairs, which match the cabinetry against the far wall, while glass-fronted metal cabinets are mounted above.

    Jialun Xiong balances contrasts at “retro-futurist” restaurant in Los Angeles

    A pair of chunky plaster-wrapped columns and low partitions separate a collection of booths with leather seats and upholstered cushioned backs on the other side.
    The green fabric was chosen to resemble bamboo – a common material used in Sichuanese design.
    Booth seating is upholstered with a green fabric chosen to evoke bambooAt the back of the restaurant is the private dining area, which can accommodate 16 guests altogether, or two groups of eight when a sliding partition is closed.
    A circular window offers a glimpse into the private space, where the pared-back material palette is continued.
    A private dining room at the back has an intimate feel and can be spied through a circular window”The secluded space is designed to feel like home with its bespoke circular dining table and ambient lighting,” said Xiong. “I believe good design doesn’t always have to be instantly recognisable, it can simply blend in.”
    Xiong, who is originally from Chongqing, has also completed the retro-futuristic Chinese restaurant 19 Town close to Downtown LA. The designer recently showed her furniture and lighting pieces as part of the INTRO/LA showcase in November 2023, and at the Alcova exhibition during Art Basel in Miami in December.

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    Eight well-designed sheds and outbuildings that extend the home

    This week’s lookbook explores eight clever shed and outbuilding interiors, ranging from self-built renovations to finely crafted new builds.

    By repurposing rundown sheds and garages or capitalising on extra garden space, these projects offer additional room for hobbies, workspaces, living quarters or simply respite for their owners.
    Among this list of projects is a bold-coloured garage renovation hosting a work area and greenhouse in Norwich, UK, as well as a scenic timber outbuilding designed for recreation and socialising for a retired couple in Lillehammer, Norway.
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring homes created on a budget, living rooms with industrial material palettes and airy and pared-back loft conversions.
    Photo by Simon KennedyThe Orangery, UK, by McCloy and Muchemwa

    Original blockwork walls were retained in this self-build renovation of a dilapidated garage by London-based studio McCloy and Muchemwa.
    An orange, timber roof structure was matched with furniture in the same colour throughout the interior, which contains a storage area, hobby zone and workbench along with a well-lit greenhouse clad in polycarbonate.
    Find out more about The Orangery ›
    Photo by ZAC and ZACGrange Garage Studio, Scotland, by Konishi Gaffney
    This 1950s garage conversion by Konishi Gaffney, adjacent to an existing Georgian property, houses an artist’s music studio and features a rhythmic facade made from wooden battens.
    The space has a calm and refined material palette, with dark-stained furniture used to match the wooden beams in the studio’s interior.
    Find out more about Grange Garage Studio ›
    Photo by Rafael SoldiShed-O-Vation, US, by Best Practice Architecture
    Best Practice Architecture renovated this outbuilding in Seattle to host an office and small gym as an expansion of the property’s main house.
    Black synthetic rubber was used to cover the interior floor and one side of the room’s walls, while the remaining walls were lined with birch plywood along with a boldly coloured workspace.
    Find out more about Shed-O-Vation ›
    Photo by Chris SnookThe Light Shed, UK, by Richard John Andrews
    The Light Shed is a 12-metre-square, multifunctional shed designed and built by architect Richard John Andrews and an assistant in just 21 days to house Andrews’ architecture studio in his back garden.
    The interior is lined with plywood providing shelving and desk space for two to three people. The studio also doubles as a space for hosting functions and gatherings.
    Find out more about The Light Shed ›
    Photo by Knut BryBarn House, Norway, by Jon Danielsen Aarhus
    Replacing an existing run-down outbuilding, Barn House in Lillehammer, Norway, was designed by Jon Danielsen Aarhus to create a space in which a retired couple can paint, garden and host friends.
    An all-red entrance hall is followed by a timber interior. The building contains a brightly lit art studio upstairs and a gardening room and garages on the lower floor.
    Find out more about Barn House ›
    Photo by Jean-Philippe DelageEton Accessory Building, Canada, by Motiv Architects
    Made from cross-laminated timber (CLT), Eton Accessory Building by Canadian studio Motiv Architects is a 30-square-metre workshop connected to the owners’ home via a garden.
    Hard-wearing flooring and evenly distributed skylights create an industrial-style workspace. A CLT mezzanine is used for additional storage.
    Find out more about Eton Accessory Building ›
    Photo by Wai Ming NgCork Study, UK, by Surman Weston
    This cork-covered studio designed by Surman Weston provides space for sewing and music-making in the back garden of a London home.
    On the interior, birch plywood lines the walls, with the pale material also used to construct a central working space with built-in shelving and storage.
    Find out more about Cork Study ›
    Photo by Willem-Dirk du ToitBroadway, Australia, by Foomann
    Replacing an old garage, this two-floor outbuilding hosts a gym, swimming pool and parking garage on the site of an Edwardian property in Melbourne.
    A refined material palette of white walls set off by wood and dark flooring works to create a relaxing, beachy feel throughout the spaces.
    Find out more about Broadway ›
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring homes created on a budget, living rooms with industrial material palettes and airy and pared-back loft conversions.

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    Olga Fradina uses natural tones and textures for interior of Ukrainian holistic healing centre

    Ukrainian designer Olga Fradina has completed a monochromatic interior for Space, a wellness centre in Kyiv, where textures rather than colours provide interest and create a soothing atmosphere.

    Space is a holistic wellness centre that includes areas for practising yoga, meditation and acupuncture, as well as traditional healing practices such as reiki and qigong.
    Space houses a yoga studio (above) and massage rooms (top image)The project commenced just before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with the company’s founder – entrepreneur and wellness enthusiast Kateryna Bakhirka – eventually deciding to move forward as she felt a space for healing practices was important at a time of global turbulence.
    Bakhirka had previously commissioned Fradina to design her private apartment in the city and asked the designer to follow a similar direction, although with a warmer palette than the cosily dark residence.
    Artwork by Nikita Vlasov decorates the massage rooms”I aimed to make the space as comfortable as possible, creating somewhere people would like to stay longer and where they could easily relax,” Fradina told Dezeen.

    Space is located on the ground floor of an early 20th-century building in Kyiv’s Podil district that once functioned as a candle factory.
    The four-storey building had previously been divided into several apartments and Fradina began by removing internal partitions to open up the cellular space.
    The wellness centre has a muted tonal colour paletteThe reconfigured interior comprises several functional zones – a small entrance hall, a locker room, a room for group classes, two massage rooms, a tea lounge and a room with a bathtub that is used for certain healing practices.
    The bright and airy hall used for group sessions is lined with mirrors on one side, while the opposite wall is painted with a subtle gradient to evoke a sunset.
    A raw-edged wooden table anchors the tea roomA darker palette is employed in the massage rooms to create a more soothing and intimate ambience. The only touch of brightness is provided by a brass panel painted with a dynamic symbol by Ukrainian artist Nikita Vlasov.
    The tearoom is also rendered in muted shades and accommodates a three-metre-long raw-edged wooden table that was custom-made by local workshop Staritska Maysternya.
    A nearby bar counter is clad with bricks salvaged from an old house and is topped with Cambrian Black granite. Objects purchased by Bakhirka on her travels through Asia and South America are displayed on backlit shelves.

    Olga Fradina uses dark colours and natural textures to create cosy Kyiv apartment

    The main materials used throughout the project are micro cement, plaster, wood, copper and vintage brick, which Fradina chose due to her fondness for “monochrome interiors where the main accents are textures”.
    “I love natural and tactile materials, playing a little bit on the slight contrast of textures such as wood, stone and rough plaster,” the designer added. “Each one has its own structure, reflectivity, roughness. Coming together they create an expressive but not flashy emotion.”
    The nearby bar is constructed from salvaged bricksRegular blackouts in Kyiv due to the ongoing war made construction work challenging, according to Fradina, with contractors often needing to bring their own generators to provide electricity.
    The designer herself regularly had to take cover in a subway station during site visits when shelling was taking place. The war has also taken an emotional toll and altered her approach to her practice, Fradina revealed.
    Found objects are displayed on backlit shelves”It’s hard enough for me to design now, it feels like I’ve lost my connection to the physical world,” she said. “During these years of active war, I have been mostly involved in digital art and I’m better able to interact with abstract matter now.”
    Also in Kyiv, Yana Molodykh has designed a light-filled interior for a compact attic apartment while Makhno Studio has created an all-beige residence with bumpy textures and intricate ceramic walls.
    The photography is by Yevhenii Avramenko.

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    Ome Dezin restores 1960s California residence by A Quincy Jones

    US studio Ome Dezin has renovated a large mid-century home in Brentwood, California, using a tonal colour palette and maximising the lush hillside views.

    The six-bedroom 12221 Benmore residence was designed and constructed in 1960 by notable local architects A Quincy Jones and Frederick Emmon.
    Natural materials and neutral colours were chosen throughout the home to highlight the lush viewsWhen Jesse Rudolph and Joelle Kutner of Ome Dezin came to the project, it had undergone a 1990s remodel that had stripped away its character and style.
    The team made it their mission to revive the home’s original charm and connection to the outdoors, bringing in natural tones and materials.
    White oak and travertine are recurring materials, as seen in the bar area”We have always been fans of A Quincy Jones and familiar with his work, which is what prompted us to see the home initially,” the duo told Dezeen.

    “This one did not disappoint — it had the typical Quincy atrium-like living space centered across from the exterior which includes a 40-foot (12-metre) waterfall.”
    The main living spaces all flow together and have expansive views onto the gardenMany of the existing fixtures were retained, including the fixed windows and doors, wherever possible.
    To keep the focus on the views from the large windows, the interior was designed with “a more muted, streamlined aesthetic”.
    Custom pieces designed for the home include a dining table and chairs created in collaboration with Ben Willett”We wanted to ensure the intention of Quincy was intact, so we aimed for a bit of brutalism and connection with nature,” said Rudolph and Kutner. “We opted for a limited material and color palette in favour of natural tones.”
    The new white oak staircase designed for the three-storey atrium features rectangular forms and has an architectural presence, echoing the shape and style of the building.
    Large windows are found in almost every room, so the decor is kept minimal and sparse so as not to draw focusIt sits at the nexus of the living room, dining area, kitchen and bar, which all flow together and enjoy expansive views out the back of the house.
    A den adjacent to these open spaces is furnished with a variety of midcentury pieces, in keeping with the building’s history.
    Dramatically patterned Cipollino stone in the bathroom echoes the grey tones of the rocks outsideTwo types of stone were used throughout the home: travertine, which appears in the kitchen, bar area and powder room, and richly patterned Cipollino in the primary bathroom chosen to pick out the colours of the mountains visible through the windows.
    In the lower-floor bedrooms and around the fireplace, flagstones and cobblestones were laid to create a grounding quality and to connect the spaces to the rocky landscape outside and pavers around the swimming pool.

    Studio Schicketanz renovates Henry Hill’s mid-century house on the California coast

    Custom pieces designed for the project include the dining table created with furniture designer Ben Willett, which allows all of the chairs to be tucked away neatly underneath.
    Two 10-foot-high (three-metre) doors were custom-built for the living space and feature Jean Prouvé-influenced circular window cutouts that allow light to shine through.
    The garden features a swimming pool and a 40-foot (12-metre) waterfall”We paid special attention to the lighting in the home, mostly sourcing vintage lights to add charm and character,” the design team said.
    “With such a large home, and lots of windows and tall ceilings, warm mood lighting really made the spaces feel intimate and magical, particularly in the evenings.”
    The home was designed and constructed in 1960 by A Quincy Jones and Frederick EmmonRudolph and Kutner founded Ome Dezin as a design and development studio focused on residential restoration in and around Los Angeles.
    California has no shortage of mid-century properties in need of revamping. Other recently completed examples include Studio Schicketanz’s renovation of modernist architect Henry Hill’s former seaside home, and Woods + Dangaran’s overhaul of a residence that once belonged to singer Bing Crosby’s manager.
    The photography is by Nils Timm.

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    Eight kitchens with floor-to-ceiling cabinets that cleverly conceal clutter

    Kitchens can often be difficult to keep tidy, but this lookbook demonstrates how floor-to-ceiling cabinets are an effective way to streamline and create clutter-free backdrops for food prep.

    Traditionally, kitchens are designed with floor and wall cabinets dropped below the ceiling to ensure they are reachable. However, today many architects and interior designers are opting for full-height solutions instead to maximise storage space.
    The examples in this lookbook show that floor-to-ceiling storage solutions are suited to kitchens of any size and style, and can be used to conceal clutter, appliances and even doorways.
    A bonus is that these cupboards also minimise areas for dust to gather, requiring less time spent on cleaning and leaving more for cooking.
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring homes with net floors, mid-century modern furniture and perforated brick walls.

    TS-H_01, Switzerland, by Tom Strala
    This minimalist kitchen, belonging to a home near Bern, features floor-to-ceiling storage concealing not only clutter but also a doorway to a garage.
    The white wall of cabinets is dotted by circular handles lined with smooth timber and forms a slick backdrop to the chunky prep counter, raw plaster walls and pale wooden floorboards.
    Find out more about TS-H_01 ›
    Photo by Fionn McCannChurchtown, Ireland, by Scullion Architects
    Oak-panelled cabinetry runs through the light-filled kitchen of Churchtown, a residential extension in Dublin informed by Victorian conservatories.
    While maximising storage, the cupboards are designed to conceal appliances and a pantry. The warmth of the oak is complemented by cool-toned white terrazzo on the floor and worktops.
    Find out more about Churchtown ›

    Sacha, France, by SABO Project
    Full-height birch plywood joinery is used to store the contents of this kitchen, designed by SABO Project within a Parisian apartment.
    The cupboards are almost disguised as a solid block, with small arched cut-outs subtly demarcating each door. One of the panels features a larger arched opening, which opens into a cosy nook for the owner’s cat.
    Find out more about Sacha ›
    Photo by Eric PetschekThe Amagansett Beach House, USA, by Starling Architecture and Emily Lindberg Design
    The floor-to-ceiling units in this kitchen help draw attention to more playful design details in the room, including a sculptural custom island animated by exaggerated forms.
    Finished with wood and a lack of handles, the cabinets also blend into the floors and ceilings, disguising them as walls and creating a pared-back aesthetic for the room.
    Find out more about The Amagansett Beach House ›
    Photo by Eric PetschekBarbican Apartment, UK, by John Pawson
    Designer John Pawson used full-height storage in the compact kitchen of this London apartment to help achieve his signature minimalist aesthetic.
    The abundance of storage ensures the space is uncluttered, while a lack of handles on the cabinetry allows them to blend into the background. The rest of the home, which is located in the brutalist Barbican Estate in London, is designed with the same pared-back aesthetic.
    Find out more about Barbican Apartment ›
    Photo by Johan DehlinThe Parchment Works, UK, by Will Gamble Architects
    Matte-black cabinets with brass handles define the kitchen of The Parchment Works, which Will Gamble Architects created from the shell of an old cattle shed in Northamptonshire.
    Stretching from floor to ceiling, the kitchen units slot in beneath rows of timber joists belonging to the original structure. Their dark colour ensures focus retains on the tactile wooden surfaces above, as well as the adjacent whitewashed masonry walls.
    Find out more about The Parchment Works ›
    Photo by Pion StudioBotaniczna Apartment, Poland, by Agnieszka Owsiany Studio
    Polish studio Agnieszka Owsiany Studio married wood and marble throughout the interior of this apartment in Poznań.
    In the kitchen, full-height oak cabinetry lines one wall, punctured by a marble-lined recess containing a stove. The cabinets are finished with long handles in matching oak.
    Find out more about Botaniczna Apartment ›
    Photo by Kevin ScottPortage Bay Float Home, USA, by Studio DIAA
    These storage units follow the gabled roofscape of The Portage Bay Float Home, which Studio DIAA co-founder Suzanne Stefan created for herself in Seattle.
    The wooden cabinetry sits flush with a cooker hood above the stove, which is finished with juxtaposing stainless steel that has a brushed look.
    Find out more about Portage Bay Float Home › 
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring homes with net floors, mid-century modern furniture and perforated brick walls. 

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