Markus Andrews

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    Kin designs Dentons law firm office interior for more than “just a business meeting”

    Design studio Kin has created the Edinburgh office interior for global law firm Dentons, featuring a communal rotunda with no doors and an open-plan bar.

    Manchester-based Kin designed the office at 9 Haymarket Square – a mixed-use development in Edinburgh.
    Oranges and greens feature throughout the interiorThe studio sought to “challenge the conventional approach to design for legal practices” when creating the interior, which includes a central rotunda designed as a casual place to gather.
    Built from Scottish oak, the round structure features a circular footprint to counterbalance the existing building’s angles and straight lines.
    Kin positioned a rotunda in the centre of the office”We wanted it to have a homely familiar feeling with no physical doors, just a series of connected spaces,” Kin director Matt Holmes told Dezeen.

    The rotunda was also partially clad with acoustic panels made from recycled plastic bottles, which were fitted to absorb sound and reduce ambient reverberation from around the rest of the office.
    Statement timber arches frame the welcome deskIlluminated, amphitheatre-style seating was positioned in the middle of the rotunda, while individual meeting booths were placed on its perimeter.
    The welcome desk was framed by oversized statement arches set within a boxy timber shelving unit.

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    Elsewhere, Kin added an open-plan bar to the office, made from bespoke wooden rods and solid terrazzo.
    “The bar was designed to act as a focal point for the client space – somewhere for people to gravitate around as they leave the concierge desk,” said Holmes.
    “A visit [to Dentons] is not just a business meeting, but an experience,” he added.
    Potted plants add a lush touchThroughout the office, the studio opted for orange and green hues for working areas and used both smooth geometric tiles and more tactile surfaces.
    “The materiality draws inspiration from Scotland’s abundant natural landscape through warm timbers and rich and textured fabrics,” said Holmes.
    “Whilst balancing them against the warm tonal colour palette and strong geometry of Edinburgh’s built environment, the rooftops and tenement tile patterns provided so much inspiration.”
    Materials were informed by “Scotland’s abundant natural landscape”Kin worked with local craftspeople when building the project.
    Other offices designed to make their occupants feel at home include a real estate office in Tokyo created by Flooat to be “as stress-free as possible” and Mason Studio’s self-designed office in Toronto that also doubles as a space for community programming such as exhibitions and other events.
    The photography is by Amy Heycock.

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    Chongqing’s hidden factories inform interiors of Harmay beauty store

    Conveyor belts and cog-like display stands appear within this beauty store in Chongqing, China, designed by AIM Architecture, which takes cues from the city’s underground network of factories.

    Harmay is located at the heart of Chongqing inside a former shopping mall, with its entrance set below street level.
    A skylight punctures the ceiling of Harmay’s Chongqing store”The store is located underneath a large plaza with a multitude of steps going down into it,” explained Shanghai practice AIM Architecture.
    “So, to work with this unique spatial setting, we explored typologies of underground structures within the local context.”
    Products are displayed on conveyor belts, creating a factory-like settingA particular source of inspiration was the hundreds of bomb shelters that can be found beneath Chongqing, which were used to hide from Japanese air raids during world war two but have now been widely converted into shops, eateries and small-scale factories

    To imitate the enclosed feeling of these shelters, the practice used gypsum panels to form a dropped ceiling within the store, simultaneously concealing its exposed service ducts.
    These boards were also used to clad the store’s facade and have all been rendered in a brick-red hue on the interior.
    Some display stands were made to look like generatorsStainless steel was used to create a series of industrial-style display fixtures, nodding to the factories that now inhabit some of the shelters.
    This includes a long conveyor belt that snakes throughout the store’s main room with small grey crates placed at intervals along its surface, each containing different beauty products.
    Other stands look similar to machine cogsIn the store’s smaller peripheral rooms, products are showcased on gridded steel shelves and stands that were designed to look like generators or oversized machinery cogs.
    Simple strip lights were hung from the ceiling and a skylight was installed so that shoppers can look upwards to the outdoors, further enhancing the feeling of being underground.
    Gridded steel shelves were also been added to the storeAIM Architecture has designed a number of locations for beauty retailer Harmay, including an apothecary-style store in Hong Kong, and another in Hangzhou that resembles a 1970s office.
    This branch in Chongqing is shortlisted in the large retail interior category of the 2023 Dezeen Awards.
    Here, it is competing against other projects such as the Super Seed shop by FOG Architecture, which features more than 100 moving display boxes, and Kooo Architects’ Freitag store, which occupies an old textile factory.
    The photography is by Wen Studio. 

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    Cox Architecture celebrates heritage features of its own Sydney studio

    A brick, steel and timber structure is left exposed in this office interior in Sydney, which local firm Cox Architecture has revamped to house its own studio.

    Cox Architecture removed previous alterations to the structure, which occupies five floors of the heritage-listed Metcalfe Bond Stores warehouse in Tallawoladah, to highlight its original features and complement them with pared-back, flexible workspaces.
    Cox Architecture has designed its own studio in a Sydney warehouse”Our objective was to do more with less, balancing the poetic with the pragmatic,” explained the studio.
    “Restrained interventions allow the heritage to be the hero and minimise the project’s embodied energy,” it continued. “Our starting point was a process of reduction, removing non-heritage elements to create clarity.”
    The studio exposed its existing structureThe interior is defined by the original steel and timber structure’s columns and beams that have been painted white, and the brickwork of the outer walls that are left exposed.

    New elements such as glass doors and walls, room dividers, curtains and furniture were chosen to touch the existing structure “as lightly as possible”, and feature alongside dark-wood carpentry and gallery-style lighting tracks.
    Dark-wood carpentry features throughoutThe workspaces themselves are designed to be flexible and “hackable”, allowing areas to be reconfigured and subdivided easily by staff.
    This includes a forum space on the fifth level of the building, which has a wall lined with magnetic whiteboards and can be used as anything from a collaborative workshop space to a presentation area for 200 people.

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    Alongside it is a kitchen with a backdrop of exposed brickwork and two long counters topped with unsealed brass that will patinate over time.
    A black-steel stair leads up to a mezzanine level above containing further desk spaces. This sits at the top of the building, lit by skylights in the apex of the pitched roof.
    The workspaces are designed to be flexible”Anchored by a generous kitchen, a flexible forum space is a magnet for serendipitous exchange between Cox’s own people and the wider design community,” said the studio.
    “The majority of elements within the space are movable, creating an experimental, nimble workspace allowing teams the autonomy to control their space and future-proofing the studio as the workplace evolves,” it continued.
    The presentation space is lined with magnetic whiteboardsFacing the street, Cox Architecture created a “shopfront window”, giving staff the opportunity to populate vitrines with the studio’s work.
    Cox Sydney Studio has recently been shortlisted in the large workplace interior category of Dezeen Awards 2023. Another office interior completed by the studio is the Midtown Workplace in Brisbane, which features a large, plant-filled atrium with by a weathered-steel staircase.
    The photography is by Nicole England and Cameron Hallam.

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    Linda Bergroth designs “user-centric” Cover Story paint shop in Amsterdam

    Interior designer Linda Bergroth has added colourful beams to the Amsterdam concept store for plastic-free paint brand Cover Story, which was designed to streamline the redecorating process for shoppers.

    The “paint studio” is the second iteration of Cover Story outlets designed by Bergroth, who also created the interiors for the Finnish brand’s flagship Helsinki store.
    The Cover Story shop in Amsterdam features oversized colourful beamsShortlisted in the small retail interiors category of this year’s Dezeen Awards, the paint shop features oversized colourful beams. These were informed by cranes in the port city, as well as the decorative vignettes that top many of Amsterdam buildings’ facades, according to the brand.
    “The design playfully explores the use of colour, incorporating three-dimensionality through roof bars and considering how light interacts with colour to influence perception,” said Cover Story.
    Linda Bergroth designed the interiorFollowing a similar format to the Helsinki outlet, the Amsterdam shop also serves as a showroom, office and events space, despite its small size.

    A large colour chart made from hand-painted swatches in 47 different shades, designed to make choosing colours easier for customers, was attached to the wall.
    Colourfully painted blocks and plinths were incorporated to show how light responds to each Cover Story shadeChunky painted plinths were positioned in the shop window, as well as smaller colourful blocks on a central silvery table, to emphasise the different ways in which light and shadow respond to various paint options.
    Cover Story explained that Bergroth chose to highlight the old building’s “unique characteristics”, rather than introduce new furniture, including its sloping walls and the metal supports that adorn its structural pillars.

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    “Despite the significant influence that wall colour holds in shaping the atmosphere of a room and influencing interior design, paint is often perceived merely as a renovation accessory,” said the brand.
    “Cover Story’s mission is to position paint as a design product, which is why the Amsterdam paint studio is strategically located on a bustling shopping street alongside other concept stores where interior design products are sold,” it added.
    “Every aspect is thoughtfully crafted to promote a sustainable and user-centric experience.”
    The beams were informed by Amsterdam’s architectureFounded in 2020 by Anssi Jokinen and Tommi Saarnio, the brand produces 100 per cent plastic-free paint, which is also odourless.
    Finnish designer Bergroth has completed a number of colour-infused projects including Durat’s Helsinki showroom and a blue pop-up restaurant in New York built from recycled food packaging.
    The photography is by Paavo Lehtonen. 

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    RooMoo reuses distillery’s old whiskey barrels to decorate its bar

    Chinese interiors studio RooMoo has used nearly 6,000 pieces of oak from discarded distillery barrels to adorn this whiskey bar in Shanghai.

    Laizhou Bar is located in the city’s buzzy Xuhui District and is an offshoot of Laizhou Distillery, a Chinese whiskey producer based out of Sichuan province.
    Wood offcuts from Laizhou Distillery’s whiskey barrels feature across the bar’s facadeThe distillery prides itself on reducing its environmental impact by using low-temperature saccharification machinery and collecting wastewater so it can be converted into biogas energy.
    So Shanghai-based studio RooMoo placed a similar emphasis on sustainability when designing the bar, where almost 6,000 pieces of wood from the distillery’s discarded oak barrels were reused as decoration.
    The offcuts were then used to construct a ringed structure on the bar’s ceiling”The bar imports the materials used in the distillery’s production process, creating a symbiosis between the two spaces,” said the studio.

    “Each dismantled barrel piece was different in terms of width, length and grain, so we classified them and applied them to different positions.”
    RooMoo assessed and classified all of the offcuts before useBarrel pieces are first seen on the bar’s facade, where they have been placed horizontally to create a lattice-like effect.
    The facade is otherwise only punctuated by a wide-set door and an expansive window, where barrels printed with the distillery’s logo are displayed.
    The bar’s slatted partition walls are also made from barrel offcutsOnce inside, guests step into a whiskey sampling area with a green marble tasting counter. Suspended directly above the space is a dramatic double-ringed sculpture crafted from barrel offcuts.
    More wooden barrel pieces were used to construct a curving, slatted partition in front of the main bar.
    A long seating banquette bends around the back of the room, accompanied by a series of black tables and leather chairs. There is also a huge light-up wall where liquor bottles are put on display.
    Black leather furnishings were incorporated throughout the main bar areaOn the ceiling here are the beginnings of another ringed sculpture, which will be completed as soon as the distillery has used up more barrels for the studio to use.
    “We made the ceiling structure beautiful enough to open the bar first,” explained the studio. “We are not hurrying to finish it, but following the production process and waiting for the wasted materials to be produced.”
    Off to the side of the main bar is a more private VIP tasting room. At its centre hangs a bespoke light crafted from the circular metal bands, which once held together the distillery barrels.
    The ceiling sculpture will be completed once the studio receives more offcutsLai Zhou Bar has made it to the shortlist in the sustainable interior category of the 2023 Dezeen Awards.
    The project is up against Edit restaurant by Elly Ward and Joe Morris, which is clad with salvaged terracotta tiles, and the Big Beauty store by Nina + Co, which is decked out in biomaterials like mycelium.

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    Building meeting rooms costs 55 per cent more than buying office pods according to research

    Promotion: buying office pods instead of building meeting rooms could save companies in the US around $30 billion by 2030, according to research by soundproof booth manufacturer Framery and real-estate investor CBRE.

    Post-pandemic working habits are driving a transformation in office layout and design worldwide says Framery.
    More people working from home means employers are scrambling to use costly office space more effectively, while the increasing prevalence of video calls has resulted in growing demand for small, acoustically insulated meeting spaces.
    The coronavirus pandemic triggered a sea change in office layouts”Office occupiers are investing more and more into flexible spaces and different types of adjustable spaces to meet the demand of flexibility and to attract their workforce back to the office after the pandemic years’ remote working,” said CBRE’s Jussi Niemistö.
    A study by Framery and CBRE found that as well as offering options for changing office setups, pods are more cost-effective than constructing new meeting rooms.

    CBRE compared the costs associated with getting one-, four- and six-person Framery office pods with the cost of building meeting rooms of equal size in different cities around the world.
    The research indicates that many offices will need to be refurbished to accommodate new working demandsIt found that meeting pods tended to be significantly cheaper – with constructing equivalent meeting rooms costing 55 per cent more on average.
    Building a permanent phone room in a New York office is 155 per cent more expensive than getting a one-person Framery booth, according to the study.
    A separate study by real-estate firm Cushman & Wakefield found that more than 41 per cent of office space in the US is in need of refurbishment in order to support hybrid working by the end of the decade – around 241 million square metres.
    CBRE’s research indicates that meeting pods are a far cheaper option than constructing new meeting roomsFramery’s analysis based on CBRE’s research indicated that building new meeting rooms in that amount of space would cost more than $85 billion. By comparison, the same area of Framery pod space could be purchased for around $55.5 billion.
    Framery CEO Samu Hällfors also argues that meeting pods reduce office running costs.
    Framery claims to have manufactured the world’s first meeting pod”Pods are compact and make better use of existing space,” said Hällfors. “They allow for greater flexibility in rearranging and reconfiguring offices and they can be moved to a new location when needed.”
    “That all greatly reduces the lifetime costs associated with running an office, especially in larger cities with high-priced real estate,” Hällfors continued.
    Founded in 2010, Framery claims to have invented and sold the world’s first office pod, and its Framery O is the world’s best-seller.
    The study looked at costs of building meeting rooms in cities across North America, Europe and AsiaThere are now more than 200 pod manufacturers around the world, according to Hällfors.
    “The increasing demand for these office pods isn’t coming so much from management as it is from employees themselves,” he said. “Reimagining the workplace in these innovative, cost-effective ways is what is going to get employees excited to return to the office.”
    To view more about Framery and its products, visit its website.
    Partnership content
    This article was written by Dezeen for Framery as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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    Video reveals Austin guesthouse perched above existing family bungalow

    This exclusive video produced by Dezeen features The Perch, architect Nicole Blair’s elevated house extension in Austin, which was designed to maximise living space.

    As its name suggests, the structure is perched just two feet above the roof of the existing home to minimise disturbance to the residence below.
    Blair clad the guesthouse in weathering-steel panels and added wood-framed windows provided by Windsor Windows & Doors. The Burnt Pumpkin colour of the windows was selected to complement the Corten-steel exterior.

    The structure spans 660 square feet and consists of an irregularly shaped steel volume supported by four columns.
    The assembly of the steel structure took place offsite, in order to minimise disruption to the mature vegetation on the premises and reduce on-site material storage.
    The wood-clad windows were provided by Windsor Windows & DoorsThe architect designed the interior of the guesthouse to have a bright, airy atmosphere and adorned it with colourful accents.
    It features wood flooring supplied and installed by local company Artisan Hardwood Floors, which was complemented with pink cabinetry and exposed plumbing fittings throughout the home.
    The materials used for the wood flooring were a mix of pre-finished plain and rift-sawn white oak, along with excess wood recycled from a larger project by the company.
    The wood flooring was supplied and installed by Artisan Hardwood FloorsThe first floor of the guesthouse encompasses an open-concept kitchen, living room and dining area with compact footprints and vaulted ceilings for an increased sense of space.
    The upper level includes a room facing the street and another overlooking the backyard, designated for use as a guest bedroom and a hair salon for one of the hairstylist owners.
    The photography is by Casey Dunn.
    Partnership content
    This video was produced by Dezeen for Windsor Windows & Doors and Artisan Hardwood Floors as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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    Colour-drenched coffee shop by Uchronia references “sunsets in the Tunisian desert”

    Gradated lava stone flooring and suspended planet-like orbs feature at the Cafe Nuances coffee shop in Paris, which was created by Dezeen Awards-nominated studio Uchronia.

    Located on the city’s Rue de la Tremoille, the coffee shop is the third Uchronia-designed branch for Parisian coffee roaster Cafe Nuances.
    Cafe Nuances’ latest branch has a bright white facadeThe one-room shop is fronted by a bright white facade in stark contrast to its vivid-hued interior.
    Studio founder Julien Sebban was informed by the landscapes he experienced on a recent trip to Tunisia when creating the cafe’s walls and lava stone flooring, which are decorated in ombre swathes of red, orange and blue.
    The colorful interior was informed by sunsets in Tunisia”They reminded him of the sunsets in the Tunisian desert – a veritable ode to the gentleness of summer days,” said the studio, known for its playfully eclectic designs and shortlisted in the emerging interior designer category at this year’s upcoming Dezeen Awards.

    The coffee shop’s entrance is flanked by two bright red benches topped with metallic-effect fabric – one curved, and the other straight.
    Uchronia crafted the counter from stainless steelLow-slung interlocking tables, which can double as stools, can be reconfigured to suit customers’ needs.
    Uchronia placed a chunky stainless steel counter at the back of the intimate cafe, which is overlooked by deep orange lacquered shelving – a design element found in the other two Cafe Nuances outlets.

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    “This new address picks up on the codes present in the second shop, accentuating the [coffee] brand’s colourful, futuristic retro universe,” explained the studio.
    A cluster of striking, spherical objects were finished in the same colours as the rest of the space and suspended from the reflective ceiling.
    Planet-like orbs add decoration to the space”Unlike [this branch’s] two big sisters, whose interiors feature striated shapes, here, the poly mirror tiles are complemented by half-spheres in saturated colours, accentuating the dreamlike feel of the coffee shop,” continued Uchronia.
    “They create the illusion of floating balls, which could be mistaken for Saturn.”
    Bespoke interlocking tables also function as stoolsThe studio previously livened up a Haussman-era Paris apartment for a pair of jewellery designers with furniture crafted to nod to the appearance of precious stones.
    Elsewhere, Canadian design duo Julia Jamrozik and Coryn Kempster created a sky-blue coffee shop in a century-old house in Buffalo, New York, with an optical illusion staircase.
    The photography is by Félix Dol Maillot.

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