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London architecture studio Daab Design has turned a former art storage vault in Marylebone, London, into a two-bedroom apartment full of Georgian period features that were restored with the help of an archaeologist. More
Amsterdam studio Barde + vanVoltt has inserted skylights and glass partition walls into this former garage to transform it into a light-filled family home that celebrates the building’s industrial past.Located in central Amsterdam, just a few steps away from the Rijksmuseum, the 100-square-metre space is on the ground floor of a residential terrace built in the 1930s. It originally hosted a hardware store but was most recently used as a garage.
Above: wood-framed glass doors lead into the bedrooms. Top image: a wood-panelled kitchen is located at the front of the apartment
Barde + vanVoltt was asked to transform the building into a wide and open family home for four that brings in as much natural light as possible. The brief also called for the use of sustainable and natural materials as well as a simple, minimalist interior that allows details to stand out.
“We wanted to keep the space as wide as possible without having corridors or a hallway because that’s what makes this space unique in Amsterdam,” Barde + vanVoltt co-founder Valérie Boerma told Dezeen. “Most apartments are divided over multiple levels and are very narrow.”
The dining room, kitchen and lounge share an open-plan space
Working to a six-month deadline, the studio’s first challenge was to channel natural light from the street-facing front of the building to the rear.
The large, double front doors that open up onto the road were switched from solid wood to glass, maximising the amount of light in the apartment’s open-plan kitchen, dining and living area.
The wooden doorframes are arched in a nod to art deco
At the rear of the building, Barde + vanVoltt raised the roof and converted the ceiling into skylights. Underneath, the plan accommodates a total of three bedrooms – a master with an en-suite and two children’s rooms that double as playrooms.
Each is delineated by timber-framed glass walls and doors, allowing natural light to filter into these darker spaces.
The apartments clay walls have built-in storage
The designers’ second challenge was balancing the integrity of the property with the needs of a young family.
“We drew inspiration from the building’s industrial past into the choice of materials and refined the selection based on durability and sustainability,” said the studio.
A free-standing tin bath anchors the en-suite bathroom
The building’s original concrete floor was retained and offset against natural clay walls and arched wooden door and window frames reminiscent of the art deco period.
“We wanted to add warmth to the concrete floor, so we designed the wooden Meranti doors with a reference in the arching detail to the 1930s when the property was built,” Boerma explained.
Standard Studio use skylights to funnel light into Amsterdam loft
The studio added industrial fixtures such as untreated wooden frames, a freestanding tin bath and sink in the en-suite, brushed and burnished copper tapware in the wet areas, and a kitchen island made from rolled steel with a quartzite benchtop.
Outside, the original hardware store signage on the building’s facade was left in place. In the summer, the wide double doors can be opened up and the pedestrianised street outside the apartment can be used as a terrace.
The kitchen features quartzite worktops
“The neighbourhood – made up of a few streets – is a very unique area in the city centre of Amsterdam,” explained Boerma. “It feels like a village, everybody knows each other and kids are playing together on the streets.”
Former inner-city garages can offer unique but sometimes awkwardly-shaped sites for development. In east London, architect Zoe Chan built Herringbone House on the non-linear site of a former car workshop, while in south London Tikari Works squeezed Pocket House into the space of a former garage, where the buildable area was only 35 square metres.
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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
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O-office Architects has converted several buildings on a tea plantation near Guangzhou, China, into a cultural centre featuring a rooftop garden wrapped in bamboo screens.As part of the (Re)forming Duichuan Tea Yards project, local firm O-office Architects was tasked with revitalising three disused buildings at the plantation in the Gaoming District of Guangdong Province.
O-office Architects has converted three factory buildings into an exhibition space
The site in Duichuan Village was established as a tea plantation in the 1950s and comprises more than 300 acres of gently rolling hills dotted with small lakes.
O-office Architects was approached to help transform three factory buildings into an exhibition space in 2017, after the tea yard had been abandoned and fallen into disrepair when the demand for its tea declined at the start of the 21st century.
The buildings are decorated with bamboo screens. Photo is by Huang Chengqiang
The exhibition space is located at the heart of the reestablished production facility, which will soon begin harvesting its first new crop of Duichuan tea.
The renovated buildings now contain exhibits offering visitors a historic overview of Duichuan tea culture, alongside a fine-dining restaurant and the tea yard’s offices.
A new stone podium wrapping the buildings frames views of the landscape
The three 1980s edifices are situated on a small island in an artificial reservoir that also contains woodland, with low-rise former workers’ housing nestled amongst the trees.
Exposed concrete structures and narrow-framed steel windows were retained to evoke the buildings’ industrial heritage. The architects also sought to enhance the connection between the former production spaces and the surrounding plantation.
The complex is surrounded by several ponds and trees
“We tried to find a simple spatial prototype for the reconstruction of the site to load the envisioned cultural settlement,” said the architects in a project statement.
“The design gradually approached a concept of the mixture of ‘pavilion’ and ‘podium’,” the studio added. “We tried to evolve the prototype of the ‘pavilion’ into a settlement that encompasses production and detour.”
Roof gardens are connected by bridges
To house the main cultural and public spaces dedicated to the history of tea production, a new podium made from blocks of dark local granite was constructed around the base of the existing buildings.
This structure functions as a viewing platform and contains openings that redefine the relationship between indoor and outdoor spaces, lending the facility a more porous and welcoming character.
The podium is composed of blocks of dark local granite
New roof gardens on top of the three factory buildings are connected by bridges so visitors can traverse the site whilst taking in aerial views of the plantation.
The garden courtyards are lined with bamboo screens that also extend onto staircases at the corners of the buildings. The stairs connect the rooftop with the stone viewing platform, creating a route that leads visitors all the way around and over the site.
The factories’ original concrete structures are exposed inside
“This connection creates a vertical yet horizontal promenade that wraps around the original production space,” the architects pointed out.
“We hope this tour can evoke a sense of ‘in search of a lost time’ [whilst] at the same time acting as a response against the rapid industrialisation of modern urban and rural areas.”
O-office Architects reinterprets traditional Chinese courtyard house in concrete and steel
The blending of the industrial buildings with the plantation is enhanced by landscaping that includes several ponds and trees that reach through apertures in the stone podium.
The new podium contains public spaces
O-office Architects was established by He Jianxiang and Jiang Ying in Guangzhou in 2007. The firm works on projects across various scales, from urban design and architecture to the exhibition and furniture design.
Several of O-office Architects’ projects focus on renovation and conserving the architectural history of the Pearl River Delta. It previously worked on a residence inspired by vernacular courtyard houses found in the region.
Photography is by Zhang Chao unless stated.
Project credits:
Architect: O-office ArchitectsClient: Midea GroupDesign team: He Jianxiang, Jiang Ying, Dong Jingyu, Huang Chengqiang, Zhang Wanyi, Cai Lehuan, Wu Yifei, He Zhenzhong, He Wenkang and Peng WeisenStructural consultant: Situ Ying, Luo Qiyao and Luo JiajieM.E. consultant: Bun Cong M&E DesignV.I. Design: TheWhy art x design
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Located in a former garage space at the base of a residential block, this school for music in the Spanish city of Burgos makes a feature of the building’s existing concrete structure.Local architect Enrique Jerez and interior designer Blanca Leal were commissioned to create the Yoglar school by a client, who wanted to create a “home” for early music and piano education.
Classrooms in the open-plan extension are demarcated through orange vinyl flooring
The original trapezoidal plot in which the school is located was built in 1947 along with the adjacent residential building.
The garage faces the street while an extension with a mezzanine, which was added in 1952 to increase storage space, is located at the back. Supported by pillars, this features a barrel-vaulted concrete ceiling and covers the building’s original courtyard.
The reception features built-in birch furniture
Instead of dismantling this “disorganised” structure, the architects decided to leave the irregular, concrete shell almost untouched.
As such, the 205-square-metre school is divided into two areas. The original, trapezoidal garage space is home to an entrance hall, reception desk and toilets alongside a manager’s office and the school’s largest classroom.
The extension is nicknamed “the forest” and houses a menagerie of plants
The former courtyard area is now nicknamed “the forest” and houses two irregularly-shaped classrooms. One of these is enclosed within a house-shaped volume, which was sound-proofed with the help of three-centimetre-thick cork panels.
The second classroom is located within the larger open-plan space and is delineated by its orange vinyl flooring.
A spiral staircase made from blackened steel leads up to the mezzanine level, which has retained its original function as a storage space.
The spiral staircase is made from blackened steel
Natural light is funnelled into the school through two sets of glass doors at the back of the space that open onto a small patio.
The floors, walls and ceilings throughout are finished in polished concrete to bring a cohesive feel to the different spaces while enhancing the acoustics.
The designers also added built-in birch furniture to bring some warmth to the otherwise cool concrete space.
Primary school children create Mega Maker Lab in former London fire station
“Our aim was to design a place both unique and functional, which could foster children’s creativity while achieving clear results in their music development from zero to 12 years,” said Jerez and Leal.
The floors and walls are finished in polished concrete
In the Czech Republic, architecture studios FUUZE and Public Atelier recently converted a series of old church buildings into a modern primary school with the help of brightly coloured interventions.
The project involved building new classrooms and restoring the decaying roof trusses of the original church complex back to its former glory.
Images are courtesy of Javier Bravo.
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Design studio Linehouse has converted a Shanghai office block’s swimming pool into an additional workspace, using a palette of blue vinyl, peachy leather and light-hued timber.The swimming pool was part of the fitness facilities made for office workers of the Jing’An Kerry Centre, a mixed-use development in Shanghai’s Jing’An district designed by architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox back in 2013.
The bowl of the swimming pool has been turned into a huge seating area
However as the pool was rarely used, locally-based studio Linehouse was asked to convert the room into something slightly more practical.
It now plays host to various seating areas where staff can work or host informal catch-ups with clients throughout the day. Businesses in the development can also choose to use the room for corporate events or talks.
Flecked blue vinyl lines the inside of the former pool
The focal point of the room is still the swimming pool, but it has been drained of water and lined with flecked blue vinyl from flooring specialists Tarkett.
“It was a great opportunity to play with levels which normally an existing interior space does not allow,” Linehouse’s co-founder, Alex Mok, told Dezeen.
A curved pane of glass encloses a boardroom
Flights of steps that double up as seats have been built-in at the side of the pool, topped with baby-pink cushions. A semi-circular banquette upholstered in peachy-coloured leather has then been created at the far end of the pool.
Linehouse adds elevated tearooms in a warehouse for Tingtai Teahouse in Shanghai
The studio also decided to preserve the huge oval skylight that lies directly above the pool.
Around the skylight runs spherical pendant lamps and a series of light-hued timber fins, some of which extended down towards the floor to form slatted screens.
Some work areas are fronted by slatted timber screens
Should workers need to take a call, they can escape to one of the private phone booths which are at the peripheries of the room.
Inside, the booths are lined with leaf-printed wallpaper from Calico.
Printed wallpaper lines the inside of the phone booths
There’s also a small cafe anchored by a Ceppo Nova stone counter and a formal boardroom enclosed by a curved pane of glass.
The black gridding across the glass is meant to mimic the form of the blue wainscotting that lines the room’s walls. Emerald-green wainscoting features in the meetings rooms, which have been created inside the swimming pool’s former changing areas.
Meeting rooms boast emerald-green wainscotting
Linehouse was set up by Alex Mok and Briar Hickling in 2013. This isn’t the studio’s first conversion project – last year it turned part of an abandoned factory into a teahouse, where guests enjoy their drinks from inside glass-fronted boxes.
Photography is by Dirk Weiblen.
Project credits:
Architect: LinehouseDesign lead: Alex Mok, Briar HicklingDesign team: Cherngyu Chen, Eleonora Nucci, Jingru TongClient: Kerry Properties
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Japanese architect Uoya Shigenori stripped back and reconfigured this 100-year-old townhouse in Kyoto to create moody and tranquil interiors for Maana Kamo guesthouse.Located in the historic Higashiyama District, the hotel was designed by Shigenori for Maana Homes, the owner of a collection of luxury retreats hidden within some of the Japanese city’s old streets.
The main living room inside Maana Kamo guesthouse
The goal of the renovation was to preserve and expose the dwelling’s original structure while creating a minimalist retreat for quiet contemplation.
It has been shortlisted for the hotel and short stay interior of the year at the Dezeen Awards 2020.
Its guestroom can be adapted into a yoga space
“Preserving and highlighting the house’s imperfectly aged beauty is the backbone of our design philosophy,” said Maana Homes.
“The beauty and soul of a traditional Japanese townhome is in its structural elements.”
The kitchen has a central island covered with layers of Urushi
Prior to the renovation, Maana Kamo was in a poor condition with unsightly vinyl wall coverings, tile ceilings and broken floorboards.
These finishes were all removed, exposing the old house’s rough, wooden structure and original walls that are made from clay.
A double vanity features in the new moody bathroom
These original details have been teamed with dark, moody furnishings and subdued lighting, alongside new timber walls and floors lined with traditional straw tatami mats.
Ornament is kept to a minimum throughout, while storage spaces for the hotel staff are disguised within the walls.
Events space opens inside revamped century-old machiya house in Kyoto
The lack of ornament is to ensure Maana Kamo guesthouse is “visually quiet” and free from distraction, providing occupants with space to slow down and reflect.
It also allows rooms to be easily adapted, for example, a guest room on the second floor can be quickly converted into a space for yoga and meditation.
The decoration is limited to a few handcrafted ornaments
One of the biggest changes Shigenori made to the dwelling was the repositioning of the kitchen from a narrow space at the rear of the dwelling to a larger area at the front.
This made space for a large kitchen island that is covered with layers of Urushi – a traditional Japanese lacquer made of tree sap that is water-resistant –and a wall of wooden cabinetry and shelves filled with local, handcrafted kitchenware.
The building’s original structure clay walls are exposed throughout
Where the old kitchen once stood, Shigenori has inserted a double-vanity bathroom with a shower that overlooks a private garden at the rear of the dwelling.
The guesthouse is complete with an oversized Japanese-style bathtub that is accessed from the living room. It has a view out to the private garden and is intended to evoke the feeling of bathing in an onsen – a Japanese bathing facility positioned around a hot spring.
Its old and dark wooden structure has also been revealed throughout
In 2016, Shigenori collaborated with Masashi Koyama on the restoration of a century-old machiya house in Kyoto to create an events space. Similarly to Maana Kamo, the goal of the design was to celebrate the architecture and history of the space.
Other projects up for short stay interior of the year at the Dezeen Awards 2020 include the small Escondido Oaxaca Hotel in Mexico by Decada and Carlos Couturier and OHLAB’s extension of a rural hotel in Mallorca.
Photos are courtesy of Maana Homes.
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Wooden detailing and black-painted steel fill the lofty interiors of The Gymnasium apartment that Robbert De Goede has built within an old sports hall in the Netherlands.Located near the centre of Amsterdam, the adaptive reuse project was developed by local studio Robbert De Goede as an unconventional yet homely dwelling for a family of four.
The Gymnasium is shortlisted for apartment interior of the year at the Dezeen Awards and was the winner of the Dezeen Awards 2020 public vote for the same category.
The Gymnasium is built within an old sports hall
“The objective was to design an intimate, liveable home,” said Robbert De Goede.
“This resulted in a minimal, industrial approach towards the architecture and a very personal approach towards the finishes, which reflects the clients as well – the owner of a fashion brand and a paediatrician,” the studio explained.
“They are a very down to earth family, which resulted in a very spacious and luxurious home, but definitely not a showroom for design props.”
The apartment’s living spaces are at ground level
The Gymnasium’s main living areas are contained on the ground floor, while a new mezzanine level inserted around the gymnasium’s perimeter hosts the bedrooms and bathrooms.
A basement, which formed part of the original building, contains a gym and a sauna, alongside the dwelling’s technical equipment.
Steel window frames have been added to complement the existing structure
The basement was originally only 1.2 metres in height, so to ensure its usability, the studio raised its ceiling – creating a cosy, elevated living room above it at ground level.
This living area is accessed by a bleacher-like staircase and is intended to offer the family a secluded, intimate seating area, reading space or home cinema.
An elevated sitting area is positioned above an existing basement
The only original element of The Gymansium that was retained was its existing steel structure, which was initially hidden behind a flat ceiling.
This ceiling was removed as part of the construction process to create the apartment’s loft-like atmosphere and also introduce 10 skylights that maximise the light inside.
Old Spanish workshop converted into tactile family home by Nomos
To complement The Gymansium’s existing structure, Robbert De Goede designed the new mezzanine level with a matching black-painted steel structure.
This is left exposed throughout, and paired with a black staircase and window frames.
Wooden details and furnishings are used to warm the apartment
Another key addition of the apartment is its new foundation, which features 18-metre-long piles that contain a heat-exchanging system to help heat and cool the dwelling.
Teamed with 44 rooftop solar panels that provide electricity, this heat-exchanging system is designed to reduce the dwelling’s carbon footprint.
A black-painted staircase leads up to a new mezzanine level
The interior finishes of The Gymnasium are characterised by a combination of different wood finishes and tactile furnishings.
According to Robbert De Goede, this was to warm its industrial structure and create a “building you can touch, maybe even smell sometimes”.
The mezzanine level contains the bedrooms and bathrooms
Among the wooden details are chunky central columns, the rough countertop made from larch in the kitchen and unfinished oak on the underside of the mezzanine level.
The smooth stair railings, which are made from yellow cedar, are modelled on the work of Japanese sculptor Shimpei Arima who uses cedar to create tactile sculptures that offer comfort to users.
Each space is complete with sculptural lighting by the likes of Delta Light, Bocci and Tom Dixon, alongside furnishings ranging from one-off vintage pieces to statement furniture by Stella Works, Flexform and Lucie Koldova.
A bathroom on The Gymnasium’s mezzanine level
The Gymnasium is one of five dwellings shortlisted for apartment interior of the year at the Dezeen Awards 2020. This includes the La Nave apartment in Madrid that Nomos built within a former print shop and Coffey Architects’ overhaul of a Grade II-listed school classroom.
Other recent adaptive reuse projects on Dezeen include Richard Parr Associates’ self-designed studio in a 19th-century barn in the Cotswolds and an old nylon factory that was converted into “cathedral-like” office space by HofmanDujardin and Schipper Bosch.
Photography is by Marcel van der Burg.
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