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      Norm Architects balances “richness and restraint” in refresh of Alsterhaus' menswear department

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      Oak, grey stone and yellow-tinted glass are some of the materials that Norm Architects has used in its minimal makeover of the menswear section of German department store Alsterhaus.Alsterhaus is situated at the heart of Hamburg and first opened its doors in 1912. Spanning 24,000 square metres, the department store offers a mix of fashion, accessories, beauty products and homeware.
      Norm Architects was tasked with refurbishing the long-standing store’s menswear section, which featured lack-lustre white walls and herringbone walls.

      The practice was keen to create a “unity of different universes” across the men’s section that would offer customers a richer experience than shopping online – but also wanted the architecture and material palette of the space to look inherently “pure”.

      The work of American-German architect Mies van der Rohe and Austrian-Czech architect Adolf Loos became a key point of reference.

      OMA wraps glass public walkway around Galleria department store in Gwanggyo

      “A department store is a visually busy place and we realized early in the process that the design needed to be pared down and clear conceptually – ruling out strong patterns and ornamentation,” said Sofie Thorning, associate partner at Norm Architects.
      “We looked to Mies van der Rohe and Adolf Loos for inspiration on natural materials with inherent characteristics that form textures and colours while evoking sensations of warmth, cold balancing feelings of soft and hard to the touch,” she told Dezeen.

      The menswear section is now orientated around a colonnade comprising a sequence of oakwood frames.
      It leads off to various brand concessions that are each fronted by gunmetal signs denoting their name.

      While some areas boast plush carpeting, a majority of the floor has been clad with pale-grey Ceppo di Gre stone tiles.
      “This balance between richness and restraint affords the user a unique and engaging shopping experience, relying on a considered quality of materiality and space,” added Thorning.

      Garments hang from rectangular black-metal frames that descend from the ceiling, while smaller accessories like shoes or lifestyle items are presented on bespoke steel or dark-wood shelving units.
      Pops of colour are offered by yellow-tinted glass clothing stands and blocky display plinths crafted from milky-green natural stone.

      Norm Architects has been established since 2008 and was founded by Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen and Kasper Rønn Von Lotzbeck. Its most recent projects include the creation of a Copenhagen hotel that doubles as a showroom and the refurbishment of a pair of Tokyo apartments.
      The practice also is longlisted in the interior designer of the year category in this year’s Dezeen Awards.
      Photography is by Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen of Norm Architects.

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      Dutch Invertuals designs Tiny Offices from corrugated aluminium plates

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      Design studio Dutch Invertuals has created a collection of compact offices made from corrugated aluminium and wood for Dutch holiday park operator Droomparken.Named Tiny Offices, the small workspaces were designed to be places where you could “freely dream, perform and create”. They have been installed in two of Droomparken’s holiday parks in the Netherlands.

      Dutch Invertuals has designed four Tiny Offices
      The compact offices measure just over six square metres and were built from raw corrugated aluminium plates, with wooden doors and a large window frame on the front facade.

      “The biggest inspiration came from projects which were completely embedded in natural surroundings,” said Dutch Invertuals architect Chris Collaris and design director Wendy Plomp.

      The Tiny Offices were built with corrugated aluminium walls
      “It’s almost an ‘end of the world-place’ with that big window overlooking it,” Collaris and Plomp told Dezeen.
      “The actual space itself didn’t need to be very big.”

      Each of the Tiny Office interiors was designed by a different designer
      The Tiny Offices have custom-designed interiors in different colours, clad in materials including felt and acrylic that were chosen for their functionality.

      Shuhei Goto Architects turns lecture hall into multi-level work space

      “The interiors are designed to create the most optimal work environment, where you can concentrate and work but also lay down on a beautifully designed daybed to think and look outside,” Collaris and Plomp explained.
      “Because it is a small and intimate space, all materials should make sense. Therefore we used an acrylic wall that makes the space look more spacious, but you can also write on it.”

      Tijmen Smeulders designed a paired-back colour scheme for one Tiny Office
      The interiors were designed by three designers Raw Color, Thomas Ballouhey and Tijmen Smeulders.
      Each designer created their own colour scheme, with some choosing a colourful identity and some going for darker, more sophisticated hues.

      Designer Raw Colour added colour wall art to its Tiny Office
      Droomparken, which runs holiday parks across the Netherlands, commissioned the project for Dutch Design Week in 2018 with the aim of creating a space that would be better to work in than a traditional office.
      Today there are four Tiny Offices, with more to potentially be installed in the future.

      Raw Colour also upholstered the chair in pink material
      Their project became more timely as the coronavirus pandemic struck.
      “In these last years offices have become more green and healthy, but criticism of the modern contemporary office has come to the surface, and today the office seems to be under pressure because of the COVID-19 virus,” Collaris and Plomp explained.
      “The units got more attention because going to the normal office was not an option any more. Tiny Offices were and are a much safer place than the traditional office.”

      Thomas Ballouhey designed the interiors of the final office
      Tiny Offices has been longlisted for the Dezeen Awards 2020 in the small workspace interior category.
      Dutch Invertuals previously designed an exhibition celebrating at the circle and experimented with creating products from unwanted household junk to produce less.

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      Decada Muebles spotlights local craft inside Mexico's Escondido Oaxaca Hotel

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      Interiors studio Decada Muebles has filled this boutique hotel in Oaxaca City, Mexico with pieces made by the region’s artisans.A majority of the Escondido Oaxaca Hotel takes over a former family home that dates back to the 19th century.
      Inside are four of the hotel’s total 12 guest rooms – the last eight are located just beyond the house within a more contemporary concrete tower erected by architect Alberto Kalach.

      The Escondido Oaxaca Hotel lobby. Top image: a bedroom in the concrete tower
      This mixture of old and new influenced Decada Muebles’ design of the hotel, which has been almost exclusively decked out with pieces crafted by local craft makers.

      “We wanted to create a feeling of timelessness inside an authentic Oaxacan house, where the guests could feel the presence of a craftsman’s hand through their work in every nook and cranny,” the interior design studio told Dezeen.
      “With a mix of minimalism and clean lines in our furniture choices, and the lush landscaping and garden design, we aimed to maximize the possibility of relaxation and sense of serenity as the underlying state while at the hotel.”

      The hotel restaurant features green cement tiles
      Guests enter the hotel via the old house, walking through a spacious lobby that’s dotted with oversized terracotta plant pots.
      Red bricks run across the floor, while the walls are loosely rendered with stucco – faded patches of paint left behind from the house’s old fit-out are still visible.
      These rustic walls continue through into the restaurant, which serves up a menu of Mexican fusion food.

      The split-level culture room features stucco walls
      Local craftsmen have used Sabino, a Mexican wood, to make the tables and chairs that appear throughout the room. They complement a gridded timber shelving unit that openly displays liquor bottles and glassware.
      The floor here is clad with locally sourced green-cement tiles – the colour was specifically chosen in a subtle nod to Cantera, a green-hued volcanic rock that’s native to Oaxaca and used to build several of its buildings and roads.

      The concrete facade of the new tower
      When they’re not relaxing around the pool, which is up on the roof, guests can head to the split-level “culture room”.
      It includes a small library and a cosy sofa area decorated with earth-tone vases.

      Bedrooms feature sabino wood furniture
      Guest rooms in the old house and the concrete tower have been finished in the same material palette that’s been applied throughout Escondido Oaxaca Hotel’s communal spaces.

      Monte Uzulu is a boutique hotel in the Oaxacan jungle by Taller Lu’um and At-te

      Green-tinted cement tiles cover surfaces in the en-suite bathrooms and sabino wood has been used to create the rooms’ side tables, bed frames and shutters, which can be pushed back to reveal balconies or foliage-filled patios.
      Details like the woven palm leaf headboards were also custom made in Oaxaca.

      A bedroom opening onto a courtyard
      Escondido Oaxaca Hotel is longlisted in the hotel and short-stay category of this year’s Dezeen Awards.
      It will compete against the likes of Trunk House, a boutique hotel in Tokyo that includes a miniature disco, and Casa Palerm, a guest villa in Mallorca which is fronted by a huge cinema screen-like window.
      Photography is by Undine Pröhl.

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      Seven dental clinics designed to take the pain out of check ups

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      Architects and designers have created these seven dental offices with bright and colourful interiors to offer patients a more enjoyable and worry free experience.

      Dent Protetyka, Poland, Adam Wiercinski

      The pick-up window inside this Polish denture clinic designed by Adam Wiercinski is outlined with green lines that form the shape of medical services cross.
      Located inside an old tenement building in Poznan, the 10-square-metre space is modelled after the city’s small kiosk shops. Steel mesh separates the waiting room and shopfront from the tiny consultation room situated in the rear of the space.
      Find out more about Dent Protetyka ›

      The Urban Dentist, Germany, Studio Karhard
      Studio Karhard designed The Urban Dentist in Berlin to mimic the flashy interiors of Berghain, the electronica nightclub in the German city also completed by the firm.
      LED lights border the edges of the fluted glass walls, while in the treatment rooms the sink and supplies are stored inside a pink cabinet that is topped with a colourful speckled counter.
      Find out more about The Urban Dentist ›

      Sou Smile, Brazil, SuperLimão
      Brazilian studio SuperLimão inserted a pink polycarbonate volume inside Sou Smile, a dental health treatment centre in São Paulo that manufactures dental appliances.
      The rounded structure houses a consultation room, while the rest of the converted warehouse building is outfitted with open-plan workstations and a laboratory for manufacturing dental appliances.
      Find out more about Sou Smile ›

      Waiting room, China, RIGI Design
      A rectangular “dining” table and play area for children feature in this colourful clinic in Tianjin, China designed by RIGI Design.
      The play space is framed in the shape of a house and decorated with animal-shaped furnishings. Treatment rooms are located along a corridor fronted with glass walls. Large black digits painted on the hardwood floor designate the room number.
      Find out more about the waiting room ›

      Ortho Wijchen, Netherlands, Studio Prototype
      For this office in Wichen, Netherlands has inserted the treatment areas between translucent glass partitions. To ease patient’s comfort each the of chairs faces a wall of windows that provide a view of a grassy pastoral landscape.
      “The open setup of the plan and the large panoramic view towards the garden create a light and spacious place in which the patient feels comfortable,” the studio said.
      Find out more about the Ortho Wijchen ›

      Go Orthodontistes, Canada, Natasha Thorpe Design
      Slatted timber panels clad the walls and reception desk in this orthodontist practice in Quebec, Canada designed by Natasha Thorpe Design.
      The boards of Douglas fir wood cover storage cabinets and form shelves in the office. In the consultation room there are several dental chairs and a row of black cabinets. Translucent glass spans across the laboratory and instrument sterilisation room concealing its interiors from the outside.
      Find out more about the Go Orthodontistes ›

      Impress, Spain, Raúl Sanchez Architects
      The curve of a smile informed the design for Impress, a dental clinic in Barcelona designed by Raúl Sanchez Architects.
      Large rounded boards crafted using pine wood form partitions in the office. The studio chose the material to add warmth to the typically white and sterile environment. Red, blue and grey accents add a playful element to the design and tie in with the company’s branding.
      Find out more about the Impress ›

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      Luigi Rosselli Architects creates wave-like facade for Bondi Bombora house in Sydney

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      Turquoise and sea-green tiles wash over the undulating facade of this family home in Sydney, designed by local practice Luigi Rosselli Architects.The Bondi Bombora house is occupied by three generations of a family and their gang of dogs, cats and chickens.

      The swelling ocean waters of nearby Bondi beach informed the design of the three-storey home, which Luigi Rosselli Architects has named after bombora – an indigenous Australian term used to describe a wave which forms over submerged fragments of reef or rock offshore.

      “It’s an homage to that surfers’ haven; to the swell and the waves that have formed a rich intertidal culture for millennia,” said the practice.

      Elements of the home have been made to emulate the shape of a wave, like its undulating front elevation.
      Slim turquoise and sea green-coloured tiles arranged in a herringbone pattern cover the bottom third of the elevation, which the practice hopes will “shimmer in the daylight like the surface of the ocean”.

      Ripple-edged frames made from black steel also surround the windows and doorways.
      Black steel has additionally been used to clad the top third of the house, which the practice likens to an “armoured battleship”.

      Inside Bondi Bombora are a series of airy, light-filled living spaces with high ceilings, which Luigi Rosselli Architects created with the help of interiors studio Alwill.
      The practice had been inspired by the lofty proportions of piano nobiles, or “noble floors” – the first storey of grand Italian palazzos where main reception rooms and bedrooms would be placed.

      One side of the home accommodates an open-plan kitchen with bright white cabinetry. Inhabitants can eat at the marble-topped breakfast island, or around the more formal wooden dining table.
      Where possible, Alwill has incorporated practical features for family living. For example, a sideboard that runs along the rear of the room includes a fold-out desk where the kids can do their homework.

      Luigi Rosselli Architects adds twisting stair to Sydney’s Peppertree Villa

      Expansive glazed panels can be slid back to access the garden, where landscaper Michael Bates has planted an abundance of fruit trees and pollen-friendly plants for the bees the inhabitants keep.

      A double-height void accommodates a small study area and a stairwell that leads up to the Bondi Bombora’s sleeping quarters.
      Cocoon-like pendant lamps made from black and white mesh cascade down the centre.

      The entire back wall of the stairwell has been in-built with a towering bookshelf. More books can be stored in the stepped shelving unit that’s been built to sit alongside the steps.
      A deep-set window on the first-floor landing has also been transformed into a cosy reading nook.

      Luigi Rosselli Architects has been established since 1984 and works out of offices in Sydney’s Surry Hills suburb.
      The practice has designed a number of dwellings around the Australian city. Among them is Peppertree Villa, a 1920s home that features a dramatic spiral staircase and contemporary glass conservatory.
      Photography is by Prue Ruscoe.
      Project credits:
      Architects: Luigi RosselliProject architects: Sean Johnson, Diana YangInterior designers: Alwill InteriorsBuilder: Building With OptionsJoiner: BWO Fitout and InteriorsStructural consultant: Geoff Ninnes Fong and PartnersLandscaper: Bates LandscapeWindows: Evolution Window SystemsMetal roofing/cladding: Traditional Metal Roofing

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      Clothing racks move along wheeled tracks in Los Angeles athletic store Reigning Champ

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      Vancouver studio Peter Cardew has designed this store in Los Angeles for an athletic wear clothing company to allude to the aesthetic of a gym.The Reigning Champ store at 115 South La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles features walls covered in white glazed tiles, concrete floors and wooden clothing rails – simple materials chosen by Peter Cardew to follow the style of a gymnasium.

      “In order to connect the customer with the product the design of the Los Angeles store obliquely alludes to the domain of a gym, providing an harmonious setting appropriate for the display of athletic clothing,” the studio explained.

      “The choice of materials reinforces the relationship to sporting activity with the use of functional and utilitarian white glazed tile as wall and bench surfaces, polished concrete floors, and display fixtures fabricated using western hemlock, a plentiful economic wood with a straight grain efficiency,” it added.
      “All culminating to convey a functional place of activity akin to any effective sporting milieu.”

      Piles of folded clothes are stored in the base of the wooden clothing racks that are suspended on rails from the ceiling.
      The wooden structures, which are braced with metalwork, have wheels fitted the top of the wooden structures so they can be easily moved around the store.

      “In keeping with this active rather than passive environment the display fixtures are infinitely mobile being suspended from concrete beams attached to wheeled tracks which easily allows for changing seasonal configurations,” the studio added.

      Commune designs Serra marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles to be airy and luxurious

      “In addition, to facilitate yet more changes these fixtures are simply bolted together so that they can be removed for special events, celebrations, or exhibitions.”

      Photograph by Andrew Latreille
      The materiality continues into the changing rooms, whose doors feature an opening with a built-in wooden shelf so customers can swap clothes with Reigning Champ salespeople.
      Reigning Champ spans the ground floor of its building with two large windows offering views and natural light into the space.

      The project, which is longlisted in the large retail interior category of Dezeen Awards 2020, marks the first in the US for the Canadian clothing brand. It is its fifth in total following two in Vancouver and two in Toronto.
      Other shops recently completed in Los Angeles include a marijuana dispensary Commune designed to be airy and luxurious, and a dramatically narrow, runway-like space Bernard Dubois designed as the first store for sneaker brand APL.
      Photography is by Mike Kelly, unless stated otherwise.

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      This week, Rolls-Royce had a rebrand and NASA's Mars mission got a logo

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      This week on Dezeen, design studio House of van Schneider unveiled the logo for NASA’s robotic rover and Pentagram gave the Rolls-Royce visual identity a makeover.House of van Schneider has designed the branding for NASA’s 2020 mission to send a rover to Mars to look for signs of past life.
      A red circle symbolises the red planet, overlaid with a pixellated outline of the robot and a star that represents Earth glimpsed from Mars. This logo is going on the main rocket as well as the rover, along with badges and keycards used by scientists on the project.
      “We never had our work on a rocket, or sent to space, let alone on Mars. This was a first for the entire House of van Schneider team,” said  founder Tobias van Schneider.

      Rolls-Royce unveils “confident but quiet” rebrand by Pentagram
      Design studio Pentagram revealed the rebrand it designed for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, based around the signature statuette that perches on the bonnet of its cars.

      Called the Spirit of Ecstasy, the figure of a woman with diaphanous wings has been updated and flipped to be a simplified logo for Rolls-Royce.
      “Things like the size of the waist were so important,” said Pentagram partner Marina Willer, “because we didn’t want to indicate that she was too skinny, as that wouldn’t set a good example, and we didn’t want to make her too feminine and sexual either.”

      Expo 2025 Osaka logo revealed as ring of red blobs
      A red circle was revealed as the winning design of the competition to make the logo for Expo 2025 Osaka. Graphic designer Tamotsu Shimada won over the jury and the public with a circle of blobs that look like cell nuclei – and googly eyes.
      Japan embraced the anthropomorphic qualities of the design on social media, producing memes and fanart of the logo as an alien creature, a video game character, and even a loaf of bread.

      Melania Trump criticised for “upsetting” White House Rose Garden renovation on social media
      Melania Trump also had the attention of design Twitter this week. Her redesign of the Rose Garden at the White House went viral after she shared pictures of her foray into landscape architecture.
      It wasn’t the first time that the First Lady – who left her formal architecture studies to pursue a successful modelling career –turned her hand to design. We rounded up four examples here.

      Photos reveal Foster + Partners “floating” spherical Apple Marina Bay Sands store
      Photos of the new Apple Marina Bay Sands shop in Singapore have also been popping up on social media. British practice Foster + Partners is building the spherical store on the water, where it will be reached via a footbridge.
      Foster + Partners’ founder Norman Foster also unveiled his design for a temporary parliament building for the UK. The proposal includes a debating chamber and office spaces for 650 politicians wrapped in bomb-proof glass.

      MAD wraps Beverly Hills residences Gardenhouse with America’s “largest living wall”
      Planted facades had a moment in architecture news this week. Chinese architecture studio MAD laid claim to building America’s “largest living wall” by wrapping a housing development in Beverly Hills with a swirl of succulents.
      Norwegian firm Snøhetta covered a timber office in Austria with a layer of greenery trailing up a latticed metal frame.

      Perforated metal pavilion by Neiheiser Argyros disguises London Underground vents
      In other architecture news, major infrastructure projects had their vents cunningly disguised by architects. Architecture studio Neiheiser Argyros shrouded the exhaust vents and fire escape of a London Underground station with a stylish pavilion and cafe.
      To hide a ventilation shaft for the upcoming HS2 railway line, architecture firm Grimshaw has proposed a decorative roof of weathered steel to transform it into a local landmark.

      [In]Brace allows users to control a computer with their tongueIngenious wearables featured in design and technology news on Dezeen. Graduate designer Dorothee Clasen has created a retainer called [In]Brace that allows the wearer to communicate with a computer using just their tongue.
      Amelia Kociolkowska, another graduate designer, has created a wearable spandex pouch called Carrie that allows for the convenient and discreet carrying of period products.

      Island Rest is a black-timber holiday home on the English coast
      This week our readers were excited about a larch-clad holiday home on the Isle of Wight, a hilltop house in Costa Rica with views of the ocean, and a government building in India covered in an Ikat pattern of bricks.
      This week on Dezeen is our regular roundup of the week’s top news stories. Subscribe to our newsletters to be sure you don’t miss anything.

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      The Wayfinder hotel designed to “feel as if you were staying with friends” in Rhode Island

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      New York design practice Reunion Goods & Services has renovated this hotel in Rhode Island to be reminiscent of a colourful home with a fireplace and cosy seating nooks.Formerly the Mainstay Hotel, The Wayfinder property is located in Newport and was refurbished by Reunion Goods & Services for developer Dovetail + Co. It includes 197 suites, a restaurant, lounge, patio and outdoor swimming pool.

      Reunion Goods & Services designed the hotel to be evocative of a house rather than a hotel and sought to optimise the amount of natural light. White walls are enlivened with a variety of colours like burnt red, blue, green and mustard.

      “The goal of this project was to freshen the spaces and bring as much light into the rooms as possible,” the team said. “The intent was always for the rooms to feel as if you were staying with friends or at a summer house.”

      The rest of the interior design is a combination of existing details, like stone and terrazzo floors with wood-panelled walls, alongside woven and wooden furniture pieces for a relaxed yet playful feel.
      The lobby features its original white terrazzo flooring with a new dark blue ceiling for contrast, while a free-standing fireplace in mustard with a glass enclosure is the focal point. It is surrounded by a custom white sofa in a U-shape.

      The hotel rooms have a paler palette reflective of the hotel’s beach location with off-white walls and chair railing in soft blue and green tones.

      Tourists hotel in The Berkshires takes cues from classic American motor lodges

      Continuing the relaxed, residential aesthetic is a lounge area with couches, pouffes, indoor plants, chairs, woven roller shades and woven cane dining chairs. Colourful fabrics enliven the space with its stone floors, while window trim is teal.

      The sitting area joins the hotel restaurant Nomi Park, which has bolder colours like red-tiled walls, burnt orange leather banquettes, a bar clad in light blue tiles and dining benches upholstered in a cheetah print.
      The wood dining chairs in dark blue are made locally by O & G Studio that is one of the emerging studios based in Rhode Island.

      Art by more local artists rounds out the interiors, including a piece in the restaurant by Mea Duke and a mural outside in the patio near the swimming pool by Sean Spellman. Others artists whose work is displayed are Catherine Druken, Jenn Shore, Jenny Brown and Liz Kelley.

      In addition to the Wayfinder hotel, other boutique accommodations in small towns and rural areas of the Northeastern United States are Tourists hotel in Massachusetts’ Berkshires region, Scribner’s Catskill Lodge, Sound View on Long Island and Troutbeck hotel by Champalimaud.
      Photography is by Read McKendree.

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