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      Dreamscapes & Artificial Architecture book editor selects five favourite 3D artists

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      Berlin-based publisher Gestalten has released a book that showcases whimsical architectural and interiors renderings. The book’s editor, Elli Stuhler, highlights five artists that feature inside.Comprising just over 200 pages, Dreamscapes & Artificial Architecture shows off the fanciful landscapes, structures and interiors imagined by 3D artists “working at the intersection of architecture, interior design, and technology”.
      Gestalten says the hardback book comes at a time when spatial modelling software “has the potential to be immensely liberating”.
      “We have never before had such capacity to render the world as we would like it to be,” explained the publishers.
      “Modeling software is not industry-specific; you don’t have to be an architect to design a building, or an interior designer to render a space,” it continued.
      “In recent years it has become increasingly popular among artists, who take the visual language of traditional CGI and apply it in new and interesting ways. In this book, this is exemplified by renders of impossible spaces that cannot – and will not – be built.”
      A total of 44 3D artists are featured in the title, whose work depicts everything from pastel-pink seaside homes to desolate, post-apocalyptic wastelands.
      Gestalten editor Elli Stuhler talks through five of her favourite artists – see below for the full selection.

      Paul Milinski

      “Australian artist Paul Milinski is featured right at the outset of the book because his work does a really good job of encapsulating the book’s overall mood.
      “His work combines several disciplines: 3D, of course, but he also weaves in architecture, interiors, still-life and landscaping. These spaces don’t always need to make sense – escalators leading down to the edge of a glassy pond, for instance – and that’s what I personally like most about them.”

      Filip Hodas
      “Filip Hodas is a Czech 3D artist with a huge online following, no small part of which will have been garnered by his Pop Culture Dystopia series.
      “Mickey Mouse heads and Poke Balls lie forgotten, overgrown as if they’re remnants of some bygone world. My favourite of his works in the book show hulking brutalist concrete structures surrounded by water, as though emerging from the depths.”

      Hayden Clay
      “Hayden Clay is an American photographer and 3D artist. We’ve included works that look a lot like a flooded version of the New York subway.
      “He contrasts the foreboding subject matter with beautiful, warm lighting, like the next morning after a storm.”

      Notoo Studio
      “Referring to many of the works in this book as ‘surreal’ is a very apt parallel to draw, but I like how this studio takes it a step further and has created a series of vignettes that are contemporary reinterpretations of artists René Magritte, Giorgio de Chirico or Maurits Cornelis Escher.
      “This series expands the 2D world of these artists and fills it with contemporary furniture.”

      Andres Reisinger
      “I love the pastel colour palette of Andres Reisinger’s work. One of the works we show in the book is a pool with a deck made entirely from what appears to be white pink ostrich feathers.
      “In real life, what could possibly be less practical? After a single swim, the feathers would be damp and matted – completely miserable. But that’s what I think makes this so appealing, it doesn’t need to be practical. Nothing about these spaces are in any way tied to reality. That’s the joy of it.”
      All images courtesy of Gestalten.

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      Integrated Field decorates children's hospital in Thailand with slides and a pool

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      Design studio Integrated Field has created colourful arched interiors filled with animals and clouds to provide an enjoyable experience for children at a hospital in Samut Sakhon, Thailand.Playful touches in EKH Children’s Hospital include a bright yellow slide that spirals through the reception and animal shapes above hospital beds and light-up constellations that act as night lights.

      A yellow slide spirals through the entrance
      EKH Children’s Hospital has been shortlisted for leisure and wellness interior of the year at Dezeen Awards 2020.

      Integrated Field wanted the young visitors to the medical facility to be put at ease in what can be a scary and unfamiliar place.

      Waiting rooms have play areas and soft benches
      The designers put fun elements, such as clouds above an indoor swimming pool and soft play areas in the waiting rooms, to help distract children who could be nervous or feeling unwell.
      “Imagine being a kid dreading going into the hospital, the slide will definitely make you stop crying,” said the studio.
      “The waiting area of each clinic is designed into a playground, which becomes something of a burden for the parents when having to convince the kids to leave the hospital.”

      Slides make hospital visits so fun sometimes children don’t want to leave
      An indoor swimming pool adds to the fun, with arched windows that form circular reflections in the water and white clouds decorating the walls against a sky-blue backdrop.
      In the pharmacy, the play area is designed so that parents can easily keep an eye on their charges when they’re waiting at the counter.

      The rooms are themed around animals such as rabbits
      Arches above doorways and alcoves and rounded seating areas were all designed with a child’s perspective in mind, and these architectural elements were scaled to their height.
      Rooms are painted in soft pastel tones, including pink, blue and yellow.

      Ater Architects creates friendly interior for a children’s clinic in Kyiv

      “The pastel colour tone encourages the children’s use of imagination,” Integrated Field told Dezeen.
      “As a kid, we all create our own imaginary world when we are experiencing a space for the first time,” it added. “Each specific colour refers to a specific animal representing each zone, such as sky blue for whales.”

      Ceiling decorations double as nightlights
      Rooms for overnight stays are given animal themes to make them more appealing – Whale, Turtle, Lion and Rabbit Constellation.
      The animal’s outline is picked out on the ceiling so that it is visible during the day. At night, soft lightbulbs and glow in the dark strips pick out a constellation of stars that acts as a comforting nightlight.

      Arches feature in the hospital’s bathrooms
      Lighting in all of the hospital rooms and corridors is also designed to be soft, rather than the harsh fluorescent lights usually found in hospital settings.
      In the hospital bathrooms, the girls’ toilets are tiled pink and the boys’ yellow. Sinks and urinals are set into arched alcoves, with half of the facilities placed at a child’s height for easy access.

      The facade is also decorated with animals
      On the exterior facade, pastel-coloured metal screens have perforations that form the shape of animals.
      “As adults, we find ourselves amazed if not a bit jealous by the mesmerising variety and development of children’s toys or even snacks these days,” said the studio.
      “EKH Children Hospital will change everyone’s perception about what the space of a children’s hospital can be.”
      Integrated Field was founded in 2011 and is based in Bangkok.
      Other colourful children’s hospitals include a hospital in Brisbane with a colourful facade and a layout inspired by trees, and a brightly coloured children’s outpatient clinic in Kyiv that is also designed to be deliberately un-threatening.
      Photography is by Ketsiree Wongwan.
      Project credits:
      Owner: Ekachai HospitalInterior architect: Integrated FieldArchitect: S:CSBLandscape architect: S:CSBLighting designer: Nopporn SakulwigitsinthuEnvironmental graphics: Integrated FieldStructural engineer: S:CSBElectrical engineer: S:CSBSanitary engineer: S:CSBMain contractor: Adisorn ConstructionInterior contractor: Open Interior, PansinSignage contractor: D.R. Advertising

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      Birch hotel by Red Deer takes over an 18th-century English mansion

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      Architecture studio Red Deer carried out an understated overhaul of a centuries-old mansion near Hertfordshire, England to form the Birch hotel, which is designed to challenge the idea of luxury.Birch is set on a 55-acre estate in the English town of Cheshunt, occupying a heritage-listed brick mansion that dates back to 1763.

      Red Deer has designed the Birch hotel in Cheshunt with slightly stripped back guest rooms
      The 140-room hotel is the brainchild of entrepreneur Chris King and former managing director of London’s Ace Hotel, Chris Penn, with interiors by architecture studio Red Deer.

      While respecting the grandiose nature of the mansion, the studio wanted Birch to shift perceptions of luxury hotels.

      Each bedroom contains a bespoke valet stand. Photo by Fergus Coyle
      “[We] consider the term ‘luxury’ as degraded through overuse, and the parameters of what constitutes a ‘luxury hotel’ can be tricky to define,” said Red Deer.
      “For [us], luxury comes from the creation of a meaningful emotional connection between the hotel guest and the space they inhabit.”

      The cinema room has striped deck chairs
      “As the landscape for luxury hospitality has evolved, the onus is now focused on creating a unique and personalised one-to-one experience for guests,” it continued.
      “Hotels aren’t just bedrooms with smart technology, but memory-making experiences that create value and loyalty.”

      Birch has a spacious coworking area
      The guest rooms of the Birch hotel are therefore slightly stripped back in appearance, finished with white-painted walls, exposed-wire lights and simple rattan headboards.
      TVs and work desks have also been purposefully omitted so that guests can completely detach from the stresses of everyday life.

      The coworking space has patchy plaster walls
      Each room includes a bespoke valet stand that Red Deer commissioned London-based designer Jan Hendzel to make alongside designer Charlotte Kidger, ceramicist Emma Louise Payne and metalsmith Lucie Naujalis.
      The stands are anchored by colourful orb or pill-shaped bases that Kidger has crafted from waste plastic, held in by sycamore and ash wood frames made by Hendzel.

      Red Deer commissioned local artists to create a series of unique spaces
      Spokes of the frame extend up to form clothes hooks, balance flower vases by Payne or support hand-beaten copper bowls by Naujalis that can hold knick-knacks like keys or cash.

      Red Deer and Jan Hendzel Studio combine ceramics, beaten copper and recycled plastic for hotel valet stands

      “It felt crucial to bring local artists and makers on-board to work on the interior projects and create some truly unique pieces to be enjoyed by the guests, challenging the idea that uniformity was essential for large batch runs of furniture,” added the studio.

      Original details were retained in the hotel where possible
      Throughout the rest of the hotel Red Deer has tried to “only intervene where it counted”, contradicting the typical “wastefulness” associated with luxury spaces.
      Several spaces still boast the building’s original panelled walls and ornate cornicing. This includes the mint-green cinema room, where guests are invited to sit and watch the latest films or documentaries from striped deck chairs.

      The communal spaces contain original panelling
      The spacious coworking area has patchy plaster walls, while the reception room features elaborate wooden boiserie and floorboards marked with white-painted numbers left behind by builders from the building’s last renovation.
      Rather than trying to cover them up, Red Deer instead decided to keep them as a quirky design feature.
      The central concierge desk, which has a faceted blue-metal base, brings a modern touch to the room.

      The Gun Room is a private dining area
      “We wanted to take a light touch on the existing features and celebrate the Georgian building,” said ​Ciarán O’Brien, co-founder of Red Deer. ​
      “The building created a really strong backdrop, so we looked at each space from the point of what already existed,” he continued. “Any intervention within a space needed to work with that, and once you build that design story it allows us to imagine how that room will operate.”

      The Zebra Riding Club is one of three restaurants
      Other on-site experiences that guests can enjoy include an interactive bakery, a pottery workshop, fitness studios and an open-air swimming pool.
      There are also three restaurants: Zebra Riding Club, which will serve “unfussy” dishes made with ingredients from Birch’s farm, The Gun Room, a wood-lined private dining room that seats just eight guests and Valeries, an all-day eatery that features sky-blue walls and chandeliers dangling from the ceiling.
      Red Deer is based between London and Barcelona and was founded by Lionel Real de Azúa, Ciarán O’Brien and Lucas Che Tizard.
      Previous projects by the studio include a pastel-green pasta restaurant and a virtual reality arcade which has neon interiors inspired by the work of artist James Turrell.
      Photography is by Adam Firman unless stated otherwise.

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      French interior designer Christian Liaigre dies aged 77

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      Christian Liaigre, who fashioned homes for the likes of Karl Lagerfeld and Calvin Klein, has passed away at the age of 77.The French creative and founder of design studio Liaigre, died on Wednesday 2 September. As an interior designer, he was revered for his restrained aesthetic approach.
      Employing clean lines and natural materials throughout each of his projects, Liaigre’s style was seen as particularly unusual when he emerged in the 1980s.
      “Christian Liaigre preferred to let his designs speak for themselves,” said Liaigre’s studio in a statement.
      “He created furniture and objects that reflected his dedication to beauty, a search for balance, an accuracy for proportions and perfection in the detail,” added the studio.
      “His luxurious no-frill designs impressed a demanding international clientele on a quest for authenticity.”
      Liaigre had few public-facing projects
      Born in 1943 in the French coastal city of La Rochelle, Liaigre started developing his knowledge of the design sphere when he enrolled in art school Beaux-Arts de Paris at age 17, before going on to study at L’ecole des Arts Décoratifs.
      Liaigre established his eponymous studio in 1985 and opened the doors to his first showroom on Rue de Varenne in Paris’ seventh arrondissement.

      Five luxury villas around the world by French interiors studio Liaigre

      Initially, the late designer only made furnishings but soon went on to develop entire interiors for residences, holiday homes, offices, as well as the cabins of jets and yachts.
      His rare public projects – such as the 1990 overhaul of Paris’ Hotel Montalembert, and 1997 revamp of New York’s Mercer Hotel – meant that Liaigre was known on both sides of the Atlantic, yet he largely preferred to work with a roster of private clients.
      “Surrounded by the best craftsmen, he imagined and delivered spaces that expressed simplicity, sincerity, a modern and timeless style, alongside a natural attention to wellbeing,” said his studio.
      Liaigre eventually stepped down from his studio in 2016, handing over the position of creative director to long-term collaborator Frauke Meyer.
      “His taste and style was unmatched”
      When studio Liaigre announced their founder’s death over Instagram, tributes poured in from notable industry figures. Designer Ronan Bouroullec recalled meeting Liaigre at L’ecole des Arts Décoratifs and him showing interest in one of Bouroullec’s early furniture models.
      “He was so gentle, so simple and nice with me. Someone formidable,” Bouroullec wrote in a comment.
      Hotelier Ian Schrager also commented, “there is only Christian [Liaigre] and no one else”.
      “The world is less without him. To me, he was the best and most talented designer in the world.” Schrager continued. “His taste and style was unmatched and his refined simplicity and elegance stood above everybody else.”
      Belgian architect Vincent Van Duysen additionally took to Instagram to celebrate the life of Liaigre, revealing he had been a fan of the late designer’s work since the end of the 1980s: “Since then, he’s been a great source of inspiration to me, not only as a creative mind but also as an overall stylish yet humble human being.”
      Liaigre continued to design luxury homes in countries around the world after its founder retired in 2016.

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      Brave Ground named Colour of the Year for 2021

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      Paint brand Dulux has unveiled a “reassuring” earthy beige hue called Brave Ground as its colour of the year for 2021.Brave Ground was selected as an “elemental” hue that reflects “the strength we can draw from nature, our growing desire to align more with the planet and looking towards the future” – particularly in a world still dealing with the challenges of the coronavirus crisis.
      Dulux decided on the shade after months of working with paint company AkzoNobel, and a roster of trend forecasters, design specialists, editors and architects from across the globe.

      “As a result of the global pandemic many people’s priorities are shifting significantly, to focus much more on their well-being,” explained creative director of Dulux UK Marianne Shillingford.

      “Colour can play a significant role in this – and with the calming, restorative and natural tones of our ColourFutures 2021 palettes we hope to empower professionals to create spaces where occupants can reflect, recharge and recalibrate.”

      “The past year has seen how we live and work utterly transformed,” added Heleen van Gen, head of AkzoNobel’s Global Aesthetic Centre in the Netherlands.
      “We have gone through the most uncertain of times, so it’s understandable that we see reassuring, natural tones returning, which can be used to create the calm and sanctuary people require.”

      As well as offering a sense of tranquillity, Brave Ground is also intended to be a versatile colour that can be applied to a variety of different settings. Shifting in tone throughout the day, the colour creates what Dulux and AkzoNobel describe as “subtly responsive environments”.

      “Could all things ‘green’ be the glue that sticks us back together?”

      The two companies have additionally developed a handful of complementary colour palettes that can “sit comfortably” alongside Brave Ground – among them is Expressive, a collection of striking reds and pinks, and Timeless, a warm group of yellows and ochres.

      Brave Ground is slightly more muted in appearance than Tranquil Dawn, a cool-green shade that Dulux selected as its colour of the year for 2020.
      At the time of its unveiling, interiors writer and former ELLE Decor editor-in-chief Michelle Ogundehin said in an opinion piece for Dezeen that the paint brand “could have been bolder” and opted for a stronger hue that more acutely reflected mounting global unrest.
      American company Pantone is yet to announce its 2021 colour of the year – last year it chose Classic Blue, a “universal favourite” hue that is meant to “brings a sense of peace and tranquillity to the human spirit”.

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      Plaster walls of Jaffa Roofhouse imbue apartment with history and warmth

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      Gitai Architects has renovated an apartment in Jaffa, Israel with curved walls, plasterwork and pale floors to resemble the ancient port city’s limestone buildings.The studio overhauled the 270-square-metre apartment for a couple. It includes a combination of curved and linear elements to fuse traditional craftsmanship with more contemporary details.

      Called Jaffa Roofhouse, the project is a rooftop apartment that is in the shape of a cross with outdoor patios framing three sides of the unit. The unit has expansive views of the Mediterranea Sea, as well as Jaffa’s iconic Al Bahr Mosque minaret.

      “The Jaffa Roofhouse is situated at the ancient port of the city of Jaffa, reputed to be one of the oldest ports in the world, out of which modern-day Tel Aviv has grown,” said Ben Gitai, who founded the studio in 2014.
      “This Roofhouse is designed to feel suspended in the air of Jaffa-Tel Aviv and grounded by its materiality.”

      Gitai Architects sought to renovate the apartment with curved walls to soften its existing boxy shell. Covered in plaster, the walls change in hue from golden to lavender shades as the sun rises and sets across the city.
      The curved walls feature in the living room. One conceals a galley-style kitchen with dark cabinets, the second accommodates a built-in dining nook and the third houses a bedroom.

      These curved structures, which are made of compressed soil and straw and covered with lime plaster from Israeli company ArcoLime, were constructed at an offset from the concrete existing shell.

      Spiral stair twists up to rooftop of penthouse at Pawson’s The Jaffa hotel

      A gap between the apartment’s original concrete walls and the natural covering applied over them allows for air to flow inside and promote a natural circulation to help regulate humidity and temperature.

      “Materiality was of premier importance in the spatial atmosphere and expression of this project, with most of its elements being earth-made from soil sourced from the local area,” the studio said.
      “Throughout the design development of the project, a profound dialogue was in-stored between the Roofhouse and the surrounding landscape.”

      The master suite has more curved walls forming rounded nooks for a walk-in closet and shelving.
      Curved elements extend outside the apartment as well for a rounded built-in seating nook on the terrace with cushions and a U-shaped seating arrangement. An outdoor dining area has an oval-shaped table to seat 20 people and is covered by a pergola for shade. Completing the roof terrace is a wall-like garden that was custom made for the project with 450 different ceramic pots created by hand.

      In addition to this project, Gitai Architects has also built a rammed-earth observatory in Israel’s Negev desert. The studio has offices in Haifa, Israel and Paris, France.
      Israel’s historic centre of Jaffa is about a 10-minute drive south of the heart of Tel Aviv. Another apartment in Jaffa to similarly feature a mixture of old-world and contemporary styles is a penthouse by Pitsou Kedem and Baranowitz & Goldberg.
      Photography is by Dan Bronfeld.
      Project credits:
      Design team: Ben Gitai, Charly Crochu, Cloe Constantini, Dani Guinness, Meitar Tewel, Itay aviram, Sara Arneberg GitaiCuration: Isabelle WolfClients: Isabelle Wolff, Yves TirmanEngineering: Kobi BenishuLandscape: Sachar Tzur of Studio TzuraConsultants: Yonathan SteinbergerCollaborators: Stella Projects, Tal Banker

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      Arched precast concrete panels form North Perth House by Nic Brunsdon

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      Precast concrete panels punctuated with swooping arches make up this family home in Perth, Australia, designed by architect Nic Brunsdon.Nic Brunsdon squeezed the two-storey house onto a tight plot of land for a family keen to live closer to the city of Perth and all its amenities – even though it meant downsizing from their former property.

      Working with a restricted budget, the architect and his eponymous studio decided to use precast concrete panels as the main building material.

      “By using this commercial construction system as the main conceptual organising principle, the project was able to gain significant budget and time savings, while maintaining legible design integrity and innovation in housing type,” the studio said.

      North Perth House comprises eight precast concrete panels that are arranged in a grid-like formation. The ground floor has a sequence of four panels that run horizontally from east to west.
      “On the ground floor these panels demarcate layers of privacy from the street front back towards the rear of the property, each signifying a threshold leading deeper into the private life of the house,” explained the studio.

      On the first floor are another four panels that have been turned 90 degrees to run perpendicularly from north to south.
      These arches slot neatly into notches that have been made in the concrete panels on the ground floor.

      The concrete panels are punctuated with arches – a shape that one of the clients was particularly fond of as it brought back childhood memories of the arched doorways that appeared in their grandmother’s home.
      Narrow arching doorways connect different living spaces throughout North Perth House. On the ground floor, these arches have been made to sit in line with each other so that there are clear sightlines from the front to the rear of the home.

      The larger arches form windows or striking decor features. For example, one has been filled with bookshelves, while another has been inlaid with warm-hued timber to create a dramatic headboard in the master bedroom.
      Timber is one of the three materials that Nic Brunsdon opted to apply throughout the interior – it has also been used for the cabinetry in the kitchen, staircase balustrades and sideboards.

      Concrete has then been left exposed across the walls and floor, while insulated polycarbonate sheeting has been fitted in some of the windows to diffuse the harsh sunlight.

      Arches puncture floors and walls of Glebe House by Chenchow Little Architects

      Pops of colour in North Perth House are provided by a selection of contemporary artworks.
      “The simplicity of the design belies the complexity of the resulting spaces that are created; spaces that are compressed and dark, high and washed, raw and unfinished, and rich and intimate,” added the studio.

      Nic Brunsdon is based in Perth’s South Freemantle suburb. The architect is longlisted in the hospitality building category of this year’s Dezeen Awards for his project The Tiing – a boutique hotel in Bali that features rugged concrete walls that were cast against bamboo.
      Its 14 guest rooms are each shaped like funnels, directing views towards the jungle on one side and the ocean on the other.
      Photography is by Ben Hosking.

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      O shop in Chengdu is a lifestyle store by day and a bar by night

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      A series of mirrored panels obscure the cocktail bar that lies inside this shop-cum-cafe in Chengdu, China created by design studio Office AIO.The shop, which is unusually called O, was named by its owner and the co-founder of Office AIO, Tim Kwan.

      Taking the first letter from the word “object”, Kwan and the shop owner felt that O was the “perfect shape representing eternity – it has no beginning nor end, no direction nor a right way round”.

      The looping shape of the letter O also nods to the shifting function of the 68-square-metre shop: by day it’s a cafe that sells and showcases a curated selection of lifestyle items and designer furnishings, while at night it turns into a bar.

      Down one side of the shop runs a lengthy sandstone counter where the cafe’s coffee machine is kept. Just in front is a long wooden table where the barista can prepare drink orders.
      The base of the counter has been in-built with a fireplace, which can be switched on as night falls to evoke a cosier mood within the store.

      On the other side of the store is a silver-metal shelf where products are displayed and a row of fold-down seats upholstered in tan leather.

      Chengdu cafe features interiors inspired by Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel

      The rear of the store appears to be lined with mirrored panels, but these can be drawn back to reveal the night-time drinks bar. Liquor bottles line the inner side of the panels.

      Surfaces throughout the rest of shop O have otherwise been kept simple. A patchy band of exposed concrete runs around the lower half of the walls, but off-white paint has been applied to the upper half.
      Interest is added by a handful of potted plants and a sequence of arched screens that have been suspended just beneath the ceiling.

      The last screen has been fitted with an LED strip light that can be adjusted to imbue the space with different colours.
      “[The screens] bring a sense of character to the store without occupying any footprint,” explained the studio.
      “We hope that this space will encourage quality ideas, objects, and people to interact and exchange, and ultimately reach a wholesome experience that is objectively desirable,” it concluded.

      O by Office AIO is longlisted in the small retail interior category of this year’s Dezeen Awards.
      It isn’t the first day-to-night venue that the studio has created – two years ago it completed Bar Lotus in Shanghai, which boasts emerald-coloured walls and rippling rose-gold ceilings. The project won the restaurant and bar interior category of the 2019 Dezeen Awards, when judges commended its mix of contemporary and traditional references.
      Photography is courtesy of WEN Studio.
      Project credits:
      Designed by: Tim Kwan/Office AIOConstruction: Sichuan ChuFeng Architectural Decoration

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