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  • Sivak & Partners imagines contemporary beachside guest suite in Odessa

    Craggy rock walls and a hot-spring style bathtub would feature in this imaginary Odessa hotel room that interior design studio Sivak & Partners has envisioned in a series of renderings.The guest suite would come as part of a boutique beach hotel in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa that Sivak & Partners’ chief designer, Alexey Gulesha, was challenged to create just over a year ago.
    He decided to share the studio’s renderings when the global coronavirus crisis began and put a pause on the design process.
    “This project started from the idea to make something different from other hotels in Odessa – the client had bought a plot and asked us to design something which we wanted to see there, so this is our proposal,” Gulesha told Dezeen.

    Influenced by the dazzling settings seen in James Bond films from the 1980s, Gulesha has envisioned the guest suite as being fronted by a curved, full-height window that offers sweeping vistas of the sandy shoreline and rolling ocean waves.

    In almost every room he has tried to foster a sense of “tactile contrast” – for example, in the bedroom, the hard stone floor is topped with a fluffy cream-coloured rug. A plump bed frame has also been placed beside a couple of Italian architect Cini Boeri’s glass Ghost chairs.

    “I like to draw people’s attention to the fact that the materials to the touch may not be what they seem visually,” Gulesha explained.
    “The Cini Boeri’s armchairs look like a cold piece of glass, but they are surprisingly convenient and comfortable when you sit in them.”

    A wall that resembles a craggy cliff face would feature in the study. Other than a simple steel desk and wooden chair, Gulesha has largely omitted standard office paraphernalia so that guests would be more inclined to spend relaxing time down on the beach instead of doing work.
    “The idea of the materials is that in this digital era, when work means sitting on the PC and answering email for two to three hours, I want to see and feel something natural,” added Gulesha.

    A focal point of the suite is the circular tub in the bathroom, which would slope up from the stone floors to make guests feel like they’re “bathing in a hot spring”.
    Bathroom facilities would be housed inside a see-through volume that, using smart-glass technology, would turn opaque whenever in use.

    Architectural visualisers imagine rainbow-coloured Sonora Art Village during pandemic

    The suite would also include a small kitchenette, should future guests not want to dine at the hotel’s restaurant. At its centre would be a timber prep counter that balances across a pair of chunky stone blocks.
    A couple of rounded boucle sofas would then be used to dress the lounge area, along with a blush-pink abstract artwork that is meant to mirror the texture of the surrounding mottled plaster walls.

    The pandemic has encouraged several architects and designers to turn to the medium of renderings and imagine getaway destinations.
    Siblings Mary and David Javit imagined Sonora Art Village, a community of rainbow-coloured houses in Mexico where people could head to escape “grey reality”. Inspired by the vivid architecture of figures like Luis Barragán and Ricardo Boffil, the houses would be surrounded by cacti and swimming pools.
    Child Studio also imagined Casa Plenaire, a blissful seaside villa where those in lockdown could picture enjoying the “perfect holiday”.

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  • CL3 unveils interior design for Intercontinental Chongqing Raffles City

    Sailing and nautical aesthetics informed CL3’s interiors for the Intercontinental hotel in the Raffles City Chongqing complex in China, which includes guest rooms that draw on the design of yacht cabins.Intercontinental Chongqing Raffles City is located in the Raffles City Chongqing development, which features a “horizontal skyscraper,” the Crystal skybridge that connects four 250-metre tall skyscrapers.
    The hotel’s location in the city’s Chaotianmen area, where the Yangtze and Jialing rivers meet, was the starting point for the designers.
    “The project has a geographical and historical significance by being where the ancient emperor sent his fleet to meet the people,” CL3  said.

    This nautical past not only informed the design of the eight streamlined skyscrapers that make up the Raffles City Chongqing complex, which features sail-like screens, it was also carried through into the interior design.

    CL3 was approached to create the interiors after working with architect Moshdie Safdie of Safdie Architects on the Marina Bay Sands project, and designed the interiors of the hotel’s main areas as well as the residential lobby and common areas for five of the towers.

    The studio was also responsible for the design of the residential clubhouse inside the signature Crystal skybridge that connects four of the towers.
    Intercontinental Chongqing Raffles City’s grand reception is located on level 42 at the skybridge and nods to the sailing theme with a reception desk shaped like the hull of a ship, complemented by lighting in the same shape.

    “The shape design echoes the water reflection during sailing in the river,” the studio said. The link bridge reception area was also decorated with marine-themed Chinese motifs and crafts.
    In the arrival lobby area, CL3 added stylised drawings of traditional ships to the mirrored walls of the elevators.

    The lobby lounge was designed to create a “mountain landscape in the sky” and filled with green plants under an arc-shaped dome.
    It features views of the skybridge that stretches across the skyscrapers, which visitors can enjoy from enveloping seats in pale wood with an undulating, wave-like shape.

    For the interior of the hotel rooms, the studio used pale wood combined with beige and cream colours and softly curved walls.
    “The inspiration from the timeless ultra-luxury of contemporary sailing vessels is reflected in the ambience, furniture selections, finishes and guest rooms, ” CL3 said.

    The nautical theme is less apparent in the Jing restaurant, which has a dark stone floor and peacock blue detailing.
    The distinctive bar, where guests can sit and enjoy a meal, has been decked out in pale blue, bright blue and white stripes that pick up the blue hues in rest of the room.

    CL3 was also behind some of the residential areas in the complex, including the residential clubhouse inside the Crystal skybridge itself which has a swimming pool, gym and a spa, as well as private function rooms.
    Rattan lounge chairs with blue upholstery surround the pool, whose “modern shape and light colours reflect the rhythm of urban life,” the studio said.

    CL3 was founded in 1992. The studio is based in Hong Kong but also has offices in Shenzhen, Beijing and Shanghai.
    As well as the Raffles City Chongqing complex, Safdie Architects also designed a housing development in the city, Eling Hill, consisting of a set of stepped homes on a hill overlooking the Yangtze River.
    Photography is by Feng Shao.
    Project credits:
    Client: CapitalandProject name: Intercontinental Chongqing Raffles CityProject location: No. 2 Changjiang Binjiang Road, Yuzhong District, Chongqing, China 400010Completion time: 2020Interior design firm: CL3 ArchitectsInterior design team: William Lim, Jane Arnett, Simon Ho, Jun Tse, Katerin TheysArchitecture design firm: Safdie Architects

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  • Worrell Yeung designs industrial artist studios in historic Brooklyn factory buildings

    New York architecture studio Worrell Yeung has transformed historic factory buildings in Brooklyn Navy Yard into multi-use workspaces and artist studios featuring time-worn brick walls and weathered beams and columns.The adaptive reuse project involved remodelling 77 Washington, a six-storey former masonry factory built in the 1920s, and four other buildings situated around on the property.

    It is located at the corner of Washington Avenue and Park Avenue in Brooklyn Navy Yard, a former shipbuilding complex between the Dumbo and Williamsburg neighbourhoods undergoing regeneration.

    Worrell Yeung drew from the area’s historic architecture and the design of early 20th-century New York warehouses to update the 38,000-square-foot (3530.3-square-metre) multi-use art and office space.

    “The existing buildings were so rich with history and layered with texture that we wanted our design to highlight these found conditions while also updating to accommodate new uses and new programs,” said co-principal Max Worrell.

    A six-storey brick structure occupies the centre of the property, with a cluster of three one-storey buildings situated on its south end and a single garage unit located on the opposite side.
    On the main building the brick facade was left untouched, while the sides of the building are painted white.

    Storefronts situated along the street level were restored to house artist and photography studios. Each of the exteriors is painted dark blue and is fronted with large windows that flood natural light into the interiors.
    The low-lying structures are connected by a central courtyard filled with gravel and plants laid out by landscape firm Michael van Valkenburgh Associates. To form the outdoor patio and bike storage area the studio removed a roof that previously covered the space.

    In the garden three solid oak logs form a series of benches. Over the past decade a local shipbuilder gathered the reclaimed wood used for the seating following a number of storms in the region.
    Inside the materials and patterns are evocative of old Brooklyn factories and warehouses. The floors are covered with concrete and metal diamond plates.

    Macro Sea turns abandoned Brooklyn warehouse into New Lab co-working space

    Exposed brick walls coated with layers of old paint pair with structural wood columns and beams in the open-plan spaces, which include meeting rooms, a small kitchenette and a large lobby area.
    Brooklyn Navy Yard woodworker Bien Hecho repurposed timber floor joists from the building into a custom-built conference table and a bench.

    Steel grids installed across the elevator shaft windows are visible from the building’s exterior and match the pattern on the translucent glass and plywood walls located in the lobby.
    “These interventions are a nod to the aesthetics of storied factory buildings and Navy Yard warehouses, which historically featured grids in their sash windows, fencing, and ship docks,” added co-principal Jejon Yeung.

    Worrell Yeung was founded in 2014 by Max Worrell and Jejon Yeung. The studio has completed a number of renovation projects in New York City, including a loft in Chelsea and an apartment inside Dumbo’s Clocktower building.

    Other office projects in Brooklyn Navy Yard are a space for tech entrepreneurs located in a former warehouse renovated by New York developer Macro Sea and Marvel Architects and a new 16-storey co-working building by S9 Architecture.
    Photography is by Naho Kubota.

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  • Studio Venturoni warms up Rome apartment with earthy hues

    Bands of terracotta and sand-coloured paint wrap around the walls of Trevi House, a one-bed apartment in Rome that’s been overhauled by Studio Venturoni.The apartment is situated at the heart of the Italian capital, just a stone’s throw away from the famous Trevi fountain.

    Its interior had previously been dominated by heavy masonry partitions that were splitting up the sizeable 80-square-metre floor plan into several small, cramped rooms.

    Custom wooden cabinets and bookshelves accumulated by the owner were also blocking natural light from coming in.

    Tasked with creating a greater sense of space inside the apartment, Milan-based Studio Venturoni decided to knock through all of the existing partitions.
    This more open floor plan has allowed room for a central dining area. Surrounding walls here feature wide bands of terracotta and sandy-beige paint, two earthy hues which the studio felt were synonymous with Rome.

    Studio Strato creates cosy reading den in renovated Rome apartment

    Studio Venturoni also hoped that the horizontal bands of colour would make the room appear wider.

    Terracotta and orange surfaces appear again in the adjacent living area, which has been dressed with a lengthy grey sofa that slightly rises up on one end like a chaise lounge.
    This piece was specifically selected for its slight resemblance to a triclinium: a type of seat that would appear in the formal dining rooms of affluent Roman homes, composed of three adjoining chaise lounges on which residents would recline while being attended to by servants.

    Other striking furnishings – like Fabio Novembre’s face-shaped Nemo armchair – have been included to match the “monumental feel” of the apartment’s grandiose mahogany doors and wooden ceilings, which the studio decided to preserve during the renovation works.
    “My career has allowed me to understand the importance of detail: everything must be in the right place and we should not be afraid to express bold concepts, even in a domestic setting,” the studio’s founder, Francesca Venturoni explained.

    Burnt-orange tiles have been used to line the floor and the lower half of the walls in the kitchen, which was given a complete re-fit with jet-black cabinetry.
    A curved black counter has also been installed directly beside the kitchen’s window, so that inhabitants can overlook the bustling tourist crowds or listen to the sound of the waters from the Trevi fountain while enjoying breakfast.

    Cooler tones appear in the apartment’s bathrooms, where surfaces have been lined with grey-flecked stone tiles.
    The bedroom also features a blue headboard and curtains, tempered by rich, mustard-coloured dress cushions and brass lighting fixtures.

    Other homes in the historic city of Rome include a cosy apartment by Studio Strato, which has its own reading nook and an industrial-feel flat by architect Alessandro Tomei that boasts exposed concrete surfaces and iron-framed glass partitions.
    Photography is by Michele Bonechi.

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  • SuperLimão converts warehouse into colourful SouSmile dental office

    A rounded polycarbonate-clad pink volume forms a consultation room in a dental office and laboratory in São Paulo designed by local firm SuperLimão.SouSmile is a dental health treatment centre in Pinheiros, a district on the west side of São Paulo, that manufactures dental appliances, such as clear aligners and teeth whitening technologies.

    It is located in a warehouse building with tall ceilings that SuperLimão has converted into office space, a clinical room and a manufacturing lab.

    For the design the local firm focused on SouSmile’s key messages of “efficiency, transparency, joy, self-esteem and care” and used hues of bright pink and light blue to match its colourful branding.

    “Brand attributes were integrated to the architecture to convey SouSmile key messages, such as efficiency, transparency, joy, self-esteem and care,” the studio said. “The brand’s colour palette was also considered to be used in the project.”

    On the exterior of the office the brick facade has been painted white with several bricks painted pink and blue to tie in with the brand’s marketing. A large awning with a foldable garage door is located at the front of the building along with a small patio area for employees and patrons.

    The main intervention to the 500-square-metre building is a rounded volume that creates the consultation room and laboratories on the ground floor, and lounges and meeting rooms on the upper level that overlook the floor below.

    Pink-painted metal framing is covered with translucent polycarbonate panelling to form the structure, which is furnished with a dental chair, equipment and a sink counter for clinical use.
    The bright colour is also used on the staircase that leads to the upper level and to frame the windows on the manufacturing lab and meeting rooms.

    The fabrication lab situated alongside the stairs is filled with machinery and shelves for testing and engineering the dental appliances. It is outfitted with mechanics and ventilation duct work to ensure proper air exhaustion during the manufacturing process.
    At the front of the office a break area offers staff a comfortable space to relax with a kitchen area furnished with two stone counters for enjoying and preparing meals.

    Pink pendant light fixtures and a set of shelves for storing glassware and decorative plants hang from the ceiling in the space.
    Large wood tables form shared workspaces on both levels of the office. Meeting and conference rooms on the upper floor also feature brightly coloured walls painted yellow, blue and green.

    A sculptural blue bleacher seating covered with cushions and a phone booth station outfitted with acoustic paneling are among the other architectural details in the office.
    SuperLimão is an architecture studio with offices in São Paulo. It has completed a number of projects in Brazil, including an apartment with a pink ceiling and a beer hall with gabion walls.

    Other thoughtfully-designed dental facilities include an office in Berlin that takes cues from the nightclub Berghain, an orthodontist practice in Quebec outfitted with slatted wood panels and a clinic in Taiwan with a dining table in its waiting room.
    Photography is by Maíra Acayaba.
    Project credits:
    Architecture: SuperLimãoProject team: Thiago Rodrigues, Antonio Figueira de Mello, Lula Gouveia, Larissa Burke, Pamela PaffrathLighting design: LDArtiConstructor: EdifisaWorkstations, meeting tables and bleachers: Zero MáquinaWoodwork: KW MóveisPhone booth: HUB

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  • Whale Design Lab references Louis Kahn for makeover of Mài Apartment in Vietnam

    Geometric forms and graphic terrazzo surfaces feature in this duplex apartment in Ho Chi Minh City that has been updated by Whale Design Lab. Locally based studio Whale Design Lab revamped the formerly lacklustre interiors of the Mài Apartment to reflect the client’s penchant for modernist architecture. A particular point of reference was the work
    The post Whale Design Lab references Louis Kahn for makeover of Mài Apartment in Vietnam appeared first on Dezeen. More

  • This week, we unveiled the longlists for Dezeen Awards 2020

    This week on Dezeen, we revealed the longlisted architecture, interiors and design projects that are in line to win this year’s Dezeen Awards, as well as the studios producing the best work.In total, we received over 4,300 entries from 85 countries for the third edition of Dezeen Awards. There are 302 projects on the architecture longlist, 305 projects on the interiors longlist and 318 projects on the design longlist.
    All longlisted projects and studios are featured on a dedicated page on the Dezeen Awards website, alongside information about each practice.

    IKEA unveils first branded fashion and accessories collection
    In this week’s design news, we revealed to our readers Swedish furniture company IKEA’s first branded clothing and accessory collection, called Efterträda.

    The 10-piece line includes t-shirts, hoodies, bottles, umbrellas, towels and tote bags that are emblazoned with the IKEA logo and the barcode of its well-known Billy shelving system.

    Virgil Abloh and AMO design flexible flagship Off-White store in Miami that “can host a runway show”
    Over in the world of fashion, Virgil Abloh unveiled his flagship Off-White store in the Miami Design District, created in collaboration with AMO director Samir Bantal.
    The store is designed to be flexible, functioning as a fulfilment centre that can easily be turned into a multipurpose events space.
    “The shop can host a runway show, it can host a talk, it can host a cafe,” explained Abloh.

    Beyoncé’s Black Is King film aims to start “a global conversation” says stylist Zerina Akers
    Dezeen also interviewed Beyoncé’s stylist Zerina Akers this week on creating the costumes for the artist’s latest visual album Black Is King.
    Looks included a cowhide outfit by Burberry inspired by the Zulu people of South Africa and a Valentino leopard-print sequined catsuit that took over 300 hours to hand-sew.
    “I wanted to have this global conversation with the wardrobe,” Akers told Dezeen. “I hope that people of all colours recognise and respect the power and beauty of brown skin.”

    Anti-drone antennas set to be built on top of Oscar Niemeyer palaces in Brasília
    In Brazil, the country’s national heritage institute stepped up to protect three Oscar Niemeyer-designed buildings in Brasília. The heritage body condemned plans by the government to install anti-drone antennas on top of the Alvorado, Planalto and Jaburu palaces, saying they would “directly impact” the iconic structures.
    Elsewhere in the city, Italian architect Carlo Ratti revealed the design for a one-million-square-metre high-tech innovation district that will be an extension to Brasília’s masterplan that was created by Niemeyer and Lúcio Costa.

    MAD reveals Wormhole Library overlooking the South China Sea
    In architecture news, Chinese studio MAD revealed its design for a library in the Chinese city of Haikou that is intended to be “a wormhole that transcends time and space”.
    Foster + Partners also unveiled visuals of a 39-storey skyscraper that it has designed to be constructed over the Pitt Street metro station, which it is also developing, in Sydney, Australia.

    The Nest at Sossus guesthouse in Namibia features a thatched facade
    Other projects popular among Dezeen readers this week include a Zurich home with lake and vineyard views by Think Architecture, an off-grid guesthouse in Namibia with a thatched roof and a house screened by perforated, black cobogó bricks in São Paulo.
    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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  • ARC Club is a London co-working space for people wanting to escape working from home

    Architect Caro Lundin took a less-is-more approach for the creation of ARC Club, a fuss-free co-working space in east London for those struggling to work from home during the coronavirus pandemic.It took just six weeks for Lundin and her self-titled studio to complete ARC Club, which takes over a formerly characterless retail unit in the neighbourhood of Homerton.
    The co-working space is meant to cater to the growing number of individuals who, according to surveys observed by Lundin, are finding it tricky to efficiently do their job from home during the pandemic due to lack of proper workspaces.

    Its “starkly beautiful” interiors have been decked out with a selection of low-cost and durable materials that Lundin felt reflected a climate where co-working is “a necessity and not a nice-to-have”.

    Designing a more modest space also meant that membership would be cheaper for those interested in working at ARC Club according to the architect.
    “Intricate details and indoor gardens are fun, but they come with a big price tag – and they’re a lot harder to keep clean,” said Lundin, who founded ARC Club alongside Hannah Philp.

    “When designing ARC Club, I asked myself ‘what do people need to work?’ A comfortable seat, natural light, thoughtful acoustics; the physical and emotional space in which to think,” she told Dezeen.
    “Functional doesn’t have to be boring, it’s a neutral space that enables the people who visit it to be their best professional selves.”

    At the centre of ARC Club, which measures just over 232 square metres, are a pair of boxy, sound-proofed pods crafted from birch plywood.
    Inside, they accommodate a handful of private meeting rooms, storage cupboards, printers and a kitchenette complete with silver-metal cabinetry.
    Lundin chose to house these services inside a pod-style system so that it can be scaled up or down to suit different-sized branches of ARC Club that open in the future.

    The pods are surrounded by various work areas. A few of the furnishings, like the birch-ply tables with the arched legs, were made by Lundin’s studio while some of the chairs were sourced second hand.

    “Offices are going to get much smaller” after pandemic says Sevil Peach

    Pops of colour have been introduced to brighten up the space. Heavy orange curtains are used as room dividers, blue cone-shaped pendant lights have been suspended from the ceiling and bands of yellow paint have been made on the concrete structural columns.
    Yellow tiles also clad surfaces in the bathrooms.

    Further branches of ARC Club co-working spaces are planned to open in 2021.
    Like the Homerton location, they will occupy vacant high-street commercial units in popular residential areas so that members can do what Lundin has monikered “WNH” – work near home.

    “A neighbourhood workplace like ARC Club allows people to retain the best of what the office has to offer – full functionality, work-life separation and human interaction – without having to get on a bus or a train,” Lundin explained.
    “In essence, it’s an accessible flexible option for a new breed of remote worker who has grown used to scheduling their work around their day, instead of the other way.”

    The global coronavirus crisis has forced many to re-think offices and the way in which we work.
    Interior designer Sevil Peach predicts that, post-pandemic, companies will scrap working in corporate towers and instead opt to have central “hubs” where just a small per cent of staff will gather.
    Architecture practice Weston Williamson + Partners also released a series of graphics that illustrated how businesses could create socially-distanced offices. Tips included wrapping screens around desks, having touch-free doors and employing a cook so that employees don’t have to use a shared kitchen.
    Photography is by Andrew Meredith.

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