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    Minimalist Japanese guesthouse and robot dog feature in today's Dezeen Weekly newsletter

    The latest edition of our Dezeen Weekly newsletter features the transformation of a 100-year-old townhouse in Kyoto into a tranquil and moody guesthouse.

    Readers were in awe over the Maana Kamo guesthouse, which Japanese architect Uoya Shigenori created by stripping back and reconfiguring a 100-year-old townhouse in Kyoto’s Higashiyama District.
    The guesthouse is shortlisted in the hotel and short stay interior of the year category at Dezeen Awards 2020. All of the award winners will be announced next week.

    A robot dog will be used at Battersea Power Station

    Other stories in this week’s newsletter include UK architecture studio Foster + Partners taking on a robot dog to oversee construction at Battersea Power Station, a design competition in collaboration with LG Display, 30 architect-designed kitchens and a concept for a grow-your-own steak kit that uses human cells.
    Subscribe to Dezeen Weekly
    Dezeen Weekly is a curated newsletter that is sent every Thursday, containing highlights from Dezeen. Dezeen Weekly subscribers will also receive occasional updates about events, competitions and breaking news.
    Read the latest edition of Dezeen Weekly. You can also subscribe to Dezeen Daily, our daily bulletin that contains every story published in the preceding 24 hours.
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    Retroscena is a colourful apartment renovation by La Macchina Studio

    Italian architecture office La Macchina Studio has renovated a 1950s apartment in Rome, revealing original terrazzo floors and adding bold colours.Set in the Italian capital’s Appio Latino quarter, the mid-century one-bedroom apartment already had Venetian stone floors.

    The original terrazzo floors have been restored
    La Macchina Studio uncovered them and enlisted local craftsmen to restore the terrazzo, while the apartment was transformed into a “surreal set where reality and fiction coexist in a quasi-theatrical scene”.
    “With Retroscena, we wanted to enhance the irreverent and surreal nature of the architectural story,” said studio founders Gianni Puri and Enrica Siracusa.
    “It is inextricably linked to its photographic alter-ego by playing with colour contrasts, graphic motifs and unexpected incursions.”

    Pops of primary colour stand out against white walls

    Walls and certain elements have been painted bright white, to create a neutral backdrop for the graphic pops of colour.
    An arched doorway and a low, midcentury-style cabinet in the living area are painted a matching bright blue.

    A blue-painted wooden doorway leads to the bedroom
    A pair of zesty lemon-yellow fabric curtains can be pulled across to separate the living area from the kitchen diner and screen off the door to the balcony.
    The arching doorway juts out almost a metre from the wall, screening the kitchen furniture from the view of the hallway. The blue-lacquered wood marks the entrance to the bedroom.

    Yellow curtains can screen the living room off
    A red wall-hanging placed above the sofa marks another splash of primary colour.
    Another doorway set flush to the wall opens to reveal the two-room bathroom. In the first room, a bath and shower are all surrounded by square ceramic white tiles, set in dark grouting to create a graphic check mosaic.

    White square tiles form a check mosaic in the bathroom
    A pointy arched doorway leads to the second half of the bathroom, where a toilet and a bidet face each other across a sink, which is framed by the arch.

    Studio Strato creates cosy reading den in renovated Rome apartment

    Peacock-blue enamelled walls and a dimmable ring light mirror above the sink add to the theatrical styling of the bathroom.

    An arched doorway frames the sink
    In the bedroom, the floor has a ruddy hue, the result of a brick-red micro cement treatment applied by La Macchina Studio. A low-hanging orb-style pendant light and peach velvet curtains create a softer aesthetic.
    Pinkish cement flooring also differentiates the entryway. Built-in white wardrobes in the hallway conceal a hidden room that is used as a study.

    The bedroom has a micro cement floor
    La Macchina Studio was founded by Puri and Siracusa in 2013 and is based in Rome.
    More exciting Roman apartment renovations include a flat with terracotta-coloured walls and an apartment with a reading den visible through a porthole-style cutout.
    Photography is by Paolo Fusco.

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    MW Works uses dark wood and sandy walls for interiors of Ocean Drive apartment in Miami

    American studio MW Works has converted and refurbished a large beachside apartment on Ocean Drive in Miami, Florida, using tropical hardwood and sand-coloured plaster.The studio knocked together two units in a new high-rise building to create a home for a family of six relocating from Seattle.

    Living areas feature plaster walls and concrete floors
    Materials were chosen to make the most of the quality of light and views of the seashore.
    “The irregular surface of the plaster highlights the changing quality of light throughout the day and lends a softness to private spaces,” said MW Works.

    Dark tropical hardwood in the dining area

    The Ocean Drive apartment’s five bedrooms are placed around the perimeter and decorated in a paler palette, while the kitchen and dining areas in the middle are darker and moodier.
    “Bedroom volumes are treated in pale, sandy tones of hand-troweled plaster reflecting natural light deep into the floor plate,” said the studio
    “The heart of the unit is clad in dark tropical hardwood with careful detailing emphasising mass and craft.”

    Plaster and dark wood in the kitchen
    Wide wooden planks form the floors. Handles and light switches are set into the doors and walls to create an uncluttered atmosphere.
    In the living room and media room, pale concrete floor slabs and a plastered ceiling bounce light around from the floor to ceiling glazing. Balconies overlook a stretch of beach with Miami’s signature lifeguarding huts.

    The home is for a family of six
    Gauzy curtains and earthy-coloured rugs continue the highly textured, refined yet beachy aesthetic of the apartment on Ocean Drive.
    “Woven baskets and patterned floor coverings add a layer of softness,” said MW Works. “Amongst the neutral canvas varied shades of blue, orange and red respond to the native flora and fauna of southern Florida.”

    Bas relief texture in the master bedroom
    In the master bedroom, the headboard wall dividing the bed area from the bathroom has a detailed geometric pattern in bas relief.
    “This design opportunity grew out of the client’s extensive travel in the middle east and their interest in mathematical patterns,” said MW Works.
    “Working with the craftspeople who would install it, we developed a pattern and a fabrication procedure to create an abstracted surface to catch the morning light.”

    The Miami apartment has ocean views
    In the ceilings, an LED lighting system is programmed to track with the sun and change across the course of the day. At night, one of the bathrooms lights up with an approximation of moonlight.
    Based in Seattle, MW Works was founded in 2007 by Steve Mongillo and Eric Walter. The studio often works with natural textures, cladding a cabin in Washington with blackened cedar and using reclaimed timber for a home in Seattle.
    Project credits:
    Architecture and interiors: MW WorksGeneral contractor: DowbuiltLocal contractor: WoolemsEngineer (MEP): Shamrock EngineeringEngineer (low volt): Visual AcousticsEngineer (structural): PCS Structural SolutionsLighting: NiteoFurnishings: Studio DIAA; Matt Anthony DesignsCarved Countertops: The Vero StonePlaster (walls, master headboard): Cathy Connor Studio CWood (casework, floor, ceiling): DowbuiltMetal (casework, hardware, patinas): DowbuiltInterior landscape garden: FormanetaCustom concrete: John DietrichMetals: Argent

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    Archipelago House by Norm Architects is a minimal family getaway in Sweden

    Norm Architects has completed Archipelago House, a pine-clad holiday home on the coast of Sweden that’s designed to embody both Scandinavian and Japanese aesthetics.Copenhagen-based practice Norm Architects created Archipelago House, which is located just north of Gothenburg, for a couple and their four children.
    It’s a stone’s throw away from a holiday home that the mother of the family frequented when she was younger.

    Top image: the interior of Archipelago House. Above: the exterior of the home is lined with pine wood

    Archipelago House comprises a quartet of pine-wood volumes that stagger in line with the site’s rocky terrain.
    Each of the volumes features gabled roofs, subtly mimicking the form of the boathouses which appear along the nearby seashore.

    The kitchen features oakwood cabinetry
    “We like to consider the spirit of a place and integrate a new building structure more or less flawlessly into its surroundings,”  partner at Norm Architects Frederik Werner told Dezeen.
    “The building should look natural to the site and put the focus on the beautiful surroundings and the life unfolding in the place rather than the building itself,” he continued.
    “It is important for us that architecture does not feel alien to a site – especially in a place like this where there is a perfectly harmonised small village on the shore with other wooden houses around.”

    At the heart of the floor plan is a double-height lounge
    Inside, the practice has used natural materials to devise a sequence of muted, pared-back living spaces that nod to traditional Scandinavian and Japanese aesthetics.
    Handleless oak cupboards feature in the home’s kitchen, at the centre of which is a jet-black breakfast island with in-built drawers. Stone tiles have then been used to line surfaces in the bathrooms, which have been finished with dark-wood vanity cabinets.

    Furnishings in the lounge were designed by Norm Architects and Karimoku Case Study
    The influence of Japanese design can be observed most clearly in the home’s double-height lounge, which is dressed with furniture that Norm Architects has produced in collaboration with Karimoku Case Study – the sister brand of Japanese manufacturer Karimoku.
    This includes a pebble-grey sofa, stone-topped coffee table and pair of armchairs that boast arching backrests upholstered in creamy fabric.
    Archipelago House is the third project that the brand has worked on since its launch in 2019, joining the Kinuta Terrace apartment block in Tokyo and the Blue Bottle Coffee cafe in Yokohama.

    Japanese lanterns appear throughout the holiday home
    The home’s living area also has a delicate cone-shaped lantern that was created bespoke for the project by Kojima Shouten, a Japanese brand that has been making lanterns for over 230 years.
    Crafted from washi paper, the lantern’s peaked form is meant to act as another reference to the architectural form of Archipelago House.

    Johan Sundberg builds Swedish holiday home that takes cues from Japanese architecture

    More squat lanterns that balance on four-legged stands appear in the home’s tranquil sleeping quarters. Here there are also book-like storage boxes that Norm Architects designed alongside Danish brand August Sandgren, where inhabitants can tuck away their personal trinkets.

    Book-style storage boxes hide the inhabitant’s belongings
    Beyond the home’s dining room lies an expansive outdoor deck where the family can play games or enjoy alfresco dinners with views of the adjacent sea and small, rugged islands.
    “Nature plays an important role in our soft minimalist approach, where we believe that buildings should be a functional backdrop and structure for human engagement,” added Werner.
    “It might be a romantic relationship with nature – but after all, that is why we want to escape the city once in a while and reconnect with nature in our holiday homes.”

    The home includes an outdoor deck
    Norm Architects was established in 2008 by Kasper Rønn Von Lotzbeck and Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen.
    The practice’s Archipelago House joins a number of getaway homes in scenic Sweden – others include Summerhouse Solviken by Johan Sundberg Arkitektur, which is raised up on steel stilts, and Villa Vassdal by Studio Holmberg, which boasts minimal plywood interiors.
    Photography is courtesy of Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen of Norm Architects.

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    Ten architecture and design events this November and December from Dezeen Events Guide

    Design Shanghai, Design Miami and Dubai Design Week are among the architecture and design events listed in Dezeen Events Guide taking place this winter, alongside a host of virtual programmes including an Archigram symposium and the Dezeen Awards ceremonies.Other events taking place in November and December include an Enzo Mari exhibition in Milan curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, the Quito Pan-American Architecture Biennial in Ecuador, Barcelona Design Week and Contemporary Istanbul.

    Above: the iconic illustration of the coronavirus virion is one of the designs on show at the Beazley Designs of the Year exhibition. Top: Walking illustration by Drawing Architecture Studio for the M+ museum’s Archigram Cities symposium
    Beazley Designs of the Year exhibition21 October 2020 to 28 March 2021
    The nominees for the 2020 Designs of the Year awards are currently on show at the London Design Museum until March of next year, allowing visitors to reflect on the state of the world in the months leading up to the coronavirus pandemic.
    Exhibits are arranged in chronological order, starting with Jack and Huei’s proposal for naming Bleached Coral as colour of the year at the start of 2019 and leading all the way up until January of this year, when the CDC released its 3D rendering of the novel coronavirus.
    About Time: Fashion and Duration exhibition29 October 2020 to 7 February 2021
    In celebration of the 150th anniversary of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the annual exhibition put on by its Costume Institute is this year sharing a retrospective of seminal fashion pieces from 1870 until the present day.
    The show, which is usually launched with the Met Gala in May, highlights the cyclical nature of fashion by mixing up styles from throughout the decades in two clock-like gallery spaces created by set designer Es Devlin.
    M+ Matters: Archigram Cities Online Symposium4 to 21 November
    In a virtual event organised by Hong Kong’s M+ museum, scholars and architects will come together to reconsider the work of British architecture collective Archigram and its enduring influence on modern architectural discourse.
    Over a series of three Zoom presentations, speakers will include architects Liam Young and Mark Wigley as well as Atelier Bow-Wow’s Tsukamoto Yoshiharu.
    Dubai Design Week9 to 14 November
    Dubai is one of the few design weeks to take place not just virtually by also in real life this year, spanning more than 200 events across the second week of November focused on how we can reimagine the way we live in light of the pandemic.
    This includes the Global Grad Show, exhibiting projects by students from around the world, and the trade fair Downtown Design alongside the city’s inaugural d3 Architecture Festival.
    Dezeen Awards ceremonies23 to 25 November
    The winners of this year’s Dezeen Awards will be announced via a three hour-long livestreams, hosted by Saatchi Gallery’s poet in residence LionHeart.
    Set on three consecutive days, each ceremony will be dedicated to a different category from architecture to interiors and design, with their respective key judges Norman Foster, Michelle Ogundehin and Paola Antonelli each sharing an address reflecting on this year’s entries.

    Combo chair by Frank Chou, one of the designers exhibiting at Design Shanghai

    Design Shanghai26 to 29 November
    Postponed from its original date in March, China’s preeminent design fair Design Shanghai will now take place at the end of November, highlighting local designers and brands alongside exhibitors from 30 other countries.
    The highly-anticipated Norwegian Presence showcase, which is normally exhibited at Salone del Mobile, will be presented as part of the Chinese trade fair instead, alongside a speaker programme featuring Ini Archibong, Ross Lovegrove and Hong Kong designer André Fu.
    Design Miami28 November to 6 December
    For its 16th edition, the Design Miami fair will supplement its regular programme with a new curated exhibition series called Podium, in which pieces of collectable design and craft will be not just on display but also for sale.
    In the wake of a tumultuous year in US history and the divisive 2020 election, the showcase will highlight pieces that question what it means to be American, from a 19th-century Navajo tribe textile to ceramics by Puerto Rican “ghetto potter” Roberto Lugo.
    World Architecture Festival30 November to 4 December
    The WAF is going virtual this year, with a series of talks, panel discussions and special prize ceremonies being live-streamed for free.
    Speakers including UNStudio’s Ben Van Berkel, Archigram founder Peter Cook and Jeanne Gang of Chicago firm Studio Gang will discuss everything from recent technical innovations to the ever-present topic of how we can learn to live with pandemics.
    Contemporary Istanbul16 to 20 December
    Turkey’s leading contemporary art fair will this year offer both virtual and physical events, including its recurring Plugin exhibition, which this year is focusing on human-machine communication and artificial intelligence.
    The event’s online version will act as a platform for visitors to interact with the fair in real-time, during its actual opening hours.
    National Gallery of Victoria Triennial19 December 2020 to 18 April 2021
    The second triennial from Melbourne’s NGV will showcase projects from around the globe that blur the line between art, design, architecture, science and technology.
    More than 80 artists and designers will take part in this year’s edition, including up-and-coming talent alongside stalwarts such as Kengo Kuma, Faye Toogood, Jeff Koons and Patricia Urquiola.

    Patricia Urquiola presents an installation titled Recycled Woollen Island at NGV Triennial 2020
    About Dezeen Events Guide
    Dezeen Events Guide is our guide to the best architecture and design events taking place across the world each year.
    The guide is updated weekly and includes virtual events, conferences, trade fairs, major exhibitions and design weeks, as well as up-to-date information about what events have been cancelled or postponed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
    Inclusion in the guide is free for basic listings, with events selected at Dezeen’s discretion. Organisers can get enhanced or premium listings for their events, including images, additional text and links, by paying a modest fee.
    In addition, events can ensure inclusion by partnering with Dezeen. For more details on inclusion in Dezeen Events Guide and media partnerships with Dezeen, email eventsguide@dezeen.com.

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    Thirty domestic bathrooms by architects including concrete, travertine and pink-tiled designs

    Making improvements to your home because you’re spending so much more time there? Here are 30 bathrooms designed by architects to give you some ideas.

    Minimal Fantasy apartment by Patricia Bustos Studio
    Designed by Patricia Bustos Studio, this pink bathroom has shiny pink curtains and mirrors with pink frames to match the rest of the apartment in Madrid, which is almost entirely pink.

    Botaniczna Apartment by Agnieszka Owsiany Studio
    This bathroom in a Poznań apartment designed by Agnieszka Owsiany Studio for a couple working in medicine has travertine marble walls and a travertine basin.

    House 6 by Zooco Estudio
    Zooco Estudio covered the walls and floors of this bathroom in Madrid with white tiles and blue grouting. A geometric counter clad with blue tiles snakes across the ground and up the wall to form a storage closet in the space.

    Porto house by Fala Atelier 
    Fala Atelier used square white tiles for this bathroom in a house in Porto. The tiles are paired with marble countertops, blue cupboard doors and a large round mirror over the sink.

    Makepeace Mansions apartment by Surman Weston 
    The bathroom in this apartment designed by Surman Weston is finished with hand-painted tiles that are arranged to form a black-and-white graphic pattern that mimics the housing block’s mock-Tudor facade.

    Unit 622 by Rainville Sangaré
    Set in an apartment within Moshe Safdie’s brutalist Habitat 67 housing complex in Montreal, this bathroom designed by Rainville Sangaré has colour-changing shower screens.

    Rylett House by Studio 30 Architects
    Created as part of the renovation of a Victorian maisonette in London, this small en-suite bathroom is finished with a black grid of tiles and a bright yellow wall.

    Cats’ Pink House by KC Design Studio 
    This holiday home in Taiwan is designed with a focus on the owner’s cat and includes cat ladders, a rotating carousel-shaped climbing frame and a fluffy pink swing. Its bathroom combines larger square pink floor tiles with a wall made from terrazzo with large flecks of pink and grey.

    Borden house by StudioAC
    This en-suite bathroom at the front of a house designed by StudioAC has pitched walls covered in grey tiles.

    Spinmolenplein apartment by Jürgen Vandewalle
    This bathroom in an apartment in Ghent’s tallest building is enclosed within a white lacquered-wood box and is accessed by a set of barn-style doors. Internally the bathroom is finished with earthy, pink-tone micro cement to contrast the white wood.

    Cloister House by MORQ
    The rammed-concrete walls of Cloister House in Perth have been left exposed in the bathroom where they are softened with timber slatted floors and a timber-clad bath and sink.

    Akari House by Mas-aqui
    Designed by Architecture studio Mas-aqui as part of a renovation of a 20th-century apartment in the mountains above Barcelona, this small bathroom combines red floor tiles with white wall tiles.

    Louisville Road house by 2LG Studio
    Created by 2LG Studio as part of a colourful overhaul of a period house in south London, this bathroom has pale marble walls and a baby-blue tiled floor. The baby-blue colour was also used for the taps and mirror surround, which contrast with the coral vanity unit.

    Apartment A by Atelier Dialect
    This en-suite bathroom, which forms part of a large open-plan master bedroom in an Antwerp apartment designed by Belgian studio Atelier Dialect, has a rectangular freestanding tub at its centre.
    The bath is wrapped in mirrored steel to compliment a stainless-steel basin, while the walls are finished with subway tiles and mint-green paint.

    House V by Martin Skoček
    Martin Skoček used salvaged bricks throughout the interiors of this gabled house near Bratislava, Slovakia. The master bedroom has a dramatic en-suite bedroom with a freestanding bathtub that is alined with the apex of the pitched timber roof.

    308 S apartment by Bloco Arquitetos 
    The bathroom in this 1960s apartment renovated by Bloco Arquitetos in Brasília incorporates white tiles as a reference to architecture in the city in the 6os. The white walls and ceiling are combined with a vanity counter and floor made from Branco São Paulo – a matte-finished granite.

    Mexican holiday home by Palma
    This slim shower room is tucked behind a bedroom in a holiday home designed by architecture studio Palma. It has slatted wooden doors that open directly to the exterior.

    South Yarra Townhouse by Winter Architecture
    This bathroom designed by Winter Architecture in a Melbourne townhouse combines exposed-aggregate grey tiles and thin, horizontal white tiles with towels rails and taps made from gold-hued brass.

    Edinburgh apartment by Luke and Joanne McClelland
    The main bathroom in this Georgian apartment in Edinburgh has glazed green tiles on the lower half of the walls and the front of the tub. Alongside the bath, a sink was placed on a restored 1960s wooden sideboard by Danish designer Ib Kofod Larsen.

    Ruxton Rise Residence by Studio Four
    Built for Studio Four’s co-director Sarah Henry, this tranquil house in the Melbourne suburb of Beaumaris has bathrooms with surfaces covered in tadelakt – a waterproof, lime-based plaster that is often used in Moroccan architecture to make sinks and baths.

    House with Three Eyes by Innauer-Matt Architekten
    In House with Three Eyes, the bathroom has a full-height glass wall that has views out across the surrounding Austrian countryside. The marble-clad bath is positioned right next to this window so bathers can enjoy the views.

    Hygge Studio by Melina Romano
    Brazilian designer Melina Romano designed this fern green coloured bathroom to extend from a bedroom in a São Paulo apartment. It features a striking black toilet, a corner mirror and a vanity unit built from red brick that has an open slot for storing towels and toiletries.

    Ready-made Home by Azab
    This en-suite bathroom in Azab’s Ready-made Home is separated from the bedroom by an angled blue curtain. The triangular bathroom space is differentiated from the bedroom by its blue tiles on the floor, which extend up the front of the bath and walls.

    Immeuble Molitor apartment by Le Corbusier
    This small bathroom was designed by Le Corbusier in the Immeuble Molitor apartment in Paris that was his home for over 30 years. The room, which has walls that are painted sky blue and covered with small white tiles, has a short bath and sink.

    Apartment in Born by Colombo and Serboli Architecture
    Colombo and Serboli Architecture added a new guest bathroom to this apartment in Barcelona’s historic El Born neighbourhood, which has by blush-toned tiles and a circular mirror.

    130 William skyscraper model apartment by David Adjaye
    Built within an apartment in David Adjaye’s 130 William skyscraper in New York, this bathroom is lined with serrated grey marble tiles and has a wooden sink unit with a matching profile.

    Pioneer Square Loft by Plum Design and Corey Kingston
    The bathroom facilities in this loft apartment in Seattle are located in a custom-built L-shaped wooden box in one of the room’s corners, which is topped with a bedroom.
    A washroom, shower, toilet and sauna are each located in different boxes that are each clad in wood charred using the traditional Japanese technique known as Shou Sugi Ban.

    VS House by Sārānsh
    The bathroom in VS House by Sārānsh in Ahmedabad, India, combines two clashing Indian stone finishes. Floors and walls are made from flecked grey tiles, while an emerald-coloured marble surrounds the toilets and mirror.

    Nagatachō Apartment by Adam Nathaniel Furman
    Forming part of the brightly coloured Nagatachō Apartment, which Adam Nathaniel Furman designed to be a “visual feast”, this bathroom combines a blue-tiled with milky-orange-tiled walls. A sky blue vanity unit, lemon-yellow towel rail and taps, and pink toilet complete the colourful composition.

    Kyle House by GRAS
    This holiday home in Scotland was designed by Architecture studio GRAS to have a “monastically simple” interior. This is extended into the bathroom, which has grey walls and a shower space clad with large black tiles.

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  • Shortlist unveiled for AHEAD Europe 2020 hospitality awards

    Dezeen promotion: a guest villa in rural Mallorca and a log-clad hotel near the Arctic circle are some of the hospitality projects to be shortlisted in this year’s AHEAD Europe awards.The AHEAD Europe awards celebrate outstanding hospitality projects that have launched, opened or reopened across the continent between June 2019 and May of this year.

    Top image: The exterior of The Standard in London, which is on the awards shortlist. Above: one of The Standard’s colourful guest rooms
    Submissions were first arranged into 15 categories, which recognise everything from a project’s guest rooms to its lobby and public spaces.
    A shortlist was then put together by a judging panel made up of hotel industry experts. As well as assessing a project’s aesthetic appeal, they also consider factors like use of budget, how well it has met the client brief and whether it captures the “theatre of hotel life”.
    Among the panel this year is Signe Bindslev Heniksen, co-founder of studio Space Copenhagen, and Ana Ortega-Miranda, director of interior design for Marriott International.

    A freezing river surrounds Arctic Bath, another one of the projects on the awards shortlist

    One of the projects to have made it to the shortlist is The Standard in London, which occupies a brutalist building opposite one of the city’s major train stations, King’s Cross.
    Guest rooms and communal areas throughout the hotel are decked out with bold colours like cherry red and cobalt blue, playfully contrasting the hotel’s heavy concrete facade.
    Also on the shortlist is a log-clad spa hotel called Arctic Bath, which floats on the icy waters of a Swedish river just 50 kilometres south of the Arctic circle.

    La Maison d’Estournel in France has also made the shortlist
    Some of the projects on the shortlist are situated in much warmer climes.
    This includes La Maison d’Estournel, a centuries-old boutique hotel in France that’s set amongst a 12-acre vineyard, and Casa Palerm, a guest villa in Mallorca that has cinematic views of the Spanish countryside.

    Casa Palerm in rural Mallorca is also competing for an award
    Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the last round of judging was executed over a series of video calls between 14 and 15 October.
    Winners will be announced on 16 November via a digital ceremony that will be broadcast on both AHEAD and Dezeen’s websites.
    See the full shortlist below:
    Bar, Club or Lounge
    40 Elephants at Great Scotland Yard Hotel, London, EnglandDouble Standard at The Standard, London, EnglandSibin at Great Scotland Yard Hotel, London, EnglandThe Lobby Bar at One Aldwych, London, EnglandThe Malt Lounge at The Prince Akatoki, London, England
    Guestrooms
    Apfelhotel, Saltusio, ItalyBirch, Cheshunt, EnglandBoho Club, Marbella, SpainDomes Zeen Chania, GreeceHotel Arlberg Lech, Austria
    Hotel Conversion
    AMERON Frankfurt Neckarvillen Boutique, GermanyCasa Popeea, Brăila, RomaniaGreat Scotland Yard Hotel, London, EnglandStock Exchange Hotel, Manchester, EnglandThe Standard, London, England
    Hotel Newbuild
    Dakota Manchester, EnglandHart Shoreditch Hotel, London, EnglandLindley Lindenberg, Frankfurt, GermanyMarket Street Hotel, Edinburgh, Scotlandnhow Amsterdam RAI, The Netherlands
    Hotel Restoration & Renovation
    Boho Club, Marbella, SpainChâteau de Vignée, Villers-sur-Lesse, BelgiumLa Maison d’Estournel, Saint-Estèphe, FranceTreehouse Hotel London, EnglandVilla Arnica, Lana, Italy
    Landscaping & Outdoor Spaces
    Apfelhotel, Saltusio, ItalyArua Private Spa Villas, Merano, ItalyDomes Zeen Chania, GreeceEkies All Senses Resort, Vourvourou, GreeceThe Newt in Somerset, England
    Lobby & Public Spaces
    Cretan Malia Park, Crete, GreeceLocke at Broken Wharf, London, EnglandParīlio, Naousa, GreeceRooms Hotel Kokhta, Bakuriani, GeorgiaThe Lobby Lounge at The Standard, London, England
    Lodges, Cabins & Tented Camps
    57 Nord, Ardelve, ScotlandArctic Bath, Harads, SwedenCamp Hox, Oxfordshire, EnglandCasa Palerm, MallorcaTreehouses at Ramside Hall Hotel, Durham, England
    Resort
    Cretan Malia Park, Crete, GreeceDomes Zeen Chania, GreeceLefay Resort and Spa, Dolomites, ItalyParīlio, Naousa, GreeceQuinta da Comporta, Portugal
    Restaurant
    Decimo at The Standard, London, EnglandHélène Darroze at The Connaught, London, EnglandHelios at Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel Athens, GreeceMemories Sven Wassmer at Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, SwitzerlandMouries at Cretan Malia Park, Crete, Greece
    Spa & Wellness
    Apfelhotel, Saltusio, ItalyArctic Bath, Harads, SwedenHotel Arlberg Lech, AustriaLefay Resort and Spa, Dolomites, ItalyThe Newt in Somerset, England
    Suite
    Arua Private Spa Villas, Merano, ItalyEkies All Senses Resort, Vourvourou, GreeceLincoln House at Rosewood London, EnglandNobel Suite at Grand Hotel Oslo, NorwayNobu Hotel Barcelona, Spain
    Visual Identity
    Birch, Cheshunt, EnglandBoho Club, Marbella, SpainChâteau de Vignée, Villers-sur-Lesse, BelgiumHotel Arlberg Lech, AustriaVilla Arnica, Lana, Italy

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  • Richard Parr Associates expands own office by converting 19th-century barn in the Cotswolds

    A run-down barn that was once used for storing grain now houses additional office space for the Cotswolds-based staff of architecture practice Richard Parr Associates.The 95-square-metre workspace, which Richard Parr Associates has monikered Grain Loft Studio, is shortlisted in the small workspace interior of the year category in the 2020 Dezeen Awards.
    It’s situated amongst the green fields of Easter Park Farm in the Cotswolds, which was created as part of the Woodchester Park Estate in the middle of the 19th century.

    Top image: the Grain Loft Studio includes a wood burner. Above: Richard Parr’s office features a pitched Douglas fir roof
    An old hayloft, cowshed, bullpen and dairy barn on the farm had already been converted into office space for the practice, but as the number of employees has begun to steadily increase, they realised they were in need of extra room.

    The practice’s eponymous founder, Richard Parr, decided to make use of an abandoned barn.

    Parr’s office looks through to a laidback workroom for staff
    Parr’s office is up on the barn’s first floor in what was formerly a loft store for grain.
    After years of dilapidation, the practice could only save one of the room’s original Cotswold stone walls – the rest have been replaced with expansive panels of glazing that offer views of a nearby National Trust park and Parr’s own family home, which is also on the farm.

    The workroom boasts rubber flooring and black leather furnishings
    “It’s been a joy to extend our studio space, providing much needed flexible workspace for our team,” explained Parr, who has found using the Grain Loft Studio particularly handy during the coronavirus pandemic when many have been forced to work from home.
    “With views out onto the surrounding valleys, the new studio has provided solace whilst working remotely from the team.”

    Richard Parr Associates remodels Edwardian house for Rapha founder Simon Mottram

    The room is topped by a pitched roof constructed from lime-washed beams of Douglas fir.
    Directly beneath is a 2.5-metre-wide glass table surrounded by aluminium-frame chairs, where team members can sit and work with Parr throughout the day.

    At the back of the workroom is a timber volume that houses a kitchenette
    A doorway looks through to an informal workroom that’s meant to have a darker, cosier feel.
    The floor is clad with black recycled-rubber tiles, while the ceiling is clad with textured wood-wool panels.
    One wall has been panelled with timber salvaged from a farmhouse in a neighbouring village that was once occupied by Soviet architect Berthold Lubetkin, which Parr hopes will act as a small homage to “the pioneer of British modernism”.
    In the corner of the room is a wood burner, in front of which a black leather sofa and armchairs have been placed. A kitchenette and small shower room are contained within a grooved timber volume towards the rear of the room.

    There’s a meeting area downstairs in the barn
    An industrial steel staircase leads down to the barn’s ground floor, which was previously just used as a cart bay but can now serve as a meeting room or breakout area.
    It’s simply dressed with a couple of curved bench seats that were carved from a single tree, and a white version of Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen’s signature Tulip table.
    The practice preserved the space’s existing cobbled walls but has covered the floor in stable-block pavers rescued from another building on the farm.

    The exterior of the converted barn
    Richard Parr Associates was established in 2012 and works between offices in the Cotswolds and west London.
    The practice’s Grain Loft Studio will go head-to-head in the Dezeen Awards against projects such as 12 by Ortraum Architects, a music and ceramics studio that’s nestled in the back garden of a house in Helsinki.
    Photography is by Gilbert McCarragher.
    Project credits:
    Architect: Richard Parr AssociatesInteriors: Richard Parr AssociatesContractor: JM WestonFire engineer: Oculus

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