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      The Olive Houses are off-grid retreats hidden in Mallorca's mountains

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      Craggy boulders jut through walls in these off-grid guesthouses that architecture studio Mar Plus Ask has built in Mallorca, Spain, for creatives in need of a quiet escape.Tucked away high up in Mallorca’s Tramuntana mountains, The Olive Houses are run year-round by Mar Plus Ask as a silent refuge where solo architects, writers and artists can stay free from interruption.

      The pair of houses are enclosed by a dense grove of thousand-year-old olive trees, which at points is interrupted by huge boulders resembling “natural monumental sculptures”.

      Keen to leave this rugged terrain largely untouched, Mar Plus Ask set about designing two modest structures – one that accommodates sleeping quarters, the other cooking facilities – that look like homes in the surrounding landscape.

      “Our first reaction was that only if we could come up with something that would add something in a respectful and beautiful way, would we ever consider building,” explained the studio, which is led by Mar Vicens and Ask Anker Aistrup.
      “However, it was calming that the functions we were looking to build wouldn’t be much different than those of the existing structures found in the area.”

      One of the houses is partially embedded into an existing stone terrace, which the studio hopes will help the structure keep cool during the warm summer months.
      A sliding teakwood door can be pushed back to reveal a grand arched entrance. Inside, the house has a series of smooth, sloping surfaces similar to those seen within a cave.
      The walls, floor and ceiling have been exclusively rendered in blush-pink stucco, as the studio felt the colour was complementary to the pale green shade seen on the underside of an olive tree leaf.

      A corner of the house has been built around a craggy boulder that the studio left in situ, illuminated by a skylight directly above.
      “To us, the stone became a piece of art – suddenly the house was more about sculpting its backdrop and being its lightbox,” explained the studio.

      Tiny camping pods by Andrea Zittel serve as a creative refuge in the California desert

      Just beside the boulder, an overhead shower has been fitted, while a single bed lies on the other side of the house. Outside there’s also a large sink, the basin of which is formed from rock.

      Mar Plus Ask created the second house by renovating a dilapidated shed on site that was once used to store tools.
      Surfaces throughout are instead covered in deep-purple stucco, a hue that the studio thought was more akin to the dark, glossy topside of an olive leaf.

      The structure was initially deemed too narrow to hold cooking facilities but the studio ended up carving a wide opening into one of its 60-centimetre-thick walls, which is able to accommodate a chunky prep counter and a sink.
      Guests will also have access to two gas burners and a wood-fire oven – water, like that used to service the shower and sink in the first house, is sourced from a nearby spring. This house also includes a toilet.

      Mar Plus Ask was established in 2015 and works between offices in Copenhagen, Berlin, Mallorca and Valencia.
      The studio’s Olive Houses project isn’t the only place where creatives can go to clear their heads. Back in 2016, Andrea Zittel launched Wagon Station Encampment – a campsite near Joshua Tree Park, California, where artists and writers are allowed to play out their “desert fantasy”.
      The site includes 10 sleeping pods, a communal outdoor kitchen and open-air showers.
      Photography is by Piet Albert Goethals.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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      TS-H_01 by Tom Strala is a pared-back family home on a Swiss hillside

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      Architect Tom Strala has completed TS-H_01, a minimal family home just outside of Bern, Switzerland that includes separate living quarters for parents and children.TS-H_01 perches on a grassy slope in the municipality of Kirchdorf and is occupied by a couple with two daughters and a son.
      Local architect Tom Strala has designed the house to offer a “contemporary form of cohabitation” where parents and children can easily live side by side.

      “I always aim to create a tailor-made suit for my clients,” Strala told Dezeen.

      “My approach is to first understand how my clients live, what their inner dynamic is and what’s important to them on a daily basis,” he continued. “With that knowledge, we together developed a concept that naturally became pragmatic-poetic.”

      The architect also wanted TS-H_01 to emulate the easy-going internal layout of his own home in Werkbundsiedlung Neubühl, a housing complex in Zurich that was built by a collective of Swiss architects between 1930-32.
      “Spaces in Werkbundsiedlung Neubühl are not big but they are shaped in such a way that you never feel limited; it was built 90 years ago and I tried to translate this quality into our time.”

      The children’s sleeping quarters have been allocated to the home’s lower-ground floor.
      Strala specifically wanted to contradict the arrangement of a typical family home, which he thinks are too-often organised in a way where “youngsters are either protected, guarded or spied on by their parents”.

      Each bedroom has two doors, one that grants access to the garden and another that leads to the children’s private lounge area.
      “Whether a ‘good child’ or a pubescent teenager, the child decides day after day for itself how strong a connection it wants to form with its family, its siblings or the outside world,” explained Strala.

      Family members can unite on the ground floor of TS-H_01, which accommodates the communal living spaces. This includes a sizeable sitting room fronted by sliding glazed panels that open onto an outdoor terrace.

      Think Architecture creates minimal hilltop house in Zurich

      At the centre of the adjacent kitchen is a chunky white prep counter, while down the side of the room is a sequence of full-height storage cupboards with circular timber-edged handles.
      Two of the cupboards can be pushed back to reveal a hidden doorway to the home’s indoor garage.

      The parents have complete free rein over the attic, which is where their bedroom suite is located.
      “It’s similar to a single loft space,” said Strala. “Even if you are a caring father or mother, you remain a human being with a life of your own.”

      The interior has been minimally finished throughout with raw plaster walls and pale timber floorboards.
      Splashes of colour are offered in the bathroom facilities, where glazed, midnight-blue tiles clad the shower cubicle and window ledge.

      Other pared-back properties in Switzerland include Haus Meister by HDPF, which boasts bare concrete surfaces, and Montebar Villa by JM Architecture, which is exclusively covered in dark grey tiles to resemble “a stone in the landscape”.

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      OMA designs glass volume to top Tiffany & Co's New York flagship store

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      OMA New York, led by Shohei Shigematsu, has unveiled its design for a glass addition to top the historic Tiffany & Co store on Fifth Avenue in New York City.The project involves the preservation of the jewellery brand’s 80-year old flagship location, a renovation of its ground floor and the construction of a rectangular glass volume that will span three storeys, adding space for hosting exhibitions and events.
      Built in 1940 by Cross & Cross, the existing limestone facade of the Tiffany & Co building is marked by its grid of windows and scalloped edges. In 1980 an upper volume was added to the building to house offices, which will be demolished and replaced by the new glass structure as part of this latest renovation by OMA.

      “Tiffany’s Fifth Avenue Flagship is more than a retail space, it is a destination with a public dimension,” said OMA Partner Shohei Shigematsu. “The new addition is informed by programmatic needs of the evolving brand – a gathering place that acts as a contemporary counterpart to the iconic ground level space and its activities.”

      “The floating volume over an existing terrace provides a clear visual cue to a vertical journey of diverse experiences throughout the building,” he added.
      OMA’s design plans to form the new volume using two stacked glass structures. The lower one will comprise a recessed box covered with glass windows, while the upper portion will be wrapped with slumped glass walls modelled after the building’s decorative parapet.

      OMA adds iridescent glass escalator to New York’s Saks Fifth Avenue

      The ridged glass requires minimal vertical support and has a reflective surface designed for viewing the city from the interiors while offering privacy looking in from the exterior.
      An outdoor patio for hosting events surrounds the lower, two-storey volume. The existing space is furnished with tables and plants that overlook Fifth Avenue and on to Central Park. Its double height walls are wrapped with smooth glass panes and vertical silver frames to tie the two volumes together.
      “The two spaces of the upper volume that make up the new addition is a moment of clear but complementary contrast to the original flagship,” the studio added. “It is a symbolic ending to the building that reflects an evolved luxury experience that is more a journey than a destination.”

      The project is currently under construction and is expected to complete in Spring 2022.
      Shigematsu leads OMA New York with fellow partner Jason Long. The outpost is intended to function independently from the studio’s international offices, including Rotterdam, Beijing, Hong Kong, Doha and Australia, as part of an initiative of founder Rem Koolhaas.
      Last year the studio installed a multicoloured escalator inside the renovated Saks Fifth Avenue department store.
      Other recent projects by the New York office include a plan for the 11th Street Bridge Park in Washington DC and a series of galleries inside Gio Ponti’s Denver Art Museum.

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      Island Rest is a black-timber holiday home on the English coast

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      British practice Ström Architects has completed Island Rest, a low-lying holiday home in the Isle of Wight that is clad in beams of blackened larch wood.Island Rest has been designed by Ström Architects as a “home away from home” for a family of four, who wanted a place where they could spend quality time together.
      The house is nestled in a creek that looks out across The Solent, a 20-mile-long stretch of water that separates the Isle of Wight from mainland England.

      First revealed in a series of renderings in 2018, the now-complete Island Rest house comprises a single-storey rectilinear volume clad with beams of black-stained larch wood.

      A low-lying structure was specifically chosen so as not to compromise views of the surrounding natural landscape.

      “We wanted the house to sit quietly against the backdrop of trees, while feeling like it embraced the views when looking out,” said the practice.
      “Our clients asked for an architecturally timeless building, drawing on the very best modern architectural concepts to create a whole – no frivolous moves; rigour must flow through every space and every detail that the building is.”

      As the area surrounding Island Rest is prone to flooding, it has been positioned to sit at the highest point of the site.
      At one end the house is supported by a grassy hill, but as this gradually slopes away, slim metal poles are instead used to elevate the structure.

      Magnus Ström models gabled annex for Hampshire home on “rustic boutique hotel”

      Expansive panels of glazing have also been fitted on both sides of the home to maximise sightlines and natural light.

      Inside lies an open-plan living and dining area, complete with a jet-black kitchen suite. This leads off to a fleet of bedrooms for the owners’ three young children.
      Each room has been given a largely simple fit-out to make them “places to sleep and not places to stay”, in a bid to encourage the children to spend more time playing outdoors.

      To give the parents a greater sense of privacy, their bedroom has been placed on the opposite side of the house.
      It has ensuite bathroom facilities and access to a small deck that leads down to the swimming pool and verdant garden.
      “Landscaping was a consideration from the outset and has a very natural and organic feel, with mowed paths through wildflowers leading to and defining areas of different function and interest,” added the practice.

      Ström Architects was established in 2010 and is based in the New Forest, a district of Hampshire, England.
      Other homes on the picturesque Isle of Wight include The Sett by Dow Jones Architects, which takes design cues from black-painted fishermen sheds seen dotted along the island’s beaches.
      There’s also House for a Yachtsman by The Manser Practice, which is punctuated by several glazed openings.
      Photography is by Nick Hufton of Hufton + Crow.

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      This week, architects designed innovative public toilets for Tokyo

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      This week on Dezeen, we featured three unusual restrooms designed for the Tokyo Toilet project, including Shigeru Ban’s colourful, transparent design.As well as Ban’s restroom, whose transparent walls become opaque when the toilets are in use, designs include Wonderwall’s concrete toilet that references primitive Japanese huts, and Fumihiko Maki’s “squid toilet” which is located in a park known as the Octopus Park.
      The project is being run by the not-for-profit Nippon Foundation and will see 17 toilets being built in total.

      Revit software costs “reasonable” says Autodesk president and CEO Andrew Anagnost
      The CEO of American software maker Autodesk, Andrew Anagnost, replied to criticism from leading architects about the rising cost and lack of development of its Revit application.

      Though he admitted improvements “didn’t progress as quickly” as they should, he called the expense of Autodesk software “certainly reasonable for tools that are at the centre of the daily work of architects.”

      Harikrishnan’s blow-up latex trousers go on sale with “do not overinflate” warning
      Fashion blew up this week, as Harikrishnan’s inflatable trousers went on sale – just six months after the designer showed them at his graduate show – with a warning to “not overinflate” the shiny latex garments.
      Spanish artist SiiGii took the concept one step further with their wearable, inflatable latex lilo, which enables the wearer to float in the ocean without worrying about sun exposure.

      Architecture “is more elitist than the most elite university in the world” says Phineas Harper
      Open House and Open City director and Dezeen columnist Phineas Harper inspired a passionate discussion in the comments after accusing architecture of rampant elitism.
      In a Twitter thread, the former Architecture Foundation deputy director compared the percentage of architects from non-state schools in its New Architects 3 publication with the percentage of state school students who went to Cambridge las year.
      “[W]e *need* to start talking about the impact of private schools on architecture,” Harper said.

      Dyson family to make art collection public in home gallery by Chris Wilkinson
      James Dyson, vacuum-cleaner entrepreneur and the UK’s wealthiest person, and his wife Deirdre are set to open their private art collection to the public in an art gallery that WilkinsonEyre’s founder, Chris Wilkinson, has designed for their UK home.
      In Ireland, O’Donnell + Tuomey unveiled a timber and concrete pedestrian bridge, which was built over the River Lee to improve connections to University College Cork. The bridge gives students direct access to an area of green space across the river from the university.

      Snøhetta, Studio Gang and Henning Larsen unveil designs for Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library
      Competing designs for the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, which will be built in Medora, North Dakota, were presented by Snøhetta, Studio Gang and Henning Larsen.
      Proposals include a scheme composed of four angular volumes topped by grass, a building composed of three horseshoe-shaped structures, and a library topped with a huge, curved roof that acts as an extension of the landscape.

      BIG reveals masterplan for “urban lilypads” off coast of Penang Island
      In other architecture news, Dutch studio MVRDV announced its plans to turn a deteriorating concrete factory in China into a creative office space with a maze-like garden on the roof.
      Denmark’s BIG unveiled its masterplan for BiodiverCity Penang, a series of islands in Malaysia that will be connected by a car-free autonomous transport system.

      Step House extension built around perforated birch-ply staircase
      Popular projects on Dezeen this week include the Step House extension with its plywood staircase, Worrel Yeung’s industrial artist studios in historic Brooklyn factory buildings, and Ridgewood, a renovated California house that pays homage to its “flamboyant” modernist architect.
      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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      This week, we unveiled the longlists for Dezeen Awards 2020

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      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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