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    Colombian designers transform Bogotá townhouse for furniture exhibition

    Gallery NC Diseño has renovated a townhouse in Bogotá, commissioning 10 Colombian designers to redesign its bedrooms, kitchen and other spaces in different styles for an inaugural exhibition.

    NC Diseño features five floors, two of which contain previously uninhabited apartments renovated over three months for the opening Design House Colombia exhibit. It is located down the street from sister institution NC Arte studio in Bogotá.
    NC Diseño has opened an inaugural exhibit of collectible design in BogotáFor the exhibition, curator Mónica Barreneche commissioned 10 local designers and studios to select a room within the apartments to furnish with collectible design pieces, prompting each studio to design a space informed by personal experience.
    “For the first edition of Design House Colombia, the ten participating design studios were invited to delve into the typological significance that represents the space in which each one intervened,” said Barreneche.
    Martín Mendoza created a wood and steel studio clad informed by his father’s own officeThe brief was for the designers to connect personal experiences with the different spaces in the home.

    “As a result, each of them left an emotional imprint of what it means to connect with space,” said Barreneche.
    NC Diseño director Estefania Neme also added locally created art pieces to each space.
    Julián Molina of Refugio Arquitectura created a minimal kitchen with a custom illusionary tiled floorArchitect Martín Mendoza outfitted an office in chocolate-coloured wooden cladding by Woodbox Colombia and steel bookshelves by Guarida, illuminating the space with lighting by Alta Estudio and La Nuit as an homage to his father’s studio.
    “When I observe a studio, my mind immediately goes to the memory of my father’s studio. That space, for me, embodies the authentic meaning of intimacy and privacy. It’s a completely personal refuge,” said the designer.
    Mendoza filled the space with furniture of leather, steel and wood. A metallic-legged daybed topped with a woven leather cushion by his studio MM & Co was centred, while a steel desk by designer Daniela Duarte sat in a corner.
    Artwork by Julian Burgoss and charred-wood figures in the shape of books as well as stools by designer Camilo Andres Rodriguez Márquez complete the space.
    Estefania Neme centred a teddy bear wrapped in the Ikea Stockholm rug for a nurseryArchitect Julián Molina of Refugio Arquitectura outfitted a kitchen for the project, which will be the one permanent space in NC Diseño.
    The designer centred a large wood-and-steel island and placed an illuminated yellow shelving unit by design studio Octubre just above it.
    Jotaele Arquitectura created an “infinite” dining room with original wood panelingThe floor was clad in a custom black-and-white tile pattern by artist Ramon Laserna, which creates an optical illusion.
    Medellín-based designer David Del Valle created a minimal living room informed by his warm, plant-filled city, taking advantage of the views from the three arched windows in the room.
    Camila Buitrago Estudio and Granada Gárces Aquitectos created a bedroom cast in greyTwo scooped metal armchairs, placed at the centre of the room face the terrace and an amoeba-shaped bronze table was placed in between them.
    The El Secreto table was designed exclusively for the exhibit to pay homage to a Colombian national park.
    Moblar created a therapist’s office with a daybed at its centre and steel bookshelves”This table represents Colombia’s best-kept anthropological and territorial treasure; Chibiriquete National Natural Park. From its natural form to all the meaning it holds, this table narrates the mystique of this natural gem,” said Del Valle.
    Upstairs, a room curated by Neme brought together a number of designers for a nursery.
    Cruz de la Pava played created a “man cave” with a light that dims when visitors sit in a central armchairA rug created by Cosí and NC Diseño and informed by tatami mats consists of off-white patches sewn together with a colourful crocheted web.
    A crib by artists Colectivo Mangle was made of wooden slats that fan out from connection points on either end with geometric, yellow chairs by Jimena Londoño y José David del Portillo placed beside it.
    Basalto Studio filled a room with interchangeable totems and concentric chandeliersA giant teddy bear wrapped and emerging from Ikea’s popular Stockholm rug by artist Ivan Castiblanco was placed on the wall.
    “When children are surrounded by a friendly, creative, imaginative and happy environment, their behaviour is undoubtedly different, and they learn to take care of their environment and value themselves,” said Neme.

    Design House in Mexico City showcases local designers in mid-century home

    Jotaele Arquitectura created an “infinite” dining room, which included original wood panelling and chairs by Jaime Gutiérrez Lega upholstered in wool, and Cruz de la Pava played on the idea of a “man cave” where lights dim when visitors sit in a central armchair.
    Finally, Moblar created a therapist’s office, including a daybed and steel bookcases with curved profiles by the studio.
    Pedro Bermudez created a courtyard with a green metal screen and clay pots informed by the layers of Colombian soilOther spaces throughout the exhibition include a bedroom cast in an all-grey hue, including the floors, by Camila Buitrago Estudio and Granada Gárces Aquitectos; a room filled with interchangeable totems and concentric chandeliers by Basalto Studio; and terraces by designers Pedro Bermudez, Terreno Paisajismo and Menguante.
    Similarly, designers in Mexico City outfitted a whole house with custom interiors and furniture for Design Week Mexico.
    Elsewhere in Bogotá, Lorenzo Botero and Martín Mendoza created a brick-lined restaurant and Alsar Atelier and Oscar Zamora created a translucent fog catcher.
    The photography is by Monica Barreneche
    Design House Colombia is on show from November to 14 March in Bogotá. For more events, exhibitions and talks in architecture and design visit the Dezeen Events Guide. 

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    Dezeen Debate features rural Belgian home that achieves “such a clean result”

    The latest edition of our Dezeen Debate newsletter features House in the Fields, a rural home in the Belgian countryside. Subscribe to Dezeen Debate now.

    Geneva-based architect Stef Claes looked to mid-century and local architecture to create the low-lying home in Belgium. The residence, named House in the Fields, features white-painted walls and black accents.
    Readers discussed the project, with one commending the architects for achieving “such a clean result” and another agreeing, claiming that they “could quite happily live there”.
    “Forty-one per cent of architects now using AI” says RIBA reportOther stories in this week’s newsletter that fired up the comments section included the findings of a report by the Royal Insitute of British Architects which found that close to half of UK architects are now using AI for their projects, the announcement that Foster + Partners is designing a two-kilometre-high skyscraper in Saudi Arabia and an opinion piece by Catherine Slessor about architects working into their older years.
    Dezeen Debate

    Dezeen Debate is sent every Thursday and features a selection of the best reader comments and most talked-about stories. Read the latest edition of Dezeen Debate or subscribe here.
    You can also subscribe to our other newsletters; Dezeen Agenda is sent every Tuesday containing a selection of the most important news highlights from the week, Dezeen Daily is our daily bulletin that contains every story published in the preceding 24 hours and Dezeen In Depth is sent on the last Friday of every month and delves deeper into the major stories shaping architecture and design.

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    Suspended bridges connect round cabin hotels in Mexico

    Mexican architect María José Gutiérrez has placed a series of round, pine-clad cabins connected by suspended bridges onto a vineyard in Mexico to serve as vacation rentals.

    Located in Valle de Guadalupe, Ensenada on the Baja Peninsula, Zeuhary Hospedaje Campestre includes a community lounge and four vacation rental cabins.
    Top: photo by Martin Acevedo. Above: the cabins are located in Baja California, Mexico. Photo by Jonatan Ruvalcaba Maciel”Beyond creating spaces we aim to create experiences, where nature and human beings integrate and recognize each other,” María José Gutiérrez, who leads Mexican studio Arqos Arquitectura Arte Y Diseño, told Dezeen.
    “The architecture and interior design were focused on connecting with the environment and maintaining harmony with it.”
    Central bedrooms feature in the round buildingsCompleted in June 2022, the 250 square metres (2,690 square feet) of built area is divided into five 40-square metre (430-square foot) structures that look outward to the surrounding wine region.

    The ground floor of each cabin is divided orthogonally, splitting off a portion for a partially covered exterior porch that leads into the sleeping space through a glass sliding door.
    Their interiors are sectioned into bathrooms along one sideThe interiors were sectioned into a bathroom along one side, a central bedroom and a kitchenette tucked behind the headboard wall.
    “In the furniture and interior decoration, we used organic materials from the region and different areas of the country, earth tones and grey contrasts, crafts, natural fibers, textiles, local wood and stone, recognizing Mexican handicraft talent and tradition,” the studio said.
    “The chukum finish on the interior walls gives an organic texture and helps keep the interiors cool in summer, while the exterior coating of recycled pine wood allows the cabins to be thermally insulated in both winter and summer for greater energy efficiency.”
    Small private gardens feature round jacuzzisThe cabins are all rotated to face a particular northern or eastern view without compromising privacy for the occupants.
    A small planted garden protected by a grey wall rings a quarter of each plan, terminated by a private in-ground jacuzzi, connected to the cabin by a wooden deck with planks that align with the vertical cladding boards as if the facade radiates down the wall and along the ground.
    Rooftop terraces are included atop each cabinUp a delicate metal spiral staircase with wooden treads, the round plan becomes a rooftop terrace complete with a rope net set into the roof of the porch like an integrated hammock.
    A free-swinging wooden bridge with rope netting guard rails is suspended from the roof of each cabin and leads to the roof of the common area, allowing guests to congregate in a central location.

    Dezeen’s top 10 cabins of 2023

    “The circular floor plan of the cabins, together with their transition spaces such as the hanging bridges, wooden paths and spiral staircases generate fluid and dynamic routes which allow us to reconnect with ourselves and awaken our inner child through play and movement,” the studio said.
    In addition to the material selection that responds thermally to the environment, the design works to preserve what little water the agricultural region has, reusing grey water for the irrigation of the vineyards.
    Zeuhary Hospedaje Campestre is positioned within a vineyardOther cabins recently completed in Mexico include a house deconstructed and separated for glamping within a forest in Nuevo León by S-AR and a brutalist cube-shaped holiday home tucked into a pine forest in Alférez by Ludwig Godefroy.
    The photography is by Jonatan Ruvalcaba Maciel unless otherwise stated. 
    Project credits:
    Architect: María José GutiérrezEngineering and construction: Specialized Urban Services

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    Lucas y Hernández Gil adds multi-use greenhouse to Madrid bungalow

    A renovated 1970s bungalow with “kitsch character” and a greenhouse that doubles as a living room feature in Casamontesa – a weekend home designed by Spanish studio Lucas y Hernández Gil.

    The project began when a couple asked the studio to overhaul a single-storey house that was once part of a hotel complex on the outskirts of Madrid.
    The renovated bungalow and a multifunctional greenhouse (above) make up CasamontesaThe brief later expanded to include a multifunctional greenhouse that can be used as a workspace, a guest bedroom, a gym or simply as a garden room.
    Lucas y Hernández Gil, led by architects Cristina Domínguez Lucas and Fernando Hernández-Gil Ruano, developed a distinct character for each building.
    The main house is a bungalow built in the 1970sCasamontesa’s renovated bungalow has a warm, playful style that draws on the 1970s aesthetic while the garden pavilion has a more utilitarian feel.

    “The owners, a young urban couple who love design and live and work in the centre of Madrid, were looking for a functional and compact getaway within a fantastic garden,” Lucas told Dezeen.
    “They wanted a very comfortable and flexible home that would be useful for both working and getting together with friends.”
    The interior centres around a new kitchen islandThe bungalow renovation involved simplifying the interior layout to create a combined kitchen, dining room and living room, with a bedroom and bathroom off to one side.
    “The house, in addition to being small, was very compartmentalised,” explained Lucas.
    The materials palette includes pink marble and handmade tilesTo unify the newly open-plan living space, the designers installed an island that serves as a worktop, dining table and social gathering place.
    This island features a countertop made from Portuguese pink marble while its sides are covered in the same handmade burgundy tiles that line an adjacent window recess.
    An arched fireplace provides a focal point in the living room”The rest of the surfaces – Campaspero stone floors and waxed tinted plaster walls – establish a dialogue by contrast with the colourful and shiny surface of the tiles,” added Lucas.
    Key details in the living room include an arched fireplace and a tadelakt plaster coffee table, while the bedroom features semi-circular marble nightstands.

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    For Casamontesa’s garden room, the design team customised a prefabricated greenhouse.
    A pergola extends the building volume outwards in a bid to blur the boundary between inside and out, and is topped with wooden blinds to provide shade.
    A pergola extends the width of the greenhouseA wooden box on wheels provides an additional bedroom, described as a “small Shigeru Ban-style mobile room”.
    Other additions include thermal curtains and an automatic shading and ventilation system, which allow for versatile use of the space throughout the year.
    A “Shigeru Ban-style mobile room” provides an additional sleeping space”By complementing the programme of the original bungalow, a more complete and flexible program is achieved, overcoming the limitations of a weekend house,” added Lucas.
    Other recent projects by Lucas y Hernández Gil include a bar featuring extreme colour blocking and an apartment with a hidden closet.
    The photography is by José Hevia.

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    Get listed in Dezeen’s digital guide for NYCxDesign 2024

    If you’re hosting an event during NYCxDesign, you can get listed in Dezeen Events Guide’s digital guide to the festival, which highlights the key events taking place across New York City’s five boroughs.

    NYCxDesign runs from 16 to 23 May 2024 and features hundreds of events including installations, exhibitions, fairs, tours, open studios and product launches.
    One of the largest events taking place during the eight-day programme is the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) and WantedDesign Manhattan, located at the Javits Center from 19 to 21 May 2024. Each year the fair sees 10,000 visitors from the architecture, design and retail fields.
    With 2024 marking the festival’s 12th anniversary, NYCxDesign aims for its events to target themes of sustainability, inclusivity and diversity while exploring a range of design mediums.
    Get listed in Dezeen’s digital NYCxDesign guide

    Get in touch with the Dezeen Events Guide team at [email protected] to book your listing or to discuss a wider partnership with Dezeen.
    There are three types of listing available:
    Standard listings cost £125 ($160) and include the event name, date and location details plus a website link. These listings will feature up to 50 words of text about the event.
    Enhanced listings cost £175 ($225) and include all of the above plus an image at the top of the listing’s page and a preview image on the Dezeen Events Guide homepage. These listings will also feature up to 100 words of text about the event.
    Featured listings cost £350 ($450) and include the elements of an enhanced listing plus a post on Dezeen’s Threads channel, inclusion in the featured events carousel on the right hand of the homepage for up to two weeks and 150 words of text about the event. This text can include commercial information such as ticket prices and offers and can feature additional links to website pages such as ticket sales and newsletter signups.
    For more details about partnering with us to help amplify your event, contact the team at [email protected].
    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 events, conferences, trade fairs, major exhibitions and design weeks.
    The illustration is by Justyna Green.

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    AHMM to transform office into co-living space next to London’s Barbican estate

    Developer HUB and investor Bridges Fund Management have revealed plans to convert a 1950s office building in London into Cornerstone, a co-living residential scheme designed by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris.

    Located on the edge of the Barbican estate, the Cornerstone project will draw from the iconic Barbican architecture to transform 45 Beech Street into 174 co-living residences along with street-level commercial spaces and amenities.
    “Building on the success of our previous London projects with HUB, we are joining forces again to transform an underloved office building in the heart of the city,” Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM) director Hazel Joseph said.
    AHMM has revealed plans for a co-living retrofit next to London’s Barbican estateAHMM’s proposal aims to re-use as much of the building’s existing structure and facade as possible, taking a “retrofit-first approach” to minimise the need for new building works.
    The studio will also primarily work within the geometric parameters defined by the original envelope, while updating the rectilinear language to create uniform apertures for each co-living apartment.

    Referencing the Barbican estate, a series of arched, double-height extrusions will be introduced across the crown of the building to house additional co-living apartments.
    The design will adapt the existing building’s form and insert a series of arched spaces at the top”The architectural approach has been carefully considered, responding sensitively to the much-loved Barbican context, completing the northern frontage of the estate,” Joseph said.
    The arches will be partially set back from the building’s facade and lined with an asymmetric patchwork of glazed and tile panels underneath the curved overhangs.

    Plans for Barbican concert hall by Diller Scofidio & Renfro axed

    At street level, warm red panel accents will contrast against the building’s neutral concrete finishes to highlight commercial and collective functions.
    The scheme will integrate a public cafe, a co-working space and community-focused amenities at its lower levels to improve the public realm for those who live and work in the area.
    “The existing structure of 45 Beech Street will be re-used and extended, creating a new residential community with shared amenities and breathing new life into the local streetscape,” Joseph explained.
    At street level, new commercial and public amenities will seek to activate the ground planeAccording to HUB and Bridges Fund Management, AHMM’s proposal was developed in collaboration with the community – including Barbican residents – who were consulted through a series of workshops and events.
    A website was also established to solicit viewpoints about the redevelopment, reiterating the design vision to establish a “vibrant community” that will adapt the original building and holistically contribute to the neighbourhood.
    AHMM was established in 1989 by Simon Allford, Jonathan Hall, Paul Monaghan and Peter Morris in London. The studio has previously converted a 1930s block into New Scotland Yard’s headquarters in London and completed a mixed-use building in Southwark with interlocking flats.
    Also adjacent to the Barbican estate, Diller Scofidio & Renfro’s proposal for a pyramidal music centre was recently scrapped when the City of London Corporation revealed its plans for a “major renewal” of the Barbican.
    The images are courtesy of HUB and Bridges Fund Management.

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    Stingray-shaped roof crowns Maldives restaurant by Atelier Nomadic

    A bamboo canopy modelled on stingrays tops Overwater Restaurant, which architecture studio Atelier Nomadic has added to a lagoon in the Maldives.

    The Japanese restaurant is raised on an existing jetty that extends out from the shore and has a bamboo structure with tree-like columns to support its wavy roof.
    Drawing inspiration from the surrounding water, Atelier Nomadic designed its form to resemble the shape of pink whiprays, a species of stingray found in the lagoon.
    Atelier Nomadic has added a Japanese restaurant to a lagoon in the Maldives”Maldives is known for its spectacular underwater life,” studio creative director Olav Bruin told Dezeen.
    “We aimed to bring this sub-aquatic theme to the surface in an architectural form, without being too literal,” he continued.

    “For the main shape, we found inspiration in the pink whiprays that graze in the lagoon, as it was a convenient form to cover the open-air dining space.”
    The wavy roof is informed by a local species of stingrayAccessed beyond the long stretch of the boardwalk, the restaurant’s entrance is set under the lower and slimmer portion of the roof, which is intended to represent the tail of a stingray.
    A network of tree-like columns, which are formed from three angled lengths of bamboo, is arranged underneath the structure and extends from the entrance to the end of the jetty.
    A boardwalk provides access between the shore and the restaurant”This system allowed us to make an organic form from straight bamboo poles that provide stability to the structure in all directions,” Bruin explained.
    “By coincidence, we realised only after the structure was built that the interior space feels a bit like the mouth of a giant manta ray, with its rhythm of gills that filter plankton out of the seawater.”

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    The undulating bamboo structure of the roof sits on top of the columns, reaching its peak at a spine-like ridge. It is clad externally in timber shingles, which the studio hopes will resemble fish scales after ageing.
    “Timber shingles age gracefully and gain a grey-silverish patina over time,” said Bruin. “Together with the layered pattern, the roof will resemble the scales of a fish.”
    The structure is built from a network of bamboo columnsSet on either side of a walkway where the jetty widens are two bamboo-clad volumes, painted black, which hold the kitchen and bathrooms.
    The bar, coated in the same black bamboo, sits beyond the two blocks. It marks the transition into a large open-plan dining area filled with furnishings that match the colour of the bamboo structure.
    A lounge area sits at the end of the restaurantBeyond the covered dining space, the jetty steps down to a more casual, open seating area furnished with curved sofas and armchairs.
    At the end of the jetty is a swimming pool split across two levels, while white nets used as overwater seating areas wrap around the outer edges of the restaurant.
    The roof is clad in timber shingles intended to mimic scalesOther oceanside projects in the Maldives include a proposal for a garden-filled resort by Shigeru Ban and a complex made up of wooden villas that sit on an artificial island.
    In a recent interview with Dezeen, Atelier One engineer Chris Matthews said bamboo has the potential to be as dominant in construction as concrete and steel.
    The photography is by Joe Chua Agdeppa.
    Project credits:
    Architect: Atelier NomadicClient: Banyan TreeDesign team: Olav Bruin, with Louis Thompson, Habiba MukhtaContractor: Asali Bali

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    Zooco Estudio resurrects “vestige of the past” for brutalist restaurant

    Madrid-based Zooco Estudio has created a striking restaurant within the Cantabrian Maritime Museum in Santander, Spain, that celebrates the building’s brutalist architecture.

    The restaurant is set within a dramatic vault of concrete paraboloids that were unearthed during the renovation, while a slatted timber ceiling pays homage to the area’s shipbuilding legacy.
    Zooco Estudio added a restaurant to the second floor of the Cantabrian Maritime MuseumOverlooking the tranquil waters of Santander Bay, the restaurant is located on the second floor of the landmark Cantabrian Maritime Museum, which was designed in the mid-1970s by architects Vicente Roig Forner and Ángel Hernández Morales.
    The paraboloids were an original fixture of the structure and supported the roof of what was once the museum’s patio.
    Oak details were designed to contrast the restaurant’s concrete archesThe studio focused on restoring the historic fabric of the space and reviving the paraboloids, which had been concealed for around 20 years, as “a vestige of the past”.

    “In 2003, the building was renovated and as part of this intervention, the paraboloids were covered with a new roof and the space between them and the perimeter of the building was closed with glass, generating a covered space where there was previously a terrace,” Zooco Estudio co-founder Javier Guzmán told Dezeen.
    “We wanted the concrete paraboloids to be the absolute protagonists of the space and by removing the paint and the coating, the paraboloids are visible again and regain their full prominence.”
    The renovation exposed the raw concrete surface of the paraboloidsThe previous renovation also altered the dimensions of the space and reconfigured the volume as a square.
    To promote symmetry, four additional concrete triangles were added to balance out the original paraboloids in the brutalist restaurant.
    Slatted wooden ceiling panels bridge the gaps between the archesOverhead, a false ceiling of slatted timber panels frames the concrete arches.
    The studio designed theses triangular boards to reference the arrangement of timber across the hull of a boat, a nod to the museum and the area’s nautical past.

    Two-storey bookshelf rises inside renovated Madrid house

    The panels also serve the purpose of concealing the restaurant’s mechanical systems.
    “The wooden slats bring warmth and friendliness to the space while allowing us to solve all the technical needs for air conditioning, heating and lighting, leaving them hidden,” Guzmán said.
    “In this way, we ensure that all these elements do not interfere with the dialogue of concrete and wood, which are presented as continuous and clean elements.”
    Walls of floor-to-ceiling glazing offer views across the bayThe interior layout was largely dictated by the low arches of the elliptic paraboloids that dominate the brutalist restaurant.
    “The geometry of the existing structure conditions the space, because its height in its lower part is impractical, so a large bench is arranged around the entire contour that allows us to take advantage of that space and organise the distribution of the rest of the floor plan,” added Guzmán.
    Grey porcelain floors mirror the concrete paraboloidsLike the ceiling panels, the interior finishes and furnishings allude to the maritime history that the building commemorates.
    “The use of wood and steel for all the furniture is reminiscent of the materials used in shipbuilding – the furniture has slight curvatures that are reminiscent of the aerodynamic shapes of boats,” explained Guzmán.
    “Likewise, the lamps are inspired by the masts for ship sails.”
    Zooco Estudio also designed the restaurant’s curved timber furnitureAnother key change was the replacement of the perimeter glass wall.
    The inclined glazing was swapped for vertical glass, a decision that reclaimed external space for the patio, which stretches the length of the restaurant and overlooks the harbour below.
    “When we are inside, the feeling is the same as when we are inside a boat, there is only water around, and that is why we used clean glass from floor to ceiling, generating a perimeter terrace as happens on boats,” said Guzmán.
    The terrace features green curvilinear outdoor furnitureOther projects by Zooco Estudio include a renovated house in Madrid and a co-working space with a kids’ play area in California.
    The photography is by David Zarzoso.
    Project credits:
    Architect: Zooco EstudioConstruction: Rotedama Constructora SLLighting: Zooco EstudioFurniture: Zooco Estudio

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