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    Graduate Hotels spotlights its diverse interiors with new book

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    Promotion: Nashville-based hospitality brand Graduate Hotels has launched a self-titled book spotlighting its hotels in university towns and cities across the world.

    Titled Graduate Hotels, the publication covers the company’s more than 35 hotels throughout the US and UK, each individually designed to reflect its location’s history, culture and university campus.
    Graduate Hotels has more than 30 hotels across the US and UK. Photo and photo above is by Steve FreihonThe hotels span from the East to West coast – from Charlottesville, Virginia, to Seattle, Washington, and across the Atlantic to Oxford and Cambridge in the UK.
    The book presents how Graduate Hotels’ design team sources decorative pieces by local artists and brings “the stories of the dynamic local communities to life” through hand-crafted interiors.
    Graduate Hotels was founded by Benjamin Weprin in 2014. Photo is by Steve FreihonWritten by the company’s founder and CEO, Benjamin Weprin, the 272-page book outlines how the brand’s interior design styles vary from retro-futurism at Graduate Hotels’ Cincinnati, Ohio, to neo-classical in Evanston, Illinois.

    Each hotel aims to incorporate the charm of its local university and town. The brand’s newest hotel – Graduate Palo Alto in California – is a historic renovation of Palo Alto’s iconic Hotel President. The new design blends the original 1929 design details with new elements informed by Stanford University and the Bay Area.
    The 272-page book explores traditional and modern interior design. Photo is by Steve FreihonFollowing the brand’s motto “we are all students”, Graduate Hotels aims to evoke nostalgia for alumni and travellers alike, providing an insight into student life and incorporating the local university’s ethos.
    Alongside the book, Graduate Hotels has launched its Generation G campaign, which aims to not only unite students and graduates but people from all generations.
    “Generation G is emblematic of Graduate’s motto, embracing the idea that there is always more to learn and discover,” said Graduate Hotels. “Whether you are a foodie, adventurer, current college student or parent, we’re all Generation G.”
    The hotels span from the East to the West coast of the USA and the UK. Photo is by Digital Love StudioTo celebrate Generation G, Graduate Hotels partnered with producer DJ White Shadow to create a playlist to play across its hotels and has organised a number of fringe events, including live storytelling events with New York’s The Moth.
    As part of the campaign, Graduate Hotels has launched a competition to win free hotel stays for a year and is offering up to 30 per cent off its bookings.
    Graduate Hotels was founded in 2014 by Benjamin Weprin and has since grown to 31 hotels in the US, two in the UK, and an additional four in development in Princeton, Auburn, Austin and Dallas, Texas.
    To view more about Graduate Hotels’ book, visit its website.
    Partnership content
    This competition is a partnership between Dezeen and Graduate Hotels. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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      “Not having architectural education makes you find different solutions” says Charlotte Taylor

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      Visualisation artist Charlotte Taylor discusses how she is translating her digital design work into built architecture projects for the first time in this interview.

      Taylor is the founder of 3D-design studio Maison de Sable, where she collaborates with other 3D designers on renderings of imaginary, fantastical interiors and buildings.
      Recently Taylor’s designs have become less fantasy-driven and closer to real spaces, with some of them set to get built as physical architecture projects.
      “In the long term, I’d like to move more into architecture,” Taylor told Dezeen.
      Taylor is venturing into built architecture projects for the first time. Image by Thea Caroline Sneve Løvstad and top image by Nicholas PréaudHaving not pursued formal architecture training, the designer believes there should be more non-traditional pathways to designing buildings.

      “I didn’t train in architecture at all,” she said. “I think it would be great if there were more entries into architecture because it’s such a hard career to get into.”
      “I’d like to think that there’s hope that you can get into building physical spaces through unconventional means.”
      Casa Atibaia is a fictional home in Brazil that is due to be built. Image by Nicholas PréaudOne of Taylor’s designs due to be built is Casa Atibaia, a house that was originally conceived as an imaginary project in collaboration with designer Nicholas Préaud.
      The duo imagined the house situated by the Atibaia River in São Paulo, creating a digital model of part of the riverbank based on information from Google Maps.
      The interior of Casa Atibaia features on the front cover of Taylor’s bookFrom this, Taylor and Préaud designed a concrete and glass fantasy home raised on huge boulders, the interior of which features on the front cover of Taylor’s first book, Design Dreams, published last month.
      Although the project was not originally intended to be built, Taylor is now in the process of finding a plot of land suitable to actualise the design.
      The fantasy home is raised from the floor on boulders. Image by Nicholas PréaudTaylor has also collaborated with architectural designer Andrew Trotter on a house in Utah, which forms part of Trotter’s wider design for a hotel and retreat centre named Paréa.
      The house, which is currently under construction, was designed to blend into the desert landscape with large spans of glazing and walls finished in lime plaster.
      Taylor also worked on a house in Utah that is currently under construction. Image by Klaudia AdamiakAccording to Taylor her fictional designs have received a mixed response from architects, with some saying that “in the real world, it doesn’t work like that”.
      But for Taylor, not having an architecture degree and exploring spatial design digitally without being constrained by lighting, noise, safety and budget requirements allows for more creativity.
      The house in Utah was designed to blend into the landscape. Image by Klaudia Adamiak”It acts as a sort of creative playground for me in which I can test out all these concepts and see how they work visually,” said Taylor.
      “Then bringing that into the physical world and working with engineers and architects, it becomes pared down.”
      “I think not having architectural education makes you find different solutions or ideas to bring to the real world that wouldn’t have come from just designing an actual space,” she added.
      According to Taylor, digital design allows for more creativity than designing for the real world. Image by Klaudia AdamiakThe designer mentioned that her design icon Carlo Scarpa also never became a licenced architect.
      “My icon, Carlo Scarpa, never had his full qualification, so there are little stories that inspire me, but the general thinking is quite rigid – this particular entry is a bit frowned upon from what I’ve experienced,” said Taylor.

      Casa Atibaia designed to be “ideal modernist jungle home”

      Having learned most of her design skills from experimenting with digital design and collaborating with other designers, Taylor describes herself as “self-studious” and encourages other designers to create work that they feel best represents themselves.
      “Strive to build a portfolio that excites you and represents you the most,” Taylor said.
      “Through building a portfolio and working with 3D designers and architects was how I learnt – it’s very research-heavy.”
      She founded the 3D-design studio Maison de Sable. Image by Klaudia AdamiakTaylor’s Design Dreams book features 3D designs of buildings and interiors created by herself and other artists.
      The curation includes fantasy-like environments as well as renderings of interiors that appear like real, tangible spaces.
      “[The book] became a space in which to share my personal projects, the artists I work with and work I admire around the field of interiors and architecture,” said Taylor.
      Taylor recently published her first book. Image by Klaudia AdamiakAlthough most of the images are already widely shared online, by collating them all into one volume Taylor hopes readers will enjoy getting lost in the printed format.
      “The same way that the Instagram page acts where people go to get lost in the images, to have that in a physical format means you are able to spend more time in detail than you can on a phone screen,” she said.
      Design Dreams features work by Taylor and other digital designers”To take something digital that doesn’t exist in the physical world and bring it to print was quite important for me, to see it in that way,” the designer added.
      Although they work in the digital sphere, Taylor maintains that 3D-visual creators play a part in interior design trends.
      It collates digital designs into a physical format”The arts trends that happen in 3D gradually make their way into interior spaces, and it’s really interesting to see the Pinterest effect,” she said.
      “People love to collect images and make their ideal moodboard with them, and these spaces really play into that. People are constructing their own ideas and making architecture and interiors more accessible rather than something very professional.”
      In her own interior visual designs, Taylor includes elements from her actual home to make the spaces feel more relatable than traditional architecture renderings.
      The Design Dreams book includes fantasy interiors and ones that look like real spaces”It’s down to the construction of the images, they have this sort of lightning and familiarity, and we always put little props that will often be things from my home,” she said.
      “These little details make it lived-in and more relatable versus traditional architectural visualisation, which can be very sterile and not aesthetically relatable.”
      Taylor has also previously worked on various NFT projects, including a video artwork informed by an OMA-design sculpture and NFT capsules that contain digital images of fantasy architecture projects.
      The images are by Charlotte Taylor unless stated.
      Dezeen In Depth
      If you enjoy reading Dezeen’s interviews, opinions and features, subscribe to Dezeen In Depth. Sent on the last Friday of each month, this newsletter provides a single place to read about the design and architecture stories behind the headlines.

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      Life Meets Art book offers glimpse inside homes of leading creatives

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      Norman Foster’s lofty dining room and the tactile living space of Faye Toogood are among the home interiors revealed in author Sam Lubell’s new book, Life Meets Art.Life Meets Art was curated by Lubell to “reveal a new side” to over 200 of the world’s best-loved creatives by offering a glimpse inside their private spaces.
      The homes of both notable and lesser-known architects, designers, musicians, poets and artists from across six different centuries and more than thirty countries are also shown – many for the first time.

      Top: Richard Neutra’s former home features in the book. Above: Life Meets Art by Sam Lubell

      “It started with the people, the world’s most talented, interesting, original, and in some cases strange artists, architects, writers, musicians, and more,” Lubell told Dezeen.
      “We knew we wanted to reveal a new side to these creatives, but we also wanted a lot of surprises, people and places that people might not have heard of.”
      “All the spaces are reflections of their owners”
      According to Lubell, one of the most significant discoveries in the book is how “all the spaces are reflections of their owners”.
      “There’s this phenomenal feedback loop between a creative person and their living space,” he explained.

      John Pawson offers a look inside his minimalist home and studio

      “Their experience inspires their art, which inspires their home, which inspires their art, which inspires their experience, and so on,” he continued.
      “Every square inch is fueled with a creative vision that manifests in entirely different ways. We learn how they’ve shaped their homes, and how their homes have shaped them. It’s almost like peeking inside someone’s body.”
      “The homes of designers have most influence on residential design trends”
      Lubell believes Life Meets Art also encapsulates the extent of the influence that architects and designers have had on residential interiors.
      According to Lubell, this “trend rolls through history”, and is evident in homes ranging all the way from Charles Moore postmodernist dwelling in Texas to the minimalist London residence of John Pawson.
      “I think the homes of architects and designers had the most influence on residential design trends,” Lubell explained.
      “This makes sense because that’s their speciality, and in many cases, their homes were opportunities to experiment with and advocate for entirely new design philosophies.”
      Read on for Dezeen’s pick of 10 designer homes in the book:

      La Voile, France
      One of the most notable contemporary architects to feature in the book is Pritzker Prize-winning architect Foster, with his La Voile residence that he created within a 1950s tower on the French Riviera.
      The building was carved out to create an open, futuristic interior, with a series of balconies overlooking a white-walled dining room and a living room at its heart.

      Toogood/Gibberd Residence, UK
      Toogood’s minimalist home, which she shares with Modern House co-founder Matt Gibberd, is located in a 1960s house in London by Swiss architect Walter Segal.
      In her living room, pale bricks are used as a tactile backdrop to a number of pared-back furnishings that range from her own pill-shaped coffee table to playful geometric tapestries.

      Cabin at Longbranch, USA
      American architect Jim Olsen created this stilted woodland house for himself at the age of 18 and remodelled it several times since.
      The dwelling is characterised by its exposed-wood framework and large windows, captured here in this seating area, which is designed to retain focus on the home’s natural surroundings.

      Rainbow Penthouse, UK
      The vibrant and colourful home of Zandra Rhodes, aptly named Rainbow Penthouse, is an embodiment of the fashion designer’s trademark style.
      Located on top of London’s Fashion and Textile Museum, which she also owns, the penthouse apartment is filled with colour-blocked surfaces and adorned with her personal art collection.

      Finn Juhls Hus, Denmark
      Modernist furniture and artwork fill every space of Finn Juhl’s former home in Ordrup. This includes the living room, photographed above, within which his Chieftan lounge chair takes centre stage.
      In the book, Lubell describes the dwelling as a “perfect example of how Juhl weighed interior design and architecture equally”.

      Moore/Andersson Compound, USA
      The final home of late Charles Moore, which he created for himself was in Texas, perfectly captures the bold postmodernist style for which he is best known.
      Life Meets Art spotlights the dwelling’s main living area, which is crammed full with decorative pilasters, a collection of toys, colourful ceramics and statues of kachina dolls.

      Villa E-1027, France
      Furniture is the focus throughout Villa E-1027, the former clifftop home of modernist designer Eileen Gray that is now open to the public in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin.
      Life Meets Art homes in on its main living room, which features her the iconic Bibendium chair and the glass and steel E-1027 side table.

      Rashid Residence, USA
      This gallery-like kitchen and dining room forms part of industrial designer Karim Rashid’s four-bedroom townhouse in Manhattan.
      White walls and floors form a backdrop to bright finishes that range from a luminous lime-hued backsplash to a multi-coloured carpet that echoes Rashid’s joyful approach to design.

      Juan O’Gorman House-Studio, Mexico
      Located just outside Mexico City is the home of the late architect, painter and muralist Juan O’Gorman, which he built for himself in 1933. It is positioned close to La Casa Azul, the dwelling he created for Diego Riviera and Frida Kahlo.
      Today it is owned by artist Paulina Parlange, who has teamed its bright, light-filled finishes with an eclectic mix of furnishings, murals and patterned textiles.

      Neutra VDFL Research House, USA
      Large glazed walls that frame views of a neighbouring reservoir line the Neutra VDFL Research House – the former home of modernist architect Richard Neutra.
      Lubell selected the dwelling for the book in recognition of its innovative, mid-century design, which he describes as “strikingly ahead of its time”.
      Photography is courtesy of Phaidon.

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

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

      Paul Milinski

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

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

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

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

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

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      Five houses where the courtyard is the heart of the home

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      Charmaine Chan has highlighted 25 recently completed courtyard houses for her book Courtyard living: Contemporary houses of the Asia-Pacific. Here she picks five of the most interesting. As the book’s title suggests, Courtyard living: Contemporary houses of the Asia-Pacific is a compilation of houses completed in the past 10 years across Asia and Oceania that are focused […] More

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      10 design-focused dwellings from the East London Homes book

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      Interiors reporter Natasha Levy has selected 10 striking homes in east London that the city’s creatives have designed for themselves. The projects are all from the East London Homes, published by Hoxton Mini Press, which showcases 29 design-focused dwellings that lie in the east of the English capital. Each home included in the book is accompanied by […] More