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    Object Space Place uses reclaimed materials to refurbish London restaurant

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    Interior design practice Object Space Place has revamped the Apricity restaurant interior in London with second-hand furniture and reclaimed materials.

    The project has been shortlisted in the sustainable interior category of Dezeen Awards 2022, which will announce its winners next week.
    The restaurant is furnished with second-hand tables and chairsPart of the refurbishment involved removing a timber staircase to maximise usable floor space in the basement.
    Object Space Place retained the staircase’s treads to reuse them for a new staircase and repurposed the rest of the usable material into decorative timber block wall cladding.
    Material salvaged from a timber staircase was used as statement wall cladding”We saw the old staircase as a materials bank full of wood that we could reuse, so we worked with the contractor to take the staircase apart carefully, grade the timber that was usable and create a repeating block pattern that could be made from these timber components,” Object Space Place told Dezeen.

    “The timber wall finish has also been installed on a split batten system, so even if someone wants to change this in the future it can be done relatively easily.”
    Skirting boards and architraves were reused to decorate the front of the barArchitraves and skirting boards removed from the interior were reused to cover the front of the restaurant bar, creating a vertically grooved surface.
    The practice overhauled the space to expose some of the original finishes, including brickwork, timber floorboards and aged walls.

    The Circus Canteen interior is a “collage of unwanted items”

    “Customers really love the walls, which is interesting as these are simply what we found when we removed the blank white plasterboard wall linings on the ground floor,” said Object Space Place.
    “This really epitomises what we discovered about working with waste and the circular economy – the extra effort you have to put in rewards you with a space rich in stories and these stories help add to a dining experience that exemplifies going the extra mile.”
    The interior features pendant lights made from waste coffee groundsMechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) equipment was retained where possible and reclaimed furniture, sinks and mirrors were sourced to fit out the restaurant, including second-hand dining chairs that were reupholstered to suit the design scheme.
    In instances where reclaimed items could not be acquired, new elements with sustainable qualities were used instead, including terrazzo-like surface material by Foresso made from recycled timber and lampshades made from oyster shells or waste coffee grounds.
    Foresso timber terrazzo was used on the bar and waiter stationsObject Space Place designed the refurbishment according to its Restorative Design Framework initiative, which is based on circular economy principles.
    “We developed a true benchmark in sustainable design and fit-out by applying the principles of a circular economy, particularly designing out waste and pollution and keeping natural resources in use,” the studio explained.
    Plasterboards were removed to reveal aged wallsAccording to Object Space Place, the project achieved a reduced embodied carbon footprint of 45 per cent compared to refurbishments of similar-sized restaurants where new furniture and finishes were applied.
    Other restaurants that feature reclaimed materials include an eatery in Madrid with interior features made from upcycled junk and a restaurant in Bangalore decorated with discarded bicycle bells and cassette tape boxes.
    The photography is by Ben Carpenter.

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      Semba Corporation creates own office interior from reclaimed materials

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      Interior construction firm Semba Corporation has renovated the interior of its headquarters in Tokyo to include reclaimed materials discarded during the demolition of other offices.

      The company’s redesign of its own office interior is shortlisted in the sustainable interior category for the upcoming Dezeen Awards, which will announce its winners next month.
      The interior is made from materials salvaged from demolished officesCalled Semba Good Ethical Office, the project features various pared-back tables, seating and shelving created from materials salvaged from previous office demolitions.
      This furniture is positioned across a single open-plan space in Japan’s capital, which is brightly illuminated by overhead lighting and rectilinear windows.
      Plinth-like seating and stairs forms a centrepieceA plinth-like centrepiece takes the form of both a staircase and a designated desk area, which was formed from boxy arrangements of surplus wood and old filing cabinets.

      Semba Corporation centred the interiors around two principles – “ethical” and “hackable” design – in order to complete the project, the company said.
      Semba Corporation applied its own design principles to the project”To incorporate ‘ethical design’, a circular interior design [theory], into the office renovation, we mined materials from unnecessary stuff generated by office demolitions,” Semba Corporation told Dezeen.
      “Under the theme of ‘hackable design’, we can redefine our working style and attitudes. We completely renovated our office to be friendly to the Earth, people and society,” explained the firm.
      Reconstituted foam was used to create padding on benchesAccording to the company, 80 per cent of the furniture in the Semba Good Ethical Office is reused, while the office achieved a waste-recycling rate of 99 per cent.
      Reconstituted foam was used to create the padding on benches that make up informal meeting booths, while various offcuts of wood were used to construct geometric shelves throughout the interior.

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      Semba Corporation explained that it hopes that other firms will begin to adopt similar design principles when creating their office interiors.
      “Especially in Japan, the lifespan from construction to demolition and disposal has become very short since [increasing] economic growth, and waste has been dumped in landfill,” the firm said.
      “However, Japanese culture has originally valued attachment to things and has an aesthetic sense to continue to use them with creative ideas. So I think our principles have an affinity to that culture.”
      “We hope that ‘ethical design,’ a future-friendly interior design, will be a basic principle in interior design for the future.”
      Reclaimed wood was used to form various shelvingSemba Good Ethical Office joins a group of existing self-designed studios that other firms have created to be more sustainable than the average office, according to the companies.
      These include German studio Urselmann Interior’s renovation of its studio to include biodegradable, recycled or upcycled materials.
      The images are courtesy of Semba Corporation.

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      Urselmann Interior renovates own office using recycled and biodegradable materials

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      Düsseldorf studio Urselmann Interior has renovated its own office interiors using biodegradable, recycled or upcycled materials, including glueless joinery and a cellulose-based wall cladding.

      The interior design studio said that it renovated its self-described “circular” office in the German city to only feature materials that are either recycled, upcycled or biodegradable.
      Urselmann Interior’s office is in DüsseldorfThese include existing wooden and terrazzo flooring that was salvaged during the renovation, as well as heaters obtained from resource-efficient building material platform Concular.
      Spread over one main workspace, a kitchen and a meeting room, the single-level office features clay paint walls and is designed to be used as both a co-working space and a showroom.
      The renovation includes a kitchen”The office also serves us as a laboratory in that we can [use it to] test new qualities, materials and construction methods,” project manager Liz Theißen told Dezeen.

      A solid wooden frame was used to create simple kitchen cabinets, which were constructed without glue so that the structure is fully demountable.
      Joinery was created without glue in much of the projectThe frame was fitted with panels formed from recycled strips of fabric supplied by textile brand Kvadrat from its Really collection.
      For its walls, the studio used Honext wall cladding – a cellulose-based material that is produced using paper sludge and cardboard waste.

      Honext develops recyclable construction material made of cellulose fibres from waste paper

      Poplar wood from a tree felled in the nearby city of Krefeld was chosen for the ceiling, which was also assembled without glue.
      Throughout the office, neutral and minimal colour and material palettes were applied to the interior design, which also includes clusters of carefully arranged potted plants and books.
      Second-hand lighting encased in wiggly orange felt from Hey-Sign adds a splash of colour to the otherwise sandy-hued atmosphere.
      Wiggly orange lighting adds a splash of colourTheißen explained that all of the components that Urselmann Interior used for the renovation have been listed in a published “material passport” that can be referred to for future projects.
      “We want to develop a new design language for ourselves, in which we smartly combine high-quality materials such as solid wood with ecological building materials as well as reusable components [to achieve] a positive footprint in the construction industry,” she concluded.
      Honext panels line the clay paint wallsUrselmann Interior is a Düsseldorf-based interiors studio founded by Sven Urselmann.
      Similar projects to the studio’s office renovation include a Madrid restaurant by Lucas Muñoz with furniture formed from site construction waste and a bar made out of recycled stereos, bottle crates and fridges by Michael Marriott.
      The photography is by Magdalena Gruber. 
      Project credits:
      Design and build: Urselmann InteriorFounder and designer: Sven UrselmannDesigner: Petra JablonickáProject manager: Liz Theißen

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