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    Energy-saving 10K House in Barcelona is a “labyrinth that multiplies perspectives”

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    Spanish studio Takk took cues from snugly stacked Russian dolls for the interior renovation of this Barcelona apartment, which features rooms nestled inside each other to maximise insulation.

    Called 10K House, the 50-square-metre apartment was renovated by Takk using a material budget of only 10,000 euros with the aim of updating the home to be as sustainable as possible.
    10K House is a residential interior design projectThe project was informed by concerns about climate change as well as the global energy crisis faced by homeowners and renters.
    Arranged across one open level, rooms were built “inside one another” in a formation that mimics the layers of an onion and places the rooms that require the most heat at the centre of the apartment, according to Takk.
    The bedroom is raised on recycled white table legs”This causes the heat emitted by us, our pets or our appliances to have to go through more walls to reach the outside,” principal architects Mireia Luzárraga and Alejandro Muiño told Dezeen.

    “If we place the spaces that need more heat – for example, the room where we sleep – in the centre of the Matryoshka [a Russian doll] we realise that we need to heat it less because the configuration of the house itself helps to maintain the temperature.”
    “The result is a kind of labyrinth that multiplies perspectives,” explained the architects, who designed the project for a single client.
    MDF was used throughout the apartmentRecycled table legs were used to elevate these constructed rooms to allow the free passage of water pipes and electrical fittings without having to create wall grooves, reducing the overall cost.
    For example, the raised central bedroom is clad in gridded frames of medium-density fibreboard (MDF) that are enveloped by slabs of local sheep’s wool – utilitarian and inexpensive materials that feature throughout the interior.
    “Despite being a small apartment, it is very complex to ensure that you never get bored of the space,” said Luzárraga and Muiño.
    The remnants of previous partitions were left exposedAfter demolishing the apartment’s existing internal layout, Takk chose not to apply costly and carbon-intensive coatings to the floors and walls.
    Rather, the architects scrubbed the space clean and left traces of the previous partitions and dismantled light fixtures visible, giving the apartment a raw appearance and maintaining a reminder of the original floor plan.
    The kitchen features a metallic sink and low-slung cabinetsThe kitchen is located in the most open part of 10K House, which includes timber geometric cabinetry and an exposed metallic sink.
    According to the architects, the open kitchen intends to act as a facility “without associated gender” and address stereotypes typically attached to housework.

    Energy savings from home insulation “vanishing” after four years

    “Traditionally, the kitchen has been understood as a space to be used mainly by women, whether they own the house or do domestic work,” reflected Luzárraga and Muiño.
    “This has meant that [historically] this space has been relegated to secondary areas of the house, poorly lit and poorly ventilated, especially in small homes.”
    “One way to combat this is by placing the kitchen in better and open spaces, so that everyone, regardless of their gender, is challenged to take charge of this type of task,” they added.
    10K House was constructed using CNC-milled componentThe dwelling was constructed using CNC-milled components that were cut prior to arriving on-site and assembled using standard screws.
    Takk chose this method to encourage DIY when building a home, and armed the client with a small instruction manual that allowed them to assemble aspects of the apartment themselves “as if [the apartment] were a piece of furniture”.
    Takk was informed by soaring energy prices when designing the project10K House is based on a previous project by the architecture studio called The Day After House, which features similar “unprejudiced” design principles, according to Luzárraga and Muiño.
    The architects – who are also a couple – created a winter-themed bedroom for their young daughter by inserting a self-contained igloo-like structure within their home in Barcelona.
    The photography is by José Hevia.

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      Formafantasma and Artek's Cambio exhibition explores Finnish design's link to forestry

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      Design duo Formafantasma has collaborated with furniture brand Artek to explore the relationship between the timber and design industries in Finland through an exhibition at Helsinki Design Museum.

      Called Cambio: On Finnish Forestry, the exhibition is part of Formafantasma’s wider Cambio project – an ongoing investigation into the global impact of the extraction, production and distribution of wood.
      The exhibition takes place at Helsinki Design MuseumThe duo teamed up with Finnish company Artek to create the show, which features a mixture of work shown in previous Cambio exhibitions in the UK, Italy and Switzerland, as well as new works specific to Finland.
      Featuring original films and installations as well as supporting archival material, On Finnish Forestry examines how the country’s timber industry has evolved over time, with a focus on design.
      Formafantasma created an installation of interlocked Stool 60s”This exhibition clearly links furniture design to a specific biome: forests,” Formafantasma founders Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin told Dezeen.

      “At the end of the day, it isn’t about products but about ideas.”
      An installation made up of stacked 1933 Stool 60 models by the late Artek co-founder Alvar Aalto intends to communicate the iconic product’s lasting legacy by mixing both vintage and recently produced pieces.
      One installation features aerial images capturing tree canopy density over OrivesiThe stools are crafted from silver birch, a tree species commonly found in Finland. Trimarchi and Farresin explained that Artek’s local production habits influenced their desire to collaborate with the furniture brand.
      “The majority of trees used in the production of Artek furniture are from Finnish forests, specifically from an area within a 200-kilometre radius from a sawmill close to Jyväskylä,” explained the designers.
      “We don’t see Artek just as a design company producing beautiful furniture, but as a case study on how to relate production to a specific ecosystem.”
      Under the Yoke includes a postcard of artwork by Eero JärnefeltAnother installation presents wooden boards featuring infrared aerial images of Finland’s Orivesi municipality, which document recent tree canopy cover in its peatlands area.
      Formafantasma overlaid the large-scale images with smaller, historical black-and-white snapshots comparing the habitat in previous years.
      A contemporary model of Aalto’s Screen 100 is also on showUnder the Yoke is an installation comprising a postcard of an 1893 artwork of the same name by Finnish painter Eero Järnefelt that depicts a traditional scene of slash-and-burn agriculture, which is framed by chunky pinewood sourced from contemporary clearcutting.
      Among the work presented in the exhibition, other pieces by Aalto include a 2022 version of his 1936 flexible room divider Screen 100 and deconstructed chair legs featured in an investigation into the designer’s renowned L-leg design for furniture.
      The specific qualities of birch wood was a significant influence on Aalto’s desire to create an alternative to the then-popular metal tubular legs, according to Helsinki Design Museum.

      “It’s not enough to ask designers to be sustainable” says Formafantasma

      Trimarchi and Farresin explained that the exhibition attempts to use different media to unite audiences over the same ideas about the impact of the timber industry.
      “It might sound banal, but what we want is to shift the focus from ‘things’ to ‘context’,” concluded the designers.
      “We would like people to see chairs like pieces of forests and design as the outcome of political decision-making and not exclusively as the fruit of the creativity of a designer.”
      The exhibition also explores Aalto’s renowned L-leg designKnown for an interest in climate change, Formafantasma has completed a number of other projects that explore the environmental impact of design.
      These include the first Cambio show in London, which was commissioned by the Serpentine Gallery. Last year, the duo also redesigned its website to try and reduce “pollution connected to the internet”.
      The photography is by Paavo Lehtonen Photography.

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      Timber Trade Federation exhibits six “conversation pieces” made from responsibly sourced timber

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      Dezeen promotion: the UK Timber Trade Federation is showcasing the winning entries of its Conversations about Climate Change design competition via a virtual exhibition and event series.The competition, which received more than 100 responses from around the world, called on entrants to create an installation that would provoke discussions about global warming while showcasing the environmental benefits of responsibly sourced, tropical hardwoods.

      Top image: Joseph Pipal’s Carbon Print is one of the winning projects. Above: The Extraction pillar is by Julia and Julian Kashdan-Brown
      “Responsibly forested timber is an essential part of the climate change solution; however, tropical forests have too often been undervalued and their forest land cleared for other uses,” said David Hopkins, CEO of the Timber Trade Federation (TTF).
      “Our competition asked architects and designers to respond to tropical timber, think about the materials they usually work with and consider how the role of materials specified is vital for implementing change.”

      Tree Whisperer are sound sculptures by Sheryl Ang and Yuta Nakayama

      Selected by a panel of judges including Yinka Ilori and Julia Barfield of Marks Barfield Architects, the six winning “conversation pieces” are now on display at London’s Building Centre for the next three months (temporarily closed due to the lockdown restrictions) and via a virtual 360-degree tour.
      Among them are a series of sound sculptures by Singaporean designers Sheryl Ang and Yuta Nakayama, which are shaped like various tree species and emit different “heartbeats” that their particular response to climate stress.
      A simple teak column by UK-based Michael Westthorp shows today’s sea level as well as its projected rise by 2120, while Julia and Julian Kashdan-Brown took a pillar of sapele wood and drilled holes through its heart to visualise the impact of uncontrolled deforestation – “take too much, and the system will collapse”.

      High Tide by Michael Westthorp shows the effects of sea-level rise
      Meanwhile British furniture maker Joseph Pipal created a series of blocks reminiscent of gold bullion, made from meranti, sapele and iroko wood, each emblazoned with the amount of carbon they are able to sequester from the atmosphere and store.
      “I’ve been uplifted, as a maker, by the simple realisation that using sustainably sourced wood can help with the climate crisis,” he said.
      Design duo Jeremy Yu and Tomos Owen as well as architect Tom Wilson are also among the winners.

      The Carbon Print project shows the amount of carbon that different tree species can sequester and store
      All timber for the installations was sourced from countries that are currently working towards being licensed via the United Kingdom and European Union’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) initiative.
      This sees countries commit to a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) and an action plan for overhauling their legal, social, business and environmental infrastructure to combat illegal logging and timber trade as well as deforestation.
      “This landmark shift in governance and procurement means that FLEGT-licensed timber is safe, responsible and legal,” Hopkins said.

      Also among the winning projects was the Sapele Sound Pavilion by Jeremy Yu and Tomos Owen
      Alongside the exhibition, Hopkins will be speaking to Dezeen’s founder and editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs as part of a live-streamed interview that will delve deeper into the environmental benefits of responsibility sourced timber, and how the materials specified today can have a positive impact on the world’s forests and climate change.
      The talk is set to take place on Thursday 11 March at 3pm and will be broadcast exclusively on Dezeen.
      Explore the virtual exhibition and discover more about the six winning installations made from VPA tropical hardwoods on the Building Centre’s website.
      Partnership content
      This article was written by Dezeen for the Timber Trade Federation as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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