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      Studio Hallett Ike expands ER Residence in London with charred larch extension

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      Minimal white living spaces lie behind the blackened timber facade of this extension that Studio Hallett Ike has added to a Victorian flat in north London.The flat, which has been titled ER Residence, occupies the ground floor of a Victorian terrace. Studio Hallett Ike said that, prior to its intervention, the flat had a well-proportioned layout, but unfortunately was only able to accommodate a single bedroom.
      Now, thanks to a rear extension, the flat contains a second bedroom – which doubles up as a study – and a dining room.

      Beams of charred larch clad ER Residence’s extension

      “Essentially we wanted to create a property that would work for a young family living in London that wants an aspirational, clean, minimal design whilst retaining a realistic project budget,” the studio’s co-founder, Madeleine Ike, told Dezeen.
      “The idea being that it could act as a case study for other London residents in the same situation without a huge budget.”

      The extension contains an additional bedroom
      The extension is rectilinear in form and clad with beams of blackened English larch, which were charred by hand on-site.
      “Doing this, rather than painting or staining, allows the texture and grain of the larch to feel very present, and to age and patina over time,” the studio explained.
      “The colour changes depending on the weather and time of year; during the winter months it has silvery hues, but evolves to appear warmer in the summer.”

      A desk in the bedroom offers a place for inhabitants to work
      Two different-sized windows also punctuate the extension’s exterior, which are both framed with aluminium.
      The slightly wider window looks through to the bedroom-cum-study, which has been finished with clean white walls.

      The extension also plays host to a dining room
      A wide panel of Douglas fir wood has been set at the rear of the room, serving as a headboard for the bed. To the side of the room is a three-tier shelving unit and a desk where inhabitants can sit and work.

      Burnt House is a charred wood extension that looks like a Japanese tea house

      The narrower window in the extension offers a view of the dining room.
      Douglas fir has been used here again to create a seating bench – a cut-out in the shape of a cat’s head has been made in the bottom corner, through which the owners’ feline companion can crawl to access a cosy cubby.

      The dining room table is accompanied by a Douglas fir bench
      Studio Hallett Ike has continued the colour and material palette of the extension through to the rest of the home. The updated kitchen, for example, boasts Douglas-fir cabinetry and a white terrazzo splashback.
      Grey terrazzo has then been used to line surfaces in the bathroom.

      Terrazzo appears in the flat’s kitchen, and the bathroom
      Walls in the living area have been coated with a pale grey plaster that stops just beneath the room’s original plaster cornicing. The existing wooden floorboards here were also preserved and sanded down to expose more of their natural grain.
      Black-metal furnishings such as the coffee table and overhead lighting fixture were included to “give weight and depth” to the space.

      Pale grey plaster coats walls in the living room
      “The overarching design approach was to carry out a small number of strong but simple moves that are consistently applied, sitting at the heart of every design consideration,” added the studio.
      “These come together to create an overall impression that is minimal and timeless, exuding an assured and understated elegance.”

      The living room also features the flat’s original wooden floorboards
      Studio Hallet Ike was founded by Madeleine Ike and Jonty Hallett in 2018. The studio’s ER Residence isn’t the only London property to feature a charred-wood extension – Rider Stirland Architects added a blackened timber volume to a house in Ladywell.
      Will Gamble Architects also used scorched wood to create a Japanese tea house-style extension for a home in Fulham.
      Photography is by Ståle Eriksen.

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      Mizzi Studio uses pink and emerald green for Barbajean restaurant in Malta

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      Design practice Mizzi Studio paired pink terrazzo with emerald-green velvet and timber to form the bold interior of restaurant Barbajean in Malta.Serving a menu of modern Meditteranean dishes, Barbajean occupies a prominent corner property in the village of Dingli.
      The quiet village sits at the highest point of Malta, and has uninterrupted views out across the ocean towards the uninhabited isle of Filfla.

      Barbajean has a pink and green facade

      Mizzi Studio’s founder, Jonathan Mizzi – who is from Malta – designed the restaurant so that it pays tribute to Dingli and its scenic landscape, but also “injects [the village] with new life”.
      “Working within the village’s particular urban fabric was a key inspiration for us,” said Mizzi.”We wanted to create a restaurant that would stand at the core of a quintessential Maltese village experience.”

      Three arches punctuate the restaurant’s terrazzo-lined bar
      The baby-pink facade of Barbajean has been made to include architraves and coloured doors– two elements that Mizzi says can be seen on the exterior of a typical Maltese home.
      Emerald-green timber doors have been built into the facade’s trio square openings. Each opening is surrounded by a chunky pink-terrazzo architrave, created by Maltese surface manufacturer Halmann Vella.

      Malta-themed artwork has been mounted on Barbajean’s walls
      The pink and green colour scheme continues inside the restaurant. Rose-coloured terrazzo lines the wall behind the drinks bar, which has been punctuated with three arched niches.
      Liquor bottles and glassware are displayed inside the niches, illuminated by neon-pink strip lights that have been installed overhead.
      Rosy terrazzo has also been used to craft the surfacetop of the bar counter, the base of which is made from fluted timber that’s been stained green. Just in front is a row of pink high chairs with tubular brass frames.

      Dining chairs are accompanied by pink-terrazzo tables
      A lengthy seating banquette upholstered in emerald velvet winds its way around the opposite side of the room, accompanied by pink terrazzo tables inlaid with flecks of Guatemala Verde marble.
      Directly above are a series of prints by Maltese illustrator Ed Dingli, which depict quotidian scenes of life in the village.

      Mizzi Studio completes stingray cafe alongside the Serpentine

      In between the prints are custom-made light fixtures designed by Mizzi Studio, which feature curling brass stems and spherical bulbs.
      Surfaces in this area of the restaurant are painted a pale mint shade, but another dining nook that lies towards the rear of the plan has been given a cosier feel with dark-green walls and wooden floorboards.

      Towards the back of the restaurant is another dining nook
      Mizzi Studio was established in 2011 and has offices in both London and Valletta, the capital of Malta. Barbajean isn’t the only hospitality space that the studio has designed – last year it completed works on The Serpentine Coffee House in London’s Hyde Park.
      The venue boasts glass walls and a gold, undulating roof that’s meant to resemble the shape of a stingray.
      Photography is by Brian Grech.
      Project credits:
      Stonework: Halman VellaBrass fabrication: Anvil and ForgeJoinery and upholstery: Construct FurnitureCustom print artwork: Ed DingliBranding: Steves and Co

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      Dezeen's top interiors trends of 2020

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      Continuing Dezeen’s review of 2020, reporter Natasha Levy has selected some of the biggest interiors trends of 2020, including Covid-safe spaces, curtains and unusual bathrooms.

      Curtains
      Several architects and designers were drawn to incorporating curtains in projects this year. Arhitektura d.o.o enclosed the living area of a Slovenian apartment with shiny silver curtains, helping its inhabitants feel cosier and closed-off.
      Ater Architects made the floor plan of a Kyiv apartment more flexible by replacing walls with cobalt-blue drapes that stretch from floor to ceiling. Architecture studio Azab did the same in a Bilbao apartment, but opted to use paler sky-blue curtains.
      Serie Architects also suspended bronze chainmail curtains above the kitchen of a Mumbai restaurant to make it look more like a stage – and focus diners’ attention on the theatricality of cooking.

      OSB
      This year, there’s been an increasing appreciation of oriented strand board (OSB) – a type of engineered timber that’s made by compressing strips of wood in particular directions.
      The material is already extensively used in building construction as preliminary sheathing for floors, walls or roofs, but a growing number of architects and designers have come to like its aesthetic qualities.
      Some used OSB sparingly; design studio CATS, for example, employed the wood to make display plinths and shelves for a lifestyle store in Nanjing. Others went all out – Italian architect Francesca Perani lined the entire interior of a 25-square-metre guest cabin with OSB in hopes it would imbue the space with “a sense of warm comfort”.
      Architects Juan Alberto Andrade and María José Váscones then made an OSB meeting room for an open-plan office in Ecuador, while Studio Edwards fabricated yellow-framed OSB work pods for a vacant warehouse in Melbourne.
      For the revamp of a home in Spain, architecture studio La Errería also set bedrooms inside gabled OSB boxes.

      Rustic style
      Against the turbulent backdrop of 2020, readers this year seemed to find comfort in warm, rustic-looking spaces.
      One of the most popular interiors projects this year was architect Timothy Mercier’s conversion of a French farm building into a home for his parents, which he decorated with pieces he found in a Parisian flea market.
      Readers also loved architect Martin Skoček’s update of a Slovakian family home, which he lined with time-worn bricks, and Olson Kundig’s cosy, self-designed cabin, which is furnished with leather sofas, patterned rugs and wood burners.

      Cinema
      Several projects this year took cues from the realm of film as architects and designers indulged their inner cinephile.
      Tasked with creating “out of this world” interiors, Atelier Caracas modelled a Venezuelan day spa after Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Each of the spa’s treatment rooms features porthole windows that are meant to resemble the movie’s sentient artificial intelligence character, HAL 9000.
      Over in Beijing, Xiaoxi Xiong designed an office to have the same “warm sense of the future” that’s depicted in sci-fi flick Her. Masquespacio also referenced a scene from Playtime, a 1967 film directed by Jacques Tati, to create a whimsical co-working space in Valencia.
      Other designers sought inspiration from the small screen. Examples include Vinki Li, who based a bar in Guangzhou off of the TV show Mad Men, decorating it with retro props like typewriters and rotary dial telephones.

      Renderings
      As the coronavirus pandemic and stay-at-home orders brought ordinary life to a standstill, many architects and interior designers used renderings as a means of escapism.
      Child Studio unveiled images of a fictitious, white-washed seaside villa called Casa Plenaire, which is meant to serve as a “hideaway for the lockdown world”. Sivak & Partners then envisioned a glass-fronted hotel suite in Odessa that would have uninterrupted ocean views.
      Meanwhile, creatives Charlotte Taylor and Nicholas Préaud dreamt up Casa Atibaia, an imaginary riverside house in São Paulo that draws on the modernist architectural style of Lina Bo Bardi.
      Siblings Davit and Mary Jilavyan also made-up an entire residential community called Sonora Art Village. Designed to feel “far from grey reality”, the made-up village would be populated by vivid pink, orange, purple and yellow homes.

      Murals
      Eye-catching murals made several appearances in interiors projects this year. Rolling hills and twisting trees feature in the verdant mural that artist Abel Macias created for lifestyle brand Flamingo Estate’s Los Angeles pop-up, while the fresco Matthieu Cosse fashioned for France’s Le CouCou hotel depicts owls soaring above mountain peaks.
      Visual artist Alicja Biala included flowers, birds and strange mythical creatures in the super-sized mural she produced for an MVRDV-designed building in Wroclaw, which stretches 500-square-metres across the ceiling and walls.
      Not everyone opted for the medium of paint – design duo Folklore used over 1,000 pieces of glass and ceramic to make a geometric mural for a swimming pool in Sweden.

      Atypical bathrooms
      Basic baths, showers and sinks seemingly weren’t enough for architects and designers this year, who created some unconventional bathing spaces.
      When Szczepaniak Astridge overhauled the London home of architectural photographer Edmund Sumner, the practice placed a bathtub up in the loft. The loft – which also contains Sumner’s bedroom – is fronted by glass, meaning inhabitants can soak while overlooking the greenery of a nearby park.
      Atelier Dialect also added a standalone bath to the bedroom of an apartment in Antwerp, wrapping its exterior in panels of mirrored steel. The bath backs onto a shower room that’s painted a pastel-green hue that matches the colour of polyurethane foam.
      Design studio La Firme also built a huge walk-in wet room “big enough for two” inside a Montreal apartment.

      Covid-safe spaces
      The coronavirus crisis forced those working in the architecture and interiors industries to consider how post-pandemic spaces will be designed – both inside and out.
      Designer Sevil Peach mused that corporate headquarters will become a thing of the past and, going forward, employees will be asked to work from smaller company “hubs”.
      Meena Krenek, who is an interior designer at Perkins and Will, similarly predicted that offices will just become spaces for meeting and socialising, while a majority of focused work will still be carried out by staff at home.
      Architect Ben Masterton-Smith then suggested that designers working on hospitality spaces would have to start focusing more on fashioning “enticing” outdoor eating areas so that customers can dine in safety.
      Meanwhile, interiors expert Michelle Ogunhehin forecasted that future homes will be specifically designed to mitigate the virus and will come complete with immunity-boosting air filtration systems and touchless technology.

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      Studio Aisslinger designs LOQI office with social distancing in mind

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      Studio Aisslinger has created an adaptable workplace for accessories brand LOQI, featuring coloured curtains, folding screens and “work capsules”.Located in Berlin, the LOQI Activity Office serves as the European headquarters for the American company, which specialises in totes and weekend bags produced in collaboration with artists.

      The office contains a mix of different work zones
      The workspace is designed to support creativity and collaboration, but also to create a safe and supportive environment for staff in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.
      To satisfy both of these conflicting requirements, Studio Aisslinger planned the space as a series of distinct but flexible zones, facilitating solo work, group workshops and a range of activities in between.

      Contrasting colours help to signal different areas

      “The workspace is treated like living, breathing organisms that adapt to accommodate a team deciding on flexibility, autonomy and the ability to choose when and how they work,” explained the studio, which is led by designer Werner Aisslinger.
      “The result is an office space of a different kind – a lively and inspiring working landscape, breaking through the grey schematism of standardised workstation units.”

      Folding metal screens are used as partitions
      The office comprises a large open-plan space, so the design team had to find creative ways to demarcate different areas.
      Partitions were designed to be as adaptable as possible, in the form of heavy fabric curtains and perforated metal screens. A bold colour scheme was also applied, so it’s clear where one area ends and another begins.

      Studio Aisslinger’s Work Capsules provide spaces of solitude
      Isolated workspaces are provided by Studio Aisslinger’s Work Capsules – a design previously created for the 25Hours Hotels.
      With felt-covered exteriors and a bubble window, these pods allow occupants to find privacy and separation, without being completely cut off from the more public activities going on around them.

      Meeting areas are framed by curtains, so they can be opened or closed
      There are various other types of workspace on offer, including large desks with integrated lighting fixtures, a pink tiled bar, standing desks, bleacher-style seating areas and sofa booths.
      Meeting areas are dotted through the centre of the space, framed by curving curtain rails. These spaces feature fluffy carpets, which not only give them a different aesthetic but also help to create acoustic baffling.
      These spaces are all furnished with Studio Aisslinger designs, including the Aspen pendant lights for B.lux and the Circle Barstools.

      A change in floor surface gives meeting areas a different feel
      LOQI is one of many companies that have had to think more carefully about how they plan their offices, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

      Meditation chambers by Office Of Things wash workers in colourful light

      The virus appears to have accelerated trends for partitioned spaces and mobile pods, with examples including a converted warehouse in Melbourne and a series of meditation chambers in YouTube and Google offices.

      Fabric panels line the walls, to improve acoustics
      With this design, Studio Aisslinger highlights the need for flexibility in the workplace, allowing people to find solitude when they need it, but to also bring people together.
      They studio describes the project as “a complex, constantly changing conglomerate of working areas, break-off units and work capsules”.
      The aim was to create an environment that people are proud to call their workplace, and perhaps even share on their social media platforms.

      Staff can choose to work seated or standing
      “New offices being planned for the near future will less emphasise communal co-working areas but nevertheless we all need new spaces for interaction or idea generation and collaboration,” added the design team.
      “Flexible and open, the room adapts to its respective needs, creating space for playful creativity, for that dance of mind and body that is needed to gain new ideas.”

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      Ben Allen completes overhaul of his own home in east London

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      Artworks by Olafur Eliasson informed architect Ben Allen’s revamp of his two-storey maisonette in London’s Bethnal Green, which features mirrored furniture elements.The maisonette is set inside Keeling House, a 16-storey residential block that was designed by English architect Denys Lasdun in 1957.

      Reflective artworks by Olafur Eliasson are presented in the home’s stairwell
      The founder of Studio Ben Allen and his wife decorated their home’s interior with an array of personal possessions so that it looks like a cabinet of curiosities.
      Amongst these possessions are a number of optical artworks gifted by Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, whom Allen worked for over a 10-year period.

      Oval mirrored side tables have been placed beside the bed

      Several of the artworks are crafted from glass or mirror, and this prompted Allen to incorporate reflective elements in other spaces throughout the home.
      The architect was also inspired by the round convex mirrors that appear in London’s Sir John Soane Museum, which playfully skew how visitors perceive the exhibition rooms.

      The bedroom’s vanity table is also mirrored
      A pair of oval mirrored side tables feature in the bedroom that’s located on the maisonette’s upper floor.
      Another mirrored panel has been mounted on the wall to form the backing of a vanity table, which boasts a semi-circular brass ledge where jewellery, perfume bottles and other trinkets can be displayed.
      The bedroom has otherwise been simply finished with white-painted walls, larch wardrobes and exposed-wired lighting fixtures.

      More mirrors have been affixed to the bathroom’s cabinet and walls
      In the bathroom, half-moon-shaped mirrors have been affixed to the doors of a storage cabinet, which sits directly above a bespoke green-concrete sink.
      The image of the sink is repeated in an arched mirror on an adjacent wall.

      The bathroom’s hardware is made from gold-hued brass
      Surfaces are clad with jade-green tiles, while taps, spouts and the tubular shower head are made from brass. Perforated shutters have also been installed in front of the windows to allow just a little amount of natural light to seep through from the outdoors.
      “We wanted the bathroom to be purposefully darker to contrast with the brightness of the rest of the flat and to imbue it with a sense of refuge,” Allen explained.

      Studio Ben Allen makes Room for One More inside Barbican flat

      At this level of the house, there’s additionally a study that has a green cushioned daybed and a larch work table.

      A study with larch-wood joinery is on the home’s upper floor
      Most of Eliasson’s art pieces can be seen in the maisonette’s stairwell, displayed alongside arched mirror shelves that hold candles or tiny architectural models.
      Steps lead down to the lower floor, where Allen has exclusively applied a selection of “robust” materials which are meant to age well over time.
      “[Materials] have also been chosen to give a sense of tactile warmth both when the flat is flooded with daylight, as well as on overcast days and at night,” added Allen.

      Downstairs is the kitchen, which features a green-concrete counter
      The kitchen, for example, has oak cupboards and a green-concrete countertop. A grey-tile splashback is dotted with brass pegs where crockery or cooking utensils can be hung.
      Just opposite there’s a book-lined sitting room complete with a black leather sofa and a cosy oak seating nook that doubles-up as a storage box.

      A tall shelving unit separates the kitchen from the sitting room
      To loosely divide these two spaces, Allen and his team have erected a trellis-style shelving unit that stretches from floor to ceiling. A small work desk can be pulled out from the blue fibreboard drawers that sit at the unit’s base.
      The presence of the unit acts as a small homage to architect Lasdun, who had originally designed the flats inside Keeling House with galley kitchens that were separate from the sitting rooms.
      This was changed in the 1990s when, at risk of demolition, the building was completely revamped to feature minimal, open-plan living areas.

      The sitting room includes a cosy window nook
      Expansive panels of glazing look through to the maisonette’s balcony, where Allen has added a planter filled with wild grass and a Rhus Typhina tree. Beyond lies views of Hampstead Heath park and the city of London.
      Allen established his self-titled studio in 2014 and has since gone on to complete a number of projects. Just last year, the studio created an artichoke-shaped garden room for a home in southwest London, and renovated a Barbican flat to include colourful fold-out furniture.
      Photography is by French + Tye.
      Project credits:
      Architects: Studio Ben Allen (Team: Ben Allen and Marco Nicastro)Main contractor: Sullivan and CompanyBalcony and window planting scheme design: Todd Longstaffe-Gowan

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      Homework creates curves inside GoodBody hair salon in Oakland

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      Curved seating, shelving and mirrors feature throughout Goodbody hair salon in Oakland, California, which design studio Homework has finished with salmon-pink accents.GoodBody, which specialises in cutting, colouring and styling textured hair, is located in downtown Oakland. It takes over a building that was previously host to several dated offices.
      To transform the site into a modern salon, San Francisco-based studio Homework had to completely strip away any evidence of the previous fit-out.

      Top image: GoodBody is set inside a spacious hall. Above: curved elements are used to break-up the space

      As well as removing decorative elements, the studio tore down partition walls and knocked through a dropped ceiling to create a vast, double-height hall.
      It was initially unclear as to how the space would be organised to accommodate the salon’s various service areas.

      A semi-circular bench anchors the salon’s waiting area
      “After rounds of iterations, we developed sinuous millwork curves to promote the service functions while defining the space,” explained Ben Work, who runs Homework alongside Susan Work.
      Curved elements can be seen as soon as customers walk into GoodBody – a semi-circular bench has been placed in the salon’s entryway to delineate a waiting area.

      Arched mirrors accompany the salon’s styling stations
      The grooved, salmon-pink bench bends round to adjoin a matching desk where staff can stand and check appointments. Overhead hangs a quartet of brass pendant lamps.
      Nearby sits a salmon-pink platform that dips inwards to form an arc shape. The platform is topped with chunky tiered shelves that display various hair and beauty products that are available for purchase.

      Each mirror is illuminated by an LED strip light
      On the opposite side of the room is a sequence of styling stations. Each one has a tall arched mirror framed by an LED strip light and a comfy swivel chair upholstered in caramel-brown leather.
      These complement the salon’s buttermilk-coloured walls and the gold-velvet curtains that have been hung in front of all the doorways.

      Curved shelving displays an array of hair and beauty products
      At the rear of the salon is a huge vaulted opening which leads through to the hair-wash room.

      New York hair salon Hawthorne Studio is designed for social distancing

      This has been completed in a darker, richer palette – surfaces have been painted what the studio describes as a shade of “peacock green”, while the sinks are made from black porcelain.
      A rounded, salmon-pink cabinet visually ties-in this room with the rest of the salon.

      A vaulted opening looks through to the hair-washing area
      Other striking hair salons to open this year include Hawthorne Studio in New York, which design practice BoND had to adapt to suit health and safety regulations put in place as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
      All of the styling stations, for example, are mobile so that customers can be moved to sit six feet apart. Spaces are also divided by wooden frames instead of walls, so that staff can monitor how many people are entering the salon.
      Photography is by Aubrie Pick.
      Project credits:
      Design: HomeworkStyling: Bianca Sotelo

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      Dezeen's top 10 home interiors of 2020

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      Continuing our yearly review, Dezeen has selected the top 10 home interiors of 2020 – including a rustic home in rural France and a multicoloured Tokyo apartment.

      MA House, France, by Timothee Mercier
      This dwelling, which architect Timothee Mercier built for his parents, is meant to be aesthetically harmonious with the rural landscape of Vaucluse, France.
      Inside there’s whitewashed walls and just a smattering of rustic furnishings, which Mercier either found in Parisian flea markets or had custom made.
      “I decided early-on to infuse the house with the monastic qualities of its surroundings,” he told Dezeen. “[The house] had to be a spectacle, but a discrete one.”
      Find out more about MA House ›

      House V, Slovakia, by Martin Skoček
      Bricks salvaged from the ruins of an 80-year-old property now line the interior of House V, which is situated in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava.
      The time-worn bricks cover walls in the living room, bedroom and even the master bathroom, where a freestanding tub has been placed beneath the peak of the home’s pitched roof.
      Find out more about House V ›

      EGR Apartment, Ukraine, by Ater Architects
      To open up the constricted floor plan of this Kyiv apartment, Ater Architects demolished partition walls and replaced them with cobalt-blue curtains.
      The curtains – and the pink grouting between the kitchen tiles – offer a shock of colour amongst the otherwise monotone interior, which has white-painted walls running throughout.
      Find out more about the EGR Apartment ›

      Edinburgh apartment, UK, by Luke and Joanne McClelland
      Having lived in a poky London flat for eight years, architects Joanne and Luke McClelland set about making the rooms inside their Edinburgh apartment as bright and spacious as possible.
      The pair painted surfaces white, widened doorways to let in more sunlight and opened up the kitchen to include a dining area. Commenters were particularly impressed with the high-end look of the kitchen’s wooden cabinetry, which was actually sourced from IKEA.
      Find out more about the Edinburgh apartment ›

      Imperfect Residence, Hong Kong, by NC Design & Architecture
      Naturally flawed materials feature inside this Hong Kong apartment, which draws on the values of wabi-sabi – a Japanese philosophy that encourages finding beauty in imperfection and transience.
      Jagged offcuts of marble have been set into the floor, while oxidised copper has been used to make custom lights or decorative panels. Beige plaster also gives the walls a slightly uneven surface finish.
      Find out more about Imperfect Residence ›

      Kew Residence, Australia, by John Wardle
      Commenters loved the personal feel of architect John Wardle’s Melbourne home, which he decided to revamp after his three children grew up and moved out.
      At the heart of the plan is now a “cocoon”-like study where Wardle displays books and ceramic ornaments that he’s collected over the years. The architect also made sure that his favourite type of wood, Victorian ash, was used for all of the home’s joinery.
      Find out more about Kew Residence ›

      Urban Cabin, Italy, by Francesca Perani
      A daybed that doubles up as a storage box and a wardrobe that hides a washing machine are some of the handy space-saving elements that feature inside this tiny guest cabin, which occupies the porch of a home in Bergamo.
      Architect Francesca Perani made the unusual decision to line the 25-square-metre interior with OSB – a material she had previously only seen used on construction sites.
      “I love its textural irregularity, random organic composure and recycled properties,” she explained.
      Find out more about Urban Cabin ›

      Nagatachō Apartment, Japan, by Adam Nathaniel Furman
      Tasked with turning this lack-lustre Tokyo apartment into “a place of happiness, joy and lightness”, designer Adam Nathaniel Furman applied vivid, food-inspired colours to its interior.
      The kitchen has watermelon-green floors, while the dining area has lilac carpet that looks like icing. “Zesty” lemon-yellow taps and milky orange tiles also appear in the bathroom.
      “The colour scheme became a matter of choosing ingredients for a beautifully calibrated visual feast,” Furman explained.
      Find out more about the Nagatachō Apartment ›

      Flat House, UK, by Practice Architecture
      Prefabricated panels made from hempcrete – a mixture of hemp and lime – were used to construct the structural shell of this zero-carbon house in Cambridgeshire.
      Practice Architecture left these panels exposed on the interior to create warm, textured surfaces. Wooden furnishings and an assortment of woven rugs further amplify the home’s cosy feel.
      Find out more about Flat House ›

      Casa A690, Mexico, by Delfino Lozano
      Architect Delfino Lozano fashioned what he describes as a “Mexiterrean” aesthetic for this 1970s property in Zapopan.
      Lozano says that whilst the home’s architecture is traditionally Mexican, the interiors appear more Mediterranean because of his use of “simple and pure” materials. Almost every room boasts plain, white-painted walls and built-in wooden furniture.
      Find out more about Casa A690 ›

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      Spacon & X creates casual diner for Noma's burger spinoff POPL

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      Prolific Copenhagen restaurant Noma has opened a burger joint featuring an interior filled with natural materials and plants designed by Spacon & X.Born out of a summer pop-up, POPL is a diner in Copenhagen’s pretty Christianshavn neighbourhood, serving a simple menu of burgers, fries and light bites.
      POPL is designed by Danish studio Spacon & X, the Emerging Interior Designer of the Year from the inaugural Dezeen Awards in 2018.

      POPL is a burger joint in Christianshavn, Copenhagen

      The interior design takes cues from Izakaya, informal drinking venues that can be found in Japan. The aim was to create a raw simplicity but to also create a feeling of warmth and comfort.
      The designers did this with the use of warm colours and materials, which contrast the starkness of the building’s concrete structure. They also added a wooden “plant bridge” above the tables, so that greenery is visible everywhere.

      A plant bridge is suspended above the tables
      “We found it a natural decision that the design concept follows Noma’s approach to the burger: simple, welcoming, and with the best quality ingredients,” explained Malene Hvidt, architect and partner at Spacon & X.
      “The design is welcoming to the extent that guests are not afraid to use the space as a hangout,” she told Dezeen. “The surface materials and careful detailing communicate this through their expressive robustness and honesty.”

      Natural materials feature throughout the interior
      The design centres around the use of natural materials. Acoustic ceiling panels are lined with dried and compressed meadow flowers, which offer a delicate fragrance, while paper lights and artworks are dotted around.
      All of the furniture is made from brown core ash wood. These pieces were all designed bespoke for POPL through a collaboration with furniture brand e15, to help give the restaurant its own identity.

      Spacon & X worked with e15 to create bespoke furniture
      Bespoke tables, chairs, stools, benches and coat hangers are all characterised by simple forms that celebrate the construction joints, fusing Nordic, Japanese and American furniture-making traditions.
      Tables are topped with Richlite, a composite material made from recycled paper and bio-resin. Meanwhile, benches are upholstered in a distinctive yellow leather, which is complemented a tactile red artwork that covers the rear wall.

      Warm tones help to create a cosy atmosphere
      “The focus of this project is on the use of natural materials and craftsmanship,” said e15 founder Philipp Mainzer. “This is very much in line with the approach to our work at e15.”

      BIG overhauls Copenhagen warehouse for Noma 2.0 restaurant

      “Every surface tells a story,” added Hvidt, “like the compressed flower acoustic board solutions, which from a distance are a dappled colour but up-close reveal their texture and scent. Or the red artwork, celebrating the handcraft skill of applying tile mortar.”

      Benches are upholstered in yellow leather
      This is the first time that Spacon & X and e15 have collaborated with Noma, which is regularly named as one of the best restaurants in the world. For Noma’s main venue, it worked with architects BIG, interior designer David Thulstrup and furniture brand Brdr Krüger.
      By allowing a new creative team to put their stamp on the Noma aesthetic, POPL hopes to reach a wider audience.

      The design takes its cues from Japan’s Izakaya drinking venues
      Hvidt hopes visitors will liken the experience to the casual atmosphere of an American diner, even though the space looks very different.
      “We have definitely brought a new dialect to the Noma language,” she added.
      “The nuanced American diner feel is created through elements such as the heavy diner booth typology, but the association is then offset through the care put into the material sourcing, detailing and craftsmanship. The striking yet natural colours again play with the American diner tradition in a Scandinavian context.”
      Photography is by Bjørn Bertheussen.

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