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      Asylum in Ratched designed to look like “a beautiful person with a really dark secret”

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      Production designer Judy Becker treated Lucia State Hospital like a character in its own right to ensure that the gruesome psychiatric institution takes centre stage in Netflix thriller Ratched.The asylum is rich with unexpected architectural details – undulating glass-block walls or vast panoramic windows hidden behind floor-to-ceiling curtains – that are begging to be noticed.
      This is a stark contrast to much of Becker’s Oscar-nominated work, in which sets generally act as backdrops that merely complement the characters and action on screen.
      “I haven’t done this often but in the case of Ratched, I really wanted the building to draw attention to itself as a character,” Becker told Dezeen. “It’s a bit of a misdirect when you see this gorgeous building and the well-dressed patients but then the most horrible things are happening in this place.”
      “It’s like a beautiful person that’s got a really dark secret,” she added.

      Above: Doctor Hanover’s office has panoramic windows. Top image: The hydrotherapy room has a glass-block wall

      The show tells the origin story of Mildred Ratched, the antagonist of Ken Kesey’s classic American novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and head nurse at Salem State Hospital.
      But while the book and subsequent 1975 film adaptation depict their setting as a bleak, clinical place with whitewashed walls, Ratched’s Lucia State Hospital tells a very different story.

      The asylum’s lobby is an almost exact replica of that at Arrowhead Springs Hotel
      That’s because Ryan Murphy, the series’ creator who is known for spearheading hyper-stylised shows such as American Horror Story, Scream Queens and The Politician, wanted the set to look less like an institution and more like a fancy resort that had been converted into a hospital.
      “I threw away all my research on the grim asylums of the 1940s,” said Becker. “Sometimes it’s really warranted to do a very frightening-looking set design for a very frightening story. But the horror in Ratched is a little over the top, so you can balance it with all this beauty and that dichotomy works really well.”
      The show went on to become one of the most successful Netflix shows of the last year and was watched by 48 million people within the first month.
      Ratched’s set replicates a real grand hotel
      Set in northern California in 1947, the series follows young Mildred Ratched as she weasels her way into working at Lucia State Hospital.
      Through her story, the series explores some of the questionable approaches to mental healthcare at the time – from lobotomising patients by drilling a hole into their skull, to “curing” their homosexuality by locking them in a near-boiling bathtub in the name of hydrotherapy.

      Dorothy Draper often incorporated white stucco features and black and white checked flooring into her interiors
      To ground the show in reality despite its stylised depiction of these horrors, Becker originally planned to shoot on location at Arrowhead Springs Hotel near San Bernadino, California.
      Designed by Los Angeles architect Paul Williams in 1939, the complex features sprawling rooms and Hollywood Regency-style interiors by Dorothy Draper – one of the period’s most notable designers.

      Less exclusive buildings “are actually some of the most interesting” says Devs production designer

      But the hotel’s owners refused to allow any filming to take place on-site, so Becker and her team ended up erecting a near replica of its interiors on the Fox Studio Lot in Los Angles.
      Over the course of three months, the team reproduced Draper’s trademark stucco features and checked, monochrome flooring, as well as entire rooms based photos and measurements.

      Lucia State Hospital’s exterior was filmed at the Gillette Ranch near Malibu
      The lobby with its thick columns and chandelier reflected in the lacquered, black flooring was replicated almost entirely, while the inbuilt hexagonal shelves and sinuous fireplace mantel Draper designed for the hotel lounge were transposed into the patients’ recreational area (below).
      “It was a huge set,” explained Becker. “It looks like one place on screen but we had to build it over two different sound stages, which are these big hangars. There were so many rooms and so many elements and we would keep adding new ones as new episodes got filmed,” she continued.
      “Finally, there was no more space to build anything and we had to move the paint shop and some of the little dressing rooms outside to make more space because we just needed every inch of it.”
      “I like to work with a very deliberate colour palette”
      Since the set had to be furnished from the ground up, Becker worked with decorator Matthew Ferguson to source real period pieces from the time. To fill the huge rooms, these were bought in multiples where possible or otherwise, matching pieces were fabricated from scratch.
      “Everything was custom upholstered. I tend to do that because I like to work with a very deliberate colour palette and it’s impossible to find exactly what you need just lying around,” said Becker.

      The patients’ lounge features inbuilt shelves and a sinuous fireplace inspired by Draper’s interiors
      Green is perhaps the most prominent colour in the show and features liberally throughout the asylum, as well as in the cliffside motel where Mildred Ratched makes her temporary home while working at the hospital.
      “Green is a great colour because it’s very period-correct of the late 40s. And it can be a very unsettling colour or a pleasant one, depending on the shade,” said Becker.
      “If you use a green with more yellow in it, it tends to feel anxiety-inducing while one with blue undertones is more relaxing and makes you think of swimming pools.”
      Each shade that made it into the final show was painstakingly tested on different furniture pieces and in various lighting conditions, to ensure that it was conveying the right effect.

      Each patient’s room features different floral wallpaper
      Becker also added warm hues of coral and peach to keep the hospital feeling inviting and deceptively “non-horrific”, while the tiled floors and walls were held in neutral black and white so as not to clash with the costumes.
      “I think if you had green walls and green nurses uniforms and this and that, it just would have just been too much,” said Becker. “It probably would have won an Oscar if it was eligible because too much design tends to.”
      Fake foliage and curtains made windows look real
      According to Becker, perhaps the biggest downside to shooting on a set is the fact that the view out of the windows has to be created completely artificially.
      Often, directors will work with a Translight – a transparent polyester sheet that is printed with an image of the desired setting and lit from behind to create the appearance of a real exterior scene. But Murphy and Becker agreed that this fell short of the realism they were hoping to accomplish.
      “They pretty much always look fake,” she said. “Nothing is moving and the lighting doesn’t change like it would in real life.”

      Curtains and fake foliage created the impression of real windows
      Instead, she hid most of the windows behind semi-translucent curtains and set up a veritable greenhouse of real and fake plants on the other side to create the appearance of foliage.
      “We had someone on set tweaking them to camera so that the shadows and reflections looked real and not always the same,” Becker remembered.
      “There were fans blowing on the foliage and fans blowing on the curtains, so it was a very elaborate process to get the light coming through the window to look appropriate on camera. I designated an art director to be in charge of just this process because it was so important to Ryan.”
      All images are courtesy of Netflix.

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      Danielle Brustman decorates children's centre in Melbourne with pastel hues and rainbow murals

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      Designer Danielle Brustman used pastel colours, marmoleum flooring and playful hand-painted murals to create the interior of the Brighton Street Early Learning Centre in a brutalist building in Melbourne.Each playroom in the concrete building, which was converted by Perkins Architects into a childcare centre, was allocated its own motif, which includes a river, meadow, star, sun and cloud. Brustman used these themes to come up with a narrative, treatment and palette for each space.
      “The brief and scope for this project was so exciting as the clients were after something bold and unique,” Brustman told Dezeen.
      “I regularly use colour in my interior design work but it’s not often I get the opportunity to be as bold with colours specification.”

      Top image: a rainbow mural decorates a wall. Above: the designer used 47 different colours within the centre

      She used 47 colours in total for the early learning centre, which is located in Richmond, Melbourne, adapting them based on the themes of each room and pushing the colour palette to its limits.
      “I wanted it to be complex and colourful whilst still adhering to a level of sophistication, gentleness and balance,” she said.

      Geometric designs decorate the walls
      Brustman also added several wall murals, hand-painted by Ben Maitland, to the design, which she hopes will be a source of inspiration and creativity for the children.
      The graphic murals feature star bursts, boats made from circles and triangles, rainbows and trees, among other designs.
      The rooms also have a seasonal feel. “The forest and river rooms have an autumnal feel to them, while the sun and cloud rooms have a more summery palette and atmosphere,” Brustman explained.

      Playful motifs decorate the walls
      Within the centre, the ground floor rooms relate conceptually to the earth, while the top floor rooms relate to the sky.
      Some of the original concrete structure of the building was deliberately left exposed when the space was repurposed to become a children’s centre, and has been complemented with natural, durable materials and decorative textiles that soften the space.

      The floors are made from marmoleum
      Marmoleum, which is made of 70 per cent natural fibre and 40 per cent recycled materials, is used on floors throughout the centre.
      Brustman’s studio also designed a number of customised rugs for the rooms, including patterned Tretford rugs made from goat hair.

      Coloured pendants were created by a local designer
      The reception area and stairwell were decorated with coloured pendants made from toughened glass, traditionally used for manufacturing laboratory beakers, by local lighting designer Copper ID.
      All playrooms have floating acoustic ceilings to tamper noise, as well as child-friendly soft wool and vinyl furnishings.

      The studio designed customised rugs for the early learning centre
      Keeping some of the concrete structure visible has created a contrast to the softer interior details, according to Brustman.
      “There’s something lovely and unexpected about the intersection between these original raw building materials and the softer, more colourful material surfaces,” she said.
      Brustman’s background is in set design, and the Brighton Street Early Learning Centre design offered an opportunity to create more dramatic designs than some of her regular interior work.

      Murals add colour and whimsy to the space
      “There is such freedom when you are aiming to please and tend to the imagination of a young child,” she said. “I think my design work is compatible with childcare design in that it’s playful and a little fantastical.”
      “My approach to this project has been different in that the same limitations are not placed on the design in terms of what is considered to be a current or tasteful palette,” she added.

      Even the functional spaces have colourful interiors
      Other colourful interior designs for children include Integrated Field’s design for a hospital in Thailand that features slides and a pool, and Atelier Scale’s playground with bright-yellow details in China.
      Photography is by Sean Fennessey.
      Project credits:
      Interior design: Danielle BrustmanArchitecture: Perkins ArchitectsBuilder: I BUILD MMurals: Painted by Ben Maitland

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      Five architecture and design events this January from Dezeen Events Guide

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      A virtual version of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) plus remote site visits with SO-IL and David Adjaye as part of The World Around summit are among the events listed in Dezeen Events Guide taking place in January.

      Above: A representative of Virgin Hyperloop will discuss autonomous transportation at CES 2021. Top image: The World Around summit will see Ryue Nishizawa present his House in Los Vilos. Image is by Cristobal Palma
      Consumer Electronics Show (CES)11 to 14 January
      The world’s most influential technology fair is taking place entirely in the digital realm this year, opening up its programme of product showcases and more than 80 panel talks and keynotes to a global audience.
      Highlights include a reflection on the first year of 5G with American telco giant AT&T, Virgin Hyperloop’s take on the future of autonomous transportation and a discussion about privacy and trust with representatives of Amazon, Google and Twitter.
      This regularly scheduled programming is accompanied by a host of sessions about the ongoing pandemic, including a discussion with British pop star Dua Lipa about how immersive, digital experiences are allowing her to stay connected to her fans while music venues are closed.
      In/Visible Talks14 January
      In/Visible Talks is a design conference all about the creative process, which means that after a day’s worth of talks and discussions the event will culminate in practical workshops about everything from blind contour drawing to the design of exhibition layouts.
      For its fourth-ever and first virtual edition, the event is focusing on how design can be a medium for societal change by exploring what true diversity in the industry would mean, how graphic design can facilitate better representation and the best ways for creatives to collaborate with nonprofits.

      Norwegian designers point the way towards a circular economy

      DesignTO22 to 31 January
      Canada’s largest annual design festival will spotlight the work of more than 800 local artists and makers, including a showcase of furniture made from native timber and an archive of modernist Canadian graphic design.
      For its 11th edition, DesignTO is going “distanced and digital”, with window displays allowing those in Toronto to experience the event safely and in-person while a virtual programme will ensure that everyone else doesn’t have to miss out.
      Oslo Design Fair27 to 29 January
      Set inside the Norges Varemesse congress centre in Lillestrøm, the Oslo Design Fair has expanded beyond the standard categories of furniture, lighting and interiors.
      Under one roof and across four different exhibitions halls, it will bring together everything from Norwegian jewellery and fashion designers to gardening brands, illustrators, candlemakers and other craftsmen.

      David Adjaye will give a remote tour of his Winter Park Public Library complex in Florida

      The World Around30 January
      Now in its second year, The World Around forum has recruited some of the most innovative architects working today to discuss their latest projects via on-site presentations and guided tours.
      These are set to be broadcast on Dezeen from 14 international cities and will include Ryue Nishizawa presenting his House in Los Vilos, SO-IL showcasing recent work in Shanghai and New York and David Adjaye giving a remote tour of his Winter Park Public Library complex, which is under construction in Florida.
      Other speakers will include Francis Kéré and Counterspace founder Sumayya Vally, while Liam Young will present his latest short film in collaboration with the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV).
      The World Around aims to explore how architecture can tackle some of the most pressing issues of our time, from indigenous rights and racial justice to the environment. Earlier this year, the organisation held a symposium to mark Earth Day at Dezeen’s Virtual Design Festival, featuring talks, interviews and short films from the vanguard of ecological design.
      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 virtual events, conferences, trade fairs, major exhibitions and design weeks, as well as up-to-date information about what events have been cancelled or postponed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
      Inclusion in the guide is free for basic listings, with events selected at Dezeen’s discretion. Organisers can get enhanced or premium listings for their events, including images, additional text and links, by paying a modest fee.
      In addition, events can ensure inclusion by partnering with Dezeen. For more details on inclusion in Dezeen Events Guide and media partnerships with Dezeen, email eventsguide@dezeen.com.

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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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      David Chipperfield, Yinka Ilori and Ilse Crawford recognised in Queen's New Year Honours list

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      Architect David Chipperfield has been given one of the highest awards available to a British citizen while designers including Yinka Ilori, Ilse Crawford and 6a Architects have received honours in the 2021 New Year Honours list.Chipperfield was added to the elite Order of the Companions of Honour in the annual list of awards given for achievements by British citizens.
      Interior designer Crawford has been awarded a CBE, 6a Architects co-founders Thomas Emerson and Stephanie Macdonald OBEs and London designer Ilori an MBE.

      David Chipperfield has designed numerous cultural buildings including the renovation of the Neues Museum. photo is by Joerg von Buchhausen

      British architect Chipperfield joins Richard Rogers in the order Order of the Companions of Honour, which is limited to 65 members and is awarded “for having a major contribution to the arts, science, medicine, or government lasting over a long period of time”.
      RIBA Gold Medal-winner Chipperfield established his studio David Chipperfield Architects in 1985.
      He has designed numerous significant cultural buildings in the UK including the River and Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames and Hepworth Wakefield in Wakefield, which were both shortlisted for the Stirling Prize, as well as the Turner Contemporary in Margate.

      Chipperfield designed the Hepworth Wakefield in Yorkshire. Photo is by Iwan Baan
      Chipperfield, who has an office in Berlin, also completed numerous cultural buildings in Germany including the Museum of Modern Literature in Marbach, Germany, which won the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2007.

      “I feel like a bit of a fake” says David Chipperfield in Dezeen’s latest podcast

      A further four buildings designed by the studio in the country have been shortlisted for the Stirling Prize with the prestigious renovation of the Neues Museum in central Berlin being nominated in 2010. The building won the EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award in 2011.

      Yinka Ilori was made an MBE
      Alongside Chipperfield, several other architects and designers were recognised on the New Year Honours list.
      Rising star Ilori has been made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) for his services to design. Known for his colourful style, the designer began making furniture and has more recently creating larger installations including a summer pavilion in Dulwich and the renovating an underpass in Battersea.

      Yinka Ilori designed the Colour Palace in Dulwich with architecture studio Pricegore
      Writing on Instagram after receiving the award, Illori revealed that he almost gave up being a designer five years ago.
      “In 2015 there were sometimes thoughts of giving up designing due to the frustration and feeling people didn’t understand the designer I wanted to be,” he wrote.
      “The driving force behind me to continue and push through was always the desire to make my parents proud,” he continued. “They had given up so much of their own lives to make sure me and my siblings had the best in life
      “No matter what situation you are in it is never permanent. Keep pushing because if a young kid like me from Islington can do it so can you.”
      This year, Ilori won the Design Museum’s Emerging Design Medal, designed a colourful skatepark in France and created a message of hope in support of the UK’s National Health Service.

      Ilse Crawford has been awarded a CBE
      British interior designer Crawford has been made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE). Crawford, who was made a Member of the British Empire in the 2014 New Year Honours list, runs multidisciplinary design studio Studioilse and was the founder of the Man and Wellbeing department at Design Academy Eindhoven.
      She was recently profiled in Netflix’s Abstract: The Art of Design series and spoke to Dezeen during Virtual Design Festival.

      6a Architects designed the MK Gallery
      Also honoured on the list were 6a Architects co-founders Thomas Emerson and Stephanie Macdonald, who both were given the Order of the British Empire.
      Emerson and Macdonald founded 6a Architects, which is best-known for designing cultural buildings in the UK, in 2001. The studio recently extended the MK Gallery in Milton Keynes and previously renovated the Raven Row contemporary art gallery in east London and expanded the South London Gallery.
      Its design for a photography studio for Juergen Teller was shortlisted for the Stirling Prize 2017.
      The Queen’s New Year Honours are awarded each year in December. Together with the Birthday Honours given out on the Queen’s birthday in June they make up part of the British honours system.
      In last year’s New Year Honour list, architect Jamie Fobert and graphic designer Peter Saville received CBEs, while designer Sadie Morgan received an OBE.

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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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      in Rooms

      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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