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      Trellick Tower apartment revamped in line with Japanese design principles

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      German interior designer Peter Heimer and joinery studio Buchholzberlin used a restrained material palette of concrete, oak and aluminium when renovating this flat inside London’s brutalist Trellick Tower.

      The Grade II-listed building, designed by architect Ernö Goldfinger, originally opened in 1972 to provide social housing for the neighbourhood of Kensal Rise but has since become a landmark of brutalist architecture thanks to its distinctive lift tower.
      Peter Heimer and Buchholzberlin have renovated a Trellick Tower flatThe renovation works were carried out in a privately owned apartment on Trellick Tower’s 21st floor that had not been significantly altered in several years and as a result, was host to narrow rooms and lacklustre white walls.
      Its owners wanted the open up the 86-square-metre floorplan to create the impression of a “cool concrete loft” while offering better views of the surrounding cityscape.
      Views of the London skyline took centre stage”Their taste was also trained by contemporary Japanese design, so they wanted to use a reduced range of pure materials,” Buchholzberlin told Dezeen.

      “Since Trellick Tower is subject to strict preservation requirements, our hands were tied so to speak. But we were able to push through with small improvements.”
      Oak was used to form the kitchen’s cabinetry and breakfast counterThe wall separating two former children’s bedrooms was knocked through to create a larger unified space that now serves as the living area.
      The team also exposed the building’s original concrete walls, laid oak flooring and installed slender aluminium lights across the ceiling.
      A bench seat with inbuilt storage boxes was fitted beneath a row of windows at the front of the room, allowing for uninterrupted vistas of northwest London and beyond.
      A pull-out guest bed is concealed within the desk in the studyThe two doors that previously led to the respective children’s bedrooms were left in place. Between them now stands a huge, double-faced oak sideboard.
      An inlaid mirrored panel reflects the distant skyline and in turn “brings an impression of the city into the apartment’s centre”, according to the team.

      “We couldn’t stop Balfron Tower from being privatised. In fact we probably helped it along”

      More concrete and oakwood surfaces can be seen in the kitchen, which occupies the former living area. Low-lying cabinetry was installed along the room’s back wall, while a large breakfast counter was placed at its centre.
      The counter was custom-built to stand at the exact same height as the railing of the apartment’s balcony, ensuring that sightlines aren’t compromised when the clients sit down to eat.
      The desk also discretely hides new water pipesThe former kitchen, meanwhile, was converted into a study with an oakwood desk snaking around the edges of the room.
      Its base conceals a network of water pipes that had to be redirected to serve appliances in the new cooking quarters. One side of the desk also conceals a pull-out bed that can be used when guests come to stay.
      An oak headboard wraps around the principal bedroomThe principal bedroom was left in its original place but – like the rest of the apartment – was stripped back to expose its concrete walls.
      Oakwood was used here to form the base of the bed and its lengthy headboard, which extends along the lower half of the walls.
      Heimer and Buchholzberlin also removed the time-worn laminate that once covered the small flight of stairs leading down from the apartment’s entrance, revealing the concrete steps beneath.
      Concrete steps were revealed in the apartment’s hallwayTrellick Tower is just one example of the striking council estates that can be found across the British capital, which were recently chronicled in a book by photographer Jack Young.
      Others include Holmefield House with its graphic tiled facade and the Brunel Estate, which has a monumental slide sweeping through its public pathways.
      The photography is by Heiko Prigge.

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      Benedetti Architects uncovers forgotten Victorian skylights inside BAFTA headquarters

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      The Grade II-listed BAFTA headquarters in London’s Picadilly have received an overhaul from local studio Benedetti Architects, who raised the roof to squeeze in a new top floor while unifying its disparate interiors.

      Constructed in 1883, the building originally served as the Royal Institute of Painting in Watercolours and was adapted ad hoc over the subsequent years before the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) took over in 1976.
      Benedetti Architects was brought on board in 2016 after winning a competition to completely rework the space.
      Benedetti Architects renovated the BAFTA headquarters in London. Photo by Rory MulveyScrambling around in the loft as part of his research, project lead Renato Benedetti discovered two vast Victorian roof lanterns, complete with ornate plasterwork, that had been boarded up more than 40 years prior when BAFTA created a cinema in the space below.
      The practice’s pitch centred on lifting up the roof and turning the loft into a members’ area, with the two huge skylights being removed, restored and reinstated as the crowning glory of the new top storey.

      “BAFTA loved the idea although they didn’t think it was possible,” Benedetti told Dezeen. “But that’s exactly what we did and it has been the driver for the whole project.”
      The studio uncovered the building’s two hidden skylightsMoulds were made before the intricate plaster was carefully removed, allowing specialist restorers to match new sections seamlessly with the original design.
      Other than the roof lights, almost all the building’s original features such as flooring and staircases were lost as sections of the building were rented out by different tenants over its haphazard history.
      Under the bank of seating in the cinema though, the team found just enough of the original oak flooring to fit inside the new top-floor boardroom.
      “The long strips were quite damaged, so we cut them down to shorter lengths and laid them in a geometric pattern,” said Benedetti.
      Ornate plater mouldings were carefully restoredSimilarly, the remaining bits of marble from different schemes around the BAFTA headquarters were collaged together to create a statement countertop for the boardroom.
      The room is centred by an oval timber table, which the studio designed to feel “more friendly and less hierarchical” than a typical boardroom, complete with comfortable “wrap-around” chairs that can also be stacked.
      “We used a character grade of oak with big knots and imperfections, which I love,” said Benedetti. “It makes the timber more interesting.”
      The BAFTA boardroom is centred on an oval wooden table. Photo by James NewtonElsewhere across the building, responsibly sourced European oak was laid in a variety of patterns to cover floors and walls.
      For the main circulation areas such as the entrance hall and the stairs, the studio used an ivory-coloured terrazzo with brass trims peeking out between the large-format tiles.
      Brass accents are repeated throughout the building on handrails, trims, lighting and on the reveals around the lifts. “Here, the sheet brass has a slight sheen, a little lustre but not too blingy,” said Benedetti.

      Benedetti Architects chosen to refurbish RIBA headquarters

      The terrazzo, too, is flecked with gold-coloured specks that increase in quantity as the user ascends up through the building and peak on the members’ floor at the top.
      “The top floor feels like the culmination, the crescendo of the space,” said Benedetti.
      This same idea is repeated across the walls, with the lower floors wrapped in stained-oak slats punctuated by black acoustic panels while on the members’ floor, there’s a more refined profile to the oak slats and the panels are replaced by a brass mesh.
      The new top floor houses a members’ area. Photo by Jim StephensonTravertine is the final key element of the headquarters’ material palette, used in huge slabs and as fluted tiles as well as forming one of the building’s bars.
      “It has a great texture and it has been in use since Roman times, so it’s quite timeless,” the architect explained.
      The building’s trio of roof lanterns, including the two that were newly uncovered, now sit over the David Attenborough rooms – a members’ area that looks out across the tree canopy of St James’ churchyard.
      A red marble bar inspired the colour palette for the adjacent cinema. Photo by Thomas AlexanderThe furniture here was chosen by the architect in collaboration with Soho Home – the interiors arm of members’ club Soho House.
      To reduce heat gain and keep out harmful UV rays, the roof lights are integrated with solar shading windows by Dutch company Eyrise.
      “It’s an interesting new material, from the inside it appears to be clear, but from outside it looks almost black,” Benedetti explained.
      European oakwood panelling features throughout the interior. Photo by Jim StephensonThe members’ floor also houses a new intimate 41-seat cinema, its rich red colour palette informed the choice of red Italian marble for the adjacent bar.
      The larger original cinema was completely updated in partnership with Dolby, integrating a high-tech audio-visual system.
      Meanwhile, the Ray Dolby Room is designed as a versatile event space, where the conventionally wood-panelled walls and moulded ceiling can be quickly transformed into a space for 360-degree wall-mapping projections.
      The Ray Dolby Room can be used for 360-degree wall-mapping projections. Photo by Jordan AndersonBenedetti was recently named as the architect on another high-profile renovation in the British capital – the £20-million revamp of the Grade II-listed RIBA headquarters.
      Previously, the architect was one half of McDowell+Benedetti, which was known for innovative bridge designs including Hull’s Scale Lane Bridge and Castleford Bridge in West Yorkshire before the duo disbanded in 2016.
      The photography is by Luca Piffaretti unless otherwise stated.
      Jorda Anderson, Thomas Alexander, Rory Mulvey, James Newton, and Jim Stephenson.

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      Dog-friendly London club refurbished with giant 3D dachshund relief and Hockney artworks

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      Dog-friendly private members’ club George in London has been refurbished by restaurateur Richard Caring with David Hockney murals and Mayfair’s largest dining terrace.

      The revamped club was designed to be dog-friendly throughout as well as displaying a large collection of dog-related artwork.
      British painter Hockney created a mural for the dining room that sits alongside other original works of his, while London sculptor Jill Berelowitz has crafted a giant sculptural relief of a dachshund on the stairs descending to The Hound Club in the basement.
      A bespoke David Hockney artwork fills a mirrored wall panel at the George clubGeorge was designed to be “a home away from home” for its members and their pets, Caring told Dezeen.
      It was painted navy blue and features expansive navy awnings over an outdoor dining terrace that is the now the largest in Mayfair, providing space for guests and their pets.

      London sculptor Jill Berelowitz crafted a giant sculptural relief of a dachshundNamed after the club founder Mark Birley’s own dachsund, the George has been refurbished as “an oasis for both members and their four-legged friends –  continuing its legacy as London’s most dog friendly club”.
      Served from the revamped open kitchen, which has been clad in copper panels, a menu of snacks has been curated just for the canine guests, which includes “dog caviar”.
      The richly decorated interiors were painted a dark navy and furnished with bespoke furniture made in-house by The Birley Clubs’ design team.
      Paintings hang in mirror-tiled panels of the dining room, under a mirrored ceiling recessA circular bar, embellished with ornate metal work, separates the two dining rooms. Metal latticework cornicing echoes the level of decoration and detail throughout the scheme.
      Artworks hang in mirror-tiled wall panels, below similarly mirror-tiled ceiling recesses.
      A private dining room seats 16 and showcase works from Hockney’s iPad series, such as his 2011 work The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate.
      The main bar of George features high stools and intricate metal latticeworkBerelowitz’s dachschund sculpture dominates the main stairwell. The work was cast in bronze and patinated to match the club’s interior palette. The sculpture measures five by three metre and weighs 1.5 tons.
      The navy ground floor area leads to a burgundy red basement that houses The Hound Bar. An Art Deco theme dictated the use of antique brass and fluted mahogany panels for the bar.
      More mirrored glass has been used on columns and doorways almost to the effect of a hall of mirrors, creating an after-dark, subterranean feeling.
      The Hound Bar is a dark and dramatic subterranean space in the basementHighly polished mahogany was used to clad the vaulted ceilings and the same fluted panels from the bar were repeated in niches and around seating areas.
      Caring, who designed the interiors of George with his team, previously commissioned Martin Brudnizki Design Studio to renovate his other London club, Annabel’s, in 2018.

      Monumental Damien Hirst sculptures feature inside Bacchanalia London restaurant

      He also worked with Martin Brudnizki Design Studio on the launch of Bacchanalia London, which features monumental sculptures by Damien Hirst.
      Other restaurant interiors recently featured on Dezeen include nearby 20 Berkeley, also in Mayfair, where Pirajean Lees has created an Arts and Crafts-style interior, and an intimate cocktail lounge in Austin, USA, by Kelly Wearstler.
      The photography is by Ryan Wicks and Milo Brown.

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      Studio Kiki imbues Carlotta restaurant interiors with “old-school glitz and glamour”

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      Design firm Studio Kiki has created warmly-lit interiors for an Italian restaurant in London to mimic the decadent but familial atmosphere of a 1980s Italo-American trattoria.

      Located on Marylebone High Street, Carlotta is the latest project by the Big Mamma restaurant group. Studio Kiki, the group’s in-house design team, created its interiors to capture a sense of “old-school glitz and glamour”, it said.
      Carlotta is a restaurant on Marylebone High Street”[Carlotta is informed by] Italo-American neighbourhood restaurants in the 1980s, where the likes of [singer and actor] Frank Sinatra and friends would swing by for a bite to eat or a nightcap, and know the waiters’ names,” the team told Dezeen.
      Visitors enter the trattoria through a burgundy facade emblazoned with neon signage, which glows above clusters of spindly tables and chairs positioned for al fresco dining.
      The bar is defined by glowing sources of lightInside, a gilded bar is concealed behind a red velvet curtain. This space is defined by high stools upholstered with geometrically patterned textiles and a curved marble-topped bar clad with illuminated ribbed panels sourced from New York.

      “We wanted the bar to glow and have a back-lit element, so it feels incredibly welcoming as soon as you step inside, making it the jewelled centrepiece of the restaurant,” explained Studio Kiki.
      A psychedelic-style carpet adds a touch of humour to the main dining spaceBeyond the bar, the main dining space is draped with golden festoon curtains that take cues from 1950s Milanese casinos, and also features a psychedelic-style carpet covered with swirly flowers.
      This was informed by the 1998 film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, a black comedy road movie based on the book by journalist Hunter S Thompson, according to the designers.
      The basement includes a mirror-striped ceilingIn the dining room, curved metallic chairs and burgundy banquettes finished in knotted leather hug small circular tables made from dark wood and dressed with sculptural lamps.
      “[Throughout the restaurant] we liked to ensure each table has its own source of light, which can come in various forms whether that be architectural lighting, back-lit tables or a handmade cordless table lamp,” said Studio Kiki.
      The main dining space also includes arrangements of framed photographs. Among the collection are retro wedding pictures from Italian weddings of the design team’s own parents and grandparents.

      Pirajean Lees creates Arts and Crafts-style interior for Mayfair restaurant

      Downstairs, a “midnight blue hideout” forms a subterranean drinking den, complete with a 1980s-style mirror-striped cavernous ceiling, eclectic crockery and an open kitchen.
      Bathed in bright red light, the bathrooms are equally playful – a haloed Jesus effigy was positioned atop a font-like basin, while slatted mirrored walls reflect the ceiling’s oversized chandelier.
      A Jesus effigy crowns the bathroom basinCarlotta joins a number of other recently designed eateries with decadent interiors.
      These include a pop-up cafe at London’s Harrods department store by Italian fashion house Prada and a bar and restaurant in Canada with rich colours and leather upholstery informed by author Truman Capote.
      The photography is by Jérôme Galland. 

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      Alex Cochrane Architects designs shops to “embrace the elegant proportions” of National Portrait Gallery

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      London studio Alex Cochrane Architects has created a trio of museum shops at the recently revamped National Portrait Gallery in London.

      Completed as part of a wider three-year refurbishment of the Victorian Grade I-listed building by Jamie Fobert Architects and Purcell, the retail outlets had to be respectful and, where possible, non-intrusive.
      Alex Cochrane Architects overhauled the National Portrait Gallery’s shopsAlex Cochrane Architects worked closely with the lead studios to create a main shop next to the museum’s new entrance, and two further shops that service temporary exhibition spaces,  that each “brought together the monumental and the intimate”.
      “The challenge with this project was to design hard-working retail spaces that would provide an inspiring shopping experience while delivering a design that embraced the elegant proportions of the Grade I building,” Alex Cochrane Architects founder Alex Cochrane told Dezeen.
      Arched architectural details are repeated in the displaysThe main shop’s two adjoining rooms have impressive ceiling heights of between six and 7.5 metres and Cochrane designed the space to emphasise verticality.

      “The best way to celebrate these magnificent heights was for our retail architecture to reach tall and stop respectfully short of the period cornicing,” said Cochrane.
      “There’s an obvious vertical accent to our designs that allows you to look up and appreciate the vast heights and period detailing.”
      Tall cabinets emphasise the height of the spaceMindful that their display framework would need to be taller than conventional retail furniture, they have made it deliberately architectural in scale.
      “We wanted to celebrate the heights of these two rooms,” he said. “We wanted the visitor to look up, as well as ahead. And of course, we wanted visibility from the street.”
      A green marble cash counter adds a subtle pop of colourThe practice used arched forms in their design, taking their cues from the historical door and room openings within the space and in the wider gallery.
      “We repeated the shape of these soaring arches around the room creating a rhythm so all the arches, both old and new, became of a singular and familiar language,” Cochrane said.
      To bring definition to the space without the need for further structural intervention, he used thin “halos” of light to outline the arches, as well to highlight the large plaster-cast busts that hang within the display arches, increasing the shop’s visibility from the street.
      The two rooms are connected via a row of archesThe plaster casts, representing the artists Holbein, Chantry and Roubillac, were discovered in the gallery’s attic during the refurbishment and are prototypes for the stone versions seen on the rear elevations of the building.
      “We love how they are framed in the arches,” said Cochrane. “They have a roughness, a texture that compares well with our metallic finishes.”
      Similarly, an original lantern light in the roof, which had been boarded up for many years, now takes centre stage, amplifying the impressiveness of the space.

      National Portrait Gallery revamp establishes connection to London surroundings

      Several factors shaped the pared-back material palette of the project.
      “The materials needed to be complimentary to those of the period finishes, but also remain easily distinguishable,” said Cochrane.
      “And we chose our materials in consideration of their low-impact environmental credentials. Local, reusable, recycled, second-hand and certified materials were prioritised, while materials with high embodied carbon and VOCs were avoided.”
      Alcoves are highlighted via narrow strip lightsThe stone was sourced within Europe, while the signature material of choice was brushed metal, “which is neutral in both tone and colour.”
      Mindful of the carbon footprint of steel and other metals, Cochrane chose Arper for the metallic furniture because of their innovative and “low-impact” manufacturing processes.
      “We favoured matt finishes over polished ones, as they reflect less light ensuring the products remain the focus,” he said.
      The second room features punchy yellow cabinetsFor the first-floor exhibition shop, much of the furniture was constructed in Richlite. Durable and sustainable, it’s an FSC-certified material made using post-consumer recycled paper.
      For the ground floor exhibition shop the mid-floor furniture was constructed in Linoleum, made from 97 per cent natural materials, that are 30 per cent recycled and 100 per cent recyclable and compostable.
      The practice sampled numerous paint colours, settling on Farrow & Ball’s ‘Lamp Room Gray’ for the walls, with ‘School House White’ on the ceilings.
      The cabinets are designed for displaying jewellery”These colours follow on well from those in the adjacent entrance hall and the east staircase and contrast subtly with our own metallic finishes.”
      “We wanted to be strategic about using strong colours, as we were conscious that the merchandise would also have a considerable amount of colour.”
      The cabinets are centred between the two monumental teak-framed windowsThe practice opted to use a vivid colour for the stand-alone jewellery cabinet, centred between the two monumental teak-framed windows, “that could really catch the eye of the passer-by with an invigorating colour”.
      “We explored different colours, settling on a punchy yellow that we called ‘Starling’s Yellow’ due to the commercial director’s love for this colour.”
      Likewise, Cochrane wanted the payment counter to be eye-catching and used a highly patterned green marble to draw the customer to this end of the space, where there are views out over the newly re-landscaped forecourt and Charing Cross Road beyond.
      “As a practice, we are minimalists, with a love for bold colour. We feel colour can really invigorate a room,” said Cochrane.
      The museum reopens today following its renovationThe National Portrait Gallery reopens its doors for the first time this week, following its renovation as well as a wider rebrand. Earlier this year, the museum unveiled an overhaul of its logo by illustrator Peter Horridge based on a sketch by the gallery’s first director.
      The photography is by Alex Cochrane Architects and Andrew Meredith.

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      Asteroid City exhibition immerses visitors in Wes Anderson’s Americana film sets

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      An exhibition of the 1950s sets, props, miniature models, costumes and artwork used in Wes Anderson’s latest film Asteroid City has opened at 180 The Strand in London.

      The exhibition was designed to immerse visitors in the film’s fictitious world – a desert town in 1950s America famous for its meteor crater and celestial observatory.
      The exhibition is on display at London’s 180 The StrandIts aim was to give visitors insight into the “1950s Americana world the film is set in”, said Asteroid City associate producer Ben Alder.
      Asteroid City was filmed on flat farmland in Spain, with the buildings made for the film set up to appear like a town.
      The exhibition features large sets”Everything you see in the film was physically built and laid out in a way that gave the actors and crew the sense of living in this real town,” Alder told Dezeen.

      “The exhibition is a great way for people to see how much work went into all the elements of the film, like the costumes, because you can spend more time looking at how they are made and how much care went into them.”
      Film sets used in the Asteroid City movie are on displayPieces in the exhibition are spread across three main spaces, with audio clips and parts of the film projected onto walls referencing scenes relevant to the nearby displays.
      “The idea was to use the largest open space for the sets to give people the sense of how big they were on the film, and you can imagine how massive our Asteroid City town was,” said Alder.
      Costumes and props are on display”Then there’s another space that’s a more traditional gallery-type curation where you can see smaller objects and props, going into the details of the characters,” Alder continued.
      Mimicking the exterior of the cafe featured in the film, a temporary wooden structure decorated with menu lettering and a desert scene spans the entrance of 180 The Strand.

      Ten cinematic interiors that could be in a Wes Anderson film

      Sets displayed in the exhibition include white wooden residential shacks, a train carriage and a bathroom scene.
      Other life-sized scenery props include telephone booths, billboard posters and humourous vending machines that dispense martinis and bullets in the film.
      The exhibition provides a close-up view of the Asteroid City film props”There are moments where visitors are invited to be in the sets and interact with them,” said Alder.
      “Not only can visitors see all the pieces from the film really closely but they can go inside some of the sets – they can sit inside the train compartment, recreate the scene with [actor] Scarlett [Johansson] in the window, or go into the telephone booth – which is something really special that not a lot of exhibitions have.”
      Visitors can explore a desert setSome of the character costumes are arranged together with set pieces to recreate scenes from the film.
      Also on display are puppets made by Andy Gent, who previously created puppets for Anderson’s films Isle of Dogs and Fantastic Mr Fox, and a series of glass flowers used in a stop-motion animation sequence where they transition from blooming to wilting.
      The Asteroid City exhibition showcases many details from the filmThe exhibition ends with a recreation of a luncheonette featured in the movie, where visitors can order food and drink.
      It has a 1950s-style decor, with stools lined up along the service bar, pastel-coloured blinds and the image of a desert landscape framed inside fake windows.
      A 1950s-style cafe is at the end of the exhibitionAsteroid City is out in cinemas now.
      Anderson is known for his distinctive film aesthetic, typified by retro influences and pastel colours. Interiors that have been informed by the director’s style include a pastel-yellow breakfast cafe in Sweden and a bottle shop in Los Angeles with mid-century influences.
      The photography is courtesy of Universal Pictures and 180 Studios.
      The Asteroid City exhibition is on display at 180 The Strand in London from 17 June to 8 July 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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      AI-generated engravings feature in Dragon Flat by Tsuruta Architects

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      UK-studio Tsuruta Architects has combined artificial intelligence with CNC cutting in a revamp of a home in London’s Notting Hill.

      Dragon Flat features engraved wall panels and joinery incorporating AI-generated images, including a map of the River Thames and a graphic floral motif.
      AI-generated engravings feature on both floors of the homeA CNC router – a computer-controlled cutting machine – allowed these designs to be directly transferred onto wooden boards, which have been used for surfaces within the interior.
      Taro Tsuruta, founder of Tsuruta Architects, said that he decided to experiment with AI because there wasn’t room in the budget to collaborate with a graphic designer.
      A map of the River Thames features in the living spaceUsing DALL-E 2, an AI program that transforms text instructions into high-quality images, he was able to create bespoke designs for the kitchen and bedroom space.

      “I typed a series of prompts and ran a series of variations, then came up with an unexpected yet expected result,” he told Dezeen. “It was like sculpting a form with a keyboard.”
      Upstairs, a tatami room features a row of engraved peoniesTsuruta’s clients for Dragon Flat were a young Asian couple who moved to London five years ago. The property they bought was a two-level maisonette in a 1950s council block.
      The renovation sees the home subtly reconfigured.

      Tsuruta Architects incorporates 27,000 cat faces into five homes in Catford

      The lower level is opened up, allowing the kitchen to become part of the living space, while the upper level has been adapted to create more storage.
      This revamped upper level includes a walk-in wardrobe and a tatami room – a typical space in traditional Japanese homes – as well as a main bedroom.
      The designs are etched into OSB wall panelsThe River Thames image features in the new living and dining room. Engraved plywood panels front a grid of cupboards, creating an entire wall of storage.
      The floral pattern, designed to resemble “an army of peonies”, can be found in the tatami room.
      Images of these flowers are etched into white-washed oriented strand board (OSB), which forms wall panels. This creates a colour contrast that allows the design to stand out.
      Whitewashed surfaces allow the floral design to stand out”We did quite a few sample tests, changing the needle size of the CNC router to get it right,” said Tsuruta.
      The aim here, he explained, was to create a design that playfully references Arts and Crafts, a movement that embraced floral imagery but rejected the technological advances of its time.
      “Arts and Craft was very labour-intensive,” said the architect. “Our process is the opposite, but we share a common goal of enriching the lives of occupants.”
      The addition of a walk-in wardrobe frees up space in the bedroomCNC cutting has played a pivotal role in many of Tsuruta’s projects. Examples include The Queen of Catford, a group of five flats filled with cat faces, and Marie’s Wardrobe, a home with a highly intricate custom staircase.
      Dragon Flat is his first completed project to incorporate AI, a process he said provides infinite options but requires human input in order to achieve a successful result.
      A floating timber staircase allows light to filter through”This process is pretty much the same as with any tool,” he said. “At the end of the day, we were the ones to select and move on to the next variation or stop there.”
      The interior also features other playful details, including a floating timber staircase. Built in the same position as the original stairwell, this perforated volume allows more light to filter between spaces.
      OSB and marble contrast in the bathroomThe bathroom combines marble with OSB, creating an intentional contrast between luxury and low-cost materials, and also includes some small motifs showing bats.
      “The symbolic meaning of peonies, dragons and bats, together with the Thames River, is ambiguous,” added Tsuruta.
      “We want people to keep thinking and talking about them, but overall they are believed to bring prosperity and a happy life.”
      The photography is by Tim Croker.

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      Apple reveals Battersea Power Station store as latest “evolution of the Apple Store”

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      Technology company Apple has unveiled its latest Foster + Partners-designed store in the recently revamped Battersea Power Station in London, which features updated fixtures and furniture.

      Set to open later today, Apple Battersea is the brand’s 40th UK store and represents an evolution in its retail design thinking with more of an emphasis placed on accessibility and sustainability.
      “We developed this material palette and this fixture set that is really trying to align with like Apple’s goals,” said Bill Bergeron Mirsky, a global retail design lead at Apple.
      “This material palette is new for us, it’s an evolution of the Apple Store,” he told Dezeen.
      Apple Battersea opens todayDesigned by UK studio Foster + Partners, the store is set on the ground floor of the shopping centre within the 1930s Turbine Hall A at the former power station, where the studio also designed the technology brand’s offices.

      The shop is arranged around four original brick piers and has steel roof supports exposed on the ceiling. On top of this base, Foster + Partners overlaid a revamped fixture set that Mirsky said “will become familiar over time”.
      Apple Battersea is the second store – after the recently reopened Tysons Corner store in the USA, which replaced Apple’s first ever store – to feature the redesigned fixtures.
      It features an updated fixture setAround the edge of the store is an oak framework of shelving that was developed with Foster + Partners.  The timber structure also defines a space dedicated to watches, a pick-up area and a redesigned Genius Bar.
      The Genius Bar has a counter for stand-up service along with a lowered area where people can be served sitting down. Along with its standard Parsons tables, which are made from sustainably harvested European oak, the store also has several lowered tables.
      The redesigned Genius Bar has a lower counter”We’ve thought about mobility issues across the whole fixture set,” explained Mirsky. “We have our traditional Parsons table with our standard height, but you notice that the tables in the back are varied and our new genius bar as well.”
      “We have a standing height because the team really prefers to stand and it lets them work with more people and then they can stand at the tables, but customers who want to sit or need to sit can actually use these slightly modified tables,” he continued.
      As part of the focus on mobility, Apple also increased the amount of circulation around the edge of the store.
      There is more space around the edge of the storeAlong with the timber framework, Apple aimed to replace other more carbon-intensive elements in the store with biomaterials.
      The floor, which was first used in the Brompton Road store, was made from aggregates bound together with a bio-polymer, while the acoustic baffles in the ceiling were made from biogenic material.
      The acoustic baffles and bright floor form part of a focus on improving visual and acoustic clarity in the store, with a dark band placed around the base of the walls to provide visual differentiation with the flooring.

      Foster + Partners designs Apple Brompton Road as “calm oasis” in London

      “Something I want to point out that is really part and parcel of the material palette, but also goes to our universal design, is the contrast in the store,” said Mirsky.
      “We wanted to make sure we have this really enhanced kind of navigation,” he continued. “So the floor is brightened – it helps us with our low energy – but it also makes it so that you can clearly see the table and the walls are defined.”
      The store has a dedicated pick-up cornerThe fixture set, flooring and ceiling baffles were also used at the Tysons Corner store and Mirsky believes the base can create a feeling of familiarity for Apple’s customers.
      “Each store is really dealt with as a unique circumstance Battersea has this incredible, incredible existing architectural fabric to work in,” he said.
      “We use the same fixture set at Tysons Corner in a mall setting in America which doesn’t have this sort of grand grandiose architecture, but the same fixture set can generate an environment that’s very familiar and welcoming no matter where you are.”
      The store is the latest to open in London, following the Brompton Road store that opened last year, which was designed to be a “calm oasis”. Other recently completed Apple Stores include the band’s first shop in India and a store in Los Angeles’ historic Tower Theatre.

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