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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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      Nina+Co uses salvaged materials and biotextiles for Big Beauty’s first store

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      Design studio Nina+Co has used materials informed by the ingredients used in natural skincare products for Big Beauty’s first store in Hackney, London.

      For its first retail space, Big Beauty founder Lisa Targett Bolding wanted to create a space that was an extension of the brand’s ethos. She worked closely with Nina+Co, which chose to incorporate waste materials and biomaterials like mycelium into the design.
      According to Nina+Co founder Nina Woodcroft, every material choice was aimed at minimising waste or reviving waste products.
      The Big Beauty shop was designed by Nina+Co”Lisa was determined to push the boundaries of material use and circularity and is willing to take risks, which is necessary when experimenting with materials and processes that are new,” she told Dezeen.
      “There are many great materials and solutions that we desperately need to become mainstream, but making them commercially viable can be a slow and long-winded process,” she continued.

      “The goal at Nina+Co is to bridge this gap, to show how beautiful and useful these materials and processes can be, and to work on changing attitudes towards waste and considering end-of-use.”
      The project features salvaged and biomaterialsRaw stone edges, metal patination, and earthy tones were blended with soft, oversized, rounded forms to create a calming effect throughout the space where, besides the retail area, there is a private treatment room for massages and facials.
      The main space was designed to be flexible and host events, with seating arranged around a large travertine stone table, which was sourced 50 per cent from salvage and 50 per cent from offcuts.
      Salvaged travertine stone was used for the central table with only minimal shaping to some edgesThe travertine used for the central table was kept in the large slabs in which it was found, with only minimal shaping to some edges, in a bid to reduce wastage and retain integrity for future applications.
      As well as the reclaimed natural stone, Nina+Co used expanded cork blocks that were shaped into storage units and salvaged steel, which has been re-worked into shelving.
      Expanded cork blocks are used to create storage unitsMany of the materials chosen were informed by the minerals and ingredients used in natural skincare such as clay, seaweed and mushroom extracts.
      Mycelium was grown to form plinths and legs using the reishi species. Reishi mushroom and clay were also used to pigment curtains of a seaweed biotextile, which have tiny trapped air bubbles to look like sea foam or bath bubbles.
      The seaweed biotextile, along with hemp fabric, was hung as a backdrop for the window display that shades the interior.
      Seaweed biotextile panels feature tiny trapped air bubblesWhen asked about the challenges of working with mycelium, Woodcroft said “every project has its hiccups. Mycelium needs precise conditions to grow and contamination is tricky to avoid without serious lab facilities.”
      “We inoculate organic waste with mushroom spores then the fungus digests the substrate and binds together with tiny hyphae threads into a homogenous form within a mould; when gently dried, the mycelium becomes inert and we are left with strong, organic pieces of furniture that are ultimately compostable,” she explained.
      “There’s so much more to explore with mycelium and I intend to.”
      A glass block wall encloses a private treatment room.Also as part of the renovation, the studio removed the existing timber floor and underlay, which were both sold locally with proceeds going to charity.
      The grey concrete beneath was then stained to a warmer brown using iron sulphate, a common grass fertiliser. Cork tiles with a natural hard wax finish were used for the kitchen and toilet. The walls and ceiling were coated with a limewash paint made from clay, minerals and natural pigments.
      Mycelium and Reishi mushroom species were used to create plinths and legs for the displaysAccording to Woodcroft, each area of the shop tells a story of material exploration and experimentation.
      The space offers – as the brand puts it – “a sense of provenance, connection and reverence” for the natural components of the skincare products on the shelves.
      Big Beauty’s windows feature panels of mycelium biotextileNina+Co has previous experience working with ancient and pioneering materials like mushroom mycelium, algae and bioplastics. The design studio worked on the fit-out of Silo, a zero-waste restaurant in the London suburb of Hackney Wick, and more recently the MONC eyewear store also in the British capital.
      The photography is by Anna Batchelor

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      Kim Kardashian brings poolside vibes to SKIMS swimwear pop-up at Selfridges

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      A three-tiered diving board stands next to a metallic palm tree inside this pop-up shop that designer Willo Perron has created for Kim Kardashian’s lingerie brand SKIMS in London.

      The brand’s first physical retail space in the UK, at the Selfridges department store in London, follows the same formula as its debut shop in Paris. Here, surfaces were coated in panels of glossy plastic with gentle thermoformed curves to suggest the shape of the human body.
      SKIMS has opened a swimwear pop-up in SelfridgesBut for this temporary summertime pop-up, Perron abandoned the brand’s typical fleshy colour palette in favour of a pale blue hue reminiscent of a heavily chlorinated swimming pool.
      The resulting plastic panels are so glossy they look almost wet as they form everything from mirror frames and bench seats to wall panels and the shop’s monolithic till counter, which is embossed with the SKIMS logo.
      A three-tiered diving board sculpture forms the centrepiece of the storeA huge replica of a three-levelled diving board stands at the heart of the store, with a stepped base and springboards formed from lengths of the same baby-blue plastic.

      Shiny chrome tubes act as handrails and are repeated throughout the store in the form of gridded partitions and clothing rails, curving around the columns of the Grade II-listed department store.

      Kim Kardashian launches first pop-up SKIMS store in Paris

      Rounding off the poolside atmosphere is a matching metal palm tree sculpture, integrated into the long bench set that runs along the shopfront.
      To display stacks of rolled-up nude-coloured SKIMS towels, Perron also added two smaller freestanding platforms with the same steps and chrome handrails as the diving platform but minus the springboards.
      Thermoformed plastic panels in glossy blue glad most of the interiorTaking over Selfridges’ ground-floor pop-up space The Corner Shop until 8 July 2023, the shop will offer the brand’s core collection of swimsuits and bikinis alongside limited editions and seasonal colourways.
      Customers will also be able to buy ice cream to match their swimwear, stored in baby-blue freezers courtesy of London gelato company Chin Chin Labs.
      A metallic palm tree decorates the store”I’m thrilled to bring SKIMS Swim to London for the first-time ever and take over The Corner Shop at Selfridges with our most conceptual pop-up experience to date,” said SKIMS co-founder and creative director Kim Kardashian.
      “We have followers all over the world,” she added. “As we enter the next phase of SKIMS retail, I look forward to connecting with these customers through innovative shopping experiences on a global scale.”
      A metallic palm tree completes the poolside atmosphereReturning for its second year, SKIMS’s swimwear offering is pitched towards providing various levels of coverage for different body types and modesty requirements.
      This is an extension of the brand’s drive to create inclusive underwear and shapewear that works for people of different sizes and abilities, following the launch of its Adaptive Collection last year.
      Over the next three years, the brand is planning to open a roster of freestanding stores across the UK and EU.

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      Daytrip imbues Victorian terrace in Highbury with “gallery-like minimalism”

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      Curving, organic forms are juxtaposed with clean-lined minimalism in this home that interiors studio Daytrip has completed in north London.

      Daytrip worked with architecture firm Studio 30 to extend the ground floor of the Victorian terrace house to the rear and side to increase the available space while excavating down to boost the ceiling height and give the space more gravitas.
      Daytrip has overhauled a Victorian terrace in north LondonIn the process of increasing the space, period features that remained in the home such as skirtings, architraves and panelling were lost. Daytrip saw this as an opportunity to achieve a completely new aesthetic.
      “Our contemporary interior shell treatments provided a clean, architectural approach, with minimal plaster and skirting details, sharp timber floor and stair nosings and high ceilings that are ornament-free,” the studio’s director Iwan Halstead told Dezeen.
      Furniture such as Benni Allan’s Low armchair were selected by Béton BrutThis approach informed the home’s crisp, clean aesthetic, which was deliberately juxtaposed with more organic forms as seen in the vintage 1970s Gilda sofa by Michel Ducaroy and the snaking Z dining chairs by Gastone Rinaldi, upholstered in off-white mohair velvet.

      “The contrast of gallery-like minimalism with organic forms intrigued the client and we decided to explore this,” said Halstead.
      Throughout the house, Daytrip developed a sense of flow by replacing standard doorways with large, full-height openings.
      Wide prime oak timber was combined with polished concrete flooring”These openings bring much more daylight into the property and unite the different spaces,” Halstead explained.
      The homeowners – a young professional couple – made the decision to move the kitchen to the front of the house, away from the more traditional location at the rear of the building.
      With its monolithic marble island, the kitchen is at once low-key and sculptural, designed to sit comfortably within the wider living space.
      Among the vintage furniture pieces are Z dining chairs by Gastone Rinaldi”A palette of off-white matt lacquered joinery and powdery warm grey cloudy marbles resonate with the palette of the interior,” said Halstead.
      “Soft and shadowy, the subtlety is satisfying to minimalist aficionados. It is also the perfect backdrop to an ever-changing countertop and display shelf for collectible ceramics and glassware.”
      The kitchen counter runs seamlessly into an upholstered bench, connecting the kitchen with the dining area, which is illuminated by a high-level box window that runs the remaining length of this space, merging with a wall of glass that looks onto the garden.
      The kitchen features a monolithic marble islandOn the opposite wall, the design for the wood-burning stove was kept deliberately minimal and integrated into the white, plaster-finished walls.
      A honed, pale grey limestone was used as the cantilevered base, floating above the concrete floor.
      Thanks to the positioning of the kitchen, the living area makes the most of the widest section of the ground floor, looking onto the courtyard garden.

      Daytrip creates calm broken-plan interior for Edwardian home in west London

      A poured, polished concrete floor with a slight cream tint is used on the ground level, continuing out into the garden.
      “Inspired by gallery spaces, the poured concrete is a neutral, hard surface that is reflective and tough,” Halstead said.
      “It immediately transforms a Victorian property into a contemporary home, especially for young professionals who use their living spaces for multiple purposes.”
      Polished concrete flooring reflects the lightThe pared-back material palette also includes wide prime oak timber, used on the two upper floors.
      “Timber brings a natural warmth and character that is often needed to compliment the sometimes austere quality of concrete,” said Halstead. “The soft, honey-toned character of oak is a calming neutral and easily adaptable to all spaces.”
      Cloudy-patterned marble features in the kitchen and bathrooms, complemented by cementitious walls and lime paints.
      Curved walls add softness to the bedroomsIn the bedrooms, linen curtains and curved walls add a sense of softness and tactility.
      On the first floor, a study overlooking the garden fulfils the client’s request for space to work from home, while the loft now houses a guest suite and utility room.
      Daytrip worked with Sophie Pearce, founder of east London design gallery Béton Brut, to furnish the house with a selection of antique and mid-century furniture.
      Several of the bedrooms feature integrated storageThese are balanced with pieces by contemporary makers including David Horan’s tactile Paper lights, which explore French and Japanese decoupage techniques, and the Low collection of curvilinear furniture in blackened oak from EBBA Architects founder Benni Allan.
      “We referenced Andrée Putman with our styling choices and discussed adding a touch of black during the design process,” said Daytrip director Emily Potter, nodding to the late French interior designer.
      “We had the opportunity to highlight sculptural moments with mono-blocking and also felt that the house could be a hybrid of a relaxing and welcoming home, with a touch of London townhouse smartness about it.”
      Linen curtains bring tactilityDaytrip has previously collaborated with Béton Brut on a number of residential projects in the British capital.
      Among them are an east London townhouse with custom Douglas fir joinery and another Victorian terrace house that was converted into understated apartments.
      The photography is by Gareth Hacker.

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      Camille Walala takes colourful aesthetic to the max in self-designed studio

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      London designer Camille Walala has worked with carpentry workshop Our Department to fit out her own studio with a no-holds-barred version of her colourful design style.

      Electric blue floors, graphically patterned cabinetry and a kitchenette with cartoon-like proportions feature in the space, which is located in the Regent Studios building off Broadway Market in East London.
      Camille Walala designed her studio to include a kitchen with exaggerated proportionsThe seventh-floor space attracted Walala and her studio manager Julia Jomaa with its sweeping views.
      Knowing they would be in no hurry to vacate, the duo took their time with the design, working side by side in the studio for over a year while adjusting the position of their space-dividing furniture until they arrived at a layout with the perfect functionality for them.
      The studio chose to embrace colour in the designOnce they decided to embark on the interior design, it was not a given that they would embrace Walala’s signature bold colour palette, as they worried about it potentially clashing with future work.

      “We were like, how colourful should we go?” Walala told Dezeen. “Should we keep it quite simple or should we actually go for it?”
      But ultimately, she says the desire to feel inspired by their workspace and “inhabit the aesthetic fully” won out.
      The studio is divided into two rooms including one for “clean” computer-based workThe studio is divided into two rooms – one for “clean” computer-based work and the other for “messy” activities such as painting and model making.
      Walala and Jomaa created a 3D model of the interior in SketchUp before bringing in their favourite carpenters” Our Department – a studio specialising in design and fabrication for the creative industries – to realise the design.
      The duo of Simon Sawyer and Gustave Andre built all of the elements in the space with a focus on achieving clean lines and pure block colours along with maximum functionality.
      Our Department achieved clean lines by sticking coloured shapes onto MDF doorsFor the cabinetry, they used doors made of melamine-faced medium-density fibreboard (MDF) and applied a decorative technique they had used on previous Walala projects.
      This involved CNC-cutting shapes out of thin MDF, before spraypainting and precisely glueing them onto the doors to create a graphic pattern while avoiding the fuzzy lines that can sometimes come from painting directly onto surfaces.
      In the kitchen, the group worked together to exaggerate proportions as much as possible, with Walala saying she dreamed of achieving a “Bart Simpson kitchen” through elements such as chunky handles and bold grout.

      Camille Walala shares colourful vision to make Oxford Street a car-free shopping district

      “We designed the Lego House a few years ago, this really colourful house,” she explained. “Especially the kitchen in that space was really quite bold and almost like a cartoon, and we thought we should do something similar in our studio.”
      By contrast, a more subtle feature is the double sliding door between the studio’s two rooms, which consists of a transparent fluted screen set within a black frame.
      While it may be less attention-grabbing, Jomaa says the mesmeric effect of the fluted panels sliding against each other is like a “little animation of colour”.
      The workspace also includes natural details like custom tulipwood desk legsThere are also a few natural wood elements throughout the interior such as tulipwood desk legs to balance the liberal use of colour.
      As with all residents of Regent Studios, Walala will need to return the rented space to its original condition when her studio eventually leaves, so there are no permanent fixtures and everything is designed to be dismantled.
      Even the central “wall”, which contains floor-to-ceiling storage on one side, is freestanding. But the team used kitchen-unit feet to wedge it against the ceiling for stability.
      Everything is designed to be dismantled when the studio one day moves outWalala and Jamaa have been working together for eight years and started off sharing a desk in a basement studio. Their recent projects have included murals, installations and a proposal for a car-free Oxford Street.
      Walala is often seen as being part of the New London Fabulous wave of maximalist designers, alongside Yinka Ilori, Morag Myerscough and Adam Nathaniel Furman.
      The photography is by Taran Wilkhu.

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