London

Subterms

    More stories

    • 138 Shares119 Views

      in Rooms

      Ola Jachymiak Studio brightens Beam cafe in London with orange hues

      by

      Tangerine-coloured walls and terracotta-tile floors help enliven the formerly gloomy interior of Beam cafe in west London, designed by Ola Jachymiak Studio.Beam is nestled amongst a parade of shops in the affluent Notting Hill neighbourhood and serves up a menu of Mediterranean-inspired brunch dishes.

      The exterior of Beam cafe in London’s Notting Hill neighbourhood
      Locally-based Ola Jachymiak Studio was brought on board to design the cafe, tasked with creating an inviting interior that would be able to comfortably accommodate just over 90 customers.
      There was just one key issue – the cafe unit had an awkwardly long and narrow plan that allowed in very little sunlight. The studio therefore decided to utilise a colour and material palette that would foster a sense of brightness and warmth.

      Arched niches in the walls display amber-hued ornaments

      At the front of Beam is a casual seating area dressed with egg yolk-yellow armchairs and a couple of tropical potted plants.
      The black gridded windows that previously featured on the cafe’s facade have also been swapped for expansive panels of glazing. During the warmer summer months, these can be pushed back to let in more light and fresh air.

      A burnt-orange seating banquette is set against an exposed-brick wall
      Just beyond lies a more formal dining area. The wall on the right-hand side has been painted white and punctuated with arched niches that display amber-hued glass ornaments.
      On the left-hand side is an exposed brick wall. Along its lower half runs a curvaceous seating banquette upholstered in burnt-orange velvet.

      Tangerine-coloured paint covers the middle section of the cafe
      Tangerine-coloured paint has been applied to the walls in the middle section of the cafe, where the coffee and pastry bar is located.
      Customers who are getting their orders to-go can flick through the books and magazines displayed here on wall-mounted shelving units.

      The central coffee bar is made from oak and white Calacatta marble
      The base of the bar is lined with strips of oak, while the countertop is crafted from white Calacatta marble. Hanging directly overhead is a Bubble lamp by American designer George Nelson.

      10 visually striking cafes to visit in cities all around the world

      This section of the cafe also features flooring clad with terracotta tiles. The same tiles appear again in the bathrooms, covering the toilet cubicles and the arched panels that the sinks back onto.

      A lighting installation illuminates the dining area at the back of the cafe
      Additional dining tables and bistro-style chairs with orange seat cushions have been placed at the rear of Beam, which was once the darkest area of the cafe.
      To counter this, Ola Jachymiak Studio has created a light installation across the ceiling. It comprises several spherical pendant lamps from Danish brand New Works that have been suspended at different heights.
      Sheer white curtains have also been draped around the room’s periphery.

      More arched niches appear in the cafe’s bathrooms, which are lined with terracotta tiles
      Ola Jachymiak Studio was established in 2013. Its Beam project joins a number of trendy eateries in west London’s Notting Hill neighbourhood.
      Others include Cha Cha’s, a Latin-fusion restaurant that’s set within the three-floor HQ of fashion label Sister Jane.
      Photography is by Simon Carruthers.

      Read more: More

    • 150 Shares199 Views

      A-nrd looks to Mexico to craft interiors of Kol restaurant in London

      by

      Yucatán, Oaxaca and Mexico City are some of the places that the founder of studio A-nrd visited in preparation of designing the interiors of Kol, a restaurant in central London. Kol is situated in the capital’s Marylebone neighbourhood. It’s headed up by notable chef Santiago Lastra, who has designed the menu of the two-storey restaurant
      The post A-nrd looks to Mexico to craft interiors of Kol restaurant in London appeared first on Dezeen. More

    • 113 Shares189 Views

      Bermonds Locke hotel in London evokes sunny California deserts

      by

      Mirage-like mirrored ceilings and cacti-filled planters are some of the features that interiors studio Holloway Li has incorporated in this hotel in London, which is meant to echo California deserts.Bermonds Locke is located at the heart of southeast London’s Bermondsey neighbourhood, just a few minutes walk from notable landmarks such as The Shard and Tower Bridge.

      Top image: a moon-like panel hovers over Bermonds Locke’s concierge desk. Above: mirrored panels line the ceiling of the reception
      Despite the hotel’s markedly urban setting, when it came to designing its communal areas and 143 guest rooms, Holloway Li took inspiration from sun-scorched places in California like the Mojave desert and Joshua Tree National Park.

      “We eschewed traditional London vernacular tropes and prevailing design trends, looking further afield for our inspirations, to create a new space that had an escapist identity,” the studio’s co-founder, Alex Holloway, told Dezeen.

      Furniture in the reception is made from reused construction materials
      The theme is subtly introduced in the hotel’s reception where mirrors have been used to line sections of the ceiling, mimicking the shiny quality of desert mirages, which are often mistaken for bodies of water.
      A white, mottled semi-circular panel has been fitted to the ceiling directly above the concierge counter, its reflection forming a huge moon-like image.

      The reception area of the hotel doubles-up as a co-working space
      Surrounding surfaces have been largely rendered with neutral materials like clay bricks and timber that the studio felt matched the desert landscape.
      This excludes a handful of walls and structural columns that are clad with passivated zinc, which boasts a rainbow-coloured surface finish.
      “Joshua Tree is known as a pilgrimage destination for the Californian hallucinogenic travellers,” said Holloway. “The iridescence effect on the metal is reminiscent of dizzying colour saturation of the psychedelic experience – the brilliant purples, yellows and pinks.”

      Surrounding walls are clad with passivated zinc
      A variety of seating areas have also been incorporated in Bermonds Locke’s reception so that it can serve as a co-working space.
      Where possible, the studio has tried to repurpose construction materials that otherwise would have been destined for landfill, influenced by the ad-hoc building methods used when creating cabins across Joshua Tree.
      For example, salvaged concrete test cubes have been used to form the base of a six-metre-long terrazzo desk. The cubes are covered with pre-used tiles, some of which are still marked with graffiti.

      Cacti-filled planters separate the hotel’s bar from the restaurant
      “Joshua Tree has been a recluse for fringe creatives escaping LA for the past 30 years,” explained Holloway. “We were particularly interested in the eccentric language of bricolage found in desert cabins dotted around Joshua Tree, composed of salvaged materials that happen to be available by chance.”
      “We were also inspired by the work of artists like Philip K Smith III and Noah Purifoy, whose ‘Outdoor Desert Art Museum of Assemblage Sculpture’ is an incredible world made of the detritus of LA,” he continued.
      “This tied back with the studio’s recent research on the circular material economy…design in this context becomes almost like a curatorial practice, about how an existing set of materials can be rearranged in a very specific way to define new uses.”

      Guest rooms come with their own kitchenettes
      In another nod to hot, arid landscapes, huge planters filled with different cacti and succulents have been added throughout the hotel’s reception and used to separate its cocktail bar from the restaurant.

      Grzywinski + Pons tailors Leman Locke hotel to make nomadic workers feel at home

      Bermonds Locke’s upper floors play host to the guest suites. Each one comes complete with its own kitchenette and laundry facilities, allowing guests to stay self-sufficiently in their rooms for longer periods of time.
      Fixtures and soft furnishings have been made in colours evocative of desert sunsets, ranging from pale blues to burnt oranges and vivid reds. The focal point of each room is the bed, which is enclosed by a bespoke black frame draped with sheets of linen.

      Colours throughout the rooms were taken from desert sunsets
      “Typical hotel room design is very codified by two functions; sleeping and washing – a Locke room adds eat, work, live into that mix, so there is a lot to fit into just one room,” added the studio’s co-founder, Na Li.
      “It was key for us to impart some separation between the areas, which we achieved by creating a sense of enclosure around the bed with the bedframes and drapes.”

      Beds in the rooms sit under linen canopies
      Holloway Li was established in 2015 and has offices in north London.
      Its Bermonds Locke project joins several hotels that the Locke hospitality group has dotted across the UK. Others include the Whitworth Locke in Manchester, where rooms have been painted different shades of grey to reflect the city’s typically overcast skies.
      There’s also the Eden Locke in Edinburgh, which takes over an 18th-century Georgian terrace house.
      Photography is by Edmund Dabney.

      Read more: More

    • 163 Shares169 Views

      Lost House by David Adjaye features black interiors and bedroom with a pool

      by

      Black walls, built-in raw concrete furniture and a fish pond in a lightwell define Lost House, a residential project designed by David Adjaye in London’s King’s Cross, which has recently come on the market.Royal Gold Medal-winner Adjaye, the founder of Adjaye Associates, designed Lost House in 2004.

      Top: the swimming pool. Above: a central lightwell holds a fish pond
      The house has come back on the market recently, granting an opportunity to see the interiors of one of the architect’s early residential works in detail.

      Original features have been preserved, including an all-green sunken cinema room and a water gardens in planted courtyards that double as lightwells.

      A courtyard garden in a lightwell
      Hidden behind an unassuming brick facade in an alleyway, Lost House was formerly a delivery yard complete with a loading platform.
      Adjaye Associates turned the concrete loading platform into a plinth for an upper-level swimming pool with black-painted sides next to the pink-walled main bedroom.

      The ground floor is an open plan living space
      On the ground floor, there is a large open plan living, dining and kitchen area with a double-height ceiling.
      The sunken conversation pit with a cinema room-style projector, complete with zesty lime walls, built-in bookshelves and wide sofas, is off to one side.

      Raw concrete countertops are part of the kitchen
      Three tall, glass-walled lightwells stretch up to the black-painted timber eaves of the roof, bringing natural daylight down into the room instead of windows.
      In the centre of the living area is a lightwell filled with a fishpond.

      A sunken conversation pit is entirely bright green
      The square courtyards in the lightwells are planted with tropical greenery. At the back, next to the kitchen, the courtyard features wooden decking around clusters of circular concrete benches inset with the same grey pebbles that surround them.
      The black chipboard walls, ceiling and exposed timber beams are reflected in the shiny black resin floor.

      Concrete benches in the courtyard garden
      Adding to the industrial look are the thick concrete elements of the built-in kitchen, which forms a continuous countertop and splashback.

      Ten key projects by RIBA Royal Gold Medal winner David Adjaye

      A concrete element continues from the kitchen to the living area, were it forms a low bench upholstered in black leather cushions.

      Black walls and floors around the pool and bathroom
      Steps lead to the raised ground floor, where the old loading bay plinth supports the lap pool. Black stone tiles surround the pool, which is part of the master bathroom for the main bedroom.
      Two stone sinks sit on a concrete shelf below mirrored cabinets. A wet-room style shower allows the residents to wash before and after swimming.

      The master bedroom is entirely pink
      This bathroom connects directly to the back of the master suite, which has a separate toilet and a long corridor connecting to the stairs. The bedroom is decorated all pink to contrast with the ink-black interiors
      A second bedroom is located on this floor, with a third bedroom located up on the first floor that is currently being used as a home office.

      An upstairs room is a work from home office
      David Adjaye founded Adjaye Associates in 2000 and began his career designing high-end residential projects in north London such as Lost House. Other notable all-black houses by the studio include Dirty House and Sunken House.
      Photography is courtesy of United Kingdom Sotheby’s International Realty.

      Read more: More

    • 138 Shares199 Views

      Maison François brasserie in London takes cues from Ricardo Bofill's architecture

      by

      Soaring arches reminiscent of those seen in Ricardo Bofill’s La Fabrica feature in this decadent restaurant in St James, London designed by creative director John Whelan.Whelan – who leads artist collective The Guild of Saint Luke – told Dezeen that, prior to his intervention, Maison François simply looked like “one giant concrete cube”.
      The materiality of the space immediately encouraged Whelan to base his interiors scheme around La Fabrica – an abandoned cement factory just outside of Barcelona that Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill transformed into offices for his practice in 1973.

      The interiors of the restaurant are inspired by Ricardo Bofill’s La Fabrica
      “I always try and find a creative route that respects the DNA of the building, and this felt appropriate,” said Whelan.

      “Furthermore, the client wanted to reference historic brasseries but create a contemporary version – also reflected in the food.”

      Arched recesses have been made in the restaurant’s terracotta walls
      The exterior of Bofill’s La Fabrica is notably punctuated with soaring arched windows. These have been reinterpreted inside Maison François, which boasts terracotta-coloured stucco walls inset with shallow arch-shaped recesses.
      “La Fabrica is probably the greatest home that I will probably never visit, and so the arches were a sort of ‘homage’ to that wonderful creation,” explained Whelan.

      Tubular chandeliers hang from the restaurant’s ceiling
      Walnut has been used to craft the restaurant’s seating banquettes – their latticed backs are inspired by the pews in Germany’s modernist Maria Heimsuchung church, which Whelan came across in a photography series by Robert Goetzfried.
      Chairs have been upholstered in creamy linen to match the colour of the lacquered-wood dining tables. Tubular chandeliers have also been suspended from the ceiling, which has been finished with a faux-cement patina.

      The seating banquettes are crafted from walnut wood
      Mahogany has been used to craft a latticed hood above the open kitchen, where dishes that draw upon traditional French cuisine will be prepared.
      Food will be served by both chefs and waiters, an attempt by the restaurant to diffuse the typical boundaries between front and back-of-house operations.
      “Maison François will be everything a brasserie should be – welcoming, fun and hospitable, with classic dishes made with the best seasonal produce we can get our hands on – whilst also ripping up the rulebook when it comes to service,” said the restaurant’s founder, François O’Neill.

      A huge clock sits above the restaurant’s open kitchen
      At the centre of the hood is a huge clock that Whelan had made bespoke from patinated nickel and bronze.
      Weighing half a ton, the grills on the side of the clock are meant to subtly mirror those that feature on the front of vintage Rolls Royce cars, often seen outside the restaurant on the affluent streets of St James.

      John Whelan adorns Paris’ Nolinski restaurant with art-deco details

      “The clock is a classic of historic brasserie design, and can be found around the world from Bouillon Julien in Paris to Fischer’s in London,” added Whelan.
      “We wanted to have this iconic focal point but with our own style.”

      Underneath the restaurant is a wine bar called Frank’s
      Stairs lead down to Maison François’ adjoining wine bar, called Frank’s. This space is intended to have a slightly more industrial feel, so has been completed with exposed white-brick walls, polished concrete flooring and black-leather seating.
      Bofill’s La Fabrica is referenced again at this level but this time in the form of arched mirror wall panels.

      White-brick walls give the wine bar a more industrial look
      John Whelan established The Guild of Saint Luke in 2017, working with artists, artisans and architects to restore and revive historic French brasseries.
      Earlier this year Whelan overhauled Parisian eatery Nolinski, filling its interiors with art deco-inspired details like gold-leaf “sunburst” columns.
      Photography is by Oskar Proctor.

      Read more: More

    • 138 Shares179 Views

      Sella Concept brings retro feel to Sister Jane Townhouse in London

      by

      Fringed furnishings and velvet walls feature inside the west London headquarters that design studio Sella Concept has created for fashion brand Sister Jane, which includes a showroom, restaurant and roof terrace.Sella Concept said it drew upon “untapped maximalist style” to design Sister Jane Townhouse, which takes over a prominent corner property on Golborne Road in the affluent neighbourhood of Notting Hill.
      Having outgrown their old studio on the nearby Portobello Road, the fashion brand had been keen to move into a larger space that could offer a more immersive retail experience.

      The ground floor of Sister Jane Townhouse has a restaurant called Cha Cha’s
      The three-storey townhouse incorporates a restaurant, a showroom and an office where employees can plan and design future clothing collections. On the roof there is also an outdoor terrace where visitors can gather for drinks.

      When it came to developing the interiors, Sella Concept sought to reflect the retro style of Sister Jane’s billowy blouses and dresses. The studio’s co-founder, Tatjana Von Stein, particularly found herself referencing the aesthetics of the 1970s.

      Furnishings in the restaurant feature fringed detailing
      “I must admit that I am always inspired by the ’70s forms, shapes and use of space,” Von Stein told Dezeen.
      “There is a movement and warmth in its design history that I love to employ with a contemporary twist.”

      A collage wall in the restaurant displays campaign photos by Sister Jane
      On the ground floor of Sister Jane Townhouse is the restaurant, called Cha Cha’s, which serves up a roster of Latin-fusion brunch dishes.
      The space has peach-coloured walls and is dominated by a huge hexagonal, brass-edged bar counter. It’s surrounded by a series of Deja Vu stools by Masquespacio that boast tiers of mauve, cream and beige fringing.

      Sister Jane’s clothing showroom is on the townhouse’s first floor
      Fringing also skirts the burnt-orange seating banquette that winds around a corner of the room, and runs along the edge of the six-sided dining tables. Mustard-yellow lamps with fringed shades have additionally been dotted throughout as decor.
      Cha Cha’s includes a collage wall which will be plastered with different striking images from Sister Jane’s fashion campaigns.
      The wall runs directly beside a brass-tread staircase – the steps had previously been closed in by a partition wall, but Von Stein knocked this down to encourage diners to explore the showroom on the first floor.

      Garments hang from bespoke walnut rails in the showroom
      Upstairs in the showroom, surfaces take on a pinkish hue.
      Some clothes are displayed within a veiled pod that sits at the centre of the room, enclosed by sheer white curtains. Other garments hang from custom-made walnut rails or are presented on mannequins which perch on a curvaceous platform covered in teal-blue carpet.

      An adjacent showroom will display Sister Jane’s Ghospell clothing line
      A short walkway leads through to a room that showcases Sister Jane’s Ghospell line, which offers pared-back clothes with sculptural silhouettes.
      This space has aptly been given a slightly more minimal finish – walls here are either clad in steel or upholstered with buttery yellow velvet, while the changing room is entirely lined with mirrored panels.
      Wooden flooring that runs throughout the rest of the townhouse has also been replaced here by micro cement.

      Walls in this showroom are clad in steel and yellow velvet
      Above the showrooms are the offices for Sister Jane staff, followed by the roof terrace dressed with comfy cushioned benches and green wire-frame chairs.
      Guests can alternatively relax in the secret ground-floor garden room, which is accessed via a door disguised as an antique armoire.

      The customer changing room is entirely lined with mirrored panels
      “We have a true inclination for concept spaces which indulge in all the senses and offer the design challenge to seam together a variety of experiences and brands,” explained Von Stein.
      “But it was tricky – in essence, we had 2-3 clients on one building.”

      An antique armoire hides a door leading to Sister Jane Townhouse’s secret garden room
      Sella Concept was established by Tatjana Von Stein and Gayle Noonan. Previous projects by the studio include Public Hall, a plush co-working space that occupies the former office of the UK secret intelligence service, and Night Tales, a pink-tinged cocktail bar.
      At the end of last year the studio also debuted its first furniture collection, which comprises a series of curvaceous stool seats.
      Photography is by Genevieve Lutkin.

      Read more: More

    • 150 Shares189 Views

      Bureau de Change inserts bronze lift into 1920s art deco office block

      by

      Bronze laser-cut sheets wrap around the lift shaft that extends up through this building in central London, which has been updated by architecture studio Bureau de Change.The elevator links together all four floors of The Gaslight, a mixed-use development that’s been created within an art deco building in central London’s Fitzrovia neighbourhood.

      Originally constructed in 1929 as offices for the now-defunct Gas, Coke and Light Company, the building has recently been completely renovated by dMFK Architects to include a series of bright, airy rooms.

      Bureau de Change was tasked with developing the interiors, which are meant to have a contemporary feel while still showing hints of the building’s art deco heritage.

      “We enjoy working with existing buildings, transforming them for a new purpose but doing it with a kind of nostalgia at the heart of the designs,” said Bureau de Change’s co-director, Katerina Dionysopoulou.
      “It was a pleasure to explore these ideas for The Gaslight and ultimately enrich a building so that it can take on a new meaning.”

      The Gaslight building is accessed via a lobby that’s illuminated by a trio of large spherical pendant lamps.
      At its centre is a striking lift. The shaft of the lift is made from concrete which Bureau de Change has wrapped in two layers of bespoke bronze sheeting.

      The first bronze sheet is flat and has been laser-cut to feature an intricate art deco-inspired pattern. Laser cutting has also been done to the second bronze sheet, but this has been folded to feature concertina-style pleats.
      Layered over each other, the sheets create a moiré effect that obscures the concrete underneath.

      The second pleated bronze sheet turns at a 90-degree angle to clad the underside of the lobby’s stairs. This eventually “peels off”, leaving just the flat bronze sheet to cover the lift shaft on the building’s upper levels.

      Atelier Dau adds kinetic bronze facade to Chimney House extension in Sydney

      “Industrial materials and fabrication techniques were therefore explored in a more artisan-like manner, with laser-cut bronze panels folded to create an intricate framework,” added the studio’s co-director, Billy Mavropoulos.

      The white terrazzo that covers the floor and stairs of the lobby has also been used to line the lower half of the building’s bathrooms and hallways, a modern interpretation of the wooden panelling that the studio thinks would have appeared in the original building.
      Surfaces have otherwise been painted in cool grey or sage-green tones.

      Some of the glazed partitions in the building have been overlaid with shapely patterns that match the cut-outs on the lift shaft.
      Other unique details include the building’s entrance door handles, which have been hand-carved with a series of grooves. The Gaslight’s address number has also been shaped into the metal spokes that run along the top of its restored front gate.

      Bureau de Change is based in Clerkenwell. The studio has previously created a barn-style home in the Cotswolds with an ombre-effect timber facade and added a texture brick building into a century-old London terrace.
      Photography is by Gilbert McCarragher.
      Project credits:
      Architects: dMFKInterior architects: Bureau de ChangeStructural engineer: Michael Hadi AssociatesM&E engineers: WB ShielsProject manager: Alford PorterQuantity surveyor: Alford PorterMetal fabricator: John Desmond

      Read more: More

    • 188 Shares169 Views

      ARC Club is a London co-working space for people wanting to escape working from home

      by

      Architect Caro Lundin took a less-is-more approach for the creation of ARC Club, a fuss-free co-working space in east London for those struggling to work from home during the coronavirus pandemic.It took just six weeks for Lundin and her self-titled studio to complete ARC Club, which takes over a formerly characterless retail unit in the neighbourhood of Homerton.
      The co-working space is meant to cater to the growing number of individuals who, according to surveys observed by Lundin, are finding it tricky to efficiently do their job from home during the pandemic due to lack of proper workspaces.

      Its “starkly beautiful” interiors have been decked out with a selection of low-cost and durable materials that Lundin felt reflected a climate where co-working is “a necessity and not a nice-to-have”.

      Designing a more modest space also meant that membership would be cheaper for those interested in working at ARC Club according to the architect.
      “Intricate details and indoor gardens are fun, but they come with a big price tag – and they’re a lot harder to keep clean,” said Lundin, who founded ARC Club alongside Hannah Philp.

      “When designing ARC Club, I asked myself ‘what do people need to work?’ A comfortable seat, natural light, thoughtful acoustics; the physical and emotional space in which to think,” she told Dezeen.
      “Functional doesn’t have to be boring, it’s a neutral space that enables the people who visit it to be their best professional selves.”

      At the centre of ARC Club, which measures just over 232 square metres, are a pair of boxy, sound-proofed pods crafted from birch plywood.
      Inside, they accommodate a handful of private meeting rooms, storage cupboards, printers and a kitchenette complete with silver-metal cabinetry.
      Lundin chose to house these services inside a pod-style system so that it can be scaled up or down to suit different-sized branches of ARC Club that open in the future.

      The pods are surrounded by various work areas. A few of the furnishings, like the birch-ply tables with the arched legs, were made by Lundin’s studio while some of the chairs were sourced second hand.

      “Offices are going to get much smaller” after pandemic says Sevil Peach

      Pops of colour have been introduced to brighten up the space. Heavy orange curtains are used as room dividers, blue cone-shaped pendant lights have been suspended from the ceiling and bands of yellow paint have been made on the concrete structural columns.
      Yellow tiles also clad surfaces in the bathrooms.

      Further branches of ARC Club co-working spaces are planned to open in 2021.
      Like the Homerton location, they will occupy vacant high-street commercial units in popular residential areas so that members can do what Lundin has monikered “WNH” – work near home.

      “A neighbourhood workplace like ARC Club allows people to retain the best of what the office has to offer – full functionality, work-life separation and human interaction – without having to get on a bus or a train,” Lundin explained.
      “In essence, it’s an accessible flexible option for a new breed of remote worker who has grown used to scheduling their work around their day, instead of the other way.”

      The global coronavirus crisis has forced many to re-think offices and the way in which we work.
      Interior designer Sevil Peach predicts that, post-pandemic, companies will scrap working in corporate towers and instead opt to have central “hubs” where just a small per cent of staff will gather.
      Architecture practice Weston Williamson + Partners also released a series of graphics that illustrated how businesses could create socially-distanced offices. Tips included wrapping screens around desks, having touch-free doors and employing a cook so that employees don’t have to use a shared kitchen.
      Photography is by Andrew Meredith.

      Read more: More