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      Tigg + Coll Architects moves studio into converted Victorian mission church

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      Tigg + Coll Architects has converted part of an abandoned mission church in west London into a flexible studio, with the rest of the building set to be turned into homes.

      The studio, led by architects David Tigg and Rachel Coll, has completed the first phase of a redevelopment project that will see all of the Victorian church building in Brook Green brought back into use.
      The Victorian building was previously a mission churchTaking up a third of the building volume, the two-storey Addison Studios features a first-floor workspace for the Tigg + Coll team and a ground-floor space that can be used for meetings or events.
      This ground floor has a flexible layout that can function as a single space or separate zones. It includes a kitchen with an island counter, a materials library on wheels, meeting tables and pin-up areas.
      A first-floor workspace features a restored rose window”We wanted to find a permanent home for our studio that could showcase our ethos and skill sets,” Tigg told Dezeen.

      “When we heard on the grapevine that this local landmark was up for sale and looking for someone to come in and bring it back to life, we were smitten.”
      Original steel trusses are now highlighted in turquoiseLocated in a residential area, the building is believed to be 125 years old. It had been adapted many times, with numerous extensions added, and had fallen into disrepair.
      “It had great bones but sadly had been slowly left to deteriorate, with ramshackle extensions and other alterations that took away from the simple and robust beauty of the existing building,” said Tigg.
      The ground floor is a flexible meeting and events spaceTigg + Coll’s approach was to strip the building back to its original structure and find clever ways of highlighting its history and architectural features.
      Glazing was replaced including a previously concealed rose window that is now the focal point of the building’s gabled end wall.
      It includes a kitchen with a terrazzo island counterBrickwork walls were exposed but only repaired where necessary, while decorative steel trusses were uncovered and painted turquoise to stand out against the white-washed timber ceiling boards.
      “We wanted to allow the reality of the existing building and its materiality to be central to the final finish,” said Tigg.

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      “The principle was to pair it back and make the accents very clear,” he continued. “Nothing was to be covered up if we could help it.”
      “Any existing features not being restored were either relocated to replace damaged or missing elements or left in place and infilled to create a visible collage or quasi memorial of the building’s history.”
      The new mezzanine is built from glulam timber, blockwork and steelA new mezzanine was installed to provide the first-floor workspace with an exposed structure formed of blockwork, glulam timber joists and steel I-beams coloured in a slightly paler shade of turquoise to the trusses above.
      The floor is set back from the windows, creating a clear divide between old and new while new skylights increase the overall level of daylight that enters.
      The first floor is set back from the windowsSeveral new materials are introduced on the ground floor. The pin-up wall is formed of cork, while the kitchen counter is a custom terrazzo made using some of the site’s demolition waste.
      This space allows the Tigg + Coll team to come together for group lunches, presentations or collaborative work. It also provides opportunities for both video calls and formal meetings and could be used for events.
      A cork wall provides a pin-up space”We wanted a calm office that was uplifting, inspirational and unlike a typical work environment,” said Tigg.
      “You can spend time conscientiously working on the mezzanine and then get away from the screen time with a break downstairs. It really helps with mental balance throughout the day.”
      The design aims to celebrate the building’s historyTigg and Coll founded their studio in 2008. They specialise in residential projects, across private homes, housing developments, student living and co-living.
      Past projects include House for Theo + Oskar, designed to support the needs of two children with a rare muscular disorder, and Chapter Living King’s Cross, an innovative student housing project.
      The rest of the building is set to be converted to residentialNow that they have moved into Addison Studios, the architects are set to move forward with the rest of the conversion.
      “We are in an age where it is more important than ever to showcase how the principle of retrofit can not only be a pragmatic and cost-effective choice, but also create immensely warm, characterful and beautiful spaces for working, living and just generally enjoying,” Tigg concluded.

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      Mooradian Studio sprays London boutique interior with recycled newspaper pulp

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      Architecture office Mooradian Studio used spray-on paper pulp to create a bumpy texture across the walls and ceilings of north London menswear store Natalino.

      Taking over a former art gallery in Fitzrovia, Natalino’s first physical store was designed by architect Aram Mooradian in collaboration with design studio Mitre & Mondays to reflect the properties of the brand’s garments.
      Natalino has opened its first physical store”Nathan’s clothes use a lot of natural textures and you can often see how they’re constructed, so we wanted to capture those qualities in the interior,” Mooradian told Dezeen.
      Mooradian, who had recently travelled to Italy with a group of his students from the Architectural Association, was influenced by the contrast of rough and smooth stone surfaces at Carlo Scarpa’s famous Olivetti showroom in Venice.
      The store’s interior was designed by Mooradian StudioAfter initially looking at using a sprayed plaster finish to achieve the desired effect, he came across a spray-on acoustic material from Dutch firm Acosorb that is made from recycled newspaper.

      The material is more commonly used for sound absorption in music studios and restaurants as it helps to reduce reverberation and improves acoustics.
      Spray-on paper pulp covers the walls and ceilingsMooradian used the paper pulp to cover the store’s walls and ceilings alongside utilities such as pipes and ducting. This lends the space a feeling of cohesion in addition to providing the desired tactility.
      “I think retail spaces are often about creating a sensory experience,” the architect said. “Spraying the entire store meant that we could create this atmosphere that wraps around and immerses you.”
      The textured finish is created by blowing the compressed flaked-paper material onto the surfaces together with a non-toxic binding agent.

      Cúpla decorates Rixo Marylebone store with hand-painted murals

      When the interior eventually needs to be refurbished, the material can be easily removed by soaking it with water so it can once again be recycled.
      The use of recyclable materials also extends to the shop fittings, which were developed in collaboration with Mitre & Mondays and custom made in their Islington workshop from standard aluminium strips.
      “We used a range of techniques including bending, folding, clamping and notching to create various metal display structures that can be adapted to fit differently-sized garments,” said the studio’s co-founder Finn Thomson.
      Custom-made aluminium rails are used to display clothingThe components are attached using simple mechanical bolts, allowing them to be easily taken apart and reconfigured or recycled at the end of their lifespan.
      The display structures incorporate hanging rails and table surfaces, while angled aluminium shelves recessed into the wall are used to display shirts, knitwear and jeans.
      A fitting area in one corner of the space features a curtain made from UK-sourced waxed cotton that is suspended from a curved track.
      The aluminium was bent, folded and clamped into shapeThe graphic identity for Natalino was created by design agency Polytechnic, which also owns Bodney Road Studios in east London where Mooradian has his office.
      Aram Mooradian established his studio in 2018 after completing his studies at the Architectural Association. The studio focuses on reusing materials as part of a “gentle building philosophy” that also engages with contemporary craft practices.
      Other reversible shop interiors that have recently been featured on Dezeen include On-Off in Milan, which features a flexible gridded shelving system, and London’s Present & Correct store with its demountable wooden joinery.
      The photography is by Thomas Adank.

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      Selfridges launches The Joke Shop with playful Slapstick Generator artwork

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      London department store Selfridges has opened The Joke Shop, a “shoppable comedy store” that sells products including sneezing powder and has windows filled with whoopee cushions and slipping bananas.

      Located in the corner store space on Selfridges’ ground-floor level, The Joke Shop pop-up store was designed by the retailer’s in-house team.
      The Joke Shop has a fake entrance with nostalgic typefacesThe shop, which the retailer describes as a “shoppable comedy store”, sells joke shop products such as whoopee cushions and sneezing powder, together with fashion pieces from designers including Judith Leiber and Adam Jones.
      Selfridges worked with five joke stores across the UK to get the right atmosphere for The Joke Shop, which Selfridges executive creative director Laura Weir hoped “would platform the power of nostalgia and in-person human connection”.
      The shop sells a mix of playful toys and fashion items”The Selfridges creative team travelled the country visiting local joke shops and found institutions that were rich in inspiration and personality,” Weir told Dezeen.

      “We used more found and vintage pieces than we might usually in the space and as a result, a customer asked me ‘what did you use for the smell?'” she added. “The impression of a genuine joke shop was so strong that customers felt we had scented the space, which we hadn’t.”
      Artist Mel Brimfield created Slapstick Generators for the storeThe Joke Shop also features the Slapstick Generator, an artwork by artist Mel Brimfield that appears ready to drop buckets of paints and anvils on visitors to the store.
      A second Slapstick Generator outside the store threatens to release a boulder on the person at the Selfridges Concierge desk outside The Joke Shop, while a third sits in one of its windows.
      One appears ready to drop a boulder”I love the sheer scale of it, the detail of each mechanism and the sense of movement,” Weir said of the Slapstick Generator.
      A fake door, which fills another of the windows, was inspired by nostalgic typefaces and handwritten wayfinding.
      “Above the door, we worked with Peckham-based signwriter and mural artist Matt Rogers who hand-painted the signs to give a nod to the British joke shops,” Weir said.

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      “Some of my favourite touches were the graphic stickers on the door, which disclosed a funny rating instead of a hygiene rating, for example, subverting classic retailing tropes with funny twists,” she added.
      “Eclectic attention to detail and intentional imperfection felt important.”
      Artist Max Siedentopf designed a display of a banana slipping on a banana peelSelfridges also commissioned artist Max Siedentopf to create installations for its other department store windows, featuring his takes on classic jokes – including a giant chicken crossing a road to get to Selfridges and a trainer-clad banana that has slipped on a peel.
      “Each window pays homage to classic jokes and pranks throughout the decades – from giant whoopee cushions, a wide collection of authentic clown shoes, pie catapults and, of course, bananas,” Siedentopf told Dezeen.
      A giant whoopee cushion fills one window”I bribed a group of monkeys with bananas to randomly select jokes for me,” he added. “Each window is unique, however every single screw, piece of wood, banana and nail were carefully selected for their comedic potential.”
      Other Selfridges retail spaces featured on Dezeen include a pop-up Kim Kardashian swimwear store and a Courvoisier bar by designer Yinka Ilori.
      The photography is courtesy of Selfridges.

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      Cúpla decorates Rixo Marylebone store with hand-painted murals

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      Interior design studio Cúpla has completed a boutique for fashion brand Rixo in central London that features hand-painted illustrations and colourful zellige tiles.

      The clothing store on Marylebone High Street was revamped by Cúpla, whose creative director Gemma McCloskey is the twin sister of Rixo co-founder Orlagh McCloskey.
      The interior designer had previously designed the brand’s flagship store on the King’s Road and wanted the refurbished Marylebone location to have a similar feel.
      Rixo’s Marylebone store is covered in hand-painted murals”We wanted the store to embody everything we had previously created for Rixo’s flagship store but within its own right,” Gemma McCloskey told Dezeen.
      “A sense of escapism paired with a welcoming warmth within a boutique setting were the key emotions we wanted the customer to feel.”

      As the brand sells hand-painted prints, the designer wanted the store’s interior to feature illustrations to reflect the style of the clothes.
      It features modified vintage furniture”Understanding Rixo’s roots and the fact their USP is hand-painted prints, it felt tangible to represent the brand’s values and beginnings with the illustrations,” Gemma McCloskey said.
      “Given the space is quite small, we treated it almost like a living room space within a home and felt we could make it all-encompassing and personal.”
      Artist Sam Wood created colourful illustrations for the storeArtist Sam Wood hand-painted murals and illustrations throughout the store, which has a bright and playful colour palette and also features traditional glazed Moroccan zellige tiles.
      “We wanted the colour palette to feel really fresh and bright,” the designer explained.
      “Although there is an abundance of colours used, every line of the mural or the ‘random’ coloured zellige tile layout was methodically composed to ensure a right balance between the colours was struck.”

      James Shaw installs jumbo foot in London Camper store

      The studio added decorative arches and classical mouldings to the store in a nod to the architecture and heritage of its Marylebone neighbourhood.
      The store also features bespoke fitting room curtains with pickle-green and flora-pink stripes by fabric brand Colours of Arley.
      Moroccan zellige tiles add to the playful interiorCúpla used vintage furniture pieces throughout the store, which sells Rixo’s full collection including ready-to-wear and bridalwear.
      “We actually modified existing pieces of vintage furniture, which had been previously sourced by [Rixo founders] Orlagh and Henrietta years ago in the early days of Rixo,” Gemma McCloskey said.
      “They were the perfect fit for the space but didn’t have the functionality we required, so we decided to alter these instead or replace them.”
      The store is located on Marylebone High Street”It was much more sustainable and because the pieces were from the early years of Rixo, they had sentimental value so we didn’t want to replace them,” she added.
      Other recent London stores featured on Dezeen include a Camper store with a giant foot sculpture and a stationery store with a demountable interior.
      The photography is courtesy of Rixo.

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      V&A’s Tropical Modernism exhibition explores “the politics behind the concrete”

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      London’s Victoria and Albert Museum has launched its Tropical Modernism exhibition, which highlights the architectural movement’s evolution from colonial import to a “tool of nation building”.

      According to the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A), the exhibition aims to examine the complex context, power dynamics and post-colonial legacy of tropical modernism – an architectural style that developed in South Asia and West Africa in the late 1940s – while also centralising and celebrating its hidden figures.
      London’s V&A museum has opened a major exhibition exploring tropical modernism”Tropical modernism is experiencing something of a modish revival as an exotic and escapist style popular in verdant luxury hotels, bars and concrete jungle houses,” the exhibition’s lead curator Christopher Turner told Dezeen.
      “But it has a problematic history and, through an examination of the context of British imperialism and the de-colonial struggle, the exhibition seeks to look at the history of tropical modernism before and after Independence, and show something of the politics behind the concrete,” he continued.
      The exhibition traces the evolution of tropical modernism within a South Asian and West African contextThe exhibition follows the V&A’s Tropical Modernism exhibition at the 2023 Venice Biennale, which revealed the team’s precursory research on tropical modernism in a West African setting.

      For the in-house iteration of the exhibition, additional architectural models, drawings and archival imagery have been introduced to interrogate tropical modernism in India alongside the African perspective.
      Exhibition materials line a series of rooms within the V&A’s Porter Gallery, divided by brightly coloured partitions and louvred walls referencing tropical modernist motifs.
      Archival imagery, architectural drawings and physical models line the gallery roomsThe exhibition begins by tracing tropical modernism back to its early development by British architects Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry. Stationed together in Ghana from 1944, Drew and Fry adapted international modernism to the African climate, proposing functional over ornamental design.
      Drew and Fry would also become part of the Department of Tropical Studies at the Architectural Association (AA), which exported British architects to the colonies from 1954 in a bid to neutralise calls for independence.
      The exhibition aims to centralise local professionals who have gone widely unrecognised for their contributions to the movementThe exhibition continues by spotlighting local Ghanaian figures who worked with Fry and Drew, noting the power shifts that were taking place behind the scenes to reappropriate the architectural style for an emerging era of colonial freedom.
      Influential political leaders Jawaharlal Nehru in India and Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana are the exhibition’s key personas, framing the evolution of tropical modernism from conception to regionalisation.
      Gallery rooms are divided by brightly coloured partitions informed by tropical modernist motifs”The heroes of our exhibition are Nehru and Nkrumah, the first prime ministers of India and Ghana,” Turner explained. “Tropical modernism, a colonial invention, survived the transition to Independence and was appropriated and adapted by Nehru and Nkrumah as a tool of nation building.”
      “Nkrumah, who sometimes sketched designs for the buildings he wanted on napkins, created the first architecture school in sub-Saharan Africa to train a new generation of African architects, and this institution has partnered with us on a five-year research project into tropical modernism.”
      According to the V&A’s research, tropical modernism shifted from its western Bauhaus roots towards a localised vernacular stylesThrough a host of physical models and artefacts, the city of Chandigarh becomes the exhibition’s narrative focal point for tropical modernism in India.
      Under prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Chandigarh was the first large-scale modernist project, recruiting Drew and Fry along with French architect Le Corbusier to plan the ideal utopian urban centre.
      As with Nkrumah – who saw how the Africanisation of architecture could become a symbol of progress and change – the exhibition also aims to highlight Nehru’s ambitions for a localised modernism drawing from the Indian vernacular, rather than the Western Bauhaus style.

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      The display culminates in a video featuring 16 key tropical modernist structures, interspersed with interviews and footage explaining the social and political context behind each building’s realisation.
      “We made a three-screen 28-minute film, shot in Ghana and featuring panoramic portraits of over a dozen buildings, cut with archive footage from the time and interviews with architects like John Owusu Addo and Henry Wellington, and Nkrumah’s daughter, the politician Samia Nkrumah,” said Turner.
      The exhibition aims to address gaps in the museum’s African and South Asian studiesAccording to Turner, the exhibition begins to address gaps in the V&A’s collections and archives pertaining to architecture and design in the global south.
      “Archives are themselves instruments of power, and West African and Indian architects are not as prominent in established archives, which many institutions have now realised and are working to address,” Turner explained.
      “Tropical modernism was very much a co-creation with local architects who we have sought to name – all of whom should be much better known, but are excluded from established canons.”
      The display will inhabit the V&A’s Porter Gallery until 22 September 2024Bringing tropical modernism back into contemporary discourse was also important to the V&A as a timely investigation of low-tech and passive design strategies.
      “Tropical modernism was a climate responsive architecture – it sought to work with rather than against climate,” Turner said.
      “As we face an era of climate change, it is important that tropical modernism’s scientifically informed principles of passive cooling are reexamined and reinvented for our age,” he added.
      “I hope that people will be interested to learn more about these moments of post-colonial excitement and opportunity, and the struggle by which these hard-earned freedoms were won.”
      A 28-minute video captures footage of remaining tropical modernist structures at the end of the exhibitionThe V&A museum in South Kensington houses permanent national collections alongside a series of temporary activations and exhibitions.
      As part of London Design Festival 2023, the museum hosted a furniture display crafted from an Alfa Romeo car by Andu Masebo and earlier in the year, architect Shahed Saleem created a pavilion in the shape of a mosque at the V&A as part of 2023’s Ramadan Festival.
      The photography is courtesy of the Victoria & Albert Museum.
      Tropical Modernism: Architecture and Independence will run from 2 March to 22 September 2024 at the V&A Museum in London. For more events, exhibitions and talks in architecture and design visit the Dezeen Events Guide.

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      James Shaw installs jumbo foot in London Camper store

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      British designer James Shaw has renovated a shop for fashion brand Camper on London’s Regent Street, which features a giant foot-shaped sculpture that functions as a till and a bench for trying on shoes.

      Located in a ground-level room within a building on Regent Street in central London, the store reopened last week.
      James Shaw has renovated the Camper store on Regent StreetShaw redesigned the interiors to reflect the Mallorcan heritage of Spanish footwear company Camper – a brand known for its bold and colourful creations.
      The designer constructed a 3.5-metre-tall sculpture in the shape of an oversized foot, which was covered in terracotta-hued wool and positioned on the shop floor.
      His design includes a jumbo footVisible from the street, the cartoon-like structure is multifunctional. It includes internal storage for products and a small booth that houses the till.

      Shoppers are also encouraged to perch on the jumbo toes while trying on shoes, making the foot a bench as well as a display unit.
      Shaw also created recycled plastic furniture”The foot is the key feature of our proposal. Somewhat surreal and unexpected yet fully connected to Camper’s sense of playfulness and whimsy,” said Shaw.
      “Reflected in the fully mirrored wall, it appears as a giant standing in the middle of the store.”
      Walnut was used to make display unitsThe designer, who works predominantly with recycled plastic, also created lumpy yellow shelving made from extruded slabs of the material, which – like the large foot – is reflected in the floor-to-ceiling mirror that makes up one of the walls.
      Shaw also combined his trademark gloopy plastic with walnut wood to create rounded stools, positioned underneath the yellow shelves.

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      On the opposite side of the room, the designer added smooth walnut display units mounted to the wall with twisted polished metal fixtures – also custom-made by Shaw.
      At the back of the store, shoppers can rest on geometric seating topped with textured mohair and clad in mirrored metal. The recognisable red Camper logo, positioned above the seating, was also reimagined with a Shaw-style, lumpy backdrop.
      The interiors are “a nod to mid-century modernism with a warped twist”Shaw created the store’s flooring using orange resin to match the colour of the large foot as well as the painted walls and ceiling, which are all finished in similar hues.
      The mix of materials is “a nod to mid-century modernism with a warped twist,” according to Camper.
      “Mediterranean roots are present in the colour scheme, where warm earthy tones meet shades of yellow and blue,” added the brand.
      Elsewhere, designer Jorge Penadés dressed a Málaga Camper shop with materials chosen to match the brand’s warehouse while architect Kengo Kuma created scalloped shelving out of concave ceramic tiles for a Barcelona branch.
      Shaw showcased pieces of his extruded recycled plastic furniture at the 2022 edition of London Design Festival in an installation he created with his partner, Lou Stoppard, that playfully explored tensions between couples who move in together.
      The photography is courtesy of Camper.

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      “Subtle luxury” defines Shoreditch jewellery store by Hollie Bowden Interiors

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      Interior design studio Hollie Bowden Interiors has created fine jeweller Rachel Boston’s flagship store and showroom in London.

      Located in Shoreditch’s Redchurch Street, the store is split into four main areas – the retail space, private appointment area, workshop and office space for the jeweller’s team of 12.
      The space blends a neutral palette of glass, steel and sycamore wood veneerThe store aims to blend a neutral material palette of glass and steel with sycamore wood veneer and velvet mohair upholstery.
      “Jewellery stores can be read as quite uninviting and exclusive,” Hollie Bowden Interiors founder Bowden told Dezeen. “I wanted to create the opposite experience to that, something that felt open and un-intimidating, yet special and elevated.”
      Bowden and designer EJR Barnes have created bespoke displays from mirror polished steelPlacing the jewellery centre stage was a key objective for Rachel Boston when briefing Bowden’s team.

      “Even though our pieces are striking, they are ultimately small objects by nature, so I didn’t want a huge amount of fussy furniture or bold colours to detract from the experience of customers viewing our pieces,” Rachel Boston told Dezeen.
      In response to the brief, Hollie Bowden created a compact 19-square-metre front retail space “inspired by the concept of a jewellery box that draws your attention into the small, intricate objects within”.
      The store on Redchurch street is split into four main areasSycamore veneer wall-cladding, limestone flooring and lining the display cases with ivory silk combine to create the jewellery-box effect, “emphasising this feeling of being cocooned in the space” Bowden told Dezeen.
      “I wanted to focus on materials that have a quiet beauty about them, that you have to get up close to really appreciate,” she continued.
      Bowden employs a refined approach to materials for this retail project in LondonThis process of refinement has been a hallmark of Bowden’s style since establishing her London-based studio in 2013.
      “Not over-designing projects with too many materials is very important – to give objects the space to sing,” she explained. “I’m always trying to reduce and simplify.”

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      Jewellery is displayed in floating window vitrines and a cantilever display desk, designed in collaboration with London-based artist and designer, EJR Barnes.
      Made from mirror polished steel, these bespoke displays introduce a “vertiginous moment that makes the space feel unique,” according to Bowden.
      For these cabinets, Bowden and Barnes drew on the utilitarian design language of archives which “display, protect, and organise what they contain in quite a neutral way”.
      Hollie Bowden’s retail space in Shoreditch has been designed in reference to jewellery boxesRather than using big ornamental gestures more common in jewellery retail, Bowden says this approach “represents a unique and original way of presenting jewellery”.
      “The idea of ‘subtle luxury’ feels like a great counterpoint to retail design at the moment that can feel like you’re in a casino,” she added.
      The frames of the cases are simple and uninterrupted, maximising the display of the jewellery and encouraging guests to roam freely around any area.
      The red cab chair placed at the front of the store is by Mario BelliniA Mario Bellini Cab Chair in a deep wine red, placed at the front of the store, works along the lines of the unexpected-red-theory interior trend, featured in our recent lookbook.
      Through a stainless steel-lined open doorway, the rear space is curtained off for private appointments. This larger 42-square-metre showroom in the back has a more relaxed and intimate feel that mirrors the art-deco style of Boston’s jewellery.
      The rear of the store is reserved for private appointmentsUpon entering the rear space, a brown short-pile carpet and bespoke sofa upholstered in Claremont mohair signals the transition from the storefront.
      “We wanted to create two distinct spaces, independent of each other yet with a subtle link that reflects Rachel’s jewellery,” Bowden said.
      “While the spaces contrast, the continuations of steel and limestone allow for a striking continuity throughout.”
      The rear showroom features a bespoke sofa upholstered in Claremont mohairOther projects by Hollie Bowden Interiors featured on Dezeen include a pared-back jewellery showroom and a London office space inspired by the sultry lighting of gentlemen’s clubs.
      The photography is by Richard Round-Turner.

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      AHMM to transform office into co-living space next to London’s Barbican estate

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      Developer HUB and investor Bridges Fund Management have revealed plans to convert a 1950s office building in London into Cornerstone, a co-living residential scheme designed by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris.

      Located on the edge of the Barbican estate, the Cornerstone project will draw from the iconic Barbican architecture to transform 45 Beech Street into 174 co-living residences along with street-level commercial spaces and amenities.
      “Building on the success of our previous London projects with HUB, we are joining forces again to transform an underloved office building in the heart of the city,” Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM) director Hazel Joseph said.
      AHMM has revealed plans for a co-living retrofit next to London’s Barbican estateAHMM’s proposal aims to re-use as much of the building’s existing structure and facade as possible, taking a “retrofit-first approach” to minimise the need for new building works.
      The studio will also primarily work within the geometric parameters defined by the original envelope, while updating the rectilinear language to create uniform apertures for each co-living apartment.

      Referencing the Barbican estate, a series of arched, double-height extrusions will be introduced across the crown of the building to house additional co-living apartments.
      The design will adapt the existing building’s form and insert a series of arched spaces at the top”The architectural approach has been carefully considered, responding sensitively to the much-loved Barbican context, completing the northern frontage of the estate,” Joseph said.
      The arches will be partially set back from the building’s facade and lined with an asymmetric patchwork of glazed and tile panels underneath the curved overhangs.

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      At street level, warm red panel accents will contrast against the building’s neutral concrete finishes to highlight commercial and collective functions.
      The scheme will integrate a public cafe, a co-working space and community-focused amenities at its lower levels to improve the public realm for those who live and work in the area.
      “The existing structure of 45 Beech Street will be re-used and extended, creating a new residential community with shared amenities and breathing new life into the local streetscape,” Joseph explained.
      At street level, new commercial and public amenities will seek to activate the ground planeAccording to HUB and Bridges Fund Management, AHMM’s proposal was developed in collaboration with the community – including Barbican residents – who were consulted through a series of workshops and events.
      A website was also established to solicit viewpoints about the redevelopment, reiterating the design vision to establish a “vibrant community” that will adapt the original building and holistically contribute to the neighbourhood.
      AHMM was established in 1989 by Simon Allford, Jonathan Hall, Paul Monaghan and Peter Morris in London. The studio has previously converted a 1930s block into New Scotland Yard’s headquarters in London and completed a mixed-use building in Southwark with interlocking flats.
      Also adjacent to the Barbican estate, Diller Scofidio & Renfro’s proposal for a pyramidal music centre was recently scrapped when the City of London Corporation revealed its plans for a “major renewal” of the Barbican.
      The images are courtesy of HUB and Bridges Fund Management.

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