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Richly patterned Alpi veneer and honey-coloured oak parquet characterise this Warsaw apartment interior by emerging Polish designer Dawid Konieczny. Located in Warsaw’s Praga district, the apartment is housed within a 1950s estate originally designed by Polish architects Jerzy Gieysztor and Jerzy Kumelowski. Dawid Konieczny has renovated a mid-century apartment in Warsaw Konieczny sought to honour […] More
New York studio General Assembly drew on Californian modernism for the renovation of this 1960s villa in The Hamptons, featuring pine-green tiles and a stainless-steel soaking tub. The studio also referenced the area’s historic homes when designing the 1,400-square-foot (130-square-metre) holiday home in Amagansett in East Hampton. The holiday home features striking material combinations “The […] More
The founders of New York studio BoND have renovated a mid-century house for themselves in Fire Island Pines, in which sightlines to private spaces are intentionally open. More
Mid-century modern and traditional Japanese influences blend inside this Los Angeles home, which the principals of design studio OWIU have reimagined for themselves. More
The Warren Technical Center in Michigan, the first solo project by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen, showcased the unity of mid-century architecture, design and engineering in the United States. More
The design team at the Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity has renovated an industrial building in California to host the organisation’s headquarters and a 40,000-object archive.
Launched in 2023, the Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity is a non-profit dedicated to preserving the Eames legacy through digital and physical public programming, including hosting tours of the designers’ extensive archive.
The Eames Institute has renovated an industrial building to house offices and an archive dedicated to its designersThe institution recently completed a gut renovation of a building previously dedicated to the manufacturing of medical devices, opening up the floor plans on two storeys to accommodate staff.
Originally built in 1997 and designed by California architect Jim Jennings, it features a saw-tooth-shaped body with a glass-enclosed lobby at its front that follows the form of its site, a wedge-shaped parcel tucked in between the off-ramps of a highway.
The building was originally built in the 1990s by local architect Jim Jennings”The space began as dated, awkwardly-scaled private offices,” said the team.
“Recognizing the innate value of Jennings’s design and the building’s history, The Eames Institute’s internal design team set about transforming the interiors to better fit its architectural bones.”
“The renovated office channels the design genius of Ray and Charles Eames and notably showcases vintage furnishings from the Institute’s namesakes.”
The new offices encompass a 2,755-square-foot (255 square metre) first-floor workspace and a 4,793-square-foot (445 metre) second-floor space, while the archive, a gift shop and a small gallery take up the rest of the building.
The offices feature an exposed wooden structure, white walls, and Eames furniture and other pieces in the designers’ characteristic primary colour palette spread throughout.
They are designed for “multi-disciplinary” work, with an assortment of different seating arrangements such as enclosed and semi-enclosed spaces offered for employees, including a long, wooden bar and multiple lounge areas.
A mixture of enclosed and semi-enclosed spaces offers a variety of workspaces”Key initiatives included designing offices that offer a wide breadth of work points for both individuals and groups, as well as offering both opportunities for heads-down focused tasks and more social and collaborative activities,” said the team.
Besides the “countless” Eames furniture pieces, lighting by Isamu Noguchi, textiles designed by Alexander Girard for Maharam, and furniture by MillerKnoll and vintage Herman Miller fill the space.
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“The interior design drew from the wellspring of creativity and design excellence intrinsic to the organization’s identity and – as everything the Institute oversees – honors the rich legacy of Ray and Charles Eames.”
The completion of the offices coincides with the opening of the Eames Archive, which encompasses a collection of “tens of thousands of artefacts” including furniture and objects organized among rows of shelving.
The Eames’ characteristic primary colour palette marks the interior designThe institute offers guided tours of the archive led by chief curator and Eames granddaughter Llisa Demetrios.
It also oversees the Eames Ranch, a Sonoma Country property dedicated to “land stewardship, habitat restoration, farming, and ranching” which is currently under renovation.
Recently, it announced new branding by design agency Manual while Reebook released a series of sneakers that incorporate Eames design signatures.
The photography is courtesy of the Eames Institute
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The third floor of the iconic Lever House skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan has been renovated by architecture firm Marmol Radziner to complement the building’s original modernist design.
Marmol Radziner completed the interiors for the Lever Club within the office tower at 390 Park Avenue, which was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in the International style and completed in 1952.
The entrance to Lever Club is lined with green marble flooring and soapstone wall panelsSOM finished restoring the building last year, after it was purchased by developers Brookfield Properties and WatermanClark in 2020, and Marmol Radziner worked on updating its communal spaces that had fallen into disrepair.
“Lever House is a globally renowned architectural marvel, symbolising the era’s shift to modern skyscrapers,” said Marmol Radziner.
The green hues used through the interior nod to the colour of the building’s curtain wall facade”Recognised with the prestigious Twenty-five Year Award from the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the building remains an icon of architectural excellence,” the studio added.
Originally a cafeteria and repurposed several times over the years, the third floor now serves as a lounge, bar and dining space that continues onto a terrace projecting from the tower’s elevated base.
The club’s layout revolves around “a series of paneled volumes”Design cues were taken from SOM partner Gordon Bunshaft’s own residence, and other modernist masters, to create an interior that feels in keeping with the building’s history and architecture.
“From the beginning, we felt that the design of Lever Club should feel like a sympathetic insertion within the iconic curtain wall of the building,” said Marmol Radziner partner Ron Radziner.
The bar is bookended by rosewood volumes and backed by a screen from John Lewis GlassThe club is entered via a lobby area where floors and walls are covered in panels of green marble and soapstone, contrasted by a simple cuboid reception desk made from wood.
Inside, the layout revolves around “a series of paneled volumes set within the glass perimeter, taking advantage of the views and access to the most superbly sited outdoor terrace in the city”, according to Radziner
The dining area overlooks an expansive terrace on top of the building’s elevated baseThe marble flooring, which echoes the green hues of the building’s pioneering facade, extends into the lounge area where tone-matched carpet demarcates soft seating areas.
Many of the armchairs and sofas are upholstered in a complementary green hue, while chocolate-coloured leather is used to cover other seating options such as bar stool and banquettes.
The curved banquettes are wrapped in chocolate-brown leather”The furnishings, largely bespoke, respond to and soften the hard edges of the architecture with plush texture and rich tones most often seen in a residential setting,” Radziner said.
Rosewood tables match the large vertical elements that bookend the bar, which is backed by a John Lewis Glass patterned screen.
SOM completes restoration of New York’s historic Lever House
Aluminium also appears as table bases and chair frames that echo the slender window mullions.
“It was important to us that the design respond intelligently and reverently to the building while also creating a real sense of comfort, warmth, and luxury,” Radziner said.
Aluminium chair frames echo the slender window mullionsThis isn’t the first time that Marmol Radziner has created interiors for a SOM-designed skyscraper – the firm was also behind the penthouse at Fifteen Fifty in San Francisco, which was temporarily turned into a collectible design gallery in 2021.
Earlier this year, Marmol Radziner completed California’s tallest residential skyscraper in Downtown Los Angeles.
Lever Club can be used by the building’s tenants during the day and at nightLever House is one of several Manhattan office towers from the mid to late 20th century to have been retrofitted in recent years, aiming to attract new tenants.
Among them are the postmodern AT&T Building by Philip Johnson, which was rebranded as 550 Madison after it was overhauled by Snøhetta and its lobby was transformed by Gensler.
The photography is by Scott Frances.
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AIME Studio’s interiors for the latest outpost of The Hoxton hotels, in a renovated marble-clad 1950s office building in Vienna, celebrate arts and crafts and post-war modernism.
Creative studio AIME Studio has converted the former administration building of the Chamber of Commerce in Vienna, which was originally designed by architect Carl Appel, into The Hoxton Vienna.
The building now features 196 rooms, a rooftop bar and swimming pool, a restaurant, cocktail bar, a private apartment and an auditorium for events and programming.
The lobby of the hotel, which was previously an office building, features original travertine wallsBy focussing on mid-century Austrian design, the hotel aims to show guests a less classical side of what is often considered a traditional European city.
Appel was known for shaping the “Second Ringstrasse” style of the post-war reconstruction period, which the studio referenced in its design.
“Our aim was to create a design that respected the building’s history and to preserve the architectural style of the 1950s,” AIME Studios’ Aaron Gibson told Dezeen.
The Hoxton Vienna is filled with mid-century design details”We visited buildings in Vienna designed by Carl Appel and renowned Austrian architects of the early 20th-century – like Adolph Loos and Otto Wagner – which inspired the interiors for The Hoxton Vienna,” Gibson added.
The double-height lobby of The Hoxton Vienna preserves key features and details from Appel’s original 1950s design.
The bedroom’s feature geometric patterned fabrics and soft furnishingsThe mid-century finishes of stones and metals in the original office building set a neutral and semi-industrial context for the renovation.
“We deliberately used the key features and details from Carl Appel’s original design for the architecture and the interior as a basis for our decision-making throughout the ground floor,” the studio said.
The hotel has a ground-floor restaurant that continues the design themesAIME Studios also worked with The Federal Monuments Authority Austria, which enforces the Monument Protection Act in order to explore, protect and maintain Austria’s cultural heritage.
Together they selected furniture items for the hotel which reflect the 1950s, including light fittings, armchairs, sofas, and even the fabrics and textiles used in the space.
Just off the main lobby there is a small cafe bar”We inherited amazing existing features like the large format terrazzo flooring, travertine walls and corrugated aluminium columns, which are all great examples of 1950s architecture,” AIME told Dezeen.
The interior scheme complements the existing restrained colour palette of the natural stones’ soft hues of green-grey, beige and blue tones.
The rooftop bar and pool area adopts a more contemporary designThe studio also took inspiration from the Wiener Werkstätte (Viennese workshops), one of the longest-lived design movements of the 20th century and a key organisation for the development of modernism.
Centred in the Austrian capital, it bridged traditional methods of manufacture and avant-garde aesthetics.
In the bedrooms, geographic patterned curtains are influenced by iconic Werkstätte fabrics and ruched headboards are inspired by Loos’ style.
The auditorium is The Hoxton’s largest events space to date”We selected Viennese fabrics with restrained colours and quiet and small-scale patterns, demonstrating a contemporary take on the Wiener Werstätte arts and craft movement,” Gibson explained.
Besides the usual hotel program of rooms and restaurants, The Hoxton Vienna features a large auditorium designed in a 1950s palette of pale yellow and blue with mid-century wood panelling, furniture and fittings.
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The auditorium will host events like stand-up comedy, gigs and conferences, as part of the wider cultural programming of The Hoxton Vienna.
The hotel also has a private “apartment,” which is an open-plan series of rooms across different levels, including kitchen, dining, sitting and meeting spaces.
There is a speakeasy-style bar in the basementThe interiors of the apartment distil the essence of AIME Studios’ interior design at The Hoxton, with Wiener Werstätte patterns and colours, mid-century modernist furniture and light fittings, and artwork referencing the period.
Other hotels from The Hoxton that have recently featured on Dezeen include their first opening in Germany with The Hoxton Charlottenburg in Berlin and the Ricardo Bofill-inspired The Hoxton Poblenou in Barcelona.
Photography is by Julius Hirtzberger.
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Dublin studio Kingston Lafferty Design has transformed the architecture and interiors of this family home in Cork, Ireland, which features 1970s-style shapes and colours informed by the work of designer Verner Panton.
Positioned on Lovers Walk hill overlooking the city of Cork, the townhouse – called Lovers Walk – was renovated by Kingston Lafferty Design.
Kingston Lafferty Design completed the renovation in CorkThe studio originally planned to just update the interiors, but decided that a more extensive architectural transformation was needed after discovering structural instabilities in the home.
Kingston Lafferty Design removed all of the floors, which lacked foundations and insulation in their concrete slab, and completely reconfigured the two-storey property’s layout.
Rooms on the ground floor were designed around an oak-lined hallway”As the building was originally built in the 1970s, we wanted to return to its roots,” studio founder Róisín Lafferty told Dezeen.
“We thrived on inspiration from Verner Panton with his use of strong clashing colour, playful shapes and oversized elements,” she added.
One of these spaces is a “sensual” red kitchenThe ground floor was adapted to include an open-plan kitchen defined by a counter, island and splashback finished in veiny red quartzite.
Ruby-toned timber was used to create the geometric cabinets. When layered with the quartzite, “it sounds like a disaster, but it’s a delight,” said the designer.
The living room follows a similar design to the kitchenThe space, described by the studio as a “sensual red-toned jewel kitchen”, is one of several rooms on the ground floor of Lovers Walk that were designed around the central, oak-lined hallway.
“We used the hallway as the core of the house, which grounded the space with pops of colour stemming from it. Each room leading from the core appears like a framed view or window of colour,” explained Lafferty.
It includes a green feature wall that takes cues from Mies van der Rohe’s iconic Barcelona PavilionThe living room includes blue velvet sofas and a green feature wall clad in swirly book-matched marble, which was fitted with an alcove reserved for a subtle fireplace.
When creating the polished stone wall, the studio took cues from the seminal Barcelona Pavilion, completed in 1929 by modernist architect Mies van der Rohe.
A floor-to-ceiling headboard takes centre stage in the main bedroom”We used green as an overall thread throughout the house, inspired by the surrounding landscape,” added Lafferty.
“Although depending on the time of year, the colours tend to change and so we were able to add in other rich colours that anchor the green such as burgundies and bright oranges,” she added.
Stonework also defines the en-suite bathroom”One would assume this mix of colours would clash, but we choose the tones and textures of each to ensure that all of them would blend harmoniously,” Lafferty said.
Upstairs, the main bedroom and en-suite bathroom were dressed in the same eclectic interiors as the communal spaces. A floor-to-ceiling headboard, finished in diamond-shaped green tiles originally designed by 20th-century architect Gio Ponti, frames the bed.
A playful bed was added to the bedroom created for the occupants’ childBalloon-like coloured glass vases were positioned on two bedside tables, which were topped with the same slabs of Rosso Levanto marble as the geometric vanity desk.
The bedroom designed for the occupants’ child features an alternative bed – a playful green structure with two stacked levels and half-moon openings that reveal a cosy sleeping area on the bottom level.
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Other accents featured throughout the home include burl wood, terrazzo, plaster and brass. The repetition of 1970s-style thick pile carpets emphasises the dwelling’s textured material palette.
Lovers Walk is the studio’s “closest nod” to the work of Panton, explained Lafferty – “down to the selection of every tile, light fitting and exquisite piece of designer furniture”.
Deep blues characterise the guest bedroom”Although there is such an array of materiality, it is balanced by repeated colour, shape and form,” she said.
“Every space in this house is an assault on the senses, in the best way possible.”
Lovers Walk was informed by the work of Verner PantonFounded in 2010, Kingston Lafferty Design has completed projects ranging from a Dublin restaurant with oversized lollipop-like lamps and a co-working office in Belfast that includes a yoga studio.
The photography is by Ruth Maria Murphy.
Project credits:
Interior architecture and design: Kingston Lafferty DesignWoodwork: DFLStonework: Miller Brothers
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