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    Eight living rooms with tactile organic modern interiors

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    For our latest lookbook, we’ve collected eight living rooms from Denmark to Japan that have been decorated in an organic modern style, featuring natural wood and stone details.

    The deceptively simple organic modern style combines modernist interior designs with natural materials and earthy colours.
    Plenty of wood, in the form of flooring, panelling and furniture give these interiors an organic feel. Designers have also chosen stone to create the same effect, with stone floors, tables and sofa bases adding an elegant and natural touch.
    All of these living rooms also have discrete and neutral colour palettes, with hues of brown, beige, tan and various white and cream shades creating restful environments.
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration, see previous lookbooks featuring floors that connect the indoors and outdoors and interiors with mezzanines.

    Photo by Jonas Bjerre-PoulsenHeatherhill Beach House, Denmark, by Norm Architects
    Danish studio Norm Architects designed the cedar-clad Heatherhill Beach House to resemble a traditional barn, with a material palette that leans heavily on wood and brick.
    In the ocean-facing living room, the studio combined a brick floor and wooden wall with modernist furniture, including the slender graphic Valerie Objects Hanging Lamp by design studio Muller Van Severen.
    Find out more about Heatherhill Beach House ›
    Photo by Helen CathcartThe Maker’s Barn, UK, by Hutch Design
    Originally a concrete pig shed, Hutch Design transformed The Maker’s Barn into a holiday rental using “natural and honest” materials.
    Its living, dining and kitchen area features a concrete fireplace, bulbous soft furniture and a shaggy beige rug in front of floor-to-ceiling windows that underline the house’s connection to the landscape.
    Find out more about The Maker’s Barn ›
    Photo by David MitchellTribeca loft, US, by Timothy Godbold
    This Tribeca loft inside a former textile factory has a dramatic double-height living room surrounded by large windows. To make the room feel more intimate, interior designer Timothy Godbold added sheer curtains and softly rounded furniture.
    A discrete colour palette of cream and beige hues is offset with plenty of green plants, while a central stone table and stone sofa base add a rustic touch.
    Find out more about Tribeca loft ›
    Photo by Ståle EriksenPalm Springs, UK, by Will Gamble Architects
    Named for the California desert town, the Palm Springs extension in London draws on the area’s specific type of modernism. This is exemplified by the use of natural materials and floor-to-ceiling glazing.
    The sandy hues in the living room also nod to the arid Palm Springs surroundings, with a sage green sofa adding more colour to the interior.
    Find out more about Palm Springs ›
    Photo by by Rory Gardiner835 High Street, Australia, by Carr
    The interiors of this flat in Melbourne form a softer contrast to its gridded concrete facade. A rounded sofa with undulating shapes is juxtaposed against branch-like side tables and designer Hans J Wegner’s classic Flag Halyard chair.
    Textile accents in the form of a patterned rug and a fur throw also help make the room feel cosier.
    Find out more about 835 High Street ›
    Photo by Sean DavidsonAmity Street Residence, US, by Selma Akkari and Rawan Muqaddas
    The living room of Amity Street Residence in Brooklyn, New York, houses a collection of sculptural furniture pieces that give it an art-gallery feel.
    Here, designer Isamu Noguchi’s Akari rice lamp with its bamboo stem matches a wooden chair and plinth and contrasts with a green marble table.
    “A warm colour palette was deployed to unify the spaces by way of gentle oak floors, cream-hued walls that contrasted with dark stone, and stained-wood inset bookshelves,” said designer Selma Akkari.
    Find out more about Amity Street Residence ›
    Photo by Tomooki KengakuAzabu Hills Residence, Japan, by Karimoku Case
    Azabu Hills Residence (above and main image) sits on a hilltop in Tokyo and was designed to have a “calm and serene atmosphere”. Local zelkova wood was used for its custom-made furniture, including an ovoid coffee table.
    A clever use of materials enhances the organic modern interior, with a glossy, lacquered brown vase standing out against the textured rug and sofa.
    Find out more about Azabu Hills Residence ›
    Photo by José HeviaCan Santacilia, Spain, by OHLAB
    New and old meet inside the Can Santacilia apartment building in Palma de Mallorca’s old town, parts of which are from the 12th or 13th century.
    In the living room of one of the flats, architecture studio OHLAB used geometric-shaped rattan furniture and a rug to bring a natural colour palette into the all-white room.
    Find out more about Can Santacilia ›
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration, see previous lookbooks featuring floors that connect the indoors and outdoors and interiors with mezzanine.

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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.

      Applied Arts Pavilion at Venice Architecture Biennale aims to “complicate the history of tropical modernism”

      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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      Eight renovated mid-century homes that marry period and contemporary details

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      From a modernist villa in Beverly Hills to a flat in one of Brasília’s iconic Superquadra apartment blocks, the mid-century renovations in this lookbook are a masterclass in updating a period home while retaining its distinctive character.

      Originally constructed in the post-war period between 1945 and 1969, mid-century homes have proved enduringly popular due to their prescient emphasis on natural light, clean lines, open floor plans and humble materials such as wood, stone and concrete.
      The renovations below see many of these original features retained and restored, supplemented with contemporary additions such as double-height ceilings and furniture by the likes of Tadao Ando and Mario Bellini.
      This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring art deco homes, sunny yellow interiors and serene bedrooms with striking natural views.
      Photo by Jack LovelCity Beach Residence, Australia, by Design Theory

      Australian studio Design Theory looked to preserve the “considerable mid-century charm” of this home on the coast of Perth during its renovation (top and above), remaining true to the rich palette of natural materials found in the original design.
      Contemporary furniture and lighting with gently curving forms were chosen to soften the rigorous lines of the original architecture and prevent the interiors from feeling like a period pastiche.
      Find out more about City Beach Residence ›
      Photo by An PhamBrandaw Residence, US, by 180 Degrees Design + Build and CBTWO Architects
      A new double-height living room with a pitched roof and full-height glazing was added to modernise this 1960s home in Phoenix, creating sightlines up and out towards nearby Camelback Mountain.
      Modernist touches remain on the interior in the form of plentiful wood panelling alongside finishes and furnishings in muted primary colours ranging from teal to mustard-yellow.
      Find out more about Brandaw Residence ›
      Photo by James O DaviesHampstead House, UK, by Coppin Dockray
      This house in Hampstead was originally designed by British architect Trevor Dannatt in 1960 as London’s answer to the post-war Case Study Houses built by the likes of Richard Neutra and the Eameses in California.
      When renovating and extending the property for a growing family, local studio Coppin Dockray contrasted vintage and contemporary furniture for a “domestic, lived-in” feel, with pieces ranging from a Togo chair to Mia Hamborg’s Shuffle table for &Tradition.
      Find out more about Hampstead House ›
      Photo by Gerhard HeuschBeverly Hills villa, US, by Heusch
      Historical images helped architecture firm Heusch to restore this Beverly Hills villa to its former glory and reverse some of its “unfortunate transformations” over the years.
      Existing terrazzo floors on the ground floor were restored and complemented with fluted glass details and dark timber furnishings, both new and old, including Ando’s cantilevered Dream Chairs and a bookshelf by Italian architect Augusto Romano from the 1950s.
      Find out more about Beverly Hills villa ›
      Photo by Justin ChungPalermo house, US, by OWIU
      California studio OWIU retained several original elements during the renovation of this 1955 home in LA’s San Rafael Hills, among them the glass-block walls and wooden ceiling beams, which were exposed from under false ceilings and sanded down to reveal their natural colour.
      These were contrasted with more neutral contemporary elements such as pale oak flooring and walls coated in Venetian plaster, with assorted lights by Isamu Noguchi and George Nelson – one of the founding fathers of American modernism.
      Find out more about Palermo house ›
      Photo by Joana FranceBrasília apartment, Brazil, by Debaixo do Bloco Arquitetura
      This apartment is located inside Brasília’s historic Superquadra 308 Sul, the first “superblock” apartment complex constructed as part of architect Lucio Costa’s 1957 master plan for the new Brazilian capital.
      Local studio Debaixo do Bloco Arquitetura cut open the building’s exposed concrete walls, opening up its layout to meet the needs of a modern family while preserving period details such as the building’s distinctive white breeze-block screens and its granilite flooring.
      Find out more about Brasília apartment ›
      Photo by Ingalls PhotographyMalibu Surf Shack, US, by Kelly Wearstler
      When interior designer Kelly Wearstler turned this 1950s beachfront cottage in Malibu into a bohemian retreat for herself and her family, she retained the original wood-panelled walls and selected finishes that were “hand-crafted, rustic and raw” to match the existing material palette.
      The interiors feature abundant planting, alongside an eclectic mix of period-agnostic furnishings including a 1980s green marble table by Bellini, paired with a plaster-covered Caféstuhl chair by contemporary Austrian designer Lukas Gschwandtner.
      Find out more about Malibu Surf Shack ›
      Photo by Rafael SoldiGolden House, US, by SHED
      Seattle architecture firm SHED had to make several aggressive interventions when renovating this 1950s building in nearby Shoreline, which was originally constructed as a family home but had previously been divided up to serve as a retirement home.
      Working around the existing post-and-beam structure, the studio updated the interior to maximise views of the Olympic Mountains and Puget Sound while enlarging the kitchen and reorganising it around a central island.
      Find out more about Golden House ›
      This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring art deco homes, sunny yellow interiors and serene bedrooms with striking natural views.

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      Kate Byron designs modernist Don't Worry Darling set as “a playful and debaucherous take on the 1950s”

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      Production designer Kate Byron used vintage “treasures” and referenced key modernist architecture to create the set of psychological thriller Don’t Worry Darling, which was shot in California’s Palm Springs.

      Byron drew on the architecture and interior style of the many modernist buildings that dominate the landscape in the desert city to create Victory – a fictional, utopian 1950s-style society where the film takes place.
      Katie Byron referenced modernist architecture for the film”We wanted to build a playful and debaucherous take on the 1950s, when there was this illustrious progressive, mid-century modern movement happening,” Byron told Dezeen.
      “The world of Victory is supposed to be alluring, it’s supposed to be beautiful and sultry and sumptuous and opulent.”
      It was shot in Palm Springs, a Californian city famous for its modernist architectureDirected by actor and director Olivia Wilde, Don’t Worry Darling follows fiery couple Alice and Jack – played by British actor Florence Pugh and musician and actor Harry Styles – as they go from living in an idealistic paradise to a troubled world fraught with secrets, control and manipulation.

      The characters move across a quintessential Palm Springs backdrop of low-slung buildings with clean lines by architects including Richard Neutra, Harold Bissner Junior and Albert Frey.
      Kaufmann House was one of the filming locationsSeveral scenes, such as a cocktail party hosted by the leader of Victory which took place in Neutra’s Kaufmann House, were shot in real modernist buildings, while the home of protagonists Alice and Jack was built in a Los Angeles studio.
      “We’re really lucky in California to have access to this architecture and in my history of being an architecture student and a production designer, I’ve gotten to visit a lot of these houses in person,” Byron said.
      “I was interested in Neutra, but also Frey was a huge inspiration for us because of that playful wholesomeness that he embodied,” she said.
      Alice and Jack’s house is filled with locally sourced propsByron, who studied architecture at University of California, Berkeley, threaded more subtle modernist details into the interiors of Don’t Worry Darling through devices such as colour.
      “A colour we used quite a bit was Frey’s favourite colour – this Frey blue – which is like a robin’s-egg blue that he puts in all of his buildings,” explained Byron.
      “There’s also a colour that Kaufman House has quite a bit of; Neutra put this really, really, really dark brown that almost feels black, but it has this warmth to it,” she continued. “We weaved that throughout the film as well.”
      Byron used lots of glass and mirrors throughout the setByron sourced vintage products from shops and prop houses in LA for Alice and Jack’s home, which recalls “cookie-cutter” houses – rows of identical homes found in idyllic depictions of 1950s suburbia.
      Much of the furniture seen was built from scratch, in part because the film was shot during the autumn of 2020 when many vendors were unavailable or had long lead times as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

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      “When you’re in Palm Springs, they just have these antique stores and even in thrift stores and Facebook marketplace you can find really special things,” the designer recalled.
      “That’s also one of the most amazing things about Los Angeles – there are infinite prop houses here so we shopped quite a bit at all the local prop houses,” she continued.
      “The television in Alice and Jack’s house is from this vendor called RC Vintage, which is just like a treasure trove place of antique electronics.”
      Much of the furniture was made from scratchOther smaller references were embedded into Byron’s material choices, primarily glass, stone and brick.
      Meanwhile, the designer paid homage to Neutra’s storage cabinets, which the production team filled with items such as business cards, cleaning supplies and photographs of Alice and Jack to make the set feel more real for the actors.
      “Keeping with Neutra as our design inspiration, the house is designed with a lot of storage in mind – we wanted all of this stuff to be cleanly kept behind doors,” Byron said.
      The desert setting is designed to look like a utopiaByron hoped that by incorporating playful elements throughout the set she could “subvert” the sense of normalcy in Victory and play with the audience’s expectations of a thriller.
      “The thriller follows a formula often, and I thought it could be really great to just subvert that,” she said.

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      “I think the level of play helps viewers feel like they want to be there and if it wasn’t for the playful aesthetic, I think we would be expecting something to go wrong,” she added.
      Don’t Worry Darling is not the only film that draws on a key architectural movement to inform its set. Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs film sets were heavily informed by metabolist architecture, while Black Panther’s “voluptuous” sets recalled works by architect Zaha Hadid.
      The photography is courtesy of Warner Bros.

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      Ten interiors with a natural and calming organic modern design

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      For our latest lookbook we’ve collected 10 projects that exemplify the organic modern design style, which combines minimalist interiors with natural textures and colours.

      Organic materials, a muted colour palette and details such as rustic accessories and plenty of green plants are among the things that characterise the organic modern trend.
      While the style has a similar look to pared-down minimalist and Japandi interiors, the focus in organic modern interiors is more on bringing earthy colours and natural materials into the home, as seen in the 10 examples below.
      This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks showcasing relaxing hammocks, white bathrooms and colourful staircases.
      Photography is by Lorenzo Zandri and Christian BraileyMuswell Hill home, UK, by Architecture for London

      This energy-saving home in London’s Muswell Hill has an interior filled with natural materials.
      In the living room, wood was used for the ceiling, storage and furniture, and large plants – including a monstera deliciosa and a banana plant – add a touch of green. A colourful Isamu Noguchi paper lamp is a stylish modernist detail.
      Find out more about Muswell Hill home ›
      Photography is by Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen of Norm ArchitectsForest Retreat, Sweden, by Norm Architects
      Danish studio Norm Architects created a home fitting for its surroundings with Forest Retreat, a traditional timber cabin set within a pine forest in Sweden.
      In a new-built annex, a raised daybed-cum-window seat sits next to a wall of glazing. The organic modern interior features details such as sturdy linen fabrics and a rugged jute rug, while the colour palette was kept earthy and calming.
      Find out more about Forest Retreat ›
      Photography is by Rasmus HjortshøjVipp Pencil Case, Denmark, by Julie Cloos Mølsgaard
      The interior of the 90-square-metre Vipp Pencil Case hotel in Copenhagen has a pared-down feel to it, but its well-sourced accessories add interest.
      In the eating area, large rustic vases filled with dried branches decorate the windowsills, and a rough-hewn wood vessel sits on the floor. Rounded, organic shapes and woven baskets add a countryside feel to the modern space.
      Find out more about Vipp Pencil Case ›
      Photography is by Do SyBrown Box apartment, Vietnam, by Limdim House Studio
      Curving and arched walls give Brown Box apartment in Vietnam an unusual look. While the architecture is eye-catching, its colour and material palette was kept natural and subtle.
      Cream and brown hues were used for the whole flat, including in the bedroom. Here, furniture in organic materials such as wood and leather add textural interest, and sculptural lighting contrasts against the clean lines in the room.
      Find out more about Brown Box Apartment ›
      Photography is by Caitlin MillsOcean House, Australia, by Rob Mills
      Ocean House’s clean, contemporary concrete design is combined with the warmth of a beach house through its organic modern interior.
      “I don’t see the design as being stark,” architect Rob Mills said. “The interior is organic and tactile, and incorporates neutral fabrics.”
      This can be seen in the living room, where cosy rugs and wooden furniture in pale hues sit next to design classics like Eero Saarinen’s Tulip table.
      Find out more about Ocean House ›
      Photography is by Maarten WillemsteinAmsterdam dyke house, the Netherlands, by Studio Modijefsky
      Dutch firm Studio Modijefsky renovated this dijkhuis – a traditional Dutch dwelling set next to a dyke – to respect the 19th-century style building’s heritage but add modern touches.
      In one of the bedrooms, this has resulted in a modern interior that is heavy on organic materials such as line, jute and leather, with a monstera plant in the window adding a bit of nature.
      Find out more about Amsterdam dyke house ›
      Photography is by Brian Ferry20 Bond Street, US, by Home Studios
      Bespoke furniture and vintage finds were used for the interior of 20 Bond Street in New York, set in a building from 1925. Design firm Home Studios renovated the space to “marry contemporary and vintage influences.”
      To do so it created a peaceful modern organic design, as seen in the bedroom, above, and living room (top image.) Brown, tan and cream colours were used in the whole flat, with a material palette of wood and copper.
      Find out more about 20 Bond Street ›
      Photography is by Martino di Napoli RampollaVilla Medicea di Marignolle, Italy, by Frama
      The dramatic interior of this self-contained residence inside a Renaissance villa was created by Danish design brand Frama for filmmaker Albert Moya.
      With a darker colour palette than that which usually signifies organic modern interiors, it nonetheless showcases its mix of modernist design and natural materials well in this tranquil wood-clad bedroom.
      Find out more about Villa Medicea di Marignolle ›
      Photo is by AriakePorta Venezia apartment, Italy, by Ariake
      For this year’s Milan design week, Japanese brand Ariake created a show flat in the city’s Porta Venezia area.
      Its Cipango exhibition, on view in the space, showed designs by Japanese and European designers with a focus on natural colours. Quirky accessories such as Folkform’s Plissé lamp and dried flowers create a homely atmosphere.
      Find out more about Porta Venezia apartment ›
      Photography is by Prue RuscoeWoorak House, Australia, by CM Studio
      This holiday home in Sydney was designed to optimise the view of its green surroundings and is built as a sequence of pavilions.
      Materials used for the home include pale limestone, brushed oak wood and marble. Its main bedroom has an all-white interior and has been decorated with an orchid in a vase and a pendant lamp to add interest to the monochrome room.
      Find out more about Woorak House ›
      This is the latest in our series of lookbooks providing curated visual inspiration from Dezeen’s image archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks showcasing timber-clad bathrooms, light-filled glass extensions and exposed wooden floorboards.

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      Galerie Philia presents design exhibition informed by Le Corbusier at Cité Radieuse

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      Galerie Philia has unveiled Héritages, an exhibition at the Le Corbusier-designed Cité Radieuse building featuring work by designers such as Rick Owens that respond to the Swiss-French architect’s theories of modernism.

      Héritages presents work by eight international designers and seven visual artists that reference the modernist theories pioneered by Le Corbusier, whose designs are known for their functionality and minimalism.
      A daybed by Arno Declercq features in the “resonances” room. Photo is by Maison Mounton NoirGalerie Philia joined forces with the Parisian arts magazine Eclipse to curate the exhibition at Le Corbusier’s iconic Cité Radieuse building in Marseille, which includes a range of both design and art.
      Spread across two rooms in an apartment, the exhibited designers respond to the theme of “resonances” with work that is heavily influenced by Le Corbusier’s theories, while the artists are guided by the theme of “dissonances” and present work that opposes the theories.
      Fabrice Hyber created an oil painting for the “dissonances” space. Photo is by Maison Mounton NoirIn the first room, a brutalist yellow chair by Italian designer Pietro Franceschini is displayed alongside other work, including a geometric bronze candlestick crafted with clean lines by Californian fashion designer Owens.

      “For the ‘resonances’ room, I selected sculptural designers that are deeply influenced by Le Corbusier,” Galerie Philia co-founder Ygaël Attali told Dezeen.
      “Le Corbusier’s theory, especially in his writings published in the 1920s, was provocative and militant both in his refusal of decoration without functionality, his industrial-inspired aesthetic, and his clear and marked difference between fine arts and design.”
      A brutalist yellow chair by Pietro Franceschini features. Photo is by LodoclickAlso featured in this space are pieces such as a chunky daybed by Belgian designer Arno Declercq crafted from patinated and raw steel with sheep’s wool.
      Contrastingly, the “dissonances” room includes pieces by artists that intend to question Le Corbusier’s theories. For example, artist Flora Temnouche created three abstract oil paintings featuring organic or curved forms with soft lines.

      Marc Hagan-Guirey uses kirigami to recreate Le Corbusier’s buildings in paper

      “Le Corbusier’s theory almost denies a particular relationship with nature,” Temnouche told Dezeen. “My paintings show the inertia of the plant, diminished under the influence of humans.”
      “I was inspired by the idea of this meager relationship that persists despite everything in Le Corbusier’s work and theories.”
      Jojo Corväiá designed a table using volcanic clay. Photo is by Maison Mounton NoirOther works in this room range from an eclectic table by visual artist Jojo Corväiá crafted from volcanic clay and an ethereal, blown-glass light sculpture by Jérôme Pereira.
      “All of the works in one way or another are an answer to Le Corbusier’s theoretical and aesthetic heritage, either as a mark of resistance or a touching homage to his legacy,” concluded Attali.
      The exhibition intends to echo its location. Photo is by Maison Mounton NoirHéritages takes place until July at Le Corbusier’s modernist housing complex Cité Radieuse to coincide with the building’s 70th anniversary.
      Galerie Philia is an international contemporary design and art gallery with locations in Geneva, New York City and Singapore.
      Previous Galerie Philia exhibitions include a show that presented Latin American and European sculptural design and an exhibition of furniture by emerging Italian designers created in response to the work of Owens.
      The photography is by Lodoclick and Maison Mouton Noir.
      Héritages takes place at Kolektiv Cité Radieuse, Unité d’Habitation Le Corbusier, Marseille, France, until 2 July 2022. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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      Magdalena Keck employs “warm minimalism” for interiors of glazed house in Hudson Valley

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      Interior designer Magdalena Keck has filled a glass-and-steel home in New York with a restrained but eclectic mix of furnishings that are meant to complement the existing architecture.

      The Hudson Valley Glass House is located in Westchester County, about an hour’s drive from New York City.
      The home has floor-to-ceiling glazing all aroundThe modernist home was designed by architect Robert Fitzpatrick and built-in 1967. Rising two levels, it contains a public zone on the upper level and three bedrooms and a family room down below.
      The clients – a couple with a young daughter – recently purchased the home and tapped Magdalena Keck, who runs an eponymous Manhattan studio, to oversee the interior design. For their full-time residence, the owners desired furnishings that were modern, function-driven and meaningful.
      The dwelling’s interiors intend to complement its modernist architecture”The clients, a family of three, are well versed in design and art, and it was important to them to have a personal connection to each of the items selected for their home,” the studio said.

      Drawing upon her penchant for “warm minimalism”, Keck chose a range of pieces that complemented the architecture and the existing finishes, including wood flooring and vanilla-hued window drapes.
      Magdalena Keck framed a brutalist-style coffee table with a grey bouclé sofa”Magda likes to think of the home as a glass envelope, serving as a vessel for the furnishings, lighting, art and objects that she has worked carefully with the client to fill the space with,” the studio said.
      In the living room, she placed a grey bouclé sofa by French designer Christophe Delcourt and an octagonal, brutalist-style coffee table in resin.
      A hyper-realistic painting is in the dining spaceIn the adjacent dining area, beech-and-fabric chairs by Sergio Rodrigues surround an Extenso table from Desalto.
      Rather than hang a light fixture over the table, the designer added a Mito floor lamp by Tom Fereday and a 1960s Tripod Cocoon floor lamp to provide illumination and visual interest. A large, hyper-realistic painting of choppy water by Ran Ortner rounds out the dining space.

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      Downstairs in the family room, the atmosphere is casual and cosy. The space is adorned with a sofa by Piero Lissoni for Living Divani, Scandinavian nesting tables in rosewood, and a side chair by Børge Mogensen. Underfoot is a Soumak rug from ALT for Living.
      Audio and visual equipment is housed in a cabinet made of waxed aluminium by Jonathan Nesci.
      The Hudson Valley Glass House is located in Westchester CountyIn the main suite, there is a king bed from Camerich, Danish rosewood nightstands and two Bauhaus table lamps by Wilhelm Wagenfeld.
      The daughter’s room is fitted with custom pieces designed by Keck’s studio, including a  bed platform in oak and a desk with modular storage pullouts. There is also an Adorno wall lamp made of wood and brushed brass, and an astronaut painting by American artist Michael Kagan.
      Large windows provide views of the surrounding sceneryThe home’s guest bedroom features a bed by Lawson Fenning, a ceramic-painted nighstand by Reinaldo Sanguino, and a rare Valet chair by Hans Wegner dating back to the 1950s.
      Keck’s furnishing work also extends to the backyard, where there is a patio and swimming pool. Furnishings include a sofa and coffee table from Unopiù. A rounded, white dining table by Eero Saarinen is paired with white chairs by Harry Bertoia.
      Other projects by Magdalena Keck include a stark-white residence in a Four Seasons tower in Lower Manhattan, and the outfitting of a Catskill Mountains home, where she fused Danish and Japanese design.
      The photography is by Jeff Cate.

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