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    Studio Aisslinger transforms historic Berlin art squat into Fotografiska Berlin

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    A former department store that became a famous artists’ squat is now home to Fotografiska Berlin, a photography museum featuring interior design by German designer Werner Aisslinger.

    Once the second-largest shopping arcade in Berlin, the building is best known as the Kunsthaus Tacheles, home of the Tacheles artist collective, who occupied it from 1990 to 2012.
    Fotografiska Berlin is located in the former Kunsthaus Tacheles. Photo is by Patricia ParinejadAisslinger’s Berlin-based office, Studio Aisslinger, has transformed the former artist spaces into a new location for Fotografiska, which also has venues in New York, Shanghai, Stockholm and Tallinn.
    This follows a major renovation overseen by architects Herzog and de Meuron, which included a pyramid-shaped roof extension and the addition of apartments and office spaces.
    The venue combines exhibition galleries with hospitality spaces. Photo is by Patricia ParinejadAs a for-profit organisation, Fotografiska’s model is different from other museums and galleries in that it blends exhibition space with hospitality.

    Fotografiska Berlin stays open until 11pm, allowing visitors to combine an exhibition visit with dining or drinks.
    The design responds to this with spaces designed in the spirit of a members’ club. There are seven floors, including a restaurant, two bars, a cafe, a bakery, a shop and a ballroom.
    Historic graffiti is preserved throughout the interior. Photo is by Nicoló Lanfranchi”It’s a complex cosmos that reminds one of a large hotel, only with exhibitions rather than overnight stays,” explained Aisslinger.
    “A house like this doesn’t live from ticket sales alone. If you wanted that, you would have to calculate with state aid,” he continued.
    “But that’s not what’s supposed to happen here. That’s why the many catering and event areas play a very important role.”
    A ground-floor cafe and bar features velvet seating booths. Photo is by Patricia ParinejadAisslinger said the aim was to create interiors that weave together the building’s different layers of history.
    Located on the corner of Oranienburger Strasse and Friedrichstrasse, the building was first inaugurated in 1909 as the Friedrichstrasse Passage.

    Roman and Williams creates “romantic” Veronika restaurant inside New York’s Fotografiska museum

    It was repurposed many times over the following decades – during the Nazi regime the building served as the headquarters for the party’s German Labour Front and its SS corps – and was due to be torn down before the Tacheles group moved in.
    As the Kunsthaus Tacheles, the building became a symbol of the post-reunification era, filled with large-scale graffiti works that are now protected by preservation orders.
    The department store’s original floor tiles are retained in the museum shop. Photo is by Patricia Parinejad”We tried to let the historic substance shine through a new use,” said Aisslinger.
    “It was important to give the substance room to breathe. But that doesn’t mean that we frame the old walls and graffiti-like pictures and illuminate them with spotlights. It was more a question of proceeding carefully.”
    Studio Aisslinger’s design aims to balance old and new. Photo is by Nicoló LanfranchiMany spaces are characterised by a careful balance between raw, industrial materials and more comfortable, luxurious elements, including decorative lamps and heavy, patterned fabrics.
    The Verōnika restaurant on the fourth floor is a key example of this.
    Verōnika is a restaurant organised around a central bar. Photo is by Nicoló LanfranchiThe space incorporates one of the building’s best-known artworks – depicting former German chancellor Angela Merkel with a mohawk hairstyle – in a private dining room featuring solid wood furniture and velvet upholstery.
    The ground floor has more of a casual, public feel. The cafe bar has fluted tiles and curving leather and velvet banquettes, while the shop features both original floor tiles and steel and wood shelving systems.
    Industrial materials are paired with soft lighting and patterned fabrics. Photo is by Patricia ParinejadThe level of intervention varies throughout, depending on the nature of each space.
    A light touch was adopted for the grand double-height ballroom, known as the Golden Hall, which was used as a theatre venue by the Tacheles.
    A different approach was required for Bar Clara, which is located under the new pyramid-shaped roof. Offering a panoramic view of the city skyline, it combines mirrored walls with shades of smoky grey, light blue and purple.
    The ballroom space was previously used as a theatre. Photo is by Nicoló LanfranchiFotografiska Berlin opened in September, although some of the bar and restaurant spaces came later.
    Some critics have questioned whether a private museum is an appropriate use of a building that had become synonymous with Berlin’s underground creative scene after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
    Aisslinger, whose previous projects in the city include the 25hours Bikini Berlin Hotel, believes the new model brings back the social spirit that came to define the Kunsthaus Tacheles.
    Bar Clara is a rooftop space offering panoramic views. Photo is by Nicoló Lanfranchi”The Tacheles was always an event space as well,” he said. “It was always a bit more. In this respect, one can say that this social aspect already existed in the house and that it is being brought back to life right now.”
    “We want to look ahead to the future whilst embracing the past, and to do so in a casual way,” he added. “That is very Berlin.”
    Main image is by Nicoló Lanfranchi.

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      Studio Besau-Marguerre designs colour-block foyer for Hamburg’s MK&G museum

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      German practice Studio Besau-Marguerre has overhauled the entrance hall of Hamburg’s MK&G design museum, using colours to guide visitors through the space.

      The brief was to create new zoning in the foyer for better wayfinding and orientation while setting the tone for the rest of the museum with a friendly and welcoming atmosphere.
      Studio Besau-Marguerre has overhauled MK&G’s foyer”We wanted to create a place that allows visitors to relax and draws them into a world of art and design with a new colour scheme and improved acoustics,” Studio Besau-Marguerre told Dezeen.
      “We wanted it to be a place of tranquillity and warmth, in contrast to the hustle and bustle outside the museum.”
      Deep blue ticket counters were designed to draw attentionThe Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, or MK&G for short, was built in the late 19th century and previously had a plain white foyer with the ticket office and cloakrooms hidden away out of sight, leading to confusion amongst visitors.

      “Due to the architectural details, the huge emptiness and the reverberant acoustics, the space looked like a large railway station hall and had no quality of stay,” the studio said.
      Rooms are painted in progressively darker shades of terracottaIn order to improve visitor flow and create an inviting atmosphere, the area was reorganised in collaboration with German firm SWP-Architekten, resulting in a straightforward and intuitive guidance system.
      The new interior concept is marked by the use of contrasting, bold colours – a signature feature of Studio Besau-Marguerre’s work.
      For this project, the studio developed a unique colour scheme that structures the space using three main tones: vibrant blue, bright yellow and shades of terracotta.
      Cobalt blue seating features in the lounge areasMK&G visitors are now greeted by two bright blue ticket desks upon entry – with the surrounding walls painted in a matching shade for emphasis – while the rest of the room is finished in white.
      “Here, visitors first arrive, catch their breath and get their bearings,” the studio said.
      From there, museumgoers are intuitively led into the two adjoining lounges and cloakrooms, where walls are painted in progressively darker shades of terracotta to draw visitors into the rooms.
      The media lounge provides a space for reading books and magazinesYellow acts as an accent colour found across curtains, acoustic elements and storage lockers, while blue reappears to highlight the seating areas.
      “For the colour concept, we were inspired by the historic colour scheme of the coffered ceiling in the vestibule that visitors notice before they enter the main foyer,” the studio said.
      “We thought it would be nice to reference the historical colours and interpret them in a contemporary way. In this way, we refer to the history of the building and the colours feel natural.”

      Tate Modern’s Corner cafe revamped to be less “Herzog & de Meuron-y”

      A selection of soft, warm and tactile materials – including wood, wool and hand-tufted carpets – complements the colourful interiors while improving the acoustics of the open space.
      Studio Besau-Marguerre designed a number of custom furniture pieces for the space, including the checkout counters, but was also keen to source pieces from up-and-coming German designers.
      “It was important for us to use furniture from young manufacturers and designers who work sustainably and with high-quality materials,” the studio said.
      Some of these are displayed on a blue-painted timber table by StattmannThis includes the cobalt-blue sofas and matching pouffes in the lounges, which were made by Berlin design brand Objekte unserer Tage.
      “The sofas harmonise wonderfully with the round arches of the architecture and are a perfect mix of artistic object and inviting, cosy seating landscape,” said Studio Besau-Marguerre.
      Yellow acoustic panels feature in the cloakroomsIn the media lounge, where books and magazines are on display for the reading pleasure of visitors, the oblong table and matching stools are by Frankfurt furniture brand Stattmann.
      “The surface of the tables and stools is treated with a wax that creates a wonderful feel and is very durable,” said Studio Besau-Marguerre.
      “All the furniture plays with the rounded and soft design language, as well as warm, natural materials, thus contributing to a harmonious, cosy atmosphere.”
      Storage lockers are finished in a matching hueNot every detail of MK&G’s original interior was scrapped. The studio also retained the huge glass chandelier in the centre of the foyer that British artist Stuart Haygarth designed specifically for the space in 2018.
      “It was clear from the start that the luminaire had to stay and would fit in wonderfully with our concept,” the studio said. “It is very exciting to see how it benefits from the new interior design.”
      Digital displays advertise the museum’s changing exhibitionsStudio Besau-Marguerre, which was founded by Eva Marguerre and Marcel Besau in 2011, was also responsible for designing the interiors of another key cultural building in Hamburg – Herzog & de Meuron’s £163-million Elbphilharmonie concert hall.
      Elsewhere, the duo created the exhibition design for Christien Meindertsma’s solo show Beyond the Surface at the Vitra Design Museum in Basel, conceived to illustrate the designer’s approach to material research.
      The photography is by Brita Sönnichsen.

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      Tate Modern’s Corner cafe revamped to be less “Herzog & de Meuron-y”

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      Architecture studio Holland Harvey has overhauled the ground-floor cafe at the Tate Modern in London so it doubles as the gallery’s first late-night bar.

      Tucked away in the museum’s northwest corner, the interior of the Corner cafe was originally designed in 2000 when Herzog & de Meuron created a home for the UK’s national collection of modern art inside the disused power station on the Southbank.
      Corner is a new cafe and bar at the Tate ModenSince then, the Tate had made no changes to the space until Holland Harvey was brought on board to refresh the interior at the start of 2022.
      “It was quite a cold space,” the studio’s co-founder Richard Holland told Dezeen. “All very Herzog & de Meuron-y.”
      “They’re amazing at what they do in so many ways,” he continued. “But this was not their best food and beverage space.”

      A grey stone bar forms the centrepiece of the roomHolland Harvey stripped back many of the cafe’s hard, reflective finishes, sanding away the black gloss paint on the floors to reveal the parquet underneath and removing the mirrored glass that Herzog & de Meuron had used to enclose the building’s original riveted columns.
      Fluorescent lights were replaced with more muted spots by London studio There’s Light, while the dropped ceiling above the bar was rounded off and covered in foam insulation to soften the interior – both visually and acoustically.
      Otherwise, many of the cafe’s core elements including the servicing as well as the kitchen and toilets remained largely untouched to prevent excessive waste and maintain the integrity of the building.
      “You don’t really want to mess around with the servicing because 12 feet above your head is a Picasso,” Holland said. “So it was pretty light touch.”
      The cafe backs onto the Tate’s Turbine Hall. Photo by Edward BishopThe biggest intervention came in the form of a newly added riverside entrance, allowing passersby to stroll straight into Corner rather than having to take the long way through the gallery.
      At the other end of the open-plan room, a door leads directly into Tate’s famous Turbine Hall, effectively linking it with the public spaces of the Southbank.
      Stone seating banquettes double as impromptu climbing frames”The Turbine Hall is one of the most successful public spaces in London,” Holland said. “It’s one of the few indoor places you can go, where people happily sit down on the floor in the middle of the day.”
      “And obviously, the Southbank is an amazing public offering as well,” he continued. “So this felt like an opportunity to connect the two, which led a lot of the thinking around the design.”
      With the idea of extending the public realm, many of the newly added pieces are robust and fixed in place, much like street furniture. Among them are the double-sided Vicenza Stone banquettes, which can also serve as impromptu climbing frames for young children.

      UXUS designs “permanently temporary” gift shop for Herzog & de Meuron’s extended Tate Modern

      Holland Harvey created a number of other seating areas throughout Corner to suit different accessibility needs, with a focus on supporting local manufacturers and small businesses while reducing waste wherever possible.
      Corner’s long sharing tables and benches were made by marginalised young people from west London as part of a carpentry apprenticeship programme run by social enterprise Goldfinger, using trees that were felled by local authorities to stop the spread of ash dieback.
      “Every table has the coordinates of where the tree has felled on it, so there’s a provenance to the furniture,” Holland said.
      The chairs were taken from Tate’s own storage and refinishedThe chairs, meanwhile, were salvaged from the gallery’s own storage before being refinished and reupholstered, while the smaller tables were made by Brighton company Spared using waste coffee grounds from Tate’s other cafes.
      These were baked at a low temperature to remove any moisture before being mixed with oyster shells and a water-based gypsum binder.
      Although the resulting pieces aren’t fully circular since they can’t be recycled, Holland hopes they tell a story about the value that can be found in waste.
      Waste coffee grounds from the gallery’s other cafes were turned into table tops”We’re by no means saying that it’s an exemplar project in that sense,” he explained. “We were just trying to find opportunities to tell stories through all the different elements rather than just going to the large corporate suppliers.”
      “And that’s really our wider impact: people realising that there’s a different way to procure a table. Imagine if all of Tate’s furniture moving forward is made by Goldfinger,” he continued.
      The cafe also has high counter seating for remote workingIn the evenings, the space can be transitioned into a bar and events space by switching to warmer, higher-contrast lighting, while a section of the central banquette can be turned into a raised DJ booth by pressing a button that is hidden under the cushions.
      “This place can get quite wild in the evening,” Holland said.
      Timber shelves are used to display productsThe last significant amendment to the Tate Modern building was Herzog & de Meuron’s Switch House extension, which opened to the public in 2016.
      The building contains a gift shop designed by Amsterdam studio UXUS, alongside various galleries and a viewing level on the top floor, which is currently closed to the public after Tate lost a high-profile privacy lawsuit brought by the inhabitants of a neighbouring residential tower.
      The photography is by Jack Hobhouse unless otherwise stated.

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      Ten gallery interiors that are artworks in their own right

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      A subterranean gallery carved into a sand dune and a treehouse-style art museum feature in our latest lookbook, which collects striking gallery interiors from around the world.

      Art galleries are specifically designed as spaces for showcasing artworks such as sculptures and paintings. As a result, they are often characterised by neutral and minimalist interiors so as not to divert attention from the objects on display.
      However, some galleries are defined by statement designs that not only complement the artworks they house, but transform their interiors into masterpieces themselves.
      From a converted Iranian brewery to a Milanese basement, read on for 10 galleries with memorable interior designs.
      This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring inviting entrance halls, terracotta kitchens and Crittal-style windows.

      Top: Helsinki’s Amox Rex museum. Above: image is courtesy of IK LabIK Lab, Mexico, by Jorge Eduardo Neira Sterkel
      Curving cement walls and undulating vine floors provide an alternative backdrop for artwork within the gallery at the Azulik resort in Tulum.
      The gallery, which visitors must enter without shoes via a winding walkway, is elevated above the ground and reaches the height of the surrounding tree canopy. Circular windows of various sizes flood the space with natural light.
      The gallery was opened by the resort’s founder and designer, Jorge Eduardo Neira Sterkel, after the great-grandson of the famed American art collector Peggy Guggenheim and a Tulum local suggested the idea.
      Find out more about IK Lab ›
      Photo is by Wen StudioTaoCang Art Center, China, by Roarc Renew
      TaoCang Art Center is comprised of two disused granaries located in the village of Wangjiangjing in China’s Zhejiang province. Shanghai studio Roarc Renew connected the volumes with a pair of sweeping brick corridors that are lined with arches.
      Functioning as distinct gallery spaces, the granaries are characterised by striking arrangements of lotus flowers on their floors – an ode to the village’s lotus-flower industry and a pond adjacent to the site.
      Find out more about TaoCang Art Centre ›
      Photo is by Ye Rin MokMaison Lune, USA, by Sandrine Abessera, Lubov Azria and Gabriella Kuti
      Designers Sandrine Abessera and Lubov Azria, founders of the contemporary art gallery Maison Lune, worked with interior designer Gabriella Kuti to set it within a former private house in California.
      Spread across rooms in neutral hues, the gallery is laid out like a collector’s home featuring a varied cluster of artworks and design pieces. Multiple terraces and internal stepped areas provide plinth-like display units for the objects throughout the property.
      “We want to build an alternative to traditional galleries, which are often perceived as too elitist and intimidating,” explained Abessera and Azria.
      Find out more about Maison Lune ›
      Photo is by Tuomas UusheimoAmos Rex, Finland, by JKMM Architects
      Finnish studio JKMM Architects designed the Amos Rex art museum in Helsinki with a series of domed subterranean galleries, which bubble up through the ground to create a sloping outdoor playground.
      While a portion of the museum is housed in the renovated Lasipalatsi, a functionalist 1930s building at street level, Amos Rex was also extended underground to include the domed galleries. These subterranean spaces feature minimalist monochrome interiors illuminated by large round skylights.
      Find out more about Amos Rex ›
      Photo is by Sergio LopezStudio CDMX, Mexico, by Alberto Kalach
      A multi-purpose artist residency and gallery come together at Studio CDMX, a space in Mexico City designed for Casa Wabi founder Bosco Sodi in which to work and exhibit his pieces.
      Constructed on the site of a former warehouse, the building reflects its location’s industrial roots with concrete, metal and brick elements arranged in chunky formations. Sodi’s sculptural works, finished in materials including stone and ceramic, also influenced the interiors.
      Find out more about Studio CDMX ›
      Photo is by William Barrington-BinnsPrivate gallery, Thailand, by Enter Projects Asia
      A winding rattan installation traces an overhead route through this private gallery in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
      Architecture studio Enter Projects Asia used an algorithm to design the structure, which snakes in and out of the gallery’s various indoor and outdoor spaces.
      “We sought to create an immersive experience, giving the space a warmth and depth uncharacteristic of conventional art galleries,” said studio director Patrick Keane.
      Find out more about this private gallery ›
      Photo is by Duccio MalagambaFondazione Luigi Rovati Museum, Italy, by Mario Cucinella Architects
      Layered stone walls line the new basement of the Fondazione Luigi Rovati Museum, an art gallery housed within a 19th-century palazzo in Milan that was both preserved and expanded by Italian studio Mario Cucinella Architects.
      The basement walls were created from overlapping layers of limestone ashlar, which curve upwards to form domed ceilings. Free-standing and wall-mounted cases designed by the architecture studio display two hundred Etruscan artifacts, including ancient jewellery and cinerary urns.
      Find out more about Fondazione Luigi Rovati Museum ›
      Photo is by Ahmadreza SchrickerArgo Factory Contemporary Art Museum & Cultural Centre, Iran, by Ahmadreza Schricker Architecture North
      US studio Ahmadreza Schricker Architecture North renovated a 1920s brewery in central Tehran to create the Argo Factory Contemporary Art Museum & Cultural Centre, preserving many of the factory’s original industrial features.
      Designed without middle supports, a curvilinear concrete staircase was inserted into the building to connect the museum’s lobby and its six galleries above. The staircase is one of a number of new elements with a rounded shape, created to contrast the uniform brick architecture.
      Find out more about Argo Factory Contemporary Art Museum & Cultural Centre ›
      Photo is by Wu QingshanUCCA Dune Art Museum, China, by Open Architecture
      Carved into a dune on a beach in Qinhuangdao, this coastal art museum is comprised of a network of subterranean concrete galleries.
      Beijing-based firm Open Architecture took cues from caves for the interlinked spaces, which are illuminated by organically shaped openings and feature an irregular texture.
      “The walls of ancient caves were where art was first practiced,” Open Architecture co-founder Li Hu told Dezeen.
      Find out more about UCCA Dune Art Museum ›
      Photo is by Kevin ScottMini Mart City Park, USA, by GO’C
      Mini Mart City Park is a community arts centre with a gallery built on the site of a former 1930s petrol station in Seattle.
      Local studio GO’C referenced the location’s history when creating the design for the centre, opting for classic signage, an overhanging roof and divided metal windows.
      Inside, the gallery space is characterised by exposed wooden rafters and smooth grey-hued floors, providing a neutral backdrop for the exhibition of artwork.
      Find out more about Mini Mart City Park ›
      This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring inviting entrance halls, terracotta kitchens and Crittal-style windows.

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      Winning a Dezeen Award “made me feel like anything is possible” say past winners

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      With just three weeks until Dezeen Awards entries close, last year’s winners detail the positive outcomes of winning and encourage other studios to enter.

      One studio said that winning a Dezeen Award was “a thrilling, rewarding and inspiring experience” while another said it created “new relationships with retailers, media and customers”.
      “Winning a Dezeen Award has considerably raised my profile and helped me secure further collaborations,” said a studio that won for their consumer product design.
      Dezeen Awards 2023, in partnership with Bentley Motors, is open for entries. There are only three weeks left to submit your project before midnight London time on 1 June and avoid late entry fees.
      Read on to see what last year’s winners had to say:

      British company MysteryVibe won for their a sex toy designed to help with erectile dysfunctionSex toy company MysteryVibe, which won wearable design of the year for its vibrator aimed at tackling erectile dysfunction, considered winning a Dezeen Award “the ultimate honour”.
      “It’s the ultimate honour for us to be recognised for all the hard work over many years that has gone into improving the health and happiness of people across the globe,” said the studio.
      “The award resulted in press coverage and media attention in publications that we wouldn’t normally be featured in.”
      Japanese startup studio Quantum won Dezeen Awards 2022 overall design project of the yearJapanese firm Quantum won product design of the year and design project of the year for its lightweight foldable wheelchair and told Dezeen that winning last year offered the practice new clients and media exposure, and encouraged other studios to also enter.
      “We have received more inquiries from new clients and media who had heard about us winning the award,” said Quantum. “It also resulted in being selected as a part of the permanent collection of the museum Designmuseum Danmark.”
      Architecture practice Studio Bua won residential rebirth project of the year for its Icelandic artist’s studio and residence and agreed that winning has led to new opportunities.
      “It has positively affected our previous client relationships and it helps when acquiring new clients,” said Studio Bua. “We did see an increase in followers on our social media and clients have mentioned it after they saw that we posted about it.”
      Designer Kathleen Reilly playfully rests her winning designs on her trophy”It made me feel like anything is possible and I saw my future career as an artist and designer a lot more clearly,” said designer Kathleen Reilly, who won homeware design of the year for Oku, a knife informed by chopstick rests.
      “As a result of winning, I have managed to secure a new collaboration, as well as several press articles and new relationships with retailers, media, and customers.”
      “The wooden board which comes with Oku is now being made with Karimoku, Japan’s leading furniture manufacturer, and we are looking to launch this new collaboration this year.”
      Studio G8A Architecture’s Dezeen Awards trophy pictured in front of a scale model of the winning factoryThe team at Dutch practice Olaf Gipser Architects won housing project of the year for their apartment block with planted balconies and their win has served as motivation for future projects.
      “We display our Dezeen Awards 2022 trophy at our office close to the entrance and next to a 1:200 scale wooden model,” said Olaf Gipser Architects.
      “It reminds us of our achievements and recognitions and gives us all extra motivation to keep on going towards our goals.”
      Office G8A Architecture, which won for its stainless steel manufacturing factory designed in collaboration with Switzerland-based Rollimarchini Architects, told Dezeen that winning gained the studio international validation.
      “Winning a Dezeen Award can be described as a thrilling, rewarding and inspiring experience,” said G8A Architecture. “It helped us gain international recognition, reaching new clients and new talent for our team.”
      Practice Atelier Boter’s trophy and certificate are displayed on the shelves in their officeTaiwanese architecture studio Atelier Boter won small workspace interior for its glass-fronted community hub and also has its trophy on display in the office.
      “We put the trophy on the shelf together with all the books we gain inspiration from – it is a shelf we only place things that we’ve filtered through, as it is what falls in sight every time we walk into our studio,” said Atelier Boter.
      “Winning a Dezeen Award is certainly an important encouragement to us as a small studio and it reassures us that we are doing the right thing,” added the studio.
      Dezeen Awards 2023
      Dezeen Awards celebrates the world’s best architecture, interiors and design. Now in its sixth year, it has become the ultimate accolade for architects and designers across the globe. The annual awards are in partnership with Bentley Motors, as part of a wider collaboration that will see the brand work with Dezeen to support and inspire the next generation of design talent. More

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      Sam Jacob Studio adds glass-tube entrance to London's V&A museum

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      British architect Sam Jacob has used ribbed glass to create a contemporary entrance for London’s historic V&A museum and updated its bathrooms with a broken-ceramic cladding that feels “a little perverse”.

      The studio drew on the Victoria & Albert museum (V&A’s) collection for its designs, choosing glass for the lobby in a nod to the museum’s glass collection and crushed jasperware for the bathrooms.
      The lobby has glass tubes in three sizesThe entrance structure was designed in response to the existing proportions of the building and is formed of three bands of glass tubes, starting with 120-millimetre diameter tubes on the lower level that become thinner on the upper levels.
      Sam Jacob Studio wanted the design, which marks the entrance from Cromwell Road, to function as a modern response to the surrounding Grade I-listed museum building.
      It sits in front of a large arched window”The heights of the whole structure and the way it is split into three levels is a contemporary response to the historic fabric,” Jacob told Dezeen.

      “This helps the new elements resonate in a harmonious way even with a very different design sensibility,” he added.
      “Working with historic buildings is a great challenge and one that means it’s important to understand what is really there, and why it might be like that.”
      The contemporary lobby was designed as a response to the historic museumUsing glass for the lobby also helped create a more dramatic and dynamic effect at the entrance, while nodding to the large arched window that dominates the space.
      “The glazing for the entrance – especially the glass tubes – were a way to retain a sense of transparency at the entrance, but also to dramatise the way light is transmitted into the space,” Jacob said.
      Sam Jacob Studio designed the lobby for the Cromwell Road entrance”The effect of the tubes is to act like lenses, and the movement of people through the entrance becomes visually more animated, producing different effects as the daylight changes over time,” he added.
      “It’s also a response to the large arched window above, that has texture and colour to the glass, so that the whole interior elevation now acts in a similar way.”

      Sam Jacob Studio adds “ambiguity and mystery” to ArtReview events space

      “It’s glass used not so much for quality of transparency but for the dynamic effects of light passing through that it creates,” he added.
      Jacob also added sliding doors to the lobby and designed a collection of moveable stations that will be used for bag checks on entry.
      A welcome desk with mirrored backing sits in the lobbyAt the museum entrance, the studio added a welcome desk made from glass tubes with a mirrored backing that reflects the surroundings.
      As well as the lobby, the architect also updated the bathrooms. Here, Jacob used crushed jasperware waste material from the Stoke-on-Trent factory that makes the V&A’s Wedgwood porcelain collection.
      This was used to create colourful wall panels constructed by crushing 700 kilograms of blue, grey, pink and black ceramic waste.
      Terrazzo made from jasperware decorates the bathroom”Terrazzo is a material you often find in these kinds of spaces, so our intention was to introduce a really unusual material element by using the waste jasperware,” Jacob said.
      “It is a material that resonates with the history of the V&A, and with the history of British applied design and with a certain luxury,” he added.
      “Even in a fragmented state, jasperware colours are instantly recognisable. Using it in this smashed-up state, and making a feature of its brokenness, felt like a very modern take on those traditions.”
      Bathroom walls have life-sized digital printsThe design was also intended to make the museum’s visitors think about reuse and how we care for objects.
      “It also feels a little perverse – using broken ceramics in a museum where objects are usually incredibly carefully looked after,” Jacob said. “But a beautiful kind of perversion – all the coloured fragments make a speckled colour field to the walls that surround you.”
      “It’s an interesting experiment in the high concept reuse of waste material, about how we care for objects and the impact that the production of designed objects has on the world.”
      The V&A Museum is in a Grade I-listed buildingThe bathroom walls have been decorated with life-sized digital prints showcasing figures from V&A’s collection, as well as landscape scenery.
      For Jacob, designing for the V&A meant “working in the shadow of people” such as British designer William Morris, a history that made him think about what a similar design response might look like today.
      “We tried to channel a contemporary version of that same spirit of applied arts to help transform some of the most functional spaces of the museum into places of delight, places to interact with the collection in different ways, and make it a more accessible and engaging experience,” he said.
      The glass entrance lets light into the interiorOther recent projects by Sam Jacob Studio include an office, bar and events space for the ArtReview magazine in London and a neolithic shelter in Shenzhen port.
      The photography is by Timothy Soar.
      Project team:
      Architecture: Sam Jacob StudioLighting: Studio ZNAStructure: Price and MyersMain contractor: AlcemaSpecialist fabricator: MillimeterTerrazzo: DiespeckerQuantity surveyor: Currie BrownMechanical and electrical services (M&E): Harley Haddow / JRG Electrical

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      OEO Studio uses materials in a “playful way” for Designmuseum Denmark cafe and shop

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      Copenhagen-based OEO Studio has created a cafe and shop interior for Denmark’s Designmuseum using stone, steel and wood to honour architect Kaare Klint’s original design.

      OEO Studio worked with materials and colours that reference Klint’s design from the 1920s and added details such as custom-built cabinets to the shop and a “monolithic” steel serving counter to the cafe.
      OEO Studio created the interiors for the Designmuseum cafe, above, and museum shop, top imageThe interior design was part of a major two-year renovation of the Designmuseum, which showcases Danish design. It is located in a building from the 18th century that was renovated and adapted into a museum by Klint and architect Ivar Bentsen.
      While OEO Studio didn’t make any structural changes, the studio added some major interventions to the museum’s interior.
      Stone and wood were used throughout the interior”The large arched doors inside the museum have undergone a drastic change and have been covered in hot-rolled steel, present in the entrance way and in the museum cafe,” OEO Studio head of design and founding partner Thomas Lykke told Dezeen.

      “A huge monolithic serving counter made of steel and wood is the primary fixed piece in the cafe,” he added. “As for the museum shop, the major changes are custom-built cabinets filling out the arches in the walls.”
      A hot-rolled steel counter creates a monolithic effect in the cafeLykke and Anne-Marie Buemann, OEO Studio managing partner, designed the 240-square-metre cafe and lounge space and the 140 square-metre museum shop to be based on Klint’s simple, “ascetic” design.
      “We were inspired by Klint and his almost ascetic touch on design with his clean lines – subtle yet majestic at the same time,” Lykke explained.
      Kaare Klint paper lamps hang in the cafeAs well as the six-metre-long bespoke counter, made from oiled oak and hot-rolled steel, the studio also designed custom cafe tables, high tables and counter-style seating for the museum’s all-day eatery.
      The cafe also features a selection of chairs by well-known Danish architects and designers, such as Hans J Wegner and Arne Jacobsen, with the mostly wood and steel furniture contrasting against a grey stone floor made from original tiles that were reused.

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      “We defined a material palette that complimented the building and the architecture,” Lykke said of the studio’s design.
      “Materials were also chosen for their durability and their ability to age beautifully,” he added.
      “A mix of hard materials, as well as more soft and warmer materials, were used, including steel, wood, leather, stone, and textiles. The materials have been used in a playful way – still not over-shining the architecture. ”
      The Designmuseum cafe can be accessed from the gardenIn the museum shop, OEO Studio reused glass cabinetry designed by Klint and added custom-built cabinets.
      Small islands display books and other museum items for sale, while the built-in wall cabinets showcase sculptures and other accessories.
      In both the cafe and the shop, OEO Studio used a colour palette designed to compliment the building itself.
      The Designmuseum shop features built-in cabinets”For the colour scheme our intention was to create a palette that naturally blended well with the original building and the materials used,” Lykke explained.
      “The stone tiles on the floor have a major presence in the museum – beautiful and rich,” he added.
      “The use of hot-rolled steel with its bluish tones creates a beautiful contrast to the tiles and the old plastered walls with their original colour. The special blue-grey paint was carefully created to complement the architecture and floors.”
      A pale-blue, beige and blue-grey colour palette contrasts against wooden furnitureThe studio also created a 35-metre boardroom for the Designmuseum, which can accommodate up to 10 people and features furniture that the studio designed for Stellar Works.
      All of the furniture was built by Danish makers from materials sourced locally.
      “Materials of high durability, quality and a design that allows for hard use over many years were important factors,” Lykke said.
      OEO Studio reused glass cabinets designed by KlintThe Designmuseum reopened during the annual Danish design festival 3 Days of Design, when it also unveiled a translucent pavilion designed by Henning Larsen in the garden outside of the museum.
      Homeware brand Vipp also showcased new architecture during the festival, with a renovation of a former garage.
      The photography is by Christian Hoyer.

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