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    Lab La Bla uses “hyper-ordinary materials” for energy operator HQ interior

    Local studio Lab La Bla sourced diabase rock from a nearby mine and created seating from MDF and recycled cork for the interior of energy company E.ON’s headquarters in Malmö, Sweden.

    Lab La Bla designed the headquarters’ reception area, coat room and lounge area, while also creating furniture, sculptures and other accessories across nine floors of the 22,000-square-metre building.
    The studio aimed to create a sequence of space that had variety, while taking inspiration from sources including airport terminals.
    The studio used recycled materials for the interiors”Creating work for an office that houses 1,500 employees is both challenging and inspiring,” co-founders Axel Landström and Victor Isaksson Pirtti told Dezeen.
    “It’s about creating spaces and functions that cater to the many while offering a mix of focus, creative and social environments, so it’s really about designing for the masses without making it boring or generic,” they added.

    “There’s a current fascination about airport interiors in the studio, so for the reception area we drew from that source of inspiration.”
    Seating was made from MDFIn the reception area, the studio created a set of sunny yellow furniture made from medium-density fibreboard (MDF) covered in nylon fiber.
    “The overall project for us is sort of a reaction to dysfunctional and non-sustainable processes inherent within our industry,” the studio explained.
    “For the reception area MDF and screws have been coated with repurposed nylon fiber using a technology commonly seen in the automotive industry, resulting in furniture that celebrates leftover material but without compromising on durability.”
    A bench features a “melting” diabase stone detailFor the building’s central atrium, Lab La Bla designed an unusual bench that features a gloopy stone decoration resembling an oil spill.
    This was created using diabase stone, which is famous for its blackness and was mined nearby in southern Sweden. The process of creating it was informed by its setting at an energy company headquarters.
    Lab La Bla sourced local materials for the project”Since electricity and magnetism are essentially two aspects of the same thing – and E.ON being an electric utility company – we thought it suitable to introduce magnetism as a modelling tool,” Landström and Isaksson Pirtti explained.
    “The shape of the piece comes from dropping a lump of magnetic slime on top of a conductive material,” they added. “The slime seemingly randomly slump and drapes over a metal bar before settling in its final shape.”

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    Lab La Bla then scaled this shape up and hand-sculpted the shape from a single block of diabase, which was finally sandblasted and polished.
    “We see this process as an adventurous exploration in making a physical representation of the invisible force that shapes our world,” Landström and Isaksson Pirtti added.
    Mouth-blown glass panels form a three-metre-high sculptureThe studio also turned brick beams, left over from the construction of a school in Malmö in the early 1900s, into umbrella stands, and sourced mouth-blown glass panels from one of the few remaining producers of the material.
    This was used, together with dichroic glass, to create a three-metre-high glass sculpture with a graphic pattern that depicts a CT-scan of a wood-fibre material.
    Glass sculptures were formed inside hollowed-out tree trunksLab La Bla also created decorative vases and glass sculptures using molten glass blown into tree trunks that had been hallowed by fungal decay. The trunks were sourced from E.ON’s own local heating centre.
    These trunks “serve no industrial purpose, but are burnt for energy by E.ON and used for teleheating for Malmö,” the studio said.
    “We borrow these tree trunks to blow glass in them, before returning them to their final purpose.”
    Lounge sofas were made from ground-down wine corksIn the headquarters’ lounge areas, the designers created modular sofas made from ground-down wine corks sourced from restaurants.
    “The modular cork sofa uses a unique process where 100 per cent recycled cork is sprayed onto a foam structure, proudly incorporating signs of imperfection into the design while bringing superior durability and sustainability to your furniture,” Landström and Isaksson Pirtti said.
    A table has an office-style glass relief with a keyboardTo the designers, the aim of the interior design was to use disused or forgotten materials, as well as ones that were recycled and recyclable.
    “We took a conscious decision of picking hyper-ordinary materials such as MDF and aluminium to pinpoint and educate people about cyclic and sustainable qualities inherent in the processes of creating these materials,” the studio said.
    “We often try to celebrate the beauty and intrinsic qualities of everyday, industrial materials otherwise consigned to temporary or low-cost construction solutions,” it added.
    “We wanted to design objects which require significant time and skills from craftspeople, usually reserved for expensive, rare and high-quality materials – to some of the very inexpensive and found materials that we used throughout the project.”
    Lab La Bla’s designs have previously been shown at the Moving Forward exhibition at Stockholm Design Week and as part of the Metabolic Processes for Leftovers exhibition in Malmö.
    The photography is by Lars Brønseth.

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    Ivy Studio converts historic bank building into offices for Montreal ad agency

    The offices that Montreal’s Ivy Studio has designed for digital advertising agency Cardigan include a mesh-wrapped mezzanine and a “futuristic” basement within a former bank building.

    For Cardigan’s expanding team, Ivy Studio has renovated a stone building that was built as a bank in 1907, in the Rosemont area of Montreal.
    Ivy Studio inserted a steel mesh mezzanine inside the historic bank building to provide additional spaceThe structure has had many uses, including most recently a religious establishment, and boasts plenty of historic architectural details.
    While the upper floor is a residential condo, Cardigan occupies 1,250 square feet (116 square metres) across the ground and basement levels – spaces with very different ceiling heights and light conditions.
    The mesh was painted white to accentuate the bright and airy feel in the office space”One of the main challenges of working with the building was the contrasting ceiling heights between each floor,” said Ivy Studio. “This made the spacial blocking very important at the start of the project.”

    To benefit from the 16.5 foot (5 metres) clearance and abundance of natural light, all the workstations are positioned on the ground level.
    Under the mezzanine sit multiple phone booths and meeting roomsHowever, the floor plate was not sufficient to accommodate all 25 employees as well as meeting rooms, so the studio took advantage of the ceiling height and added a mezzanine.
    This addition was placed in a corner to avoid blocking the arched windows, and was painted entirely white to accentuate the bright and airy atmosphere of the space.
    During the renovation, the building’s large arched windows were fully uncovered to let in more lightThe structure is made from perforated steel mesh, allowing light to enter the phone booths and meeting rooms tucked underneath, and a gap was left between the mesh and the glass partitions behind to make space for planters.
    Additional workstations are located on top of the mezzanine, which is curved at its corner. “The newly-built mezzanine structure interprets the curves of the existing space without competing with them,” Ivy Studio said.

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    To let even more light in, the boarded window arches were reopened to their original form, while the parquet flooring was replaced with natural oak to retain the warmth.
    Meanwhile, in the basement, low ceiling heights and a lack of windows called for an entirely contrasting strategy.
    “It is a different universe of its own,” said Ivy Studio, which took a “futuristic, in your face” approach to the sub-grade space.
    In the windowless basement, a contrasting “futuristic” aesthetic was chosenThis level accommodates the bathrooms, kitchen, lounge and storage, and features a mix of plastered ceilings, ceramic walls and epoxy floors.
    In the kitchen, all of the surfaces are coloured baby blue, while the adjacent bathroom block is completely grey.
    The spaces are colour-blocked to heighten their visual impactAcross the kitchen island, a circular mirror faces an opening that’s exactly the same shape and leads into a room painted in orange.
    “The spaces are all monochromatic, to increase the visual impact of their intense colors but also help camouflage the imperfections of the existing building,” said Ivy Studio.
    Baby blue and stainless steel cover the kitchenThe office’s levels are linked by two staircases: an older one made from wood and a newer minimal design that emerges from under an arched portico.
    Both are painted navy blue and are intended to reflect Cardigan’s contradicting “hard-working yet playful values”.
    The adjacent bathroom is executed entirely in greyIvy Studio’s portfolio of projects in its home city spans from workspaces and restaurants, to a spinning studio and a dry cleaners.
    Recently completed interiors by the firm include a creative hub populated with pink and purple elements, and a renovated eatery that was damaged in a fire.
    The photography is by Alex Lesage.
    Project credits:
    Design and architecture: Ivy StudioConstruction: Group Manovra

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    Norm Architects uses “natural forms” and steel details for Chancery House interior

    Danish studio Norm Architects has worked with pale wood, red bricks, sandstone and stainless steel to create the interior of The Office Group’s Chancery House workspace in London.

    Located above the subterranean Silver Vaults market in London, the 1953 building was given a retrofit by dMFK Architects with a new interior by Norm Architects for The Office Group (TOG).
    It now houses workspaces as well as a gym, a yoga studio, a cafe, a library, event spaces and saunas in an 11,612-square-metre space.
    The interior features brick detailsNorm Architects drew on the building’s existing design when creating the interiors, which it says are rooted “in the spirit of the building”.
    “In this effort to draw in what was already there, we have integrated the traditional red bricks of the facade in the interior in a modern way,” Norm Architects’ Sofie Thorning told Dezeen.

    “This way, the chosen materials are more accentuated than the ones we normally work with, but still with our usual focus on creating comfortable and calm spaces through the use of natural materials,” she continued.
    Wood was used throughout the spaceThe ground floor was reconfigured by dMFK Architects to improve the flow of the building, with the entrance to Chancery Lane made larger.
    This level holds the cafe as well as lounge areas, which were decorated by Norm Architects using mainly wood and brick materials.
    Floor-to-ceiling glazed walls offer views and access to two interior courtyards, which also let light into the building.
    Norm Architects played with natural materials”By working with natural forms, materials and colors we create spaces that feel good, look good and that last,” Thorning said.
    “When combining soft and hard materials like textile and bricks, the space feels stimulating to the user, while also exuding this warmth that is so important in order to both work and relax in the spaces of the house.”
    Workspaces are located on the upper floors of the buildingThe same material palette was used for the workspaces, which are located from the first floor and up in the eight-storey building.
    Norm Architects also restored some existing materials in the building’s communal spaces.

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    “The dominant materials, colours and patterns of the space all stem from the existing building, [which is] why red bricks, sandstone, concrete, and stainless steel are at the center of attention,” Thornig explained.
    “Moreover, we have preserved existing terrazzo elements in staircases and hallways, while mirroring the green elements of nearby parks within the internal courtyards.”
    Silvery steel details nod to the Silver Vaults below the buildingIn addition, the studio wanted to nod to Chancery House’s location above the Silver Vaults by using silver-coloured materials.
    “Since the London Silver Vaults are a big part of the building’s history and will continue to be so, we knew right away that we wanted to pay homage to it in the interior,” Thorning said.
    “We decided to introduce both brushed and polished stainless steel to the material palette as a representation of silver, carrying it out as details and joinery throughout the building.”
    A jute rug contrasts a patterned-stone coffee tableThe pale wood and red brick used throughout the building were matched with rustic textures, jute rugs and bobbled pillows to add to the natural feel of the interior.
    The building’s exterior was clad in WasteBasedBricks, which incorporate a minimum of 60 per cent recycled building waste. On Chancery House’s roof terrace, warm rust-red steel garden furniture matches the red hue of the brick walls.
    “We wanted to create a project that was mindful of the character of the area, capturing the spirit of the place in the hope that it will serve the neighborhood as a hub grounded in its context,” Thorning concluded.
    Steel and brick decorate the interiors of Chancery HouseNorm Architects often works with natural materials. Other projects by the studio include a “hotel in the sky” in Japan and an inside-out-greenhouse restaurant.
    The photography is by Jake Curtis.

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    Allsteel’s Experience Center reimagines the role of the contract furniture showroom

    Promotion: workplace furniture brand Allsteel’s latest showroom in Chicago is designed to showcase its latest products and share new workplace concepts  through architectural features and experiences.

    Designed by Partners by Design and located in the Fulton Market district in Chicago, the 24,000-square-foot Experience Center houses more than 150 products by Allsteel, Gunlocke, HBF, HBF Textiles, Normann Copenhagen, Zilenzio and Corral arranged across various workspace environments.
    Allsteel’s Experience Centre is based in ChicagoFunctioning like neighbourhoods, these workspaces were designed to reflect evolving work behaviours with spaces for working together, apart, or somewhere in between.
    They include micro-collaborative spaces within the larger environments, an executive retreat space, an all-day cafe, an open-concept lounge area designed to feel like an extension of the outdoors and a lab where customers can test products and materials first-hand.
    The Experience Centre showcases its latest productsAllsteel said that its Experience Center was a move away from a traditional showroom format – where the only function is to showcase product – towards a place for education, inspiration and collaboration.

    “We wanted to design a place that would celebrate and encourage collaboration, be a destination for education and inspiration, be an experience for our clients trying to solve meaningful workplace challenges and transform their ways of working,” said Allsteel’s director of brand and marketing Natalie Johansen Murray.
    The brand aims for the Experience Centre to be a place for encouragement and collaboration”We partnered and consulted with a wide range of local and national designers and creative visionaries to bring this space to life,” Johansen Murray continued.
    “Each of our partners along the journey really challenged us to reimagine the role of a traditional contract furniture showroom – pushing us to explore and bring forward new architectural features and experiences.”
    Products incorporated range from a flexible kit-of-parts that enable office layouts to be easily extended or adapted along with the needs of a growing business to a collection of accessories inspired by the traditional Shaker rail-and-peg system that allows workers to store and display objects that express their individuality.
    The brand aims for its Experience Centre to be a place for education, inspiration and collaborationAllsteel welcomed partners, clients and industry leaders to the new showroom for the first time at this year’s Fulton Market Design Days from 12 to 14 June 2023.
    “We are thrilled to open our doors and welcome our clients, the design community and commercial real estate professionals to our new Experience Center,” said Johansen Murray.
    “Throughout the entire design journey, we focused on developing a space to celebrate and encourage collaboration, a space that is designed to help our clients and design community do more.”
    Allsteel said that its Experience Center is a move away from a traditional showroom formatThe Allsteel Experience Center is located at 345 N Morgan, third floor, Fulton Market District, Chicago, IL 60607. Take a 360-degree tour of the Experience Center or visit Allsteel’s website for more information.
    Partnership content
    This article was written by Dezeen for Allsteel as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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    Studio BV converts Minneapolis biscuit factory into offices for Our Family Wizard

    Dark blue meeting rooms surround an atrium filled with globe-shaped lights at the offices of a Minneapolis tech company, which locally based Studio BV created in a former biscuit factory.

    Studio BV created the 40,000-square-foot (3,700-square-metre) space for Our Family Wizard, an app designed to assist with co-parenting after divorce, inside the historic Loose Wiles Building in Minneapolis’s North Loop neighbourhood.
    A large atrium filled with glass globe lights sits at the centre of the buildingAs the company’s first “real” office, it was important for the designers to imbue the spaces with its branding and personality, to help build a sense of identity, as well as entice those used to working from home into the workplace.
    “The company had grown during the pandemic and wanted to find a new office that would be a draw for the employee mix and for people to come together and create relationships,” said Studio BV.
    Some of the factory’s brick walls were left exposed, while ceilings and ductwork were painted whiteThe building was once home to the Sunshine Biscuit Company, which produced snacks like Cheez-Its and Animal Crackers, and the team was keen to retain many of its original features.

    “The historic components of the building reflect the past, old methods, rough textures,” they said. “These components are embraced and in response we bring natural, and organic textures and color to the places where teams gather and connect.”
    Lounge areas and breakout spaces ring the upper floorSome of the exposed brick walls were left untreated, while concrete columns, ceiling beams and ductwork were painted white.
    Meanwhile, colours lifted from Our Family Wizard’s visual identity were introduced to assist with wayfinding and to inject personality.
    Clerestory windows bring light into communal workspacesDark blue paint was applied to the large meeting room walls, and a paler shade lines smaller one-on-one booths.
    Both hues were chosen for sofa upholstery in the lounge and breakout spaces that ring the upper level.
    Perforated panels separate seating booths in the upper-level barA large two-storey atrium in the middle of the floor plan brings extra daylight from the upper clerestory windows down into the lower levels.
    On one side of a central brick structure, the atrium void is occupied by a chandelier of globe-shaped pendants, suspended on individual wires at different heights.

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    On the other, wooden bleacher-style seating for large team gatherings connects two lower levels, descending to one of two bar areas at its base.
    The second bar, located on the upper level, features booth seating divided by perforated panels as well as cafe chairs and tables.
    The office features two bars to encourage employees to socialise”The unique character of this historic building is enhanced by the new office and amenity areas,” said Studio BV founder and CEO, Betsy Vohs.
    “The old historic ovens and openings are used to connect people between the floors. The large volume of space is flooded with daylight from the large windows and clerestory glass.”
    Blue tones used for upholstery are borrowed from the company’s visual identityOffices for technology companies have come a long way since the slides and foosball tables of the dot-com boom.
    Recently completed examples include a Southern California workplace linked by black staircases and a repurposed power station in Singapore
    The photography is by Corey Gaffer.

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    Camille Walala takes colourful aesthetic to the max in self-designed studio

    London designer Camille Walala has worked with carpentry workshop Our Department to fit out her own studio with a no-holds-barred version of her colourful design style.

    Electric blue floors, graphically patterned cabinetry and a kitchenette with cartoon-like proportions feature in the space, which is located in the Regent Studios building off Broadway Market in East London.
    Camille Walala designed her studio to include a kitchen with exaggerated proportionsThe seventh-floor space attracted Walala and her studio manager Julia Jomaa with its sweeping views.
    Knowing they would be in no hurry to vacate, the duo took their time with the design, working side by side in the studio for over a year while adjusting the position of their space-dividing furniture until they arrived at a layout with the perfect functionality for them.
    The studio chose to embrace colour in the designOnce they decided to embark on the interior design, it was not a given that they would embrace Walala’s signature bold colour palette, as they worried about it potentially clashing with future work.

    “We were like, how colourful should we go?” Walala told Dezeen. “Should we keep it quite simple or should we actually go for it?”
    But ultimately, she says the desire to feel inspired by their workspace and “inhabit the aesthetic fully” won out.
    The studio is divided into two rooms including one for “clean” computer-based workThe studio is divided into two rooms – one for “clean” computer-based work and the other for “messy” activities such as painting and model making.
    Walala and Jomaa created a 3D model of the interior in SketchUp before bringing in their favourite carpenters” Our Department – a studio specialising in design and fabrication for the creative industries – to realise the design.
    The duo of Simon Sawyer and Gustave Andre built all of the elements in the space with a focus on achieving clean lines and pure block colours along with maximum functionality.
    Our Department achieved clean lines by sticking coloured shapes onto MDF doorsFor the cabinetry, they used doors made of melamine-faced medium-density fibreboard (MDF) and applied a decorative technique they had used on previous Walala projects.
    This involved CNC-cutting shapes out of thin MDF, before spraypainting and precisely glueing them onto the doors to create a graphic pattern while avoiding the fuzzy lines that can sometimes come from painting directly onto surfaces.
    In the kitchen, the group worked together to exaggerate proportions as much as possible, with Walala saying she dreamed of achieving a “Bart Simpson kitchen” through elements such as chunky handles and bold grout.

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    “We designed the Lego House a few years ago, this really colourful house,” she explained. “Especially the kitchen in that space was really quite bold and almost like a cartoon, and we thought we should do something similar in our studio.”
    By contrast, a more subtle feature is the double sliding door between the studio’s two rooms, which consists of a transparent fluted screen set within a black frame.
    While it may be less attention-grabbing, Jomaa says the mesmeric effect of the fluted panels sliding against each other is like a “little animation of colour”.
    The workspace also includes natural details like custom tulipwood desk legsThere are also a few natural wood elements throughout the interior such as tulipwood desk legs to balance the liberal use of colour.
    As with all residents of Regent Studios, Walala will need to return the rented space to its original condition when her studio eventually leaves, so there are no permanent fixtures and everything is designed to be dismantled.
    Even the central “wall”, which contains floor-to-ceiling storage on one side, is freestanding. But the team used kitchen-unit feet to wedge it against the ceiling for stability.
    Everything is designed to be dismantled when the studio one day moves outWalala and Jamaa have been working together for eight years and started off sharing a desk in a basement studio. Their recent projects have included murals, installations and a proposal for a car-free Oxford Street.
    Walala is often seen as being part of the New London Fabulous wave of maximalist designers, alongside Yinka Ilori, Morag Myerscough and Adam Nathaniel Furman.
    The photography is by Taran Wilkhu.

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    Mason Studio reimagines its Toronto workspace “for the greater good”

    Toronto interiors firm Mason Studio has redesigned its offices to offer community programming like exhibitions, events and other public-facing activities.

    Mason Studio relaunched its workspace as a new hybrid office and cultural hub to serve “the greater good” during the DesignTO festival earlier this year.
    Mason Studio has redesigned its two-storey office building to serve as both a workspace and a cultural community hubAs well as an office for the studio’s team members, the building in Pelham Park now operates as a gallery space, community library, fabrication hub, experimentation space for non-profits and a coffee bar to name a few.
    “Today’s office is no longer just a place for work, but rather a space for conversation and discourse, a space for inspiration and rejuvenation, and a space for community to get involved, and gather and share knowledge,” said the team.
    The space hosts a variety of exhibitions, installations and events, including An Optimistic Future pictured hereThe two-storey, industrial style building is largely decorated white, with curtains used to divide the various spaces and functions.

    A double-height atrium can house artworks and installations, which are able to be suspended from the ceiling beams.
    A materials library is open to local architects and designersAmong the areas within the building is a plant-filled study garden upstairs, where stools and chairs are placed around mossy tables that sprout foliage from their centres.
    “The greenery and natural elements of the garden create a sense of tranquility, which helps reduce stress and improve overall well-being,” said Mason Studio.
    The study garden allows team and community members to work and read among the greeneryAn open materials library can be utilised by local architects and designers, and a “give-one-take-one” book library is open to all community members.
    Mason Studio also hosts storytime sessions for the children of their team and other community members. “This experiment was a reminder of how vital play is as a tool to socialize, learn and focus — even in the workplace,” the team said.
    White curtains are used to divide the building’s various functions and areasDuring the annual Toronto design festival DesignTO, Mason Studio hosted a series of installations and activations to create a space where visitors “could experience an optimistic vision of the future”.
    For example, a temporary pay-what-you-want cafe donated any funds collected to local non-profit organisations.

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    “These types of new amenities not only stimulate local economies but also contribute to the cultural vitality of the community,” said Mason Studio.
    The inaugural art installation in The Gallery at Mason Studio, a collaborative effort named Full Moon Reflected On The Ocean At 01:34, comprised a giant glowing orb that was reflected on sheets of fan-blown mylar fabric.
    A community library and workspace is offered as a resourceIn March 2023, the studio partnered with Toronto-based contemporary art gallery Cooper Cole Gallery to present works by emerging BIPOC and marginalised artists in the space.
    Then in April, The Gallery at Mason Studio hosted Canadian artist Kadrah Mensah’s exhibition titled Surely, You’re Joking, which included video, sculpture, and installations intended to normalise digital body manipulation.
    The Gallery at Mason Studio’s inaugural installation comprised a large glowing sphere reflected in fan-blown mylar sheets belowMason Studio was founded over a decade ago by Stanley Sun and Ashley Rumsey, who have since completed projects that range from a cloud-like installation to the interiors of the Kimpton Saint George hotel.
    The most recent edition of DesignTO, Toronto’s citywide celebration of design, took place from 20-29 January 2023. Find more design events, talks and installations on the Dezeen Events Guide.
    The photography is by Scott Norsworthy.

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    Eight cherry red interiors that make colour their primary focus

    For our latest lookbook, we’ve picked eight interiors that are blanketed in shades of red that include an office in Belgium, a bar toilet in London and a mansion in Mexico.

    The colour red is most commonly associated with activity, passion, sexuality, love and joy. In this lookbook Dezeen has highlighted ways in which interior designers and architects have used the colour in different interior settings.
    Red terracotta tiles cover the interior of a home in Barcelona and red-tinted glass creates a glowy magma-like hue within the interior of a home located at the base of a volcano.
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring terraces and balconies, marble-lined bathrooms and cave-like interiors.
    Photo by Knut BryBarn House, Norway, by Jon Danielsen Aarhus 

    Oslo based-architect Jon Danielsen Aarhus designed a gabled shed that sits on the grounds of a retired couple’s home in Lillehammer, Norway, which is used for painting, sculpting, craft and as additional living space.
    The entrance hall of the gabled shed was covered entirely in red, including its window frames. The colour was chosen specifically to contrast against the structure’s raw timber exterior.
    Find out more about Barn House ›
    Photo by Hannelore VeelaertAEtelier office, Belgium, by Studio Anton Hendrik Denys
    In Belgium, Studio Anton Hendrik Denys and Steen Architecten transformed an industrial office building and added colourful graphics and bold hues to define areas across the interior.
    The kitchen-cum-bar of the office was blanketed in an orangey-red hue, including its floor, walls, ceiling, fixtures and furnishings, which signifies and zones areas of the interior without the need for partition walls.
    Find out more about AEtelier office ›
    Photo by Tim Van de VeldeSocial House, Brussels, by WAW Architects
    A vibrant red covers cabinet doors, drawers, floors, walls and the ceiling of a shared staff kitchen at a social services centre in Brussels, which was designed by WAW Architects.
    The centre is located within a former orphanage and was converted into offices by the architecture studio. Bright hues were used throughout the interior to colour code the office space with red extending from a kitchen to an adjoining corridor.
    Find out more about Social House ›
    Photo is by Felix SpellerSOMA, UK, by Cake Architecture and Max Radford
    Located within a basement in London’s Soho, speakeasy-style bar SOMA was designed by Cake Architecture and Max Radford.
    The restroom of the underground bar was painted bright red and paired with wooden fixtures and trimmings that were used to surround doorframes and recessed shelving in each of the cubicles.
    Find out more about SOMA ›
    Photo is by José HeviaHouse in Sant Antoni de Vilamjor, Spain, by Arquitectura-G
    Red was used as a running theme across this family home on the outskirts of Barcelona. It was designed by local studio Arquitectura-G and sits directly on top of a pre-existing garage.
    Red features both inside and outdoors with many materials used across the exterior similarly used to decorate the interior, such as red bricks, red corrugated panelling and clay tiles.
    Find out more about House in Sant Antoni de Vilamjor ›
    Photo is by Genevieve LutkinCollective/Collectible, Mexico, by Masa
    Rich tones of red blanket the walls and floors of this abandoned mansion in the Lomas neighbourhood of Mexico City, which was used as the setting for an exhibition by gallerist Masa.
    The 1970s home was decorated with furniture designed by 16 Mexico City-based designers and architects, including Esrawe, EWE Studio and Frida Escobedo. The interior features a grand staircase that was topped with a red runner.
    Find out more about Collective/Collectible ›
    Photo is by Joe FletcherLookout House, US, by Faulkner Architects
    Although this room has no physical red elements Lookout House was fitted with red-tinted glass that provides the interior with a glowing red hue when light penetrates through the home.
    The home is located in Truckee, California at the foot of Lookout Mountain volcano. It was designed by Faulkner Architects who wanted to mimic the colour of cooling magma within the home.
    Find out more about Lookout House ›

    Fox Head Inc, US, by Clive Wilkinson Architects
    A bright red interior was selected as a focal feature for the offices of a motocross apparel company in California. The headquarters was designed by Clive Wilkinson Architects which transformed a 7,600-square-metre warehouse into a flexible workplace.
    A conference room at the headquarters was enclosed with red-tinted glass and fitted with a deep red carpet. A large white table and matching chairs, which have a bright red upholstered seat, were placed at the centre of the space.
    Find out more about Fox Head Inc office ›
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring terraces and balconies, marble-lined bathrooms and cave-like interiors.

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