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      Retroscena is a colourful apartment renovation by La Macchina Studio

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      Italian architecture office La Macchina Studio has renovated a 1950s apartment in Rome, revealing original terrazzo floors and adding bold colours.Set in the Italian capital’s Appio Latino quarter, the mid-century one-bedroom apartment already had Venetian stone floors.

      The original terrazzo floors have been restored
      La Macchina Studio uncovered them and enlisted local craftsmen to restore the terrazzo, while the apartment was transformed into a “surreal set where reality and fiction coexist in a quasi-theatrical scene”.
      “With Retroscena, we wanted to enhance the irreverent and surreal nature of the architectural story,” said studio founders Gianni Puri and Enrica Siracusa.
      “It is inextricably linked to its photographic alter-ego by playing with colour contrasts, graphic motifs and unexpected incursions.”

      Pops of primary colour stand out against white walls

      Walls and certain elements have been painted bright white, to create a neutral backdrop for the graphic pops of colour.
      An arched doorway and a low, midcentury-style cabinet in the living area are painted a matching bright blue.

      A blue-painted wooden doorway leads to the bedroom
      A pair of zesty lemon-yellow fabric curtains can be pulled across to separate the living area from the kitchen diner and screen off the door to the balcony.
      The arching doorway juts out almost a metre from the wall, screening the kitchen furniture from the view of the hallway. The blue-lacquered wood marks the entrance to the bedroom.

      Yellow curtains can screen the living room off
      A red wall-hanging placed above the sofa marks another splash of primary colour.
      Another doorway set flush to the wall opens to reveal the two-room bathroom. In the first room, a bath and shower are all surrounded by square ceramic white tiles, set in dark grouting to create a graphic check mosaic.

      White square tiles form a check mosaic in the bathroom
      A pointy arched doorway leads to the second half of the bathroom, where a toilet and a bidet face each other across a sink, which is framed by the arch.

      Studio Strato creates cosy reading den in renovated Rome apartment

      Peacock-blue enamelled walls and a dimmable ring light mirror above the sink add to the theatrical styling of the bathroom.

      An arched doorway frames the sink
      In the bedroom, the floor has a ruddy hue, the result of a brick-red micro cement treatment applied by La Macchina Studio. A low-hanging orb-style pendant light and peach velvet curtains create a softer aesthetic.
      Pinkish cement flooring also differentiates the entryway. Built-in white wardrobes in the hallway conceal a hidden room that is used as a study.

      The bedroom has a micro cement floor
      La Macchina Studio was founded by Puri and Siracusa in 2013 and is based in Rome.
      More exciting Roman apartment renovations include a flat with terracotta-coloured walls and an apartment with a reading den visible through a porthole-style cutout.
      Photography is by Paolo Fusco.

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      Trahan Architects creates curving wooden balconies for Atlanta theatre

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      US firm Trahan Architects has renovated the Coca-Cola Stage at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta, Georgia, using steam-bent timber to form an undulating auditorium.Constructed in 1968, the 650-seat Alliance Theater is part of the Woodruff Arts Center campus in the state capital of Georgia.

      The 1960s theatre was gutted and refurbished
      For the renovation, Trahan Architects stripped the interiors of the lobby, theatre and backstage areas back to the original concrete walls.
      New York-based, steam-bent furniture designer Matthias Pliessnig collaborated on the design of the wooden elements, which were made by fabrication specialists CW Keller Associates.

      Steam-bent timber curves around the seating. Photo by Trahan Architecture

      Pliessnig created a 1:1 scale mock-up of the Coca-Cola Stage at the Alliance Theater and shared his expertise in steam bending wood, a process that involves heating wood to make it pliable and bending it by hand.

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      “The result is a series of beautiful steam-bent millwork guardrails and balconies that merge handcraft with mass production,” said Trahan Architects.
      “The synthesis of acoustic performance, hand-driven artistry, and sophisticated laser positioning are all carefully choreographed to execute the complex steam-bent millwork without the need for wasteful CNC moulds.”

      All of the seating zones are connected in the theatre
      The seating is now 10 feet (three metres) closer to the stage than before, and the seating of the stalls abuts the orchestra pit.
      Seating stacked around and above the stalls in the balconies are defined by curving wooden elements but are not separated.
      The architects said this design decision was a symbolic one to draw on Atlanta’s history. The city was America’s most racially segregated after 1865 when slaved were freed in the US, right up until the 1960s.
      During this period, black people were barred from eating at certain restaurants or attending certain cinemas reserved for white patrons or were forced to sit in separate seating.

      Trahan Architects worked with a sculptor on the wooden design
      “The design team felt a responsibility to remove the separation between balcony and orchestra – challenging historic notions of segregation and discrimination,” said Trahan Architects.
      “All seating zones can be accessed from every entrance within the chamber.”

      Steam-bending timber created less waste than CNC cutting the wood
      Based in New Orleans and New York, Trahan Architects was founded in 1992 by Trey Trahan. Previous work by the practice includes a visitor centre for an 18th-century plantation in Louisiana.
      The Coca-Cola Stage at the Alliance Theater is shortlisted for Dezeen Awards 2020 in the civic and cultural interior category, along with a museum in Pittsburgh built in a ligtening-struck library and a museum of architecture models in China.
      Photography is by Leonid Furmansky unless otherwise stated.
      Project credits:
      Architect: Trahan ArchitectsDesign team: Trey Trahan, Leigh Breslau, Brad McWhirter, Robbie Eleazer, James Babin, Scott Melançon, Conway Pedron, Ayesha Husain, Sarah Hussaini, Wenyun Qian, Andrew FuArtist collaboration: Matthias PliessnigMillwork fabrication: CW Keller AssociatesTheatre consultants: Theatre Projects ConsultantsAcoustics: Talaske GroupStructural engineer: Uzun + CaseMEP: DLB Associates Consulting EngineersLighting designer: Fisher Marantz StoneGraphic design: ThirstLife safety: Jensen HughesProject and cost management: Cost+ Plus VerticalTransportation: Lerch Bates

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      Old gymnasium transformed into lofty apartment in Amsterdam

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      Wooden detailing and black-painted steel fill the lofty interiors of The Gymnasium apartment that Robbert De Goede has built within an old sports hall in the Netherlands.Located near the centre of Amsterdam, the adaptive reuse project was developed by local studio Robbert De Goede as an unconventional yet homely dwelling for a family of four.
      The Gymnasium is shortlisted for apartment interior of the year at the Dezeen Awards and was the winner of the Dezeen Awards 2020 public vote for the same category.

      The Gymnasium is built within an old sports hall

      “The objective was to design an intimate, liveable home,” said Robbert De Goede.
      “This resulted in a minimal, industrial approach towards the architecture and a very personal approach towards the finishes, which reflects the clients as well – the owner of a fashion brand and a paediatrician,” the studio explained.
      “They are a very down to earth family, which resulted in a very spacious and luxurious home, but definitely not a showroom for design props.”

      The apartment’s living spaces are at ground level
      The Gymnasium’s main living areas are contained on the ground floor, while a new mezzanine level inserted around the gymnasium’s perimeter hosts the bedrooms and bathrooms.
      A basement, which formed part of the original building, contains a gym and a sauna, alongside the dwelling’s technical equipment.

      Steel window frames have been added to complement the existing structure
      The basement was originally only 1.2 metres in height, so to ensure its usability, the studio raised its ceiling – creating a cosy, elevated living room above it at ground level.
      This living area is accessed by a bleacher-like staircase and is intended to offer the family a secluded, intimate seating area, reading space or home cinema.

      An elevated sitting area is positioned above an existing basement
      The only original element of The Gymansium that was retained was its existing steel structure, which was initially hidden behind a flat ceiling.
      This ceiling was removed as part of the construction process to create the apartment’s loft-like atmosphere and also introduce 10 skylights that maximise the light inside.

      Old Spanish workshop converted into tactile family home by Nomos

      To complement The Gymansium’s existing structure, Robbert De Goede designed the new mezzanine level with a matching black-painted steel structure.
      This is left exposed throughout, and paired with a black staircase and window frames.

      Wooden details and furnishings are used to warm the apartment
      Another key addition of the apartment is its new foundation, which features 18-metre-long piles that contain a heat-exchanging system to help heat and cool the dwelling.
      Teamed with 44 rooftop solar panels that provide electricity, this heat-exchanging system is designed to reduce the dwelling’s carbon footprint.

      A black-painted staircase leads up to a new mezzanine level
      The interior finishes of The Gymnasium are characterised by a combination of different wood finishes and tactile furnishings.
      According to Robbert De Goede, this was to warm its industrial structure and create a “building you can touch, maybe even smell sometimes”.

      The mezzanine level contains the bedrooms and bathrooms
      Among the wooden details are chunky central columns, the rough countertop made from larch in the kitchen and unfinished oak on the underside of the mezzanine level.
      The smooth stair railings, which are made from yellow cedar, are modelled on the work of Japanese sculptor Shimpei Arima who uses cedar to create tactile sculptures that offer comfort to users.
      Each space is complete with sculptural lighting by the likes of Delta Light, Bocci and Tom Dixon, alongside furnishings ranging from one-off vintage pieces to statement furniture by Stella Works, Flexform and Lucie Koldova.

      A bathroom on The Gymnasium’s mezzanine level
      The Gymnasium is one of five dwellings shortlisted for apartment interior of the year at the Dezeen Awards 2020. This includes the La Nave apartment in Madrid that Nomos built within a former print shop and Coffey Architects’ overhaul of a Grade II-listed school classroom.
      Other recent adaptive reuse projects on Dezeen include Richard Parr Associates’ self-designed studio in a 19th-century barn in the Cotswolds and an old nylon factory that was converted into “cathedral-like” office space by HofmanDujardin and Schipper Bosch.
      Photography is by Marcel van der Burg.

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      Luke Edward Hall stirs print and colour inside Hotel Les Deux Gares in Paris

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      A clashing mix of pea-green walls, leopard-print furnishings and candy-striped beds feature in this hotel that British designer Luke Edward Hall has completed in Paris.Hotel Les Deux Gares is tucked down a narrow street in Paris’ 10th arrondissement, set between two of the city’s major train stations – Gare du Nord and Gare de l’Est.

      The hotel’s entrance lobby. Top image: one of the hotel’s olive-green guest bedrooms
      The five-storey building had been left vacant for a number of years, but when Luke Edward Hall was brought on board to design the interiors, the focus wasn’t on making the rooms seem more contemporary.

      Hall instead set out to fashion an “anti-modern” aesthetic that nodded to a Paris of the past.

      Chintzy wallpaper and leopard-print furniture decorate the lobby
      “I love listening to stories from the past and feeling as though I’m entering another, more elegant era,” explained Hall, who is based in London.
      “I always begin my projects by leafing through old books and magazines; then, I visit galleries and museums. I allow myself the time to dream and invent stories.”

      Breakfast and coffee is also offered to guests in the lobby
      The hotel is entered via a vivid lobby, where Hall has created a riotous collision of pattern and colour. The lower half of the walls have been painted pea-green, while the upper half has been covered in chintzy, pale blue wallpaper with a maroon-coloured motif.
      Black-and-white chevron flooring runs throughout.

      Headboards have a candy-striped pattern
      Guests can sit back on the room’s plush sofas – one of which is completely upholstered in leopard print fabric, the other is cobalt blue with bright-red fringing. There’s also a couple of striped pink-satin armchairs arranged beneath a portrait that Hall painted himself.
      “I really wanted this space to feel above all joyful and welcoming and alive, classic but a little bonkers at the same time,” added Hall.

      Luke Edward Hall has added illustrations to the bedrooms’ lampshades
      This bold palette continues upstairs in the forty guest bedrooms, which have been painted sky blue, violet or olive green.
      Each room features geometric carpeting, a candy-striped headboard and a canary-yellow armchair and pouf created bespoke by Hall.
      The designer has also personalised the reading lamps above the bedside tables with sketchy doodles of martini glasses, the Eiffel tower and different French words.

      Bathrooms in the hotel are equally bright in colour
      Even the hotel’s gym boasts graphic red-and-white checkerboard flooring and floral wallpaper from Swedish homeware brand Svenskt Tenn.

      Hoy hotel is designed to be a calming refuge at the heart of Paris

      Breakfast can be enjoyed down in the lobby, or across the street from the hotel in Cafe Les Deux Gares which Hall also designed.

      The gym features floral wallpaper and checkboard flooring
      Intended to feel much like a traditional Parisian eatery, the space has been finished with stripy seating banquettes and wooden bistro chairs from Thonet.
      Vintage exhibition posters have also been mounted on the walls in a wink at the fact that the city’s cafes were once hotspots for “social and cultural exchange”.
      The cafe is topped by a tortoiseshell-effect ceiling painted by local artist Pauline Leyravaud.

      The hotel’s cafe across the road boasts a tortoiseshell-effect ceiling
      Hotel Les Deux Gares is the first large-scale interiors project by Luke Edward Hall, who set up his self-titled design studio in 2015.
      Other spots to stay around the French capital include hotel Hoy, which has TV-free rooms and an in-house yoga studio so that guests can escape the chaotic hustle and bustle of Paris’ streets.
      Photography is by Benoit Linero.

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      Ritz & Ghougassian uses bricks and Australian wood inside Melbourne's Prior cafe

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      The rustic materiality of this Melbourne cafe designed by architecture studio Ritz & Ghougassian is meant to reflect the fuss-free dishes on the menu.Prior is situated along the lively high street of Melbourne’s Thornbury suburb, taking over a building that once served as an industrial printing house.

      Prior cafe occupies a building that was once a printing house
      When Ritz & Ghougassian were brought on board to develop the interiors of the cafe, it stripped back any decorative elements left behind from the old fit-out, only preserving the brick walls and eight-metre-high truss ceiling.

      “It was clear to us that we had to honour the original space by proposing an intervention that sat apart from the original framework of the building,” the studio’s co-founder, Jean-Paul Ghougassian, told Dezeen.

      Bricks cover the cafe’s floor and the base of the service bar
      The space now features just a handful of elements made from unfussy materials that reflect the simple “paddock-to-plate” ethos that Prior applies to its menu.
      Bricks run across the floor and form the base of the service bar that lies on one side of the room.

      Concrete and terrazzo furniture feature in Ritz&Ghougassian’s minimal cafe interior

      Apricot-hued concrete forms the upper half of the bar and the chunky ledge that runs around its outer side, providing a place for customers to rest beverages or snacks.
      The hot drinks menu is presented on a mirrored panel behind the bar. It stands beside a single shelf that displays a curated selection of wine or bags of coffee which are available to buy.

      Apricot-hued concrete forms the top of the service bar
      “Honest, elegant and refined flavours informed the built environment; by taking a reductive approach to the design both in materiality and form ultimately allowed the food to be the hero,” Ghougassian explained.
      “Rather than simply creating a slick new eatery, there’s a warmth and richness to the space, celebrating the unevenness and rough textures of the walls and floors.”

      Seating throughout the cafe is crafted from Australian Blackbutt wood
      Customers can alternatively dine at the black-steel counters that have been built into the cafe’s front windows or along the seating banquette that runs along the far side of the room, upholstered in chestnut-brown leather.
      The banquette faces onto a row of dining tables which, along with the cafe’s bench-style seats and stools, have been crafted from Australian Blackbutt wood.
      “Like much of our work, using materials that are locally sourced and manufactured is important to us – this brings about an authenticity and specificity to the design that isn’t easily replicated,” added Ghougassian.

      There’s also a brown-leather seating banquette
      At the centre of the floor plan is a box filled with timber logs and a wood burner that the studio hopes will serve as a comforting focal point of the cafe, especially during the chilly winter months.
      Surrounding walls and the ceiling were freshened up with a coat of white paint.

      A wood burner sits at the centre of the cafe
      Ritz & Ghougassian was founded in 2016 by Jean-Paul Ghougassian and Gilad Ritz. Prior isn’t the only cafe that the studio has designed in its home city of Melbourne – back in 2018 it completed Bentwood, which boasts brick-red interiors.
      In 2017, the studio also created Penta, a minimal cafe that features concrete, terrazzo and silver-metal surfaces.
      Photography is by Tom Ross.

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      Torrado Arquitectos carries out subtle renovation of 1930s Buenos Aires house

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      Argentinian studio Torrado Arquitectos has used material that match the original home for its renovation of House in Barrio Parque in Buenos AiresThe local studio renovated and reconfigured the property, which was completed in 1938 by architect Alberto Rodriguez Etchetoc, but aimed to change the appearance as little as possible.

      Top: The house is on a corner plot in the city. Above: House in Barrio Parque has fresh white walls.
      “The aesthetic concept of imitating is known as mimesis, in which the imitation cannot be compared to the original, on the contrary, it becomes its equivalent,” said Torrado Arquitectos.

      “It is within this frame of work that the renovation and extension of the House in Barrio Parque was planned,” it continued.
      “The addition of new bedrooms, the new circulation and the relocation of service areas blend with the original project, at times completely disappearing.”

      Arched opening leads to garden
      The house is one of two properties built on a corner plot in the Argentinian capital city, giving it an unusual triangular footprint. Two spiral staircases lead up its three floors: one has stone steps while the other has wooden treads.
      Reddish brick forms the exterior, while inside its tall walls are updated with fresh white paint coating tiles and prominent skirting and cornice moulding.

      The main intervention is wood cabinets
      Decorative details include the insertion of glass that is cut to match the ceiling trim so it is difficult to see, and also allows natural light between spaces.
      New materials, including wood veneer and marble flooring, were also chosen to match the existing finishes.

      Windows meet the ornate ceiling detail
      “There is almost no difference in the materials chosen for the renovation,” the studio added.
      “Few new materials were used, the veneer chosen for the furniture and divisions and the travertino marble with a rustic finish for the floors, all blend with the white stucco and the Slavonian oak wooden floor already existent.”

      Modernist furniture alludes to the house’s history
      Torrado Arquitectos said it did make two big interventions in the project: “only two sectors in the kitchen and the dressing room, completely built with wooden panels, are a proper renovation, the rest is a work of invisible conservation and restoration, mimesis of a longed past”.

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      Wood kitchen cabinetry is paired with marble splashback and limestone flooring in the kitchen. An arched window with doors that open onto the back garden where there is a seating deck and a small pool.

      Wooden herringbone flooring on an upper level
      Storage in the dressing room is also paired with the limestone, which extends to form walls of the bathroom and shower.
      In the adjoining living room and dining room wood herringbone flooring offsets white walls, while modernist furniture allude to the building’s history.

      Wood cabinets are paired with limestone flooring in the dressing room
      Other recently completed residential projects in Buenos Aires include the extension of a courtyard house designed by Hernan Landolfo and Marcos Asa and a small apartment that IR Arquitectura created from a leftover corner of a 1950s building.
      Photography is by Javier Agustin Rojas.
      Project credits:
      Project and design: Torrado ArquitectosProject team: Martin Torrado, Architect Ligia Gaffuri, Architect Gonzalo Yerba, Architect Leandro Valdivieso, Architect Mora Linares

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      Old nylon factory converted into “cathedral-like” office space

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      HofmanDujardin and Schipper Bosch have inserted a steel frame into the expansive production hall of an old nylon factory in Arnhem to create the KB Building offices. The office is housed within one of several 1940s factories on a 90-hectare chemical-industry plant in the Netherlands, which local developer Schipper Bosch is transforming into a campus
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      Architect John Wardle renovates his own house in Australia

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      The founder of John Wardle Architects has remodelled Kew Residence, his Melbourne home of 25 years, using Victorian ash and handmade glazed tiles from Japan.John Wardle and his wife Susan have owned the two-storey house, which has been shortlisted for Dezeen Awards 2020 house interior of the year, for a quarter of a decade and renovated it multiple times.

      Wardle has owned Kew Residence for 25 years
      “My first year of practice coincided with my first year of homeownership,” he told Dezeen.

      “I undertook the pre-purchase inspection of the house and completely missed the tell-tale sign of termite infestation throughout which required a more substantial re-build than first anticipated!” he added.
      “Three children wore out the last iteration.”

      Victorian ash lines the walls, floors and ceilings
      With the couple’s adult children now grown up and moved out, the kitchen and the first-floor study became the focal point of the house.  For this version of Kew Residence, the architect focused on creating spaces to display his art collection.
      “Of particular interest to me is the study especially during this time in lockdown, as I spend just about all my daylight hours solely in this space,” said Wardle.
      Here, built-in shelves form an informal display for the couple’s collection of ceramic art and sculpture.

      Built-in bookshelves line the study
      Victorian ash clads the floors and ceiling to create the sensation of a “cocoon” with views of the leafy garden beyond.
      “The corner window arrangement is a direct reference to a composition of the window seat in the living room of the Fisher House in Pennsylvania by Louis Kahn,” explained the architect.
      “My arrangement of five windowpanes, ventilation panel and a window seat is abstracted from the original as I’ve arranged them around my view out across Melbourne.”

      The architect collects Japanese sculptures
      The wood also forms plinths for displaying certain sculptures and acts as a neutral backdrop for the art displayed on shelves.
      “For many years I’ve had a fascination for ceramics both as objects and the process of their making and have collected many objects from many places over time,” said the architect.
      “My travels to Japan have resulted in many of my favourite pieces.”

      The staircase is also made from Victorian ash
      Concealed sliding panels, discrete hand pulls and hidden cupboards conceal storage throughout Kew Residence.
      Wardle designed the joinery, including the built-in bookcases and main staircase, himself and had it built by expert craftspeople.

      Wood and ceramic tiles in the kitchen
      His choice of timber, Victorian ash, is the main material used throughout the house.
      “I’ve always had an affinity for this beautiful primary indigenous species,” said Wardle.
      “Vast forests of this majestic tree were decimated in bushfires here in Australia earlier this year, unfortunately. It’s not something I would feel confident in specifying again until substantial regrowth occurs.”

      Grooved tiles form a tall splashback in the kitchen
      The timber features in the kitchen too, alongside dark and striking ceramic tiles made by INAX in Japan. These narrow, concave tiles have been arranged vertically to create an interestingly textured splashback that reaches to the wood-lined ceiling.
      INAX tiles also line the master bathroom, which was built in an earlier extension to Kew Residence.

      INAX tiles from Japan feature in the bathroom
      Wardle has visited Tokoname, where the makers live, and Kew Residence features five different styles of the ceramic tiles.

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      “Our practice has a long association with INAX, the Japanese tile manufacturer, having used their tiles in the suspended gallery in our Phoenix project, as well as 60,000 plus individual tiles embedded into the concrete facade panels of our Melbourne Conservatorium project,” said Wardle.
      “The ancestors of INAX produced the tiles so loved by Frank Lloyd Wright and his partners and used to great effect on the Imperial Hotel.”

      Five different kinds of tiles decorate the house
      Phoenix Central Park, an arts venue designed jointly by John Wardle Architects and Durbach Block Jaggers, has also been shortlisted for Dezeen Awards 2020.
      Earlier this year Wardle was awarded the Gold Medal from the Australian Institute of Architects.
      Photography is by Trevor Mein and Sharyn Cairns.
      Project credits:
      Architect: John Wardle ArchitectsProject director: John WardleModel maker and designer: Andrew WongPA: Luca VezzosiInterior Designer: Jeff Arnold, Elisabetta ZanellaConstruction: Overend ConstructionStructural Engineer: 4 Site EngineersBuilding Services Engineer: JWABuilding Surveyor: Sampson Wong

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