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    BLUE Architecture Studio adds U-shaped glass box to Shanghai coffee shop

    Beijing-based BLUE Architecture Studio has renovated the % Arabica West shop in Shanghai’s Xuhui district, adding a glass box and a courtyard to open the cafe up to the surrounding neighbourhood.The studio’s aim for the 50-square-metre renovation was to break the boundary between the commercial space and the street.
    To do so it designed a U-shaped glass box, which contains the coffee counter, till and preparation area, in place of a regular facade. The box is surrounded by a courtyard-style seating area.

    Top: a glass box instead of a facade opens the cafe up. Above: trees in the cafe courtyard make it blend in with the street

    “The space is completely opened up to form a small courtyard around a U-shaped glass box,” the studio said.
    “Curved glass doors that can be completely opened, and ground materials that extend in from the outside.”

    Customers sit on built-in cement benches
    BLUE Architecture Studio also took the minimal style of % Arabica’s shops into consideration when creating the design, which has been shortlisted for Dezeen Awards 2020 in the restaurant interior category.
    “The use of materials continues the brand’s consistent minimalist style, using white paint and plain cement as the keynote,” BLUE co-founder and architect Shuhei Aoyama told Dezeen.
    “Green plants become the protagonist of the space, blurring the boundary between indoor and outdoor.”

    The studio used white and grey hues to create the minimalist design
    Built-in cement benches along the walls provide seating space, while green plants were used to enhance the courtyard feel and create a dialogue with the Chinese parasol trees that line the street.
    “The shops make part of their commercial space outdoor and contribute to the city street,” Aoyama said.

    The coffee shop is located in the Xuhui district in Shanghai
    “Although the commercial area of the shops is smaller, they create a rich three-dimensional street space experience, so that people’s life can truly relate to the urban space,” he added.
    An air conditioning system was installed at the outdoor lounge area, as well as an air curtain machine at the entrance, to create a “more pleasant experience” in both winter and summer.

    DooSooGoBang restaurant in South Korea references Buddhist practices

    BLUE Architecture Studio was founded by Japanese architects Yoko Fujii and Shuhei Aoyama in Beijing in 2014.
    The % Arabica West coffee shop will compete against four other restaurant interiors in the restaurant interiors awards category, including the Embers restaurant in Taipei that features a “vortex” of cedar planks and South Korea’s minimalist DooSooGoBang restaurant.
    Photography is by Eiichi Kano.

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    Archmongers uses primary colours to revive a home in the modernist Golden Lane Estate

    London studio Archmongers has renovated a duplex flat in one of the city’s most influential housing estates, using shades of red, yellow and blue to complement the modernist materials palette.The three-bedroom home is located within Hatfield House on the Golden Lane Estate, a complex designed and built in the 1950s by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, the same architects responsible for the Barbican.

    The renovation celebrates the original design of the Golden Lane flat
    Archmongers’ refurbishment is designed to celebrate the flat’s key features – the bright and open living spaces, the efficient organisation of spaces, and material details like the terrazzo stairs and tiled surfaces.
    Referencing historic photos of original Golden Lane flats, architects Margaret Bursa and Johan Hybschmann sought to reinstate details that had been removed or covered over in an earlier remodelling, which they described as “mundanely neutral”.

    Wooden frames create subtle separation between kitchen and living spaces

    The architects added chunky wooden frames to recreate separation between the kitchen and lounge space, without losing the visual connection.
    Bespoke steel storage cabinets were installed, while original hardwood window frames and parquet flooring were uncovered.

    Details are picked out in primary colours
    “The biggest change was, in many ways, bringing it back to what it once was,” Hybschmann told Dezeen. “Not because we had to, but because it made a lot of sense.”
    “The original palette of materials felt very modern and we wanted any new element or surface to be as relevant for many years to come.”

    These bright colours also feature in the bedrooms
    Bursa and Hybschmann chose to apply primary colours to various details in the renovated flat, referencing some of the historic exterior details on the Golden Lane Estate.
    Shades of red and yellow highlight the front door and entrance area. The same hues feature in the first floor bedrooms and bathroom, along with blue tones – the idea was to give every room its own colour, in a high-gloss finish.

    Each bedroom has its own colour
    “We’ve tried as best as possible to colour match the red, yellow, blue and dark blue exterior panels of each of the blocks making up the estate,” explained Hybschmann.
    “They work very well together and it’s a nice reference to bring into the interiors of the building.”

    The colours reference details on the building’s exterior
    Other material details also help to tie spaces together. The granite surfaces in the kitchen echo the terrazzo of the staircase, while the new black quarry tiles in the kitchen match up with those in the external hallways.

    Studio Ben Allen makes Room for One More inside Barbican flat

    The bathroom was given an upgrade too, to make it more suitable for modern living. It now includes a Japanese-style bath and a walk-in shower, with a new internal window that allows more daylight in.
    The home is brought to life by the addition of the clients’ midcentury furniture and large book collection.

    The bathroom was updated with a Japanese-style bath and walk-in shower
    Archmongers has previously worked on other modernist refurbishments, in the Barbican and The Ryde in Hertfordshire, along with various council houses in London. The architects’ ongoing aim is to show the inherent potential in these midcentury buildings.
    “Being able to work on another of London’s iconic modernist estates was a privilege,” added Bursa.
    “Our experience helped us to deliver spaces sympathetic to the original vision while also creating a home that will intrigue, invite exploration, and provide opportunities for people to discover, enjoy, and deepen their engagement with modernist architecture.”
    Photography is by French + Tye.

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    Century-old Japanese dwelling transformed into minimalist guesthouse

    Japanese architect Uoya Shigenori stripped back and reconfigured this 100-year-old townhouse in Kyoto to create moody and tranquil interiors for Maana Kamo guesthouse.Located in the historic Higashiyama District, the hotel was designed by Shigenori for Maana Homes, the owner of a collection of luxury retreats hidden within some of the Japanese city’s old streets.

    The main living room inside Maana Kamo guesthouse
    The goal of the renovation was to preserve and expose the dwelling’s original structure while creating a minimalist retreat for quiet contemplation.
    It has been shortlisted for the hotel and short stay interior of the year at the Dezeen Awards 2020.

    Its guestroom can be adapted into a yoga space

    “Preserving and highlighting the house’s imperfectly aged beauty is the backbone of our design philosophy,” said Maana Homes.
    “The beauty and soul of a traditional Japanese townhome is in its structural elements.”

    The kitchen has a central island covered with layers of Urushi
    Prior to the renovation, Maana Kamo was in a poor condition with unsightly vinyl wall coverings, tile ceilings and broken floorboards.
    These finishes were all removed, exposing the old house’s rough, wooden structure and original walls that are made from clay.

    A double vanity features in the new moody bathroom
    These original details have been teamed with dark, moody furnishings and subdued lighting, alongside new timber walls and floors lined with traditional straw tatami mats.
    Ornament is kept to a minimum throughout, while storage spaces for the hotel staff are disguised within the walls.

    Events space opens inside revamped century-old machiya house in Kyoto

    The lack of ornament is to ensure Maana Kamo guesthouse is “visually quiet” and free from distraction, providing occupants with space to slow down and reflect.
    It also allows rooms to be easily adapted, for example, a guest room on the second floor can be quickly converted into a space for yoga and meditation.

    The decoration is limited to a few handcrafted ornaments
    One of the biggest changes Shigenori made to the dwelling was the repositioning of the kitchen from a narrow space at the rear of the dwelling to a larger area at the front.
    This made space for a large kitchen island that is covered with layers of Urushi – a traditional Japanese lacquer made of tree sap that is water-resistant –and a wall of wooden cabinetry and shelves filled with local, handcrafted kitchenware.

    The building’s original structure clay walls are exposed throughout
    Where the old kitchen once stood, Shigenori has inserted a double-vanity bathroom with a shower that overlooks a private garden at the rear of the dwelling.
    The guesthouse is complete with an oversized Japanese-style bathtub that is accessed from the living room. It has a view out to the private garden and is intended to evoke the feeling of bathing in an onsen – a Japanese bathing facility positioned around a hot spring.

    Its old and dark wooden structure has also been revealed throughout
    In 2016, Shigenori collaborated with Masashi Koyama on the restoration of a century-old machiya house in Kyoto to create an events space. Similarly to Maana Kamo, the goal of the design was to celebrate the architecture and history of the space.
    Other projects up for short stay interior of the year at the Dezeen Awards 2020 include the small Escondido Oaxaca Hotel in Mexico by Decada and Carlos Couturier and OHLAB’s extension of a rural hotel in Mallorca.
    Photos are courtesy of Maana Homes.

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    Retroscena is a colourful apartment renovation by La Macchina Studio

    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

    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.

    Revolving auditorium is showpiece of Boulevard theatre by SODA

    “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

    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

    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

    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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