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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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      Plaster walls of Jaffa Roofhouse imbue apartment with history and warmth

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      Gitai Architects has renovated an apartment in Jaffa, Israel with curved walls, plasterwork and pale floors to resemble the ancient port city’s limestone buildings.The studio overhauled the 270-square-metre apartment for a couple. It includes a combination of curved and linear elements to fuse traditional craftsmanship with more contemporary details.

      Called Jaffa Roofhouse, the project is a rooftop apartment that is in the shape of a cross with outdoor patios framing three sides of the unit. The unit has expansive views of the Mediterranea Sea, as well as Jaffa’s iconic Al Bahr Mosque minaret.

      “The Jaffa Roofhouse is situated at the ancient port of the city of Jaffa, reputed to be one of the oldest ports in the world, out of which modern-day Tel Aviv has grown,” said Ben Gitai, who founded the studio in 2014.
      “This Roofhouse is designed to feel suspended in the air of Jaffa-Tel Aviv and grounded by its materiality.”

      Gitai Architects sought to renovate the apartment with curved walls to soften its existing boxy shell. Covered in plaster, the walls change in hue from golden to lavender shades as the sun rises and sets across the city.
      The curved walls feature in the living room. One conceals a galley-style kitchen with dark cabinets, the second accommodates a built-in dining nook and the third houses a bedroom.

      These curved structures, which are made of compressed soil and straw and covered with lime plaster from Israeli company ArcoLime, were constructed at an offset from the concrete existing shell.

      Spiral stair twists up to rooftop of penthouse at Pawson’s The Jaffa hotel

      A gap between the apartment’s original concrete walls and the natural covering applied over them allows for air to flow inside and promote a natural circulation to help regulate humidity and temperature.

      “Materiality was of premier importance in the spatial atmosphere and expression of this project, with most of its elements being earth-made from soil sourced from the local area,” the studio said.
      “Throughout the design development of the project, a profound dialogue was in-stored between the Roofhouse and the surrounding landscape.”

      The master suite has more curved walls forming rounded nooks for a walk-in closet and shelving.
      Curved elements extend outside the apartment as well for a rounded built-in seating nook on the terrace with cushions and a U-shaped seating arrangement. An outdoor dining area has an oval-shaped table to seat 20 people and is covered by a pergola for shade. Completing the roof terrace is a wall-like garden that was custom made for the project with 450 different ceramic pots created by hand.

      In addition to this project, Gitai Architects has also built a rammed-earth observatory in Israel’s Negev desert. The studio has offices in Haifa, Israel and Paris, France.
      Israel’s historic centre of Jaffa is about a 10-minute drive south of the heart of Tel Aviv. Another apartment in Jaffa to similarly feature a mixture of old-world and contemporary styles is a penthouse by Pitsou Kedem and Baranowitz & Goldberg.
      Photography is by Dan Bronfeld.
      Project credits:
      Design team: Ben Gitai, Charly Crochu, Cloe Constantini, Dani Guinness, Meitar Tewel, Itay aviram, Sara Arneberg GitaiCuration: Isabelle WolfClients: Isabelle Wolff, Yves TirmanEngineering: Kobi BenishuLandscape: Sachar Tzur of Studio TzuraConsultants: Yonathan SteinbergerCollaborators: Stella Projects, Tal Banker

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      The Wayfinder hotel designed to “feel as if you were staying with friends” in Rhode Island

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      New York design practice Reunion Goods & Services has renovated this hotel in Rhode Island to be reminiscent of a colourful home with a fireplace and cosy seating nooks.Formerly the Mainstay Hotel, The Wayfinder property is located in Newport and was refurbished by Reunion Goods & Services for developer Dovetail + Co. It includes 197 suites, a restaurant, lounge, patio and outdoor swimming pool.

      Reunion Goods & Services designed the hotel to be evocative of a house rather than a hotel and sought to optimise the amount of natural light. White walls are enlivened with a variety of colours like burnt red, blue, green and mustard.

      “The goal of this project was to freshen the spaces and bring as much light into the rooms as possible,” the team said. “The intent was always for the rooms to feel as if you were staying with friends or at a summer house.”

      The rest of the interior design is a combination of existing details, like stone and terrazzo floors with wood-panelled walls, alongside woven and wooden furniture pieces for a relaxed yet playful feel.
      The lobby features its original white terrazzo flooring with a new dark blue ceiling for contrast, while a free-standing fireplace in mustard with a glass enclosure is the focal point. It is surrounded by a custom white sofa in a U-shape.

      The hotel rooms have a paler palette reflective of the hotel’s beach location with off-white walls and chair railing in soft blue and green tones.

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      Continuing the relaxed, residential aesthetic is a lounge area with couches, pouffes, indoor plants, chairs, woven roller shades and woven cane dining chairs. Colourful fabrics enliven the space with its stone floors, while window trim is teal.

      The sitting area joins the hotel restaurant Nomi Park, which has bolder colours like red-tiled walls, burnt orange leather banquettes, a bar clad in light blue tiles and dining benches upholstered in a cheetah print.
      The wood dining chairs in dark blue are made locally by O & G Studio that is one of the emerging studios based in Rhode Island.

      Art by more local artists rounds out the interiors, including a piece in the restaurant by Mea Duke and a mural outside in the patio near the swimming pool by Sean Spellman. Others artists whose work is displayed are Catherine Druken, Jenn Shore, Jenny Brown and Liz Kelley.

      In addition to the Wayfinder hotel, other boutique accommodations in small towns and rural areas of the Northeastern United States are Tourists hotel in Massachusetts’ Berkshires region, Scribner’s Catskill Lodge, Sound View on Long Island and Troutbeck hotel by Champalimaud.
      Photography is by Read McKendree.

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      White stucco Casa Mami by Working Holiday Studio contrasts California desert landscape

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      Los Angeles design firm Working Holiday Studio has transformed a property in the California desert into a shoppable holiday home that “stands out” against its desolate landscape Casa Mami is located in Pioneertown, California, an unincorporated community outside of Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California.
      After visiting the area Carlos Naude and Whitney Brown of Working Holiday Studio wanted to purchase a house of their own to spend holidays in and to rent out to overnight guests.

      The 92-square-metre stucco house has an adobe-style construction and is situated on five acres (1.6 hectares) overlooking the barren desert landscape.

      To make the tiny building “stand out” against its surroundings a black portico contrasts the updated white exterior and light-coloured gravel around the property juxtaposes the sandy ground.

      “Most houses around the desert in that area try to blend in with the environment through earthy and brown tones, we wanted the opposite, we wanted our house to stand out which is why we chose to surround the house with white gravel to create a separation between the desert ground and house and painted it white and black, which not only made it really stand out but also brought a Mediterranean feel to it which is a good contrast to the dry hot desert,” Naude told Dezeen.

      For the interiors, the designers took cues from Scandinavian and Japanese design styles. This was coupled with bright colours found in work by Mexican architect Luis Barragán and a mix of pattern and shape used by French interior designer Jacques Granges and British designer Terence Conran.

      “I would say that we borrowed Luis Barragán’s use of colour – like the monochromatic yellow hallway, Jacques Grange’s ability to mix styles – between Scandinavian and Japanese, and Terence Conran’s incorporation of playful shapes and silhouettes,” he added.

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      Beige walls are paired with white moulding and painted grey floors throughout the house. In the kitchen the cabinets and drawers are punctured with a tiny hole to form a handle instead of with a traditional metal knob.

      A set of translucent glass doors with black trim is situated between the open-plan kitchen and living space frames the desert landscape, which is speckled with vegetation. Another pair is located in the master bedroom furnished with two semicircular nightstands and black light fixtures.

      In the living there is blue couch with rounded cushions and a circular coffee table topped with a terrazzo surface. The furnishings face a white, sphere-shaped fireplace installed to heat the tiny home.

      Photograph is by Candida Wohlgemuth
      The studio worked with over 30 brands to decorate the space with furniture, appliances and houseware items that guests can purchase online, forming part a new trend to design “shoppable stays”.
      Others include a holiday house in Maine designed by An Aesthetic Pursuit to showcase its new furniture collection and a rental property in Long Island Studio Robert McKinley has decorated to double as a showroom.

      Other details of Casa Mami are a hallway with bright yellow walls, decorative potted plants and an outdoor patio nestled into a corner of the structure.
      It is also powered by solar panels and a hauled water system, so the homeowners and guests are more conscious about their energy and water usage.

      Casa Mami has been longlisted in the hotel and short stay interior project category of Dezeen Awards 2020, with shortlists set to be announced at the start of September.
      Working Holiday Studio is a Los Angeles design studio led by husband and wife duo Carlos Naude and Whitney Brown. It worked with Francesca de la Fuente on the renovation of The Ruby Street co-working space in Los Angeles.
      Photography is by Carlos Naude, unless noted otherwise.

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      Long wooden cabinet runs through slender Borden house by StudioAC

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      Pale woodwork wrapping white-painted walls forms storage to make more space in this 14-foot-wide house in Toronto, which has been overhauled by local firm StudioAC.The Borden project is the renovation of a Victorian-era, three-storey residence in Annex, a neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto.

      Like many other properties in the area the house has a “very slender” width measuring 14 foot (4.2 metres) wide, which is approximately half the length of a London bus.

      Focused on the the ground-floor living area and second floor bedroom, StudioAC’s overhaul aimed to emphasise the tall ceilings of the house and give the impression of more space inside.
      It painted the walls and ceilings white and added short wood cabinets, which it describes as “contemporary wainscotting”, to highlight the height of the walls.

      “With soaring ceiling heights, we wanted to articulate the interior in a way that felt intimate while maintaining an open slender floor plan,” StudioAC explained.
      “We utilised a language of wrapping the flooring material up to counter-height to create a nestled feeling throughout the ground floor and the level three bedroom suite.”

      In turn, the cabinetry is also used to conceal storage and functions, making more space in the floor. One of the cabinets stretches the floor length of the ground floor to form the base of a built-in fireplace and kitchen counter. Both the chimney and the oven are built out in white volumes on top.
      The decor of the space, including wood flooring and furniture, and mirrored walls, complements the simple aesthetic. A white couch is placed at the front beneath a large window covered with translucent, white curtains.

      Matching wooden cabinetry continues in the top floor main bedroom, extending around the bed and forming short storage cabinets, and closets.

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      “The third floor bedroom suite also has incredible ceiling height,” said the studio. “So the language of the contemporary wainscotting is taken up to the bedroom to carry the thesis from private to public.”

      The woodwork leads towards the en-suite bathroom at the front of the house, whose walls and pitched ceiling is is covered in grey concrete.
      “The wood wrapper cradles the bed and weaves around the closet to direct the eye toward the bathing suite: an intimate room clad in concrete tile with a soaring pitched roof,” it added.

      StudioAC was founded in 2015 by architects Jennifer Kudlats and designer Andrew Hill, who met while working at KPMB Architects in Toronto.
      Other Toronto house renovations by the studio include Candy Loft, Hilton House and Pape Loft that was once a church. In one of its more recent projects it took cues from the work of late American designer Donald Judd to create a home “disguised as a gallery”.
      Photography is by Jeremie Warshafsky.

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