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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
      The post Old nylon factory converted into “cathedral-like” office space appeared first on Dezeen. More

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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.

      Tourists hotel in The Berkshires takes cues from classic American motor lodges

      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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