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      Michael Hsu converts 1940s Houston church into Asian smokehouse

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      US firm Michael Hsu Office of Architecture aimed to preserve the character of a gabled church in Texas while transforming it into a lively Asian smokehouse called Loro Heights.

      The project – located in Houston’s Heights neighbourhood – involved the conversion of a red-brick church dating to 1948 into a restaurant with an “active and casual atmosphere”, the team said.
      Michael Hsu has converted a gabled church into a restaurant named Loro HeightsRoughly L-shaped in plan, the building consists of gabled volumes that are set around outdoor space. Original elements included a sanctuary with a vaulted ceiling and exposed wooden trusses.
      Local firm Michael Hsu Office of Architecture wanted to honour the building’s history while incorporating features that align with Loro’s style and character.
      The building’s features include exposed wooden trusses and gabled roofs”It was important for us to preserve the existing character of the church,” said architect Michael Hsu, who founded his studio in 2005.

      “The design celebrates the vast sanctuary space and maintains the existing wooden trusses, while other elements relate directly to the Loro brand.”
      The smokehouse was informed by old Texan dance hallsIn addition to Houston, Loro restaurants are found in Austin and Dallas. The eateries offer barbecue fare with an Asian twist, such as char stew pork belly with a hoisin sauce and smoked beef brisket with Thai herbs.
      In terms of ambiance, the restaurants are designed to evoke old Texan dance halls and the “welcome feelings of socializing around a family table”, the team said.
      A lighting installation by Fibrous hangs from the ceilingWith these factors in mind, Hsu and his team re-conceived the building’s exterior and interior.
      On the front elevation, the team clad one side of the building in Western red cedar and Douglas fir, and cut away a portion of the wall to form an opening partly covered by a wooden lattice.
      Dining tables were added to the front porch and the former church sanctuaryJust behind the opening is a “front porch” with dining tables. Suspended overhead is a custom lighting installation by Fibrous, a studio in Austin.
      “The piece consists of massive ropes knotted together to form a delicate network akin to a chandelier, which grounds the high ceiling,” the team said.

      Wooden ceiling curves over restaurant in Austin by Michael Hsu

      The porch connects to the former church sanctuary, which has been transformed into a dining hall and bar.
      In addition to the vaulted celling and trusses, the space features newly added windows and skylights, which bring in daylight and brighten up the formerly dark space.
      White-oak furnishings complement the dark-stained cedar interior wallsInterior walls are clad in dark-stained cedar that mimics the appearance of charred wood. Wall pegs offer a clever spot for hanging coats and potted plants.
      Seating options include booths and long, communal tables, along with counter tables in the bar area.
      Woven chandeliers created by the architects with León León Design are suspended above the tablesThe white-oak dining furniture, along with other decor, was custom designed and fabricated for the space. Woven chandeliers were created by the architects in collaboration with Mexico City’s León León Design.
      Beyond the main dining hall, there is a kitchen, an outdoor beer garden, and a smoker yard for the preparation of meat. A portion of the building has a second level, which holds mechanical equipment.
      The studio preserved the church’s exposed wooden detailsOverall, the adaptive reuse project has provided a welcoming space for diners while also preserving the community sprit of the church building, the team said.
      “Today’s Loro restaurant serve as a space for neighbourhood gatherings and community connection,” said Hsu.
      Michael Hsu Office of Architecture is based in Austin and has an outpost in Houston. Other projects by the studio include the conversion of a former Manhattan printing house into Shake Shack’s headquarters, and a Miami sushi restaurant that embodies the “perfect contrast” between the materials, techniques and styles of Japan and Florida.
      The photography is by Chase Daniel.

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      Latest Soho House outpost in Los Angeles takes cues from California's mid-century art scene

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      Soho House has opened Holloway House, its third members’ club in Los Angeles, where colours and patterns are based on the work of artists such as David Hockney.

      Holloway House is located a few blocks east of Soho House West Hollywood but offers hotel rooms on top of lounge and dining spaces, while its sister property only has the latter.
      The Club area at Holloway House features green terrazzo flooringSpread over four floors and a rooftop, the club was envisioned by the company’s in-house design team, with nods to the bright block colours and strong geometric shapes of LA’s mid-century art scene.
      The interiors draw “inspiration from the Southern California landscape as well as the art movement in the 1950s and 1960s, when artists like Ed Ruscha, David Hockney, Robert Irwin and others found an unlikely home in the city,” the company said.
      Dark grey shelving in the library is contrasted with a boldly patterned carpetThe Club space on the ground floor features mint-green terrazzo floors accompanied by bespoke furniture upholstered in neutral-toned velvet and patterned fabrics.

      The flooring continues into the bar area – an outdoor atrium with table seating in golden textured fabrics to complement the various shades of green.
      The restaurant on the ground floor features burgundy leather boothsIn contrast, the library is decorated in dark grey, with a bold-patterned carpet and floor-to-ceiling shelving that wraps the space and is populated with artworks, books and lamps.
      Burgundy leather booths are paired with vintage chairs in the ground-floor restaurant, which has a menu built around popular dishes from other Soho House locations.
      Rows of cabanas face lounge seating and plants on the roofOn the roof, stepped rows of shaded cabanas face lounge seating, a screen of tropical planting and views of both the Hollywood Hills and Downtown LA.
      The Mandolin Mezze restaurant, an offshoot of the Mandolin Aegean Bistro in Miami, serves small plates and organic Greek wines to guests lounging on the neutral-toned outdoor furniture.

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      Colour is introduced to the rooftop through bold checked floor tiles, burgundy-piped umbrellas and an abstract mural by local artist Jessalyn Brooks.
      Other artworks throughout Holloway House were sourced from LA artists under 40 and include sculptures, photographs, works on paper, paintings and textile-based pieces.
      The building includes 34 guest bedrooms decorated with 1960s-influenced furnitureThe building also offers 34 hotel rooms set across its middle three floors.
      “Each is decorated with 1960s-inspired furniture, aged wooden floors and woven tapestries made with fabric designed in Southern California especially for the House,” said the design team.
      Holloway House is located just a few blocks from Soho House West HollywoodSoho House was founded in London in 1995 by Nick Jones and now has 36 properties as far-flung as Tokyo, Mumbai and Istanbul.
      Its other locations in California are Soho Warehouse in Downtown Los Angeles and Little Beach House Malibu, while other recent additions in the US include outposts in Austin and Nashville.
      The photography is by The Ingalls.

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      Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos creates alfresco feeling inside Mexico City skyscraper restaurant

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      Expansive triple-height windows and fully grown trees feature in this eatery at the top of a Mexico City skyscraper, designed by local firm Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos to create the impression of dining in a traditional Mexican courtyard.

      Called Ling Ling, the Asian fusion restaurant is located on the 56th floor of the Chapultepec Uno skyscraper on Paseo de la Reforma avenue and offers nearly 360-degree views of the city.
      Ling Ling is a skyscraper restaurant by Sordo Madaleno ArquitectosArchitecture firm Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos was asked to revamp the 1,000-square-metre interior to create the sensation of dining in one of the grand courtyards and terraces that are typical of Mexican architecture.
      The firm said it took a formal approach to the design process, using structural elements and construction methods to help blur the boundary between architecture and interior design.
      Greenery was incorporated throughout the interiorAt the heart of Ling Ling is a glazed triple-height space dubbed the “terrace”, which is covered by a portico-style structure.

      Here, planters filled with mature trees sit among the tables while climbing plants wrap around columns and hang from the portico structure overhead.
      The inner salon and dining room feature lowered ceilingsCeilings were brought down to human scale for the inner salon and the dining room, which are enclosed within vaulted timber structures.
      Highlighted by gentle illumination, these more intimate, cavernous spaces are fitted with purpose-built furniture.

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      The design team selected a palette of vegetal hues for Ling Ling’s interior to complement the exuberant greenery installed throughout the space.
      Other plant-laden restaurant interiors featured on Dezeen include an “urban orangery” designed by Space Copenhagen that resembles a cross between a brasserie and a courtyard.
      Ling Ling has views across the cityElsewhere in Mexico City, architecture studio Taller ADG has created a dining area with a vaulted ceiling to echo old Italian trattorias.
      The photography is by LGM Studio.

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      GOA tops Metasequoia Grove Restaurant with cluster of tree-informed pyramids

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      Chinese studio Group of Architects has created a restaurant topped with a canopy made from a series of aluminium pyramidal forms in the village of Suzhou, China.

      The structure, which was informed by a grove of metasequoia trees, was designed by Group of Architects (GOA) for a waterside site in China’s Jiangnan region.
      Metasequoia Grove Restaurant by Group of Architects features a canopy inspired by the trees on site”We want the design of Metasequoia Grove Restaurant to integrate into its natural setting and become a part of the landscape,” the project’s leading architect Chen Binxin told Dezeen.
      “The forms of the metasequoia trees are abstracted and translated into a purely geometric architectural language, a pyramidal frustum.”
      The restaurant features a group of pyramidal aluminium formsMultiple versions of the pyramidal shape in three different scales form the forest-like canopy that tops the restaurant.

      Skylights top each pyramidal module, letting light enter the interior, while short eaves at the canopy’s base frame views across the surrounding wetland.
      Light enters the space through the skylights and perforations in the pyramidsThe pyramidal roof modules comprise three layers: an outer layer of perforated aluminium panels, a central glass layer that increases luminosity, and an inner layer of wood panels.
      “We chose steel columns to respond to the density and verticality of tree trunks and perforated aluminium panels as the roof canopies’ outer layer to imitate the dancing sunlight spots and shadows that filter through leaves,” said Chen.

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      Kitchens and private dining balconies are located in the restaurant’s eastern wing, which is wrapped in a rubble stone facade.
      In an effort to emphasise the lightness of the structure, the studio designed the building to have only 10 load-bearing columns, which have been arranged around the edges of the space. Opposite each of the load-bearing columns is a group of three columns along the window frames.
      Slim columns support the weight of the structureBy adding the same paving to the interior and the waterside terrace, the studio aimed to create a cohesive aesthetic across the restaurant and its exterior.
      Two-metre-wide, single-bay floor-to-ceiling windows connected by narrow frames enhance the visual openness of the space.
      The roof hangs over dining spaces surrounded by glass wallsSet to open in October, the restaurant will be used as both a dining space for visitors and a small banquet hall for holding public events.
      It is part of a larger governmental scheme for the redevelopment of Shanwan village, which will include a B&B also designed by the studio, currently under construction. The proposed development includes guest rooms, additional restaurants, an outdoor events space and a pool, alongside preserved residential houses and forests.
      “As architects, we want to increase the recognition and attention to this village by reinforcing a sense of local identity through the design and turning this project into an attractor to promote the local ecotourism industry while activating the surrounding areas,” said Chen.
      Metasequoia Grove Restaurant by Group of Architects has been longlisted in the hospitality building category of Dezeen Awards 2022.
      Other restaurants in China featured on Dezeen include Cheng Chung Design’s restaurant inside a brick art installation and a 0321’s restaurant containing a florist enclosed in a translucent pink box.
      The photography is by In Between.

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      Norm Architects creates inside-out greenhouse restaurant in a Swedish meadow

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      Danish studio Norm Architects has completed Äng, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Sweden that features a glasshouse entrance and a subterranean wine cellar.

      The restaurant is located in the middle of a meadow in Ästad Vingård – one of Sweden’s largest vineyards.
      Norm Architects has added the Äng restaurant to a Swedish vineyardThe main component of the restaurant is a minimal glass building supported by a steel structure. Its design resembles an inside-out greenhouse, with the steel structure on the inside and a smooth exterior that reflects its meadow surroundings.
      Accessed via a stone pathway that winds through the grasses and crops, guests enter Äng through a glass door, where the stone flooring continues inside.
      The restaurant has a steel structure surrounded by glass panelsThe entrance takes guests past an open kitchen with a stone counter and bespoke artworks of organic forms.

      Inside, the glass building is designed to give diners the feeling that they are sitting in the middle of the field with nothing but clear skies overhead.
      “With inspiration found in both the unspoiled Nordic nature surrounding the premises of Äng and Japanese sensibilities in design aesthetics and craftsmanship, the interior provides a holistic, sensory experience,” said Frederik Werner, partner at Norm Architects.
      A stone counter and oak furniture features in the open dining spaceThe interiors are furnished with oak furniture by Japanese brand Karimoku, for which Werner is the creative director, and wood and stone sculptures made by Norwegian artist Anders Pfeffer Gjengedal .
      The furniture include the Äng lounge table, which was designed exclusively for the restaurant and constructed from solid oak.
      Other bespoke pieces include an oak serving tray by Keiji Ashizawa and a solid wood trolley inspired by the umbrella and shoe racks by the entrance of Japanese temples.
      Solid oak furniture by Karimoku fills the spaceA range of tableware designed to complement the restaurant’s atmosphere was created in collaboration with Sweden-based design studio Bonni Bonne.
      The collection of plates and bowls are made from green wood, an ancient woodworking method that creates natural silhouettes and raw textures.
      A grey cube-shaped volume is surrounded by further seatingArtworks by Danish designer Sara Martinsen made from materials found in the forest are also displayed.
      Norm Architects said its aim was to carefully balance every element of the design from architecture to design, lighting, taste, smell, and sound.

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      “The fundamental ambition behind the Michelin-starred Restaurang Äng is in many ways in line with Norm Architects’ design philosophy of striking a delicate balance between all the sensory experiences that make up a space to create a harmonious setting, where all elements support one another,” explained Norm Architects partner Peter Eland.
      A series of stone sculptures from a quarry in Växjö, Sweden, reference the Japanese Karesansui gardens of raked sand and stone. These dry landscape gardens celebrate yohaku-no-bi, meaning the beauty of blank space.
      Stone sculptures from a Växjö quarry sit in the spaceThe interior also features discrete acoustic walls. Constructed from canvas, the studio specified the panels be made in a shade reminiscent of the jute sacks that are used to store grain.
      Bespoke cabinetry is filled with sculptures and ceramics by Viki Weiland and Ulla Bang, both artists who work with curved, simple forms.

      Ceramic pieces are on display in the restaurantAs well as the main restaurant spaces, Äng also has a hidden elevator that transports guests underground to a catacomb-like wine cellar with a dark lounge setting in its centre.
      “With the changing of light, we play on the phenomenon of chiaroscuro; a technique from visual arts used to represent light and shadow as they define objects in order to achieve a sense of volume,” said Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen, architect and founding partner at Norm Architects.
      “When stepping into the shadows, the vision weakens while the remaining senses intensify. One automatically pays more attention to sounds, smells, tastes and touch and even the intuition and instinct are strengthened.”
      The cave-like wine cellar was inspired by the visual arts technique chiaroscuroTo emphasize the transitions from one atmosphere to another, the floor tiles in the wine cellar recall a brick floor to enhance the cave-like feel, while the main dining room has a wooden floor.
      Founded in 2008, Norm Architects says its work builds on the traditions of Scandinavian design. Other recent projects by the Danish studio include a spa-like dental clinic modelled on art galleries, and a Swedish forest retreat “designed for a simple life”.
      The photography is by Jonas Bjerre Poulson.

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      Mutuus Studio designs inclusive Supernova nightclub in Seattle

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      A giant disco ball holds the DJ booth at this nightclub in Seattle, designed by local firm Mutuus Studio to be a “safe and welcoming environment for women, BIPOC, and all members of the LGBTQIA+ community”.

      Supernova was established by DJ Zac Levine with Mutuus Studio, GMD Custom and several artists as an inclusive art and entertainment space.
      The Supernova nightclub is centred around a DJ booth inside a hemispherical disco ballThe nightclub occupies a 6,500-square-foot (604-square-metre) timber warehouse building built in 1937 in Seattle’s SoDo neighbourhood, which was transformed by the team into a two-floor venue.
      “Supernova’s guiding principle was to create a safe and welcoming environment for women, BIPOC, and all members of the LGBTQIA+ community as employees, patrons, and entertainers,” said Mutuus Studio. “Catering to diverse audiences, and self-expression, Supernova welcomes everyone to enjoy a night of dancing, music, and art.”
      The club occupies a former warehouse in Seattle’s SoDo neighbourhoodPatrons enter past graffitied walls and a neon-lit hall of mirrors onto a mezzanine on the upper level, which overlooks the main dance floor below.

      The DJ booth is housed within a huge disco ball, covered in small mirrored tiles and measuring eight feet (2.4 metres) in diameter.
      Rows of disco balls scatter light across the VIP areaThe hemispherical booth sits in the centre of a 30-foot-long (9.1-metre) stage, used by entertainers for performances of all kinds.
      These are accompanied by lighting arranged in diamond patterns behind the booth and other audiovisual equipment suspended from the roof.
      The venue is entered via a hall of mirrors illuminated with neonsA variety of installations can be found throughout the club’s many smaller spaces.
      A VIP area is demarcated by classic red velvet ropes and golden stanchions, beneath a ceiling of more disco balls that scatter light fractals across the dark space below the mezzanine.

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      In another lounge area, fluorescent panels cut into wavy shapes frame sofas and a pink neon mounted on the back wall.
      Some of the panels swoop down from the ceiling to create additional seating, while the first spans the room’s full height and is punctured by an amorphous shape that forms the doorway.
      Spaces within the club include a lounge framed with wavy fluorescent panelsDrinks are served from a metallic bar, as well as through the front of a vintage Volkswagen van – its windscreen missing but headlights still functioning.
      Supernova currently hosts weekly events, including house music and disco-themed parties on Fridays and Saturdays.
      A vintage Volkswagen van forms a barThe project was completed in July 2020 during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, when many nightlife venues were hit hard by lockdowns and restrictions.
      In response, creative studio Production Club designed a personal protective suit for clubbing in the time of social distancing, which includes features for phone integration and beverage and vape consumption
      The space is filled with a variety of sculptures and installationsBased in Seattle, Mutuus Studio has completed a wide range of projects in the Pacific Northwest – from designing a cosy farm-to-table restaurant, to turning a large, steel sphere into an installation in a waterfront park.
      The photography is by James Gerde, unless stated otherwise.
      Project credits:
      Mutuus Studio design team: Kristen Becker, Saul Becker, Jim Friesz, Jorge Gomez

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      Traditional Chinese roof tiles decorate the interior of Blue Bottle Coffee shop in Shanghai

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      Japanese studio Keiji Ashizawa Design has used traditional Chinese roof tiles as the key material at Blue Bottle Coffee’s latest shop in Shanghai to celebrate local culture.

      Set to open on Friday, the cafe is located on the first and second floors of a building connected to the Kerry Centre in downtown Shanghai, close to the over 1,000-year-old Jing’an Temple.
      The new Blue Bottle Coffee shop is located in downtown ShanghaiKeiji Ashizawa Design placed a total of 13,000 handmade brick tiles on the bar counter, stairwell wall and the lounge area of the cafe.
      This particular type of bricks, which have semi-circular edges, were made in Yixing, a nearby city that is known for its clayware manufacturing. A new smoking process was used for the surface of the tiles to increase their strength and create a subtle reflective effect.
      Bespoke handmade brick tiles were used to cover the bar counter”As Blue Bottle Coffee commits to create local communities around their cafes, we always determine the materials and design based on the local, both culture and history,” studio founder Keiji Ashizawa said.

      “Working on a project in mainland China as a Japanese architectural firm, I felt that there was an importance in considering the common aspects between the two cultures,” he added.
      “With that in mind, we looked through images I photographed and found an image of a roof I took from a restaurant in Chengdu, which inspired me to use roof tiles for the cafe.”
      The stairwell allows visitors to enjoy views of the coffee-making processA coffee bar that connects both floors is at the centre of the space, while seating and product displaying areas are arranged around it.
      According to Blue Bottle Coffee, this is to encourage customers to interact with the process of coffee making.
      An open lounge is on the second floor of the cafeThe stairwell is right next to the bar counter on the first floor so that when people walk up to the second floor, they are able to watch coffee being made at the bar area from different heights.
      An open lounge space at the second floor features a hanging paper light above a seating area with dark-brown furniture and leather cushions.

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      Where the shop connects to the Kerry Centre, a series of semi-circular recessed seating areas have been carved out from the wall on both floors.
      The rounded shape of the seating areas not only responds to the roof tiles but also creates privacy for the customers dining in the cafe.
      Keiji Ashizawa Design used concrete in a variety of colours and textures all over the cafe, which has structural columns and slabs in raw concrete. Natural oak furniture was selected to add warmth to the interior.
      The seating areas are designed to reflect the shape of traditional Chinese roof tilesBlue Bottle Coffee was founded as a small roastery in Oakland, California, by James Freeman in 2002 and has since grown into a chain of cafes across the USA and Asia.
      This is the second Blue Bottle Coffee shop in mainland China. The first one was opened in February this year, designed by Schemata Architects, also in Shanghai.
      Previously, Keiji Ashizawa Design has designed three Blue Bottle Coffee shops in Japan.
      The photography is by Chen Hao.

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      Cocktail bar “suspended between sea and sky” draws upon nearby Mediterranean

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      Architect Gae Avitabile has designed the interior of Civico 29, a sea-informed cocktail bar in the coastal town of Sperlonga, Italy.

      Located halfway between Rome and Naples on Italy’s western coast, the bar features colours and materials informed by the nearby seafront, with blue motifs and wave-like forms dominating the space.
      Gae Avitabile designed Civico 29 to mimic the experience of being on a beachAvitabile transformed the oceanside building, which previously contained an ice cream parlour, into a bar that aims to recreate the sensory experience of being on a beach.
      “The space was used as a gelato ice cream parlour with simple, traditional interiors which were not evocative of the location,” Avitabile told Dezeen.
      “Not being able to work on spaces and volumes – both in physical terms due to the small size, and because of the limits imposed by the council – I changed my point of view and began to think in terms of a project which would find its own dimension in multi-sensoriality,” he continued.

      “For me, the sea is light and colour, sound, touch, taste and smell.”
      The space was transformed into blue-toned cocktail barThe project was heavily influenced by the local area and uses a minimal material palette.
      “The materials are unusual for the setting, and have been chosen to give life to my multi-sensory project,” Avitabile commented. “Despite this, the perception is that of strong links with the location.”
      An outdoor terrace has seating overlooking the seaVisitors enter through a wide opening that leads to the main space. The room contains a long bar with a wave-like form coated in a blue gradient that mirrors the view of the ocean outside.
      “The bar, its sinuous shape reminiscent of the movement of the waves, is an implicit reference to the sea and draws inspiration from the area’s great pieces of architecture,” said Avitabile.

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      A lamp by Munari inspired by fish traps is suspended over the counter, contained in a white metal mesh structure, while a layer of traditional European hollow bricks filled with white lime and covered with resin lines the floor.
      A white lamp and a blue mesh curtain feature in the spaceSurrounding the space is an aluminium mesh curtain created by Kriskadecor that lines two of the four walls, chosen by Avitabile due to its movement being reflective of coastal breezes.
      “[The curtain] moves with gusts of wind and creates an elegant sound reminiscent of a coastal breeze,” Avitabile commented.
      A small bathroom sits beside the main bar spaceTo the side of the main space is a small bathroom with wallpaper coated in exotic motifs. Large openings on the opposite side of the bar lead to an outdoor seating area overlooking the ocean.
      “I deliberately avoided indoor seating, partly due to the small area available, and partly because enjoying the panorama remains the linchpin of this project,” said Avitabile.
      Other cocktail bars featured on Dezeen include a Shanghai bar covered in over 1,000 insects by Atelier XY and a gender-neutral cocktail bar and salon in Kyiv designed by Balbek Bureau
      The photography is by Carlo Oriente.

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