in Rooms
Horma Studio creates terracotta-toned salad bar in Valencia
A zigzagging plinth that accommodates seating, steps and planters weaves its way through this terracotta-coloured salad bar in Valencia by local design practice Horma Studio. More
Spain
Subterms
More stories
- in Rooms
Clap Studio designs modular studio that takes cues from the Mediterranean Sea
Valencia-based design practice Clap Studio has created The Sea, a temporary modular installation for a television studio that was informed by the ocean and made from gridded mesh boxes and illuminated spheres. More
- in Rooms
Masquespacio creates colour-blocked interiors for Bilbao student housing
Valencia-based creative studio Masquespacio has completed an open-plan colour-blocked interior with a community feeling for the Resa San Mamés student accommodation in Spain.The interior design for the Bilbao student residence was commissioned by student accommodation company Resa with the aim of letting its occupants “share experiences as a community”.
Above: Resa student accommodation by Masquespacio. Top: furniture on wheels allows users to define the space
Masquespacio created an open-plan design for the 1,850 square-metre building, which has studios for 351 residents and provides spaces for studying, socialising, meeting and dining.
“The client highlighted that they wanted to create a community and strong connection point between the residents of the new Resa,” Masquespacio co-founder and marketing director Christophe Penasse told Dezeen.Yellow zoning defines the lounge area
The bold and colourful interior used vibrant greens paired with millennial pinks, lavender and hot pinks, while soft furnishings and partitions were used to define zones within the space.
“Using the technique of colour blocking we obtained a strong visual impact for the space and at the same time we could create a clear distinction between each zone in this open space,” explained the studio.The kitchen features lavender tiling
As well as accommodation, the building has a kitchen, a dining room, study rooms, leisure rooms, a gym and a terrace.
Muted yellow covers the ceiling above the open kitchen, while lavender tiles are used as a backsplash.
Wooden furniture with yellow accents surrounds the kitchen area, some of which is on wheels to allow users to reconfigure the space as they wish.Whittam Cox Architects creates colourful student housing for Sheffield’s Park Hill
Millennial pink dining tables and chairs were placed against a green backdrop to define the dining space, which also features oversized steps that form amphitheatre-style seating to encourage group interaction.
Pendant lighting is hung above millennial pink and green dining tables
“We liked the idea of working with an open space and making a space specially focused on university students,” Penasse explained.
“Offering them a lot of options to make their day at the residence a little bit more attractive, and at the same time help them to be more creative.”Oversized steps are used for seating
The study areas of the residency employ acoustic glass walls to provide silence, but can be opened up to connect the study space with an adjacent lounge.
Blue-painted brick adds texture to formal study spaces and red velvet curtains on circular tracks surround group study tables for additional privacy.
Walls and services pipes were left unrendered and exposed to give the interior an industrial look.Blue-painted brick frames the study space and red curtains add privacy
The studio explained that it envisioned the design for the Resa San Mamés as a free-flowing space that encourages the students themselves to determine how it is used.
“A space where you don’t need to be in the study room to read a book, but just can sit into the launch area,” Penasse said. “A space where people share ideas, experiences and connect together.”Different coloured tables and chairs define areas for seating
The colour-blocking theme was continued through to the outdoor terrace, where green picnic tables sit within a green-zoned area while different shades of blue signal other areas of seating.
Masquespacio was founded in 2010 by Ana Milena Hernandez Palacios and Christophe Penasse who combined their disciplines in interior design and marketing to create a design agency that works across media, design, fashion and lifestyle.
Dezeen has previously featured the studio’s colourful design for this co-working space in Valencia and also this colour-clashing interior for a phone-repair shop.
Photography is by Masquespacio.Read more: More
- in Rooms
Plantea Estudio casts minimalist Madrid restaurant in shades of beige
Spanish firm Plantea Estudio has layered “light and warm” materials such as plywood and chipboard to create the interior of this Madrid street food restaurant.Called Zuppa, the eaterie is located on one of the city centre’s main streets, the Calle de Atocha, and occupies a commercial space that was previously home to an Indian takeaway.
The informal dining area features steel frame furniture (above) and a central oak table (top image)
The 127-square-metre restaurant offers a menu of street food and homemade soups, which can be taken to go or eaten inside of a small, informal dining area.
Plantea Estudio restored the original storefront, which had been altered by the previous owners, and installed bespoke pivoting doors with frames made of plywood and iron, and topped with marble handles.Built-in benches are paired with wooden stools and steel tables
For the interior, the firm said it selected materials in “light and warm tones” to create a feeling of continuity and make the space appear larger.
Although similar in colouring, the materials were chosen for their different textural qualities, with micro-cement and plywood boards forming the walls and floors while chipboard was used to panel the ceiling.Plantea Estudio transforms defunct erotic cinema into contemporary art-nouveau theatre
“The light from the outside envelops them in such a way, that the limits between one and the other blur and the space is expanded to the maximum,” explained the architects.
The space is anchored by a large communal table
In contrast to the soft beige tones of the walls and floors, the studio installed furniture and fittings made from black lacquered steel with “geometric and precise” forms.
Much of this was designed specifically for the project, including a large communal table made from solid oak and finished with a sanded steel top.
Placed in the centre of the space, it helps to channel the flow of customers between the two entrance doors.High tables in front of the counter feature marble tops
Two built-in, upholstered benches run along the walls on either side, paired with rows of lacquered steel tables and oak stools.
In the space beyond, two high tables with a steel base and grey Ruivina marble top sit in front of a serving counter made from these same materials and illuminated through integrated lighting.
Here, customers can eat their food either standing or seated on one of the bar stools with their oak veneer seats.A soap dispenser and marble sink are mounted to the bathroom walls
“All of these elements are introduced into a space where the floor and walls are finished in the same colour, so it looks like they are ‘floating’ in a warm atmosphere,” Plantea Estudio director Luis Gill told Dezeen.
“The materials that are touched by hand are kind and solid, always pleasant.”
The illusion of objects levitating in space is carried through to the toilets, where a marble sink and soap dispenser are suspended from the walls.Plantea Estudio built custom plywood doors with marble handles
The interior’s neutral colour scheme chimes with paint brand Dulux’s choice of colour of the year for 2021 – a “reassuring” earthy beige called Brave Gound.
Dulux argued that this “elemental” shade reflects “our growing desire to align more with the planet and looking towards the future”.
Plantea Estudio, which was shortlisted for emerging interior design practice of the year at the 2019 Dezeen Awards, has previously transformed a defunct erotic cinema into an art-nouveau theatre.Read more: More
- in Rooms
Enrique Jerez and Blanca Leal transform mid-century garage into music school
Located in a former garage space at the base of a residential block, this school for music in the Spanish city of Burgos makes a feature of the building’s existing concrete structure.Local architect Enrique Jerez and interior designer Blanca Leal were commissioned to create the Yoglar school by a client, who wanted to create a “home” for early music and piano education.
Classrooms in the open-plan extension are demarcated through orange vinyl flooring
The original trapezoidal plot in which the school is located was built in 1947 along with the adjacent residential building.
The garage faces the street while an extension with a mezzanine, which was added in 1952 to increase storage space, is located at the back. Supported by pillars, this features a barrel-vaulted concrete ceiling and covers the building’s original courtyard.The reception features built-in birch furniture
Instead of dismantling this “disorganised” structure, the architects decided to leave the irregular, concrete shell almost untouched.
As such, the 205-square-metre school is divided into two areas. The original, trapezoidal garage space is home to an entrance hall, reception desk and toilets alongside a manager’s office and the school’s largest classroom.The extension is nicknamed “the forest” and houses a menagerie of plants
The former courtyard area is now nicknamed “the forest” and houses two irregularly-shaped classrooms. One of these is enclosed within a house-shaped volume, which was sound-proofed with the help of three-centimetre-thick cork panels.
The second classroom is located within the larger open-plan space and is delineated by its orange vinyl flooring.
A spiral staircase made from blackened steel leads up to the mezzanine level, which has retained its original function as a storage space.The spiral staircase is made from blackened steel
Natural light is funnelled into the school through two sets of glass doors at the back of the space that open onto a small patio.
The floors, walls and ceilings throughout are finished in polished concrete to bring a cohesive feel to the different spaces while enhancing the acoustics.
The designers also added built-in birch furniture to bring some warmth to the otherwise cool concrete space.Primary school children create Mega Maker Lab in former London fire station
“Our aim was to design a place both unique and functional, which could foster children’s creativity while achieving clear results in their music development from zero to 12 years,” said Jerez and Leal.
The floors and walls are finished in polished concrete
In the Czech Republic, architecture studios FUUZE and Public Atelier recently converted a series of old church buildings into a modern primary school with the help of brightly coloured interventions.
The project involved building new classrooms and restoring the decaying roof trusses of the original church complex back to its former glory.
Images are courtesy of Javier Bravo.Read more: More
Game On's neon-filled exhibition design paid homage to 80s video games
Spanish practice Smart & Green Design re-designed the Barbican’s touring Game On exhibition for a former underground cistern in Madrid, using more than 150 LED arches to evoke the neon colours of the 1980s.The retrospective, which is reportedly the largest international exhibition to explore the history of video games, spans more than 400 collector’s objects and drawings covering the birth of the technology in the 1960s to the present day.
Visitors to the exhibition can play 150 video games
Alongside this, 150 original video games can be played as part of the show, including early games like Space Invaders and Tetris, classics like Rock Band, Pokemon and The Sims as well as more recent games like Fifa and Wii Sports.
After touring more than 30 countries including China, the US and Australia, the exhibition came to Madrid between November 2019 and May 2020 courtesy of arts and culture foundation Fundación Canal.The LEDs are arranged into colour-coded arches
Game On’s revamped set-up, which won Smart & Green Design the public vote at this year’s Dezeen Awards in the exhibition design category, relied heavily on multicoloured LED tubes suspended throughout the exhibition space.
Set against an otherwise dimly lit interior, these nodded to the vector graphics of early video games such as Battle Zone, in which simple lines and curves on a black backdrop were used to create the illusion of three-dimensional spaces.
LEDs were arranged into colour-coded arches and tunnels to create the impression of architectural elements, demarcating 15 distinct sections and guiding visitors through the exhibition.V&A curator Marie Foulston describes five pioneering designs in Videogames exhibition
“The design follows simple geometries and repetitions as some of the most famous video games did,” Smart & Green Design’s founder Fernando Muñoz told Dezeen.
“These lines created perspectives and the illusion of a 3D space, despite all the elements being two dimensional.”
Each section was also signposted through a neon sign proclaiming its theme, which was suspended in the air in a nod to the floating score numbers often found in the top corner of a game’s screen.Neon signs read the names of the different sections
The main challenge for the studio was to balance the buzz and excitement of an arcade with the kind of quiet, contemplative spaces needed to take in the archival objects, sketches and the stories behind them.
For this purpose, Muñoz developed two distinct spatial typologies.
While stations for playing the games were placed inside of the cistern’s existing 7.5-metre tall brick arches, each illuminated by an LED frame, the remaining exhibits were housed in “lights tunnels”, running perpendicularly to the arches.Stations for playing the video games are integrated into the cistern’s existing brick arches
“We designed several tunnels using rectangular timber frames with lights integrated into them,” said Muñoz.
“The rhythm of these structures created the feeling of being inside a separate space and they also hold either walls or vitrines to show the contents.”The light tunnels run perpendicularly to the existing brick arches (marked in black above)
To create these walls, the studio opted for sound-absorbing panels, which had the dual benefit of muffling the noise coming from the gaming area outside as well as being easier to reuse for future exhibitions.
“We try not to use heavy resources like MDF or drywall, which cannot be reused without generating waste and need a lot of energy both in the assembly and disassembly,” said Muñoz.
“We try to create lightweight systems that are easily assembled and stored and with standardised dimensions so that they can be reused and adapted to any space or design.”Walls are integrated into the light tunnels to house information
In order to offset the high embodied energy of the LEDs, Muñoz designed the lighting system to be modular, with tubes that are either half a metre, one metre or two metres long, so that they can be efficiently stored and repurposed again and again in different constellations.
This is part of the studio’s wider strategy to try and cut down the amount of waste produced through temporary installations.The walls are made of sound-absorbent panels
“The exhibitions industry is responsible for a huge amount of waste due to the ephemeral condition of its products,” Muñoz explained.
“We believe that through design and longterm strategies of collaborating with exhibition organisers, waste can be reduced. We have designed our own carbon calculator and tailored protocols to interact with the administration and coordinators in the exhibitions world.”The exhibition was on show until May 2020
Aside from Game On, other exhibition designs shortlisted for Dezeen Awards 2020 include a memorial filled with items that belonged to victims of gun violence and an installation at Fondazione Prada with 1,400 porcelain plates suspended from the walls of a golden room.
Although the recipients of the public vote have already been determined, the winners of the official Dezeen Awards, judged by a panel of experts including Norman Foster, Michelle Ogundehin and Konstantin Grcic, will not be announced until the end of November.
The Game On exhibition took place from 29 November 2019 to 31 May 2020 at Madrid’s Castellana 214. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.Read more: More
Old Spanish workshop converted into tactile family home by Nomos
Tactile bricks and pinewood partitions decorate the La Nave apartment, which Nomos has slotted into the concrete shell of a disused workshop in Madrid, Spain.La Nave was developed by Nomos as a family home for two of its partners, Ophélie Herranz and Paul Galindo, who head up its Spanish office.
The project has since been shortlisted for apartment interior of the year at Dezeen Awards 2020.Wood and brick partitions divide the old workshop’s concrete shell
La Nave was originally used as a large, open-plan printshop arranged around a structural concrete grid measuring 34 metres in length and 10 metres in depth.Nomos’ intervention retains this structure but converts its open layout into a continuous loop of living areas, arranged around enclosed private rooms.
The new partitions are positioned at angles to the outer walls
“La Nave is the transformation of an industrial space into a place for life, which takes place as a continuous sequence, with very little difference between work and family leisure,” said the studio, which also has offices in Geneva and Lisbon.
“La Nave’s plan escapes any typological definition. It results from the search for new spatialities required by existing constraints.”Bricks and wood were used to warm the existing concrete structure
Nomos’ initial plan for the apartment was to position the enclosed spaces and wet areas on the rear wall – opposite to the only facade with windows.
However, La Nave’s existing plumbing is attached to the central concrete columns, meaning the wet areas had to be placed centrally too.The bedrooms and bathrooms are enclosed by the new partitions
To achieve this while ensuring natural light could enter the depths of the apartment, Nomos positioned the wet areas and enclosed rooms in line with the central columns, but at a 45-degree angle to the outer walls.
They are divided into two parts and set back from windows, making space either side and in between to ensuring light from the windows can pass through.Glazed bricks line the wet areas and bathrooms
“The typological strategy started from the search for the optimal location of the service spaces,” Herranz told Dezeen.
“The wet cores had to reach the downspouts, attached to the central pillars, but we wanted to move them towards the back of the space, to offer more light to the living spaces. We rotated them 45 degrees and explored the potential of the diagonal.”Original beams and brickwork add warmth to pared-back Madrid apartment
The layout creates a continuous loop of shared living spaces around the perimeter of the apartment, which are used for work, play and dining.
“We never thought of creating a large, open, loft-like space, but rather a sequence of well-defined spaces, which would give rise to multiple situations,” Herranz added.Bedrooms are positioned through the centre of the apartment
By setting the private living spaces away from the windows, Nomos also made space for a “winter garden” along the window wall.
This area doubles as a thermal buffer – a space that separates living areas from the outside to reduce dependence on artificial heating and cooling.The “winter garden” doubles as a thermal buffer
The predominant material throughout the renovation is glazed brick, finished in white and cobalt blue, teamed with a pinewood framework and MDF panels.
The materials were chosen by Nomos to complement the existing concrete structure while providing the space with a warmer and more homely atmosphere.Patterns are made with glazed and unglazed bricks
“The qualities of traditional materials provide comfort and reinforce the idea of home, of domesticity, in contrast to the surrounding industrial space,” said Herranz.
“The glazed bricks provide a note of brightness and colour typical of a more ornamental language.”A loop of living spaces wraps the central rooms
The bricks were used to build most of the partitions, with their glazed sides lining bathrooms and kitchen and the unglazed faces exposed in the living rooms.
Their glazed and unglazed sides are also alternated in places to create patterns.A kitchen aligns with old workshop’s existing plumbing
The majority of furniture in the space is bespoke, designed by Nomos from pine wood specifically for La Nave.
This includes a low-lying, circular table and coffee table made from pine, and terrazzo detailing made with old flooring that was removed from the workshop.
Other projects that are shortlisted for apartment interior of the year at Dezeen Awards 2020 a sea-facing residence in Jaffa by Pitsou Kedem and a two-storey dwelling by Coffey Architects that is covered in thousands of wooden blocks.
Photography is by Luis Asin.Read more: More
Minimal Fantasy holiday apartment in Madrid is almost completely pink
Patricia Bustos Studio channelled “aesthetic madness” to create the striking bright-pink interior of this rentable apartment at the heart of Madrid, Spain.Locally-based Patricia Bustos Studio applied 12 different shades of pink throughout the Minimal Fantasy apartment, which is meant to offer a bolder take on the typical holiday rental.
“We wanted to do something eye-catching and not go unnoticed, since in Madrid the offer of vacation rentals is enormous and you have to differentiate yourself if you want to have a recurrence in the rentals,” the studio told Dezeen.Surfaces throughout the apartment are bright pink
The 55-square-metre apartment is set inside a 1950s residential building that’s a stone’s throw away from Madrid’s lively Puerta del Sol square.It formerly played host to just one bedroom and one bathroom, but Patricia Bustos Studio reconfigured the floor plan so that it can comfortably accommodate slightly larger groups of holiday goers.
An arched doorway looks through to the kitchen
There are now two bedrooms and an additional bathroom. The kitchen has also been separated from the living area so that, if necessary, it can sleep another two guests.
With structural changes out the way, the studio set about creating the apartment’s stand-out interior – which is almost exclusively pink.Cabinetry in the kitchen is a mix of blue, pink and gold
“Except for the distribution, which had to be practical, the rest of the project has been an aesthetic madness to take the visitor out of their comfort zone and make them dream,” explained the studio.
“Pink is already the colour of a whole generation… the generation of the brave, those who are not afraid of change,” it continued.
“Pink vindicates the fall of stereotypes – everything is possible, nothing is planned or established and that’s the beauty of it. There are no rules, or rather that everyone has their own.”Pink cushions and faux-fur throws dress the beds
In the living area, bubblegum-pink paint has been applied across the walls and ceiling. A flecked pink laminate covers the floor and a chunky L-shaped plinth that winds around the corner of the room, topped with plush pink sofa cushions.
Guests can gather for meals around the oval-shaped pink dining table, which is surrounded by dining chairs upholstered in metallic pink fabric with an iridescent finish.One of the beds is supported by a pink-tile platform
The monochromatic colour scheme is interrupted in the adjacent kitchen, where the cabinets are covered in a mixture of blue, pink and gold geometric shapes.
Worktops are lined with glazed, blush-pink tiles.Child Studio looks to worker’s cafes for pink interiors of London’s Humble Pizza
These same tiles have been used to clad the side tables and supporting mattress base in one of the apartment’s bedrooms.
In the other bedroom, the mattress is pushed up against a scalloped pink headboard. Textural interest is added throughout by baby-pink lamé soft cushions and faux-fur throws.
Arched sliding doors can be drawn back to reveal pink-tile bathrooms, complete with pink-frame vanity mirrors and shiny pink shower curtains.Bathrooms lie behind arched sliding screens
Other than a few spherical pendant lights, trailing ivy plants and neon art piece, Patricia Bustos Studio hasn’t incorporated a lot of decoration in the apartment.
Some elements, like the stepped blocks which display books and other trinkets, are meant to riff off La Muralla Roja – a housing development designed by Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill in 1968, distinguished by its maze of interlocking stairways.
“[Bofill] creates a mysterious and infinite space with the perfect transformation between 2D and 3D, and with several elements that play with the optical illusion,” added the studio.Shiny pink curtains and pink-frame mirrors complete the bathrooms
Several other architects and designers haven’t shied away from making extensive use of the colour pink – last year, Child Studio covered the interior of a vegan pizza restaurant in London with candy-pink Formica.
Mar Plus Ask also washed the walls of a cave-like guesthouse in Spain with blush-pink stucco.
Photography is by JC de Marcos.Read more: More
