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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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      Hotel Magdalena is a homage to Texan lake houses

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      Bunkhouse Group and architecture office Lake Flato collaborated to create Hotel Magdalena, a hotel in Austin designed to emulate a Texas lake house filled with art and “hippie textiles.”Hotel Magdalena’s sloping architecture is designed to recall the gently inclined landscape of the nearby Barton Springs, a popular outdoor swimming spot.
      The four new buildings that make up the hotel occupy the original site of the 1950s Terrace Motor Hotel and Willie Nelson’s 1970s music venue Austin Opry House.

      A Harvey Probber sofa sits in the valet lobby

      Bunkhouse Group and Lake Flato incorporated elements from both mid-century Austin icons in the interiors.
      Guests are welcomed at two lobbies. The valet lobby is filled with pieces such as a Marset Dipping Lamp and a plush 1970s Harvey Probber sofa named Deep Tuft, designed to mimic the tufted seating found in luxury cars.
      Hotel Magdalena’s main lobby mixes design elements by renowned brands and local makers.

      A green Moroso sofa adds colour to the eclectic main lobby
      A Moroso sofa and coffee tables are placed alongside a custom oval wooden retail table crafted by Quarter Lab, an Austin-based woodworker.
      Unstained white oak tambour forms the main lobby’s desk, behind which colourful ceramic pots by local designer Rory Foster are placed, as well as the hotel’s own book collection sourced from Half Price Books.

      Quarter Lab designed the main lobby’s retail table
      “When we were styling the lobby, we pictured a person who lived in an effortlessly cool house on Lake Austin,” said Bunkhouse Group’s vice president of design and development Tenaya Hills.
      “We thought about what they would collect on their travels, what they found interesting, and what books and records they’d have,” Hills told Dezeen.

      Unstained white oak tambour is used in both lobbies
      A scattering of 70s original collages by the late Graham Harmon also decorates one of the lobby’s white walls. It is understood that Harmon painted the works in Austin.
      “The story of the hotel is the story of Austin,” said Hills. “The buildings are inspired by 1950s Austin lake houses, which then informed the materials you see and the furniture system we designed for the guest rooms.”

      1970s collages by Graham Harmon
      Influenced by designers such as Le Corbusier and Alvar Aalto, the hotel’s 89 rooms have smart systems of combination furniture.
      Bespoke beds are built-in and crafted from walnut wood, and inlay desks separate each room’s bed from its small living space.

      The guest rooms take cues from Le Corbusier and Alvar Aalto
      Poured concrete floors with exposed aggregate echo rocky river beds, while wooden ceilings maintain the hotel’s lake house design.
      Bathrooms tiled in blue, red, yellow or green inform the colour of each room’s more subtle design elements, such as various Christian Rathbone throw pillows adorned in what Hills describes as “hippie textiles,” and custom bedside lighting by David Weeks.

      Different coloured bathrooms inform the design of each bedroom
      Guest rooms feature individual black and white photographs by local photographer Scott Newton. Newton’s images capture live music in Austin.
      Hotel Magdalena’s swimming pool is accessed by various exposed elevated walkways. Poolside umbrellas, loungers and side tables by Kettal blend with the exterior setting.

      The hotel’s swimming pool is one of its central hubs
      Overlooking the pool, the hotel’s outdoor bar area is a colourful space with soft seating by Expormim and clusters of umbrellas.
      Clad in terracotta tiles, the bar itself has a playful terrazzo top designed by Concrete Collaborative.

      Visitors can lounge on soft seating by Expormim at the bar
      Hotel Magdalena also has a restaurant. Summer House on Music Lane is a bright and airy space furnished with two-tone green Mathilda dining and bar chairs designed by Patrica Urquiola for Moroso.
      “We went for a palette of natural materials – stone and wood and a high gloss ceramic tile. The main colour woven throughout is green,” said Hills.

      Summer House on Music Lane is designed in the style of the main hotel
      Like in the hotel’s eclectic lobbies, vintage treasures made from coloured glass and ceramics line the restaurant’s bar shelves.

      Mark Odom pays homage to the 1950s with Inglewood Residence in Austin

      Local craftsmanship is celebrated in the form of a bespoke bench by Litmus Industries and artwork by Graham Harmon and Michelle Billette sourced at Round Top Antiques Fair.

      The restaurant’s bar is clad in green tiles
      Bunkhouse Group is a hospitality company based in Austin. Lake Flato is an American architecture firm founded in 1984. The firm recently designed a marine research centre in Mississippi formed from six pine buildings.
      Other eclectic interior spaces in Austin include a hotel by Kelly Wearstler with a sculptural oak staircase, and a restaurant filled with hanging plants and used books created by Mickie Spencer.
      Photography is by Nick Simonite.

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      Kelly Wearstler creates sculptural oak staircase for hotel in Austin

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      Interior designer Kelly Wearstler included eye-catching details such as vintage rugs and a white oak staircase that doubles as a ceramics display in her design for the Austin Proper Hotel and Residences.Built in 2019 by New York firm Handel Architects, the 32-storey hotel and apartments managed by McGuire Moorman Hospitality is located in Downtown Austin, Texas.
      Los Angeles-based Wearstler, who will be on the interiors panel as a Dezeen Awards 2021 judge, created the aesthetic for the 244 rooms and 99 “branded residences.”

      Panels of Shou Sugi Ban cypress clad the walls

      Her interior design for the hotel revolves around local art and textiles, with some eclectic vintage elements thrown in.
      A focal point is a sculptural staircase made of white oak wood with stepped balustrades.

      Vintage rugs are draped over the wooden stairs
      An interesting backdrop has been created by showcasing the underside of the staircase steps, while a ziggurat of plinths below is used to display a range of glazed earthenware pots and vases.
      Custom panelling along the walls of the hotel is made from cypress wood, charred using the traditional Japanese technique of Shou Sugi Ban to create a tiger-striped effect.

      Patterned tiles and rugs feature in the Peacock restaurant
      Mismatched vintage rugs run up the stairs, and a mix of chairs and armchairs upholstered in patterned fabric are scattered around the lobby.
      Tiles by Austin ceramicist Rick Van Dyke appear as inlays on furniture such as cabinets, and fibre artwork by local artist Magda Sayeg, known for her yarn bombing installations, are hung in the bedrooms alongside antique mirrors.

      Wine racks and botanical wallpaper decorate the restaurant
      The fifth floor features a pool deck clad with locally quarried travertine, where Mexican restaurant La Piscina serves small-batch tequila.
      There are three other eateries in Austin Proper Hotel and Residences including Peacock, which serves Mediterranean food against a backdrop of parquet floors covered in more vintage rugs and walls covered in Portuguese-style tiles.
      A private dining area, screened off by walls made of full wine racks, features botanical wallpaper.

      Pastel tiles decorate the Mockingbird cafe
      The interior of The Mockingbird, a coffee shop that serves Greek frozen yoghurt, was decked out in more colourful tiles by Wreastler.
      Small square tiles cover the walls and form a pattern of powder blue, seafoam green, inky navy blue and pale burnt orange colours.

      The bar has a flocked wallpaper ceiling
      Austin Proper Hotel and Residences also has a drinking establishment called Goldie’s Sunken Bar, which has a cobalt blue-painted bar, low stuffed armchairs and a high ceiling covered in opulent wallpaper.
      All over the hotel, walls are hug with art and niches are filled with ceramics. Pot plants filled with hardy desert species add splashes of greenery.

      Pot plants and mismatched furniture
      The 99 apartments attached to the hotel also have interiors designed by Kelly Wearstler. Their occupants have access to the hotel’s amenities as well as a private pool, along with dog grooming and concierge services.
      Kelly Wearstler is an interior designer based on America’s west coast. Recent collaborations for the same hotel franchise include the San Francisco Proper and the Santa Monica Proper.
      Photography is by The Ingalls.

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      Eclectic decor fills Eberly restaurant and tavern in central Austin

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      Hanging plants, used books and a bar salvaged from New York are among the diverse elements incorporated into an eatery and bar in Texas conceived by architecture studio Clayton & Little and interior designer Mickie Spencer. The Eberly occupies a 1970s brick building that formerly housed a print shop. The restaurant – which serves up […] More