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      Sarah Jefferys creates Passive House in Brooklyn with dramatic cedar screen

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      American studio Sarah Jefferys Architecture + Interiors has renovated a slender townhouse in Brooklyn with airy rooms and a cedar screen on the facade to meet Passive House standards.

      Located in the Park Slope neighbourhood, the Passive House project involved the overhaul of a brick-faced, three-storey townhouse built in 1921 and owned by a family of four.
      Sarah Jefferys Architecture + Interiors remodelled a Brooklyn townhouse into a passive houseNew York-based Sarah Jefferys Architecture + Interiors sought to create a tranquil living atmosphere with elements that pay homage to the family’s Indian and Danish roots.
      Moreover, the team wanted the 3,000-square-foot (279-square-metre) building to align with Passive House standards for energy efficiency.
      High-quality windows were installedTo significantly reduce heating and cooling needs, the team installed triple-pane Zola windows, which are often used in passive houses. Walls were reconstructed to create an airtight envelope, which included the addition of cellulose insulation.

      The team also added an electric heat pump and an energy recovery ventilator, which helps purify the air.
      The front facade was kept intact and refurbished, while the rear wall was redesigned to add ample glazing. To provide privacy and to modulate incoming daylight, the team added an artful cedar screen that acts as both “a sculpture and a veil”.
      White oak was used to complement the bright coloursWithin the slender home, the team incorporated pops of colour and pale materials such as white oak.
      “We strategically used light hues and reflective materials, and created an airy environment to offset the narrow footprint of the townhouse,” the team said.
      The ground level has an open plan and holds the communal spaces.
      Reflective and light materials helped the studio meet environmental standardsUp front is the living room, where one finds a blue Living Divani sofa, rattan chairs from Fritz Hansen and a Muuto table.
      A wood-burning fireplace, an element not often found in passive homes, sits between the living and dining areas.
      To curb emissions from the hearth, the architects added a triple-pane glass enclosure and an extraction fan with an insulated cap. Still, because of the fireplace, the home does not fully meet the PHIUS certification requirements, the architect said.
      The all-white dining room is furnished with Ant chairs by Arne Jacobsen and a PH50 pendant by Poul Henningsen. Just beyond is the “showpiece kitchen”, which is framed with an LED light cove.
      The staircase has a skylight above”The light cove acts as a separation point – an outline – and provides an atmospheric glow throughout the kitchen,” the team said.
      In addition to the special lighting, the kitchen features slatted wooden cabinetry, yellow pendants by Louis Poulsen, and an island topped with Glassos crystallized glass.
      Part of the island consists of a live-sawn slab of white oak, which is lined with bar stools.
      The living room features a Muuto table”The beautiful juxtaposition between Glassos and white oak exemplifies the nature of the kitchen as both a practical work area and a leisurely lounge space for entertaining,” the team said.
      A sky-lit staircase leads to the upper levels. The first floor holds the main bedroom and bathroom, along with an office – all of which are arrayed along a corridor lined with frosted glass.

      Ten energy-saving homes designed to Passivhaus standards

      The main bedroom features a BoConcept bed, sconces by Robert Dudley Best for Bestlite and a graphic blanket by Pia Wallén for HAY. The bathroom is adorned with matte glass and penny-round tiles from Ann Sacks.
      The office is infused with a “touch of nostalgia”. Pieces include a Hans Wegner armchair, a teak Danish dresser and a 1962 copper pendant by Jo Hammerborg.
      Bright colours were used throughoutThe top level contains a den and two additional bedrooms. The house also has a cellar.
      Other Brooklyn townhouses include a house by Space4Architecture that has a skylit staircase and minimalist decor, and the family home of architects Fanny and Matthew Mueller, which features floating steps and a wood-and-steel bridge.
      The photography is by Morten Smidt.

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      Life House transforms motor lodge in the Berkshires into hotel

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      A former motel in rural Massachusetts has been transformed by American hospitality brand Life House into a hotel decorated with objects influenced by 1970s hospitality.

      Life House converted an existing, two-storey motel property with its in-house design team. While the 64 guest rooms maintain the same layout, a new extension was added for the lobby, restaurant and lounge.
      Life House, Berkshires is a reimagined 1970s-era lodge”Set in the middle of the mountains, Life House, Berkshires is a reimagined 1970s-era lodge that culls inspiration from the lodge styles of the past century and reinterprets the architecture via modern materiality and forms,” said Life House.
      The property is located in the Berkshires mountains, between the towns of Pittsfield and Lenox.
      Its design “culls inspiration from the lodge styles of the past century”Visitors access rooms via exterior walkways, a feature that Life House has reinterpreted for a more contemporary hotel set-up.

      “The exterior is rendered in oat-colored wood shingles juxtaposed with dark gray trims that give the building a cozy and luxurious appearance,” said Life House.
      The main communal space is called the Club RoomThe most important addition to the property was the communal space, which is nicknamed the Club Room.
      In addition to being the first space visitors see as they enter the hotel, this is the main gathering space, as it contains a fireplace, the bar, lobby and a restaurant.
      A custom mural covers the wallsThis double-height room features cathedral ceilings, exposed wooden beams and ornamental chandeliers that give the space a warm light and a sense of scale.
      “The gargantuan, 28-foot ceilings house custom Murano glass chandeliers handmade in Venice by Sogni di Cristallo and hang high above the bar millwork that showcases a marble countertop and leather upholstered panels,” said Life House.
      The terrace provides a space to loungeA custom mural painted by artist Lei Xing covers the walls of the Club Room. Vitage prints and found objects – as well as other electric accents – cover the walls.
      This indoor space is connected to a terrace via sliding glass doors, where guests can lounge on several large couches surrounding fire pits.

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

      “The design of the outdoor spaces exudes the nonchalance of its environs telegraphed via a color palette inspired by the striking sunrises and sunsets of the Berkshires,” said Life House.
      Throughout the property, the team selected furniture and decor pieces that create a sense of nostalgia.
      Life House selected furniture that intends to evoke nostalgiaWithin the guest rooms, there are custom wardrobes created by the Life House team, alongside lamps and armchairs with a vintage aesthetic.
      “Collage artwork by Annie Lynch, whose pieces present black and white portraits of female figures with superimposed aerial photographs of local landscapes, are hung alongside framed poetry by artist Russell Markus who used an antique typewriter and vintage paper to produce each art piece,” said Life House.
      Custom wardrobes by Life House feature in the guest roomsOther hotel properties that can be found in the region include Hotel McKinsley, which was designed to avoid the typical aesthetic of “antlers or plaid and reclaimed wood” and a property in Armenia, NY that is set within an English-style country home.
      The photography is by Sophie Fabbri for Life House.

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      Snarkitecture uses recycled materials for Pharrell Williams' streetwear brand store in Miami

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      New York design studio Snarkitecture has designed a flagship store for the streetwear clothing brand Billionaire Boys Club, created by American musician Pharrell Williams and Japanese graphic designer Nigo.

      Located in a former warehouse on a corner in Miami’s Wynwood neighbourhood, the store is a flagship for Billionaire Boys Club (BBC), which was founded in 2003 and includes sub-brands Icecream, Bee Line and Billionaire Girls Club.
      Snarkitecture designed a flagship for Billionaire Boys Club in Miami”I’m very grateful that we have the opportunity to bring our flagship store to Miami,” said Williams. “It’s going to be a place where people can come in to get inspired by the mix of fashion, culture, art and design.”
      The 5,000-square-foot (465 metres) store includes retail space as well as art installations created for the store by Snarkitecture.
      The space used to be a warehouseIn order to light up the warehouse space, the studio added windows to the side of the structure and created a domed entryway, also with panelled windows.

      The exterior of the store is clad in a light plaster material and the walls feature decorative murals.
      Recycled materials were used throughoutInside, the designers used influences from Florida’s Everglades National Park as well as brand imagery from BBC to create an open space for the retail experience.
      “The space is a reimagination of the traditional retail model, taking the form of an art gallery, with the goal to drive social engagement and exploration,” the clothing brand said.
      Cages were designed to hold some of the goodsWooden panels with a beige hue clad the walls of the store, creating a solid base element to contrast the colourful retail elements – such as the white and seafoam green cages that hold the merchandise.
      According to BBC, many of the elements used for the interiors were reused.
      Displays line the walls”The design makes use of environmentally-friendly materials, such as recycled plastics, glass and wood panels,” it said.
      The ceiling is covered with white slats that are top-lit between the exposed HVAC elements.
      An astronaut statue is the centrepiece”The store also features a spacious open-concept layout that was designed to meet BBC’s need for a flexible retail environment,” said the brand.
      “Now, more than ever, we believe that curating brand physical experiences via brick-and-mortar shopping locations and in-store experiences are imperative to connect on a deeper level with our customers,” said BBC chief sales officer Matt Kaden.
      Beige panels line the wallsGlass elements with stainless-steel accents line the walls of the store, creating space for smaller items to be displayed.
      In the centre is a large blue-painted astronaut statue – the symbol of the brand as well as a nod to Florida’s space-faring history.

      Snarkitecture fills New York gallery with lights that resemble “large lollipops”

      Miami’s Wynwood neighbourhood was chosen for the store as it has become the epicentre of the city’s art, fashion and design scenes.
      “The choice of Wynwood, Miami for the new storefront is a conscious move to be in the heart of the art community and within a cultural environment that speaks to the brand’s values and inspirations,” said BBC general manager Loic Villepontoux.
      Glass display cases hold smaller itemsOther stores in the area include a showroom for Mexican stone company Grupo Arca designed by Mexico-based Esrawe Studio in collaboration with art collective Superflex.
      Other projects by Snarkitecture – a studio founded by Alex Mustonen and Daniel Arsham – include a “self-care” club in Washington DC and a Parisian mansion-turned-streetwear-outlet that includes a Nike Air Max chandelier.
      The photography is by Billionaire Boys Club.

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      Melanie Raines designs “weird and funky” interiors for Austin residence

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      Interior designer Melanie Raines has applied her experience in hospitality design to ensure the large spaces of this Austin family home feel cosy, playful and “a bit irreverent”.

      Raines, who recently moved to the Texas capital from LA, was discovered by the clients after they visited the Soho Little Beach House in Malibu and researched the team behind its interiors.
      The home’s large living room features vertical elements including a concrete-block fireplace and a swingAfter connecting on LinkedIn and realising they are now based in the same city, the family asked her to design the interiors of a property they were building.
      The house, designed by local firm Ryan Street Architects, was originally conceived as a 12,500-square-foot (1,160-square-metre) California barn-inspired home with vast living spaces, six bedrooms and a guest house.
      Furniture is arranged to create zones, like a seating area framed by a brown leather sofaHowever, the music-loving homeowners decided that the interiors should better reflect their creative personalities, and provide a “weird and funky” environment for their four children and two dogs.

      “By the time we were brought onto the project, they were hoping to see more of themselves in the interior design: colorful, playful, and artful people who love music and don’t take things too seriously,” Raines told Dezeen.
      Above the bar, a section of mezzanine floor is replaced with a rope net”For this reason, the central design challenge was to marry the architecture of exposed steel and reclaimed wood with an interior that felt fresh, playful, and distinctive.”
      One of the biggest challenges was to make the huge open living room feel intimate and cosy.
      Walnut is used throughout the home and prominently in the kitchenThis was achieved by arranging furniture in different zones, a trick borrowed from Raines’ career in the boutique hospitality sector.
      A large wooden ping-pong table that doubles as a dining surface sits at the centre, accompanied by velvet-upholstered stools.
      The millwork echoes the exterior reclaimed timber cladding visible through large windowsOn the other side, a curve chocolate-brown leather sofa sits atop textured red rugs to create a nook in front of a bar area, which has a built-in pizza oven.
      Above the bar, a cut-out in the floor of a mezzanine balcony is replaced with a rope net to form a hammock.
      The primary bedroom is decorated in dark colours to create a relaxing atmosphereOther vertical elements help to draw the eye up, including the fireplace clad in split-face, industrial concrete blocks and a swing suspended on ropes from the 22-foot (6.7-metre) ceiling.
      To unite the various ground-floor spaces, walnut is repeated across several surfaces and details.
      Colour is used boldly in several of the smaller rooms”Occasionally we joked that it’s the ‘house that walnut built’ – the floors, millwork, and many of the furnishings are a beautiful American black walnut,” Raines said.
      This is especially true in the kitchen, where millwork on the island and built-in cabinetry are all crafted from the material – echoing the reclaimed timber ceilings and the exterior cladding visible through giant windows.
      A green sofa set the retro tone in the dark movie roomWhile colour is used sparingly as accents in the living area, a much bolder approach was taken in other rooms.
      “The clients came to develop a trust in some colour sensibilities that became the moods around the home,” explained Raines. “We landed on a creamy off-white in the main spaces, then got especially playful in the ancillary spaces.”

      Clayton Korte clads Hartford Residence in Austin with limestone and fibre cement

      Dark blues were chosen to create a relaxing atmosphere in the primary bedroom, where a corner is designated for the couple to enjoy tea together, while a retro aesthetic was guided by a green sofa in the near-black movie room.
      Smaller spaces like closets and bathrooms are decorated with a variety of patterned wallpapers, some of which Raines described as “PG-13”.
      Wallpaper chosen for closets and powder rooms includes a design that Raines described as “PG-13″In the guest house, wood panelling paired with tan and orange leathers offers a “1970s lakehouse feel”, and the primary powder bath has a black terrazzo stone ceiling.
      “The atmosphere needed to be creative, inspirational, artful, and un-precious,” said Raines. “Anything ‘fancy’ was immediately thrown out!”
      “It was a reaction on both my part and theirs to the age of over-design, and we were really able to throw some wild ideas out to see what stuck, then remix them to create an intentional – but a bit irreverent – final design,” she added.
      The ombre wallpaper in this powder room is another example of the designer’s playful approachAustin is one of the fastest-growing cities in the US and has seen a spike in residential architecture and interior projects as a result.
      Others that have been completed recently include a gabled family home clad in limestone and fibre cement by Clayton Korte and a residence with dark grey walls and a crisp silhouette by Side Angle Side.
      The photography is by Chase Daniel.

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      GRT Architects combines oak and mosaic tiles for East Village Apartment renovation

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      New York-based GRT Architects has rearranged the layout of an apartment in the East Village and added warm materials during its renovation.

      The studio undertook the project in Onyx Court, a six-storey corner Beaux-Arts structure on Second Avenue built in 1902 by Harde & Short.
      The East Village Apartment renovation involved relocating the kitchen to a brighter spaceGoals for the renovation included reorganising rooms to improve sightlines through the apartment and optimising the natural light available in each room.
      “Our renovation completely rethought the apartment’s layout while preserving its turn-of-the-century disposition,” said the GRT Architects team. “The space is neither more open nor closed than when we found it.”
      The kitchen, living and dining areas are all connected but intended to be read as separate roomsThe first move was to straighten a corridor from the entrance, to provide a view of an east-facing window from the front door.

      To enable this, a shallow-arched opening was created in a load-bearing brick wall – the only structural change made during the overhaul.
      A full storage wall in the living room includes a panel that hides the TV”The journey down this corridor celebrates the building’s irregularity with asymmetrical niches and rounded openings in thick plaster walls,” GRT Architects said.
      This journey ends at the semi-open kitchen, which was relocated from diagonally across the apartment, to an area with better light and improved integration into the rest of the home.
      A textured sliding door reveals a small office behindAn island clad in oxblood-coloured tiles sits at the centre, surrounded by white oak cabinetry with oversized handles and a satin white countertop.
      Chequerboard two-inch mosaic tiling across the kitchen floor ends below a storage unit suspended from brass bars, clearly defining this space from the adjacent dining room.
      The primary bedroom now sits where the kitchen once wasA minimal brass pendant hangs above the walnut dining table, while the living room is found through a cased opening and also demarcated by a strip of herringbone parquet flooring.
      Largely decorated in a cooler grey hue compared to the warmer tones elsewhere, the living room features accents like a yellow armchair that matches the upholstery of the dining chairs, and a storage wall backed with sienna-coloured panels.
      Custom built-in closets were added to the bedroom”We organised this space around a full wall of built-in shelves which includes a sliding panel that conceals a television,” said GRT Architects.
      “A series of complementary colours emphasise the relief of this composition while oak pulls tie it back to the kitchen.”
      The second bedroom acts as both an office and a sleeping area thanks to a retractable murphy bedTucked behind a sliding textured glass door, a small office continues the same sienna shade across all four walls.
      The primary bedroom is located in place of the old kitchen and includes custom built-in closets – one occupying the shaft of a defunct dumbwaiter.

      GRT Architects blends old and new at renovated Brooklyn townhouse

      An adjacent bathroom combines a variety of hard and soft materials, ranging from flecked terrazzo and green mosaic tiles to oak cabinet doors that visually tie back to the kitchen.
      In the second bedroom, a murphy bed enables the space to be used as another office when needed.
      Materials in the bathroom echo those in the kitchenA powder room was also slotted into the floor plan as part of the reorganisation.
      “We found space for this small room by greatly reducing circulation space without compromising privacy,” the team said.
      The apartment is now organised along a straight corridorGRT Architects, founded by Tal Schori and Rustam-Marc Mehta in 2014, has worked on a variety of projects in New York City – from a Brooklyn townhouse overhaul to a cosy bakery.
      More recently, the firm has expanded further afield, completing a cedar bungalow above marshland on the Connecticut shoreline and a black house with huge triangular windows in Dutchess County.
      The photography is by Nicole Franzen.
      Project credits:
      Design architect and architect of record: GRT Architects: Rustam Mehta, Tal Schori, Pablo Taberna, Chelsea StittMEP engineer: ANZStructural engineer: Old Structures

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      Modern Age longevity clinic creates calm with 3form resin interiors

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      Promotion: longevity clinic Modern Age has opened its flagship studio in New York City, with an interior design featuring translucent 3form materials, which aims to create a welcoming environment.

      The Modern Age studio offers a wide range of treatments and products, including IV drip therapy, botox and wrinkle relaxers, vitamins and hormone therapy.
      The flagship clinic was designed in-house by the brand’s head of studio design Madelynn Ringo, who wanted to create a calm and welcoming environment for clients undertaking treatments.
      The Modern Age studio uses translucent 3form Chroma resin throughout its interiorTo achieve a futuristic look, 3form’s Chroma resin material was chosen to feature in several places to create consistency throughout the interior while conjuring the desired mood.
      Chroma is a thick resin that 3form describes as offering high clarity and light transmission, which is durable and cleanable enough to be used even for horizontal applications such as tables, benches, boxes and counters.

      Its look is highly customisable with an array of finishes, diffusions and effects, and a choice of more than 250 colours.
      A peachy coral hue of Chroma was chosen for the suite doorsRingo wanted to create private spaces within the studio without reducing the light transmission, so she used Chroma in a peachy coral hue to make translucent pocket doors for the suites, and then applied the material again as shelving in the retail area to tie the interior together.
      The material helps the space to look glowy and inviting and has the advantage of being easy to work with.
      “3form’s materials are similar to glass, but are much lighter weight,” said Ringo. “This allows us to fabricate it in other ways that would be too heavy if we tried to use glass.”
      “Sometimes we can send it to our fabricators to craft into different shapes, which is easier and safer to cut than glass onsite.”
      The same colour is echoed in the retail area’s resin shelvesModern Age was also keen to work with environmentally friendly materials, and 3form’s material has the GreenGuard Gold certification for being low in chemical emissions and the Declare Label disclosing all of the ingredients in the final product.
      Ringo completed the space with more textured materials and finishes that provide a contrast to Chroma. They are also meant to hint at the ageing process and the beauty of imperfections.
      “Everyone has their own imperfections and we highlight that through the materiality of the space,” said Ringo. “The veininess of the terracotta tiles represents signs of ageing. The walls have a painterly limewash, to not show something that was too refined.”
      3form is an American brand that manufactures a range of resin, glass and felt materials for various architectural applications. In addition to its environmental sustainability goals, it also holds a Just Label, which recognises its social justice and equity outcomes.
      Visit 3form’s website for more information on Chroma and its other products.
      Partnership content
      This article was written by Dezeen for 3form as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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      Woods + Dangaran brings warmth and light to mid-century modern home in Los Angeles

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      Teak wood, travertine stone and expansive glazing all feature in Woods + Dangaran’s renovation of a mid-century modern house that once belonged to singer Bing Crosby’s manager.

      Los Angeles-based Woods + Dangaran has both upgraded the architecture and designed the interiors for Clear Oak Residence, which is located on a hillside above LA’s San Fernando Valley.
      Clear Oak Residence is located on a hillside above LA’s San Fernando ValleyThe design aims to enhance the building’s relationship with its setting while also bringing an increased sense of warmth and comfort to the living spaces.
      Doorways and windows were adjusted and enlarged to enable wraparound views of the landscape, while skylights were added to highlight key moments within the interior.
      A new swimming pool cantilevers out towards the viewTravertine creates a continuous floor surface that extends out from the living spaces to a sunset terrace, while teak provides wall panelling and in-built joinery throughout.

      “The architectural finish palette was intentionally limited to four materials: clear anodised aluminium, plaster, travertine, and teak for the wall panelling,” said Woods + Dangaran.
      “This visual restraint manifests in a serene ambiance that permeates all aspects of the residence.”
      Travertine flooring extends both inside and outClear Oak Residence is shortlisted for Dezeen Awards 2022 in the house interior category, where it will compete with four other projects – including another one by Woods + Dangaran – for the title.
      Woods + Dangaran designed this project for client Robert Galishoff, whose brief to the architects was to embrace the building’s mid-century heritage but ensure the result exudes a sense of “effortless luxury”.
      Teak provides wall panelling and custom joineryLandscaping played a big role in the transformation. By relocating the swimming pool so that it cantilevers over the hill and adjusting the topography, more terrace and deck space could be created.
      Sliding floor-to-ceiling glass doors allow the main bedroom, the living room and the dining area to open out to this terrace.

      Woods + Dangaran updates 1960s California home by Craig Ellwood

      “Enlarged doorways and windows inside the house, including floor-to-ceiling glass doors, integrate the interior spaces with the landscape and foreground views by eliminating barriers,” said the architects.
      “Glazed openings inserted along corridors create memorable spatial experiences from new axes and vantage points.”
      Skylights create framed views of the skyThe interior furnishings include both new and retro pieces in natural materials and warm colours, which sit alongside Galishoff’s collection of objets d’art.
      The living room features a copper silk shag rug from Mehraban, a Minotti sectional reupholstered in a retro-patterned textile and a pair of the Arthur Casas-designed Amorfa coffee tables.
      “Inspired by mid-century pieces but adjusted for scale, function, and material, these pieces give the home a unique voice that mixes old and new, retro with contemporary vibes,” said Woods + Dangaran.
      The design respect’s the building’s mid-century heritageLed by architects Brett Woods and Joe Dangaran, Woods + Dangaran has developed a reputation for modernising mid-century homes but also designs new-builds with a similar character.
      Other recent projects include an upgrade of a 1960s Craig Ellwood house and a brass-clad home in Palm Springs.
      The photography is by Joe Fletcher.

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      Fiandre covers Armenian church in porcelain slabs printed with 1.5 million unique motifs

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      Promotion: Fiandre Architectural Surfaces porcelain slabs, digitally printed with 1.5 million icons, cover the facade of an Armenian church in Texas designed by New York-based architect David Hotson.

      For the facade of Saint Sarkis Armenian Church in Carrollton, Texas, architect David Hotson and Yerevan-trained architectural designer Ani Sahakyan worked closely with Italian architectural surface manufacturer Fiandre to create a facade that works at a series of visual scales.
      The church is covered with Fiandre porcelain slabsThe church’s western facade that surrounds its entrance is clad with porcelain slabs depicting a traditional Armenian cross or “tree of life” with distinctive floral branching arms. This Armenian symbol of faith in the face of suffering and of resurrection and redemption serves as a memorial to the victims of the Armenian genocide.
      Viewed more closely, as the visitor approaches the church, the cross is composed of interwoven botanical and geometrical motifs drawn from Armenian art. These motifs represent the bonds of ancestry and tradition that have bound the Armenian community together across centuries of challenge and upheaval.
      Examined from even closer proximity, visitors will be able to see that the slabs are covered with individual icons or pixels, each one centimetre in diameter.

      Printed at a high resolution using Fiandre’s “Design Your Slab” or DYS printed porcelain slab system, the tiny icons – 1.5 million in total – cover the entire church facade. All of the icons are unique and derived from the circular emblems that recur throughout Armenian decorative arts.
      The ceramic slabs are printed with 1.5 million icons based on ancient Armenian motifsThe 1.5 million unique icons are designed to symbolise the individuals who were murdered in the Armenian genocide. The scale of the individual icons that are spread across the entire building facade is intended to make tangible the scale of this historical atrocity.
      To create the facade design, a computer script was developed by architectural designer Ben Elmer to generate the icons based on ancient Armenian ornamental motifs.
      These icons were scaled to fit a total of 1.5 million on the facade and were distributed according to density to form larger-scale patterns when viewed from a distance.
      The ceramic surfaces are also UV-resistantThe motifs were printed to the exact pixel modules required onto Fiandre’s large-format, exterior-grade, UV-resistant porcelain rain screen slabs.
      “The facade is believed to be the first use of this technology to optically engage the viewer in a series of visual scales nested inside each other, from the scale of an entire architectural facade to the scale of individual pixels each rendered in high-resolution at the threshold of visual perception,” said Fiandre.
      In addition to the memorial facade, Fiandre supplied the full range of porcelain interior and exterior floor, wall and soffit finishes used throughout the Saint Sarkis Campus.
      The Armenian church in Texas is designed by New York-based architect David HotsonNew York-based Hotson’s design for the new church building is modelled on the ancient church of Saint Hripsime, which stands near Armenia’s modern capital of Yerevan.
      Having withstood fourteen centuries of upheaval, Saint Hripsime serves as a symbol of the endurance, perseverance, and resilience of the Armenian people. The cornerstone of Saint Sarkis was laid in 2018, fourteen centuries after Saint Hripsime was completed in 618 AD.
      “From this brief, Hotson developed a design that looks forward as well as backward, marrying ancient architectural and artistic traditions reflecting Armenia’s cultural legacy as the world’s first Christian nation with contemporary digitally-driven design and fabrication technologies,” explained the manufacturer.
      To learn more about Fiandre Architectural Surfaces, visit the brand’s website.
      Partnership content
      This article was written by Dezeen for Fiandre as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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