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NOLA children's asylum revived as Hotel Saint Vincent by Lambert McGuire Design
Moody grey rooms add to the spooky ambience of this hotel in New Orleans that occupies a 19th-century infant asylum renovated by Lambert McGuire Design. More
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Chicago's Swiss Consulate interior is a nod to 1960s modernism
Swiss firm HHF and Chicago-based studio Kwong Von Glinow have collaborated on the interiors of the Swiss Consulate located in Chicago’s landmark John Hancock Center.
Located on the 38th floor of the 100-storey supertall skyscraper, the 1,500-square-foot office is designed to pay homage to the shared architectural history of Chicago and Switzerland.
The Swiss Consulate is located in the John Hancock CenterHHF and Kwong Von Glinow drew on the domestic interiors of Swiss modernist architect and designer Otto Kolb, who taught at the Illinois Institute of Technology.Original Otto Kolb light fittings have been used throughout, and the office’s mid-century style furniture is the result of a collaboration with Ginger Zalaba, Kolb’s granddaughter and founder of Zalaba Design.
HHF and Kwong Von Glinow referenced the work of 1960s architect Otto Kolb”The Swiss Consulate was developed as one fluid space,” the designers told Dezeen. “Similar to the design of the Villa Kolb on the outskirts of Zürich.”
At the centre of the office, an area is carved out by curved sections of wooden slats and plants in reference to Villa Kolb’s cylindrical fireplace.
The kitchen is painted a deep green colourThese wooden dividers – painted a deep green internally and white on the reverse – act to separate the social areas of the office from the workspaces, loosely enclosing a green kitchenette and central tall table.
“The light-altering screens that shape the green core act as mediators between the more public area and the working areas of the consulate,” explained the designers.Dyed concrete walls surround Swiss embassy in Nairobi by Roeoesli Maeder Architekten
“Taking cues from how kitchens are typically used in the home as a place where daily interactions between family members occur, the kitchenette becomes the meeting place of the Swiss Consulate.”
Three desks sit alongside this central core, while two individual offices and a conference room are separated from the more social area with large frosted glass partition walls that help pull light deeper into the plan.
Meeting rooms are screened by frosted glass”Given the meeting room’s lack of access to direct light, natural light comes instead from the frosted glass partitions that separate it from the deputy’s office,” explained the designers.
With privacy and security being important, the only entrance to the office is via a mirror-polished chrome door, which stands alongside a bright red reception booth.
The reception booth is painted bright redKwong Von Glinow recently completed their first project since founding the practice in 2017, a light and spacious house in Chicago aimed to demonstrate an alternative to developer-led housing.
Global practice Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the original designers of the John Hancock Center where the Swiss Consulate is based, has also recently revealed plans for a new curving glass canopy for the State/Lake station on Chicago’s metro.
The photography is by James Florio.Read more: More
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Six of the best restaurant interiors in California
From rustic fine dining to colourful ceilings designed to “stimulate the appetite”, here are six top examples of interior design for restaurants from California.
Loqui in Downtown Los Angeles, California, by Wick Architecture & Design
Los Angeles studio Wick Architecture & Design looked to materials more commonly found on construction sites when designing Loqui, the second location of a “mom and pop” taqueria in Downtown Los Angeles.Concrete floors and exposed pipes from the renovation have been left in situ while walls and surfaces are clad with terracotta brick and olive-pained stucco. Tables, chairs and benches are made of stained oak and the facade is made of patinated steel.
Find out more about Loqui ›Madison in San Diego, California, by Archisects
California studio Archisects designed bright-blue alcoves and cedar-clad walls and ceilings for Madison, a restaurant and cocktail bar built in a former nightclub in San Diego’s University Heights neighbourhood.
The designers used wood and geometric shapes to create a warm and welcoming space, with nautical light fixtures that nod to the city’s coastal location.
Find out more about Madison ›Bavel in Los Angeles Arts District, California, by Studio Unltd
Los Angeles-based Studio Unltd turned a former warehouse in the Los Angeles Arts District into a Middle Eastern restaurant called Bavel (pictured top and above).
Plants trail down whitewashed walls and banquettes are upholstered with geometric-patterned fabric. The bar area draws inspiration from Casablanca, Morocco, with pink metal seats and gold-and-turquoise shelves set in arched niches.
Find out more about Bavel ›Auburn on Los Angeles’ Melrose Avenue, California, by Klein Agency
Jon and Maša Kleinhample, a husband-and-wife design team from Belgium, wanted to create a homey aesthetic for Auburn, a fine-dining restaurant on Melrose Avenue.
The kitchen is open to the dining area and crockery is stored in open-faced cupboards. Rustic ceiling beams project from the inside through to an outdoor dining area where a tree grows through a hole cut into the roof.
Find out more about Auburn ›Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura in Beverly Hills, California, by Gucci
The Gucci store in Beverly Hills has its own Italian restaurant on the top floor. The intimate 50-cover eatery is designed to look like the fashion house’s restaurant in Florence, with a marble entrance and tapestry rugs spread over wooden parquet flooring.
An outdoor terrace has a mosaic floor patterned with stars and a retractable awning that is supported by steel beams painted jade green.
Find out more about Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura ›The Salted Pig in Riverside, California, by Project M Plus
Project M Plus, a Los Angeles-based collective of architects and designers, used a palette of warm tones to “stimulate the appetite and the senses” for this restaurant in Riverside.
The ceiling and exposed ducts are brick red, with sage-green accents in the dining space below. Banquettes upholstered in leather are wrapped in wooden louvres and illuminated with domed copper lights.
Find out more about The Salted Pig ›Read more: More
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Sarah Coleman puts a psychedelic twist on the brand's logo at the Fendi Caffe
Artist Sarah Coleman has added a psychedelic twist to Fendi’s distinctive double-F logo for a pop-up cafe she designed for the brand in the Miami Design District.
Stylised as the Fendi Caffe, the cafe designed for the Italian fashion house was located on the outdoor corridor of OTL restaurant in the heart of Miami’s Design District from May to early July.
Coleman manipulated the traditional Fendi logoThe cafe was informed by the brand’s Summer Vertigo capsule collection, which New York artist Sarah Coleman designed in collaboration with Fendi’s creative director Silvia Venturini Fendi.
Defined by yellow and blue tones, the ready-to-wear collection features 90s streetwear references as well as shapes borrowed from 70s psychedelia.
The entrance to the cafe was on an outdoor corridorCentral to the cafe’s bold design was FF Vertigo, Fendi’s iconic FF logo that Coleman and Venturini Fendi warped for the capsule collection and repeated throughout the cafe in a series of bold colours.
The artist explained the influences that prompted her to explore the 70s in her design process.Ménard Dworkind creates retro coffee bar in downtown Montreal
“When I first began brainstorming, I went straight to my bookshelf and dove into everything I have about the 1970s, a period of spontaneity and extreme self-expression,” Coleman told Dezeen.
“I think the 70s are the greatest fashion era of the 20th century. The spirit of disco, the flowing post-psychedelic art,” she added. “There were so many inspiring aesthetic references to draw upon.”
FF Vertigo was repeated throughout the spaceVisitors to the cafe were greeted with an expanse of bright yellow canopy that contrasted with green potted plants lining the permanent Fendi boutique that is located opposite the pop-up’s site.
FF Vertigo featured as a bold motif throughout, topping the space’s various tables and barstools while more abstract swirly shapes tumbled over the cafe’s yellow walls.
A permanent Fendi boutique is opposite where the pop-up wasOrb-style pendant lights and menus also included FF Vertigo in their design, while a more traditional version of the Fendi logo featured on the cafe’s edible items such as cappuccinos and toast.
Fendi is a luxury fashion house founded in 1925 by Adele and Edoardo Fendi.
Other previous projects by the brand that are informed by the past include a travelling installation for an edition of Design Miami featuring pastel 50s furniture.
The images are courtesy of Fendi.Read more: More
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Vipp Studio in Manhattan functions as both showroom and apartment
The owners of Danish design company Vipp have renovated a Tribeca loft that acts as a showroom for their brand and a pied-à-terre when they stay in New York City. More
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Space4Architecture adds skylight staircase to minimal Brooklyn townhouse
New York studio Space4Architecture has brought natural light into a townhouse in Brooklyn’s Carroll Gardens neighbourhood by adding a staircase topped with a skylight. More
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Daughter cafe in Brooklyn has stepped seating that mimics brownstone stoops
Designer Christopher Al-Jumah has created Daughter, a community-oriented cafe in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights with interiors informed by the staircases of local brownstone buildings. More
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Schissel Montgomery Architects renovates Brooklyn flat for art gallerist
New York City-based architecture office Schissel Montgomery has completed a minimalist renovation of a three-bedroom apartment in the Park Slope neighbourhood.
Named Wendy’s, the studio decluttered the 1,300-square-foot (120-square-metres) apartment’s living spaces to create “a quiet, generous background for art and life”.
Schissel Montgomery Architects also converted one of the bedrooms facing the street into a study.
The kitchen uses only lower cabinets to create a sense of openness
The renovation centres around a new kitchen, which is partially open to the living and dining space. Previously, these two areas were separate.”The intervention focuses on creating connections between the shared spaces of the apartment and selectively removing materials accreted over time,” said the studio.
A key move was to declutter the apartment’s living roomA new banquette along the wall integrates storage beneath the seat while consolidating the previously separate spaces.
At the end of a corridor, the studio repurposed an existing bedroom to create a study for the owner. Furniture selections here include a table by midcentury designer Eileen Gray and a Barcelona Daybed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.BC—OA hides storage behind metal panels in renovated Soho loft
Since the apartment is at street level, Schissel Montgomery designed sheer fabric curtains to cover the bottom portion of the windows.
This gives residents more privacy, while still admitting light into the space.
The new study occupies a former bedroom at the far end of the apartmentThe project has a restrained palette with light wooden floors, white painted walls and selectively curated furnishings and artwork.
“The intervention focuses on creating connections between the shared spaces of the apartment and selectively removing materials accreted over time,” Schissel Montgomery explained.
The entrance includes a full-height mirror and built-in storageCustom details include a handmade concrete enclosure to protect the building’s steam pipe.
It is made of stacked, textured cylinders that resemble a classical column’s fluting motif.
Custom details include a concrete sleeve to cover the building’s steam pipeAnother additional at the apartment’s entrance is a floor-to-ceiling mirror that was to expand the space and brings more light to a darker area of the apartment.
“The intervention uses painted surfaces, whitewashed floors and window sheers to maximise bounced light in the space,” explained Schissel Montgomery.
The pipe enclosure nods to similar classical columns visible from within the apartmentThese pipes are left exposed in many New York City apartments and can become so hot that they are hazardous to residents, in addition to being unsightly.
Schissel Montgomery was established in 2019 and is led by two graduates of Columbia University’s architecture school, Michael Schissel and Talene Montgomery.
Other apartment renovations in the Brooklyn area include a townhouse by GRT Architects that is filled with eclectic art objects and a monochrome interior renovation by local firm Arnold Studio.
Photography is by Daniel Terna.
Project credits:
Architect: Schissel Montgomery ArchitectsConstruction: WK RenovationRead more: More
