USA

Subterms

    More stories

    • 150 Shares189 Views

      Rockwell Group completes luxury residents-only leisure club for New York's Waterline Square

      by

      A sinuous wooden walkway connects different amenities in this private leisure club that architecture and design firm Rockwell Group has created for residents of New York’s Waterline Square development.The Waterline Club by Rockwell Group links together the trio of skyscrapers that make up Waterline Square, a five-acre residential development located on Manhattan’s Upper West Side between West 59th and 61st streets.
      Each of the three buildings was designed by a different architect – Rafael Viñoly, Richard Meier and KPF – and together accommodates 263 luxury apartments.

      An elevated wooden walkway crosses over Nexus, the club’s central gathering spot
      Residents now have exclusive access to 77,000 square feet (7,153 square metres) of leisure amenities available in The Waterline Club, which occupies three subterranean levels beneath the development.

      When devising the interiors, Rockwell Group made sure to make room for activities that “appeal to both left and right-brain thinking”.

      Residents can use The Waterline Club’s fitness centre
      “Our research led to a major observation: New Yorkers have diverse, dynamic interests,” the firm explained.
      “Rather than offer only the typical athletic facilities, we wanted to appeal to New Yorkers’ balanced approach to life, which includes art, music, community, and play,” it continued.
      “We grouped active amenities together, and social and cultural amenities together, establishing a micro-community and an oasis within the city.”

      The club also includes a basketball court
      The central hub of the club is a vast travertine-lined room, dubbed Nexus, which is located down on the third, lowest level. Dotted with an array of plush leather sofas and sculptural armchairs, the room has sightlines through to activity rooms at this level like the gym and tennis court.

      David Rockwell and Joyce Wang team up for first Equinox Hotel in New York

      At this level there’s also a 30-foot-tall (nine-metre-tall) rock climbing wall, a half-pipe skate park, a golf simulation room, a music recording studio and an indoor greenhouse where residents can do gardening.

      Musical residents can make use of the club’s recording studio
      Winding up and across the Nexus is a sinuous wooden bridge that connects visitors to amenities on the club’s upper floors.
      Rockwell Group, which describes the structure as a “circulation ribbon”, took cues from other notable pedestrian paths in New York such as the spiralling walkway inside the Guggenheim Museum and the looping running track that goes around Central Park’s reservoir.
      “The bridge inspires guests to seek out new adventures,” added the firm. “It dips down in the centre, which gives the illusion of tension or stretching and also evokes speed and movement.”

      There’s additionally a series of playrooms for residents’ children
      Among the selection of amenities on the club’s second floor are children’s playrooms, a games arcade, a pets area and a variety of fitness spaces including a basketball court, kickboxing studio and mini athletics field which is fit-out with astroturf.
      This is followed by a sauna, spa treatment rooms and two swimming pools – one of which is Olympic-sized – up on the club’s first floor.

      One of the two swimming pools which can be found on the club’s first floor
      The Waterline Club is a short distance from the high-end hotel that Rockwell Group and Joyce Wang Studio designed for fitness brand Equinox.
      Opened to the public at the end of the last year, the hotel includes 212 guest rooms, a state-of-the-art gym and a rooftop pool that directly overlooks Thomas Heatherwick’s Vessel project.
      Photography is by Evan Joseph, excluding top image by Scott Frances.

      Read more: More

    • 138 Shares129 Views

      Mythology crafts warm plywood interiors for Shen beauty store in Brooklyn

      by

      Plywood covers almost every surface in this store that creative studio Mythology has designed for beauty retailer Shen in Brooklyn, New York.Shen’s new retail space is nestled in Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill neighbourhood and measures 1,550 square metres.
      The former store of the beauty retailer – which is known for selling a roster of independent makeup and skincare brands – had been located in the nearby area of Carroll Gardens and featured a mix of white and lavender-pink walls.

      The interior of Shen’s store is lined with plywood
      Manhattan-based Mythology has fashioned a warmer fit-out for this location, opting to line every surface in Baltic birch plywood.

      “We challenged ourselves to use a singular material because we wanted to juxtapose a humble utilitarian material like plywood with the high-end products featured in Shen’s product offering,” Ted Galperin, a partner and director of retail at Mythology, told Dezeen.
      “Using both the face and end-grain of the plywood allowed us to create a multitude of custom applications, and add visual variety to the space.”

      Colour is provided by hand-drawn wall murals
      Inside, Shen has been loosely divided into three sections. The first section is dedicated to customer browsing and lies towards the left of the store.
      Plywood has been used here to make a sequence of storage units that fan outwards from the wall, each one complete with vanity mirror and shelving where products are openly displayed. Names of different brands that are on offer have been carved into plywood panels set directly above the units.

      Plywood counters displaying products slope out from the walls
      The second section comprises a couple of triangular plywood islands in the middle of the store, where Shen staff can spotlight certain products and talk through them in detail with customers or demonstrate how they’re used.
      On the right-hand side of the store is the third section, which is used for services like makeup tutorials. There’s also an angled plywood counter here that showcases candles and scents for the home, running beneath a three-dimensional plywood sign of Shen’s company logo.

      The store includes an area for makeup tutorials
      Excluding a handful of restored 1950s stools from Thonet, furnishings and decorative elements in the store have been kept to a minimum.
      A splash of colour is added by a bespoke mural created by New York artist Petra Börner, which features a black-line illustration of a person’s face surrounded by wobbly blotches of green and turquoise paint.

      Beauty treatment rooms lie towards the rear of the store
      Another mural by Börner using pink and orange tones appears in the treatment area at the rear of the store, where customers can come for treatments like facials, waxing, and microblading.
      Walls here have also been painted a pinkish hue, but exposed plywood can still be seen on the floor, built-in sofas and beauticians’ cupboards.

      Walls in the treatment rooms have been painted pink
      Mythology isn’t the only design studio that has created a striking retail interior using just one material.
      Brooks + Scarpa lined the walls of an Aesop shop in downtown Los Angeles with cardboard fabric rolls salvaged from local fashion houses and costume shops, while Valerio Olgiati blanketed a Celine store in Miami in blue-tinged marble.
      An Ace & Tate store in Antwerp is also lined exclusively in white terrazzo tiles inlaid with red and blue aggregate.
      Photography is by Brooke Holm.

      Read more: More

    • 138 Shares159 Views

      Aston Martin collaborates with S3 Architecture to design first residential project

      by

      US studio S3 Architecture worked with luxury carmaker Aston Martin’s architectural design service to create Sylvan Rock, an angular black-cedar home in Hudson Valley, New York.With building works set to start in early 2021, Sylvan Rock by S3 Architecture will be the first property to be fully realised under Aston Martin’s Automotive Galleries and Lairs service, which launched last year.

      The form of Sylvan Rock house will mimic jagged rock formations nearby
      The service sees the carmaker team up with architecture practices across the world to design bespoke spaces where its clients can show off their most cherished motors.

      Sylvan Rock will be situated two hours away from Manhattan, hidden amongst a 55-acre plot of forested land in Hudson Valley that will allow inhabitants to “reconnect with nature”.

      Luxury cars will be displayed in a glass gallery-style room
      A sweeping driveway that spans 2,000 feet (609 metres) will lead up to the front door of the house. The facade will be composed of expansive panels of glazing and blackened cedar.
      Its dark metal roof will be faceted to emulate the jagged shape of surrounding rock formations, at one point dramatically dipping downwards to form a covered entryway.

      The house will also include a subterranean office
      “When designing, we always let the land speak first and respond to it,” said Christopher Dierig, partner at S3 Architecture.
      “It’s as if the home is born of and launching from the landscape. The resulting design blends our modernist aesthetic with the privacy and context of the rural location to create a unique luxury experience.”

      Parquet flooring and dark-wood joinery will feature throughout living spaces on the ground floor
      Cars will be displayed in a subterranean gallery-style room that’s completely enclosed by panels of glass.
      It will look through to a wine lounge where bottles are kept in floor-to-ceiling latticed shelves that subtly nod to the intersecting lines seen in Aston Martin’s logo.

      Lounge areas will overlook the green landscape
      At this level there will also be an office where the inhabitants can escape to do work without interruption. It will feature a huge window that offers an up-close glimpse of the craggy rocks outdoors.
      From here guests can head upstairs to the ground floor where there will be a kitchen, cosy den, dining room, formal sitting area and an array of other shared living spaces that look out across the home’s decked pool area and verdant landscape.

      Other rooms will have views of the home’s pool
      Aston Martin – which will be responsible for the home’s interiors – imagines each room to be finished with parquet flooring and rich chocolate-brown storage cabinetry.
      Marble-topped tables and plush, leather-trimmed soft furnishings will further enhance the opulent feel of the home.

      The first-floor master bedroom will cantilever towards the Catskill mountains
      Elevated views across the treetops and towards the nearby Catskill Mountains will be available up in the first-floor master bedroom, which will cantilever over the house’s ground floor.

      Aston Martin launches architectural service to design homes focused around your car

      “Our architecture and design team was immediately in sync with the Aston Martin design team, both emphasizing clean lines and the luxury of natural materials and textures,” the studio’s partner, Doug Maxwell, told Dezeen.
      “Working with them we evolved our creative process to view the residence in a similar way as designing an Aston Martin car – by designing in 360 degrees, where no specific angle or facade took precedence or dominates.”

      Sylvan Rock will also include three pods where guests can stay
      The grounds of Sylvan Rock will additionally accommodate three gabled guest pods that will stagger down a grassy embankment towards a pond.
      They will enable visiting friends and family to have a sense of privacy when they come to stay but, when not in use, can alternatively serve as a health and fitness space or a quiet area for homeschooling.
      There will also be a small produce garden where fruit and vegetables can be grown, as well as a pitched-roof treehouse where inhabitants or guests can choose to spend a night under the stars, closer to the site’s wildlife.

      There will also be a treehouse on site
      Aston Martin’s Automotive Galleries and Lairs service is not the brand’s first venture outside of carmaking. Last year it unveiled its inaugural motorcycle model, AMB 001, which features a 180-horsepower turbocharged engine and a carbon-fibre body.
      Images are by S3 Architecture, courtesy of Corcoran Country Living.

      Read more: More

    • 113 Shares99 Views

      Outdoor dining on New York City streets becomes permanent

      by

      New York City mayor Bill de Blasio has made the Open Restaurants Program, which allows restaurants in the city to extend seating onto streets, sidewalks and public spaces, permanent following the coronavirus pandemic.First temporarily initiated in June to allow restaurants to continue doing business while adhering to social distancing restrictions, the programme will now be a year-round fixture, De Blasio announced on 25 September.
      The Open Restaurants Program, which has seen outdoor dining spaces pop up across the city, will boost the capacity of restaurants as they open indoor dining at 50 per cent capacity as New York gradually reopens after the coronavirus lockdown.
      Restaurants allowed to heat outdoor spaces and build tents
      Under the scheme, eateries are allowed to extend seating onto sidewalks and roadways, or onto adjacent outdoor spaces with their neighbours’ consent. Establishments must follow a list of requirements for an Open Restaurant design, which include a clear path on the pavement, a maximum distance from the curb and a required height of enclosing barriers.
      De Blasio’s extension will also introduce guidelines for restaurants to heat outdoor areas during the colder winter months, which will be released by the end of September.

      David Rockwell unveils kit to build restaurants on streets following pandemic

      These regulations will allow the installation of electrical heaters on both sidewalks and roadways, and propane and natural gas heaters only on pavements. Propane will require a permit from New York City Fire Department.
      Restaurants will also be able to build tents, ranging from partial to full enclosures, in order to keep diners warm.
      Outdoor seating enables safe dining amid pandemic
      Food establishments will have to apply online for permission to become an Open Restaurant. Three or more restaurants on a street that is closed to traffic can also apply together to expand outdoors in another option known as Open Streets: Restaurants.
      Following the city lockdown, more than 10,300 restaurants citywide reopened with activities outdoors over summer, according to the New York Times, allowing them to stay afloat amid the coronavirus pandemic.
      A number of architects and designers also came up with creative ways for restaurants to allow safe dining post-Covid-19. In May, ahead of New York’s outdoor dining programme, designer David Rockwell created a kit of parts to turn the city’s streets into outdoor restaurants with socially distanced dining.
      His firm, Rockwell Group, later built a pro-bono DineOut NYC project (pictured top) comprising 120 seats for restaurants on Mott Street in Chinatown.
      Arts centre Mediamatic also developed a socially distanced dining experience in Amsterdam where guests sit in their own greenhouse and hosts wear face shields.
      Photograph of DineOut NYC is by Emily Andrews for Rockwell Group.

      Read more: More

    • 113 Shares199 Views

      The Maker Hotel in Hudson channels “old-world bohemian glamour”

      by

      Original decor features and vintage treasures helped Lev Glazman, Alina Roytberg and Damien Janowicz create an eclectic sense of old-world charm inside this boutique hotel in Hudson, New York.Host to just 11 rooms, The Maker Hotel is the brainchild of Lev Glazman and Alina Roytberg, the co-founders of skincare brand Fresh, and hospitality specialist Damien Janowicz.

      The Maker Hotel takes over three historic buildings in Hudson
      This isn’t the first time that Glazman and Roytberg have ventured out of the beauty industry – back in 2016 they also worked with Janowicz to open the doors to Bartlett House, a bakery-cum-cafe serving seasonal dishes in the town of Ghent, New York.

      When it came to creating The Maker Hotel, Glazman wanted to focus on “celebrating the world of makers”, utilising different forms of craftsmanship to foster unique spaces for guests.

      A newly built conservatory houses the hotel’s restaurant
      “During my travels, I always felt there was an opportunity to expand the hospitality experience – one that inspires and allows you to dream,” he explained. “We knew we could execute The Maker concept in Hudson because the area was so rich with artisans, history and design, and it was the perfect location.”
      “Moving away from standardized design, The Maker fuses different periods, and builds a home where this eclectic design can exist harmoniously,” Glazman added.

      Inside The Maker Hotel are just 11 guest rooms
      Construction works were first carried out to connect the various rooms throughout the 14,000-square foot (1,300 square metres) hotel, which is composed of three different buildings – a Georgian mansion, a Greek revival-style property and a carriage house that dates back to the early 1800s.
      New structural additions were also made, including a central courtyard filled with lush greenery and a “jewel box”-like conservatory that now accommodates The Maker Hotel’s main restaurant.

      The design team worked to keep as many original features as possible throughout the rooms
      Attention was then turned to the interiors, which were largely designed by Glazman – Roytberg focused on the hotel’s branding, while Janowicz worked on refining guest experience.

      The Hoxton crosses the pond and opens hotel in Williamsburg

      Glazman and the design team sought to keep to as many original features as possible, preserving the ornate fireplaces, hand-painted ceilings, stained-glass windows and tiled mosaic flooring that already existed across the three buildings.

      One room includes bookshelves and an oak fireplace
      Over 70 per cent of the decorative pieces are antique or were made bespoke by combining salvaged objects. Some of the artworks even come from Glazman’s personal collection.
      “The result is unexpected; an old-world bohemian glamour that fuses a worldly design ethos shaped by decades of travel,” he concluded.

      Most of the decor elements are antiques
      This same eclectic style seeps through to the guest suites, of which there are five typologies: The Bedrooms, The Terrace Lofts, The Corner Studio and The Maker Studios.
      The Maker Studios are each inspired by four different creative figures – an architect, artist, gardener, writer – and have been styled accordingly. For example, The Artist room includes a vintage easel, while The Writer room sees book-lined shelves arranged around an oak fireplace.
      When not in their rooms, guests can then enjoy the hotel’s pool, cafe or intimate cocktail bar.

      The Maker Hotel also includes an intimate cocktail bar
      The Maker Hotel joins a growing number of getaway spots in New York that are situated away from the hustle and bustle of Manhattan. Others include The Hoxton in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, which sits on the site of an old water tower.
      Photography is by Francine Zaslow.

      Read more: More

    • 138 Shares179 Views

      New York clothing store Nanamica is designed like a Japanese house

      by

      Woodwork form the frame of a gabled house inside this clothing store in New York designed by Japanese architect Taichi Kuma.

      Tokyo-based Kuma designed the store cn the city’s Soho neighbourhood for Japanese clothing brand Nanamica.

      Large mirrors reflect the gabled structure
      Marking its second outpost following another in Tokyo, the store was designed to draw on the brand’s Nanamica, which means house of seven seas. Working with the brand founder, Eiichiro Hommam, Kuma developed the interior design to take cues from a Japanese beach house.

      Shelving is made from matching wood
      The aim is to express “the free and relaxed feeling of the seaside, but with a distinctly Japanese aesthetic sensibility meaning the true highlight is the nanamica products”, according to the brand.

      Shelving and clothing rails tucked outside the wood frame
      A key part of this is a series of gabled structures made from light oak that are intended to outline a house. The frame is slightly smaller that the store to leave space on the outside for shelving for handbags and plants, and clothing rails built on the walls made out of matching wood.
      Wooden shelving for clothing and benches for customers to relax are also arranged inside the house-like structure. The free-standing shelving is backed by a translucent, recycled corrugated plastic matching the wall of the material at the front of the store and the rear, where it shields changing rooms placed behind.

      Corrugated plastic shields changing rooms at the rear
      Two large mirrors are placed on columns that protrude into the space creating the illusion of more room. White spotlighting is arranged along the top of the gable running down the middle of the space.
      Kuma and Hommam stripped back the initial space to create Nanamica New York, creating a bare backdrop for the simple intervention. Walls and ceiling beams are painted white, while the floor is polished concrete.

      Nanamica is located on Wooster Street
      Other recently completed stores in New York City include ONS Clothing store, which features a stage with a green curtain for hosting events, and Los Angeles clothing brand Lunya’s space in Nolita, which takes cues from “upscale New York” apartments.

      Read more:

      More images More

    • 138 Shares119 Views

      Rapt Studio fashions soothing interiors for Goop HQ in Santa Monica

      by

      Design agency Rapt Studio has used curved furnishings and soft colours to create a calming ambience inside the Santa Monica headquarters of lifestyle and wellness brand Goop.The two-floor HQ measures 55,000 square feet (5,109 square metres) and provides a unified workspace for Goop, which was founded by actress Gwyneth Paltrow. Prior to this team members had been scattered between different buildings.

      The lobby of Goop’s Santa Monica headquarters
      “We designed their new, light-filled headquarters in Santa Monica to preserve the buzz they’d maintained in close quarters, while giving big ideas room to roam,” explained Rapt Studio.

      “[Staff] needed a place to concentrate their energy and efforts to propel the brand into its next phase of development.”

      A corner of the lobby is dominated by a sculptural metal desk
      Employees enter the head office via a spacious lobby. One corner of the room is dominated by a custom-made desk made by Los Angeles-based studio Artcrafters.
      The desk comprises four bulky metal blocks which are meant to mimic the rounded shape of the letters that feature in Goop’s company logo.

      The headquarters includes a kitchen where staff can test recipes
      Curved forms go on to feature in the adjacent waiting area where a pink, crescent-shaped sofa and bench seat perch on a woven circular rug. An oversized white pendant light is suspended overhead, while behind stands a golden wire-frame screen.
      The lobby leads through to a sequence of work areas – this includes a lab for developing new products, a podcast-recording studio and a fashion workshop where designs for Goop’s clothing line, G Label, will be drawn up.

      There is also a product showroom on-site
      A test kitchen finished with jet-black joinery offers a spot for staff to experiment with recipes and film cooking tutorials for Goop’s YouTube channel.
      There is also a small showroom on-site. At its centre is a chunky stone-topped counter inbuilt with a sink where the beauty and skincare products on display can be trialled out.

      Goop staff work around bespoke desks
      Staff have been given bespoke workstations. For formal meetings they can head to one of the conference rooms, which are decorated with past and present examples of Goop merchandise.

      Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop brand launches first home collection with CB2

      Expansive floor-to-ceiling panels of glazing flood spaces throughout the HQ in natural light.
      This is seen best in what employees refer to as the “All Hands” area, which boasts views of the palm tree-lined LA skyline.

      Conference rooms are decorated with framed Goop merchandise
      The room is used for casual catch-ups or large-scale staff gatherings. It includes a light-hued timber kitchen and a trio of arched niches that accommodate tan-leather seating banquettes.
      There are also a couple of grey modular sofas that can be rearranged to suit different-sized workgroups.

      Light-hued timber lines the staff kitchen
      “The intent of the material palette was to evoke a sense of calming familiarity,” said Rapt Studio’s president and creative director, Sam Farhang.
      “Natural, warm materials and soft tones create a welcoming environment, allowing the Goop team to feel at home within the space,” he told Dezeen.

      This light-filled room can be used for informal meetings
      Tapping into Goop’s wellness-focused ethos, Rapt Studio also made sure to incorporate a yoga room and a number of secluded lounge spots and private booths for staff.
      “These spaces – cocooned and concealed – are designed for reflecting, replenishing, and recharging,” added the studio.

      It features arched niches with tan-leather seating banquettes
      Goop was launched by Paltrow in 2008, starting life as a weekly newsletter before growing into a brand that offers wellness, beauty and style advice.
      Its trendy HQ is one of several that Rapt Studio has designed – back in 2017 it completed head offices for streetwear brand Vans, including meeting rooms lined with skateboards and huge graffiti wall murals.
      In 2014 it also created headquarters for e-ticketing company Eventbrite, which has break-out areas with stadium-style seating.
      Photography is by Madeline Tolle.

      Read more: More

    • 163 Shares169 Views

      Clothing racks move along wheeled tracks in Los Angeles athletic store Reigning Champ

      by

      Vancouver studio Peter Cardew has designed this store in Los Angeles for an athletic wear clothing company to allude to the aesthetic of a gym.The Reigning Champ store at 115 South La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles features walls covered in white glazed tiles, concrete floors and wooden clothing rails – simple materials chosen by Peter Cardew to follow the style of a gymnasium.

      “In order to connect the customer with the product the design of the Los Angeles store obliquely alludes to the domain of a gym, providing an harmonious setting appropriate for the display of athletic clothing,” the studio explained.

      “The choice of materials reinforces the relationship to sporting activity with the use of functional and utilitarian white glazed tile as wall and bench surfaces, polished concrete floors, and display fixtures fabricated using western hemlock, a plentiful economic wood with a straight grain efficiency,” it added.
      “All culminating to convey a functional place of activity akin to any effective sporting milieu.”

      Piles of folded clothes are stored in the base of the wooden clothing racks that are suspended on rails from the ceiling.
      The wooden structures, which are braced with metalwork, have wheels fitted the top of the wooden structures so they can be easily moved around the store.

      “In keeping with this active rather than passive environment the display fixtures are infinitely mobile being suspended from concrete beams attached to wheeled tracks which easily allows for changing seasonal configurations,” the studio added.

      Commune designs Serra marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles to be airy and luxurious

      “In addition, to facilitate yet more changes these fixtures are simply bolted together so that they can be removed for special events, celebrations, or exhibitions.”

      Photograph by Andrew Latreille
      The materiality continues into the changing rooms, whose doors feature an opening with a built-in wooden shelf so customers can swap clothes with Reigning Champ salespeople.
      Reigning Champ spans the ground floor of its building with two large windows offering views and natural light into the space.

      The project, which is longlisted in the large retail interior category of Dezeen Awards 2020, marks the first in the US for the Canadian clothing brand. It is its fifth in total following two in Vancouver and two in Toronto.
      Other shops recently completed in Los Angeles include a marijuana dispensary Commune designed to be airy and luxurious, and a dramatically narrow, runway-like space Bernard Dubois designed as the first store for sneaker brand APL.
      Photography is by Mike Kelly, unless stated otherwise.

      Read more: More