Alex Archives

Shanghai-based interior designer Alex Mok has joined Dezeen Awards China 2023 as a judge. Here she selects five projects that best reflect her work.

Mok and Briar Hickling are the co-founders of architecture and interior design practice Linehouse. The female duo’s work has been recognised internationally and won a number of international design awards, including Emerging interior designers of the tear at Dezeen Awards 2019.

“Linehouse‘s approach is purposeful, creating poetic concepts through research of cultural, urban and historic contexts that respond to the program, site and function,” Mok told Dezeen.

“Each project has a strong narrative, a focus on craft and unique spatial experience with a dynamic intersection between disciplines,” she continued.

Currently, Mok is working on hotel projects in Hangzhou and Hong Kong, a food market in Shanghai, and a series of retail projects in Bangkok.

Alex Mok among Dezeen Awards China 2023 judges

Dezeen Awards China 2023 launched in June in partnership with Bentley Motors. It is the first regional edition of Dezeen Awards, celebrating the best architecture, interiors and design in China.

We have announced 10 out of the 15 Dezeen Awards China judges, including architects Ma Yansong and Rossana Hu, furniture designer Frank Chou and interior designer Andre Fu, who will be joining Mok on the interior design judging panel.

Entries close on Thursday 24 August. Submit your entry before midnight Beijing time on 24 August to avoid late entry fees.

Read on to find Mok’s views on the five projects that best represent her work.

Dezeen Awards China 2023 judge Alex Mok interior project — Photo is by Jonathan Leijonhufvud

Wework Weihai Road, Shanghai, 2016

“Linehouse worked with Wework in 2016 to create their headquarters in a spectacular turn of the century brick building in Shanghai. Linehouse celebrated the grandeur of the former opium factory and artist residence, encapsulating the feeling of a grand hotel, transporting guests and members on an unexpected journey of whimsy, voyeurism and festivity.

“The heritage facade surrounds the central atrium. A curved terrazzo tray was inserted to define the space, and pastel diagonal strips in blue, green, pink and grey wrap the floor and wall, creating a hardscape carpet.

“A bespoke lighting installation is suspended in the triple-height space. A new sculptural staircase was inserted to connect all three levels of the main public areas.”

Tingtai Teahouse, Shanghai, 2018

“Tingtai Teahouse was completed in 2018 in a former factory space and art gallery in Shanghai’s Moganshan Road art district. We stripped the space completely to reveal the beautiful patina of the original factory with concrete beams and columns as well as the brick walls.

“The teahouses are modern architectural responses to the raw factory interior. They read as singular insertions that contrast with the rough brick and concrete interior and reflect the surroundings. The upper rooms in particular have strong relationships with the existing building in the way they connect to the original clerestory windows.

“With each of these rooms bookended with full-height glazing, guests become spectators to the activities below. Each room has a different roofline, which forms modern architectural puzzle spaces where tea drinkers can enjoy this age old drink with a new perspective. “

Find out more about Tingtai Teahouse ›

Coast, Shanghai, 2022

“The Coast restaurant in Shanghai recalls a deep connection with coastal elements and Mediterranean soul. Linehouse transformed a three-storey building into a vertical journey of refined rusticity.

“Colours and materials across the three floors change, telling different parts of the story. Green earthy tones on the ground floor link the garden to the open cafe space, while the red fire tones on the first floor reflect the dining room centred on the parrilla grill. On the second floor black yakisugi wood contrasts against the whitewashed flanked stone walls and the existing traditional timber trussed ceiling.”

Find out more about Coast ›

Central World, Bangkok, 2023

“Central World is our largest architectural project to date; a renovation project of an existing shopping centre called Isetan in Bangkok. Linehouse was commissioned to design the exterior facade and seven floors of retail space including a food court.

“The project was located in an area once abundant in lily pads. Linehouse examined the stemming, radiating and circular profile of the lily pads, translating this into a spatial narrative of the exterior and interior condition.

“The exterior is a double-layered, arched facade. The front layer was defined by concrete form and the back layer rendered in black. The arches stem in various heights and widths shifting on the two planes, creating interesting intersections which operate as framed views through to the interior.

“Linehouse punctuated the arches to allow green terraces, providing a depth to an otherwise flat elevation, and blurring the exteriors and interiors.”

Ying’n Flo, Hong Kong, 2023

“Aiming to break the traditional hotel narrative of serious spaces and strict boundaries, Ying’n Flo is a lifestyle guesthouse for modern day travellers in Hong Kong.

“The spaces were designed to have a warm, welcoming and familiar feel, emphasising functionality and quality. Against this backdrop of curated simplicity is an edge of youthful attitude and local context, with vibrant elements giving the hotel its own unique flavour.”

Find out more about Ying’n Flo ›

Dezeen Awards China 2023

Dezeen Awards China is the first regional edition of Dezeen Awards, to celebrate the best architecture, interiors and design in China. The annual awards are in partnership with Bentley Motors, as part of a wider collaboration that will see the brand work with Dezeen to support and inspire the next generation of design talent in China.

Reference

Architecture studio Office Alex Nicholls has fused two penthouse apartments in Melbourne into one large flexible home, converting their basement parking spots into a private spa and pool.

Adaptability was key to the home in Melbourne’s Elsternwick suburb, which needed to provide enough space for a multi-generational family as well as accommodating visiting relatives in guest rooms that double up as studies.

Salmon pink kitchen in Melbourne apartment by Office Alex Nicholls — Office Alex Nicholls fused two apartments to create Elsternwick Penthouse

“Spaces were designed to adapt to a multitude of uses, with flexible working and living spaces as well as areas that could expand for large groups or contract to provide intimate settings,” the studio’s founder Alex Nicholls told Dezeen.

Office Alex Nicholls was brought on board while the apartment block was still under construction and was able to make significant changes to suit his clients’ needs – improving the layout, adding skylights and up-speccing on key details like the windows.

Wooden staircase inside Elsternwick Penthouse — Timber staircases lead to the roof garden

“The design intent was to create variety and different spatial experiences across a very expansive and potentially monotonous floorplan,” Nicholls said.

“I wanted to create a light yet grounded and natural-feeling space that was contrasted with some stronger formal elements such as sculptural skylights and coloured functional volumes.”

Timber storage and staircase in Melbourne apartment by Office Alex Nicholls — A “library spine” runs through the apartment to provide storage

To navigate this vast apartment, Nicholls devised a central “library spine” – a corridor running the entire length of the apartment that houses the family’s collection of books, art and artefacts while creating an opportunity out of what could have been a dark and monotonous space.

“The idea for the library spine was born from a storage requirement of the clients,” the architect said. “However, it became a key architectural intervention.”

“From a practical standpoint, it allowed everything to be easily accessible and displayed but it also helps to draw people through the apartment and celebrate the two staircases to the roof garden at either end.”

Living room of Melbourne apartemnt by Office Alex Nicholls — Oculus skylights funnel sunlight into the interior

To provide vital light to the heart of the apartment and enhance the two main living spaces, Nicholls designed a series of circular and semi-circular oculus skylights, which reference the clients’ love of Elsternwick’s art deco architecture.

“They create a sense of movement and symmetry in the composition of otherwise rectilinear volumes,” he explained.

The apartment has three kitchens, partly to meet the family’s religious requirements and partly to allow the different generations who are sharing the apartment to enjoy their own independence.

Described by Nicholls as a series of “magic boxes”, each monolithic kitchen is defined by one vivid colour. This helps to delineate spaces and provides a counterpoint to the otherwise warm and natural material palette, which includes Blackbutt timber and Gosford sandstone.

Turquoise kitchen in Elsternwick Penthouse — The apartment has three colourful kitchen units

“The kitchens were designed to be largely concealed within these coloured volumes to give each one more spatial presence while ensuring the apartment did not feel too kitchen- and appliance-heavy as a result of the clients’ complex requirements,” Nicholls said.

In the basement, Nicholls turned the penthouses’ lift-accessed parking spots into a private 100-square-metre wellness space that features a fitness pool, sauna, kitchenette, changing rooms and a flexible rehabilitation area.

Basement spa with pool in Melbourne flat by Office Alex Nicholls — Nicholls also converted the apartments’ parking spots into a private spa

To make up for the lack of natural light in this subterranean space, Nicholls deployed atmospheric indirect lighting and a warm colour palette.

“Lighting the space via a datum of timber niches helped give the spa a restorative atmosphere, enhanced by the use of natural materials such as sandstone, timber, terracotta and lime render,” he explained.

Timber sauna in Elsternwick Penthouse basement — The spa is home to a timber sauna

Elsternwick is a thriving suburb in the southeast of Melbourne, brimming with buzzy shops, restaurants and bars.

Among them is the Hunter & Co Deli, whose interiors were informed by the cold cuts on offer, and the minimal Penta cafe with its monolithic concrete counter.

The photography is by Rory Gardiner.

Reference

Alex

Five key projects by Dezeen Awards China judge Alex Mok

Office Alex Nicholls creates multi-generational apartment with its own spa

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