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Architectural studio Worrell Yeung has completed a two-storey, black-coloured home extension called Springs Artist Studio that is meant to offer the “experience of being perched in the trees”.

The Brooklyn-based firm was tasked with designing the 800-square-foot (74-square-metre) addition for a Long Island house belonging to a florist and a painter.

The couple has an extensive collection of art and special objects. Their home is located in Springs, a hamlet in East Hampton that is popular with artists.

“The hamlet of Springs has a strong history of painting,” said Max Worrell, co-founder and principal of Worrell Yeung. “We were drawn to that lineage; Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler and Jane Freilicher all painted out here.”

Artist studio interior by Worrell Yeung — It is an addition to a Long Island home

The team conceived a two-storey addition that contains a painting studio on the upper level and an exhibition space down below that doubles as a garage.

The ground floor also has a powder room.

Artist studio interior featuring a gabled roof — The building has a gabled roof

In response to strict zoning rules and environmental sensitivities, the studio created a small-footprint building that preserved existing trees and minimised the overall impact on the landscape.

Rectangular in plan, the building has a gabled roof and walls clad in pine boards that were stained black to match the main house.

Birch plywood interiors — Interior finishes include birch plywood

Different-sized boards were used “to create a sense of shifting, lateral scale that counters the vertical massing of the structure”.

The lower portion of the building is covered in 12-inch-wide boards (30 centimetres), while the upper areas are clad in 4-inch and 1-inch versions (10 and 2.5 centimeters).

In the power room, the birch plywood has been stained blue

“From afar the studio reads as an abstract volume,” the architects said.

“Up close, the textured wood and varied-sized planks break down the scale of the building to something more accessible and rich with detail.”

The black cladding is interrupted on the upper level by a band of ribbon windows.

The architects worked with Silman Structural Engineers to create the continuous windows, which are supported by steel-rod cross bracing and slender steel columns that match the mullions.

Within the building, the four-foot-tall (1.2-metre) ribbon windows offer immersive views of the landscape.

“Natural light streams in while unique views appear from each direction, framed by unobstructed glass corners,” the team said.

Ribbon windows in extension by Worrell Yeung — These offer immersive views of the landscape

“We wanted to create this experience of being perched in the trees – a retreat for working,” added Jejon Yeung, cofounder of Worrell Yeung.

Interior finishes include birch plywood, which was used for flooring, walls and cabinetry. In the powder room, the plywood is stained a rich shade of blue.

The decor includes vintage Eames molded fibreglass chairs and a vintage chandelier by David Weeks.

Black cabin in the woods — The siding was painted black to match the main house

The addition is connected to the main home by a glazed passageway that brings in the natural surroundings while “providing a moment of respite between home and the studio/work environment”.

Other projects by Worrell Yeung include a series of gabled timber buildings on a New York farm and a refresh of a cedar-clad dwelling on Long Island that was originally designed by famed US architect Charles Gwathmey.

The photography is by Naho Kubota.

Project credits:

Architecture: Worrell Yeung
Design team: Max Worrell, Jejon Yeung, Yunchao Le Structural Engineer: Silman
Contractor: Fifth and Dune

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Tembo Tembo lodge by Studio Asai features rammed-earth walls

Interior Design

Studio Asaï hides lodge among landscape of South African game reserve

By Zarkon Group,24/10/2023

Rammed earth walls and an organic colour scheme help this South African family lodge designed by architecture practice Studio Asaï to blend into its natural surroundings.

Tembo Tembo sits close to the Sabie River on the western edge of Kruger National Park – a sprawling game reserve that’s home to a wide array of flora and fauna, including what’s known as the “big five”: lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants and buffalo.

This setting was a large point of inspiration for Paris-based Studio Asaï, which decided to construct the home from rammed earth, emulating the materiality of towering termite nests that can be seen across the reserve.

“More locally, [rammed earth] is only used for singular walls in the house, thought of as a decorative object,” explained the studio. “For Tembo Tembo, we decided to use it as the main material for the entire house.”

Entryway interior of Tembo Tembo lodge by Studio Asai — Dark wood lines the home’s moody entranceway

To ensure the stability of the home, Studio Asaï worked alongside local architect Nicholas Plewman to develop a structural skeleton that could support the roof and walls.

Locally sourced rammed earth was then applied to the structure, mixed with a sealant to make the material less porous and crumbly.

The house was also built atop an 80-centimetre-high concrete platform to keep away lizards and other critters while minimising flooding from the heavy downpours that frequently occur in the region from September onwards.

The property’s flat steel roof is meant to give the home a lower, more discrete profile.

Dining area of Tembo Tembo lodge by Studio Asai — The dining area opens onto a shaded terrace

Inhabitants access the home through a moody entryway lined with dark wood panels. A papery, three-tier pendant light hangs from the centre of the space directly above a white marble table.

The home’s rammed earth walls were left exposed in the adjacent living area, which is anchored by a modular green sofa that nods to the foliage of the South African bush.

Library of Tembo Tembo lodge by Studio Asai — Cream plaster walls and a coffered ceiling can be seen in the home’s library

To the side of this space is a contemporary kitchen complete with dark wood cabinetry and a blocky breakfast island crafted from black Zimbabwean granite.

In the corner of the room is a travertine marble dining table surrounded by chairs with woven seats. This is positioned directly next to an expansive glazed panel that, when slid back, lets inhabitants step onto a shaded terrace.

Bedroom interior of Tembo Tembo lodge by Studio Asai — Curtains help give the principal bedroom a tented safari-camp feel

Creamy plaster walls appear in the home’s library, complementing the rustic beige fabric that was set into the room’s coffered ceiling.

Studio Asaï revived the “bush” green of the sofa but this time in the form of a glossy work desk.

Designed to feel akin to a “modern safari camp”, the principal bedroom features a large bed that can be enclosed with gauzy curtains on all sides.

There’s a cosier feel in the guest bedroom where Studio Asaï has once again left the rammed earth walls bare and installed a black metal fireplace for use in the cooler months.

There’s also a striking bathroom that’s almost entirely lined in a flecked Namibian stone.

Bathroom interior of Tembo Tembo lodge by Studio Asai — Namibian stone covers surfaces in the bathroom

Tembo Tembo has made the shortlist of the home interior category at this year’s Dezeen Awards.

It will compete against other projects such as Prior Barraclough’s Union Street House, which is entirely lined in Australian hardwood, and Keiji Ashizawa Design’s Hiroo Residence, which is decked out in muted tones to amplify the space’s sense of light.

The photography is by Adrien Dirand.

Project credits:

Interior design and architecture: Studio Asaï
Architecture: Nick Plewman Architects
Landscape design: Green Inc

Reference

Interior Design

Giulio Cappellini and Sabine Marcelis among Dezeen Awards 2023 judges

By Zarkon Group,23/09/2023

Twenty-three leading architects and designers from more than 10 countries met last week in a final round of judging to decide the winners of the Dezeen Awards 2023.

The Dezeen Awards master jury took place at hotel One Hundred Shoreditch in London and included architect Sanjay Puri and designers Giulio Cappellini and Sabine Marcelis, among others.

Interior designers Colin King and Tola Ojuolape, designer Patrizia Moroso and architect Andrea Cesarman also joined to finalise the 50 award winners.

They include the winners of the inaugural Bentley Lighthouse Award, a special award supported by Bentley Motors that rewards an individual whose work has had an overwhelmingly beneficial impact on social and environmental sustainability.

Winners will be announced in November

Winners will be announced at the end of November at the winners’ party in London. Longlist announcements will be revealed next week, followed by the shortlist in October.

*Dezeen Awards 2023 architecture master jury (L-R): Andrea Cesarman, Sanjay Puri, Sumele Adelana, Lara Lesmes, Cristóbal Palma, Kevin Carmody*

The master jury discussed 235 shortlisted entries selected from 4,800 projects from over 90 countries around the globe.

Judges also included Kevin Carmody and Titi Ogufere

Joining Cesarman and Puri on the architecture master jury panel were Lara Lesmes, co-founder of architecture and art studio Space Popular, Chilean-based photographer Cristóbal Palma, SketchUp architectural designer Sumele Adelana and Kevin Carmody, co-founder of London-based studio Carmody Groarke.

*Dezeen Awards 2023 interiors master jury (L-R): Eny Lee Parker, Philippe Brocart, Patrizia Moroso, Tola Ojuolape, Colin King*

Eny Lee Parker and managing director and head of Material Bank Europe Philippe Brocart joined King and Moroso on the interiors master jury.

*Dezeen Awards 2023 design master jury (L-R): Sabine Marcelis, Giulio Cappellini, Erwan Bouroullec, Titi Ogufere, Chris Cooke, Rossana Orlandi*

The design master jury panel included the founder of Design Week Lagos Titi Ogufere, Spazio Rossana Orlandi founder and curator Rossana Orlandi, Paris-based designer Erwan Bouroullec and head of design collaborations at Bentley Motors Chris Cooke.

They joined art director and founder Cappellini and artist and designer Marcelis.

*Dezeen Awards 2023 sustainability master jury (L-R): Pragya Adukia, Piet Hein Eek, Siân Sutherland, Kate Goldsworthy, Kelly Alvarez Doran, Maurizio Montalti*

Designer Piet Hein Eek, MASS Design Group senior director Kelly Alvarez Doran and A Plastic Planet co-founder Siân Sutherland were on the sustainability panel.

They were joined by professor of circular design and innovation Kate Goldsworthy, founder and creative director of Officina Corpuscoli Maurizio Montalti and director of design at Brookfield Properties Pragya Adukia.

An exclusive judges’ dinner took place on the night of the master jury day in the One Hundred Room at One Hundred Shoreditch, where the master jury was joined by other Dezeen Awards 2023 judges.

These included Jayden Ali, co-curator of the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2023, CEO of the Design Council Minnie Moll and Raw Edges co-founders Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay. The dinner featured glassware by Nude Glass.

Dezeen Awards winners’ party

Following the longlist and shortlist announcements, the next big date in the Dezeen Awards calendar is the culmination of this year’s programme – the Dezeen Awards winners’ party, which will take place on Tuesday 28 November in London.

Dezeen Awards winners will be able to collect their unique trophy at the event and it is a chance for everyone who was shortlisted for Dezeen Awards, or who judged the entries, to celebrate and network.

Tickets will be available to purchase later this year. Subscribe to the Dezeen Awards newsletter to keep up to date with the latest announcements.

The photography is by Mark Cocksedge.

Dezeen Awards 2023

Dezeen Awards celebrates the world’s best architecture, interiors and design. Now in its sixth year, it has become the ultimate accolade for architects and designers across the globe. 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.

Reference

Sustainable News

Prosthetic leg for Ukrainian amputees among Ro Plastic Prize winners

By Zarkon Group,27/04/2023

Design gallerist and curator Rossana Orlandi has announced the winners of this year’s Ro Plastic Prize for sustainable material use during a ceremony at Milan design week.

The Ro Plastic Prize is awarded yearly to projects that feature material recycling, reuse or upcycling, with this year’s winning projects including a bacteria-growing menstrual cup and a 3D-printed prosthetic leg.

Italian company Isinnova won in the Emerging High Technology category with its design for an artificial leg, which was designed to be produced quickly and at a low cost in emergency situations such as wars and earthquakes.

This is crucial because, without the rapid provision of a prosthesis, a patient’s chances of being able to walk again are decreased due to factors such as muscle atrophy, according to Isinnova CEO Cristian Fracassi.

Made largely from recycled plastic that is 3D-printed to customised designs, the prosthetic was developed in response to the war in Ukraine and is being made on a not-for-profit basis.

There were two winners in the Art and Collectible Design category: designer Geo Minelli with the Kernel tables and architecture studio External Reference with its Pure Plants collection, both from Italy.

Photo of a round black table with a gnarled central base and a smooth top with concentric circles of yellow and green in the centre — THE Kernel table was one of two winners in the Art and Collectible Design category

Minelli’s Kernel tables are made by recycling end-of-life wind turbines made from glass fibre-reinforced plastic into a new circular material called Glebanite.

The tables, which have a smooth top and a gnarled trunk-like base, are the result of two years worth of experimentation with the material’s textures, colours and fabrication techniques.

External Reference’s Pure Plants are artificial plants that are 3D-printed from a corn-based bioplastic called Pure.Tech and available in 17 different “species”, each with an intricate geometry based on phyllotactic leaf patterns.

Photo of an arrangement of sculptural green objects in different shapes with complex geometries resembling plants from 2023 Ro Plastic Prize — Another Art and Collectible Design winner was Pure Plants

There were also two winners in the Inspiring Learning Projects category.

Czech designer Adriana Kováčová was recognised for her recycled plastic Totemo toy, which evolves from a mobile hanger to a construction set, and Italian design studio Cantieri Creativi was awarded for its Artisans Of Now workshop series, held in locations around Italy and focused on reconnecting people with nature and craft.

Photo of a toy city built from a multi-coloured kids' construction set — Adriana Kováčová’s Totemo won in the Inspiring Learning Projects category

Among the runners-up and special mentions in the competition was Italian designer Lucrezia Alessandroni, whose Soothing Cup is a speculative project comprising a menstrual cup and incubator that would enable users to grow vaginal bacteria extracted from their own body with the goal of reducing period pain.

A seaweed-based hydrogel turns the silicone cup into a bio-membrane that can collect vaginal lactobacillus bacteria, which is then cultivated in an incubator in the time between periods.

Photo of a minimal dark green plastic chair with a flatpacked package in the background from 2023 Ro Plastic Prize — The OTO chair by Alessandro Stabile and Martinelli is made of recycled ocean plastic

According to Alessandroni, studies have shown that this bacteria can reduce period pain and cut down on the number of painkillers those affected have to take each month.

Another special mention in the Emerging High Technology category went to Italian designers Alessandro Stabile and Martinelli for the OTO chair, which is made from recycled ocean plastic in a single, reduced-size mould and shipped flat-packed direct to consumers.

In the Art and Collectible design category, special mentions included UK design studio Novavita’s recycled plastic tiles, which have a mottled patterning that is meant to recall natural stone and marble.

And Spanish duo Eneris Collective made third place in the Inspiring Learning Projects category with its playful design for the Nontalo children’s stool, made from waste olive pits.

Ro Plastic Prize 2023 exhibition at Milan design week — The shortlisted projects were exhibited as part of Milan design week

Shortlisted projects for the Ro Plastic Prize were on display as part of an exhibition at Milan design week. And winners were announced on 20 April after judging by a 17-member jury that included Triennale Milano president Stefano Boeri, architect and designer Giulio Cappellini, Parley for the Oceans founder Cyrill Gutsch and Dezeen co-CEO Benedict Hobson.

The prize is an initiative by Orlandi and her daughter Nicoletta Orlandi Brugnoni, who wanted to raise awareness around the importance of plastic recycling and reuse.

Since the first Ro Plastic Prize in 2019, the criteria of the competition has expanded to include other plastic alternatives, with competition categories varying every year.

The Ro Plastic Prize exhibition was on show as part of Milan design week, which took place from 18 to 23 April. See our Milan design week 2023 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks that took place throughout the week.

Reference

Sustainable News

Greenhouse-in-a-box among 2022 Earthshot Prize winners

By Zarkon Group,21/01/2023

Prince William has announced the five winning projects of this year’s Earthshot Prize, founded by the royal together with British wildlife presenter David Attenborough to find solutions to “repair our planet”.

The Earthshot Prize winners each received a £1 million grant to scale their projects, with each tackling a different topic from regenerating nature and fighting climate change to eliminating pollution – whether at sea, on land or in the air – based loosely on the United Nations’ sustainable development goals.

Among this year’s winning projects is Notpla – a plastic packaging alternative that is made from seaweed, making it not just biodegradable but also edible – and an affordable flat-pack greenhouse by Indian start-up Kheyti.

This so-called “greenhouse-in-a-box” can help small-scale farmers, whose harvests have been affected by climate change, to produce seven-times higher yields using 98 per cent less water, the company claims. At the same time, the modular structure is 90 per cent cheaper than a standard greenhouse, combining a simple shading cloth with a drip irrigation system and netting on all sides to ward off pests.

Greenhouse-in-a-box by Kheyti from 2022 Earthshot Prize winners — Also among the prize winners is Kheyti’s flat-pack greenhouse

Omani company 44.01 took home another of the competition’s top prizes for its development of a carbon storage system that takes excess carbon dioxide from the air and reportedly sequesters it “forever” by turning it into rocks.

This involves sourcing the atmospheric CO2 from direct air capture (DAC) companies such as Climeworks, dissolving it in water and injecting it into formations of a rock called peridotite, which is abundant in Oman.

Over the span of a year, the peridotite mineralises this carbon dioxide and turns it into solid rock in a natural process known as mineral carbonation, which normally takes thousands or even millions of years.

Talal Hasan standing in front of a rock formation — 44.01’s carbon storage system makes use of peridotite

44.01 is among a growing cohort of companies developing technologies to accelerate this process, which is being billed as a solution for carbon storage that is stable and permanent, and thus does not require long-term monitoring.

“We have found a natural process that removes carbon and we’ve accelerated it,” explained founder Talal Hasan. “We believe this process is replicable globally and can play a key role in helping our planet to heal.”

Also among this year’s Earthshot Prize-winning projects is a stove developed by a women-run company in Kenya that runs on processed biomass instead of straight charcoal.

As a result, Mukuru Clean Stoves produce 70 per cent less air pollution than the traditional charcoal cookstoves currently used by around 700 million people across Africa.

The Queensland Indigenous Women Rangers Network received this year’s final accolade for its work in protecting Australia’s Great Barrier Reef by making use of “60,000 years of Indigenous knowledge” combined with modern, digital technologies such as drones.

Woman holding Mukuru Clean Stoves — Mukuru Clean Stoves run on processed biomass

The winning projects for the Earthshot Prize, which says it was “designed to find and grow the solutions that will repair our planet” were announced during a high-profile ceremony in Boston’s MGM Music Hall. This was broadcast by the BBC and presented by the Prince and Princess of Wales alongside celebrities including singer Ellie Goulding and footballer David Beckham.

“I believe that the Earthshot solutions you have seen this evening prove we can overcome our planet’s greatest challenges,” Prince William said. “And by supporting and scaling them we can change our future.”

“Alongside tonight’s winners and finalists, and those to be discovered over the years to come, it’s my hope the Earthshot legacy will continue to grow, helping our communities and our planet to thrive.”

Rangers in Australia standing around a small fire — The Queensland Indigenous Women Rangers Network was the final winning project

The ceremony received criticism from some viewers, as celebrity presenters and performers were flown into Boston to attend the event while the awards’ actual recipients accepted their awards virtually to save travel emissions.

Similarly, Beckham was called a “hypocrite” for his involvement in the event due to his ambassadorship of the Qatar World Cup, which has recently come under fire for its “disingenuous” carbon neutrality claims as the event looks to be on track to emit more CO2 than any other sporting event in recent history.

The Earthshot Prize was awarded for the first time ever last year, with winners including a restorative ecosystem scheme in Costa Rica and a tool that creates fuel from waste. The prize is set to run annually for the next eight years, during what has been dubbed the “decisive decade” for climate change action.

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Hamptons artist studio by Worrell Yeung is tucked among the trees

Studio Asaï hides lodge among landscape of South African game reserve

Giulio Cappellini and Sabine Marcelis among Dezeen Awards 2023 judges

Prosthetic leg for Ukrainian amputees among Ro Plastic Prize winners

Greenhouse-in-a-box among 2022 Earthshot Prize winners

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