US architect Morris Adjmi took cues from tenements that once housed Italian immigrants to create a new mixed-use building with a decorative brickwork facade.
Rising seven storeys, Grand Mulberry is located on a storied site in Manhattan’s Little Italy neighborhood.
The seven-storey building was informed by New York tenements
To design the new building, architect Morris Adjmi – who leads an eponymous local studio – took cues from the area’s history and architecture, including its tenement buildings dating to the 19th and early 20th centuries.
For the street-facing elevations, the architect designed a rounded corner and a grid of rectangular, punched windows surrounded by red-orange bricks. A distinctive “Morse code-like” pattern was created using bricks with domed extrusions.
The building has a rounded corner and a grid of rectangular windows
The domed bricks are arranged in a way that evokes the tripartite facade of a building that once stood on the site, making it a “ghost of the past building”, said Adjmi.
The ground level contains space for retail and a new home for the Italian American Museum, slated to open in 2024. The upper portion of the building holds a total of 20 condominiums.
The exterior is covered with domed brickwork
“Given the project’s setting, the objective from the onset was to design a building that was contextual yet unmistakably contemporary,” the firm said.
“With a nod to the traditional Italianate tenement embedded in its bones, Grand Mulberry is a brand-new building that does not completely erase the site’s history and that doesn’t necessarily make passersby mourn for the New York that was.”
The domed bricks were arranged in a pattern that references a building that previously occupied the site
At the base of the building, the ornamental bricks – hand-moulded by Glen-Gery– form horizontal bands. At the middle and top levels, they are arranged to evoke pediment windows and arched widows, respectively.
“Looking carefully, one can see the mark of the traditional tripartite façade that consisted of a base, a middle and top layers, with differing details and brickwork used for each portion,” the architect said.
“At the same time, the bricks’ path and dimensionality create a visual texture that adds energy to the block, building on Little Italy’s distinct flavour.”
The rear elevations are faced with a combination of metal panels, concrete and bricks.
The building is topped with a cluster of volumes that is set back from the streetwall and wrapped in light grey cladding.
Within the building, the team drew upon traditional materials and techniques, the architect said.
Traditional materials were used in the interior
In the lobby, one finds black-and-white, mosaic-style flooring and plaster finishes. The residential units feature wooden flooring, marble countertops and decorative tile backsplashes.
Overall, the building “encapsulates traces from historical architecture while engaging with the neighbourhood”, the architect said.
Grand Mulberry contains retail space and apartments
The building is named after its location on the corner of Grand and Mulberry streets – a site once occupied by brownstones that partly dated to the 1830s.
The site was famous for housing a bank that operated from 1882 to 1932 and was used by Italian immigrants.
Bricks with domed extrusions decoration the exterior facades
Born in New Orleans, Morris Adjmi began his career working with the Italian architect Aldo Rossi in the 1980s. After Rossi’s death in 1997, Adjmi established Morris Adjmi Architects in New York. The studio also has an office in New Orleans.
Its other projects include a 25-storey, glass-and-steel tower in Philadelphia that contains apartments and a hotel.
Cleverly concealed kitchens and subtle wooden accents feature in our latest lookbook, which collects Tokyo apartments characterised by minimalist and serene interiors.
These apartments in Japan’s capital are united by their muted colours and an abundance of wood – elements often associated with traditional Japanese interior design.
As one of the world’s most densely populated cities, Tokyo homes often feature smaller floor plans or less natural light than those located in more spacious cities.
Architects and designers have created plenty of understated solutions to these restrictions, such as inserting space-saving storage into open-plan living areas.
From a flat informed by traditional Kyoto townhouses to an Airbnb dressed in subtle geometric furniture, here are 10 Tokyo apartments with minimalist interior designs.
This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring concrete bathrooms, cosy cabins and homes with elevators.
Image is courtesy of Norm Architects and Keiji Ashizawa Design
Kinuta Terrace by Norm Architects and Keiji Ashizawa Design
Two apartments within Tokyo’s 1980s-designed Kinuta Terrace apartment block were renovated by Norm Architects and Keiji Ashizawa Design to include more natural light.
The studios reconfigured the floor plans to form fewer but larger living spaces, which are characterised by smooth concrete, timber fixtures and sheer sandy-hued curtains.
“Nature feels integrated into the apartment from most rooms so that, when looking out into the courtyard, you can’t quite tell you’re in a city as immense as Tokyo,” said Norm Architects designer Frederik Werner.
Find out more about these Kinuta Terrace apartments ›
Photo is by Satoshi Shigeta
Apartment in Kitasando by Minorpoet
This 1960s apartment contains a sleek kitchen counter and storage space concealed behind folding doors informed by traditional Japanese screens known as Byōbu.
Design studio Minorpoet took cues from traditional Kyoto townhouses for the project, which features a hidden kitchen that cannot be seen from the living room.
Minimalist furniture and finishes match the pared-back theme, including iconic Finnish architect Alvar Aalto’s stackable wooden 60 stool.
Find out more about Apartment in Kitasando ›
Photo is by Kaku Ohtaki
Airbnb apartments by Hiroyuki Ogawa Architects
Local studio Hiroyuki Ogawa Architects renovated two Airbnb apartments in Tokyo’s Shibuya ward with completely contrasting designs. One has floors and walls clad in light wood (main image), while the other pairs a plush grey carpet with dark plasterwork.
Neon lighting in the latter apartment was chosen to remind guests of the bustling city while cork stools, metallic kitchen cabinetry and charcoal-toned accents create a moody atmosphere.
Find out more about these Airbnb apartments ›
Photo is by Tomooki Kengaku
The Life concept apartment by I IN
The Life concept apartment is an understated residence set within a 1980s building by Tokyo design firm I IN. According to the studio, the project was created to encourage people to rethink renovated apartments in Japan, rather than favour newbuilds.
An open-plan living space contains a kitchen, living room and bedroom characterised by reeded glass partitions, stucco walls and luxurious red walnut joinery.
Find out more about The Life concept apartment ›
Photo is by Toshiyuki Yano
Akasaka apartment by FrontOfficeTokyo
Almost all of the walls within this 50-square-metre flat were replaced with multi-functional box units and sliding partitions to make the space feel bigger and brighter.
Local studio FrontOfficeTokyo stripped the apartment down to a single room, which features designated zones to lounge, cook, eat and sleep.
Raw and simple materials emphasise the utilitarian interior design, including exposed ceilings, pale timber floors and a corner bathroom contained in a concrete box.
Find out more about this apartment ›
Image is courtesy of Snark Architectures
House in Chofu by Snark Architectures
Snark Architectures renovated an apartment in Chofu – a city to the west of downtown Tokyo. Located at the base of Mount Takao, the dwelling intends to mirror traditional cabins.
With an open-plan layout that references mountain huts, House in Chofu is characterised by lauan plywood cabinetry and floor-to-ceiling glazing that offers views of the surrounding scenery.
“The house is the base camp connecting mountains and cities,” Snark Architectures director Yu Yamada told Dezeen.
Find out more about House in Chofu ›
Image is courtesy of G Studio
Tokyo Loft by G Studio Architects
Located on one of the top floors of a 1980s housing block, Tokyo Loft is short-term accommodation that intends to balance home comforts with industrial finishes.
G Studio worked with architects Teruya Kido and Suma-Saga-Fudosan to complete the interior look, which includes original sloping concrete walls that were illustrated with splashes of white paint in a nod to traditional Japanese washi paper.
Rows of skylights were added to the walls to flood the apartment with natural light, while bright orange electrical wires and plumbing features were left exposed. A freestanding bathtub adds a playful touch to the main living space.
Find out more about Tokyo Loft ›
Photo is by Domino Architects
J House by Domino Architects
Wooden panelling creates “corners, blind spots and niches” in J House – a pared-back apartment renovated to maximise restricted floor space for a growing family.
Japanese studio Domino Architects used low-cost exposed plywood for its simplicity, while rough concrete in the kitchen adds to the dwelling’s minimalist interior design.
Find out more about J House ›
Photo is by Shigeo Ogawa
Motoazabu Apartment sYms by Kiyonobu Nakagame Architect & Associates
Diagonally stepped floors and ceilings create a dynamic layout of triangular zones within a pair of apartments in Tokyo’s Motoazabu neighbourhood.
Smooth, understated concrete defines the central interior spaces, which are surrounded by kitchen worktops and glazed bathrooms.
“What we aimed to do with this structure was to create something that would blend with its surroundings and maintain absolute simplicity,” explained architect Kiyonubu Nakagame.
Find out more about Motoazabu Apartment sYms ›
Image is courtesy of Taka Shinomoto and Voar Design Haus
Opera Apartment by Taka Shinomoto and Voar Design Haus
A material and colour palette influenced by the different shades of an Opera cake – a famed French dessert – informed the “layered” coffee-hued interiors in this apartment.
The hallway features sliding geometric cupboard doors stained in various shades of brown while a mixture of glossy, matte and textured coatings cover the white walls.
Find out more about Opera Apartment ›
This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring concrete bathrooms, cosy cabins and homes with cleverly designed lifts.
Chilean studio ERRE Arquitectos has constructed Casa Ferran, a low-profile holiday house in Matanzas on the coast of Chile.
Raimundo Gutiérrez of ERRE Arquitectos designed the 240-square-metre (2,580-square-foot) residence as a U-shape on the edge of a cliff that limits the buildable area of the 2,200-square-metre site, as it drops steeply down to the Pacific Ocean.
The home is located on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean
Gutiérrez considered three main factors when laying out the plan: creating an exterior zone that is protected from the prevailing southwestern wind, maintaining privacy on the north and south sides, and taking full advantage of the sea views.
To accomplish this, the U-shaped plan points away from the ocean with a protected central courtyard on the high side of the slope, which connects to the sea through the fully glazed common area.
The home has a U-shaped layout
“What the project seeks is to generate a transversal and permeable axis in the east-west direction, which connects two exterior areas with dissimilar characteristics through the interior common area,” the studio told Dezeen.
“The rest of the program is arranged to contain and give shape to this axis.”
Sliding glass doors in the living area open onto a covered patio
Two wings are located on either side of the central volume – one containing three bedrooms and two planted atriums, the other angled outwards to catch the covered parking area that feeds into the service zones and guest bedroom.
The central volume containing the kitchen, dining, and living spaces is see-through and light-filled, with floor-to-ceiling windows on both sides and sliding glass doors that extend the space onto a covered patio that runs parallel to the sea.
Set on a board-formed concrete foundation, the house is primarily constructed out of black-coloured steel, creating strong framing lines along the form and around the expansive glazing.
The exterior cladding is vertical one-inch by two-inch pine boards that provide a tonal variation along the north and south facades – which are a cut-off diamond shape as the house accommodates the sloped site – and transitions into a lattice for the parking area.
Black steel forms the home’s structure
On the interior, a soft white palette and warm wood flooring amplify the scale of the rooms and allow the surrounding sea view to be the focal point of each space.
The home’s arrangement brings sunlight into each room, maximizing passive heating from the coastal climate in both the summer and winter.
Light wood flooring and white painted walls and ceilings finish the interior
“To complement and achieve higher temperatures during the coldest days, there is a wood-burning fireplace in the common space and central heating radiators throughout the house,” the studio said.
The end of each wing has a planted green roof.
“The design responds to elements of organic architecture,” the studio said. “However, formally rigid features appear, which are the result of several variables, conditions and demands that were presented.”
Pine boards clad the exterior
Similar to Casa Ferran, Chilean architect Juan Pablo Ureta designed a beach house on Chile’s northern coast that is oriented around a central courtyard, however, this one opens toward the sea.
In El Pangue, architecture studios Combeau Arquitectura and Andrea Murtagh designed an ocean getaway with clustered gabled forms.
Local practice Child Studio has designed a house in a mews courtyard in London that mixes mid-century modern furniture with custom-made pieces in a nod to fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent’s home.
Child Studio designed the home, which was created for a hotelier and restauranteur, as a space for dining, entertaining and hosting parties.
A white curved fireplace sits at the centre of the lounge
It centres around a spacious lounge that was informed by the grand salon in fashion designer Saint Laurent’s Paris home.
Informed by the way Saint Laurent’s residence displayed his collection of artworks, the Mayfair home is a cornucopia of furniture pieces by iconic mid-century modern designers.
Sculptures and vintage furniture decorates the space
“We worked closely with the client to create a space that reflected his personality and interests, encompassing art, design, literature and travel,” Child Studio founders Che Huang and Alexy Kos told Dezeen.
“This approach made us think of Saint Laurent’s salon – an eclectic interior where design objects and art pieces from different eras and parts of the world are assembled together, forming a highly personal environment.”
Wooden shelving divides the room
A large open space in the residence, with narrow full-length skylights on each side, was given a vintage feel through the addition of wooden library walls.
These divide it into a lounge area as well as spaces for dining and studying.
“We were interested in finding an authentic design language for this project, balancing the art deco references with the 1960s and 70s modernism,” the studio added.
Child Studio designed a wooden table for the room
Among the furniture and lighting used for the residence are Japanese paper lamps by industrial designer Ingo Maurer and the “Pernilla” lounge chair by Swedish designer Bruno Mathsson, which have been juxtaposed with furniture designed by the designers themselves.
“We paired vintage Scandinavian furniture by Bruno Mathsson and Kristian Vedel with playful lights by Ingo Maurer and Alfred Cochrane,” Huang and Kos said.
“The cabinetry and tables were designed by Child Studio to unify the interior and accommodate all functional requirements.”
The dining area has a glass-brick wall
The lounge also contains a fully functional, half-moon-shaped fireplace created by the studio, with a decorative shape that matches two ornate urns and a pair of art-deco-style floor lamps.
“We designed the adulating fireplace to bring a sense of scale and permanence to the space,” the designers said.
“The plaster finish seamlessly blends in with the surroundings,” they added.
“The fireplace is placed below the skylight, and the soft shifts of sunlight throughout the day contribute to the tranquil atmosphere.”
Armchairs by Charlotte Perriand sit around the dining table
In the dining area, dark-wood shelving holding glassware, books and vases surrounds a circular wooden table with dining chairs by French architect Charlotte Perriand.
“The material palette of this room draws inspiration from the modernist Villa Muller by Adolf Loos,” the designers said.
“The combination of dark mahogany wood, patterned marble and green upholstery feels so chic, yet warm and unpretentious.”
The study also features natural materials
A kitchenette next to the dining area was separated from the space by a glass-brick partition designed to filter the daylight.
Behind the library shelves, Child Studio created a wood-panneled study for the homeowner. The studio aimed to use natural materials throughout the project.
“We enjoy working with natural materials, such as solid wood, stone and plaster,” Huang and Kos said.
“Child Studio often designs custom furniture pieces for projects, and we find that these simple and timeless materials are incredibly versatile and ideal for creating bespoke hand-crafted objects.”
The reisdence is located in a historic mews in Mayfair
Child Studio used an “understated” colour palette for the residence to create a warm, relaxing environment that it hopes will continue to evolve.
“Our goal was to design an interior that will continue evolving over time as the owners add new art pieces and bring heirlooms from their travels,” the studio said.
Also in Mayfair, architecture studio Laplace renovated The Audley pub and filled it with art and MWAI designed an apartment as if it were a hotel suite.
The photography is by Felix Speller and Child Studio.
Architecture practice Pema Studio drew on the idea of a protected fortress when creating the Forte House, a blocky, white-rendered home that replaces a neglected existing structure in Santo Tirso, Portugal.
The dwelling is set back from a retained facade and sits within existing stone perimeter walls on the site, creating an exterior space around its edges with private, skylit patios.
Pema Studio drew on the idea of a protected fortress when creating the Forte House
“The house is designed in a complex balance between the creation of a dense and closed fortress and the reinterpretation of the typical patio house, looking for a protected oasis in its intimate relationship with the sky,” said Pema Studio.
“The intervention starts from a massive block that impertinently detaches from the limits and mimics the land plot outline.”
The white-rendered home is set back behind an existing facade
The retained facade and a metal gate of the former building now lead into an entrance courtyard, sheltered by a sloping roof punctured by a large opening.
Set back from the street, an entrance is tucked into the northern side of the home’s white exterior, leading into the more secluded study and bedroom at the front.
It sits within an existing stone wall
“The old facade, an element of the pre-existing [fabric], is one of the few remaining elements,” said the studio.
“With the necessary functional changes, it was restored and rehabilitated as an element of cohesion and framing with the adjacent urban fabric, reducing the intervention’s impact on the street,” it continued.
From the entrance, a corridor leads through to a more open living, kitchen and dining area at the rear of the home. This space is connected to a garden and swimming pool that can be independently accessed using the narrow pathways along each side of the site.
Two small planted courtyards have been cut out of the home’s southern edge, providing access to natural light and ventilation.
There is a swimming pool
Stairs on both the interior and exterior lead up to Forte House’s first floor, where two additional bedrooms connect to rooftop seating areas and a balcony overlooking the street at the front of the site.
Inside, walls of white plaster in the circulation areas echo the design language of the exterior, while wooden panelling has been introduced in the bedrooms and living spaces, and used to create large areas of built-in storage.
The living space echoes the white exterior of the house
Based in Santo Tirso, Pema Studio was founded by Tiago Pedrosa Martins in 2019.
Other homes recently completed in Portugal include a cork-clad dwelling near Lisbon by Inês Brandão Arquitectura and a minimalist white home on a narrow site in Ponta Delgado by Box Arquitectos.
Architect: Pema Studio Collaborator: Daniel Carvalho/Livre Atelier and Dário Cunha Main architect: Tiago Pedrosa Martins Construction: Construções Alves e Freitas, Lda. Engineer: M2 – Gabinete de Estudos
London studio Waugh Thistleton Architects has unveiled the Black & White Building, a mass-timber office building designed for The Office Group in Shoreditch with a slatted tulipwood facade.
The 17.8-metre-high office building, which the studio says is the “tallest mass-timber office building in central London”, was built from a combination of beech, pine and spruce timber.
The building is located in Shoreditch, east London
Constructed from structural timber, Waugh Thistleton Architects clad the exterior of the six-storey building in tulipwood timber louvres from the street level to the roof.
“The design means that you also get the beauty of the timber internally,” Waugh Thistleton co-founder Andrew Waugh told Dezeen.
“It’s a simple form driven by the context of timber engineering, as well as the context of the surrounding Victorian buildings – these were also constructed using current methods and built to a brief,” Waugh added.
“There is no narrative here, it is pure modernism.”
Tulipwood louvres protect it from the sun
Waugh Thistleton Architects constructed the 4,480-square-metre Black & White Building from prefabricated components that were precision-engineered to be slotted together.
This means the building, which Waugh describes as “visibly sustainable”, is dismantlable and can be disassembled rather than demolished at the end of its life with its materials reused.
Wood was also used to decorate the interior, with sculptures created from wood beams
Its foundation and lower ground floor were made from concrete, with the rest of the structure constructed from cross-laminated timber (CLT).
Curtain walling was made from glued laminated timber (glulam), while columns and beams were constructed from laminated veneer lumber (LVL), which the studio said helps save on space.
“We have CLT panels for the core and CLT panels for the floors,” Waugh Thistleton Architects associate director David Lomax said. “And then the columns and beams are made from quite a highly engineered product called LVL.”
“We’re talking about typically, at the lowest level where the loads are greatest, about 100 millimetres on each side of the column saving in its dimensions,” he added.
“That’s made out of beech, which is a hardwood so it performs much, much better. [It’s] smaller columns.”
London studio Daytrip designed the interior
According to the studio, by using engineered-wood materials rather than a traditional concrete and steel structure, the building saves “thousands of tonnes in CO2” as it generates much less greenhouse gas.
The building also has at least 37 per cent less embodied carbon than comparable concrete structures, according to The Office Group (TOG).
It was named the Black & White Building as it replaces an earlier building on the site, a Victorian brick warehouse with a timber interior that had been painted black and white.
The existing building was deteriorating and not suitable for a retrofit, Waugh Thistleton Architects said.
“It couldn’t be extended – it was very small and had no foundations,” Waugh said. “Extending it would have been just a cosmetic exercise. This isn’t romance, it’s architecture.”
Warm hues contrast the timber walls inside
After meeting Waugh at a panel talk about sustainability, TOG co-founder Charlie Green asked him to instead create a new building that would be suitable for the site.
“We took our planning consented scheme, and we used the envelope and the massing of that to ask Andrew to create something within that form that’s timber,” Green said.
“He did more than that, he redesigned it so we had a more efficient core position to create a better flow of space, and came up with this timber scheme.”
The office is partly powered by 80 photovoltaic panels on its roof, with all other energy coming from green suppliers, Green said.
“Wasabi green” was used for the interior
Design studio Daytrip created the interior of the building, which contains 28 offices in different sizes as well as six meeting rooms, break-out areas and focus booths and a dedicated yoga and barre studio on the ground floor.
The building’s timber features are also visible inside, where the timber walls match the wooden furniture.
“We reacted to the original concept and the sustainable drive and wanted to continue that in the interiors,” said Daytrip co-founder Iwan Halstead.
“We wanted to respect and celebrate the timber part of the architecture.”
Most of the furniture comes from UK suppliers
Timber beams from the Victorian warehouse that previously occupied the site were kept and turned into wooden sculptures that decorate the ground-floor lobby.
Daytrip aimed to also keep the furniture as local and sustainable as possible.
“A lot of the specifications and furniture are UK suppliers and that was something that we wanted to make an effort to achieve, and we’ve done it with 80 per cent of the furniture,” Halstead said.
The overall interior design was informed by Tokyo’s original Hotel Okura, a mid-century modern hotel that was demolished in 2015 but has since been rebuilt.
A colour palette of muted green and earthy hues, which Daytrip gave names like “wasabi green,” is combined with tactile materials, including some made from recycled components.
The interior design was informed by Hotel Okura in Tokyo
At the top of the building sits a rooftop terrace, while a central lightwell was designed to help maximise the building’s natural light.
The building is “about sustainability more than anything,” Waugh said. “It’s a bright future for architecture, not the hair shirt and oat milk that sustainability is always described as.”
TOG operates more than 50 workspaces in the UK and Europe. These include an office in Borough Yards with an interior by Danish designer David Thulstrup, and a Euston workspace with an interior informed by nearby buildings such as the British Library.
Designer Luca Nichetto has made his first foray into fashion accessories with the Malala handbag, which was partially produced from apples for vegan leathergoods brand Angela Roi.
Malala is Angela Roi‘s first accessory made from apple leather, a fabric that is created using scraps such as peels and cores from apple processing that would otherwise go to waste.
However, while the Angela Roi website describes apple leather as an “entirely plant-based alternative to real leather”, the brand clarified to Dezeen that the material is a mix of apple-derived fibres and the petroleum-derived material polyurethane plastic that is commonly used for vegan leathergoods.
The Malala bag is made of an apple-based leather alternative
This apple-polyurethane blend is then applied on a mixed cotton-polyester backing material.
According to Nichetto Studio, the fabric retains both the feel and the look of leather, and will similarly change over time, developing a softer texture and natural sheen.
“I believe that considering the economic situation, the environmental challenges and this crisis in the world, design should try to find answers in the creation of objects that are durable and sustainable,” said Nichetto.
The bag is meant to offer a more sustainable alternative for high-end consumers
The bag was named after Pakistani education activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai and features a distinctive design with four functional pockets built into the top opening.
Its design was informed by the idea of a cabinet of curiosities or a traveller’s trunk with many compartments. At the same time, its shape references potato chip containers from fast food outlets, giving the bag what Nichetto Studio describes as a “pop soul”.
The Malala bag is cruelty-free, with no animals being involved in the production. The apple leather used for it comes from Italian company Pelletteria Fusella, which uses apple scraps from an orchard in the South Tyrol region.
The orchard’s apples are used for products such as juice and jams and produces an estimated 30,000 tonnes of scraps, such as cores and peels, every year that were either being sent to landfill or burnt.
The bag features four functional pockets built into the top
According to Angela Roi, by using a mix of plant- and petroleum-based materials, the brand can reduce the carbon emissions of polyurethane bag production while also delivering the durability that high-end consumers expect.
“As it currently stands, petroleum-based materials play a pivotal role in the durability of bio-based leathers because extending the life cycle of a product is an incredibly important aspect of sustainability,” said brand founder Angela Lee.
“The material’s potential for impact depends on the brand and consumer adoption, and a majority of consumers will not accept big sacrifices in quality compared to leather. We have not yet seen a completely plastic-free product that meets brand and consumer requirements for softness, strength and suppleness.”
The bag’s shape is partly based on potato chip containers
Lee says Angela Roi’s aim is to consistently look for better material options and eventually use one that is 100 per cent plastic-free and biodegradable as technology improves.
“Recently there has been the development of polyester yarns that are impregnated with enzymes that activate to degrade the polyester once placed in biodegradable conditions,” said Lee.
“There has also been a development of chemically engineered natural fibres that act like petroleum-based yarns. Both options are exciting and could be used as a backing material in the future.”
While many plant-based leather alternatives are now hitting the market, many still contain a plastic component, particularly as a coating, to ensure the kind of durability that is expected of consumer goods.
A similar apple leather comes from Dutch company Beyond Leather, whose Leap fabric is made by mixing the scraps with natural rubber and using a textile backing and thin plastic protective coating.
Vietnamese studio Vo Trong Nghia Architects has completed Urban Farming Office, its own head office in Ho Chi Minh City, creating a concrete-framed building covered in a “vertical farm” of vegetables, fruits and herbs.
Located on a corner site in the city’s Thu Duc district, the Urban Farming Office was designed to be emblematic of the plant-filled, low-energy architecture for which Vo Trong Nghia Architects is known.
Alongside the office, the practice has also constructed a version of its low-cost housing prototype, S House, designed to withstand typhoons and earthquakes and first unveiled in 2012.
Urban Farming Office was designed by Vo Trong Nghia Architects
“Under rapid urbanisation, cities in Vietnam have diverged far from their origins as sprawling tropical forests,” explained the practice. “The lack of green causes various social problems such as air pollution, floods and the heat island effect.”
“In this context, new generations in urban areas are losing their connection with nature, [and] increasing droughts, floods and salinisation jeopardise food supplies,” it continued.
The core of the office building is constructed using an exposed concrete frame, while the planters themselves are supported by a shelving-like external structure of thin steel, allowing them to be flexibly rearranged as plants grow or swapped out entirely.
The building is covered in a vertical farm
Completely covering the building’s glazed southern side, the wall of plants acts to filter sunlight and air, preventing overheating and creating a shaded microclimate for the office interiors.
Inside, workspaces are organised around a central atrium, and full-height sliding glass doors provide access onto balcony areas for moving or harvesting from the planters, with a rooftop garden providing further space for growing plants.
“Together with the roof garden and ground, the system provides up to 190 per cent of green ratio to the site area, which is equivalent to 1.1 tons of harvest,” explained the practice.
“[The vegetation] is irrigated with stored rainwater, while evaporation cools the air,” it continued.
The building is the architecture studio’s own office
The concrete structure has been left completely exposed internally, complemented by dark wood furniture and minimalist light fittings to provide a contrast to the bright green of the planted facade.
To allow the office areas to be as open as possible, the lift and stair core has been pushed to the northern corner of the building, where brick walls with small openings for ventilation have been left bare to allow for the possibility of future rear extensions.
It has an exposed concrete interior
Architect Vo Trong Nghia founded his eponymous practice in 2006, and it has since become known for its explorations of low-energy architecture, often incorporating plants and bamboo into its designs.
Other projects recently completed by the studio include a bamboo welcome centre for a resort on the island of Phu Quoc, and a home in Bat Trang wrapped by a perforated brick wall and a series of elevated garden spaces.
Interior architect Irina Kromayer has overseen the design of Berlin’s Château Royal hotel, creating a series of eclectic spaces that reference the heyday of the German capital at the turn of the 20th century.
The 93-room Château Royal is located in the heart of Mitte, on a street parallel to Unter den Linden boulevard and close to the iconic Brandenburg Gate.
Château Royal has 93 rooms (top image) as well as a fireside lounge (above)
The hotel comprises two buildings dating from 1850 and 1910, as well as a newer building and roof extension designed by David Chipperfield Architects.
The renovation project, led by Kromayer with support from Swiss architect Etienne Descloux and interior designer Katariina Minits, aims to reflect the periods during which the heritage-listed buildings were constructed.
Built-in joinery features in all the guest rooms
“Our design goal was to provide the traveller with an ‘authentic’ experience of being in Berlin, using materials and colours that traditionally stand for the city’s heyday,” Kromayer told Dezeen.
Oak panelling, art nouveau tiles, sisal carpets and hardware in brass and nickel were incorporated into the scheme based on the finishings commonly found in Berlin’s historic buildings.
This was informed by the storage walls of traditional West Berlin apartments
Kromayer designed much of the furniture herself – as well as in collaboration with Porto-based German designer Christian Haas – in order to achieve a seamless merging of contemporary and classic details.
“We didn’t want the hotel to be retro but rather to feel classic so we simplified things into less decorative shapes,” she explained.
In addition, vintage pieces were sourced from all over Europe to give a lived-in “patina” to the interior and explore a more sustainable approach to furniture sourcing.
Loupiotte pendant lights emphasise the building’s high ceilings
The pendant lights for the guest rooms were created in collaboration with Berlin-based manufacturer Loupiotte and are intended to emphasise the building’s high ceilings.
Made from Japanese paper and brass, the lamps are based on a 1920s design from Josef Hoffmann, one of the co-founders of the Wiener Werkstätte art movement.
The hotel’s custom-made wooden beds feature headboards crafted from Viennese wickerwork. Kromayer also created outdoor lanterns that reference traditional Berlin street lights and include unique glass panels made by artist Paul Hance.
Built-in joinery found in each of the bedrooms was informed by the partition walls with integrated storage, which are typical of traditional West Berlin apartments.
Glazed blue tiles can be found in the guest bathrooms
Paintings by early 20th-century artists associated with the expressionist and new objectivity movements influenced the hotel’s bold colour scheme, which is applied across surfaces including tiles and upholstery textiles, along with curated artworks.
The interior features colourful glazed bricks and tiles similar to those found in Berlin’s underground stations, as well as stained glass and coloured marble.
Stained-glass panels brighten up the hotel bar
The hotel bar is made from tin – a material Kromayer says was widely used at the turn of the century but is rarely found in contemporary German interiors. Nickel and chrome bathroom fixtures were chosen to reference the modernist and Bauhaus design movements.
Alongside its guest rooms, which include 13 suites and an apartment, Château Royal also accommodates a lobby, bar, restaurant, private dining room, fireside lounge and winter garden.
A Karl Holmqvist artwork hangs inside the hotel’s Dóttir eatery
Built-in carpentry used throughout the public areas helps to create a sense of consistency with the bedrooms, while vintage furniture, rugs and lamps made for the hotel by KL Ceramics add to the eclectic feel of the spaces.
The hotel’s restaurant, called Dóttir, features upholstered oak seating by Bauhaus designer Erich Dieckmann. Artworks including a neon piece by Karl Holmqvist bring character to the ground-floor eatery.
Other recent renovation projects from Berlin include a pistachio-toned revamp of one of the city’s oldest cinemas and a hotel housed inside an abandoned women’s prison.
As the global energy crisis shone a light on fossil-fuel dependence this year, we continue our review of 2022 by looking at 10 of the most innovative projects demonstrating more renewable, efficient and affordable ways to power our lives.
After Russia’s war in Ukraine sent energy costs spiralling to record heights, designers and architects argued that now is the time to double down on the renewable energy transition.
“This is a pivotal moment in which we need to shift our societies onto a safer path,” architect Michael Pawlyn told Dezeen earlier this year.
From a sand battery to a portable wind turbine and a low-cost solar-heated blanket, here are 10 projects covered on Dezeen in 2022 that demonstrate how it can be done:
Photo by Iris Rijskamp
Solar Metal Smelter by Jelle Seegers
An oversized magnifying glass focuses the sun’s heat to melt metal in this smelting machine, developed by design graduate Jelle Seegers to reduce the emissions and soaring energy costs associated with powering industrial furnaces.
“By making this thing manual, it really changes the casting craft from one where you just have endless energy coming into your workshop to one where you personally cooperate with the sun in order to melt the metal,” he told Dezeen.
Find out more about Solar Metal Smelter ›
Photo courtesy of University of Massachusetts Amherst
Sweat-powered biofilm by the University of Massachusetts Amherst
Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst have developed a biofilm that is worn like a plaster and can generate electricity to power users’ wearable electronics using their sweat.
The film is made by bacteria that can convert energy from the sweat’s evaporation into electricity, meaning that compared to traditional batteries it does not need to be changed or charged while cutting down the need for mined metals.
In the future, researchers believe the technology could be used to power devices at a larger scale as around 50 per cent of all solar energy that reaches Earth is spent on evaporation, making it a “huge, untapped source of energy”.
Find out more about the biofilm ›
Photo courtesy of Mireille Steinhage
Solar Blanket by Mireille Steinhage
Conductive yarn runs through this heated blanket, which can be charged using a mini solar panel to provide an accessible and affordable way to stay warm over the winter in the face of the energy crisis.
Designer Mireille Steinhage estimates the Solar Blanket could retail for less than £10 and, unlike a gas-powered boiler, would not cost anything to run.
“The emphasis on personal responsibility when it comes to sustainability is big,” said Steinhage. “However, it’s not so simple for the reported 14.5 million people living in relative poverty in the UK.”
“These people might not be able to make sustainability a personal priority, even if they wanted to,” she continued. “If we want to realise a more sustainable future, being sustainable should be accessible to everyone.”
Find out more about Solar Blanket ›
Photo courtesy of Polar Night Energy
Sand battery, Finland, by Polar Night Energy
This year saw Finnish company Polar Night Energy install the world’s first operational “sand battery” at a power plant in the town of Kankaanpää, which promises to overcome one of the key obstacles to the renewable energy transition.
It works by transforming green energy into hot air using a resistive heating element and then feeding it into the sand, heating it to around 500 to 600 degrees Celsius.
The sand is able to retain that heat for weeks or even months, offering a long-term, low-cost solution for storing excess renewable energy for those times when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing – particularly for winter when demand is at its peak in many places.
Find out more about the sand battery ›
Photo by Adrià Goula
Solar Greenhouse by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia
This prototype Solar Greenhouse co-locates renewable energy generation and food production on the same plot of land, in a bid to demonstrate how the world could feed its growing population while racing to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
The two-storey structure is made from locally sourced timber, wrapped in glass louvres for light and ventilation, and designed to be scalable and adaptable to a variety of settings including inner-city rooftops.
Find out more about Solar Greenhouse ›
Photo courtesy of Aurea Technologies
Shine Turbine by Aurea Technologies
This portable wind turbine folds down to the size of a water bottle so it can fit in a backpack for camping trips or emergency situations.
It can generate up to three phone charges worth of power in an hour, with a power-to-weight ratio of 29.5 watts per kilogram that makes it more efficient than any comparable solar panels, thermoelectric stoves or water turbines, according to Aurea Technologies.
Find out more about Shine Turbine ›
Image courtesy of Tega Brain, Alex Nathanson and Benedetta Piantella
Solar Protocol by Tega Brain, Alex Nathanson and Benedetta Piantella
Websites on the Solar Protocol network are serviced by solar-powered servers placed in different time zones around the world to make use of the most naturally available energy at any given time.
The project hopes to provoke discussions about whether the internet can function within planetary limits.
“In the field of computer science, there’s always been this idea of computing being unlimited and infinite,” co-creator Tega Brain told Dezeen. “There’s not a culture of considering the material impacts and the fact that these systems are reliant on giant energy-sucking, water-sucking data centres that are all around the world.”
Find out more about Solar Protocol ›
Photo courtesy of BVN
Systems Reef 2 by BVN and the University of Technology Sydney
Australian architecture practice BVN collaborated with the University of Technology Sydney to create a 3D-printed air-conditioning (AC) system dotted with tiny pores that effectively mist cool air into the space below, mimicking frog skin.
Combined with swapping the traditional angular sheet metal construction of ACs for a more aerodynamic network of branching tubes, this means the system uses less energy in operation and reduces embodied carbon by 90 per cent.
Find out more about Systems Reef 2 ›
Photo courtesy of Lightyear
Lightyear 0 by Lightyear
This year saw Dutch startup Lightyear launch the “world’s first production-ready” solar car, which has photovoltaic panels integrated into its roof, bonnet and boot that automatically top up its battery.
The hope is that this will help electric cars rival their fossil-fuel counterparts by making them less reliant on charging points and potentially free to run.
“I think most electric vehicles will have a solar roof in the future,” Lightyear’s lead solar engineer told Dezeen in an exclusive interview. “It’s a topic that all big car manufacturers are working on.”
Find out more about Lightyear 0 ›
Photo by Martos Martinovic
Cosmic Studio by Cosmic
In a bid to make zero-emissions, off-grid living more accessible, US startup Cosmic developed a modular accessory dwelling unit that can be slotted onto any property and generates all of its own energy with no need for fossil fuels.
The tiny home is constructed using an efficient “hybrid prefab” construction system and powered via an integrated rooftop solar array plus an air-source heat pump that takes care of heating and cooling.
