Spotted: Sports are a cultural staple for countries around the world, whether you enjoy watching matches on TV, attending games, or playing yourself. And, according to FIFA, there are five billion football fans across the globe, making it the world’s most popular sport. To meet this popular demand, over 40 million footballs are made every year, relying on tonnes of crude-oil-based synthetic, animal leather, and rubber for their production.
This is where the Rebond Project comes in. The French organisation is rethinking traditional manufacturing to create balls that contribute to a circular economy and are made from clean and sustainably sourced materials
The initial problem the Rebond team had to solve was finding an adequate recyclable substitute for the internal or inflatable part of a football (the balloon). Rebond settled on recycled plastic bottles and a natural latex inner tube to make, what the company claims is, the first bio-sourced and recycled balloon that met competition standards. To make the ball completely ‘clean’, Rebond chose to create the external part of the football entirely out of natural vegetable-based biomaterials.
According to the company, 85 per cent of current ball production occurs in the Punjab region in India. Wanting to boost local production of “Made in France” balls, Rebond set up a French production line in Loire-Atlantique in 2019. Rebond highlights, though, that the goal isn’t to replace Punjabi workshops, but instead to use the France production line to complement them.
According to Rebond Founder and CEO Simon Mutschler, the company is now aiming to get the FIFA-accredited logo on its balls so they can be sold to official football clubs.
Springwise has spotted other innovations seeking to make sports more sustainable, including inclusive tennis programmes that recycle used balls and eco-friendly wetsuits for women.
Japanese designer Daisuke Yamamoto presented recycled steel chairs on podiums of the same material as part of an exhibition in Milan, which has been shortlisted for a 2023 Dezeen Award.
Yamamoto‘s Flow project explores ways to minimise industrial waste by focusing on a single material – light-gauge steel (LGS).
Daisuke Yamamoto presented his Flow chairs as part of the Dropcity showcase
Commonly used in construction as a strong, lightweight framing option, LGS is also one of the industry’s largest waste products, Yamamoto claims, as it is rarely recycled after demolition.
The designer therefore chose to create a second life for the steel sheets and components as a series of sculptural chairs.
The chairs were placed on podiums made from the same light-gauge steel
He also used LGS to form platforms for showcasing the seating designs as part of an exhibition at Milan design week 2023 that has been shortlisted in the exhibition design category of this year’s Dezeen Awards.
“This project began with the awareness that everyday recycled construction materials are disposed of, then new construction begins – a so-called ‘scrap and build’,” Yamamoto said.
Each of the recycled steel chairs had a different form
“Using the iconic LGS material – one of the most popular materials normally used in framing systems throughout the interior wall structure – we transformed it into beautifully redesigned furniture, giving the materials a second chance,” he added.
The exhibition formed part of the Dropcity showcase, which took place inside the Magazzini Raccordati spaces at Milan Central Station during the design week in April.
A workshop bench was also placed at the centre of the space
These empty railway arches have a dilapidated, industrial aesthetic with peeling floors, stained tilework and exposed utilities.
Yamamoto chose to leave the vaulted room largely as he found it but placed a series of platforms in two rows, upon which he presented the series of chairs.
Track lighting was installed overhead to spotlight the elevated designs, each of which has a slightly different shape.
In the centre of the exhibition, a workshop bench also built from lightweight gauge steel was used to fabricate more chairs during live demonstrations between Yamamoto and craft artist Takeo Masui.
Yamamoto and Takeo Masui built more recycled steel chairs during live demonstrations
“This is a landfill, a place where a volume of used LGS is collected,” Yamamoto said. “A place where the designer and craftsmen work hand in hand to recreate what was bound to be disposed into something new, a process of disassembling to re-assemble.”
The intention was to not only showcase the material’s capabilities for reuse but also to allow visitors to engage with the process and ask wider questions about how society deals with waste.
The demonstrations allowed visitors to engage with the process
Using waste materials produced by other industries was a key trend that Dezeen spotted during this year’s Milan Design Week, with designers and studios including Formafantasma, Prowl Studio, Atelier Luma and Subin Seol all looking to reduce the environmental impact of their products.
Future Landfill took place at Magazzini Raccordati from 15 to 23 April 2023 as part of Milan Design Week. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
Melbourne studio Reef Design Lab has created a series of organically shaped modules from concrete blended with oyster shells to help reduce coastal erosion in Port Phillip Bay, Australia.
The Erosion Mitigation Units (EMU), which have been longlisted in the Dezeen Awards sustainable design category, were used to build a breakwater to reduce coastal erosion and designed to create a habitat for marine life.
Erosion Mitigation Units are semi-submerged modules
Designed for the City of Greater Geelong municipality by Port Phillip Bay, the two-metre-wide EMU modules form a permeable barrier 60 meters offshore, where the water depth ranges from 30 to 130 centimetres.
Reef Design Lab opted for an organic shape to minimise the material use and maintain structural integrity while creating refuges and colonies for ocean life.
The breakwater is a snorkelling destination
The design team used digital moulding analysis alongside traditional casting techniques to produce the precast reusable moulds in its Melbourne studio.
This saved a significant amount of cement compared to using 3D concrete printing, according to the studio.
Reef Design Lab also added locally sourced oyster shells, which it says makes for an ideal surface for shellfish, as aggregates in the concrete mix to manufacture the EMU modules.
The geometry of the modules was optimised to create the habitat conditions needed for marine species to live on them.
An overhang provides resting space for stingrays and pufferfish, while tunnels and caves on the module shelter fish, octopus and crustaceans from predators and provide shaded surfaces for sponges and cold water coral to grow on.
The module shelters fish from predators
The module’s surface was designed with one-centimetre-wide ridges and made rough on purpose to reveal the shell aggregate and attract reef-building species such as tube worms, mussels and oysters.
Designed to be covered in small pools, the modules retain water and shelter intertidal species at low tide.
Reef Design Lab installed 46 modules of EMU
In October 2022, Reef Design Lab installed 46 EMU modules in Port Phillip Bay. The breakwater is being monitored by the Melbourne Universities Centre for Coasts and Climate for the next five years.
Six months after the installation, species including shellfish, sponges and cold water corals were colonising the modules, the studio said.
Another breakwater project that aims to fulfil engineering and ecological requirements is the Buoyant Ecologies Float Lab in San Fransisco Bay by a team at the California College of the Arts.
Off the coast of Cannes in France, British sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor created the Underwater Museum of Cannes, a collection of six large underwater sculptures, to call for more care for ocean life.
Danish toymaker Lego has abandoned its pilot programme to make recycled plastic bricks from discarded bottles after projections suggested that, adopted at scale, the material would ultimately have a higher carbon footprint.
But after two years of testing, Lego has now scrapped the project as calculations indicated that retooling its factories to process rPET – instead of the acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) used to form 80 per cent of its bricks – would ultimately generate more emissions over the product’s lifecycle.
Lego scrapped efforts to make its bricks from recycled plastic bottles
“It’s like trying to make a bike out of wood rather than steel,” Lego’s head of sustainability Tom Brooks told the Financial Times, which broke the story.
“In order to scale production, the level of disruption to the manufacturing environment was such that we needed to change everything in our factories. After all that, the carbon footprint would have been higher. It was disappointing.”
The rPET also requires large amounts of energy for processing and drying, Brooks explained, as well as additional chemicals so it can rival the durability of normal Lego blocks.
Instead of repurposing plastic bottles, Lego says it is now looking to find bio-based and recycled substitutes for the individual chemicals that make up ABS, as well as investigating alternative solutions.
“We remain fully committed to making Lego bricks from sustainable materials by 2032,” a spokesperson for the company told Dezeen.
“We are currently testing and developing Lego bricks made from a range of alternative sustainable materials, including other recycled plastics and plastics made from alternative sources such as e-methanol.”
The prototype bricks were made from recycled PET (rPET)
The company is also exploring the potential of bioplastics, which has formed some of the flora found in Lego kits since 2018 as well as the company’s recent Botanical Collection.
However, Lego CEO Niels Christiansen told the FT he believes no single material will be a silver bullet solution.
“We tested hundreds and hundreds of materials,” he said. “It’s just not been possible to find a material like that.”
Instead, part of Lego’s solution will be a focus on incremental emissions reductions as well as a takeback scheme, which the company is hoping to develop over the next few years so that unwanted bricks can be directly reused in new sets or recycled if they are no longer functional.
The news comes only a month after the company pledged to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Previously, Lego had only committed to a 37 per cent emissions reduction by 2032 compared to 2019.
Spotted: As the global population, living standards, and economy continue to grow, along with improvements in water supply, so does the volume of wastewater. Each year, 380 billion m3of municipal wastewater is generated globally, with very little of that ever being recycled. But, on-site wastewater can be reused to create a circular waste economy and reduce the amount of freshwater that would be wasted, and this is where Epic Cleantec comes in.
Born out of work with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Reinvent the Toilet Challenge, Epic was founded to use this untapped potential. Epic deploys onsite water reuse systems into the built environment, making cities more resilient, sustainable, and water secure. The company’s OneWater system captures and processes a building’s wastewater, including black and grey water. The process allows a building to recycle up to 95 per cent of its water on-site for reuse in toilet and urinal flushing, laundry, irrigation, and cooling towers.
Epic’s approach produces three outputs: recycled water, recovered heat energy from wastewater to improve building energy efficiency, and carbon-rich soil nutrients for local agriculture and landscaping use. And through a partnership with Devil’s Canyon Brewing Co., Epic Cleantec is also turning this wastewater into beer.
Using its technology, Epic transformed wastewater from a high-rise apartment block in San Francisco into over 2,000 gallons of recycled water, which Devil’s Canyon used to create Epic OneWater Brew – a Kölsch-style ale.
At a time when the world is rapidly urbanising and using more and more water, it’s no wonder why there are so many ways to address water scarcity. In the archive, Springwise has spotted one company that uses wastewater to power biomanufacturing, while another is harvesting water from the air.
For our latest lookbook, Dezeen has selected eight examples of interiors that were created with reclaimed and recycled materials, including a restaurant in Bangalore and a brick house in Ghent.
Recent decades have seen more awareness and reflection on environmental and sustainable issues both inside and outside the design world, leading a number of designers and architects to choose sustainable design for their projects.
From the use of unwanted items to the application of reclaimed bricks and recycled plastics, the eight projects in this lookbook present ways in which designers have rediscovered the value of waste.
This is the latest in Dezeen’s lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring sunny yellow interiors, beds that have been built into interiors and tiled kitchen worktops.
Photo by Ishita Sitwala
Circus Canteen, India, by Multitude of Sins
Bangalore studio Multitude of Sins designed this restaurant interior, which was shortlisted in the sustainable interior category of Dezeen Awards 2022, to showcase a collage of unwanted objects.
The salvaged objects were sourced locally from a donation drive in a few weeks. The studio categorised them, then organised them into a colourful, stylish interior.
Find out more about the Circus Canteen ›
Kamikatsu Zero Waste Centre, Japan, by Hiroshi Nakamura
The Kamikatsu Zero Waste Centre (above and main image) was created as an eco-friendly community and educational space for recycling activities, and features a facade made of 700 windows donated by the local community.
Architect Hiroshi Nakamura attached harvesting containers from a mushroom factory to the wall to be used as bookshelves. Unwanted objects were also collected from abandoned houses, previous government buildings and schools in the local area.
Find out more about the Kamikatsu Zero Waste Centre ›
Photo by Sam A Harris
Silo, UK, by Nina+Co
The dining tables of this zero-waste restaurant in London consist of flecked recycled-plastic tops and sustainably-sourced ash wood legs, with mycelium pendant lamps dangling above.
The dining space also features a long bar counter made from recycled plastic packaging.
Find out more about Silo zero-waste restaurant ›
Photo by Magdalena Gruber
Urselmann Interior’s office, Germany, by Urselmann Interior
The renovation of the ceiling in this Düsseldorf office was completed using poplar wood sourced from a tree felled in the nearby city of Krefeld. The studio preserved the existing wooden and terrazzo flooring.
The refurbishment of the office, which is the studio’s own, also included the use of biodegradable materials, glueless joinery and cellulose-based cladding.
Find out more about Urselmann Interior’s office ›
Photo by Syam Sreesylam
Wendy House, India, by Earthscape Studio
This vaulted residence in Bangalore, which sits among eight acres of dense forests, was covered with recycled mudga tiles. Its glass walls were framed with recycled rods.
Earthscape Studio also constructed the building with sithu kal bricks, a traditional technique that is currently not in use. This design revisited the neglected technique to help bring work opportunities to the local community.
Find out more about the Wendy House ›
Photo by Stijn Bollaert
GjG House, Belgium, by BLAF Architecten
Built without supporting interior walls, this house was constructed with reclaimed bricks and features a curved form and brick bonding.
BLAF Architecten designed the unusual curvilinear walls in order for the house to fit in between surrounding trees on the site in Ghent.
Find out more about GjG House ›
Photo by José Hevia
10K House, Spain, by Takk
In the context of global climate change and the energy crisis, 10K House was built on a material budget of only 10,000 euros and features rooms built inside each other to maximise insulation.
Spanish Architecture studio Takk used recycled white table legs to lift one of the interior rooms in the Barcelona apartment, creating space for water pipes and electrical fittings without the extra cost of adding wall grooves.
Find out more about 10K House ›
Photo by Agnese Sanvito
Rylett House, UK, Studio 30 Architects
Studio 30 Architects transformed an old carpenter’s bench into a kitchen island for this London house extension, which includes a living, kitchen and dining area.
The extension was built on the site of a previous conservatory and overlooks the garden through a timber window decorated with plants.
Find out more about Rylett House ›
This is the latest in Dezeen’s lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring sunny yellow interiors, beds that have been built into interiors and tiled kitchen worktops.
Architizer is thrilled to announce the winners of the 11th Annual A+Awards! Interested in participating next season? Sign up for key information about the 12th Annual A+Awards, set to launch this fall.
The new EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) has now been enacted as part of the wider European Union Green Deal. This mandates heightened due diligence on the value chain for operators and traders in various commodities, including soy, palm oil, cattle, coffee and wood.
Between 1990 and 2008, the bloc’s imports in products now covered by the revised rules amounted to 36% of total associated deforestation worldwide. The changes won’t bring an end to this, but any firm that wants to do business in the economic union, no matter where their headquarters, now needs to prove sustainable sourcing of these materials and that products have not contributed to deforestation that occurred after 31st December 2020.
Last October, Construction Europe reported on a lack of EUDR preparedness across built environment sectors within the context of a rise in timber as a building material. The ‘plyscraper’ race is perhaps the most visible sign of this, with several World’s Tallest Timber Building hopefuls topping out in the past few years. Ascent by Korb + Associates currently holds the title in Milwaukee, US, at 284 feet (87 meters). This is followed by the 280-foot (85-meter) Mjøstårnet by Voll Arkitekter, in Brumunddal, Norway, and HoHo Wien by RLP Rüdiger Lainer + Partner, a Vienna mid-rise boasting 18 floors at 275 feet (84 meters).
Shor House by Measured Architecture Inc., Mayne Island, Canada | Photo by Ema Peter Photography
A little shorter, Sara Kulturhaus by White arkitekter AB in Skellefteå, Sweden, is a strong example of the carbon savings good timber design can offer. Housing a library, gallery, museum and hotel, over 50 years this 239 foot (73 meter) cross-laminated timber (CLT) design will sequester more carbon than the total of its embodied footprint from materials, transportation, construction and operation. The carbon negative status is thanks in part to properties of the core structure, but this isn’t always the case.
Two of construction and architecture’s greatest environmental adversaries are steel and concrete. But the widely-trumpeted climate gains from switching to timber aren’t guaranteed. The real test is always in the quality of what is built. In the best case scenarios, impacts from physical construction, ongoing use and material sourcing will be outweighed by carbon sequestration and storage capacity. In the worst, building with wood can be worse for the planet than its alternatives, but recycled timber is often a safe bet in ecological terms.
Measured Architecture Inc’s Shor House, Popular Choice Winner in Sustainable Private House at this year’s Architizer A+ Awards, is a beautiful example of what can be done with reclaimed wood. Completed in 2022, the design focuses on one truth: “The most progressive edge of designing with wood is to recycle it.” Much of the lumber was sourced from the old home and barn that occupied the site at Mayne Island, Canada. The original structures were dismantled rather than demolished, so cladding, floors and frames could be de-nailed, stored and reused.
Shor House by Measured Architecture Inc., Mayne Island, Canada | Photo by Ema Peter Photography
Some timber also came from the remnants of the Englewood Railroad, Northern Vancouver Island, which was decommissioned in 2017. The outside is then clad in Corten raw plate steel, chosen for its low upkeep and long lifespan. Architect and the property owner Clinton Cuddington describes the material as “eminently recyclable”, and its use emphasizes the importance of product diversity in green construction. Without this rust-colored layer, timber would be far more exposed to the elements, increasing the speed of degradation and likelihood of repairs. The steel also has the potential for reuse at a later date.
Of course, however it features recycled timber presents some problems. These woods are often thought of for the rustic aesthetics of a “past life effect.” Surfaces may be marked, nailed or chiseled, giving them stacks of personality but — crucially — often a lack of uniformity.
There’s also a cost issue. Reclaimed wood is usually priced higher than virgin timber because additional resources are needed to bring it back to spec. Toxins, contaminants, natural pests and other risks must be eliminated before it re-enters the supply chain. Nevertheless, the benefits are significant, not least in emissions terms. Recycled timber extends wood lifecycle, and with it the time carbon is stored before decomposition releases it into the atmosphere. At Shor House, dating suggests some lumber can be traced to trees that stood for 1,000 years.
Shor House by Measured Architecture Inc., Mayne Island, Canada | Photo by Ema Peter Photography
The materials certainly pack the aged, historic look people love reclaimed wood for, but elsewhere developments are underway that could bridge a gap between this and the mass timber many new wooden structures rely on, which can be a major cause of deforestation. University College London researcher Dr. Colin Rose won Rambøll’s 2022 Flemming Bligaard Award for his work on CLST, or cross laminated secondary timber, which uses reclaimed rather than virgin wood as the feedstock for ‘new’ CLT stock.
In an interview published when the prize was announced, Rose explains his belief this material can be a viable alternative to steel and concrete in strength, production levels and affordability. He also says built environment professionals have not caught up with CLST yet, and most still see the material as “in lab phase”. He then predicts this will change as embodied carbon begins to define our approach to construction, which CLST performs well on, as do recycled woods generally.
According to his estimates, you could build around 1,000 new homes each year using the discarded wood from building sites in London alone. Widening the lens, every 12 months we create 16 million tonnes of waste wood globally, and currently recycle just 15% of that. These facts emphasize the idea that access and systems are major obstacles to wider use of reclaimed timber, and how urgently change is needed to maximize the way lumber is used to minimize waste and deforestation. Achieving that requires a number of things, including the scaling up of operations and infrastructure, not to mention fresh thinking on the part of architects and designers.
Shor House by Measured Architecture Inc., Mayne Island, Canada | Photo by Ema Peter Photography
Architizer is thrilled to announce the winners of the 11th Annual A+Awards! Interested in participating next season? Sign up for key information about the 12th Annual A+Awards, set to launch this fall.
Local studio Lab La Bla sourced diabase rock from a nearby mine and created seating from MDF and recycled cork for the interior of energy company E.ON’s headquarters in Malmö, Sweden.
Lab La Bla designed the headquarters’ reception area, coat room and lounge area, while also creating furniture, sculptures and other accessories across nine floors of the 22,000-square-metre building.
The studio aimed to create a sequence of space that had variety, while taking inspiration from sources including airport terminals.
The studio used recycled materials for the interiors
“Creating work for an office that houses 1,500 employees is both challenging and inspiring,” co-founders Axel Landström and Victor Isaksson Pirtti told Dezeen.
“It’s about creating spaces and functions that cater to the many while offering a mix of focus, creative and social environments, so it’s really about designing for the masses without making it boring or generic,” they added.
“There’s a current fascination about airport interiors in the studio, so for the reception area we drew from that source of inspiration.”
Seating was made from MDF
In the reception area, the studio created a set of sunny yellow furniture made from medium-density fibreboard (MDF) covered in nylon fiber.
“The overall project for us is sort of a reaction to dysfunctional and non-sustainable processes inherent within our industry,” the studio explained.
“For the reception area MDF and screws have been coated with repurposed nylon fiber using a technology commonly seen in the automotive industry, resulting in furniture that celebrates leftover material but without compromising on durability.”
A bench features a “melting” diabase stone detail
For the building’s central atrium, Lab La Bla designed an unusual bench that features a gloopy stone decoration resembling an oil spill.
This was created using diabase stone, which is famous for its blackness and was mined nearby in southern Sweden. The process of creating it was informed by its setting at an energy company headquarters.
Lab La Bla sourced local materials for the project
“Since electricity and magnetism are essentially two aspects of the same thing – and E.ON being an electric utility company – we thought it suitable to introduce magnetism as a modelling tool,” Landström and Isaksson Pirtti explained.
“The shape of the piece comes from dropping a lump of magnetic slime on top of a conductive material,” they added. “The slime seemingly randomly slump and drapes over a metal bar before settling in its final shape.”
Lab La Bla then scaled this shape up and hand-sculpted the shape from a single block of diabase, which was finally sandblasted and polished.
“We see this process as an adventurous exploration in making a physical representation of the invisible force that shapes our world,” Landström and Isaksson Pirtti added.
Mouth-blown glass panels form a three-metre-high sculpture
The studio also turned brick beams, left over from the construction of a school in Malmö in the early 1900s, into umbrella stands, and sourced mouth-blown glass panels from one of the few remaining producers of the material.
This was used, together with dichroic glass, to create a three-metre-high glass sculpture with a graphic pattern that depicts a CT-scan of a wood-fibre material.
Glass sculptures were formed inside hollowed-out tree trunks
Lab La Bla also created decorative vases and glass sculptures using molten glass blown into tree trunks that had been hallowed by fungal decay. The trunks were sourced from E.ON’s own local heating centre.
These trunks “serve no industrial purpose, but are burnt for energy by E.ON and used for teleheating for Malmö,” the studio said.
“We borrow these tree trunks to blow glass in them, before returning them to their final purpose.”
Lounge sofas were made from ground-down wine corks
In the headquarters’ lounge areas, the designers created modular sofas made from ground-down wine corks sourced from restaurants.
“The modular cork sofa uses a unique process where 100 per cent recycled cork is sprayed onto a foam structure, proudly incorporating signs of imperfection into the design while bringing superior durability and sustainability to your furniture,” Landström and Isaksson Pirtti said.
A table has an office-style glass relief with a keyboard
To the designers, the aim of the interior design was to use disused or forgotten materials, as well as ones that were recycled and recyclable.
“We took a conscious decision of picking hyper-ordinary materials such as MDF and aluminium to pinpoint and educate people about cyclic and sustainable qualities inherent in the processes of creating these materials,” the studio said.
“We often try to celebrate the beauty and intrinsic qualities of everyday, industrial materials otherwise consigned to temporary or low-cost construction solutions,” it added.
“We wanted to design objects which require significant time and skills from craftspeople, usually reserved for expensive, rare and high-quality materials – to some of the very inexpensive and found materials that we used throughout the project.”
Lab La Bla’s designs have previously been shown at the Moving Forward exhibition at Stockholm Design Week and as part of the Metabolic Processes for Leftovers exhibition in Malmö.
Spotted: Plastic waste is not only a problem in developed nations – it is a major problem globally, including in Africa, where it contaminates freshwater sources and has a big health impact.
Brickify is a Nigerian company working to solve this issue – and tackle homelessness – with one solution. The company collects plastic waste from families and individuals in exchange for cash. The waste is then used to manufacture plastic bricks for use as a construction material.
The bricks are made up of around 90 per cent of plastic waste, along with other materials that give them great strength and fire-resistant properties. The bricks interlock like Lego toys, so they can be used in construction without any additional materials. They are around 30 to 50 per cent cheaper than conventional bricks and will not decompose, so are very long-lasting.
Brickify has received small amounts of funding in the form of awards from Impactionable and the Social Innovations Competition. However, the company has also partnered with several state and national government agencies, corporate and non-profit organisations.
From using recycled plastic as a building material to turning waste plastic into non-toxic resin, tackling plastic waste is now the goal of a huge number of entrepreneurs as spotted by Springwise in the archive.
New York designer Michael Groth collaborated with a Moroccan artisan cooperative to create the wall hangings for this worker-owned bar and restaurant in the West Village.
The opening of Donna‘s new location on Cornelia Street follows the closure of its Williamsburg spot in December 2020 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Michael Groth has designed the new Donna outpost in New York
Serving a pan-Latin menu with Mediterranean influences and Filipino-inspired cocktails, the restaurant and bar is now a worker-owned cooperative, with original owner Leif Young Huckman acting as an advisor.
To reflect this shift, Brooklyn-based Groth aimed to imbue the design of the new outpost with references to the previous location while nodding to Donna’s revised business model.
Earth-toned limewash plaster was applied to the walls in geometric patterns
He drew influences from the constructivist art movements of Latin America in the 20th century and particularly the work of artists Sandu Darie, Pedro Alvarez and Lygia Clark.
Donna is decorated with earth-toned limewash plaster, applied to the walls in geometric patterns that echo the brand’s visual identity.
Groth created wall hangings in collaboration with artisan cooperative The Anou
Exposed brickwork is painted white, forming a plain backdrop for the circular wool wall hangings that Groth created in collaboration with Moroccan artisan cooperative The Anou.
These help to dampen the acoustics while lime plaster assists in regulating humidity, according to Groth.
The tables are crafted from reclaimed Douglas fir flooring and stained plywood was used to build the banquette seating that wraps the perimeter.
Bar-back shelving and floors were repurposed from the unit’s previous tenant, while the bar tops were fabricated by Brooklyn Stone and Tile – another worker-owned cooperative.
Tables are crafted from reclaimed Douglas fir
“The use of any new materials was limited to those that are natural and biodegradable, keeping in mind the holistic effects of resource extraction, human health and equity, and circular material cycles,” the Donna team said.
Pendants lights above the bar have shades made from mushroom mycelium, which according to the team presents “an environmentally holistic approach to material creation that poetically reflects Donna’s equitable business model”.
The pendant lights above the bar feature mycelium shades
New York City’s dining scene was upheaved during the pandemic, with many eating and drinking establishments forced to either adapt or shutter.
As a result, sidewalk dining shelters sprung up across the city, as documented in these photographs by John Tymkiw.
