Brass ribbons line the asymmetric portals that connect the kitchen and dining room of this Toronto residence, renovated by local architecture and art studio Svima.
The Portal House was designed for a couple who had wanted to refresh their home for 10 years, but have very different aesthetic tastes.
Two portals connect the renovated kitchen and dining areas of this Toronto home
Toronto-based studio Svima found a compromise by combining his desire for “tenebrous minimalism” and her love of “bright French country kitchens” into the design.
The resulting “denlike cosiness” pairs dark oak across the lower half of the ground-floor spaces and clean white surfaces on the upper half.
The curved, asymmetric portal over the deep counter acts as a pass-through
The snaked kitchen layout is tight, so Svima curved the corners of cabinetry and counter surfaces to steal extra space for circulation.
This theme continues to the living room millwork: a bookcase is filleted at the corner and meets the wall at an angle, while a built-in sofa beneath the window also softly angles inward.
The other portal, mirrored in shape, forms a doorway between the two spaces
“The design hinges on ‘ribbons’ flowing through the space, guiding the motion through the rooms,” said Svima.
“The ribbons curve in areas where sharp corners would not fit, or would stop the flow of movement.”
Brass edges around the portals were artfully installed to perfectly fit the curved drywall
In the kitchen, the curved oak doors were handmade by a cabinetmaker who created a special jig to kerf-bend the oak into a radius.
Tiles that offer a contemporary take on Dutch Delft porcelain form the backsplash, adding small touches of blue to the otherwise neutral space.
To add touches of colour to the dark oak and bright white palette, tiles influenced by Delft porcelain were added to the backsplash
Two portals provide connections between the kitchen and adjacent dining room, both with a mirrored asymmetric shape and edged in brass.
One acts as a doorway, while the other over the deep counter is used as a pass-through for food, drinks and tableware.
“It was an artful process for the contractor to lay the brass into the wall, as it had to fit into the curved drywall perfectly with no tolerance for error,” the architects said.
The living room, located at the front of the house, was furnished with mid-century pieces such as a chair, a coffee table and a media console.
Dark oak flooring throughout the home’s ground floor matches the other millwork
The closed and open shelving unit organises the family’s books and possessions, and its shape allows more light to enter from a side window.
Opposite, the built-in sofa helps to resolve an awkward space under a bay window and orients the sitter towards the TV to one side.
In the living room, the curved kitchen cabinetry is translated as a storage unit with a filleted side
“The custom sofa sweeps into the space to provide seating at precisely the right sideways angle for viewing the media unit, for lounge reading, and for gathering,” Svima said.
The floors throughout the home match the other millwork, grounding the spaces with a rich dark hue.
A built-in sofa under the living room’s bay window similarly features softly curved angles
Svima, founded by architects Anamarija Korolj and Leon Lai, is not the only studio that’s had to get creative with a tight Toronto floor plan.
When Studio Vaaro overhauled a house in the city, the firm created a series of volumes with minimally detailed millwork to form kitchen cabinetry, the staircase and a feature bookcase in the living room.
Arches of light warmly illuminate this Korean fried chicken restaurant in New York’s Flatiron district, designed by Rockwell Group.
Coqodaq is the brainchild of restauranteur Simon Kim’s Gracious Hospitality Management, the group behind the Michelin-starred and James Beard-nominated COTE Korean Steakhouse.
At Cododaq, glass and bronze modules form arches of light over diners
The new restaurant offers an elevated take on traditional Korean-style fried chicken, encouraging diners to indulge in nuggets topped with caviar and to pair its “bucket” dishes with champagne.
“Designed by Rockwell Group as ‘the cathedral of fried chicken’, the restaurant design delivers a daring, yet refined dining experience that skillfully integrates Korean and American influences, placing them at the forefront of this enticing culinary adventure,” said the restaurant team.
The restaurant’s moody material palette and warm lighting set the tone for an elevated take on Korean fried chicken
To create the right atmosphere for this experience, Rockwell Group opted for a dark and moody interior of rich materials and low, warm lighting.
“Our goal was to capture the essence of this unique concept and innovative approach to fried chicken and translate it into a memorable dining experience,” said founder David Rockwell.
Plaster wall panels feature a crackled effect akin to fried chicken skin
Upon entry, guests are invited to wash their hands in leathered soapstone basins, above which a row of pill-shaped light bands glow within a bronzed mirror that also wraps onto the side walls.
Past the host stand, an area with four high-top tables offers a space reserved for walk-ins in front of garage-style windows.
The long bar is topped with black soapstone and fronted with tambour wood
The main dining area is formed by a series of green leather and dark walnut booths on either side of a central walkway.
A series of illuminated arches soar overhead, formed from rippled glass and bronze modules that resemble bubbling oil in a deep-fat fryer.
The restaurant’s extensive champagne collection is displayed in glass cases with bubble-like lighting
At the end of this procession, a mirrored wall reflects glowing arches and creates the illusion of doubled space. Meanwhile, plaster wall panels feature a crackled effect, nodding to the crispy skin of the fried chicken.
“The material palette was driven by a desire to surround diners in an envelope of warmth, creating a joyful place to be at any time,” Rockwell said.
Rockwell Group creates atmospheric interiors for Perelman Center in New York
Additional booth seating to one side is followed by the long bar, topped with black soapstone, fronted by tambour wood and backed by a luminous black liquor shelf.
The restaurant’s extensive champagne collection – which it claims is the largest in America – is displayed inside glass cabinets installed with globe-shaped lights that look like giant bubbles.
At the front of the restaurant is an area with high-top tables reserved for walk-in diners
“Simon and I share the belief that the most important thing about restaurants is how they ritualise coming together for a shared, celebratory experience and Coqodaq provides the perfect template for that,” said Rockwell.
Since Tony Award-winning designer founded his eponymous firm in New York 40 years ago, the studio has grown to a 250-person operation with additional offices in Los Angeles and Madrid.
Upon arrival, guests are encouraged to wash their hands in leathered soapstone basins
Among Rockwell Group’s recent hospitality projects are the Metropolis restaurant and lobby spaces at the Perelman Arts Center (PAC NYC) and Zaytina inside the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
We’ve featured a few fried chicken restaurants recently, including a 1960s-influenced spot in Los Angeles and a neon-illuminated eatery in Calgary.
Thousands of wooden cubes inspired by the computer game Minecraft conceal utilities and create casual seating areas at this office in Prague designed by architecture studio Collcoll.
Having previously designed one floor in the Meteor Centre Office Park for pricing software company Pricefx, Collcoll was tasked with outfitting the floor below as part of the client’s commitment to flexible and creative working practices.
Collcoll has added a pixellated wooden structure to the Pricefx office in Prague
“The management and employees of Pricefx use their offices primarily for meetings that stimulate creative dialogue,” said Collcoll.
“By their very nature, they are an open space for variable use, not subject to the stereotypes of work cubicles or traditional open space.”
The wooden feature was informed by the computer game Minecraft
The need to link the two levels presented an opportunity to do something interesting with the circulation and service core at the centre of the floor plan.
Collcoll chose to enclose the staircase with a wooden structure that conceals staff lockers, changing rooms and utility spaces. It also contains a slide that can be used as an alternative to the stairs.
Collcoll concealed utilities behind the “pixels” and created casual seating areas
“Vertically connecting two floors tends to be problematic if the natural flow of the space is to be maintained,” Collcoll explained.
“The two floors are tectonically connected by a structure composed of thousands of wooden pixels, which modulates the space around it and becomes its internal landmark.”
A slide can be used instead of the stairs
The composition of 40-centimetre-wide cubes references the blocky, pixellated world of the video game Minecraft. Its external surfaces form semi-enclosed alcoves and amphitheatres that can be used for informal work and presentations.
The cubes are wrapped in wood veneer that intentionally does not align so the pixels can be arranged in a completely random configuration.
The pixel motif is continued by a lighting grid that covers the entire office ceiling and by a projection screen incorporated into a bar counter that also functions as a reception desk.
The LED light fixtures, which are clearly visible from the street, can be dynamically adjusted to provide optimal lighting during working hours or create a party atmosphere for events.
The pixel motif continues into the office’s lighting grid
The entire office floor can operate like an open conference hall containing pockets of dedicated functional space such as the cafe with its professional kitchen, bar counter and informal seating.
A large conference room at one end of the space is equipped with a long table that can seat up to 50 people. The table and the room itself can be divided to form smaller hot-desking spaces or meeting rooms.
Lighting can be adjusted to create a party atmosphere for events
A sliding acoustic partition enables the space to function as a recording studio, while transparent walls along one side can be turned opaque to provide privacy.
The office has no corridors and instead includes various unprescribed zones and circulation areas containing casual seating or lounges with amenities such as a pool table and a punchbag.
A large conference room integrates with a table for up to 50 people
A range of presentation spaces are scattered throughout the floorplan. These include dedicated conference rooms and tiered amphitheatres with retractable screens.
Collcoll chose a neutral material palette comprising concrete, grey carpet tiles, light-grey plasterboard and black-painted ceilings to lend the office a modern, industrial aesthetic.
Collcoll chose a neutral material palette for a modern and industrial aesthetic
“The heavy black-metal tubular furniture corresponds with the concept of technological wiring,” Collcoll suggested.
“In contrast, the ephemeral changing grid of light chips and sensor systems embodies the direction of industrialism towards the world of software and information.”
The studio added amenities such as a pool table and a punchbag
Collcoll’s name stands for “collaborative collective” and reflects the collaborative approach of its team of architects, designers and researchers.
Other recently completed office interiors featuring wooden structures include a workspace in Edinburgh by Kin and a design office in Melbourne that aims to be zero-waste by using recycled materials.
Architecture studio Linehouse has wrapped a food market in a Shanghai laneway neighbourhood around a central atrium informed by Victorian greenhouses.
Named Foodie Social, the 2,000-square-metre food market is located within the Hong Shou Fang community – a residential area in Shanghai’s Putuo district known for its classic “longtang” laneway architecture.
The food market is in a two-storey grey brick building in Shanghai
The entrance to the two-storey market was framed by a double-height arrangement of stacked recycled red bricks, with a corten steel canopy added to provide shelter.
The same recycled red bricks sourced from demolished houses in China can also be found on the interior walls, stacked to create three dimensional patterns.
The glass pitched roof is lined with a gently curved metal truss
A large glass door can be pulled open on warm days, with patterned paving from the laneway outside extending to the interior of the market, fully connecting the interior and exterior.
The interior of the market was designed to resemble a greenhouse, with shops and cafe’s arrranged around a central, double-height atrium.
The glass pitched roof above the atrium was lined with gently curved metal truss, in reference to Victorian greenhouses, with three large fans hanging from the metal truss to improve the air circulation.
Some vendors are designed to be retractable to allow flexibility
A cafe in the atrium, which contains an olive tree planted into the ground, integrates a metal staircase that leads to the upper floor.
A area describes as a “stage” is located by the staircase with a series of undulating balconies wrapped around the atrium on the upper floor.
Various typologies of food vendors are arranged in the open atrium on the ground floor, some of which are designed to be retractable, allowing flexibility for different types of vendors as well as a large open event space to be formed at the centre.
“This new typology brings together the local with more curated food offerings in a contemporary yet humble and sustainable way,” explained Linehouse‘s Shanghai team who are responsible for the design.
Recycled red bricks can be found both on the facade and interior walls
Smaller snack shops were positioned on the ground floor, while larger restaurants occupy the upper floor.
Each stall was assembled from a kit of parts, so that the vendors are able to create their own signage and layout, but maintain a consistent material and lighting palette.
Larger restaurants are located on the upper floor
Linehouse is a Hong Kong and Shanghai-based architecture and interior design studio established in 2013 by Alex Mok and Briar Hickling. The duo won the emerging interior designer of the year category at the 2019 Dezeen Awards.
The studio has also recently designed the facade of a shopping centre in Bangkok and the interiors for a Hong Kong residence that respond to coastal views.
The photography is by Wen Studio.
Project credits:
Design principal: Alex Mok Associate-in-charge: Cherngyu Chen Design team: Yeling Guo, Fei Wang, Wang Jue, Norman Wang, Aiwen Shao, Mia Zhou, Yunbin Lou, Xiaoxi Chen, Tom Grannells
A bedroom incorporating a bathtub and a window bench is one of several versatile spaces architect Ulli Heckmann created when renovating this compact apartment in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Heckmann and his partner, the designer Nienke Bongers, bought the apartment in the Delfshaven neighbourhood in 2020 with the aim of refurbishing it to suit their personal tastes.
Multipurpose rooms were used to optimise space at Ulli Heckmann’s Rotterdam apartment
The 100-square-metre property is spread across the ground floor and basement of a brick apartment building dating from 1935 that stretches along a dike on the river Schie.
Previous renovations in the 1980s had stripped away all of the interior’s original features, so the couple decided to completely gut the spaces and rebuild them using a modern and affordable material palette.
The open-plan kitchen and living area receive daylight from the garden
The existing layout did not make the best use of the garden access, so Heckmann moved the bedrooms upstairs and created a large living space below with direct access to the outdoors.
“The original downstairs plan showed one room facing the garden and one towards the street, which was quite gloomy and dark,” the architect told Dezeen.
“Since the new downstairs is basically mono-orientated, an open layout with the kitchen cupboard as a room divider seemed the best solution in terms of space with an option for privacy.”
Heckmann completely rebuilt the interior spaces using affordable materials. Photo is by Yuta Sawamura
The largely open-plan configuration creates a space for cooking, eating and socialising that receives plenty of daylight from the large windows at one end.
Freestanding cupboards screen a small private space that Heckmann explained can be used for “reading a book, inviting friends to stay over or simply drying the laundry without putting it in the middle of the living room.”
The kitchen is divided by a wooden cupboard unit for privacy. Photo is by Yuta Sawamura
Throughout the property, built-in storage helps to optimise and organise space, allowing the interior to be used in different ways at different times. Examples include a hidden desk in the children’s bedroom and a window bench in the main bedroom.
“Most of the rooms are not limited to only one purpose throughout the day and night,” said Heckmann, “which helps tremendously for the use of the space – especially as a family.”
The layout of the upper floor is more compartmentalised than the basement level; however, a full-height mirrored door at the end of the hall can be left open to ensure the spaces feel connected.
The two bedrooms at either end of the plan are separated by a walk-in wardrobe and a shower room hidden behind cupboard-like doors.
The main bedroom integrates a bathtub that can be hidden behind a curtain
In addition to the bed and window bench, the main bedroom contains a bathtub set on wooden blocks that can be screened off using a curtain.
“The need to create multifunctional spaces is one of the reasons why we decided to have the bathtub in the bedroom,” Heckmann explained. “Also, we quite like that it becomes an object in our daily life instead of hiding it away.”
Most of the furniture was built by Heckmann and Bongers with stained or dyed plywood and MDF
The couple had wanted to use natural materials where possible to completely revamp the interior, but the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic caused prices to soar and subsequent lockdowns made commissioning specialist trades much more difficult.
Heckmann and Bongers therefore designed and built most of the furniture themselves, using plywood or MDF that they stained or dyed to give the materials a more unique finish.
The bedroom shelf and the hall cupboards are made from eucalyptus plywood tinted with an earl-grey mixture, while the bedhead is MDF with a hardwax finish.
The bedhead unit is made from MDF with a warm-toned hardwax finish
Lime plaster was used on the walls throughout the apartment. The downstairs spaces were left raw and natural, while the bedroom has green pigment added to give it a subtle hint of colour.
For the kitchen, Heckmann used MDF boards with oak veneer and a countertop with a dark Forbo linoleum surface. The cupboard under the stairs features an oak frame surrounding polycarbonate panels, while the staircase podium is made from painted MDF.
A hidden desk in the children’s bedroom helps to optimise space usage
Ulli Heckmann completed his Diploma studies at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, in 2006 and worked for several years for agencies in Germany and France, including Maison Edouard François.
He founded his architecture and design studio in Paris in 2013 and now works on projects across Europe, ranging from object and interior design to private housing and architectural competitions.
Other recent Rotterdam projects featured on Dezeen include a floating cross-laminated timber office and a multi-faceted auditorium designed using computer modelling.
The photography is by Ulli Heckmann unless otherwise stated.
New York-based studio Apparatus has redesigned its Hollywood showroom with multiple material schemas and a range of its lighting and furniture products to evoke a feeling of “discovery” for visitors.
The 5,000-square-foot (464 square metres) Hollywood showroom first opened in 2018 in a former warehouse. Apparatus redesigned the interiors – which previously consisted of bold geometric and neoclassical elements – opting for an experience featuring a progression of materials that create distinct experiences for each room.
Apparatus has redesigned the interiors of its LA showroom
Its three adjoining rooms were transformed with distinct finishes and reconfigured displays.
The first room’s walls and adjoining archways were covered in a coarse rock aggregate. Beds of similar stones fill small recessed gaps between the floor and the walls and a large circular mirror sits behind an installation of the Trapeze light configured as a mobile.
The entry program features wall with a rough texture
“Upon entering, you find yourself in our version of a modernist grotto,” said Apparatus.
“Here lights are relatively low, allowing you to experience our collections with slightly subterranean undertones.”
The “grotto”-like room features an installation of the Trapeze chandelier
The pre-existing archways were left intact and lead into the next space, which was finished in a silver-toned plaster custom produced by New York outift Kamp Studios. This surface treatment has a reflective quality meant to contrast the first space.
It has an installation featuring multiple of Appratatus’ iconic Cloud chandeliers that give the space an airiness when contrasted with the earthy textures of the first.
The second room has a smooth, silvery finish on the walls
“Silvered walls reflect without revealing, giving the impression of being inside a Renaissance coffer,” said the studio. “After the grounding of the first space, this functions as a release.”
A third room is lined with cork wall panels with intricate grain patterning and includes an unattributed bird-themed tapestry.
Natural light comes in from overhead windows casting shadows on the double-height room, and includes several products arranged sparsely across the room.
“It’s about feeling discovery and moving through layers,” said Apparatus founder Gabriel Hendifar.
Throughout, light fixtures are hung low to emphasize a dream-like characteristic of the reimagined space.
As in Apparatus’s other showrooms in New York and London, the gallery’s interior design resembles the composition of famous paintings and historical architectural styles. Italian artist Giorgio De Chirico’s Surrealist works were referenced for this room.
The third space features cork-lined walls and a double-height ceiling
According to the company, the space was also redesigned based on a creative narrative of a hypothetical person: a woman living in New York City during the 1960s.
The hypothetical person in this case experiences the cultural tensions of the time, between old world conventions and big changes in society, such as the moon landing, embodying the “tension between modernity and the arcane”.
“What would happen if this woman moved to Los Angeles a decade later to find herself? Our Los Angeles gallery is the answer,” said the studio.
The rooms were ordered to evoke a sense of discovery
Apparatus has displayed its full suite of products in this immersive setting. Collections on view include the Cloud pendant lamp and the Episode Settee sofa.
Other recent showroom designs include the London Camper store by James Shaw and Malbon Golf Coconut Grove store by 22RE.
New York interior designer Timothy Godbold has renovated an apartment in a historic Tribeca building, adding various relief treatments across its neutral walls including panels influenced by a 1970s sci-fi series.
The spacious loft is located in an 1881 cast-iron building on Franklin Street, which was formerly a textile factory and was overhauled by Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Shigeru Ban in 2019.
The most dramatic space in the loft is a double-height living room surrounded by windows
“The homeowners, a young family with two children, set out with the objective of creating a great home for entertaining that simultaneously utilized space efficiently to create a comfortable family living space,” said Godbold‘s team.
The designer helped to organise the layout so that it functioned optimally for the family, and despite opting for a neutral colour palette, Godbold upped the drama through the scale of the furniture and artwork.
Rather than disguise a structural column, Timothy Godbold used it as an anchor for the dining table
A double-height living room occupies a corner flooded with light from windows on two sides, which can be diffused by drawing the sheer curtains.
To work around a large structural column disrupting the view to the living room, Godbold used the column to anchor a stone dining table to turn it into a focal feature.
The kitchen is intentionally minimal, benefitting from the absence of cabinet and drawer pulls
The table references a 1930s design by Hans and Wassili Luckhardt and Alfons Anker, in keeping with the industrial style of the building.
The kitchen is very minimal, thanks to the omission of cabinet and drawer pulls, and includes an island with a waterfall stone top that creates space for a breakfast bar.
An area behind the kitchen was converted into a flexible office and bar space
Hidden behind the kitchen is a former TV room converted into a bar room and an office “to maximise the versatility of the space and meet multiple needs”.
The walls in this flexible room are covered in geometric plaster-relief panels, which add shadows and texture, while the furniture is darker and more masculine.
Plaster relief panels based on a 1970s sci-fi series cover the walls
A Reprise pendant light from New York design studio Apparatus hangs in a corner that has been curved to accentuate the modernist-style wall panelling.
“The wall details in this Tribeca space are inspired by a classic 1970s sci-fi series that showcases an all-Italian modern aesthetic within a futuristic environment,” said the team.
A feature wall behind the bed in the primary bedroom is fluted across its full width
A row of plastered arched niches separates the formal entertaining areas from a more casual seating area, where a large pale grey sofa shifts the tone from the warm whites found elsewhere.
In the primary bedroom, the built-in bed and nightstands are installed below a tufted upholstered headboard that runs the full width of the room, and a fluted wall feature that extends to the ceiling.
The bedroom also features a sculptural sofa, large planters and a huge artwork by Etienne Moyat
Opposite the bed is a sculptural sofa surrounded by oversized planters and a large, carved relief artwork by French sculptor Etienne Moyat on the wall.
Godbold custom-designed many of the pieces throughout the home, including most of the furniture and decorative elements.
His references included mid-century Italian designers like Joe Colombo, whose space-age shapes are echoed in the dining chairs, sofas, and smaller lighting and decor items.
Godbold also played with proportion to add drama, as seen in the living room’s custom stone sofas that are upholstered in a “brutalist” fabric made in England, and the coffee table with an integrated planter.
A variety of space-age shapes and materials can be found throughout the loft
The rugs also feature custom designs that outline the furniture in the same space.
Overall, the goal was to “marry the industrial, the art deco and the more surreal aspects of 1970s noir cult cinema for a glamorous and intriguing end product.”
The home’s neutral colour palette continues through to the nursery
Originally from Australia, Godbold is currently based in the Hamptons, where he renovated his mid-century home to resemble a “villain’s hideout”.
He also aims to preserve other modernist dwellings built across the area through the nonprofit organisation Hamptons 20th Century Modern.
New York-based Crosby Studios has piled office equipment around a long metallic table as part of a pop-up installation for fashion brand The Frankie Shop in Los Angeles.
The month-long installation titled The Office was launched to coincide with LA Art Week and the Sag-Aftra film festival and marked the New York label The Frankie Shop‘s first presence in the Californian city.
A long, metallic conference table formed part of The Office installation created by Crosby Studios
The brand’s founder Gaëlle Drevet and Crosby Studios creative director Harry Nuriev met at his studio, talked for 2.5 hours and decided to work together.
The resulting installation occupies a trapezoidal building on Sunset Boulevard wrapped in metallic film on all sides.
Equipment like printers, office chairs and water coolers were arranged around the perimeter of the space
Inside, the warehouse-like space features a long table also covered in a reflective material, with matching cube-shaped stools set along either side.
Articulated desk lamps, microphones and bottles of water were arranged on the table as if set up for delegates at a convention.
The central table featured microphones and water bottles as if set up for a meeting
Around the perimeter, Nuriev placed recycled office equipment, such as a large printer, a stack of binders and a pile of plastic-wrapped office chairs.
A row of water coolers was lined up along one end of the room, encircled with glowing light boxes to create sharp silhouettes of the equipment in front.
Light boxes that encircle the space create sharp silhouettes of the office furniture placed in front
“It’s not really about the office, it’s more about what happens after the office,” Nuriev told Dezeen. “I was thinking it’s time to officially move on from the office and consider the future. However, in this project, we’re uncertain about what the future holds exactly.”
A selection of apparel by The Frankie Shop is interspersed among the vignettes, while a “storage” area in the back serves as a fitting room.
Some of the furniture is plastic-wrapped, appearing as though just installed or ready to be shipped away
Together, the industrial style of the building, the silvery materials, the lighting and the equipment served to highlight the brand’s reinterpretation of businesswear.
“The pop-up design blends a dynamic combination of fashion and nostalgia, where the power suits of the past seamlessly align with the modern attitude of The Frankie Shop,” said the team.
Metallics are commonplace in Nuriev’s interior projects, appearing prominently in a Berlin jewellery store, a Moscow restaurant and his own New York apartment amongst others.
However, he is vague about the reasons or intentionality behind this recurring theme.
The exterior of the building on Sunset Boulevard is also covered in reflective film
“I don’t really think about ‘why’; it’s just my instincts, and I prefer to follow my feelings,” said Nuriev. “For this project, I had a vision of silver, and I think it works perfectly.”
Originally from Russia, the designer founded Crosby Studios in 2014 and is now based between New York and Paris.
The month-long installation marks The Frankie Shop’s first presence in LA and was timed to coincide with the city’s art week
He recently completed the interiors for New York nightclub Silencio, based on the original location in Paris designed by film director David Lynch.
Nuriev frequently collaborates with fashion brands, on projects ranging from a virtual sofa upholstered with green Nike jackets to a transparent vinyl couch filled with old Balenciaga clothing.
The Office is on show in Los Angeles from 23 February to 24 March. For more events, talks and exhibitions in architecture and design visit Dezeen Events Guide.
Architecture studio Fala Atelier decked out the angular spaces of the 087 house in Lisbon with oversized spots and stripes, which also feature on its bold marble facade.
Designed by Porto-based studio Fala Atelier, 087 is a three-storey home in the Portuguese capital with a rectilinear facade decorated with chunky marble shapes.
The 087 house features a facade decorated with chunky marble shapes
The studio, known for its playful use of geometry, created custom carpentry from locally sourced materials to accommodate the home’s curved and staggered walls and the sloping ceilings within the building.
A garden-facing kitchen on the ground floor includes terrazzo flooring and stepped timber cabinetry decorated with bold black and white stripes and topped with marble slabs.
A funnel-shaped extractor fan adds an eclectic touch
Unusual features such as a funnel-shaped, teal-hued extractor fan add an eclectic touch. This Fala Atelier-designed piece can also be found in a windowless garage in Lisbon that the studio converted for a couple.
“There are no elegant extractors on the market,” Fala Atelier partner Filipe Magalhães told Dezeen.
“All of them look like nasty appliances. With the kitchen in the way of the window, we knew we would have to integrate the fan. Since we couldn’t make it disappear, we celebrated the piece,” he added.
The open-plan kitchen is connected to the living space
The open-plan kitchen connects to the living area, which is characterised by pinewood flooring dotted with geometric walnut accents.
“The colours of the stripes and the dots on the floor really try to be noble,” said Magalhães.
Bespoke Fala Atelier-designed doors and window frames match the kitchen cabinets
The space also features doors designed by the studio and caramel-coloured Ligne Roset Togo sofas – a quilted and low-slung design classic created by Michel Ducaroy in 1973.
This seating was positioned next to a boxy fireplace clad with gleaming white ceramic tiles and a squat display plinth finished in veiny black marble.
Custom cabinetry also features on the upper floors
“We tried to diversify the material palette as much as possible while still making it quite banal,” explained Magalhães.
“The choices are very Portuguese, but the mixture aims at being more than just that,” added the architect.
Board-formed concrete ceilings were included throughout
Upstairs, the same bespoke cabinetry as in the kitchen was used to form larger cupboards across the curved and angular private spaces of the two upper floors.
Board-formed concrete ceilings, which also feature downstairs, were paired with oversized rounded mirrors in the bathrooms and a mixture of timber and marble flooring.
The garden-facing facade follows the same geometry as its street-facing component, also featuring circular and rectilinear decorative shapes.
“This house is a lot about the relationship with the garden,” said Magalhães, noting the floor-to-ceiling glazing that connects the indoor and outdoor spaces.
087 focuses on “the relationship with the garden”
Fala Atelier has designed several homes in a similar style, including six micro-houses in Porto with geometric forms and concrete finishes and another Porto property topped with a striped concrete roof.
Increasing numbers of people in social housing are living in inhospitable conditions because they are unable to afford even basic furniture and flooring, Dezeen reports as part of our Social Housing Revival series.
In the UK, social-rented homes are usually handed over to new residents in a sparse state – lacking basic elements of decoration and furnishings, as well as essential appliances.
As the cost of living continues to rise and the availability of crisis-support services diminishes, a growing number of people are unable to afford to furnish these homes, meaning they are sometimes forced to live in a harsh environment for months at a time.
Top: before – many UK social-housing residents live with furniture poverty. Above: after – London charity Furnishing Futures makes new interiors for women who have fled domestic abuse
“For the families who we work with, the point that is most distressing is the void condition – the homes are given and [social landlords] don’t bother painting the walls, and there’s absolutely no flooring down,” said Emily Wheeler, founder and CEO of Furnishing Futures.
“Most people over time can manage to get some furniture together that’s gifted to them from the local church or friends or family or whatever, but it costs thousands and thousands of pounds to put flooring down, even in a one-bedroom flat.”
London charity Furnishing Futures was recently established to address the issue among women fleeing domestic abuse, creating interiors to a high standard using furniture donated from brands.
Emily Wheeler founded Furnishing Futures after realising that the poor condition of social housing was driving women back to abusive partners. Photo by Penny Wincer
Domestic-abuse survivors and people leaving care or who were previously homeless are particularly at risk of furniture poverty since they are less likely to have items to bring with them.
Wheeler said Furnishing Futures is seeing increasing demand for its services as more people come under financial pressure.
“Initially we were only working with women who were in receipt of benefits or experiencing severe poverty or destitution,” explained Wheeler.
“But now we’re working with families who are using the food bank but the woman is a midwife, or she’s a teaching assistant, or she is a teacher, and that is new.”
The charity increasingly encounters families living in destitute conditions
Sometimes the conditions the charity witnesses are shocking, Wheeler told Dezeen.
“People are experiencing real hardship,” she said. “We’ve frequently come across people who have no food, no clothes, no shoes for their children.”
“The kids are sleeping on a blanket on a concrete floor – there’s nothing in the flat whatsoever,” she continued. “And those people might even be working as care assistants, or teaching assistants. So it’s really, really difficult at the moment for people.”
Furnishing Futures seeks to deliver interiors that “look like show homes”. Photo by Michael Branthwaite
Wheeler is a trained interior designer who formerly worked in child safeguarding.
The charity decorated and furnished 36 homes in 2023. Photo by Michael Branthwaite
She was prompted to set up Furnishing Futures after discovering that many women in social housing who had left dangerous homes were driven back to their abuser by poor living conditions.
“When women were placed in new housing after having escaped really high-risk situations, they sometimes felt that they had no choice but to return because they couldn’t look after their children in those conditions – there’d be no fridge, no cooker, no washing machine, no bed, no curtains on the windows,” she explained.
“People are expected to go to those places at a time of great trauma and distress, and recover, but those places are often not conducive to that because of the design and the environment.”
Wheeler said the interiors industry could be doing more to have a bigger social impact. Penny Wincer
The charity overhauled 36 homes in 2023, helping 99 women and children. It takes a design-led approach with an emphasis on finishing interiors to a high standard.
“We professionally design them and they look like beautiful homes – they look like show homes when they’re finished,” Wheeler said.
“And the reason we do that is because it’s really important that the women feel that they have a beautiful home and they feel safe there, that they feel for the first time that someone really cares about them,” she added.
“It also supports the healing and the recovery journey for those women.”
To help ensure quality, the charity only works with new or as-new furniture. It works with brands to source items that would otherwise be sent to landfill – usually press samples or items used at trade shows, in showrooms or on shoots.
Wheeler is keen for Furnishing Futures to expand beyond London but the charity is currently held back by limited warehouse capacity and funding.
“If we had more money and more space we could help more people, it’s as simple as that, really,” she said.
The charity relies on donations from furniture brands
The charity continues to seek donations from brands, particularly for bedroom furniture and pieces for children.
As well as calling for social-housing providers to let their properties in a better state, Wheeler believes the design industry could be doing more to help people facing furniture poverty.
“I do think that where the industry could catch up a little bit is working with organisations like ours,” she said.
For example, charities are unable to take furniture lacking a fire tag – which tend to be removed – so imprinting this information onto the items themselves would make more usable.
The charity is often in need of items for children’s bedrooms. Photo by Michael Branthwaite
In addition, donating excess items as an alternative to sample sales could be a way to reduce waste with much greater social impact, she suggests.
“There’s probably millions of people across the country living without basic items and yet there’s massive overproduction, but the waste isn’t necessarily coming to people who actually need it,” Wheeler said.
“There are things that the industry could be doing that will create a huge social impact very easily.”
The photography is courtesy of Furnishing Futures unless otherwise stated.
This article is part of Dezeen’s Social Housing Revival series exploring the new wave of quality social housing being built around the world, and asking whether a return to social house-building at scale can help solve affordability issues and homelessness in our major cities.
