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Atelier Tao+C creates serene timber and travertine reading room
CategoriesInterior Design

Atelier Tao+C creates serene timber and travertine reading room

By Zarkon Group,

Two vacant ground-floor rooms and an adjoining greenhouse were knocked together and lined with bookshelves to form this private library, designed by Atelier Tao+C for a venture capital firm in Shanghai.

Set in a converted 1980s house, which is home to the offices of VC fund Whales Capital, the reading room can accommodate up to 12 people and is shared between the company’s employees and the owner’s friends.

Reading room by Atelier Tao+C
Atelier Tao+C has created a reading room for Whales Capital

All of the rooms are enclosed by immovable, load-bearing walls, which local practice Atelier Tao+C had to integrate into the design while creating the impression of being in one continuous 76-square-metre space.

To this effect, the original doors and windows were removed and three openings – measuring between two and three metres wide – were created to connect the rooms.

Private reading room
The space is lined with wooden bookshelves

The remaining wall sections are hidden from view by new architectural elements including a set of semi-circular wooden bookshelves, which run through the two ground-floor rooms to form a pair of small, quiet reading nooks.

The structural walls connecting these rooms to the old glasshouse were wrapped in creamy white travertine to create a kind of “sculptural volume”, Atelier Tao+C explained.

Reading room
Skylights funnel natural light into the interior

As a result, the studio says the walls and structural columns are “dissolved” into the space to create the feeling of a more open-plan interior.

In the old greenhouse, a timber structure was inserted into the building’s glass shell, with bookshelves integrated into its wooden beams and columns to create a seamless design.

This structure also forms a wooden ceiling inside the glasshouse, with strategically placed round and square skylights to temper the bright daylight from outside and create a more pleasant reading environment.

Spread across the interior are four different seating areas: a small study table for solo work, a shared meeting table, a reading booth for one person and a sofa seat where multiple people can talk and relax.

Travertine interiors
White travertine was used to obscure the building’s original brick walls

A Private Reading Room has been shortlisted in the small interiors category of the 2022 Dezeen Awards.

Atelier Tao+C, which is run by designers Chunyan Cai and Tao Liu, is also shortlisted for emerging interior design studio this year, alongside Sydney firm Alexander & Co, Barcelona-based Raúl Sánchez Architects and London practice House of Grey.

The photography is by Wen Studio.

Reference

Halleroed inserts sculptural travertine plinths in Axel Arigato’s Paris store
CategoriesInterior Design

Halleroed inserts sculptural travertine plinths in Axel Arigato’s Paris store

By Zarkon Group,

Design studio Halleroed has used travertine podiums to display sneakers like sculptures in the Paris store of streetwear label Axel Arigato.


Located in the Marais district on Rue Vieille du Temple, the boutique stocks the brand’s full range of footwear, clothing and accessories, in addition to a curated selection of design objects.

Entrance to Axel Arigato Paris store with travertine displays
Axel Arigato’s Paris store is dotted with travertine display plinths

The store occupies two rooms divided by a freestanding wall of light-yellow travertine, which references the columns and beams found in classical architecture.

Walls and floors are finished in raw concrete while overhead, a punctured grid ceiling conceals the store’s lighting system.

A series of sculptural display plinths made from honed, bush-hammered or raw travertine stone help to create a “grandiose” entrance, designed to emulate the feeling of stepping into an art gallery.

Retail interior by Halleroed with shoes displayed on travertine blocks
A freestanding travertine wall divides the space into two

“The normal model for a sneaker brand is to cover every centimetre of the back walls in products from floor to ceiling,” Axel Arigato‘s co-founder and creative director Max Svärdh told Dezeen.

“We do the opposite by displaying our product on podiums in the centre of the room instead, like a piece of sculpture.”

Close-up of travertine stone table in Axel Arigato Paris store
The stone was hammered, honed or left raw

Travertine was also used to form a series of shelves in the rear of the store and custom chairs in the dressing room.

According to Svärdh, the stone has been a key element in all of Axel Arigato’s retail locations so far.

Mirroed steel clothes rail in retail interior by Halleroed
A mirrored steel clothes rail wraps the back of the store

“Our brand colour is a pale yellow so we were naturally drawn to the light yellow travertine,” he explained.

“We worked with different finishes to bring out its characteristics and more specifically highlight its impurities, which in itself makes it more beautiful.”

To contrast with the travertine, Halleroed wrapped an upholstered bench seat around one of the columns and introduced a chunky, stainless steel clothes rail.

This lines the store’s back wall and extends out into a courtyard filled with white gravel.

Travertine wall, mirrored clothes rail and upholstered bench in Axel Arigato Paris store
An upholstered bench is wrapped around a central column

Axel Arigato was launched in 2014 as an online store for luxury streetwear. It opened its first brick-and-mortar space in London’s Soho in 2016 and has since expanded into four standalone spaces.

“We always look to the neighbourhood and the specific building that we are in [when designing a store],” Svärdh said.

“Paris is the home of luxury and the use of rich travertine stone really embodies that. All standalone stores have a gallery-esque feeling to them with mutual design codes but offer completely unique experiences.”

White sneaker on travertine shelves in retail interior by Halleroed
The displays are designed to exhibit trainers as if they were sculptures

A large freestanding LED screen is used for displaying creative content in the Paris store.

The brand has previously worked with Halleroed – founded in 1998 by Christian and Ruxandra Halleroed – on its London, Stockholm and Copenhagen flagship stores, which all feature monochromatic colour palettes and concrete surfaces.

Photograhy is by Benoit Florençon.

Reference