Tokyo office Ryo Matsui Architects designed the Bridal Salon to provide a wedding consultation area for Hotel Nikko Kumamoto, a wedding venue in Kumamoto Prefecture, a region on Japan's south-west coast. The ivory-coloured walls lend a church-like appearance to the space, which has a reception desk at one end and a series of consultation booths to either side of the a...
Powerhouse Company has remodelled the lower floors of a 1980s office block in Rotterdam to create a marble-lined foyer and dining space designed to emulate a hotel lobby (+ slideshow). Powerhouse Company added a restaurant and bar overlooking the Nieuwe Maas river and a spiralling wood and marble staircase to the space to create a hotel-like style intended to "attract f...
Interieur 2014: Belgian creative agency Dift has enlisted furniture brands including Artifort and Ikea to turn the rooms of a school set for demolition into temporary hotel suites during Biennale Interieur 2014 (+ slideshow). Dift's Eyes/Nights Only project for the Kortrijk design event is located in one of the oldest parts of the city's Broelschool, which was formerly ...
Japanese firm Torafu Architects used contrasting floor finishes to define the three distinct spaces of Snow Picnic, an experimental ice-cream shop in Tokyo (+ slideshow). Snow Picnic takes a scientific approach to ice-cream making, using liquid nitrogen to freeze each ice cream to order, so Torafu Architects designed a three-tiered set for the brand's consumable chemica...
Plants are interspersed amongst the raw industrial spaces of this lifestyle store in Osaka by Japanese firm Suppose Design Office, which combines shopping, dining and gardening (+ slideshow). Suppose Design Office converted an old fashion boutique to create the new flagship store for Biotop, a lifestyle brand that sells clothing and operates a nursery for urban gardenin...
Creative consultants Rapt Studio wanted to include a range of working environments at the offices for Eventbrite, after the company secured a permanent base on the sixth and seventh floors of 155 5th Street. Rapt Studio began the design process by surveying the company's employees to find out about their needs, and asking them to collect ideas using social network Pin...
The designer’s description The offices of Google have a worldwide reputation of their joyful and scenery-like appearance. The main concept of the interior design is essentially the same in every country; a visual representation of a typical keyword. In some cases abstract concepts, rather than a specific topic, are represented, such as multi-cultural diversity or just...
News: an appeals court has blocked the SANAA-designed renovation of iconic former department store La Samaritaine in Paris, which includes a wavy glass facade that critics have compared to a shower curtain.The court ruling effectively revokes part of the planning permission for the £368 million redevelopment planned by Japanese architect duo SANAA, causing building work ...
Swaths of crumpled tracing paper cocooned the interior of this pop-up bar in a Japanese gallery to transform the space into a cozy cave (+ slideshow).Local studio Naoya Matsumoto Design created the small Yorunoma bar behind a typical glass shopfront in the Abeno-Ku ward of Osaka. The pop-up venue, which ran until August, was part of a summer programme at Abenoma – a g...
The products on sale in this monochrome design shop by Dutch interiors studio i29 are concealed behind a fragmented sequence of signage panels that create an optical illusion (+ slideshow). i29 created the Amsterdam shop, named Frame Store, for the retail arm of Dutch design publication Frame Magazine. The store sells a combination of art and design objects, magazines a...
Bubble tea drinkers perch on tiers of cork seating around brightly coloured tables at this London cafe by architects Gundry & Ducker (+ slideshow). Gundry & Ducker designed the space for a teashop called Biju Bubble Tea Rooms, in London's Soho district. The cafe serves a style of milky tea that originated in 1980s Taiwan – often infused with fruit and poured over a l...
The vast open-plan interior of this São Paulo bookshop by Studio MK27 was designed to encourage shoppers to stay and read the books they've purchased or to simply hang out with friends (+ movie). The Livraria Cultura, which translates as Culture Bookshop, occupies a 2,500-metre multi-level space in the Iguatemi São Paulo shopping centre and was designed by Studio MK27 f...
British designer Tom Dixon's interiors outfit Design Research Studio used a 1920s cruise liner as a visual reference for interiors at the Mondrian London hotel, which opens today in the Sea Containers House building (+ slideshow). Design Research Studio created the interiors for the 359-room hotel, which occupies the south wing of Sea Containers House located between th...
Books are arranged by colour rather than by title on the upper shelves of this bookshop in Rio de Janeiro designed by São Paulo firm Studio Arthur Casas (+ slideshow). Studio Arthur Casas designed the flagship store for Brazilian retailer Saraiva as a large double-height space, flanked by a mezzanine of bookshelves. The client chose to fill these shelves with books arra...
Commercial › Office This project is an adaptive re-use renovation of a garage to an office + library. The plan is a synthesis of organizing the work zones for utility and recycled material to new configurations. The vertical bookshelves, lateral pin-up wall and linear railing, horizontal desks and catwalk, and diagonal stair, are interwoven to integrate the efficiency...
located in the uppermost residential district of northwest zhengzhou, the ‘hanhai dongfeng town center’ by amphibianArc constitutes a radical interpretation of shopping mall, setting a precedent in the region for contemporary metropolitan development. the 350,000 sqm building covers nine levels of retail and family entertainment, an elevated fountain plaza, an indoor can...
Zaha Hadid has designed a building shaped like a field of sand dunes to house the headquarters of Middle Eastern environmental company Bee'ah. The 7,000-square-metre building will be constructed in Sharjah, in the north of the United Arab Emirates, and will house the administrative and public activities of the company, which specialises in waste management. Entirely ...
Swiss studio Bureau A has concealed a wooden cabin inside an artificial rock and transported it to a remote site in the Swiss Alps. Bureau A, a studio led by architects Leopold Banchini and Daniel Zamarbide, designed the mountain shelter to pay tribute to the central character in the novel Derborence by Swiss writer Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz. In the story, a shepherd nam...
These tiny pebble-shaped seaside cabins by Korean studio Yoon Space Design are designed to be easily transported from beach to beach (+ slideshow). Yoon Space Design has installed eight of the white ovoid pods on a sandy beach in Yangyang-gun, a county in the Gangwon-do province of South Korea. Each of the tiny portable seaside retreats has a floor area of two square me...
Exposed brick walls, rugged wooden ceiling beams and chunky wooden staircases with zigzagging undersides feature inside this office block in London, recently renovated by Amin Taha Architects (+ slideshow).Local studio Amin Taha Architects was appointed to refurbish the mid-19th century red brick building by the landlord, pension fund CPT Ltd. The architects peeled back...
A three-lane running track weaves around this office for a football app company, by architects TKEZ, leading to goals for penalty shootouts during work breaks (+ slideshow).The team at Munich-based TKEZ designed the 1,400-square-metre office for Onefootball inside a former factory building in Berlin's Prenzlauerberg area. "Our studio was approached by the Berlin-based...
Books are displayed on thin suspended beams that double as garment rails at this minimal Tokyo concept store by Japanese studio Nendo (+ slideshow). Nendo's store interior for Japanese fashion brand Beige had to incorporate areas for a library and a gallery, as well as the clothing display. "We considered a zoning approach with specific areas for the shop's different...
Sky Factory Luminous SkyCeilings™, virtual skylights, faithfully reproduce the subtle visual stimuli of real sky. These award-winning skylights use Sky Factory’s Open Skies Image Technology™ to dramatically transform interiors into more expansive, natural feeling spaces. As unique biophilic design elements, SkyCeilings enliven the innate human connection to natur...
Phutthai Sawan Temple was built in 1353 AD by the first monarch of Ayutthaya Kingdom. It becomes the view of the restaurant and the riverfront suites at Sala. The main entry of Sala is next to a Sala Tree on U-thong Road. It is a single iron door on a long brick facade, leading us to the low wooden ceiling reception and the double volume art gallery. Within this space, t...
Architecture studio Snohetta has created a ceiling of intersecting domes inside Aesop's first outpost in Norway â the Australian skincare brand's 100th boutique (+ slideshow). The small space on Oslo's Prinsensgate has been by overhauled Snohetta, which has offices in Oslo and New York, to house the newly opened Aesop store. "In this intimate 66-square-metre space, ...
Helsinki-based Studio Puisto used hanging basket seats, strips of timber and potted plants for the interior of this 20-room hotel in Tampere, Finland (+ slideshow).Located within a converted industrial building, the Dream Hotel was designed by Studio Puisto to accompany the pre-existing Dream Hostel in the same building, offering an additional 20 boutique suites with en ...
An orange plastic tunnel forms a curvy seating area along the facade of this London office block – the first UK project from José Selgas and Lucía Cano, the architects of next year's Serpentine Gallery Pavilion (+ slideshow). Located in a former carpet factory in Shoreditch, Second Home is a collaborative workspace for various small companies, featuring transparent acry...
Fashion house Valentino's New York flagship store, with a grey Terrazzo interior by British architect David Chipperfield, has opened to shoppers (+ slideshow). The 1,850-metre-square store for Valentino was designed by David Chipperfield Architects in the former Takashimaya Department Store at 693 Fifth Avenue. A new eight-storey facade has been added to the Postmode...
We realized that the local humble flora and fauna of the region inspired our ancestors. They were not about jaguars and eagles, for the contrary, they were inspired by the little cocoons, thorns and seeds. From there, we explored similar sources of inspiration to create the arts and crafts. With that in mind, we created the architectural concept for the project. Thro...
The installation was conceived as a cross-section through the primary planes of the building - walls, ceiling, and floor - and is represented in two "wrapping" architectural expressions that are an organizational device for all the programmatic requirements of a hotel room. An element of skeletal construction echoes the structural framework of the room and wraps vertical...
Spending every day at a desk increases exposure to a range of health issues, from heart disease to cancer, diabetes and obesity say researchers from Sweden, Australia and the UK. The End of Sitting is conceived as a space where sitting is just one of the options available. Dutch studio RAAAF (Rietveld Architecture Art Affordances) and artist Barbara Visser first start...
Open-source furniture designs and 3D-printed signage are found throughout the Small House Big Door boutique hotel in Seoul, by local studio Design Methods (+ slideshow).Tucked away down a tight alley, Small House Big Door is one of 150 designated Seoul Design Spots around the city, which form a trail for residents and visitors attending this week's Seoul Design Week to e...
Snøhetta used the Norse myth of creation as a starting point for the design of this fashion and lifestyle store in Oslo, which uses sculpted wood and blackened metal to suggest areas of fire and ice. Oslo-based Snøhetta collaborated with in-house team YME Studios on the design for the YME Universe concept store. It is described by the brand as "a curated universe of fas...
Pastel-coloured wedges pattern the light wooden walls of this cafe in a former prison by Australian office Biasol: Design Studio (+ slideshow). Biasol: Design Studio designed the cafe for residents of a housing and shopping complex in the recently converted Pentridge Prison – now Pentridge Village – situated five miles outside Melbourne. Making reference to the building...
Seating areas are submerged into a pale wooden floor at this split-level office in London refitted by Paul Crofts Studio (+ slideshow). Paul Crofts Studio carried out the refurbishment of a 1980s office block in Clerkenwell, London, for advertising agency Fold 7. The London-based studio reconfigured the space, adding a stage-like platform between the basement and upp...
Industrial pipework runs over the ceiling of this juice-bar by London office Jump Studios, which features a ceramic herringbone floor and a marble counter. Jump Studios was behind the design of the space called The Juice Well, a cold-pressed juice bar in Soho, London. The cafe is set behind a shop front featuring a panel of patterned green glass on the ground floor of a...
