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Designer Gary Card has given London’s LN-CC boutique a redesign that includes a sci-fi-looking wooden tunnel and a room “shaped like the inside of a foot”.

Card, who designed the original interior of the east London store in 2011, said the challenge for him was using the knowledge he has accumulated since then to create something new.

“The question for myself this time was – can I use everything I’ve learned over the last decade to reimagine one of my most recognized projects,” he told Dezeen.

“Each room has a very different concept,” he added. “It’s become part of the tradition now to change the temperature and colour palette with each room and encourage a journey of identity and discovery.”

Wooden orange tunnel inside London fashion store — An octagonal wooden tunnel welcomes visitors

The store is the only physical shop for LN-CC, which is mainly an online business, and is spread across the ground and lower-ground floor of a former tie factory.

Visitors enter via an orange wooden tunnel with an octagonal shape reminiscent of the architecture in director Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Calisto room inside LN-CC — Each room in the store has different colours and materials

It is the third tunnel that Card has designed for the store, following its original orange tunnel and a later white version.

“The tunnel is LN-CC’s icon,” Card explained. “It’s been with us for over a decade now, so it had to be a significant feature.”

“We decided early on to bring it to street level and make the entrance something that had never been seen before as part of the store space,” he added.

“It’s a brand-new design and construction. We’ve brought back the orange from the first tunnel; the white is a nod to the second version from 2014.”

Blue room by Gary Card at LN-CC — A cobalt-blue room sits on the lower-ground floor

Each of the six rooms in the store has a different feel and different colours, which Card chose together with LN-CC’s buying and creative director Reece Crisp.

“The colours we settled on really amplify what we’re showcasing, the brand’s unique edit,” the designer said.

Cave-like Callisto room at LN-CC — The store is LN-CC’s only physical space

Among them is the Callisto room, which has a cave-like feel and a design that was influenced by the building’s existing structures.

“In the Callisto room, there was a circular part of a helter-skelter that used to be in the building – this used to be a tie factory and it was in the corner,” Crisp told Dezeen. “When we stripped the space back, we saw this sort of circle and that fed into how we wanted that space to be.”

In the Atrium, Card used tile adhesive to create the structures and patterns on the room’s wide lime-green pillars, which provide shelving for the store’s accessories.

Green pillars inside LN-CC Atrium — The Atrium room has green pillars decorated with tile adhesive

For LN-CC’s shoe room, known as the Midtarsal, Card drew on the anatomy of the human body to create an undulating, flesh-coloured interior.

“The shoe space, the Midtarsal room, that’s engineering to an incredible degree,” Crisp said. “We love the shape – like the inside of the foot – and how that warps the room.”

Throughout LN-CC, Card used a variety of different materials to bring the rooms to life.

“The space is a juxtaposition of lots of different materials,” he said. “So MDF, perspex, wood and concrete – I sought to take small cues from the original while innovating with a refreshed lens exploring the interplay between texture, colour and materials within the newly imagined rooms.”

Midtarsal room at London fashion store — The Midtarsal room has undulating shapes in a beige colour

The last room of the store is a club space, which features LED walls that can be used to turn the room into different colours or display messages.

“The club has always been a huge part of LN-CC’s identity, ” Card said. “It was never about selling clothes – the brand was an online business after all – it was about delivering experiences. So we wanted to do something really special with the new club.”

Club space at LN-CC — The LN-CC club space is lit by an LED wall

“It was a bit dark and gritty before, which was cool, but we knew we needed to raise the stakes for the latest store design without it losing its edge,” Card added.

“My right-hand man, Richard Wilkins, was the tech wizard for the space who created the lighting and amazing LED wall. The lighting totally transforms the space.”

Other recent London store interiors include a boutique sprayed with recycled newspaper pulp and a colourful Marylebone store with handpainted murals.

Reference

Ground floor of Roca living in Liverpool by SODA

Interior Design

SODA explores office-to-residential conversions with Roco in Liverpool

By Zarkon Group,04/04/2024

London studio SODA has converted a 1970s office block in Liverpool city centre into a residential building that includes co-working and wellness facilities.

The adaptive reuse project sees the 10-storey block, which spent decades as an office for HM Revenue and Customs, transformed into rental homes managed by operator Livingway.

Roca contains 120 one- and two-bedroom apartments, plus two floors of co-living-style amenities for residents. These include workspaces, a large kitchen, cinema room, gym and treatment rooms and a planted roof terrace.

Russell Potter, co-founding director at SODA, believes the project can serve as a model for office-to-residential conversions in city-centre locations.

Lounge in Roca living in Liverpool by SODA — The design includes mix of flexible lounge and workspaces

“The leaps that office design has made over the past decade or two have meant that certain period properties from the 1960s and 70s are perhaps not the most desirable from a commercial point of view,” he told Dezeen.

“But if they occupy prime city-centre locations, they can offer amazing opportunities to adapt and re-use, to reinvigorate city centres with genuinely flexible and crafted spaces.”

Desk in Roca living in Liverpool by SODA — A timber “activity wall” provides surfaces, seating and storage

Livingway’s model is a version of co-living. By offering Roca residents access to communal spaces, in addition to their apartments, it aims to foster a sense of community.

Many of these shared spaces can be found on the ground floor. Here, various work, lounge and dining spaces are organised around a timber “activity wall” that provides surfaces, storage and seating.

Kitchen dining room in Roca living in Liverpool by SODA — A communal kitchen is often used for cooking classes and demonstrations

Other interior details, such as folding screens, curtains and fluted glass windows, allow the space to be casually divided into different activity zones when required.

Sometimes these spaces host workshops or classes, allowing residents to engage with local businesses.

“We’re introducing an element of communal activity to act as a hub at ground floor, in a similar fashion to what’s been happening in other co-living arrangements,” said Potter.

“It means you have the opportunity to create a genuine sense of community within a city centre.”

Former office building in Liverpool — The building was previously an office block

On the apartment floors, the existing floorplates made it possible to create larger homes than typical co-living units, arranged on opposite sides of a central corridor.

Apartments come fully furnished, with bedrooms and bathrooms separate from the living areas.

Apartment kitchen in Roca living in Liverpool by SODA — The renovation provides 120 apartments in total

“Office buildings typically have slim floor plates with decent floor spans and high proportions of glazing-to-floor area, so make ideal opportunities for residential conversion,” Potter explained.

“Likewise, floor-to-ceiling heights don’t tend to pose an issue for residential,” he added. “Typically, commercial floor heights are higher than what you expect in residential, meaning that you get better aspects of light into the spaces.”

Apartment bedroom in Roca living in Liverpool by SODA — The apartments are larger than is typical for co-living

Livingway offers five of these units as hotel rooms, available for short stay. But guests don’t have access to all of the communal facilities; most are reserved for residents.

Technology plays an important role in the building management. An app allows residents to book certain rooms or sign up for workshops and classes, while digital locks allow access to be controlled.

Red armchair in Roca living in Liverpool by SODA — The communal spaces feature colours and patterns that reference the 1970s

The interior design approach reflects the building’s 1970s heritage, with furniture and finishes that don’t shy away from colour and pattern.

Standout spaces include the cinema room, an all-red space featuring large upholstered chairs, tubular wall lights and art-deco-style mouldings.

Across the rest of the ground floor, the exposed concrete waffle-slab overhead brings an industrial feel that contrasts with the warmth of the wood surfaces and soft furnishings.

Cinema room in Roca living in Liverpool by SODA — Standout spaces include a cinema screening room

The homes feature a more subtle palette, with muted tones rather than white, to allow residents to bring their own personalities into the design.

A similar level of care was brought to the outdoor spaces. These include an informal courtyard on the ground floor and the seventh-floor roof terrace, which incorporates a trio of hot tubs.

Roof terrace in Roca living in Liverpool by SODA — A planted roof terrace includes three hot tubs

The project builds on SODA’s experience of designing shared spaces. The studio has designed various spaces for workplace provider The Office Group (TOG), including Liberty House and Thomas House.

The collaboration with Livingway came about after the company reached out to the studio via Instagram.

“It is amazing to see what a beautiful result has been produced and how much our residents truly enjoy calling Roco their home,” added Samantha Hay, CEO for Livingway.

The photography is by Richard Chivers.

Reference

Living room designed by Furnishing Futures

Interior Design

Children in social housing “sleeping on a blanket on a concrete floor”

By Zarkon Group,21/03/2024

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.

“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.

Furnishing Futures CEO and founder Emily Wheeler — 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.”

Social home in dilapidated condition — 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.”

Interior created by Furnishing Futures — Furnishing Futures seeks to deliver interiors that “look like show homes”. Photo by Michael Branthwaite

According to the campaigning charity End Furniture Poverty, more than six million people in the UK lack access to essential furniture, furnishings and appliances – including 26 per cent of those living in social housing.

Only two per cent of social-rented homes in the UK are let as furnished or partly furnished, the charity’s research has found.

Wheeler is a trained interior designer who formerly worked in child safeguarding.

Furnishing Futures volunteer working on a home — 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.”

Shot of interior by Furnishing Futures — 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.

Donating partners include Soho Home, BoConcept, Romo Fabrics and House of Hackney.

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.

Furnishing Futures warehouse — 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.

Children's bedroom designed by Furnishing Futures — 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.

Social Housing Revival

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.

Reference

Colourful illustrations in Rixo Marylebone

Interior Design

Cúpla decorates Rixo Marylebone store with hand-painted murals

By Zarkon Group,19/03/2024

Interior design studio Cúpla has completed a boutique for fashion brand Rixo in central London that features hand-painted illustrations and colourful zellige tiles.

The clothing store on Marylebone High Street was revamped by Cúpla, whose creative director Gemma McCloskey is the twin sister of Rixo co-founder Orlagh McCloskey.

The interior designer had previously designed the brand’s flagship store on the King’s Road and wanted the refurbished Marylebone location to have a similar feel.

“We wanted the store to embody everything we had previously created for Rixo’s flagship store but within its own right,” Gemma McCloskey told Dezeen.

“A sense of escapism paired with a welcoming warmth within a boutique setting were the key emotions we wanted the customer to feel.”

As the brand sells hand-painted prints, the designer wanted the store’s interior to feature illustrations to reflect the style of the clothes.

Blue patterned sofa and archways in London fashion store — It features modified vintage furniture

“Understanding Rixo’s roots and the fact their USP is hand-painted prints, it felt tangible to represent the brand’s values and beginnings with the illustrations,” Gemma McCloskey said.

“Given the space is quite small, we treated it almost like a living room space within a home and felt we could make it all-encompassing and personal.”

Mirror in London clothing store — Artist Sam Wood created colourful illustrations for the store

Artist Sam Wood hand-painted murals and illustrations throughout the store, which has a bright and playful colour palette and also features traditional glazed Moroccan zellige tiles.

“We wanted the colour palette to feel really fresh and bright,” the designer explained.

“Although there is an abundance of colours used, every line of the mural or the ‘random’ coloured zellige tile layout was methodically composed to ensure a right balance between the colours was struck.”

The studio added decorative arches and classical mouldings to the store in a nod to the architecture and heritage of its Marylebone neighbourhood.

The store also features bespoke fitting room curtains with pickle-green and flora-pink stripes by fabric brand Colours of Arley.

Zellige tiles in Rixo Marylebone — Moroccan zellige tiles add to the playful interior

Cúpla used vintage furniture pieces throughout the store, which sells Rixo’s full collection including ready-to-wear and bridalwear.

“We actually modified existing pieces of vintage furniture, which had been previously sourced by [Rixo founders] Orlagh and Henrietta years ago in the early days of Rixo,” Gemma McCloskey said.

“They were the perfect fit for the space but didn’t have the functionality we required, so we decided to alter these instead or replace them.”

Illustrations at Marylebone store — The store is located on Marylebone High Street

“It was much more sustainable and because the pieces were from the early years of Rixo, they had sentimental value so we didn’t want to replace them,” she added.

Other recent London stores featured on Dezeen include a Camper store with a giant foot sculpture and a stationery store with a demountable interior.

The photography is courtesy of Rixo.

Reference

Archival Image in Tropical Modernism exhibition at the V&A London

Interior Design

Tropical Modernism exhibition explores “the politics behind the concrete”

By Zarkon Group,14/03/2024

London’s Victoria and Albert Museum has launched its Tropical Modernism exhibition, which highlights the architectural movement’s evolution from colonial import to a “tool of nation building”.

According to the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A), the exhibition aims to examine the complex context, power dynamics and post-colonial legacy of tropical modernism – an architectural style that developed in South Asia and West Africa in the late 1940s – while also centralising and celebrating its hidden figures.

“Tropical modernism is experiencing something of a modish revival as an exotic and escapist style popular in verdant luxury hotels, bars and concrete jungle houses,” the exhibition’s lead curator Christopher Turner told Dezeen.

“But it has a problematic history and, through an examination of the context of British imperialism and the de-colonial struggle, the exhibition seeks to look at the history of tropical modernism before and after Independence, and show something of the politics behind the concrete,” he continued.

Installation shot of Tropical Modernism exhibition at the V&A London — The exhibition traces the evolution of tropical modernism within a South Asian and West African context

The exhibition follows the V&A’s Tropical Modernism exhibition at the 2023 Venice Biennale, which revealed the team’s precursory research on tropical modernism in a West African setting.

For the in-house iteration of the exhibition, additional architectural models, drawings and archival imagery have been introduced to interrogate tropical modernism in India alongside the African perspective.

Exhibition materials line a series of rooms within the V&A’s Porter Gallery, divided by brightly coloured partitions and louvred walls referencing tropical modernist motifs.

The exhibition begins by tracing tropical modernism back to its early development by British architects Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry. Stationed together in Ghana from 1944, Drew and Fry adapted international modernism to the African climate, proposing functional over ornamental design.

Drew and Fry would also become part of the Department of Tropical Studies at the Architectural Association (AA), which exported British architects to the colonies from 1954 in a bid to neutralise calls for independence.

The exhibition continues by spotlighting local Ghanaian figures who worked with Fry and Drew, noting the power shifts that were taking place behind the scenes to reappropriate the architectural style for an emerging era of colonial freedom.

Influential political leaders Jawaharlal Nehru in India and Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana are the exhibition’s key personas, framing the evolution of tropical modernism from conception to regionalisation.

“The heroes of our exhibition are Nehru and Nkrumah, the first prime ministers of India and Ghana,” Turner explained. “Tropical modernism, a colonial invention, survived the transition to Independence and was appropriated and adapted by Nehru and Nkrumah as a tool of nation building.”

“Nkrumah, who sometimes sketched designs for the buildings he wanted on napkins, created the first architecture school in sub-Saharan Africa to train a new generation of African architects, and this institution has partnered with us on a five-year research project into tropical modernism.”

Archival image of University College Ibadan used in Tropical Modernism exhibition at the V&A London — According to the V&A’s research, tropical modernism shifted from its western Bauhaus roots towards a localised vernacular styles

Through a host of physical models and artefacts, the city of Chandigarh becomes the exhibition’s narrative focal point for tropical modernism in India.

Under prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Chandigarh was the first large-scale modernist project, recruiting Drew and Fry along with French architect Le Corbusier to plan the ideal utopian urban centre.

As with Nkrumah – who saw how the Africanisation of architecture could become a symbol of progress and change – the exhibition also aims to highlight Nehru’s ambitions for a localised modernism drawing from the Indian vernacular, rather than the Western Bauhaus style.

The display culminates in a video featuring 16 key tropical modernist structures, interspersed with interviews and footage explaining the social and political context behind each building’s realisation.

“We made a three-screen 28-minute film, shot in Ghana and featuring panoramic portraits of over a dozen buildings, cut with archive footage from the time and interviews with architects like John Owusu Addo and Henry Wellington, and Nkrumah’s daughter, the politician Samia Nkrumah,” said Turner.

Archival image of Maxwell Fry and John Noah used in Tropical Modernism exhibition at the V&A London — The exhibition aims to address gaps in the museum’s African and South Asian studies

According to Turner, the exhibition begins to address gaps in the V&A’s collections and archives pertaining to architecture and design in the global south.

“Archives are themselves instruments of power, and West African and Indian architects are not as prominent in established archives, which many institutions have now realised and are working to address,” Turner explained.

“Tropical modernism was very much a co-creation with local architects who we have sought to name – all of whom should be much better known, but are excluded from established canons.”

Bringing tropical modernism back into contemporary discourse was also important to the V&A as a timely investigation of low-tech and passive design strategies.

“Tropical modernism was a climate responsive architecture – it sought to work with rather than against climate,” Turner said.

“As we face an era of climate change, it is important that tropical modernism’s scientifically informed principles of passive cooling are reexamined and reinvented for our age,” he added.

“I hope that people will be interested to learn more about these moments of post-colonial excitement and opportunity, and the struggle by which these hard-earned freedoms were won.”

Image of video used in the Tropical Modernism exhibition at the V&A London — A 28-minute video captures footage of remaining tropical modernist structures at the end of the exhibition

The V&A museum in South Kensington houses permanent national collections alongside a series of temporary activations and exhibitions.

As part of London Design Festival 2023, the museum hosted a furniture display crafted from an Alfa Romeo car by Andu Masebo and earlier in the year, architect Shahed Saleem created a pavilion in the shape of a mosque at the V&A as part of 2023’s Ramadan Festival.

The photography is courtesy of the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Tropical Modernism: Architecture and Independence will run from 2 March to 22 September 2024 at the V&A Museum in London. For more events, exhibitions and talks in architecture and design visit the Dezeen Events Guide.

Reference

Render of water-powered home by Studio Bark

Sustainable News

Studio Bark designs water-powered Breach House in UK countryside

By Zarkon Group,09/03/2024

London-based practice Studio Bark has unveiled plans for Breach House, a water-powered family home located in Leicestershire, UK.

Designed to enable the owners to “live off the land”, the proposal by Studio Bark will be powered by photovoltaic (PV) panels and micro-hydro energy, creating a home capable of running off-grid.

The 430-metre-square proposal will comprise the new home, along with the restoration of an existing agricultural barn and extensive landscaping.

Making use of the site’s location among a network of small brooks, streams and ponds, run-off water from the surrounding fields will be used to provide a portion of the home’s energy needs. It will also be harvested on-site and filtered for use within the house.

View of 'water tower' within Breach House by Studio Bark — The ‘water tower’ connects the home’s two wings

“The concept is a rural home which establishes a reciprocity between ecology and human needs through water,” studio director Tom Bennett told Dezeen.

“The massing echoes the typology of a traditional farmstead, blending contextual influences to create a contemporary building which resonates subtly with its setting.”

Interior render of Breach House in Leicestershire — The design references the typology of traditional farm buildings

Drawing on the local typologies, the home will be arranged in clusters complemented by courtyards and sheltered outdoor spaces formed by deep overhanging eaves.

A ‘water tower’, which will sit centrally on the site, will house ventilation and circulation functions as well as water filtration.

It will also hold a staircase and corridor to connect the home’s two wings and was designed to be a visual reference to the use of water throughout the scheme.

Low carbon and natural materials suggested for the proposal include reclaimed brick, UK-sourced timber and reclaimed tiles, which were chosen in response to the character and heritage of the surrounding landscape.

Renders of the proposal reveal a largely timber structure, with exposed beams interspersed with skylights featuring on the home’s interior.

On the exterior, trapezoidal-shaped roofs will be clad with decorative tiles and provide shelter for a balcony adjacent to the bedroom on the upper floor.

Render of living interior at water-powered home by Studio Bark — Exposed timber beams and skylights will feature on the home’s interior

According to the studio, the residual carbon impact of the building is expected to be countered by landscaping proposals – including the planting of around 200 trees – that will accelerate carbon drawdown on the site.

Calculations undertaken by the studio suggest that these landscaping proposals will sequester roughly three times the amount of carbon that will be released over the building’s lifetime.

Render of living space within Breach House in Leicestershire — Run-off water will be harvested and filtered for use within the home

“Proposed works include a new woodland area, wet meadow, enriched wildflower meadow, reinstated historical copse, successional tree planting, new ponds and reinstated field boundaries,” Bennett said.

“These measures will sequester carbon, greatly enhance the ecological value of the currently agricultural site, in addition to assisting with natural flood management in the locality.”

Proposed bedroom interior within Breach House by Studio Bark — Breach House is expected to result in a 65 per cent biodiversity net gain

The proposal is anticipated to result in a 65 per cent biodiversity net gain, with additional habitat measures incorporated into the home set to include a bat attic.

Other architectural projects with a heavy focus on sustainability include the UK’s “most sustainable” and largest neighbourhood made from timber and a neighbourhood in Paris made up of limestone buildings.

The renders are courtesy of Studio Bark.

Project credits:

Architect: Studio Bark
Planning consultant/agent: Studio Bark
Client: Private Domestic
Structural engineer: Structure Workshop
Landscape architect: Studio 31
Energy consultant: Max Fordham
Hydrologist: Amber Planning
Ecologist: Elton Ecology
Arboriculturalist: RJ Tree Services
Highways: Create Consulting Engineers

Reference

Interior Design

“Subtle luxury” defines Rachel Boston jewellery store

By Zarkon Group,01/03/2024

Interior design studio Hollie Bowden Interiors has created fine jeweller Rachel Boston’s flagship store and showroom in London.

Located in Shoreditch’s Redchurch Street, the store is split into four main areas – the retail space, private appointment area, workshop and office space for the jeweller’s team of 12.

The store aims to blend a neutral material palette of glass and steel with sycamore wood veneer and velvet mohair upholstery.

“Jewellery stores can be read as quite uninviting and exclusive,” Hollie Bowden Interiors founder Bowden told Dezeen. “I wanted to create the opposite experience to that, something that felt open and un-intimidating, yet special and elevated.”

Cantilever display case — Bowden and designer EJR Barnes have created bespoke displays from mirror polished steel

Placing the jewellery centre stage was a key objective for Rachel Boston when briefing Bowden’s team.

“Even though our pieces are striking, they are ultimately small objects by nature, so I didn’t want a huge amount of fussy furniture or bold colours to detract from the experience of customers viewing our pieces,” Rachel Boston told Dezeen.

In response to the brief, Hollie Bowden created a compact 19-square-metre front retail space “inspired by the concept of a jewellery box that draws your attention into the small, intricate objects within”.

jewellery retail space — The store on Redchurch street is split into four main areas

Sycamore veneer wall-cladding, limestone flooring and lining the display cases with ivory silk combine to create the jewellery-box effect, “emphasising this feeling of being cocooned in the space” Bowden told Dezeen.

“I wanted to focus on materials that have a quiet beauty about them, that you have to get up close to really appreciate,” she continued.

Steel window display — Bowden employs a refined approach to materials for this retail project in London

This process of refinement has been a hallmark of Bowden’s style since establishing her London-based studio in 2013.

“Not over-designing projects with too many materials is very important – to give objects the space to sing,” she explained. “I’m always trying to reduce and simplify.”

Jewellery is displayed in floating window vitrines and a cantilever display desk, designed in collaboration with London-based artist and designer, EJR Barnes.

Made from mirror polished steel, these bespoke displays introduce a “vertiginous moment that makes the space feel unique,” according to Bowden.

For these cabinets, Bowden and Barnes drew on the utilitarian design language of archives which “display, protect, and organise what they contain in quite a neutral way”.

A shop front — Hollie Bowden’s retail space in Shoreditch has been designed in reference to jewellery boxes

Rather than using big ornamental gestures more common in jewellery retail, Bowden says this approach “represents a unique and original way of presenting jewellery”.

“The idea of ‘subtle luxury’ feels like a great counterpoint to retail design at the moment that can feel like you’re in a casino,” she added.

The frames of the cases are simple and uninterrupted, maximising the display of the jewellery and encouraging guests to roam freely around any area.

Red chair — The red cab chair placed at the front of the store is by Mario Bellini

A Mario Bellini Cab Chair in a deep wine red, placed at the front of the store, works along the lines of the unexpected-red-theory interior trend, featured in our recent lookbook.

Through a stainless steel-lined open doorway, the rear space is curtained off for private appointments. This larger 42-square-metre showroom in the back has a more relaxed and intimate feel that mirrors the art-deco style of Boston’s jewellery.

Four chairs around a carpeted floor — The rear of the store is reserved for private appointments

Upon entering the rear space, a brown short-pile carpet and bespoke sofa upholstered in Claremont mohair signals the transition from the storefront.

“We wanted to create two distinct spaces, independent of each other yet with a subtle link that reflects Rachel’s jewellery,” Bowden said.

“While the spaces contrast, the continuations of steel and limestone allow for a striking continuity throughout.”

A brown mohair velvet sofa — The rear showroom features a bespoke sofa upholstered in Claremont mohair

Other projects by Hollie Bowden Interiors featured on Dezeen include a pared-back jewellery showroom and a London office space inspired by the sultry lighting of gentlemen’s clubs.

The photography is by Richard Round-Turner.

Reference

The Phoenix sustainable neighbourhood by Human Nature

Sustainable News

UK’s “most sustainable” neighbourhood receives planning approval

By Zarkon Group,24/02/2024

Development company Human Nature has received planning approval to transform a former industrial site in Lewes into a sustainable 685-home neighbourhood that will be the UK’s largest made from timber.

The Phoenix, which was granted planning permission last week, will be built from engineered timber and be the most sustainable neighbourhood in the UK, according to Human Nature.

“One year after proposals were announced for the transformation of a 7.9-hectare brownfield site into the UK’s most sustainable neighbourhood, the Phoenix development has today been granted planning permission, taking the visionary project a step closer to reality,” said Human Nature.

“When complete, it will be the UK’s largest timber-structure neighbourhood and a blueprint for sustainable placemaking and social impact that can be deployed at scale.”

Sustainable neighbourhood in Lewes by Human Nature — It will be located on a former industrial site

Located in the South Downs National Park, the Phoenix will contain energy-efficient homes, public space and healthcare, retail, hospitality and industrial space, all constructed from engineered timber including cross-laminated timber.

It will be the largest structural timber neighbourhood in the UK by number of units, Human Nature’s head of sustainable construction Andy Tugby told Dezeen.

The buildings will range from two to five storeys tall and be clad in prefabricated panels made from locally sourced timber and biomaterials such as hemp.

Sustainable development in Lewes by Human Nature — A riverside walk will feature in the neighbourhood. Image by Carlos Penálver

Industrial structures on the site will be repurposed to house most of the community spaces, including a canteen, event hall, taproom, fitness centre, workspace and studios.

The Phoenix’ homes will be designed to be energy efficient and powered by renewable energy sourced from on-site photovoltaic panels and an off-site renewable energy facility.

Aiming to create a place for all generations and for people with mixed incomes, 30 per cent of the 685 residences will be affordable homes – 154 of which will be built to the government’s Local Housing Allowance rates and the remainder built as part of the First Homes scheme.

The Phoenix will be designed as a walkable neighbourhood that prioritises people over cars, with a mobility hub providing electric car shares, car hire, electric bike services and shuttle buses to help encourage a shift away from private vehicle use.

Public squares, gardens, community buildings and a riverside pathway that stretches the length of the site will provide space designed for interaction between residents.

Timber structure neighbourhood by Human Nature — The development will contain energy-efficient homes

The Phoenix masterplan was designed by Human Nature’s in-house design team with UK architecture studio Periscope and Kathryn Firth, director of masterplanning and urban design at Arup.

Developed designs for the scheme will be made in collaboration with UK architecture studios Archio, Ash Sakula, Mae Architects, Mole Architects and Periscope and engineering firms Expedition Engineering and Whitby Wood.

Drawing of a park surrounded by buildings — The Phoenix aims to provide sustainable housing to people with a range of income brackets. Image by Carlos Penálver

Human Nature is a development company based in Lewes that was founded by former Greenpeace directors Michael Manolson and Jonathan Smales.

Other timber developments published on Dezeen include a zero-carbon housing scheme in Wales by Loyn & Co and Henning Larsen’s plans for Copenhagen’s first all-timber neighbourhood.

The images are by Ash Sakula, courtesy of Human Nature, unless stated.

Reference

Kitchen inside Low Energy House designed by Architecture for London

Sustainable News

The state of Britain’s ageing homes has become a national shame

By Zarkon Group,20/02/2024

It’s crucial that whoever wins the upcoming general election prioritises fixing the UK’s energy-inefficient housing, but the message doesn’t seem to be getting through to our political leaders, writes RIBA president Muyiwa Oki.

Last summer, as temperatures soared and the sun beat down relentlessly, people around the UK sweltered in their homes.

A few months ago, with near zero-degree temperatures, many of us found the reverse, struggling to decide whether to turn on the heating and bear the rising energy costs.

Despite our best efforts to stay cool or keep warm, our outdated built environment and energy-inefficient homes meant that escaping the stifling heat or freezing cold was nearly impossible. For some, it was not just uncomfortable – it was desperately dangerous.

It is clear something needs to be done

The state of Britain’s ageing homes has become a national shame, and it is clear something needs to be done.

Stark warnings about rising temperatures hit the headlines this month. For the first time on record, global warming breached the critical 1.5-degrees threshold over a 12-month period. In the UK, it was the second-hottest year on record, as we suffered heatwaves and floods. Unfortunately, these trends are set to continue.

We know decarbonising the built environment is crucial to reducing carbon emissions and mitigating rising temperatures; our buildings are responsible for almost 40 per cent of global energy-related carbon emissions. The time to act is now.

With 80 per cent of the buildings that we’ll use in 2050 already built today, we must prioritise bringing these up to scratch – and we need to start with housing. The UK has among the oldest and least energy-efficient housing stock in the whole of Europe, with 19 million homes in dire need of retrofitting.

Yet, this message doesn’t seem to be getting through to our political leaders. On the very same day that the news broke about terrifying temperature rises in 2023, it was announced that Labour is cutting back on funding promises for home-insulation projects should the party win the upcoming general election. The previously announced £6 billion a year to retrofit 19 million homes has been dropped, with plans now to spend £6.6 billion over 5 years, equating to £1.3 billion a year.

It follows prime minister Rishi Sunak’s September announcement that he would be scaling back key green policies – including postponing a ban on oil and liquified petroleum gas (LPG) boilers to 2035 and scrapping energy-efficiency improvements for the private rented sector.

To do nothing would be to condemn the population to many more decades of substandard housing

This general election year is a chance to reset the dial and treat the climate emergency as the urgent, existential threat that it is. To do this, we need the next government to set out a national retrofit strategy – a well-funded, long-term plan to make homes more energy efficient and climate resilient. Not only would this reduce our climate impact, but it would also create jobs, boost green skills and improve prosperity up and down the country.

Of course, this strategy requires ambitious government investment, but we at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) believe there are clever ways to incentivise homeowners to make their properties greener. A financing strategy to make energy-efficiency upgrades affordable for all homeowners and landlords before they feel the benefit of reduced energy bills will be a crucial piece of the puzzle.

In its 2020 Greener Homes report, the RIBA – along with many other organisations – recommend looking at tax incentives such as a sliding scale of stamp duty, with the most energy-efficient homes accruing significantly less tax than the least energy efficient, and tax rebates for a period after purchase to encourage homeowners to make energy-efficiency upgrades, recognising that they are most likely to make upgrades just after buying a house rather than getting round to it at a later date.

Equally, in the private rented sector, landlords should be incentivised to make energy-efficiency upgrades by being able to claim part of these against their income-tax liabilities.

Putting funding aside, retrofitting has to be done properly to avoid unintended consequences like damp and mould. To achieve this, we must prioritise a fabric-first, whole-house retrofit approach, using architects’ expertise to ensure changes are made in the right order and at the right time. Possible measures include insulating lofts and walls, draught-proofing doors, windows and floors, using double or triple glazing, integrating smarter appliances and making changes to heating and energy systems such as heat pumps and solar panels.

A retrofit revolution will create jobs. Just installing external insulation to all England’s interwar homes, built between 1919 and 1939, could create 5,000 full-time jobs every year until 2032. But it also demands good organisation – a systemic method of decarbonising homes, with defined typical upgrade packs for different housing types. Training will be required to upskill the construction workforce across the country to carry out the work efficiently and effectively.

A nationwide retrofit programme on this scale may be unprecedented, but we need to see the bigger picture. Millions of us live in damp, draughty homes that are leaking energy and money, and to do nothing about it would be to condemn the population to many more decades of substandard housing. I sincerely hope the next government turns this challenge into an opportunity to demonstrate global climate leadership and turbocharge our green economy.

Muyiwa Oki is the president of the Royal Institute of British Architects and an architect at construction company Mace.

The photo is by Lawrence Chismorie via Unsplash.

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Reference

Interior Design

Oskar Kohnen fills London office with mid-century modern furniture

By Zarkon Group,01/02/2024

London studio Oskar Kohnen has outfitted a Mayfair office with mid-century modern furniture and contemporary pieces, which “are so well curated that no one would ever dare to throw them away”.

Spread across three floors, the office is housed within a rectilinear building in London’s Mayfair neighbourhood with a gridded facade.

“It has a townhouse feeling,” studio founder Oskar Kohnen told Dezeen of the office, which he designed for developer Crosstree Real Estate.

At its ground level, Kohnen clad the entrance hall with dark-stained wooden panels and added sconce lights to subtly illuminate the space.

Djinn sofa by Oliver Mourge — A cream Djinn sofa was placed in the entrance hall

An amorphous Djinn sofa, created by industrial designer Olivier Mourge in 1965, was placed in one corner.

“We worked a lot with vintage furniture, and as for the new pieces we sourced, we hope they are so well curated that no one would ever dare to throw them away,” said Kohnen.

Living room-style space with an L-shaped sofa — The first floor features a living room-style space

“Warm and inviting” interiors characterise a living room-style space on the first floor, which was created in direct contrast to the industrial appearance of the exterior.

An L-shaped velvet and stainless-steel sofa finished in a burnt orange hue was positioned next to white-stained brise soleil screens and a bright resin coffee table.

Kitchen with terrazzo worktops — Terrazzo accents were chosen for the kitchen

“The social spaces have an earthy and calm colour palette – yet they are lush and dramatic,” explained Kohnen.

A pair of low-slung 1955 Lina armchairs by architect Gianfranco Frattini also features in this space, while floor-to-ceiling glazing opens onto a residential-style terrace punctuated by potted plants.

Bright gridded ceiling in a meeting room — Oskar Kohnen added a bright gridded ceiling to one of the meeting rooms

Similar tones and textures were used to dress the rest of the rooms on this level.

These spaces include a kitchen with contemporary terrazzo worktops and a meeting room with a red gridded ceiling that was set against cream-coloured panels and modernist black chairs.

The second floor holds the main office, complete with rows of timber desks and an additional meeting room-library space characterised by the same reddish hues as the low-lit entrance hall.

“The idea was to create an office space that had soul to it and would offer a more personal take on a work environment, rather than the usual corporate spaces we are so familiar with in London,” Kohen concluded.

Desks within the main office area — The second floor holds the main office

Founded in 2011, Kohnen’s eponymous studio has completed a range of interior projects, including a mint-green eyewear store in Berlin and a pink-tinged paint shop in southwest London.

The photography is by Salva Lopez.

Reference

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UK’s “most sustainable” neighbourhood receives planning approval

The state of Britain’s ageing homes has become a national shame

Oskar Kohnen fills London office with mid-century modern furniture

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