Architecture studio A6A has converted a former model-making workshop in Bordeaux into a studio for itself that is defined by pared-back materials and spaces.

Named L'Atelier, the L-shaped block was originally formed of a street-facing garage, a central garden and a large shed to the rear.

Drawn to the spatial organisation and finishes of the workshop, A6A made minimal alterations but transformed it into a series of flexible workspaces intended to "reflect the philosophy" of the studio.

"We found many resonances with our approach to the profession in this space, an ideal place to realise our vision of architecture," said A6A.

"We wanted to design a place for experimentation and meeting, which leaves room for manual work and research," it told Dezeen.

"[It's] a timeless intervention in an existing building that we will never tire of over time."

Facing the street, the existing steel door to the garage has been retained, above which a sign with the name of the original workshop owner can still be seen.

This heavy steel door leads into L'Atelier's model workshop and material library – an open, flexible space with a sanded concrete floor and a long birch storage wall.

Here, original wood and glass doors to the garden have been preserved, beyond which a series of new and existing paving stones provide access to the main studio. This is accessed by a set of double-height, glass sliding doors.

"The garden appears like a haven in the middle of the city, a plant explosion which owes a lot to its original configuration and which we have come to amplify by integrating ground covers and shade plants with a tropical look," said A6A.

In L'Atelier's main studio space, the large volume of the existing shed has been retained, with more private areas such as meeting rooms and a toilet housed in a standalone wooden volume. A small mezzanine with additional workspaces sits above it.

The shed's exterior walls and metal frame – the only elements that A6A could preserve – are complemented by a new roof of slender white-steel trusses and birch desks and bookshelves below.

"Three materials dominate the project," explained the studio.

"Each of the materials was used for its structural characteristics and the ability to do certain work ourselves: we formed and poured concrete, partly sanded the slab and entirely manufactured all the fittings in wood," it added.

A6A, which is known fully as Atelier 6 Architecture, was founded in Bordeaux in 2013 by Michel Hardoin, Roberto de Uña and Antoine Ragonneau. Previous projects by the studio include an off-grid and easily transportable cabin in Ustaritz, which is clad in charred planks of Douglas fir.

Other self-designed studios on Dezeen include Paul Westwood's office in a disused garage in London and The Act of Quad's workspace in a former library in Mumbai.

The photography is by Rory Gardiner.

The post A6A creates "haven in the middle of the city" for its Bordeaux studio appeared first on Dezeen.

A green-steel structure and walls of exposed blockwork and plywood feature inside this house and artist's studio in Paris by local practice Jean Benoît Vétillard Architecture.

Named Maison Nana, the home is located on a dense urban plot in Bagnolet and provides a series of flexible spaces organised around a central skylit atrium.

Maison Nana is accessed by a paved garden, which Jean Benoît Vétillard Architecture has placed across half of the site.

It is fronted by a glazed garden room, sheltered by a gently undulating awning and animated by oversized red steps that provide seating and space for plants.

"Following the volumes of the adjacent dwellings the land is divided into two parts," said Jean Benoît Vétillard Architecture.

"The built volume is placed in the southern part, where the volumes of the buildings adjacent are higher, [and] the northern part is converted into a full garden," it continued.

From the garden room, glass doors lead into the open-plan ground floor. Here, a living, dining and kitchen space is wrapped by exposed blockwork walls and framed by slender steel columns in a pale shade of green.

Overlooking this space is a skylit, wood-lined atrium that extends vertically through the entire home, punctured by openings in the living areas above and glass brick windows on the exterior wall.

Bedrooms, bathrooms and a studio space are organised in a U-shape around this atrium, with a finish of plywood panelling and deliberately simple fittings to allow them to be easily adapted to different uses by the inhabitants.

"The ground floor is left raw, and the more intimate [upper] floors are treated in wood, a more noble material," said the studio's founder Jean Benoît Vétillard.

"The idea was to remove any form of hierarchy and scale in the rooms on the upper floors, through a complete treatment in wood and a minimum of details," he told Dezeen.

The rear facade of Maison Nana is largely enclosed due to the height of the adjacent buildings but the front elevation overlooks the garden with a symmetrical arrangement of square windows and a cladding of blackened timber planks.

Other homes recently completed in Paris include an apartment in a converted textile warehouse by Isabelle Heilmann and a revamped Haussmann-era residence for an art collector by Hauvette & Madani.

The photography is by Giaime Meloni.

The post Exposed materials and colourful accents define Maison Nana in Paris appeared first on Dezeen.

From cantilevered shelves to customisable pegboards, our latest lookbook rounds up eight examples of garden studios with storage designed to make the most of limited space.

Garden studios are becoming increasingly popular in homes around the world, prompted largely by the evergrowing trend of remote work.

Often slotted into small spaces, these structures typically have compact footprints and require efficient storage solutions to keep them clutter-free.

The examples in this lookbook demonstrate some of the ways storage can be suitably integrated within a garden studio, helping save valuable space within their small footprints.

This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen's archive. For more inspiration, see previous lookbooks featuring Mexican holiday homes, full-length curtains and living spaces with swings.

Cork Study, UK, by Surman Weston

Birch shelves and twin desks cantilever from the walls of Cork Study, which Surman Weston created in the narrow garden of a home in north London.

The set-up was designed to help maximise space within the compact studio, which measures just 13 square metres and was created as a workspace for a musician and a seamstress.

The two desks, complete with their own cubby holes, are broken by a long vertical window in the rear wall, illuminating the workspaces with natural light.

Find out more about Cork Study ›

Nightlight, New Zealand, by Fabric

Green storage boxes on wheels slot neatly below the workbench of this outbuilding in New Zealand, which occupies the future garden of a home being developed on the site.

There are also slender slats mounted to the wooden framework of the 10-square-metre structure, forming minimalist shelves from which tools can be hung.

Find out more about Nightlight ›

The Garden Studio, Canada, by Six Four Five A

The founder of architecture studio Six Four Five A built storage into the wooden shell of his tiny studio, which he created in the garden of his Toronto home.

Exposed vertical studs double as supports for shelves and a large standing desk made from birch plywood along one side, preventing cluttering up the 9.3-square-metre space.

Find out more about The Garden Studio ›

Writer's Cottage, Norway, by Jarmund/Vigsnæs Architects

This cabin-like studio sits at the end of a garden in Oslo, where it acts as a compact and secluded workspace for the owner who is a writer.

Among its storage solutions is a plywood staircase that incorporates a shelving system beneath it, leading up to a mezzanine sleeping area that tucks beneath its pitched roof.

Find out more about Writer's Cottage ›

Writer's Shed, UK, by Surman Weston

Another project by Surman Weston on the list is the Writer's Shed, a shingle-clad garden studio designed as a writing retreat for an author.

Inside, a cluster of shelves has been built around the chimney of the wood-burning stove, which is used to heat the compact structure. While providing valuable storage space, they are also intended as "a centrepiece for the client to store his library of books", Surman Weston said.

Find out more about Writer's Shed ›

Terrazzo Studio, UK, by Sonn

In east London, architect Tim Robinson designed and built himself a little studio and workshop at the end of his garden.

The narrow workshop contains a line of storage units raised above the floor, alongside a large pegboard for storing tools. Next door in the studio space, a rear wall of cabinets incorporates a concealed fold-down bed, enabling the space to become a guest bedroom.

Find out more about Terrazzo Studio ›

My Room in the Garden, UK, by Boano Prišmontas

This modular pod is a prototype for a garden studio, developed by London studio Boano Prišmontas in response to an increase in people working from home prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Inside, the plywood structure can be fitted out with customisable elements including pegboards from which desks, shelves and storage can be hung.

"My Room in the Garden was created with comfort and customisability in mind," said the studio. "We wanted to allow people to be able to decide what their interior would look like or how much storage they would have, and we do that by creating a system of interchangeable elements."

Find out more about My Room in the Garden ›

Writer's Shed, Australia, by Matt Gibson

This deceptively spacious garden studio that architect Matt Gibson created in Melbourne is hidden behind ivy-covered walls.

An angular desk slots into one corner, with one side nestled below two generous high-level shelving units on the walls. Plywood was used across all of the surfaces, giving the interior a unified look that adds to the sense of spaciousness.

Find out more about Writer's Shed ›

This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen's archive. For more inspiration, see previous lookbooks featuring Mexican holiday homes, full-length curtains and living spaces with swings.

The post Eight compact garden studios with neat storage solutions appeared first on Dezeen.

London studio David Kohn Architects has converted an agricultural building on a former dairy farm in Newton Abbot, UK, to create a house and studio named Cowshed.

Cowshed is the last building to be completed in a 15-year-long transformation of Middle Rocombe Farm, which has been owned and inhabited by artist Suzanne Blank Redstone and her husband Peter Redstone since the early 1970s.

The couple has transformed the site into a housing community to achieve their goal of working "in an isolated rural location surrounded by a mix of families", said David Kohn Architects.

David Kohn Architect's brief centred on transforming the existing building, which was once a cattle shed, into a future-proof home that honours the building's site and history.

"They sought a home that would enable them to 'live in the light and the landscape', but that would still respect the original humble shed, whilst creating a future-proof accessible home," project architect Jennifer Dyne told Dezeen.

To achieve this, one of the studio's main aims for the project was to retain as much of the existing building – which was built by the couple in 1979 – as possible.

"We wanted to ensure that the original cowshed, which was built by Suzanne and Peter in 1979, lost none of its agricultural identity," said Dyne.

"We didn't just want to retain the existing building structure, but the character of the original space, and therefore it was almost a conservation-led approach."

With the help of the engineering studio Structure Workshop, the studio retained the shed's original timber trusses, concrete floor and columns and some blockwork walls to define new rooms.

Alongside these structural elements, other parts of the original farm to have been reused include old barn doors, a dairy sink and heat lamps once used to raise calves.

"These elements don't just acknowledge and celebrate the Cowshed's robust character and past life, but provide a deeper connection for Suzanne and Peter who have so many rich memories of the farm from over half a century," Dyne explained.

"We weren't wiping the slate clean, but trying to retain all the marks of former life, whether the original blockwork patina or markings on the concrete columns."

To ensure any new elements complement the original structure, David Kohn Architects developed "an economical material palette" with local materials typical of agricultural settings. This includes cedar and concrete sourced from nearby.

Meanwhile, any new concrete blockwork has been designed with textures and colours to compliment the original pink-hued blocks that once divided the cowshed.

Inside, Cowshed is primarily single-storey and has a step-free ground floor, aiming to ensure its owners can live there comfortably as they get older.

Blank Redstone's studio occupies the majority of the existing building's footprint, flanked by bedrooms, an office and study space. The main living and sleeping spaces are contained within an original lean-to structure that has a low ceiling, helping to create a more intimate interior.

"Suzanne's studio fills the central hall where the simplicity of the building acts particularly effectively, this light-filled room functions as the fulcrum of the home and as a backdrop for Suzanne's artwork, which fills the space wherever one looks," said Dyne.

"Suzanne's working practice involves being surrounded by her evolving artworks – with seven decades of work on show in the space."

A focal point of the home is a series of openings of different sizes and shapes that puncture the newly added profiled metal roof.

These refer to Blank Redstone's collection called Portal Paintings, which imagine walls and openings as gateways into different worlds.

"The Cowshed's oversized rooflight portals take the form of squares, circles and slots punctured through the roof," Dyne explained.

"Each one has a different coloured reveal that refracts light into their corresponding spaces – an orange-hued dressing room, a golden glow to the staircase, or the red oxide circle echoing the structural steel in the central studio."

Another stand-out detail of the interior is a half-moon window in the kitchen, designed to emphasise the bowled landscape framed through it.

Cowshed is complete with a large sheltered terrace to the entrance, with an outdoor workshop and studio to one side.

David Kohn Architects is a London studio that was founded by architect David Kohn in 2007. Its design for Cowshed was shortlisted for this year's RIBA House of the Year after the studio won the prize in 2022 for an "ordinary yet quirky" home it created in Dorset.

Its other projects include the Sanderson House extension that is intended to resemble a fox in the garden and the conversion of a listed residential interior in Berlin into an office.

The photography is by Max Creasy.

The post David Kohn Architects celebrates "marks of former life" in cowshed conversion appeared first on Dezeen.

Architecture studio Unknown Works has completed Shou Sugi Bangers, a sunken music studio clad in charred timber, which sits in the garden of a London home.

Designed for an electronic music producer, the soundproof studio is playfully named after its scalloped Accoya wood cladding, which has been charred using the Japanese technique of Shou Sugi Ban.

Both internally and externally, the studio is intended as an immersive sound space and retreat. The cladding is arranged in an undulating formation, forming a series of nooks where the owner is encouraged to sit and listen to natural sounds in the garden.

According to Unknown Works, noises such as wind and birdsong are enhanced and altered by the CNC-milled surfaces of the cladding, which transition from minute grooves, reminiscent of vinyl records, to a smoother reflective surface at ear height.

"We wanted to extend the threshold of the studio, to create a greater feeling of separation from the city," said Unknown Works.

"The smooth surface is most reflective and was used to focus sound from specific areas of the surrounding landscape to the ears of a sitter," it continued. "Where the accoya panels transition into the smaller ridges, the sound behaves differently and acts to deaden reflection – changing from top to bottom on each panel."

The studio itself, accessed by an airlock double-door, is designed as a "room within a room" and was created in close consultation with a sound studio specialist Nick Whitaker.

Acoustic baffles and bass traps are strategically positioned to eliminate reverb, ensuring an optimal audio environment for the owner to record and compose in.

"The architecture of the studio is designed to isolate and withdraw," Unknown Works told Dezeen.

"It feels otherworldly to enter, passing between the big double door air-lock and closing them behind you - like entering a submarine."

"Coming out from a period in the studio and sitting in one of the nooks is part of the re-acclimatisation," the studio added.

"From a space separated from the outside world - you are then invited to a space to focus on the natural world around."

To stay under the 2.5-metre height of the permitted development rules, Unknown Works partially embedded the studio into the garden.

A large skylight allows the space to be naturally lit while retaining the feeling of entering a meditative space.

Unknown Works is a London studio founded by Ben Hayes, Kaowen Ho and Theo Games Petrohilos in 2017.

Other projects by the studio include Pigment House, a north London residence with dusty pink surfaces and a semi-detached house in east London with vibrant yellow-rendered forms.

The photography is by Lorenzo Zandri.

The post Unknown Works creates "otherworldly" music studio in London garden appeared first on Dezeen.

A pared-back palette of raw materials creates a calm backdrop for PSLab's lighting products inside the brand's Berlin workshop and showroom space, designed in collaboration with Belgian firm B-bis architecten.

The newly opened studio occupies the ground floor and basement of a 1907 residential building in the city's Charlottenburg district.

PSLab, which designs and manufactures light fixtures for architectural projects, set out to create a showroom where customers can experience lighting effects in a home-like environment.

"PSLab is not a digital platform where clients pick and buy products," the company's founder Dimitri Saddi told Dezeen. "Therefore the physical space as a 'home' is most important for one-on-one communication."

"In Berlin, as with all our studios, we wanted to design a canvas to show the quality of our light and to show the process of our bespoke design approach by integrating a material library of endless opportunities and possibilities."

Working together with B-bis architecten, the design team looked to create a contemporary space that contrasts with Charlottenburg's classical architecture whilst retaining references to common elements like colonnades, arches and symmetrical forms.

The entrance takes the form of a large zinc-and-glass sliding door that is set into the facade of the building on Niebuhrstrasse. Moving the door aside reveals a full-height opening that welcomes visitors into the studio.

Inside, a double-height space with a six-metre-high ceiling allows lighting products to be hung in various heights and configurations.

Arched openings on either side of the staircase void lead through to a garden room that looks onto a leafy courtyard. Daylight streams into the space through large windows to create a tranquil atmosphere.

The workshop space includes a materials library where visitors can touch and explore the physical qualities of the brand's lighting products. A movable ladder provides access to items on the library's upper rows.

The cosy basement level is a place for informal conversations with clients. A projector in this parlour space also allows the team to display the company's extensive digital library.

Throughout the studio, PSLab chose materials and finishes including lime wash, concrete, zinc and textiles that focus attention on how the space is lit rather than its architectural features to create a kind of "sacred place for light".

"It is all about monochromatics and textures, which are specific to the location," said Mario Weck, a partner at PSLab GmbH. "The atmosphere lets people focus on our approach."

On the ceiling of both the front room and garden room is a grey-steel gantry that helps unify the spaces whilst supporting various light sources as well as technical elements, much like on a theatre stage.

Furniture is mostly built in, with simple cushions providing casual seating while cylindrical wooden side tables and coffee tables offer somewhere to place a cup or catalogue.

PSLab has studios in Antwerp, Bologna, London, Stuttgart and Beirut, where the firm originated. For its UK headquarters, the company commissioned JamesPlumb to convert a Victorian tannery into a space that evokes the "quiet brutalism" of the former industrial building.

Previously, the lighting brand has collaborated with Parisian studio Tolila+Gilliland on the design of an Aesop store in London featuring felt-covered walls and slim black pendant lights.

Photography by Nate Cook and video directed by Lana Daher.

The post PSLab's monochromatic Berlin showroom is a "sacred place for light" appeared first on Dezeen.

Architectural studio Worrell Yeung has completed a two-storey, black-coloured home extension called Springs Artist Studio that is meant to offer the "experience of being perched in the trees".

The Brooklyn-based firm was tasked with designing the 800-square-foot (74-square-metre) addition for a Long Island house belonging to a florist and a painter.

The couple has an extensive collection of art and special objects. Their home is located in Springs, a hamlet in East Hampton that is popular with artists.

"The hamlet of Springs has a strong history of painting," said Max Worrell, co-founder and principal of Worrell Yeung. "We were drawn to that lineage; Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler and Jane Freilicher all painted out here."

The team conceived a two-storey addition that contains a painting studio on the upper level and an exhibition space down below that doubles as a garage.

The ground floor also has a powder room.

In response to strict zoning rules and environmental sensitivities, the studio created a small-footprint building that preserved existing trees and minimised the overall impact on the landscape.

Rectangular in plan, the building has a gabled roof and walls clad in pine boards that were stained black to match the main house.

Different-sized boards were used "to create a sense of shifting, lateral scale that counters the vertical massing of the structure".

The lower portion of the building is covered in 12-inch-wide boards (30 centimetres), while the upper areas are clad in 4-inch and 1-inch versions (10 and 2.5 centimeters).

"From afar the studio reads as an abstract volume," the architects said.

"Up close, the textured wood and varied-sized planks break down the scale of the building to something more accessible and rich with detail."

The black cladding is interrupted on the upper level by a band of ribbon windows.

The architects worked with Silman Structural Engineers to create the continuous windows, which are supported by steel-rod cross bracing and slender steel columns that match the mullions.

Within the building, the four-foot-tall (1.2-metre) ribbon windows offer immersive views of the landscape.

"Natural light streams in while unique views appear from each direction, framed by unobstructed glass corners," the team said.

"We wanted to create this experience of being perched in the trees – a retreat for working," added Jejon Yeung, cofounder of Worrell Yeung.

Interior finishes include birch plywood, which was used for flooring, walls and cabinetry. In the powder room, the plywood is stained a rich shade of blue.

The decor includes vintage Eames molded fibreglass chairs and a vintage chandelier by David Weeks.

The addition is connected to the main home by a glazed passageway that brings in the natural surroundings while "providing a moment of respite between home and the studio/work environment".

Other projects by Worrell Yeung include a series of gabled timber buildings on a New York farm and a refresh of a cedar-clad dwelling on Long Island that was originally designed by famed US architect Charles Gwathmey.

The photography is by Naho Kubota.

Project credits:

Architecture: Worrell Yeung
Design team: Max Worrell, Jejon Yeung, Yunchao Le Structural Engineer: Silman
Contractor: Fifth and Dune

The post Hamptons artist studio by Worrell Yeung is tucked among the trees appeared first on Dezeen.

Texas studio Method Architecture has completed an office for itself in Houston with maximalist design, vibrant colours and a mural at its centre.

The 8,612-square foot (800-square metre) studio was completed in 2023 with a reception area, open office plan, private and collaborative meeting spaces and staff lounges.

Located in the mixed-use East River development, designed by architecture studio Page, the office was designed to serve as an inspiration source for the studio's clients.

"Our approach was to pursue maximalism with the goal of creating an environment where our clients would feel safe expressing their bold and innovative ideas with us," Ashley Bettcher, Research and Design Specialist with Method Architecture told Dezeen.

"Creativity has no limits and great design doesn't necessarily need to cost more. Method's new Houston office perfectly encapsulates that mantra."

The "ego-free" focus of the design is a nearly 50-foot multi-wall mural by local artist David Maldonado, known for creating nearly 20 pieces of public artwork throughout Houston.

With pops of magenta, cobalt, and yellow, the mural features icons from the city and state like the skyline, a rocket for Johnson Space Center, a bluebonnet as the Texas state flower, and the neighbouring Buffalo Bayou.

The artwork also slips in custom motifs representing the studio, such as Method's rubber duck mascot.

"This feature piece of artwork helps set the tone for the remainder of the office including bold colors, geometric patterns and shapes and a secondary mural designed and installed by Maldanado featuring drip paint in mirroring colorways located at the back of the office," the team said.

The mural is complemented by a 3D-printed wall installation behind the reception desk composed of the studio's signature "M" logo and the raw ceiling with exposed mechanical lines all painted a vibrant shade of fuchsia.

Light grey flower-like acoustic baffles hang from the ceiling adding to the maximalist design. Light blue bicycles are mounted on one wall as another unique installation.

From the reception area lounge, clients pass through a half-arched portal – created with custom millwork and embedded lights – into the main office space which includes rows of desks over custom greyscale carpet.

Hotel desk stations accommodate hybrid work styles for both in-office and at-home work.

"Cozy architectural work booths are nestled amid the bustling breakroom and office areas, offering a quiet refuge for more private work, private conversations or meals with coworkers," the team said.

The workspace is flanked by six meeting rooms: a large creative conference space, three medium-sized conference rooms and two smaller huddle spaces.

The all-white conference room was left intentionally blank to showcase the client's material selections with tunable white lights to adjust the light temperature for each project.

An M-shaped window cutout opens the conference room to the rest of the office.

In the break room, bright blue suede fabric adorns the walls to provide an unexpected texture and pale blue lamp shades – reminiscent of the shape of inverted cupcake liners – serve as a geometric juxtaposition to the rounded banquette boxes.

"Plush, psychedelic-inspired fabrics in meeting booths and distinctive light fixtures keep the space feeling light and fun to inspire creative design," the studio said.

In addition to being designed for flexible workflows and teams, the space features multiple sustainable and WELL features like ample daylighting, repurposed materials and ergonomic furniture.

Other recently completed projects in Houston include Nelson Byrd Woltz's grassed park that bridges a six-lane highway and Modu's design for a wellness building with a self-cooling exterior.

The photography is by Ana Larranaga, Method Architecture.

Project credits:

Architecture: Method Architecture
MEP: Telios Engineering
General contractor: Burton Construction
Furniture: AGILE Interiors, MDI, OP,
Flooring: Interface, Shaw Contract
Tile: Trinity Surfaces, La Nova
Textiles: Knoll Textiles
Masonry: Upchurch Kimbrough
Demountable partitions: DIRTT
Countertops: CAMBRIA
Mural: David Maldonado
Lighting: Lighting Associates Inc.
Signage: ARIA Signs

The post Method Architecture outfits its Houston office with vibrant mural appeared first on Dezeen.

Reclaimed materials were used to create this garden studio, which London practice The Environmental Design Studio has added to a compact site in Cambridge, England.

Named The Garden Retreat, the studio is just 15 square metres in size and nestles into a small site in the back garden of a Victorian terrace.

"I wanted to design a private, peaceful and productive space," said The Environmental Design Studio (TEDS) founder Ed Barsley, who also built the structure.

"I didn't want the building to be an eyesore and so dug it into the ground to the rear of the site to reduce its height," he told Dezeen.

When designing The Garden Retreat, TEDS aimed to use as many recycled and reclaimed materials as possible, including old door frames and timber worktops.

The studio's facade is clad in stacked slate tiles, which were sourced from the old roof of the Victorian terrace.

"Over 85 per cent of the building is made from recycled materials," said Barsley.

Stacked in a formation designed to mimic a record collection, the slate facade is bordered by concrete slabs and intended to act as a bug hotel – a manmade structure that provides shelter for insects.

At the centre of the front elevation, a glazed pivoting door is set into a thick oak frame to offer views of the garden outside.

"The door frame was actually part of the old shop front of my family's business – 132 years old – and has been stored for many a decade waiting for the right project to use it on," said Barsley.

"The deep-set reveal of the studio's entrance and its slate-stacked facade creates a temple-like form," he continued.

"The inset entrance serves a dual purpose, as the overhang shelters the door from weathering and limits the amount of solar gain into the space."

Inside, TEDS finished The Garden Retreat with recycled furnishings and materials, including reused floorboards sourced from a neighbour's home.

A grid of white-painted timber frames the walls, which are covered in pegboard panels to offer extra storage space.

Around the edges of the space are bespoke cedar worktops made from a tree that was planted by Barsley's grandfather. Set at varying heights ranging from bench level to a standing desk, they are fully removable and cater for flexible working layouts.

"It felt a shame to lock the layout for one specific use," said Barsley. "The approach I've gone for instead means that the desks can become benches or be completely removed if need be and open up the space as the whole."

Greenery is added to The Garden Retreat in the form of small planters, which extend from the front of the studio and run along the garden fence, as well as a sedum roof.

Other finishing touches include a waterfall feature and bird bath, integrated into the slate facade as part of the studio's aim to enhance the garden's biodiversity.

"Its green roof is lovely to look at, good for local wildlife, changes colour with the seasons, slows the rate of runoff during heavy downpours and of course reduces overheating in summer months," said Barsley.

Other garden studios recently featured on Dezeen include a compact multipurpose studio clad in charred wood and a Corten-clad home office nestled behind a south London home.

The photography is courtesy of TEDS.

The post Stacks of reclaimed slate form facade of The Garden Retreat appeared first on Dezeen.

London studio Coffey Architects has completed The Tannery, a mixed-use project in Bermondsey that combines housing, artist's studios and a gallery around a central courtyard.

Occupying the former Rich Industrial Estate that was once the centre of Bermondsey's 19th-century tannery trade, the three buildings by Coffey Architects are part of a wider masterplan for the neighbourhood by architects AHMM for developer London Square.

The buildings reference the area's industrial heritage through their materiality and form and are positioned alongside an existing warehouse that has been retrofitted.

To the north, the gallery space for Tannery Arts and Drawing Room is housed in a low-lying brick building topped by a sawtooth roof with skylights for the exhibition spaces below.

Alongside the gallery, the retained warehouse named Unit 12 has been used to house large, dual-aspect apartments, above a ground floor of artist studios with wide glass doors.

On either side of the former warehouse, two courtyards have been created. One is intended for the public and is more formal and paved, while the other is for residents and is finished with wild planting.

"The [resident's] courtyard is wild and offers a very different character to the hard paved public spaces that surround The Tannery," founder Phil Coffey told Dezeen.

"Across the site and growing masterplan the external spaces have been designed to bring a variety of experience to the area, to create a vibrant ground plane whilst maintaining privacy to ground floor homes," he added.

Between the gallery and the warehouse, the site is cut through by what Coffey Architects call the "Bar of Light" – a long, narrow volume containing apartments surrounded by perforated aluminium shutters that give the block a glowing effect at night.

Townhouse-style apartments occupy the brick base of this elongated volume, while above, the dual-aspect apartments all have sheltered terraces overlooking the courtyard. They have individual control of the external shutters to mediate light and air.

At the eastern end of the Bar of Light, a large foyer and concierge space is defined by a black concrete spiral stair at its centre that leads up into the apartments.

"The scale of the 'Bar of Light' began with the idea that the scale of the objects and buildings at the Rich Estate were so immense that any new insertion should also express its bulk/mass," explained Coffey.

"The black concrete and steel stair work together to create a grand entry into the Bar of Light – they have a monumentality that suits the scale of the experience of moving from ground floor into the Bar of Light above," he continued.

At the opposite end of the site, a smaller block of apartments is finished with textured brickwork and large balconies overlooking the street.

Coffey Architects was founded by Phil Coffey in 2005. The studio also made use of perforated aluminium for the recently completed Technology Hub at City College Norwich, with the finish designed to give a feeling of "light and airiness."

Its other recent projects include a coastal home in Dorset and a Broadgate office with a dedicated cycle-in entrance.

The photography is by Phil Coffey.

The post Coffey Architects references industrial history for London housing and arts spaces appeared first on Dezeen.

Arched doorways and a rooftop studio feature in the Y.27 House, which has been overhauled by architecture firm Estudio Estudio in a way that honours the historic building's original character.

Located on a 195-square-metre site in Mexico City's Hipódromo Condesa neighbourhood, the project serves as a full-time residence for a client who is a social entrepreneur and collector of Mexican craftwork.

Originally built in the 1930s, the stucco-clad dwelling had endured years of neglect, said local firm Estudio Estudio.

The design team set out to revamp the home's interior, aiming to restore its original charm while enhancing its functionality.

The project involved removing walls, reconfiguring the layout and making structural improvements, in addition to adding new finishes. Moreover, a small storage room on the roof was replaced with a 43-square-metre studio building.

"The main goal was to unveil the hidden architectural treasures beneath layers of past modifications, meticulously restoring them to their original state to reveal the essence of the time," the team said.

"Architectural interventions aimed to preserve the authentic character of the house, rejuvenating ornamental elements while avoiding unnecessary embellishments."

Rectangular in plan, the home has a mix of communal and private spaces spread across three levels. Curves and arches – many of them original – create a "harmonious flow".

On the ground level, the layout "seamlessly integrates daily living requirements". The front portion holds an entry hall, garage and office, while in the rear, one finds a kitchen, dining area, service rooms and a patio.

At the heart of the ground floor is an airy living room with a 5.9-metre-high ceiling. A tall shelving system with a metal-and-wood ladder acts as a focal point.

A gently curved, skylit staircase leads to the first floor, where the team placed a primary bedroom, two bedrooms and a family room.

Atop the building is the new studio, which was constructed using pine. In addition to the studio, the building contains an onsen room with a barn-style door.

The studio opens onto a terrace with terracotta flooring. Rainwater is collected on the roof and channelled to a reservoir below.

"The roof terrace serves as a space to gather but also works as a rainwater collector, where rain travels throughout the house into a water reservoir and filter system beneath the back patio," the team said.

Throughout the home, the team used earthy materials and neutral colours. The lighting design – created in collaboration with lighting expert Luca Salas – is meant to balance "ambiance, functionality and aesthetics".

Notable finishes include oak parquet flooring and closets faced with cotton-canvas. Oak was used for window frames, kitchen cabinets and other elements.

In the kitchen, the team took a sample of existing checkered tiles, made of pigmented concrete, to a local craftsman, who then replicated them.

This style of flooring – called pisos de pasta – is very common in older homes in Mexico City and southwest Mexico, said Estudio Estudio.

Overall, the house is meant to balance historic elements with a contemporary lifestyle.

"This house proudly stands as a harmonious blend of past and present, inviting residents to embark on a captivating journey of refined and simple ways of living," the team said.

Other projects in Mexico City's Condesa district include a renovated house by Chloé Mason Gray that embraces its lack of natural light, and an apartment block covered in small, wooden squares that were inspired by vegetable crates.

The photography is by Zaickz Moz Studio.

The post Estudio Estudio unveils "hidden architectural treasures" in Mexico City house appeared first on Dezeen.

Architecture practice 11.29 Studio used rotating bamboo screens to allow this painting studio in Thailand to be opened up to the surrounding landscape.

Located alongside a pond in an agricultural area in Rayong, Furnish Studio is designed for a local oil painter who desired a well-ventilated, open space that could serve as both a work and display area.

In response to this, 11.29 Studio created a square space surrounded by a verandah that allows ventilation and sunlight to be controlled via full-height, rotating screens made using local bamboo.

"Thailand's hot and humid climate, along with the owner's preference not to use air conditioning in the primary work area, necessitated a strategy to maximise natural ventilation," 11.29 Studio's founder Kantinan Na Nakorn told Dezeen.

"Working within a limited budget required us to seek ways to minimise construction costs," Nakorn added.

"A square floor plan emerged as the most economical option since it reduces the number of pillars and minimises the need for walls."

The entrance to Furnish Studio is framed by two high concrete walls, which were constructed using surplus cylindrical and cuboid spacers from a nearby factory.

Steps lead up into the studio, which is raised off the ground to mitigate the risk of flooding and to prevent animals from entering.

"We aimed to integrate elements of the local environment into our design," Nakorn said.

"For example, we utilised bamboo for the surrounding walls to support local farmers, and we explored alternative materials such as concrete spacers, which we obtained for free from the concrete plant of the surrounding industrial estates," he added.

Inside, Furnish Studio contains a double-height space with an exposed concrete frame and a high-level display cabinet that is accessed via a blue ladder.

A storage room and skylit bathroom sit on either side of the central space and have been pulled back from the edge of the building to allow them to be enclosed without disrupting the openable bamboo screen facade.

"During less busy periods, the common area serves as a resting place where one can appreciate the accumulated artwork," explained Nakorn.

"Consequently, a cabinet for displaying collectables was incorporated above the storage room, and colourful furniture was added."

Furnish Studio was recently longlisted in the workplace project category of Dezeen Awards 2023.

Other artist's spaces recently featured on Dezeen include the conversion of a 1950s garage in Edinburgh into a studio with a sense of "civic grandeur".

The photography is by Beer Singnoi.

The post Rotating bamboo screens surround Furnish Studio in Thailand appeared first on Dezeen.

Mexican design studio Mestiz has opened a showroom and workshop within a historic building in San Miguel de Allende, where its brightly hued collaborations with local craftspeople take pride of place.

The studio space is located on Pasaje Allende in the heart of the central Mexican city, renowned for its colonial-era architecture and arts scene.

Mestiz founder Daniel Valero collaborates with a variety of skilled local artisans to create furniture and homeware using ancestral crafts.

"In our studio, partnerships aren't short-lived; they're built to last," he said. "We've nurtured long-term relationships with artisans, where learning and creating are an ongoing process."

Pieces from Mestiz's collection fill the interior of the studio, which occupies a remodelled stone building designed as a "wild habitat" brimming with personality.

"It was once a kitchen," Valero explained, "and now it's a space that respects the idea of Mexican cuisine, infusing it into our creative sanctuary."

The studio comprises three principal spaces. In the showroom, the original wooden beams and the brick ceiling are exposed, and rough buttery plaster covers the walls.

Ledges and podiums clad in glossy tiles provide places for small items like spiky vessels and framed pictures to be displayed.

Larger furniture pieces like a triangular table and chairs with tufty backrests are arranged across the floor.

Meanwhile, textile artworks decorate the walls and huge, fibrous pink light fixtures hang overhead.

"Our creations aren't just pieces; they're stories," said Valero.

"We believe in crafting designs that engage in profound dialogues with the context and history of each community we work with."

The workshop is situated in a lean-to at the side of the building, where the rough stone walls are visible on two sides and other surfaces are left untreated.

Red-painted benches for assembling items and storing natural materials – palm, wood, wool, wicker and ceramic – are surrounded by partially completed designs.

A pink-hued storage room is also packed with products, from wicker lights suspended from the ceiling to tall totems in blue, pink and purple stood in the corners.

"Our practice is a living testament to the merging of traditions," Valero said. "Our pieces are the embodiment of cultural syncretism, where diverse influences converge to create something entirely new."

The rich creative spirit of San Miguel de Allende is also presented at the city's Casa Hoyos hotel, where colourful tiles and local craft fill a former Spanish colonial manor.

Other Mexican designers continuing local traditions through their work include Fernando Laposse, who uses corn waste to create a marquetry material, and Christian Vivanco, who launched a rattan furniture collection with Balsa.

The photography is by Pepe Molina.

The post Mestiz celebrates artisan collaborations at colourful Mexico studio appeared first on Dezeen.

Earth-coloured tiles define Studio Shed, an outbuilding designed by architecture practice LMNL Office in the garden of a house in Brabant, the Netherlands.

Commissioned by the owners of a home also designed by LMNL Office, the garden studio has a deliberately simple form crafted from prefabricated timber panels.

"The contemporary aesthetic recalls the design elements from the primary house," said studio founders Erica Chladová and Robert van der Pol.

"Each design decision is carefully considered for function, simplicity, and adaptability," the duo told Dezeen.

Rectangular and compact in form, the shed measures 7.5 by 13 metres and is positioned to anchor the existing garden while shielding it from south-westerly winds.

Beds of perennials sit between the shed and the house and help to screen the structure from the street.

The shed is constructed using a timber frame and prefabricated timber panels filled with natural wood-fibre insulation to allow the building to breathe.

According to the studio, this materiality is a reference to "typical wooden sheds of the area" that have horizontal wooden sidings.

The earth-coloured clay tiles clad the roof and walls of the studio, and are designed to echo the bricks used on the main house.

"[We chose] a soft earthen colour to pick up on the IJssel brick, and grey accents to pick up the grey of the paving in the garden," the studio said.

The shed's gable end walls are clad with Accoya wood that has been pre-stained to prevent uneven ageing. This same wood is used on the verandas surrounding the main house.

Inside, Studio Shed's ground floor houses a kitchen and bathroom that adjoins a carport with hidden garage doors. A staircase in a double-height void leads to a bedroom and studio space on the first floor.

Connections to the outdoors are prioritised, with large sliding doors leading from the kitchen out to an outdoor terrace and the garden beyond.

The shed has a warm and natural material palette inside, with whitewashed pine panels lining the walls and ceiling. This material treatment extends to the kitchen and built-in storage under the stairs.

LMNL Office is an architecture and landscape studio founded by Chladová and van der Pol in 2017.

Elsewhere in the Netherlands, Chris Collaris Architects recently designed a house with lime-washed white bricks and an oversized roof, while Mecanoo has created an angular home cloaked in pearlescent ceramic tiles.

The photography is by Loes van Duijvendijk.

The post Clay tiles envelop prefabricated Studio Shed in the Netherlands appeared first on Dezeen.

London studio Henley Halebrown has completed a sensitive remodel of a 19th-century industrial terrace into a small campus of creative workspaces in Hackney, London.

Located in the De Beauvoir Town conservation area, the adaptive reuse project has transformed an existing warren of rooms across two buildings into a coherent sequence with new staircases and rooftop storeys.

"Like the original 100-year-old fabric, everything new is pared down and robust," Henley Halebrown told Dezeen.

"[This is] so it may endure with little maintenance while illustrating how the lasting qualities of building traditions can be transferred to contemporary architecture."

The pair of buildings at 98-100 De Beauvoir Road is nestled in an urban block of warehouses and semi-detached townhouses, a stone's throw from De Beauvoir Square – the centrepiece of the historic Benyon Estate.

Henley Halebrown's aim was to conserve and revive the site's existing structures, seeing them as "objet trouvés" with aesthetic value.

A pair of interlocking courtyards have been reestablished at the heart of the site, set back behind the street in a sequence – going from the forecourt through to a covered passage and then the first courtyard.

Described by the studio as outdoor "rooms", these courtyards have floors of brushed pink concrete to complement the original brickwork.

Within each of the pair of buildings, Henley Halebrown has inserted a new staircase. In 98, it is formed of half-arch, precast-concrete flights.

In 100, the stair cuts the original timber floors to house pale flights intended to blend seamlessly with the visible painted joists and floorboards.

"Every surface is a pale hue emphasising the chiaroscuro effect of skylight permeating down through the section," said the studio.

A final black-steel stair is inserted as part of a loggia in the larger courtyard. Balanced on a single line of steel columns, the transitional space features balustraded walkways with semi-circular ends that project into the space where the two courtyards meet.

On the roof of 100 – the taller of the two buildings – a pavilion formed of black-rubber volumes has been added, forming a courtyard space at the centre.

Internally, this pavilion has a timber structure with trusses, beams and columns left exposed to provide a warm and natural aesthetic.

Henley Halebrown is a London studio founded by Simon Henley and Gavin Hale-Brown in 1995.

Previous projects by the studio include the transformation of a warehouse into Bauhaus-informed offices and the Stirling Prize-shortlisted hybrid housing and primary school scheme 333 Kingsland Road.

The photography is by Nick Kane unless stated otherwise.

The post Henley Halebrown turns Victorian industrial terrace into creative studios in Hackney appeared first on Dezeen.

Portuguese practice Bernardo Rodrigues Architects has completed a studio for a sculptor in the Azores, creating a curving poured-concrete form that references the work of its client.

Named Sculptor Studio, it is intended to appear as though it "sprouts" from the kitchen of an existing dwelling on a farm on Sāo Miguel island.

Inside, Bernardo Rodrigues Architects has provided the sculptor with studio and workshop spaces that overlook the garden through projecting hexagonal windows.

Bernardo Rodrigues Architects drew on the forms of the client's clay sculptures for the materiality of the building, deliberately leaving the layers of each day-long concrete pour visible on both the internal and external walls to create a textured, streaked surface.

"Concrete is the most similar to the clay sculptures the client makes and easy to mould in curves that adapted best to the site relation, the studio's founder Bernardo Rodrigues told Dezeen.

"Also, the method of a day-long pouring of concrete into a wooden frame is common on [Sāo Miguel] island, and paradoxically was the simplest possible to execute even with the difficult road access," he continued.

Sculptor Studio is accessed through two doors where it meets the existing house. On the south side of the building is a singular, large space that contains a workshop area for students and opens onto a patio.

A quieter workspace for the sculptor sits to the north, alongside a small bathroom. With no internal divisions, a range of atmospheric lighting conditions have been created to differentiate the areas of the studio.

A curved skylight illuminates the student workshop space to the south, while an arrowslit-style "sunset window" to the west draws light into a storage area.

To the north, the large hexagonal-framed windows provide even light to two desks positioned overlooking the garden.

"The window openings work in a complement game," explained Rodrigues.

"It makes the studio a camera obscura, light clock, or photographic skull chamber of sorts," he continued.

The concrete structure was created using a timber frame, into which the concrete was hand-poured by a team of three.

Inside, the poured concrete has also been left exposed on the walls and ceiling, with a grey gloss floor and wooden pendant lights completing the minimalist feel.

Bernardo Rodrigues Architects is based in Porto and the Azores. Other projects by the studio in the Azores include the Chapel of Eternal Light and House on the Flight of Birds.

The photography is by Paulo Goulart.

Project credits:

Architect: Bernardo Rodrigues Architects
Client: Isabel Silva Melo
Project leader: Francesco Ugolotti
Engineering: Isabel Ponte
Tender: Pedro Câmara
Builder: Marco Oliveira
Lighting fixtures: Mário Medeiros

The post Bernardo Rodrigues Architects creates concrete Sculptor Studio in Portugal appeared first on Dezeen.

The Act of Quad founders Priyanka Itadkar and Falguni Bhatia have built their own interior design studio, The Light Box, by transforming a 58-year-old former library in Mumbai, India.

Itadkar and Bhatia have reimagined the shed, which was originally built as a micro-library in 1965 but had been abandoned for over 30 years.

The humble structure was dismantled and partially rebuilt, creating a small studio with an all-white exterior and a see-through facade.

The Light Box, as it is now known, gives The Act of Quad its first dedicated studio since Itadkar and Bhatia founded the office in 2019.

The pair describe it as "our space for creative incubation, a space that responds to and reflects the nature of the work we do and a space to dream".

"The studio space becomes a sensorial oasis in a saturated, digitised environment," they said.

The Act of Quad founders came across the property while working on another renovation project nearby.

The owner asked whether they could convert it into a commercial storage unit. But when the duo discovered the building's back story, they suggested that they take it on themselves.

"We were so awestruck by the history," they said.

The renovation involved stripping the building back to its bare structure and replacing some of the original wall sections.

The roof was then reinstalled in a higher position, to increase ceiling height, and extended outwards to cover the entire building footprint.

The original layout was maintained, including the position of the doorways.

The only real change was the addition of a WC.

The Light Box gives The Act of Quad a studio space that can double as a meeting room, plus a semi-private courtyard that serves as a break-out space.

It is this second space that features see-through walls, thanks to a perforated metal screen.

Itadkar and Bhatia chose to paint the entire building white, both inside and out, and filled it with white furniture. The only splash of colour comes from the blue vinyl floor.

"The stark white scheme was intended as a blank canvas, to visualise materials and projects," said the pair.

"The light, instead of being drawn in great waves, is artfully framed and focused, and the striking contrast of the blue floor becomes the most colourful element one could imagine."

One of the studio walls has been turned into a display space. An assortment of objects and artworks are either wall-hung or displayed on the shelves and window sills.

Other playful details include asymmetric cupboards and an assortment of square and rectangular windows, which feature in addition to a skylight.

"The direct light is an inherent part of the studio, functioning as an additional element that varies from being fragile, changing, mobile, unstable, dominating or vanishing with a desire to connect with the natural environment," added Itadkar and Bhatia.

The design is completed with a landscape scheme featuring white pebbles and plants in terracotta pots.

Other projects by The Act of Quad include an apartment with cobalt blue accents and a multi-generational home filled with spherical shapes.

The photography is by Ishita Sitwala/The Fishy Project.

The post The Act of Quad converts Mumbai shed into studio with see-through facade appeared first on Dezeen.

Indian architecture practice Studio Array has used hand-woven bamboo screens to wrap this home and artist's studio in Delhi, which incorporated existing foundations and columns.

Called Farm 8, the project was designed for a collective of artists exploring a sustainable, waste-free method of living known as permaculture, to be used as both a residence and a site for public engagement programmes.

A previous attempt to construct a building on the site had left foundations and columns in place. Drawing on the no-waste approach of permaculture, Studio Array's starting point was to integrate these into the new design.

A lightweight structure of black steel, infilled with woven bamboo, encloses the existing columns, creating a cluster of mono-pitched volumes surrounded by an expansive garden.

The post Bamboo screens "weave old and new" for artist's residence in India appeared first on Dezeen.

Following photos of BIG's soon-to-be-completed HQ in Copenhagen harbour being released last week, Dezeen rounds up 10 architecture studios that designed their own office buildings.

Sangath, India, by Balkrishna Doshi

Pritzker Architecture Prize-winner Balkrishna Doshi, who passed away in January, created the Sangath in Ahmedabad in 1981 to be his own studio.

The distinctive sunken barrel vaults and their accompanying amphitheatre and water features remain home to Doshi's most recent practice, Vastu Shilpa Consultants.

Find out more about Sangath ›

The Leadenhall Building, UK, by RSHP

RSHP, then named Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, completed City of London skyscraper The Leadenhall Building in 2014.

Two years later, the studio's 200 staff moved into a colourful office occupying the 14th-floor of the building, which has a tapered profile that earned it the nickname the Cheesegrater.

Find out more about The Leadenhall Building ›

MVRDV House, Netherlands, by MVRDV

Dutch architecture studio MVRDV created its 2,400-square-metre head office within a post-war building complex in central Rotterdam.

As the project's name suggests, it features numerous references to domestic interiors such as a long dining table in the middle of a space called the Family Room, in additional to several brightly coloured and themed meeting rooms.

Find out more about MVRDV House ›

Office in the Woods, Spain, by SelgasCano

Nestled in the woods outside Madrid is the tunnel-like office of SelgasCano.

Semi-sunken into the ground, its transparent north-facing wall provides views of the tree canopy overhead, while the south-facing aspect is opaque to shade the working stations.

Find out more about Office in the Woods ›

Quarry Studios, UK, by Moxon Architects

Moxon Architects' Quarry Studios in the Cairngorms National Park was named the best Scottish building of 2022 by RIAS.

On the site of a former quarry surrounded by woodlands that was previously being used as a rubbish tip, the studio constructed a 25-person office and cafe using large beams of Douglas fir.

Find out more about Quarry Studios ›

No 31, China, by Neri&Hu

Multidisciplinary studio Neri&Hu converted an industrial building in Shanghai into its own offices, with additional space for the city's wider design community.

The original concrete frame was left bare, while glass bricks were used to partially fill in the windows in order to change the proportions of the structure without structural interventions.

Find out more about No 31 ›

Urban Farming Office, Vietnam, by Vo Trong Nghia Architects

Known for its plant-filled, low energy buildings, Vo Trong Nghia Architects designed its head office in Ho Chi Minh City as a "vertical farm" with vegetation covering its concrete frame.

The wall of plants filters sunlight and air, helping to keep the interiors cool. Workspaces are organised around a central atrium, with the concrete structure left completely exposed.

Find out more about Urban Farming Office ›

Taliesyn office, India, by Taliesyn

Indian architecture studio Taliesyn left materials exposed and unfinished at its recently completed office building in Bangalore as a reflection of the practice's values.

A steel skeleton holds the structure together, while the interiors feature terrazzo floors, plywood furniture and a large green spiral staircase.

Find out more about the Taliesyn office ›

Black Barn, Netherlands, by Studio Space and Studio REDD

Studio Space Architecten and design firm Studio REDD came together to create a shared office space in the Dutch town of Goirle.

Its barn-like form was informed by old farm structures found near the site, with large windows affording workspaces a view of the river that runs parallel to the building.

Find out more about Black Barn ›

Sher Maker Studio, Thailand, by Sher Maker

Small Thai architecture studio Sher Maker arranged its office either side of an open-air courtyard, using salvaged materials and a simple structure to deliver the project on a budget of just £15,000.

The office, which is nestled in a forest near Chiang Mai, was named interiors project of the year at Dezeen Awards 2021, with judges calling it "a beautifully simple shared space".

Find out more about Sher Maker Studio ›

The post Ten architecture studios that designed their own office buildings appeared first on Dezeen.

London designer Camille Walala has worked with carpentry workshop Our Department to fit out her own studio with a no-holds-barred version of her colourful design style.

Electric blue floors, graphically patterned cabinetry and a kitchenette with cartoon-like proportions feature in the space, which is located in the Regent Studios building off Broadway Market in East London.

The seventh-floor space attracted Walala and her studio manager Julia Jomaa with its sweeping views.

Knowing they would be in no hurry to vacate, the duo took their time with the design, working side by side in the studio for over a year while adjusting the position of their space-dividing furniture until they arrived at a layout with the perfect functionality for them.

Once they decided to embark on the interior design, it was not a given that they would embrace Walala's signature bold colour palette, as they worried about it potentially clashing with future work.

"We were like, how colourful should we go?" Walala told Dezeen. "Should we keep it quite simple or should we actually go for it?"

But ultimately, she says the desire to feel inspired by their workspace and "inhabit the aesthetic fully" won out.

The studio is divided into two rooms – one for "clean" computer-based work and the other for "messy" activities such as painting and model making.

Walala and Jomaa created a 3D model of the interior in SketchUp before bringing in their favourite carpenters" Our Department – a studio specialising in design and fabrication for the creative industries – to realise the design.

The duo of Simon Sawyer and Gustave Andre built all of the elements in the space with a focus on achieving clean lines and pure block colours along with maximum functionality.

For the cabinetry, they used doors made of melamine-faced medium-density fibreboard (MDF) and applied a decorative technique they had used on previous Walala projects.

This involved CNC-cutting shapes out of thin MDF, before spraypainting and precisely glueing them onto the doors to create a graphic pattern while avoiding the fuzzy lines that can sometimes come from painting directly onto surfaces.

In the kitchen, the group worked together to exaggerate proportions as much as possible, with Walala saying she dreamed of achieving a "Bart Simpson kitchen" through elements such as chunky handles and bold grout.

"We designed the Lego House a few years ago, this really colourful house," she explained. "Especially the kitchen in that space was really quite bold and almost like a cartoon, and we thought we should do something similar in our studio."

By contrast, a more subtle feature is the double sliding door between the studio's two rooms, which consists of a transparent fluted screen set within a black frame.

While it may be less attention-grabbing, Jomaa says the mesmeric effect of the fluted panels sliding against each other is like a "little animation of colour".

There are also a few natural wood elements throughout the interior such as tulipwood desk legs to balance the liberal use of colour.

As with all residents of Regent Studios, Walala will need to return the rented space to its original condition when her studio eventually leaves, so there are no permanent fixtures and everything is designed to be dismantled.

Even the central "wall", which contains floor-to-ceiling storage on one side, is freestanding. But the team used kitchen-unit feet to wedge it against the ceiling for stability.

Walala and Jamaa have been working together for eight years and started off sharing a desk in a basement studio. Their recent projects have included murals, installations and a proposal for a car-free Oxford Street.

Walala is often seen as being part of the New London Fabulous wave of maximalist designers, alongside Yinka Ilori, Morag Myerscough and Adam Nathaniel Furman.

The photography is by Taran Wilkhu.

The post Camille Walala takes colourful aesthetic to the max in self-designed studio appeared first on Dezeen.

Toronto interiors firm Mason Studio has redesigned its offices to offer community programming like exhibitions, events and other public-facing activities.

Mason Studio relaunched its workspace as a new hybrid office and cultural hub to serve "the greater good" during the DesignTO festival earlier this year.

As well as an office for the studio's team members, the building in Pelham Park now operates as a gallery space, community library, fabrication hub, experimentation space for non-profits and a coffee bar to name a few.

"Today's office is no longer just a place for work, but rather a space for conversation and discourse, a space for inspiration and rejuvenation, and a space for community to get involved, and gather and share knowledge," said the team.

The two-storey, industrial style building is largely decorated white, with curtains used to divide the various spaces and functions.

A double-height atrium can house artworks and installations, which are able to be suspended from the ceiling beams.

Among the areas within the building is a plant-filled study garden upstairs, where stools and chairs are placed around mossy tables that sprout foliage from their centres.

"The greenery and natural elements of the garden create a sense of tranquility, which helps reduce stress and improve overall well-being," said Mason Studio.

An open materials library can be utilised by local architects and designers, and a "give-one-take-one" book library is open to all community members.

Mason Studio also hosts storytime sessions for the children of their team and other community members. "This experiment was a reminder of how vital play is as a tool to socialize, learn and focus — even in the workplace," the team said.

During the annual Toronto design festival DesignTO, Mason Studio hosted a series of installations and activations to create a space where visitors "could experience an optimistic vision of the future".

For example, a temporary pay-what-you-want cafe donated any funds collected to local non-profit organisations.

"These types of new amenities not only stimulate local economies but also contribute to the cultural vitality of the community," said Mason Studio.

The inaugural art installation in The Gallery at Mason Studio, a collaborative effort named Full Moon Reflected On The Ocean At 01:34, comprised a giant glowing orb that was reflected on sheets of fan-blown mylar fabric.

In March 2023, the studio partnered with Toronto-based contemporary art gallery Cooper Cole Gallery to present works by emerging BIPOC and marginalised artists in the space.

Then in April, The Gallery at Mason Studio hosted Canadian artist Kadrah Mensah's exhibition titled Surely, You're Joking, which included video, sculpture, and installations intended to normalise digital body manipulation.

Mason Studio was founded over a decade ago by Stanley Sun and Ashley Rumsey, who have since completed projects that range from a cloud-like installation to the interiors of the Kimpton Saint George hotel.

The most recent edition of DesignTO, Toronto's citywide celebration of design, took place from 20-29 January 2023. Find more design events, talks and installations on the Dezeen Events Guide.

The photography is by Scott Norsworthy.

The post Mason Studio reimagines its Toronto workspace "for the greater good" appeared first on Dezeen.

Robert Hutchison Architecture and Javier Sanchez Arquitectos include an extensive system for capturing and reusing stormwater for a family nature retreat in a mountainous region of Mexico.

The Rain Harvest Home, or Casa Cosecha de Lluvia, is located in the rural town of Temascaltepec, which lies about 140 kilometres west of Mexico City.

The retreat was designed by Seattle's Robert Hutchison Architecture and Mexico City-based Javier Sanchez Arquitectos (JSa), which have collaborated on projects together in the past. The retreat was designed for JSa's founder and his family, who plan to make it their permanent residence in the future.

The property consists of three independent structures – a main house, a bathhouse and an art studio.

Landscaping elements include bio-agriculture gardens, an orchard and a network of pathways.

Permaculture principles were used to "establish a holistic, integrated relationship between people and place", the team said.

Permaculture – a portmanteau of permanent agriculture and permanent culture – is an approach to design and land management that takes cues from natural ecosystems.

One of the main goals for the project was to be mindful of resource consumption, particularly water. In turn, all of the structures are designed to capture and reuse rainwater.

The harvesting system meets 100 per cent of the home's water needs, according to the architects.

"Here, as in the surrounding region of Central Mexico, water has become an increasingly precious resource as temperatures rise and populations increase," the team said.

The region has a robust rainy season, but rainwater harvesting is uncommon. Instead, water tends to be pumped in from faraway watersheds.

"Rain Harvest Home takes a different tack, proposing an integrated approach to designing regeneratively with water," the team said.

Encompassing 1,200 square feet (111 square metres), the main house was envisioned as a pavilion for year-round use and features a large amount of covered outdoor space, with views of the landscape on all sides of the building.

The home's communal area consists of an open living room, dining area and kitchen. The private zones hold two bedrooms, a den, a small bathroom, a powder room and a storage/laundry space.

Nearby, the team placed the bathhouse, which totals 172 square feet (16 square metres). The building is designed to offer "a poetic dialogue with the experiential qualities of water".

Circular in plan, the bathhouse has four chambers that surround a central cold-plunge pool that is open to the sky. The chambers contain a hot bath, sauna, steam shower and washroom.

The final structure is the 206-square-foot (19-square-metre) art studio. The rectangular building has a main level and an "outdoor skyroom".

All three buildings have wood framing and black-stained pine cladding. Concrete-slab foundations are topped with pavers made of recinto volcanic stone. Roofs are covered with vegetation.

In the main residence, slender steel columns support deep roof overhangs. Rising up from the roof are protruding light monitors sheathed with unfinished steel plates, which will develop a patina over time.

Interior finishes include recinto stone and plywood made of Southern yellow pine.

All three buildings have strategies in place to capture rainwater. Moreover, bioswales in the landscape help direct water to the property's above- and below-ground reservoir system, where water is stored and purified.

"The on-site water treatment system is completely self-contained and primarily gravity-fed, containing five cisterns that provide potable and treated water," the team said.

"A chemical-free, blackwater treatment system treats all wastewater on-site, returning it to the site's water cycle as greywater for use in toilets, and to irrigate the on-site orchard," the team added.

In addition to water conservation, the architects were also mindful of energy production. A 10-kW photovoltaic array generates electricity for all three buildings.

Overall, the home is meant to be a model for how to integrate water conservation into home design.

"It stands as a testament to the potential of rainwater harvesting for off-grid, self-contained water systems that eliminate reliance on municipal water sources," the team said.

"At the same time, the element of water contributes to the overall spatial and experiential quality of the project, reconnecting people with their environment by engaging the senses."

Other rural homes in Mexico include a house with a cruciform-shaped plan and hefty stone walls by HW Studio Arquitectos, and a brutalist-style, concrete house in a pine forest that was designed by architect Ludwig Godefroy.

The photography is by Jaime Navarro, Rafael Gamo, Laia Rius Solá and César Béjar.

Project credits:

Architects: Robert Hutchison Architecture and JSa
Project team: Robert Hutchison, Javier Sanchez, Sean Morgan, Berenice Solis
Structural engineer: Bykonen Carter Quinn
Mechanical engineer: TAF Alejandro Filloy
General contractor: Mic Mac Estructuras
Landscape architect: Helene Carlo
Wood construction and fabrication: MicMac Estructuras (Johan Guerrero)
Steel construction and fabrication: Rhometal Roberto Chavez
Water systems consultant: Miguel Nieto
Solar systems consultant: Teoatonalli (Oscar Matus)
Kitchen consultant: Piacere Charly Trujillo

The post Water shortage concerns influence design of Rain Harvest Home in Mexico appeared first on Dezeen.

Seattle firm Olson Kundig Architects has created a studio attached to a primary residence in Washington, which sits on railroad tracks that allow it to completely detach.

Called Maxon Studio, the project comprises a two-storey weathering-steel structure constructed as an office for the client's branding agency in Carnation, Washington.

The studio was built on top of 15-foot-gauge railroad tracks so that it can either be a "nested" addition to the client's home, or move away to become an independent structure.

The client, Lou Maxon, was also the general contractor on the project and worked with Olson Kundig Architects to allow for the studio to move back and forth on the rails.

"It’s a beautiful object, beautifully fabricated, but moving it along the track is another experience entirely," said Olson Kundig Architects design principal Tom Kundig.

"What Lou and Alpine [Welding] were able to achieve with reconfiguring the electronics of the control panel and elegantly allowing the electrical connection to unspool behind the studio is absolute brilliance," he added.

"It’s a prime example of taking an idea 60 per cent or 70 per cent of the way, and then stepping aside to let an expert bring it fully to life."

Besides the functional aspect of the rails, other elements of railroad design were implemented in the project, as an ode to the "legacy of the rail industry in the local region", the studio said.

The two-storey structure was based on the design of the "traditional caboose". A workspace sits on the first level while the second, accessible via a steel ladder, serves as a cupola for taking in views and functions as a "calmer zone for creative exploration and restoration".

The control panel that operates the rails was taken from a Burlington Northern locomotive, while the door colour and the wood used were directly informed by colours and materials commonly found on American trains.

The railroad ties for the track were repurposed from the Great Northern Railroad line, though the studio noted the steel tracks "are a much larger gauge than is typically used".

Also implemented was a stabilizing bar that will prevent the tower from tipping during an earthquake, similar to those found on trains used for Japanese high-speed railways.

Inside, the studio features a steel wall and a built-in desk. The rest of the walls are wood and, on the wall with the ladder, there is the control panel with a stool.

The second storey has the same material scheme with wood and steel walls, as well as a built-in bookshelf.

A dumbwaiter was included to ferry heavier items up and down between the levels.

Olson Kundig Architects was founded by Jim Olson in 1966. Its recent work includes designs for a human composting facility in Seattle as well as a home in Austin with cantilevered walkways.

The photography and videography is by Aaron Leitz. 

Project credits: 

Project Team:  Design principal: Tom Kundig; principal: Edward Lalonde; gizmologist: Phil Turner
Client and general contractor: Lou Maxon
Steel fabrication: Alpine Welding
Structural engineer: MCE Structural Consultants

The post Olson Kundig places movable studio on rail tracks in Washington State appeared first on Dezeen.

Lime-washed walls meet aluminium display fixtures in this minimalist studio and showroom that designer Hollie Bowden has devised for London brand Completedworks.

Set over two floors of a former pub in Marylebone, it provides space for Completedworks to design and display its jewellery and ceramics, as well as to host an array of craft-focused classes.

The brand was established in 2013 and up until now, has largely been sold via high-end department stores such as Dover Street Market and Liberty. But founder Anna Jewsbury felt it was time for Completedworks to have its own brick-and-mortar space.

"We increasingly had clients asking to come and see our pieces in person but felt that we didn't have a space that felt considered and reflected our vision," she said. "We wanted people to be able to enter our world and get to know us, and for us to get to know them."

For the design of the showroom, Jewsbury worked with London-based designer Hollie Bowden, who naturally looked to the brand's jewellery for inspiration.

This can be seen for example in the hammered-metal door handles that appear throughout the studio and directly reference the creased design of the gold Cohesion earrings.

"[Completedworks] is known for the beauty of the textural surfaces and flowing almost baroque forms," Bowden explained. "We developed a display language that played off that, with minimal details and strict lines."

Almost every surface throughout the studio is washed in beige-toned lime paint, with only a few slivers of the original brick walls and a worn metal column left exposed near the central staircase.

Bowden used brushed aluminium to create a range of display fixtures, including chunky plinths and super-slender shelving units supported by floor-to-ceiling poles.

The space also houses a couple of angular aluminium counters for packing orders that include discrete storage for boxes and subtle openings, through which tissue paper or bubble wrap can be pulled.

A slightly more playful selection of colours and materials was used for the studio's custom furnishings.

In the main showroom, there's a modular display island sheathed in lilac linen. Meanwhile in the office, designer Byron Pritchard – who is also Bowden's partner – created a gridded wooden cabinet inlaid with translucent sheets of paper, intended to resemble a traditional Japanese shoji screen.

This isn't Bowden's first project in London's affluent Marylebone neighbourhood.

Previously, the designer created an office for real estate company Schönhaus, decking the space out with dark-stained oak and aged leather to emulate the feel of a gentleman's club.

The photography is by Genevieve Lutkin.

The post Hollie Bowden converts London pub into pared-back jewellery showroom appeared first on Dezeen.

Australian studio Dane Taylor Design has completed Bush Studio, a multipurpose garden room in New South Wales that has a compact form clad in charred wood.

Commissioned by a couple who run a local child-psychology clinic, the garden studio acts as a private space for studying and entertaining, as well as a retreat for their teenage daughter.

Bush Studio's design centres around fostering an intimate relationship between the owner and the bush landscape surrounding their home in Bulli, a seaside suburb of the Australian city of Wollongong.

Dane Taylor Design took a minimalist approach to its materiality and form, with off-site manufacturing aiding this.

"The existing dwelling sits at the front of the block, with a meandering suspended path connecting the two," explained studio director Dane Taylor.

"This journey from house to studio gently introduces the occupant back into nature from the built environment."

The structure is nestled among blue gum trees and sits on a raised timber deck that is positioned delicately on the contours of the landscape.

A gum tree is also integrated directly into the design, growing through the deck via an opening.

Simple in form, Bush Studio has a rectangular plan with glazed openings on its east, north and west facades that frame views across the deck and into the landscape beyond.

The structure is crowned with a mono-pitched roof that sits atop clerestory windows and provides optimal sunlight into the space during the year.

As the structure is so modest in scale, Taylor made use of passive design strategies to control solar gain and ensure a comfortable internal temperature.

"By orientating the structure to the northern aspect and designing roof overhangs that allow the warming winter sun in, while blocking the harsh summer sun, [we] ultimately created a comfortable internal space," said Taylor.

The natural qualities of the site influenced decisions around materiality, with timber charred using a Japanese technique called Shou Sugi Ban applied as cladding externally.

Sliding timber shoji screens used as doors are intended as a reference to the "imperfect natural beauty" of the surrounding gum trees, Dane Taylor Studio said.

The site's influence continues in Bush Studio's interior, with a polished concrete floor chosen to echo the gravel trails on the slopes behind the house.

"As the space was required to be multi-functional, a minimalist interior scheme was used," explained Taylor. "The walls and ceiling are painted a flat light grey to contrast against the hardwood timber windows and doors."

Elsewhere in Australia, Melbourne architect Matt Gibson recently created a garden studio for a writer that is covered in ivy to help it blend in with its surroundings.

Other garden rooms featured on Dezeen include The Light Shed by Richard John Andrews and Cork Study by Surmon Weston.

The photography is by Daniel Mulhearn.

The post Compact garden studio nestles among trees in New South Wales appeared first on Dezeen.

The latest edition of our Dezeen Debate newsletter features a studio in Mexico City created for Casa Wabi founder Bosco Sodi by Alberto Kalach. Subscribe to Dezeen Debate now.

Located on the site of a former industrial warehouse, the studio space has a three-storey office structure and a four-storey tower with gallery spaces.

Commenters were in love with the project. One described it as "impressive and monumental", whilst another praised Casa Wabi's "commendable record of fine buildings".

Other stories in this week's newsletter that fired up the comments section included designs for the Yichang Grand Theatre in China by Open Architecture, Kith and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation's release of a New Balance sneaker and the naming of the finalists of the contest to design the future National Museum of the US Navy.

Dezeen Debate

Dezeen Debate is sent every Thursday and features a selection of the best reader comments and most talked-about stories. Read the latest edition of Dezeen Debate or subscribe here.

You can also subscribe to our other newsletters; Dezeen Agenda is sent every Tuesday containing a selection of the most important news highlights from the week, Dezeen Daily is our daily bulletin that contains every story published in the preceding 24 hours and Dezeen In Depth is sent on the last Friday of every month and delves deeper into the major stories shaping architecture and design.

The post Dezeen Debate features Casa Wabi's "impressive and monumental" studio appeared first on Dezeen.

Mexican architect Alberto Kalach has created a studio for Casa Wabi founder Bosco Sodi in Mexico City that features expansive brickwork and industrial elements.

Kalach designed the space for Bosco Sodi, a Mexican artist who founded Fundación Casa Wabi in Oaxaca, a multi-purpose artist residency and gallery.

The Mexico City space, called Studio CDMX, was designed to serve as an administrative extension of the headquarters in Oaxaca and as a studio where Sodi could display his sculptural works.

"A new building in a sea of postindustrial reuse, Bosco Sodi's studio at Sabino 336 is a secular sacred space, erected to enshrine the form of material thought with which he has become so closely associated," said the team.

The building was constructed on the site of a former industrial warehouse, and many of the surrounding buildings in the Atlampa neighbourhood remain industrial.

It contains a three-storey office structure on the street-facing facade and a four-storey tower for the gallery spaces.

The two structures are separated by an interior courtyard and characterised by broad swathes of concrete and brickwork.

Kalach was informed in his design by the natural materials of Mexico and his ongoing project to revive the Mexican capital's history as "The Lake City".

He also took influence from Sodi's sculptural works, which include large-scale ceramic, stone and wood pieces, in the design of the space.

The street-facing facade has a precast-concrete base topped with a wall of partially ventilated brickwork.

A monumental door is set into the facade and the brick and concrete walls step into the recess on one side, adding depth to the opening. The entrance leads to the interior courtyard.

The brick-and-concrete walls have been continued throughout the structure. Each of the floors of the three-storey structure has terraces, and it is topped by a rooftop, where greenery and additional artworks have been placed.

The terraces at the front of the structure are connected to the tower building via metal staircases and a large steel-and-glass external elevator runs up the wall of the studio via the courtyard.

The whole of the courtyard is surrounded by a brickwork wall that expands up and creates shade and shelter for the outdoor areas.

Inside the four-storey studio building, the upper floors reference the industrial past of the site with exposed I-beams that support a corrugated metal roof.

Throughout the house, Kalach used flooring in polished concrete or dark wood.

The architect added skylights to the roof and some of the floors, bringing light into the lower levels of the mostly windowless structure.

At the back of the property is an open-air recessed area with a sculptural concrete staircase.

The studio opened to the public in February concurrent with Sodi's exhibition at the nearby Galería Hilario Galguera.

Bosco Sodi is known for his foundation's work and his sculptures, some of which he has displayed at Casa Wabi and abroad.

Recently, the artist unveiled a new home and residency in Tokyo designed by Studio Wasabi Architecture and Satoshi Kawakami Architects.

Kalach runs Taller de Arquitectura X, whose work has appeared at Casa Wabi and elsewhere throughout Mexico, including two sculptural hotels in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca: Hotel Terrestre, which sits next to Casa Wabi and Hotel Sforza, which is characterized by large brickwork arches.

The photography is by Sergio Lopez.

The post Alberto Kalach creates "secular sacred space" for Casa Wabi founder in Mexico City appeared first on Dezeen.

A series of shelters for doves were embedded in the laminated-cedar facade of Neal Schwartz's self-designed studio, which is an extension of his Sonoma home.

Called Mourning Dovecote, the extension is attached to Schwartz's single-storey home in Sonoma, California.

Schwartz worked with his studio Schwartz and Architecture to create the addition, which the architect uses as a home studio.

The project is an ode to the many dovecotes prevalent across the Sonoma countryside – structures designed to provide shelter for pigeons and doves that are often attached to the rear of houses or barns.

Twelve rectilinear nesting boxes were built onto one side of the extension's angled facade, which is clad in powder grey-hued laminated cedar.

According to the architect, the extension's height, proportions, orientation and ventilation were specifically designed to encourage nesting doves.

The existing home has clerestories wrapping its rear facade, so to preserve these, Schwartz knocked out a wall underneath the windows.

"This threshold was very low, so the addition needed to somehow step or angle back up to have a higher ceiling," he told Dezeen.

"Through a series of iterations, I just kept getting bolder – first angling up to nine feet, then to 12, then to 14 and then to 18 feet."

The structure is topped with a steep, distinctively shaped standing seam metal roof created from laser-cut metal shingles informed by bird feathers.

"I wanted a somewhat chapel-like space in which it was not immediately clear where the light was coming from," explained Schwartz.

"The angled high ceiling draws you into the space and because it gets so high that it really hides the upper skylight, as in a chapel."

A low bird-watching window was inserted at floor level in response to the ground-feeding habits of local mourning doves – the bird species that the extension is named after.

Inside, the original house and the extension are divided by a sheer silk curtain, covered in a pattern made from a rearrangement of a photograph from Richard Barnes' Murmur series, which captured starlings in flight.

Light filters through the extension from the high ceiling's south-facing skylight, while a central painting by artist Maggie Connors is suspended above.

Plaster-clad interior walls give way to sliding timber desk panels, which pivot to reveal magnetic pin-up boards used by Schwartz for giving work presentations.

The panels were finished in colours that take cues from the feathers of mourning doves.

The architect also created bespoke 3D-printed door handles bound in plaited leather are informed by the work of iconic Finnish architect Alvar Aalto.

A small hidden courtyard was inserted alongside the extension, which is characterised by mossy mounds, site boulders and a Japanese maple tree.

Visitors reach the extension from the courtyard via a walkway made from surplus cedar offcuts created during the construction of the project.

"When I originally designed the house, I liked how it turned its back to the street, essentially hiding the long vineyard views until you enter the front door," reflected Schwartz.

"Perhaps it was also in part trying to make the modern structure more demure in the rural and traditional setting."

"Now, 10 years later, I was ready to add the front-facing 'head' to the home [the extension] – more confident in its oddness."

Other designers who have completed self-designed studio projects at their homes include architect Paul Westwood, who transformed his dilapidated garage into a workshop, and designer and artist John-Paul Philippe who refurbished a neglected barn.

The photography is by Douglas Sterling Photography.

The post Neal Schwartz includes dovecotes in "chapel-like" California studio appeared first on Dezeen.

Ab Rogers Design has completed an artist's studio and residence in Kanazawa, Japan, featuring a series of fluorescent partition walls that can be rotated to transform how the space is used.

Called Fishmarket, the multipurpose creative and living space was designed for Japanese artist Hiraki Sawa, who lives in London but regularly visits his home city of Kanazawa.

Sawa met Ab Rogers in 2019 when the pair were both working on projects for the Wonderfruit music festival in Thailand.

At the time, they were both living in east London and over the course of several conversations decided to work together on what Rogers calls the "co-being space" in Kanazawa.

Named after the duo's shared love of fish, the former commercial space was converted into a place for Sawa to stay while in Kanazawa, as well as a place to host workshops around design, culture and food.

Rogers' studio stripped the interior back to its industrial shell before adding foil-backed insulation to some of the walls and introducing interventions including the rotating plywood walls.

"We didn't want to make it cosy or glossy, we wanted to work with the bones of what was there," Rogers told Dezeen.

"We tried to let the light in as much as possible while keeping it raw and creating these interventions, these objects in space."

The insertion of the four movable partitions on the building's second floor allows this open space to be transformed into three smaller multipurpose zones.

Pivoting doors conceal the bathroom and enable the bedroom to become a workshop for making art, a place for viewing it or a social space for gatherings.

Each panel is painted in a different fluorescent highlighter hue to bring a sense of vibrancy and character to the otherwise pared-back space.

"I love fluorescent colours because they're really alive and dynamic," Rogers explained. "When daylight hits them they become electrified and they transform into something else."

A concrete staircase ascends to another open space where a monolithic nine-metre-long workbench functions as a kitchen, a worktop and a table for cooking, eating and sharing.

"The kitchen can be used as a kitchen but it's also adaptable depending on what actions are being performed in the space," Rogers explained.

"If you put a plate on it, it becomes a restaurant," he added. "If you put a computer on it then it's an office and if you put a sewing machine on it then it becomes a workshop for designing or making textiles."

All of the materials used in the project were sourced locally and chosen for their affordability. Building regulations also dictated some of the design decisions, such as the need to line certain walls with plywood panels.

Rogers never visited Kanazawa, so Sawa was responsible for solving problems on-site and finding materials to turn his ideas into reality.

The project evolved over time with lots of back and forth between the client and designer. According to Rogers, this organic process produced an outcome that embodies both of their visions.

"I love these small projects where you have a strong affiliation with the client," said the designer. "This symbiotic way of designing through a conversation is really fluent and means you're always building ambition."

Rogers works across fields such as health, culture, retail, hospitality and housing.

Previous projects by the multidisciplinary design studio include a cancer treatment hospital clad in glazed red terracotta and a space-efficient apartment with a floor area of just 19 square metres.

The photography is by Takumi Ota.

The post Rotating fluorescent panels define zones in "co-being space" by Ab Rogers Design appeared first on Dezeen.

London-based architecture studio Hyperspace has created a garden studio in Hertfordshire, England, featuring a pivoting door and a charred-timber facade that doubles as an insect hotel.

Hyperspace converted a suburban garage to create the work-from-home studio called Dark Matter.

The building's name refers to its facade, formed of 850 pieces of charred wood. The process, called Shou Sugi Ban, prolongs the life of the wood by making it more resistant to moisture.

Gaps were left in between these wooden shingles to provide natural habitats for insects, with the aim of promoting biodiversity in the garden.

They act "as a giant bug hotel for insects to hibernate in", according to Hyperspace founder Olli Andrew.

Andrew designed the studio to provide the client, design recruitment consultant Wayne Euston-Moore, with a spacious and tranquil workspace.

The ambition from the outset was to go beyond the simple, glass-fronted box that forms most garden studios.

The pivoting door follows this approach. Located on an angular cutaway at the building's corner, this double-width element create a sense of drama from arrival.

The building also features two "light chimneys" dotted with perforations.

Extending down from skylights in the roof, they create dynamic light reflections intended to mimic dappled sunlight through a tree canopy.

"Outdoor garden studios don't need to be generic boxes," said Andrew.

"This project's beauty is in the craft, space and light. And with its connection to nature, it's an inspired place to work."

The design reuses almost all of the materials from the original garage structure, including the timber beams from the dismantled hip roof. Anything leftover was diverted to another Hyperspace project, to keep waste to a minimum.

A corrugated metal roof was supported on white oiled timber rafters, while the interior walls are now lined with poplar plywood panels.

To improve the building's energy performance, Andrew chose triple-glazed windows and skylights while he added insulation formed of wood fibre, wool and recyclable foil-based blankets.

"To reduce embodied carbon, the majority of materials were procured from within a 10-mile radius," said Andrew.

"Steel and concrete use was kept to a minimum, with only one steel flitch plate and less than one square metre of concrete."

The studio is minimally furnished, helping to enhance the sense of space. A simple table in the corner offers a view out through windows facing both north and east.

These windows both feature deep sills and minimal overhanging canopies, giving the studio's occupant an alternative to place to sit and work.

"It provides an amazing headspace which is inspiring yet calm," Euston-Moore said. "It feels like you're in a perfectly insulated space yet connected to the outside with ample natural light."

Other recent garden studio designs include Michael Dillon's low-cost architecture studio in Kent and a writer's hut in Dublin designed by Clancy Moore Architects.

The photography and film are by Simon Kennedy.

The post Hyperspace converts suburban garage into Dark Matter garden studio appeared first on Dezeen.

Luca Nichetto has converted a 1940s villa in Stockholm into a studio to display his designs in a domestic setting and provide a comfortable working environment for his team.

The Italian designer's studio was previously based out of an apartment in the city's Midsommarkransen neighbourhood. But when the landlord wanted to raise the rent, Nichetto decided to relocate to a larger property in a nearby suburb.

"I didn't really need to look for another space in the city centre because it's not that important for us as we work globally," Nichetto explained.

"A week after beginning to search, I saw on the real estate market what is now the Pink Villa. It was simply perfect and I made the offer."

The Pink Villa is a typical 1940s wooden house with a gabled roof and a large garden. Nichetto bought the property in 2021 and began adapting the interior to make it suitable for use as a studio.

"I didn't want a conventional studio space but rather a space that could be a studio, a showroom and a domestic property to be used on the weekends by my family and during the week by my team," the designer told Dezeen.

The villa takes its name from its distinctive pink exterior, which was given a fresh coat of bubblegum-pink paint to maintain its characterful presence on the street.

The property's existing three bedrooms were transformed into a private office for Nichetto on the first floor and a meeting room and tailor's workshop on the ground floor, which his wife uses on the weekends.

A corridor leads from the entrance to a bright living room that looks onto the garden. An opening beyond the stairs up to the first floor connects with the simple custom-built kitchen.

Along with Nichetto's office, the upper floor contains a second bathroom and a large open workspace that facilitates flexible use rather than incorporating dedicated workstations.

The interior features a pared-back palette of materials and colours that provide a neutral backdrop for a selection of products and furniture designed by Nichetto for brands including Offecct, Cassina, Arflex and Bernhardt Design.

"I wanted to give a touch of warmth and I did that using colour and volumes," the designer said. "I particularly chose materials culturally connected with the south of Europe and very deliberately mixed them with Scandinavian features."

In the living area, pale-pink walls and white-painted floors contribute to the light and airy feel. Nichetto's Banah sofa for Arflex and Soufflé mirror for La Manufacture are among the playful designs that bring character to this space.

Upstairs, the main office spaces feature furniture such as Nichetto's Torei low table for Cassina and Nico armchair for Bernhardt Design. His office contains the Railway table for De Padova and Robo chairs by Offecct.

One of the key qualities that attracted Nichetto to the property is the spacious garden, which includes a terrace furnished with his Esedra table and Pluvia chairs for Ethimo.

The basement garage was converted into a self-contained guest suite called the Chalet, which includes a living room, bedroom and bathroom with a Swedish sauna.

Since the renovation was completed in April 2022, the Chalet has hosted international visitors including art directors, photographers and designers.

The property's location close to a park and to the water was another reason it appealed to Nichetto, who said he enjoys the proximity to nature and the good relationship he has established with his neighbours.

A housekeeper was hired to look after the studio and to prepare meals for the team, adding to the sense of it hybrid space that is both domestic and designed for work.

"It's like being in a family: we all have lunch together and there are no fixed workstations to work," he explained. "Moreover, whoever comes to visit us, if he wants, can stay and sleep. The idea is to create a sense of community."

Luca Nichetto established his multidisciplinary practice in Venice, Italy, in 2006 and continues to run a studio there alongside his main office in Stockholm. Nichetto Studio specialises in industrial and product design as well as art direction for design brands.

Nichetto's recent work includes a series of home fragrances for Ginori 1735 and his first foray into fashion accessories in the form of the apple-leather Malala handbag.

The photography is by Max Rommel.

The post Luca Nichetto transforms Swedish villa into his own studio and showroom appeared first on Dezeen.

Argentinian artist and designer Edgardo Giménez has created an artist residency in Uruguay called Casa Neptuna that features playful geometry and bright colours.

Casa Neptuna comprises an elongated one-storey structure made up of blocks and topped with decorative sculptural forms.

It is located in José Ignacio, a seaside town in Uruguay, on a residential lot dotted with trees, and was previously a residential structure.

Argentinian artist Edgardo Giménez was commissioned by Amalia Amoedo, an art collector who founded a residency through her Fundación Ama Amoedo (FAA).

"The residency program and Casa Neptuna were created simultaneously, in continuous dialogue and harmony," said FAA director Verónica Flom.

"In a way, the process of creating Casa Neptuna and its results are an example of the purpose of our residency program: that artists can have the time, space, and freedom to work on their practice," she told Dezeen.

"Edgardo wanted the house to be a space where one feels free to encourage creative thinking."

Casa Neptuna has living quarters for two artists, as well as a shared studio space, kitchen and common room.

Opting for local materials like plaster and brick, Giménez created an envelope made of interlocking geometries. The whole building sits on a yellow-painted platform, while the majority of the structure was painted a fluorescent green.

On top of the building are a series of sculptural decorative elements including two green arches that bookmark the elongated structure and a series of abstract forms in the middle painted yellow, blue and pink.

The bright colours reflect the well-known aesthetic of Giménez, who was a member of the Pop Art scene in Buenos Aires in the 1960s.

"It was Edgardo Giménez who decided the colors and all the aspects involving the design of Casa Neptuna," Flom told Dezeen.

"From the colors, the repetition of circular shapes in windows and arches, to his emblematic clover-shaped door, are clear examples of his personal signature."

While the exterior is vibrant and comes across as a piece of fine art in itself, the interiors are decidedly more minimal.

The interior is characterised by white walls and black metallic accents that frame the porthole windows as well as the floor-to-ceiling windows of the studio.

According to Flom, this approach was taken in order to "encourage concentration and a more focused atmosphere" for the artists-in-residence.

Giménez was born in 1942 in Argentina and is known for his visual art, furniture and fashion design. He has completed a number of other residences in and around Buenos Aires, including a home called Casa Azul for art critics Jorge Romero Brest and Marta Bontempi.

Other structures that have exteriors with vibrant colours and sculptural forms include Bolivian architect Freddy Mamani's abstract creations in La Paz and Javier Senosian's housing complex in Mexico that takes the form of a colourful serpent.

The photography is by Cristobal Palma.

The post Edgardo Giménez creates colourful artist residency in Uruguay appeared first on Dezeen.

Architect Paul Westwood has converted the dilapidated garage of his London home into a workshop and studio, featuring a pared-back material palette that references the existing Victorian house.

Westwood, who is a design director at international design collective RIOS, has been gradually renovating the house since he purchased it in 2018 together with his partner, fashion designer Annelise Armitage.

In 2021 Westwood took a sabbatical from his previous role with Heatherwick Studio to work on the house and garden, which was separated into three small and impractical spaces.

The house itself was built in the 1890s and featured a corner shopfront that had seen several previous uses, most recently as an ice-cream storage facility.

The existing garden comprised a small area facing the house, a dilapidated garage that was too small for a car and an overgrown patch of land that the previous owner purchased from a neighbour.

Westwood set out to design a building he could mostly construct himself, using recycled materials wherever possible. His design reorganises the lot to create a sequence of connected spaces that are better suited to everyday use and entertaining.

"Before this project, we couldn’t really invite people round for a barbecue because everyone felt really penned in," Westwood told Dezeen.

"The idea was to make the garden feel three times bigger than it did previously and to create a practical space for working from home. I also wanted to include storage for my tools and a way to harvest rainwater."

The existing garage was stripped back to its structural shell and Westwood engaged contractors to install a new roof and undertake specialist tasks including plastering, bricklaying and electrical works.

New openings added to the red-brick building improve the connection with the outdoor spaces on either side, as well as allowing natural light and air to reach the interior.

A large skylight brings in the sun from above and underfloor heating combined with well-insulated walls and ceilings ensures the space can be used year-round.

The studio's pared-back palette comprises mostly natural materials chosen to create a sense of consistency with the main home.

"The house is 130 years old and has a lot of character," Westwood explained. "Everything is old and a lot of it needs replacing but that's part of its charm. We wanted to maintain that feeling in this new space."

The workshop's internal walls are covered with a textured plaster and the floors are laid with sandstone cobbles that extend out to the adjacent courtyard, creating a connection between inside and outside.

Reclaimed doors purchased on Ebay were given a fresh coat of paint and the rest of the timber used in the project was sourced from a local sawmill.

Occasional bursts of colour are provided by furniture pieces including a green-fronted storage bench and bright-red step ladder from Japanese brand Metaphys.

Outside, there is a water butt for collecting rainwater and the garden is arranged around two existing trees, with plants chosen based on the local climate.

Having spent recent years overseeing major projects such as the Little Island park in New York City and the London Olympia events centre for Heatherwick Studio, Westwood said he enjoyed the opportunity to be hands-on and take his time developing this personal space.

"One of the things I loved about this project was not knowing at the start exactly what the outcome would be," he said.

"On big projects for commercial clients, everything is planned and costed in advance," Westwood added. "But when you have time and space to explore things you can make decisions on the fly. I really liked this slow architecture approach."

The photography is by Chris Wharton.

The post Paul Westwood transforms disused garage into light-filled garden office appeared first on Dezeen.

This video shot by architectural photographer Edmund Sumner shows the pebbledash-covered rooftop studio that architect Sean Griffiths recently added to the postmodern Blue House in London.

The extension is designed "in the spirit" of the much-lauded original house, which Griffiths designed in 2002 as his own home alongside FAT partners Charles Holland and Sam Jacob.

Clad in pink-toned pebbledash, the addition contains a rooftop studio that opens on a pebble-filled terrace intended to evoke the beach at Camber Sands. Its rough texture is designed to be in contrast to the pale blue clapboard-patterned fibre-cement walls of the original home.

"I'm glad that we did not just mimic the aesthetic of the original house in the extension, that we kept experimenting in the spirit of the original house but created something that contrasted, but worked well with the original," Griffiths told Dezeen.

"I wasn't sure whether that was the right approach as we were doing it, but now I think it was."

Read more about the Blue House extension ›

The film is by Edmund Sumner.

The post Rooftop extension to FAT's Blue House revealed in drone film appeared first on Dezeen.

Black-painted larch shingles cover the exterior of this artist's studio in London, designed by local architecture practice Archer + Braun.

Commissioned by landscape painter Amelia Humber for the garden of her home in Leytonstone, Schindel Studio nestles between mature trees, with a black finish intended to provide a "backdrop to the changing daylight and changing seasons".

Informed by Alpine cabins, Schindel Studio's roughly textured cladding contrasts a crisp white interior, designed to give the space the feeling of being both rustic and contemporary.

"Utilising shingles to clad the walls and roof was influenced by Archer + Braun's co-founder Sarah Braun's exposure to the architectural vernacular of rural villages in the Alps," said the practice.

"[They] were sourced from an artisan producer in Bavaria that produces shingles that are hand-split and made from older larch 'shingle' trees, creating a finish to the timber that exposes the grain and is rich in variety and texture," Archer + Braun added.

Inside Schindel Studio is a bathroom, storage and a single studio room, accessed via two doors on either side of the building's southern elevation, concealed by the shingle cladding.

The form and layout of the interior are guided by the lighting requirements for painting, with a small window looking out towards the garden and a row of large skylights in the pitched roof drawing in north light.

It is designed to be completely flexible and durable, with all of its surfaces able to be worked on and easily repainted or repaired.

"The roof is pitched to allow for north light, and the wall space is maximised for artworks," said Archer + Braun.

"The interior has been envisaged as a 'white box', providing robust and durable working surfaces that are easily repainted," it continued.

Intended to be sustainable both in construction and use, the studio sits on screw pile foundations instead of concrete, with wall insulation made from wood fibre and recycled denim, triple-glazed windows, and power supplied by solar panels on the roof of the main home.

Archer + Braun was founded by Stuart Archer and Sarah Braun and has offices in London as well as in Edinburgh, where it recently added a glass and stone extension to a grand villa.

Other recently completed artist's studios include a garage revamp in Edinburgh by Scottish studio Konishi Gaffney and a barn conversion in rural Iceland designed by Studio Bua, which won residential rebirth project of the year 2022 in the Dezeen Awards.

The photography is by French + Tye.

Project credits:

Architect: Archer + Braun
Client: Amelia Humber
Structural engineer: Simple Works
Lighting: Atrium

The post Black larch shingles cover Schindel Studio in London by Archer + Braun appeared first on Dezeen.

British architect Michael Dillon has designed and built his own low-cost garden studio in southeast England using low-carbon materials that include wood-fibre board and hemp.

Located in Kent, the 14-square-metre building provides a part-time workspace for Dillon, who recently launched his own architecture studio called AOMD.

The design centres around natural and recycled materials, and minimises the use of concrete, toxins, plastics and glues.

"The Garden Studio was an exercise for me in self-building from scratch, and testing how easy it is to source alternative, recycled and local materials," Dillon told Dezeen.

"It isn't just an architect’s studio, it's also a continuing experiment into how buildings can be made without so much waste and carbon. All this to better inform my emerging practice," he said.

The architect was able to keep costs down to £4,500. He did this by carefully planning the build in advance and minimising material wastage.

"A large amount of time was spent researching suppliers to get the right materials and grouping together deliveries," said Dillon.

"Drawing the project up in detail and working to standard panel sizing allowed for me to cut down wastage and keep over-ordering to a minimum."

The building is simple in form but features contemporary details including blue-oiled Douglas fir cladding, a slender low-pitched gable roof and a large picture window.

It has a modular timber framework designed for easy self-assembly. Hemp insulation infills the stud walls, while the interior is lined with the wood-fibre board known as ESB.

Dillon chose ESB, rather than OSB or plywood, as it is made from wood pulp without any glue. His aim was to create a "fully breathable" structure.

For the same reason, he chose chalk-based paint and Marmoleum lino for the internal wall and floor finishes.

The structure sits on foundations of timber and recycled plastic matting. This meant it could be installed without planning permission, under permitted development rights.

Before setting up his own practice, Dillon was an associate for London studio Mae Architects working on projects including the Stirling Prize-shortlisted Sands End Arts and Community Centre.

The architect now uses the garden studio as his workspace three or four days a week and commutes into London the rest of the time.

Featuring a built-in desk, the dual-aspect space offers Dillon a view of a valley and woodland while he works.

"It seemed a far more inspiring alternative to a traditional office in a more urban location," he said.

"It is a calm place to draw and to be creative, with ample space for making models at 1:10 scale and photographing them."

The architect doesn't currently have plans to turn the design into a self-assembly product, although he expects to repurpose some of the details for future bespoke studio designs.

Other recent examples of garden studios include one in Dublin built from recycled aluminium and red-stained beech and one in Maine featuring barn-style doors.

The photography is by Rory Gaylor unless otherwise indicated.

The post Michael Dillon creates his own low-cost garden studio in Kent appeared first on Dezeen.

Alexander May, the founder of creative advisory Sized, has opened a flexible studio space in a former industrial building in Hollywood that will host photoshoots, events, exhibitions and more.

Sized Studio was designed over 5,000 square feet (465 square metres) in a former industrial space. The space will host commercial projects, events, dinners, performances and other experiential marketing, as well as public-facing programming.

"Sized Studio is an exciting step in the development of the Sized brand," said May. "It's designed to create strong collaborations with designers, brands, and creatives. Sized Studio gives another layer of access to the environments that Sized creates."

A variety of spaces in the former industrial building can be booked for photographers to shoot campaigns, galleries to put on exhibitions and brands to host activations.

Ceiling heights in the different rooms range from 10 to 30 feet (three to nine metres), and the majority of spaces are white-washed to provide a blank canvas.

Of the larger spaces is a 1,612-square-foot (150-square-metre) loading bay, which features exposed beams and built-in lounge seating with black cushions.

Anyone who rents a space will have the opportunity to enlist Sized's advisory services, which encompass creative direction, set design, site activation and curatorial consultation.

"There's no limit to what kind of activations can be realized within Sized Studio," May said. "What's unique about Sized Studio is that it's adjacent to Sized, which allows the people who use it to become closer to the larger culturally conscious community that Sized embodies."

Although the studios officially open on 17 October 2022, Kim Kardashian's underwear brand Skims has already utilised the studio, while upcoming public progamming includes a planned showcase of Andy Warhol photography.

May founded Sized in 2021, following a career in creative direction across a wide variety of locations and industries.

His collaborators have ranged from interior designer Kelly Wearstler to fashion house Rick Owens.

Prior to this venture, May founded and provided creative direction for art non-profit Fondazione Converso in Milan from 2017 to 2020.

Similar creative hubs to Sized Studio elsewhere include Spring Studios in New York, located in a Tribeca telephone exchange building converted by AA Studio.

Brooklyn venue A/D/O by MINI hosted multiple creative events and installations before it was shuttered due to the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The post Alexander May launches Sized Studio creative space in Los Angeles appeared first on Dezeen.

Lighting brand In Common With has opened a studio, showroom and production facility inside a Brooklyn warehouse.

The 3,500-square-foot (325-square-metre) space is located in a former industrial building in Gowanus, which was recently renovated by Morris Adjmi Architects and is home to a variety of creative companies.

Bringing all of In Common With's operations under one roof, the set-up allows founders Nick Ozemba and Felicia Hung to assemble and showcase their products in a residential-style setting.

The opening of the space also coincides with the launch of In Common With's 20-piece glass lighting collection, Flora, which was created in collaboration with French-American designer Sophie Lou Jacobsen.

"Five years ago, Felica and I set out to create a different kind of lighting brand based on a collaborative model with other makers and centered around material exploration," said Ozemba.

"Our new space will allow us to push this approach further, grow our team and take on more ambitious projects."

The showroom presents new and previous lighting collections – designed with ceramicists, glassmakers and metalworkers from around the world – amongst a mix of vintage and contemporary furniture.

A Mario Bellini sofa and a Tapestry Chair by Giancarlo Valle anchor a living room area, lit by a chandelier and a floor lamp from the Flora range.

Plastered walls and custom millwork join the exposed wooden ceiling, uniting a selection warm earthy tones.

Artworks by Charlotte Hallberg, Al Svaboda and more were also commissioned for the showroom.

"Highly tactile and hand-crafted details create an immersive environment while celebrating the architectural details, generous proportions, and ample light of the industrial building where they are based," said the team.

In the studio, custom work tables, oak shelving, storage and technical lighting were all installed to aid production.

Components for In Common With's modular Up Down Sconce and Alien Orb Pendant are arranged by colour on the shelves. There's also a dedicated area for the team to prototype new products.

Ozemba and Hung met while studying at RISD, and founded their brand in 2017 before debuting a range of handmade clay designs a year later.

Brooklyn is home to a thriving creative community, with many artists and designers living and working in the New York City borough.

Other workspaces that have opened there recently include a series of historic factory buildings converted by Worrell Yeung, and retailer Radnor's studio and showroom in another former factory.

The photography is by William Jess Laird.

The post In Common With opens lighting studio and showroom in Brooklyn warehouse appeared first on Dezeen.

Estudio Santa Rita has completed a compact and efficient building with colourful storage units and a saw-tooth roof that houses the offices and workshops of a creative couple in Mérida, Mexico.

Estudios MF is for a couple, a fashion designer and a painter, who commissioned Estudio Santa Rita to design and build their workspace.

The overlapping yet distinct requirements of the artist's vocations meant each needed their own studio space.

The tight footprint of the plot led local architecture outfit Estudio Santa Rita to design a narrow building with spaces laid out in a linear sequence. The structure's floorplan is 115 square metres and was completed in 2021.

"A linear composition of workspaces and facilities are alternated and sequenced to adapt to the narrowness and length of the plot of land," said Estudio Santa Rita.

Two main strategies helped the architecture studio maximize the space. First, communal areas such as small courtyards and storage are shared by both artisans.

For instance, a small outdoor space in the centre of the volume separates the two studios. This is also where the architecture studio included the bathroom, which is accessed through the courtyard.

Estudio Santa Rita also sought to eliminate unnecessary corridors, in favour of circulation through the studios themselves.

"A sequential organization of open and closed spaces achieves functional connections and integrates areas with vegetation that offer air and light to the interiors," said the architecture studio.

In addition to the central courtyard, the two artists also have an outdoor space at the rear of the building, which can be seen through floor-to-ceiling windows in one of the studios.

To contrast the structure's concrete palette, the architects chose bright, colourful finishes for the shared amenities, such as the bathroom and a storage volume at the back of the property.

"Smaller compact volumes intersect the composition with lively colors to indicate function and to create contrast," the architecture studio explained.

The building's roofline has a distinctive saw-tooth profile, which allows natural light to enter every workspace.

"Inclined slabs in the form of serrated teeth allow the large, orthogonal studios to receive direct sunlight and the cool wind from the northeast, said Estudio Santa Rita.

These angled structures also support solar panels. According to the architects, the angle of the skylights was chosen to optimise their electricity generation, which helps to offset the building's overall energy use.

"The angle to which the slabs are inclined corresponds to the optimal angle and orientation to the sun that is necessary to generate energy through the use of solar panels," said the studio.

The Yucatán Peninsula has seen several new projects in recent years, particularly around the rapidly growing city of Tulum, a popular tourist destination.

Other projects in the area include an apartment complex in Cancún intended to be used by local workers and tourists alike and a bamboo-woven yoga pavilion by CO-Lab Design Office.

The photography is by Sergio Rios.

Project credits:

Arq. Mauricio A. Pérez León, Arq. Marcos Torres Cocom

The post Estudio Santa Rita places saw-tooth roof over Mérida art studio appeared first on Dezeen.

As part of Stockholm Design Week, Swedish design firm Form Us With Love has opened the doors to its new studio space featuring modular furniture informed by pegboard walls.

Perforated steel units are dotted throughout Form Us With Love's (FUWL) Stockholm studio, which is housed in a former travel agency.

"We've been dealing with this space for a good year and a half, and thinking about it for a good ten years," FUWL co-founder John Löfgren told Dezeen.

"It's definitely a place that is a catalyst for what we're doing – and we're doing quite a lot of different things, so we need a really flexible space and we need a mobile space," he added. "We tried to be smart about how you store things and logistics in general, really being economical with each square metre."

The 200-square metre studio space, which was created in collaboration with architecture studio Förstberg Ling and branding studio Figur, was designed to suit the needs of the FUWL team.

Large floor-to-ceiling hangar doors hide an office area, workshop and kitchen while allowing the front of the studio to be sectioned off from the remainder of the space.

This allows the area to be used as an exhibition space, where FUWL is displaying some of its ongoing projects during Stockholm Design Week.

Among these is a project that explores how toxic glass – a waste material from the glass industry – can be treated to separate the toxins from the glass.

Five low, wheeled cabinets made from perforated steel were used to display the projects.

These are just some of the storage units and room dividers that FUWL has made for the studio, drawing on materials found in its own workshop.

"We have these boxes that were derived from the workshop, like ones you would have in the garage," Löfgren said.

"We started wondering what would happen if we move these things out in the open," he added. "It started off as dividers and walls, but add some wheels and all of a sudden we are in the open space."

The studio is currently using the modular units as a material library, a tool wall and storage for personal and studio use, as well as experimenting with new functionalities.

Produced by Tunnplåt – a company that normally supplies lockers to schools, gyms and other public-sector interiors – the containers have a pattern of symmetrical holes.

This was designed to make the reference to pegboard walls immediately recognisable.

"We definitely experimented with patterns," Löfgren said. "We still wanted people to have a smile on their face like: I can see where it derives from."

Realising that the perforated steel units could be used to create a flexible interior was just a coincidence, Löfgren said.

"I think it's definitely a tool that incorporates how we want to work in the interior," he said. "And I think that's just been a coincidence."

"We were always looking for something that would help us have this kind of full flexibility, and still be able to do something both fun and functional," he added.

In the future, the studio said it might also create the units in other colours. For its own office, soft grey tones were chosen to aid concentration.

"We worked with tones of grey as a backdrop throughout the space to put focus on the creative processes taking place within," architecture studio Förstberg Ling said.

Form Us With Love has previously launched products such as Forgo, a soap designed to minimise carbon emissions and an IKEA chair made from recycled wood.

The photography is by Jonas Lindström Studio.

Form Us With Love's studio is open to the public between 5 September and 9 September 2022 as part of  Stockholm Design Week. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

The post Form Us With Love designs perforated steel furniture for its Stockholm studio appeared first on Dezeen.

Composer Max Richter and visual artist Yulia Mahr have set up a multimedia production studio inside a former farmhouse in Oxfordshire, which Charlie Luxton Design has updated with more sustainable features.

Bordered by 31 acres of forested woodland, Studio Richter Mahr will serve as a space where both emerging and established creatives can come to develop their work.

Richter and Mahr – who are collaborators as well as a couple – first had the idea for the site some 20 years ago.

"Studio Richter Mahr is about dreaming the future into existence, a better way to live and work," said Mahr. "It's about forward motion and borderless creativity. It's about offering time and opportunities for people to really experiment."

The studio occupies a farm building that had already been modernised to a decent standard but needed adjusting to reduce the operational carbon footprint of the new amenities on site. Local practice Charlie Luxton Design was assigned to the task.

The building's roof now accommodates solar panels that provide electricity to the site and several skylights to reduce the need for artificial lighting.

To keep the building warm, air-source heat pumps were installed alongside a ventilation system powered using recovered heat.

Charlie Luxton Design preserved the building's original steel framework to conserve its embodied carbon and celebrate the site's agricultural past.

The existing concrete floor slab was also retained and strengthened in some areas.

Inside, the studio houses a series of state-of-the-art creative spaces devised with the help of sound architect Eleni Papadopoulou at specialists Level Acoustic Design and Studio Creations. This includes a video editing suite, programming room, art studios and a Dolby Atmos sound mixing room alongside an exhibition area and a cafe that creates dishes from produce grown on-site.

The plan culminates in a spacious orchestral recording room fronted by a huge picture window that offers uninterrupted views across the rural landscape.

Charlie Luxton Design applied a restrained material palette throughout the interior.

Most of the walls were washed with textured lime plaster or overlaid with Dinesen oak boards while the building's exterior was clad with simple black metal to contrast the surrounding greenery.

"The brief was always to be very simple, using quality materials," founder Charlie Luxton told Dezeen.

Going forward, Richter and Mahr plan to add more amenities including an on-site creche with the aim of hosting artist residencies and composer labs.

This isn't the first time a farm building has been repurposed for creative pursuits. Last year, Studio Bua converted a derelict Icelandic barn into an artist's studio and holiday home.

The workspace sits inside a double-height gabled volume that was erected within the site's existing time-worn walls.

The photography is by Lorenzo Zandri.

The post Charlie Luxton Design reworks Oxfordshire farmhouse to create Studio Richter Mahr appeared first on Dezeen.

Architecture studio Konishi Gaffney has overhauled a 1950s garage in an affluent Edinburgh suburb, adding a rhythmic facade made up of wooden battens.

The Scottish studio was challenged with turning the existing concrete garage into a functional artist's studio, while being sensitive to the existing Georgian property in The Grange.

Konishi Gaffney devised a scheme that involved filling in the existing garage door, raising the structure's roof to match the height of the house's ground floor and incorporating the property's side gate into the facade.

These changes unified the structure's appearance from the road creating a sense of contemporary "civic grandeur", as well as facilitating secure side access to the back garden.

"As a practice we've been exploring ways of expressing the structure of cladding in projects," said Konishi Gaffney.

"We started by setting up the vertical timber battens and horizontal cladding in a rhythm of fins across the facade."

Timber was selected for its affordability, sustainability and its capacity to weather appealingly.

The battens were carefully orientated to allow water to drain off them and prevent water from pooling, as well as to catch light and form interesting shadows across the facade.

The existing structure was insulated and the walls and ceiling punctuated by two aluminium clad windows and a skylight, providing the studio space with ample natural light for the artist to work in during all seasons.

The creative function of the structure's interior is referenced in the facade, which was intended to read "like a musical score," and "continue beyond, separated from the house, like a stage-front." according to the architects.

The wooden composition of the frontage continues on into the garage's interior, which has a ceiling clad in dark stained wood with protruding beams.

Other garage-related projects featured on Dezeen include an orange-painted timber-framed garage extension by McCloy + Muchemwa and a garage in Amsterdam that was transformed into a family home by Barde + VanVoltt.

The photography is by ZAC and ZAC.

Project credits:

Architect: Konishi Gaffney Architects
Structural engineer: Entuitive
Joiner: Andrew Macdonald
Cladding supplier: Russwood
Windows: Velfac
Photographer: ZAC and ZAC

The post Konishi Gaffney converts 1950s garage into artist's studio with a sense of "civic grandeur" appeared first on Dezeen.

A stilted hut for ceramics and an artichoke-like garden room are among the home studios featured in Work From Shed, a book that explores the "new fluidity about where we work".

Published by Hoxton Mini Press, Work From Shed brings together garden studios, garages and sheds from around the world that give their owners a space to work from home.

According to its publisher, the book was produced in response to the "new fluidity about where we work and how", prompted by the coronavirus pandemic and national lockdowns.

The spaces featured in it range from simple structures that reinterpret traditional sheds to more elaborate and extravagant buildings tailored to the needs of their owner.

Hoxton Mini Press' creative director Martin Usborne said that this illustrates the "architectural possibilities" of outhouses used as workspaces.

"Working from home is so personal it allows for much greater expression as to what a working space can look like," Usborne told Dezeen.

"We wanted to explore and celebrate that. We wanted a selection of sheds that were surprising and playful and beautiful but also as varied from each other as possible – some more extravagant, some more achievable," Usborne continued.

"Clearly there are no rules when you make a space in your garden. Other than not pissing off your neighbour."

Read on for Dezeen's selection of 10 home studios featured in the book.

Remisen-Pavilion, Germany, by Wirth Architekten

This brick garden office in Lower Saxony was designed by studio Wirth Architekten to double as everything from a parking space to a dining room.

Its exterior is broken up by large oak wood doors and perforations in the red brickwork that both naturally ventilate and light the interior.

Find out more about Remisen-Pavilion ›

Writer's Studio, Scotland, by WT Architecture

WT Architecture created this tiny garden studio for a pair of writers outside their Victorian house in Edinburgh.

It marries a low brick base with an exposed timber and steel structure, designed to be visually simple and echo a dilapidated greenhouse that previously occupied the site.

Find out more about Writer's Studio ›

LA Pottery Studio, USA, by Raina Lee and Mark Watanabe

Nestled amongst trees and accessed by a wooden bridge, this stilted shed is used as a studio and display space for ceramicist Raina Lee.

It was created by Lee with her partner, architect Mark Watanabe, from an existing structure in their backyard in Los Angeles. Pottery is displayed on shelving salvaged from shipping crates and branches from the surrounding trees.

Find out more about LA Pottery Studio ›

Two Pavilions, England, by Carmody Groarke

This artist studio was one of two pavilions that architecture studio Carmody Groarke created in the garden of a house in rural Sussex.

The workspace occupies the brick walls of a ruined 18th-century farmhouse, extended with weathered-steel panels that frame large windows and create a sheltered outdoor space.

Find out more about Two Pavilions ›

Light Shed, Japan, by FT Architects

A timber framework supports corrugated plastic walls at the Light Studio, an open-plan photography studio that FT Architects created in Japan.

Its unusually-shaped roof was engineered to maximise open space and minimise structural elements that may prevent the photographer owner from taking a clear photo.

Find out more about Light Shed ›

A Room in the Garden, England, Studio Ben Allen

The form and colour of an artichoke were among the visual influences on this garden room, which Studio Ben Allen covered in green shingles.

Built from a flat-pack kit of CNC-cut timber elements, the structure can be easily dismantled and rebuilt elsewhere if its owners ever move house.

Find out more about A Room in the Garden ›

Enchanted Shed, Austria, by Franz&Sue

A light-filled writing studio sits on the upper level of this black timber shed, which Franz&Sue created by converting a 1930s outhouse near Vienna.

Accessed through a brass hatch, the space features a glazed gable end and upholstered seating and sleeping area. It can also be used as a guestroom or playspace.

Find out more about Enchanted Shed ›

Forest Pond House, England, by TDO

Aptly named the Forest Pond House, this studio is suspended over a body of water hidden in the garden of a family home in Hampshire.

The structure features a curved plywood shell with a glazed end wall that studio TDO incorporated to immerse occupants in nature and help them relax and focus.

Find out more about Forest Pond House ›

Art Warehouse, Greece, by A31 Architecture

A curved concrete shell encloses this art studio in Boeotia, designed by A31 Architecture for an artist on a site adjacent to his home.

Accessed by a wooden door within a glass-fronted entrance, it features a spacious open-plan interior to allow the owner to construct large sculptures. Floating steps on one side lead to a mezzanine storage level.

Find out more about Art Warehouse ›

Tini, Spain, by Delavegacanolasso

This wooden office in Madrid is a prototype of Tini, a prefabricated structure that is designed to be ordered online and delivered on the back of a truck.

Architecture studio Delavegacanolasso developed it to be constructed from galvanised steel, orientated strand boards (OSB) and local pine wood. It was lowered into this garden by crane, preventing damage to the site.

Find out more about Tini ›

The post Ten "playful and beautiful" garden studios from around the world appeared first on Dezeen.

London studio Emil Eve has retrofitted its Hackney office to include a striking green-painted floor and modular birch plywood furniture designed to be "reconfigured or adapted as the needs of the users change".

The architecture firm created the studio space, which it shares with design practices OEB Architects and Material Works, in an existing brutalist building with an exposed concrete structure in Hackney, east London.

Called Regent Studios, the office was carefully designed so that no changes had to be made to the fabric of the building, according to Emil Eve.

Instead, the firm created a "family" of modular, CNC-cut birch plywood furniture that fits into the space without having to be fixed to the existing structure.

"The furniture is freestanding so that it can be reconfigured or adapted as the needs of the users change," Emil Eve co-founder Emma Perkin told Dezeen.

As well as linoleum-lined desks and small shelving units, this group of furniture includes a standout floor-to-ceiling "sample library" where the architects display and interact with a range of material samples.

Shallow upper display shelves are combined with deeper, lower storage compartments to create a unit that takes cues from the design of kitchen cabinets.

"We knew we wanted the material library to be the main focus of the space, with everything visible to hand," said Perkin, who designed the system to replace "inefficient" stacked boxes.

The architect also explained why the firm used the CNC process to create the furniture, which was fabricated by Natural Buildings Systems.

"The process enables complex shapes to be cut from sheet materials," she said. "Here, we used slits cut into the shelves to create an interlocking design that creates a hierarchy between framing, horizontal and vertical elements, which brings a rhythm to the whole."

Emil Eve chose bold green paint for the flooring, which was used for its cost-effectiveness and ability to transform the mood of a space, according to the firm.

This colour was also decided upon to complement the windowsill herbs and various potted plants scattered around the studio, as well as to contrast with a cluster of bright yellow chairs positioned around a communal work table.

As a small design agency, Emil Eve explained the benefits of sharing a co-working space with other design companies in the interest of sharing collective resources – a decision the architects called "economical as well as sustainable".

"It’s always more fun to make things rather than buying furniture off the shelf if you can!" added Perkin.

Emil Eve Architects was founded in 2009 by Emma and Ross Perkin. The firm has completed a number of architecture projects, including many in London.

Recent projects range from a monochromatic pale pink loft extension and a timber-framed residential extension filled with light.

The photography is by Mariell Lind Hansen.

The post Emil Eve Architects retrofits own office in brutalist building in Hackney appeared first on Dezeen.

A roster of global artists will take up residency in this installation, which London design studios Brinkworth and The Wilson Brothers have created within the newly opened flagship store of Italian fashion brand Marni in Milan.

The Vehicular installation consists of an artist's studio, housed in a caravan-shaped volume on the store's second floor, and a sculptural structure resembling a vehicle that is suspended vertically through a void in the ground-floor ceiling.

Marni says the project is an effort to channel the "intense creative energy" of the brand's design studio into its retail spaces and thereby enrich the time that customers spend in-store.

"The project was born out of a desire to offer something more to the modern-day consumer: an experience, a creative interaction as opposed to a mere retail transaction," the brand explained.

"In this digital-first post-Covid era of shopping, it promises Marni's community and customers something different."

The installation, which pays homage to nomadic travel and utilitarian vehicles, was designed by Brinkworth and The Wilson Brothers in close collaboration with Marni's creative director Francesco Risso and chief marketing officer Chungaiz Khan Mumtaz.

The hollow car-shaped structure suspended above the ground floor serves a purely aesthetic purpose, its boot left dangling open to allow for a "periscopic view" up to the first floor.

The second-floor artist's studio is shaped like a caravan punctuated with deep-set windows that allow shoppers to observe the rotating selection of artists that will take over the space.

"This act – a different kind of transaction – breaks down the wall between commerce and creativity, fashion and art, and tests the boundaries of what constitutes a retail space," Marni said.

Internally the caravan features veneer wall panelling and yellow flooring that can easily be repainted by each occupant, which Marni says will keep the installation in a "constant state of creativity and flux".

Currently, it has tufts of neon hair sprouting from its corners and out of its windows courtesy of New York-based artist Shoplifter, who is the first creative to inhabit the installation.

In the coming months, Marni also plans to introduce a similar installation in its Shanghai outpost.

Marni opened its Milan flagship earlier this month in conjunction with the city's annual design week, which saw a number of different installations take over the Italian capital.

Among them were Oublié by local design studio Dimorestudio, which involved shrouding the interiors of a 19th-century palazzo in clouds of smoke, and four huge lantern-like structures that were set up by luxury brand Hermès inside the La Pelota event space.

The photography is by Louise Melchior.

The post Marni sets up caravan-shaped artist's studio inside Milan flagship store appeared first on Dezeen.

Architecture and interior design studio Frederick Tang Architecture (FTA) has updated Moxi, a wellness studio and acupuncture centre in Soho, New York by re-arranging its interiors around an expansive oval skylight.

Frederick Tang Architecture, based in Brooklyn, was tasked with reordering and redesigning the open-plan, top-floor studio into a space that accommodates a reception area, six treatment rooms, offices, bathrooms, herb dispensary and pantry.

The studio took the 1901 mercantile building's skylight as the starting point for the refurbishment of the rectangular-shaped space.

Its dense urban context required an innovative solution to increase the floor area while introducing natural light throughout.

"Architecturally we wanted to organise the many different components in a plan that felt logical and complete which was difficult with space constraints," said Frederick Tang, director of design and principal architect at Frederick Tang Architecture (FTA).

"We started by organizing the plan around the sources of natural light," he told Dezeen.

Visitors enter the wellness studio and arrive at a reception area framed by four arched windows overlooking Broadway.

Here, a custom bench crafted from white oak slats and copper detailing curves along two walls while sculptural pendant lights hang from the ceiling.

To maximise space and take full advantage of the natural light, this area doubles as a site for gatherings and classes.

FTA reconfigured Moxi's rooms as well as softened corners and created arches that echo some of the existing architecture of the space for the client who wanted the interior to feel "holistic, natural, calm and inspiring".

A single corridor leads to all six treatment rooms, which were also coloured in shades of green.

The walls were lime-washed in a soft cypress green, with wainscotting wooden panels painted in a darker shade of the same hue.

FTA wanted the colour to contrast traditional wellness studios which are often white and feel more clinical.

"The predominant colour was green –lime washed in a cypress and deep forest – chosen for its property to heal, critical at the front where the patron first experiences the space," said Barbara Reyes, director of design for interiors at FTA.

The treatment rooms, which are the most intimate sections in the studio, contain two bedrooms and a bathroom arranged around the lightwell.

The green was offset by hints of pale peach throughout the interior and natural finishes including terrazzo, concrete, boucle and ribbed glass add depth and texture.

At the end of the corridor, a second archway opens into a back-of-house area, where FTA has inserted a new office, herb dispensary, staff pantry, and bath.

Other design-focused wellness spaces include the Shelter wellness centre in Sydney, which is located in a former restaurant and Yoko Kitahara spa in Israel, which was transformed from an Ottoman-era home.

The photography is by Gieves Anderson.

The post Frederick Tang Architecture transforms New York loft into light-filled wellness studio appeared first on Dezeen.

Scallop shells decorate the rubber-painted exterior of The Pottering Shed, an artist's studio overlooking Poole Harbour in England by architecture practice Studio Mutt.

The 30-square-metre studio was informed by the design of ships, with a ceiling structure designed to evoke an upturned hull and its black rubber coating referencing waterproofing.

The Pottering Shed was designed by Liverpool and London-based Studio Mutt for artist Carola Zogolovich and her husband, developer Roger Zogolovich.

It occupies the site of their 1930s home and is accompanied by a similarly boat-themed extension designed by Mole Architects in a garden to the north.

"The clients wanted a space to write, draw, print, collage – what they refer to as their 'analogue activities' – and which provides a visual and climatic connection to the harbour," said the studio.

"These analogue activities, along with the challenging site constraints, have also driven the construction and materiality of the design, the collage-like appearance of the building being a result of an ambition to celebrate the building's construction," it continued.

Where the site steps down towards Poole Harbour, a designated site of special scientific interest, The Pottering Shed cantilevers outwards on a thin concrete base. This base connects to a concrete staircase that leads back up to the main house.

"The building itself is oriented so that it physically appears to gaze out across Pool Harbour," said Studio Mutt.

"This orientation and outlook provides a space for the client that recreates the other-worldly peacefulness of being out at sea," the studio added.

Atop the concrete base, plywood panels manufactured off-site have been assembled to create the cabin with a roof that gently rises towards the sea.

The plywood is left exposed internally and coated externally with a layer of scrim and black liquid rubber, decorated with seashells.

Large windows with steel frames offer views out to sea and are painted in a contrasting shade of blue to echo the roof tiles of a nearby boat shed.

"Painted timber battens and a diamond grid of rubber painted scallop shells sit on top of the scrim and provide ornamentation that breaks down the single mass of the building," explained Studio Mutt.

"At the rear, the pitched geometry of the roof manipulates and reduces in size to become diminutive in height."

Inside, the exposed dividers of the plywood panels house shelving and storage spaces for the deliberately simple interior.

Studio Mutt was founded in 2017 by Graham Burn, James Crawford and Alexander Turner. The studio's projects often incorporate characterful elements, such as in the series of sculptures it created for Sir John Soane's Museum during the 2018 London Design Festival and a colourful pavilion in the Lake District National Park.

The photography is by Jim Stephenson.

Project credits:

Architect: Studio Mutt
Executive architect: Rebecca Granger
Fabrication modelling: Bluedot design
Structures: Roy Gallie, Structure Haus, Heyne Tillett Steel
Project management: Solidspace
Ground works contractor: Morris Construction
Ply cassette manufacture: Tekne Shopfitting
Assembly: Charlie and Andrew Clifford
Painting: Andrew Blackburn

The post Studio Mutt covers seaside artist's studio in black rubber and seashells appeared first on Dezeen.

Australian studio Sibling Architecture has used repurposed materials and mobile furniture to revamp Hanover House in Melbourne, allowing creatives to occupy the building before it is demolished.

The studio created a variety of spaces within the seven-storey building, which is set to be torn down to make way for STH BNK by Beulah – a 356-metre tower that is set to become Australia's tallest building.

In the two-year before demolition, developer Beulah initiated a creative programme called BETA by STH BNK and asked Melbourne-based Sibling to develop an interior design strategy to make this possible.

Sibling's approach was developed around the ambition of minimising waste. This meant reusing as much of the existing interior elements as possible and only introducing new materials if they could easily repurposed in the future.

"Over a third of waste in Australia goes to landfill, while nearly half of waste worldwide comes from construction and demolition," explained Timothy Moore, one of Sibling's four founding directors.

"So we were really in this idea of a project where there was a lot of stuff to strip out," he told Dezeen. "We saw it as an opportunity to explore the process of making in architecture."

Sibling's project extends to three storeys of Hanover House – the ground, fourth and fifth floors. Here, the architecture studio stripped back all the materials available and sorted them.

Old ceiling tiles were transformed into mobile benches, while the glazed panels of former office cubicles were rescued to divide the fourth floor into a series of designer ateliers.

Mirrored film was applied to the glass; when the lights are on you can see the ateliers inside, but when they're off the space becomes private.

Other recycled elements include office furniture, lighting, carpets and gypsum walls.

Moore said the approach is similar to that of the Zero Footprint Repurposing hub that launched at the recent Melbourne Design Week, an event that the architect is the curator of.

"We stripped back everything and kept it on site, then reused as much as we could," he said.

To support BETA by STH BNK's varied programme, Sibling also designed a series of mobile furniture elements that could be made from sheets of pre-fabricated steel.

These pieces, known as Taxonomy of Furniture, include a bar, tables, seats, planters and storage elements.

Mounted on castors, they can be easily moved around the building for different events and uses. They just as easily wheeled into the lifts and moved out ahead of the building's demolition.

"The design intent of the taxonomy was to provide a family of joinery that allow for a variety of uses, including unforeseen uses," said Moore.

In its new form, Hanover House is hosting a series of creative individuals and organisations.

The ground floor has been reimagined as a platform for innovative retail concepts. Highlights include The Future From Waste Lab, curated by designer Kit Willow, which is testing a more sustainable approach to fashion production.

The fourth-floor ateliers are hosting designers in residence, including algae expert Jessie French, Ella Saddington of craft studio Cordon Salon, and DNJ Paper, which makes clothing from traditional Japanese paper.

The fifth floor is being used for a range of events. The first was a restaurant pop-up called Higher Order, hosted by chef Scott Pickett. Upcoming events include a holistic health experience called The Future of Wellness.

Beulah executive director Adelene Teh said the aim was to "go beyond the expected and give new meaning to the future of retail".

"The dynamic BETA By STH BNK hub of innovation and experimentation promises to ignite Melbourne, and indeed Australia's, curiosity and imagination of what has become possible," she said.

Sibling Architecture is led by Moore along with Amelia Borg, Nicholas Braun and Qianyi Lim.

Previous projects include a collaboration with Adam Nathanial Furman at the NGV Triennial, Squint/Opera's Melbourne office and the interior of Kloke's Melbourne store.

For Moore, BETA By STH BNK resonates strongly with his recent PHD thesis, which explores the topic of temporary use and "meanwhile strategies".

"I'm quite supportive of developers who are interested in interim use, because you can test out design moves," he said.

"There is a rhetoric that we have to be careful of," he added, "but it can add value, creating affordable workspace and places for people to come together."

The post Sibling creates pop-up creative hub in Melbourne's soon-to-be-demolished Hanover House appeared first on Dezeen.

Spanish firm Barozzi Veiga has revealed plans for a new home for Oolite Arts in Miami, the studio's first ground-up project in the United States.

Located in a suburban neighbourhood north of the city, the Barozzi Veiga design features a low-lying building with a series of towers that serve multiple purposes to improve the working environment of the artists.

The space is designed as an urban village with plenty of space for the programming at Oolite Arts, including studios for artists, classes and lectures.

Simple white walls will stretch down the block with a facade that architects described as "enigmatic".

While the construction permits allowed for a building up to 10-storeys tall, the architects convinced Oolite to go with a single-floor structure "in order to emphasise the capacity that the project has to create the kind of community," said Barozzi Veiga co-founder Fabrizio Barozzi.

The renderings show a structure with many connections to the community, so artists and visitors can come and go as they please from multiple entrances. These open out to the neighbourhood and onto the open-air corridor that will lead through the design.

The project will feature many smaller components as well as a larger exhibition space and performance centre.

By creating a largely horizontal structure, the plans "create an unexpected relationship between the different parts of the program", said Barozzi.

Throughout the floor plan are 27 towers that will serve to characterise the envelope of the building but also have multiple functional purposes.

Towers with skylights will bring diffused light into the studio spaces, which can become exhibition areas, with people flowing in and out of each component.

A few of the towers serve as water tanks to collect Florida's heavy rainfall, while others will act as solar chimneys and wind-catching ventilation shafts.

The exterior will be lined with lush greenery, while the interior will feature a garden courtyard to be frequented by all users of the building.

"It was not just about the garden or reintroducing nature into this block," said Alberto Veiga, Barozzi Veiga's other co-founder, but rather about trying to make the building rely less on mechanical elements for lighting, heating, and cooling.

"There is an entire development of elements in this project helping the environment – the interior environment of the building, not just exterior one," Veiga added.

The architects noted that the programme is located in Little River, an area that is becoming an artistic hub for the city.

"It's Miami but it's a neighbourhood where everything is changing," said Veiga. "And the challenges are huge because you need to transform it into something better."

Barozzi Veiga was founded in 2004 and has worked on a number of cultural projects including museums and galleries. While Oolite Arts is its first solo project in the US, the Barcelona-based studio is also part of a team to develop the master plan for the refurbishment of the Chicago Art Institute.

Other recent projects by Barozzi Veiga include a reflective university building in London's Design District and the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts Lausanne.

The images are courtesy of Oolite Arts

The post Barozzi Veiga designs home for Miami artist residency Oolite Arts appeared first on Dezeen.

From a forest cabin to a converted chapel, our latest lookbook features ten workspaces from the Dezeen archive that were created by architects and designers for their own use.

Highlights include Benjamin Hubert's design for his studio Layer, the Lisbon practice of Portuguese architects Aires Mateus and a colourful couple's office for the duo behind interiors firm 2LG Studio.

This is the latest in our series of lookbooks providing curated visual inspiration from Dezeen's image archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks showcasing homes with clever built-in furniture, plant-filled hotel interiors and residences with decorative vaulted ceilings.

Atelier Cecílio de Sousa, Portugal, by Aires Mateus

Architecture practice Aires Mateus restored four storeys of an 18th-century building in Lisbon to create its studio, retaining and restoring many original features including the decorative plasterwork and elaborate ceiling murals.

The converted office contains two model-making areas as well as several work- and meeting spaces. These include the grand Noble Room, where simple wooden chairs and a pared-back workbench made from pale timber contrast with the otherwise elaborate interior.

Find out more about Atelier Cecílio de Sousa ›

Ya Vsesvit, Ukraine, by Yakusha Design

Black brick partitions divide up the monochromatic studio of Ukrainian designer Victoriya Yakusha to create a number of smaller offices, the grandest of which is centred on a chunky desk crafted from a single block of sandstone.

Most of the furnishings and ornaments in the interior were made by Yakusha's furniture brand Faina, allowing it to double up as a showroom.

Find out more about Ya Vsesvit ›

Office in the Woods, Spain, by SelgasCano

Set in a woodland near Madrid, the office of Spanish architecture studio SelgasCano (top and above) is semi-sunken into the forest floor, with a transparent north-facing wall providing views of the tree canopy above.

Parallel banks of wall-mounted desks are lined up on the other side of the tunnel-like space, where they are shielded from the direct sun.

Find out more about Office in the Woods ›

AMAA, Italy, by Marcello Galiotto and Alessandra Rampazzo

Venetian practice AMAA inserted a steel-framed two-storey glass volume into an abandoned plumbing factory in Italy to house its own office, which accommodates not just workspaces but also a small library.

A sunken level that was once used for pump testing now houses a wood-fronted staff kitchen that can be accessed via a poured concrete staircase, designed to be in keeping with the building's industrial material palette.

Find out more about AMAA ›

Another Studio, Bulgaria, by Andrey Andreev and Petya Nikolova

In a bid to encourage teamwork, Another Studio removed all of the non-bearing walls in its office in Sofia and replaced them with customised plywood shelving, which maintains sightlines throughout the office while providing crucial storage.

Translucent white cotton curtains can be used to further divide up the space, while removable boxes integrated into the storage system provide additional seating and side tables when required.

Find out more about Another Studio ›

The Waterdog, Belgium, by Klaarchitectuur

Klaarchitectuur left the original walls of this heritage-listed chapel in Limburg largely untouched when converting the space into a studio, choosing instead to insert a number of crisp white boxes into the interior.

This stacked, standalone structure now houses separate offices for the practice's different departments, alongside monochrome meeting rooms and casual work areas.

Find out more about The Waterdog ›

Sauerbruch Hutton studio, Germany, by Sauerbruch Hutton

Sauerbruch Hutton renovated a former Prussian military uniform factory in Berlin and added a third floor to its roof to accommodate the practice's office alongside a studio for conceptual artist Karin Sander.

Roof lights allow sunshine to filter into the new top floor, which accommodates a reception and conference room, as well as a gallery leading to a library and a series of smaller offices and meeting rooms.

Find out more about Sauerbruch Hutton's studio ›

2LG Studio, UK, by Russell Whitehead and Jordan Cluroe

Married design duo Russell Whitehead and Jordan Cluroe of London's 2LG Studio managed to integrate a shared workspace into their four-bedroom home by knocking down the walls around their kitchen.

The resulting open-plan office area is centred by a pill-shaped jesmonite table that the studio made in collaboration with artist Olivia Aspinall, surrounded by velvet chairs from Danish furniture brand Menu.

Find out more about 2LG Studio ›

Layer studio, UK, by Benjamin Hubert

The converted warehouse that is home to London design studio Layer functions not just as a workspace but also as a gallery, with recent product designs, samples and prototypes on show in colourful display boxes to serve as inspiration for the team.

All rooms are open-plan save for a translucent black plexiglass cube that functions as a private conference room and is centred on a bright red Ripple table, designed by the studio's founder Benjamin Hubert for Canadian manufacturer Corelam.

Find out more about Layer studio ›

Tree Top studio, Australia, by Max Pritchard

Nestled into a tree-covered slope behind his house in Adelaide, Australian architect Max Prichard has built a six-metre-tall cylindrical cabin to house his own mini-studio.

The structure is clad in sheets of locally sourced hoop pine, while dark hardwood batons laid across the walls and floors mirror the radiating roof beams and line up with the wall of built-in storage.

Find out more about Tree Top studio ›

This is the latest in our series of lookbooks providing curated visual inspiration from Dezeen's image archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks showcasing sleek co-working spaces, homes with clever built-in furniture, plant-filled hotel interiors and residences with decorative vaulted ceilings.

Dezeen is on WeChat!

Click here to read the Chinese version of this article on Dezeen's official WeChat account, where we publish daily architecture and design news and projects in Simplified Chinese.

The post Ten self-designed studios by architects and designers appeared first on Dezeen.