August 20, 2021

Words: Rebecca Thienes

Two Eye-Catching Designs of the Moment

Fabio Hendry coats tubes in a baked-on 3D printing by-product, yielding functional art that’s squiggly yet stonelike Hotel Object 02, 04, 01, and 03 sconces in copper tubing, waste nylon powder, and silica sand in Pink, Cream, Anthracite, and Aqua, and Native Object 13 table lamp in Sand by Hot Wire Extensions. Through Adorno.

Merve Kahraman’s side tables simultaneously protect against the evil eye and connect with mid-century icon Alexander Girard Abide in Pink and Abide Triangle in Blue and Yellow in marble and Maharam’s Checker cotton-polyester by Merve Kahraman.

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August 9, 2021

Words: Vera Sacchetti

Photography: Filippo Bamberghi/Photofoyer

Tommaso Spinzi Transforms an Airy Industrial Loft Into His Own Apartment in Milan

Tommaso Spinzi is transcontinental. The young architect is a native of Como, Italy, but has lived or worked in New York, Switzerland, and Australia, the latter where he was located for nearly a decade and launched his firm, Spinzi. But in 2018, he decided to return home, to Milan specifically. It’s there that he found and converted a former workplace near the city center into a luminous loft, now his own. The 2,000-square-foot “white canvas,” as he calls it, reflects his work, which ranges from conceiving interiors and furniture to lighting and watches, as well as his passion for Italian art, design, and heritage architecture. “You can’t walk toward the future without learning from the past,” he proclaims.

The origins of his loft are most definitely rooted in the past. “We received word that, in the late 1800’s, it housed a stable for the postal service horses,” he says. “In more recent years, it served as an office.” Upon acquisition of the ground-floor space, Spinzi employed a measured approach to the renovation, working with its industrial elements—the tall multi-paned windows, the concrete floor, the open plan—and underlining them with the addition of softer elements both old and new. His main and only architectural intervention was, in order to create a dining area, opening a passage underneath the existing mezzanine, a former work area that Spinzi turned into his bedroom.

Downstairs, walls and windows have been painted white and the concrete flooring polished and painted gray. The functional areas—kitchen, bathroom, living and dining, library, and garage, for his 1983 Porsche 911SC (Spinzi is a vintage car collector)—flow into one another, loosely delineated by furniture groupings. And it’s those elements that make the project come to life, through overlapping material and texture, combining vintage and new pieces, many Spinzi’s own, the careful positioning of artwork, and the occasional shot of green. “It’s my favorite color,” he says,“so I applied it to walls, reupholstered furniture in it, and added foliage com­positions to bring nature inside.”

In the library, for instance, an Afra and Tobia Scarpa 1960’s sofa in shiny tobacco leather shares the floor with an armchair from the same decade that Spinzi found and recovered in emerald velvet and his smooth marble Medusa stool. On the walls is a ’70’s Italian vanity mirror and a large abstract canvas by Spinzi (yes, he paints, too). He uses vintage furniture to support “upcycling” and celebrate Italian craftsmanship.

Furthermore, Spinzi does not advocate using solely the work of famous designers, choosing several anonymous pieces that stand out for their strong profiles and Italian origin. The living area’s pair of shapely burnt orange–upholstered armchairs and imposing wooden soldier sculpture exemplify this approach: Their provenance is unknown, but their aesthetic value is certain. They’re joined by a Mario Bellini Le Bambole sofa from the ’70’s, a drawing by Italian artist Alessandro Paglia hung on a sage-painted partition, and Spinzi’s Origini console and cocktail table, both topped in greige terrazzolike Ceppo. These pieces, which Spinzi developed in the last few years, offer sober complements to the various ensembles.

He admits to having a preference for working with stone and metal, but has engaged with a variety of mediums throughout his career, always honoring their essence. “We’re committed to respecting the feel and nature of materials,” he points out, “enhancing their look and exploring the creative possibilities they offer.” It’s work that has earned him an exhibition at the high-profile Rossana Orlandi Gallery in Milan. (His pieces as well as his carefully selected collection of rare finds and curiosities can be purchased at his online shop at spinzi.com.)

Further intersections of new, old, and recycled Italian design in the apartment include light fixtures made of Murano glass, such as the large ’70’s Venini chandelier appointing the bedroom, and a stack of marble samples that Spinzi assembled into a striking sculpture. His attitude toward remix and reuse, from an object to the scale of a building, is intrinsically linked to the rich architectural heritage of Milan. From the grandiose palazzi in the center of town to the industrial complexes in the outskirts, Spinzi notes how “all these spaces were built to endure, and retain an intrinsic sturdiness that allowed them to withstand the test of time.” For the architect, “Repurposing old structures instead of tearing them down and rebuilding something new is a way to respect the souls of buildings and a city’s past, all while avoiding unnecessary waste and environmental stress.” Spinzi’s conscious approach fully embraces important contemporary concerns, while also continuing strong Italian traditions.

Product Sources

Cattelan Italia: Cocktail Table (Library)

B&B Italia: Sofas (Library, Living Area)

Lost Profile Studio: Brass Sconce (Living Area)

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Bands of peach and white acrylic, illuminated via integral LEDs, wrap the exterior and interior of the 360-square-foot shop. A tribute to what Archi@Mosphere director Kyungsik Park calls “1960s theater design,” the stripes display graphics promoting the store’s cash- and card-free technology. The retro vibe continues underfoot with diagonally oriented ceramic floor tile and overhead with reflective plastic paneling the 16-foot ceiling.

After downloading the app, which uses cloud and machine-learning systems developed by Amazon for its brick-and-mortar Go shops, Uncommon Store customers scan a QR code to enter the turnstile gates. Inside, food, drinks, and specialty items such as cameras and skin-care products are displayed across a single 50-foot-long wall fronted by sleek shelving in acrylic and stainless steel, akin to a sort of futuristic Automat. Concealing nearly a mile of cables and fitted with some 200 weight sensors, the shelving system flags when a shopper removes an item. Then, no fewer than 50 ceiling-mounted cameras apply face-recognition software to access the customer’s digital payment, sending almost instant confirmation notifications to their phone. “The store,” Park explains, “is actually one singular computer.”

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The post Gravity-Defying Canopy Welcomes Visitors to Lincoln Park Zoo appeared first on Interior Design.

5 Post-Pandemic Restaurant Designs Around the Globe

The Third Place, St. Petersburg, Russia by DA Bureau

The courtyard of an abandoned 1843 mansion—used as a railway museum in the pre-Revolution Soviet era and currently being restored and remodeled by this firm—has been transformed into a festive pop-up space for food and art festivals with beachy larch elements, bivalve allusions, and a reflective aluminum-foil curtain on the facade.

Oceanica, Makhachkala, Russia by Studio Shoo

For this seafood restaurant, the 5-year-old Moscow firm specializing in hospitality dove into marine-inspired elements, employing nautical rope as partitions, wavy coral-colored polycarbonate by windows, and droplet-shape pendant discs, all surrounded by local artist Roman Lozovoy’s aquatic murals and a sea of tinted concrete flooring.

Samna, Kiev, Ukraine by YOD Design

With a 19th-century materials palette—oak, leather, copper, steel, brick, plaster—and interiors bathed in a rich, warm glow, the project’s details nod to the exiled Turkish statesman (and possible inspirer of The Count of Monte Cristo) who once lived in the 1797 house that the three-level Middle Eastern eatery now partly occupies.

Bun Burger, Turin, Italy by Masquespacio

Memphis forms meet millennial colors and fonts at this swimming pool–inspired outpost of a Milan-based chain, its arches, ceramic tile, changes in floor level, and monochromatic palettes helping to create three distinct environments corresponding to three storefront windows.

Spice & Barley Restaurant, Bangkok by Enter Projects

Evoking amber lager being poured into a tall glass, the striking golden columns that billow up to the 98-foot-high ceiling in this craft-beer lounge are the result of fusing 3D technology with traditional Thai methods of weaving natural rattan, a sustainable material ideal for creating such free-flowing geometries.

The post A New Post-Pandemic Restaurant Archetype Emerges appeared first on Interior Design.

From the quiet skies during the height of COVID to the busy ones of today, air travel, Forbes reports, recovered to, even surpassed at some points, pre-pandemic levels over the July 4th holiday. SFO Museum, a division of San Francisco International Airport, its 30 terminal galleries representing the first and only accredited museum located at an airport, is helping to ease the stress and strife of long security lines and crowded baggage claims with “Flight Patterns—Airline Uniforms from the 1960s–70s.” Celebrating the opening this spring of the newest gallery in Harvey Milk Terminal, designed by Gensler, the 17 uniforms on display “represent some of the brightest and boldest items from our permanent collection—perfect for the in­augural show in this exciting new space,” curator of exhibitions Daniel Calderon says.

Bright and bold indeed—the outfits…and those who designed them. Streamlined and dashing in red and white are a pair of 1968 United Air Lines uniforms by French-born Jean Louis, who dressed the likes of Rita Hayworth and Marilyn Monroe. Braniff International Airways went even bigger name, commissioning Emilio Pucci for uniforms in 1968 and again in 1972. Additional pieces are from Northwest Orient Airlines, Pan American World Airways, and Trans World Airlines.

The post Retro Airline Uniforms Displayed at Exhibition in SFO Museum appeared first on Interior Design.

Talk about prescient. It was 2016 when artist Taryn Simon mounted An Occupation of Loss at the Park Avenue Armory in New York. It encompassed the presence and sounds of professional mourners inside tall reverberating columns designed in collaboration with Shohei Shigematsu of OMA, blending sculpture, architecture, and performance in an exploration of grief. Cut to 2018, when Simon visited Mass MOCA, the former factory campus turned museum in North Adams, to install different work but also scout outdoor sites in hopes of displaying her towers there someday. That day turned out to be right now.

With COVID-19, artist and institution saw not only the timeliness of the installation, now called The Pipes, but also that it could serve the needs of the public in the wake of the pandemic. “Its simultaneous togetherness and isolation felt resonant in new ways,” curator Alexandra Foradas says. The columns are composed of poured-concrete modules that had been disassembled and stored; the sections were strapped to a fleet of flatbeds, trucked to Massachusetts, and unloaded and slotted together on top of each other via crane, the column tops open to the air. The goal is for visiting musicians and community members to explore the acoustic spaces—to play, reflect, or just stargaze.

The post Taryn Simon Installs Interactive Artwork at Mass MOCA appeared first on Interior Design.

So, it’s understandable that when KLD was first invited to design the corporate headquarters of Sonica in Skerries, a coastal town near Dublin, Lafferty was skeptical about taking it on. Sonica is one of the country’s leading commercial contractors, focusing on workplaces for such blue-chip companies as Adobe, Salesforce, and IBM. Lafferty assumed the project would be too buttoned-up. But after meeting Sonica founder and managing director Donnacha Neary, she appreciated his “crazily ambitious and unafraid” outlook.

Good Design Meets the Future of Tech in Sonica’s Dublin Headquarters

Neary’s goal for the 80-employee office was not just for Sonica to show off its technical abilities and commitment to and respect for good design but also for it to become an entrepreneurial hub for his sleepy hometown. Far from just cubicles and conference rooms, he wanted the project to include a VR suite, a podcasting studio, a 125-seat theater, events spaces, and flexible areas that would be a magnet for the community. With that, and after being given carte blanche to conceive the office—dubbed by Sonica as First Landings—as she saw fit, Lafferty ultimately accepted the commission.

First Landings’s 30,000 square feet are spread across three floors, the result of combining the vacant offices of two other companies. For Lafferty, this was a gift, being that most projects in Dublin and elsewhere in Ireland have small footprints where projects are constantly value-engineered. But in Skerries, that wasn’t an issue, and therefore creatively freeing for the designer.

Always one to respond keenly to a brief and strong ideas of color, Lafferty began with Sonica’s orange logo and Neary’s wish that his office “be seen from space.” She was also inspired by a recent trip to New York, where she visited the former studio and home of Donald Judd and fell in love with his reflective metal boxes.

With all this in mind, Lafferty’s resulting vision is anchored in bold colors—the Sonica orange, plus cobalt blue and stark white—and a series of “cubes” throughout, some mirrored, some in reeded glass, conceived to delineate various functions: an office, the boardroom, workstations. (There’s also abundant 6-inch-square tilework.) She then utilizes the spaces between them as conduits for the vitality she felt represented the company’s spirit. Track lines lead employees from one cube to the next, creating a kind of “running energy, pulsing through the building,” Lafferty notes.

The track lines begin shortly after employees and visitors enter the building. They’re greeted by a lobby with a three-story stairwell, all covered in melon-hued tile. It has “old, weird hospital vibes,” the designer says. The lobby took a bit of convincing to be client approved—“It cost a lot of money to have it look like that!” she says—but now serves as a “saturation point,” where visitors “can’t help but be transfixed” and are mentally prepared for the environment that awaits them inside. “We didn’t want it be girly,” she says, “but instead really masculine. Hard, almost uncomfortably sharp.” Lafferty’s tall cylindrical floor lamps in white polyurethane and stainless steel add to the clinical vibe.

A key element to the planning of First Landings are the round spaces on both the ground and upper levels that were planned around existing circular cutouts found in the concrete flooring. Open and flexible, they were designed as social areas with movable furniture. And they are where KLD’s use of color and Jetson-esque style are in full force. The ground-floor lounge, for example, has blocky modular sofas upholstered in gradating citrus tones arranged atop a round of periwinkle carpet, with a halo of a pendant fixture overhead. The overtly groovy atmosphere is intentional. “Our aim is for people to act differently here,” Lafferty says, “to bring their own energy.” There and in the main café, used by both Sonica staff and clients, she employs another retro conceit: the metal-chain curtain, which allows for separation but not total disconnection. Further, an upstairs lounge features hanging Eero Aarnio Bubble chairs.

Since her years as a student, Lafferty has been obsessed with the works of mid-century titans like Aarnio and Verner Panton that had an organic, curvaceous style. “Their forms are almost like toys. Simple shapes that are scaled up, like living in a kaleidoscope,” says the designer, who also admits to a fascination with magic and Harry Potter. For First Landings, she peppers in modern-day versions of that aesthetic, such as Luka Stepan’s swooping Lucky chairs in the boardroom and the Kateryna Sokolova ottomans covered in a Yves Klein blue bouclé she placed near the project’s various seating nooks.

The shocks of blue took some additional convincing. “If we had just used orange, then nothing would stand out,” Lafferty explains. “We’re always trying to find balance.” These spaces aren’t meant to be precious, they’re meant to be used. “It certainly makes people appreciate design and the impact it can have on a much more corporate, commercial audience.”

Watch a video presentation of the space:

Project Team: Anna Mullins; Fiona Stone; Becky Russell: Kingston Lafferty Design. Barney Coleman Engineering: Metalwork. Stone Seal: Stonework. BCW Specialist Joinery: Woodwork; Upholstery Workshop. W2W: Furniture Supplier.

Product Sources: Orangebox: Chairs (Hot-Desking). Pedrali: Round Tables (Café). Edsbyn: Chairs (Café, Canteen). Noom: Ottomans (Lounges, Café), Chairs, Tables (Lounges). Drisag: Acoustic Panels (Lounge). Kvadrat: Sofa Fabric (Lounge), Stool Fabric (Lounge, Café). Magis: Stools (Lounge, Café). Gaber: Blue Chairs (Café). Fleux: Sconces. Eero Aarnio Originals: Chair (Upstairs Lounge). Marset: Sconces (Canteen). Hay: Table. Copiosa: Chair (Office). Oluce: Lamp. Blå Station: Chairs (Boardroom). Yarwood: Nook Fabric (Hall). Kirkby Design: Chair Fabric (Theater). Plank: Stools (Canteen). Throughout: CE. SI.: Tile. Tarkett: Vinyl Flooring, Rug. Interface: Rugs, Carpet. ACEC Distributors: Lighting.

The post Kingston Lafferty Design Reinterprets Corporate appeared first on Interior Design.

2022 Best of Year Winner for Early Education

This year, many girls from rural areas around Jaisalmer, a city in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan, will attend school for the first time. They will put on blue uniforms and ride a bus to the Rajkumari Ratnavati Girls’ School, a 10-classroom structure in the Thar Desert. In a region where female infanticide and child marriage are shockingly common, it is remarkable that a school for girls even exists. Yet the building, developed by the American nonprofit organization Citta (Sanskrit for consciousness) and designed by Diana Kellogg Architects, transcends its function. Made almost entirely of hand-carved sandstone blocks, it supports local craftsmen—including some of the girls’ fathers—and proves that heritage architecture can take an elegant modern form.

Behind the Design of the Rajkumari Ratnavati Girls’ School

Principal Diana Kellogg had never been to India when she met Citta’s founder Michael Daube and heard about his plan to build a school in western Rajasthan. Since establishing her New York firm in 1992, having cut her teeth at Gluckman Tang Architects and Selldorf Architects, Kellogg had spent most of her career on high-end residential work and was looking for a change. “I just asked Michael, ‘Do you need an architect?’” she recalls. “I hadn’t done anything like this, but we were very much in sync.” Daube had interviewed other architects but found them too headstrong for a project that would require sensitivity to as well as engagement with the local culture. “I was looking for someone who could respond to the environment,” he says. “Diana listened.” Kellogg signed on to work pro bono and has visited India 17 times since 2015.

A School Designed to Double as an Architectural Showpiece

Daube needed the project to make both a humanitarian and a visual impact. Citta’s other initiatives—schools and hospitals in India, Nepal, and Guatemala—are too remote for donors to visit; Jaisalmer is somewhat on the tourist map. “This was the first place where we could hold events,” he says. “It needed to be a real showpiece.” The girls’ school is part of the planned Gyaan Center, which will include a women’s cooperative and a textile museum, both of which Kellogg also designed. A local entrepreneur donated the site, outside Jaisalmer in the village of Kanoi. The school will serve more than 400 Hindu, Muslim, and other girls in kindergarten through the 10th grade who would otherwise receive little education; the female literacy rate in Jaisalmer is just 36 percent. “We wanted to show people that their daughters are valuable, not a burden,” Kellogg says.

How Diana Kellogg Architects Created a Community-Centered Design

The architect began by learning as much as she could about the region, visiting schools and meeting families. “You have to listen to the community, or they won’t send their girls,” she says. “I tried to find out what would make the girls feel safe and comfortable, and what would resonate with them.” Nicknamed the Golden City, Jaisalmer is known for its sandstone buildings, including a magnificent 12th-century fort that dominates the landscape. Kellogg was particularly struck by the ornate decorative carvings. “The craftsmen treat stone like butter,” she notes. “It’s like a miracle to watch.” Yet stone carving is a dying art that young people tend to eschew as a relic of another era. “Our goal was to show that you could use this craft and these techniques in modern ways,” Kellogg says. She conceived an oval sandstone structure that would showcase the artisans’ expertise. The oval is a symbol of female strength across cultures, while its curves evoke the ramparts of Jaisalmer Fort. “There are many curvilinear stone structures in the area,” Daube observes. “Diana kept that integrity but infused it with a crisp, contemporary feel.”

A Design Built to Withstand the Region’s Heat

The design factors in the extreme weather conditions of the desert, where temperatures range from 40 to 120 degrees. Like all schools in the region, it centers around a courtyard, which Kellogg plans to shade  with large sail-like canvas awnings. There’s no air-conditioning but passive solar techniques and lime-plaster coating on interior walls help keep classrooms cool. The flat mosaic-tiled roof, screened by jali-style latticework parapets that provide cross ventilation and protection from sandstorms, serves many purposes: It can be an outdoor learning space on a breezy day, a stage for performances, or a play area. A metal frame supports solar panels that power the building; Kellogg hopes to install monkey bars and swings underneath the structure. Following the traditional technique of capturing precious rainwater, the roof also acts as a giant gutter with downspouts that empty into the courtyard, itself a catchment area with an underground cistern at its center.

A small army of artisans and day laborers constructed the 8,890-square-foot school in 10 months. Working without electricity or heavy machinery, they cut solid sandstone blocks and aligned them using only a simple water level. Inside, carved sandstone wash­basins, teak desks, and woven charpai seating were made locally by hand; nearly all materials come from Jaisalmer. “We involved the community so they would have a stake and take pride in the building,” Kellogg explains. “They don’t want to send their girls to school, but they want to send their girls to this school, because they had a hand in it.” Daube feels that the architecture, reminiscent of ancient palaces and forts, ennobles the entire project—and the girls. This mission, it seems to say, will last.

Walk Through the Rajkumari Ratnavati Girls’ School in the Thar Desert

Project Team: 
Basia Kuziemski; Arya Nair; Surya Kumar: Diana Kellogg Architects. Lalit Gopa: Woodwork. Kareem Khan: General Contractor.

Product Sources: Genus Innovation Limited: Solar Panels. Kana Ram Prajap Barmer: Doors. Sabyasachi Mukherjee: Uniforms. Om Prakash: Lighting.

The post Diana Kellogg Architects Designs a Sandstone School in India appeared first on Interior Design.

Trust a former set designer to produce seriously eye-catching furnishings. A decade ago, Gabriel Abraham founded Atelier de Troupe with bold pieces referencing the austerity of the Bauhaus with notes of vintage Italian and French glamour. New to the Los Angeles studio’s stable is Château, a series of mahogany or walnut tables and chairs that investigate the modularity of the hexagon. For seating, the faceted design is complemented by detachable cushions available in COM; for the side and cocktail tables, there’s an inset bronze, glass, or stone surface. There are new sconces, too: Cloche, in glass and brass, and linear Bambou, made of one or many glass tubes.

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