Hasta La Ideas

Australian practice Ritz & Ghougassian used the worn red brick facade of this cafe in Melbourne as the reference point for the design of its interiors.

The Bentwood cafe is set within the suburb of Fitzroy, an area of Melbourne well-known for its eclectic selection of eateries and bars.

During the 20th century the building had been home to wooden furniture manufacturers C F Rojo & Sons, before becoming showroom for German brand Thonet.

It now belongs to local coffee connoisseur Julien Moosie, who approached Ritz & Ghougassian to transform the 190 square-metre premises into a “unique space that pushed what a cafe should look and feel like”.

Set with this largely open brief, the architects decided to reference the colour and material palette of the building’s exterior in the decor of its internal spaces.

“There wasn’t a whole lot that was left other than the original red brick facade. However, I think the essence of its past are still there,” Jean-Paul Ghougassian, director of the practice, told Dezeen.

One of the cafe’s peripheral walls has been clad with panels of russet-hued steel, some of which are perforated to allow glimpses into the kitchen.

Sheets of steel primed with red oxide have then been used to form a deep gridded ceiling, which the architects hope will create “pockets of light and shade, volume, and intimacy”.

“A combination of prototyping and working closely with engineers and our contractor to create an effortless, seemingly floating ceiling span,” explained Ghougassian.

Warm timber chairs, tables, and shelving units also appear throughout the cafe in reference to the building’s former occupants. Clay-coloured leather cushions have been used to dress the bench seats.

While most of the brick walls have been left in their found state, a handful of chunky concrete columns have been inserted as a subtle visual nod to Fitzroy’s industrial heritage.

Australian design studio Biasol also applied terracotta hues to a restaurant in Melbourne’s South Yarra neighbourhood, whose aesthetic was inspired by the “evocative earthiness” of Middle Eastern architecture.

Photography is by Tom Blachford.

Project credits:

Contractor: U Wood Projects
Graphics: Pop & Pac

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A staircase featuring a mirrored balustrade now leads up through this home in Montreal, renovated by local architect Jean-Maxime Labrecque.

Called Playful Tudor, the project involved the transformation of a residence in the Canadian city, which was originally completed in a style that references the historical Tudor period from 16th-century England.

Labrecque’s firm, INPHO Physical and Information Architecture, was enlisted by a young family to convert the “dark and stifling” house into a more welcoming setting.

Among the main changes was the restoration of the home’s central staircase, which now features a smoked-bronze mirrored handrail that extends up to the first floor. A bathroom slots underneath the stair on the ground level in a volume covered in the same reflective material.

Minimal finishes added throughout the residence – including white walls and pale wooden floors – allow the bolder features to stand out.

Other changes to this floor included the removal of partitions between the kitchen and dining room to create an open-plan living area. Part of the floor was also demolished at the rear, to extend the room down into an existing half basement with stepped seating.

“By eliminating half of the living room’s floor, a crawl space is put to use to generate a double-height amphitheatre,” said Labrecque in a statement.

On the next level are the bedrooms for the home’s owners and two children. The former are located at the front of the house, while the latter face the back yard.

Each of the children’s bedrooms has a dressing area and a work desk. A lofted sleeping area is located above, and accessed by black ladder steps that are cantilevered from the wall.

“The kids access these beds by climbing ladders made of floating rungs that have been inserted into the dividing wall,” said the architect. He also noted that although the kid’s beds were at the highest point of the house, they were secured by transparent acrylic railings to prevent falls.

A family bathroom shared by all the residents occupies a large room with two windows in between the bedrooms.

Formerly a bedroom, the room now features a multi-function white central island that incorporates many of the necessary washroom elements.

Labrecque’s firm completed the project in 2016. Other residential renovations in Montreal include the refresh of a unit in the city’s iconic Habitat 67 building by Rainville Sangaré and an intervention by local studio naturehumaine, who added a plant-filled wall to a mid-century residence.

Photography is by Frédéric Bouchard.

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Le graphiste biélorusse Lesha Limonov crée une série de masques de sommeil d’inspiration monétaire dans son dernier projet intitulé Money Never Sleeps. Présentant trois devises – le dollar américain, la livre sterling et le yuan chinois – les masques de sommeil arborent les yeux de Benjamin Franklin, de la reine Elizabeth II et de Mao Zedong. Ce n’est pas non plus la première incursion de l’artiste dans les masques de sommeil : l’année dernière, il a sorti une collection inspirée par les chefs-d’œuvre du Rijksmuseum d’Amsterdam. Disponibles en ligne via Shuba Gift Factory.

Blown glass lights that look like bubbles of magma and blown glass vessels slumped over steel and brass stands feature in Nouvel Limited’s latest collection.

Presented at Design Miami/Basel, the pieces were part of the Mexican glass manufacturer’s inaugural showing at the annual art and design fair in Switzerland.

The Magma wall light pieces are by Mexico City design studio EWE while the Precarius glass collection is by Mexican designers Héctor Esrawe and Emiliano Godoy, and Los Angeles-based designer Brian Thoreen.

Over several months, Esrawe, Godoy and Thoreen worked alongside the design team at Nouvel Limited to generate experimental large-scale pieces that take “glass design to new heights”.

“The work pushed the boundaries of the factory beyond the processes they normally use to create the products in their catalogue of designer pieces,” said the team at Nouvel Limited.

Upright steel and brass plates are joined together by transparent blown glass vessels, which are formed around them. The pieces hold each other in a delicate balance.

The metal plates were prepared by a local metalsmith, with the objective of altering them as little as possible from their steel mill origin.

The designers’ aim was to confront these materials with glass to highlight the perfection and beauty of Nouvel Limited’s materials and craftsmanship.

“The selection includes pieces of unusual dimensions in the field of glass design, some of them artistic in nature, while others feature a usefulness hint that augments the tension and drama of the designs,” said Nouvel Limited.

Accompanying the glass collection, the Magma lighting sculptures are were produced in a special golden edition for the show using moulds hand carved from volcanic stone by local stonemasons.

The volcanic stone was chosen for the moulds for its heat resistance. The thickness and tonality of the glass produced differs between each “bubble” so each one has its own characteristics.

The light’s golden glow is generated through an acid finish that is applied on the amber glass surface, together with the hand hammered brass surface that is contained within each one of the bubbles.

A limited edition of seven golden Magma lighting sculptures have been produced .

“The two collections share a similar spirit and materials palette, yet inhabit the space with different spacial strategies to generate an environment of great tension and refined intensity,” said Nouvel Limited.

“These collections on show expand the frontiers at the factory, opening the door of the creative laboratory to art and signature design.”

Also on show at Design Miami/Basel, which took place at the Messe Basel exhibition centre in the Swiss city from 12 to 17 June 2018, were a series of oversized bean bags and hanging chairs designed by Porky Hefer to resemble different animals under threat in the wild.

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Cut convinced four sets of identical twins to play “Truth or Drink,” a drinking game where players choose to either answer personal (often awkward) questions or drink a shot of vodka, tequila, or whiskey…(Read…)