Gachot Studios designs boutique hotel in Detroit for watchmaker Shinola
Posted in: UncategorizedNew York firm Gachot Studios custom made the mohair sofas, blue paint and fire grate that feature in this hotel in Detroit, designed for American watch brand Shinola.
Shinola Hotel forms part of Shinola, a watch company based in Detroit that prides itself on American products. Most of its leather straps and goods made using leather supplied by Chicago-based tannery, Horween Leather, founded in 1905.
For the project, Gachot Studios overhauled an historic, terracotta-clad building that completed in 1915 by TB Rayl Company. It now accommodates 129 rooms across 10 storeys, as well as numerous lounges and restaurants.
The interiors feature a number of custom details designed by the studio, including a Shinola Blue paint colour that covers the ceiling in a foyer in high gloss lacquer. A reception desk in this area is made of mahogany.
Numerous custom furnishing by Gachot Studios decorates a sitting area, which measures 1,400 square feet (130 square metres). Sofas range from caramel mohair, dark brown and light blue.
A central Arabescato Grigio stone fireplace has a custom metal grate, while throw pillows are sourced French textile designers Toyine and Le Manach.
Gachot Studios also chose dozens of books and objects for Shinola Hotel, and a vast collection of artwork was curated by JJ Curis of Bedrock and Shinola.
Proper hotel in San Francisco by Kelly Wearstler is decorated similarly, with lots of different furnishings and art pieces.
A historic existing staircase to the mezzanine was preserved with a metalwork bannister and finished with a hazel-coloured stair runner. At the top are a pool table and more seating.
A dimly lit cocktail bar has soft pink hues and is called Evening Bar, while Southern Italian cuisine is served at San Morello, complete with chequerboard floors and warm wood finishes.
Other eateries inside Shinola Hotel are Penny Red’s, which serves Detroit-style fried chicken, and The Brakeman, designed as a beer house with long wood tables and benches.
Hotel rooms at Shinola have a pared-back style, drawing attention to the bones of the historic structure.
Golden-coloured curtains drape against large, black-trimmed windows, amplifying the building’s tall ceilings.
Floors pick up on this warmth with pale wood and soft grey carpets. The bed frames are also in light wood and have cream-upholstered headboards.
Gachot Studios’ designs for hotels often specialise in wood furnishings, as seen in the firm’s work for Eaton in Washington DC, with dark wood pieces and retro touches.
Bed coverings at Shinola Hotel are white, and the bathrooms are simple also with white and black tiles and dark wood vanities.
Retail stores also are part of the hotel project, including one for Shinola itself.
Gachot Studios was founded by John and Christine Gachot and is based in Manhattan, where it has completed a number of projects. These include a flagship store for beauty brand Glossier and a restaurant in Union Square Park.
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A Giant Book-Shaped Library
Posted in: UncategorizedLa Bibliothèque Municipale de Kansas City, Missouri, est un exemple architectural de l’esprit décalé des habitants et des dirigeants du système de bibliothèques municipales de la ville. En plein centre ville, le bâtiment est accolé à un grand parking central. Contrairement aux paysages urbains courants qui veulent que les parkings aient tendance à faire tache, celui-ci jouit d’un certain cachet : il ressemble en effet à une étagère de bibliothèque, avec 22 titres choisis parmi les suggestions des citadins pour illustrer la diversité des sujets de lecture. Construit en 2004, ce bâtiment cache également un intérieur splendide hérité d’une ancienne banque du début du XXème siècle.
David Pompa's Origo light contrasts rough volcanic rock balls and glass bulbs
Posted in: UncategorizedMexico City design studio David Pompa has rounded porous volcanic stone into spheres for its latest lighting collection.
Set to debut at this year’s Milan design week, the Origo collection includes pendant and wall fixtures constructed from the simple geometric forms.
Each of the designs comprise a rounded black volcanic base with a glass bulb attached.
The pendant light comprises two stacked spheres suspended by a black wire. For the wall lamp, the same materials are repositioned horizontally, with the sliced the stone in half for mounting.
David Pompa developed the lamps through the studio’s exploration of light, shapes, and contrasting materials.
Origo – the latin word for origin – “speaks about the origin of the universe, a specific point of time, an intersection of axes in space, where everything begins,” David Pompa said in a project description.
“Origo’s minimalistic forms reinforce the fundamental relationship between light and shadows,” it added.
Recinto – the black volcanic stone used in the lighting – has a rough porous texture that contrasts the smooth surface of the glass element.
“The soft light shines onto the texture of the volcanic rock, revealing its relief and contour,” said the studio. “The handmade recinto volcanic stone is illuminated by the opal glass, uncovering its nature and character.”
David Pompa has also used Recinto for previous projects – such as the Meta pendant light – to celebrate its roots in Mexican culture and design.
“This strong and resistant rock has been present in Mexico, used by several Mesoamerican cultures, mainly for sculptures, kitchen utensils and architecture,” said the project description.
Design studios Bravo! and GT2P – both based in Chile – are among those who have also created works that aim to make the most of the material’s texture, varying hues and patterns.
David Pompa will present its work at lighting exhibition Euroluce during the Milan design festival, which takes place from 9 to 14 April 2019.
Origo will be showcased alongside other designs by the studio in an exhibition space titled The Material Landscape. It marks the studio’s second time at the event, after it became the first Mexican practice to be featured at Euroluce in 2017.
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Life-Like Balloon Birds
Posted in: UncategorizedL’artiste écossais basé à Aberdeen Terry Cook propose une série de sculptures gonflables et éphémères d’oiseaux-ballons. Très réalistes, ses sculptures sont composées de ballons de différentes couleurs, qui imitent au plus près de la réalité les oiseaux qu’elles prétendent reproduire. On trouve ainsi des cigognes, des martins pêcheurs, des colibris, des canards dans leur habitat naturel, photographiés dans l’eau, accrochés à un tronc ou bien guettant quelques poissons au bord d’une rivière. L’artiste précise que ce travail de photo ne laisse aucun débris de baudruche dans la nature, puisqu’il retire ses sculptures de leur décor une fois la photo prise. Une série bien loin des habituels chiens, coeurs et autres épées habituellement sculptés dans des ballons.
ZJJZ Atelier scatters 10 cabins across mountain in rural China
Posted in: UncategorizedThe Woodhouse Hotel, located in the remote village of Tuanjie in China‘s Guizhou Provence, is formed of 10 wooden cabins dotted amongst a forest on a mountain.
ZJJZ Atelier designed three simple forms for the cabins, one with a steep pitched roof, one with a shallow mono-pitch, and the other with a flat roof.
A mixture of these different forms are scattered over the site on stilts, with their locations determined based on the most appealing views while minimising disruption to rock formations and trees.
Each cabin is clad all over with charred timber, chosen for its weather resistance and ability to blend into the surrounding forest.
ZJJZ Atelier, which was founded in 2013, designed The Woodhouse Hotel as part of a government scheme to help alleviate rural poverty through the introduction of agricultural tourism.
“Unlike other rural areas, the village of Tuanjie has little traditional architecture to hold on to. Instead, the striking landscapes and pollution-free farmlands are the village’s greatest assets,” explained the architecture studio.
“Our design goal was set to capture the beauty of nature with tranquil forms that harmonise with the surrounding environment.”
Each of these cabins serves as a single hotel room, with a bathroom and a covered terrace space.
Simple fittings and wooden finishes have been used to make the rooms feel as spacious as possible, while keeping their volume to a minimum so as not to have too much presence in the environment.
Windows are located uniquely in each structure to make the most of specific views, ranging from thin slit-like windows to skylights and large full-height openings.
As materials had to be transported up a mountain the structures were kept simple, with each house constructed using a wooden structure atop a raised steel platform.
More architecturally unique hotels recently unveiled in China include a 300-year old merchant’s inn that was converted into a boutique hotel by Anyscale Architecture Design Studio, and a disused sugar mill that was turned into a resort by Vector Architects.
Photography is by Laurian Ghinitoiu.
Project credits:
Architects: ZJJZ Atelier
Lead architects: Yuying Kate Tsai, Sean Shen, Xuanru Chen, Zhenyu Cao
Clients: Guizhou Dafa Tourism Development
Local structural and MEP engineer: Guiyang Architectural Design & Surveying Prospecting
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Egg-shaped burial pod aims to "change our approach to death"
Posted in: UncategorizedDesigners Anna Citelli and Raoul Bretzel have created Capsula Mundi, an egg-shaped pod for the deceased that offers an alternative to traditional burial methods.
The body of the deceased is placed in a foetal position inside a container made from biodegradable material before the pod is buried in the earth.
A tree, chosen either by the deceased prior to their death or by the family is then planted above the burial site.
Capsula Mundi is presented at the Broken Nature exhibition at the XXII Triennale di Milano, which is curated by Paola Antonelli and takes place between 1 March and 1 September 2019. The exhibition seeks to explore the badly severed ties between humans and nature, and the fact that we will inevitably become extinct.
“In a culture that is far removed from nature, overloaded with objects, and focused on youth, death is often dealt with as a taboo,” said Citelli and Bretzel.
“The biological life cycle and its transformations are the same for every living being. It is time for humans to realise our integrated part in nature,” they explained. “Capsula Mundi wants to emphasise that we are a part of nature’s cycle of transformation.”
By planting a tree which is fertilised by the decomposing pod, the designers want to “change our approach to death” and provide a sustainable alternative to traditional burial methods, which can be damaging to the environment.
“A tree takes between 10 and 40 years to reach maturity so using a wooden coffin has a strong environmental impact,” they explained. “We want to plant trees instead of cutting them down.”
“The cemetery as a forest not only will reduce the environmental and landscape impact but also it will give new green spaces to our planet,” they said.
Once planted, the tree is secured with a GPS tracker so that relatives of the deceased person can find the tree with ease.
The pair have also designed an egg-shaped urn made of bioplastic to contain the ashes of those who choose to be cremated. The ashes are fed through a hole and secured with a cone-shaped screw top.
Similar to the full-body pod, the urn is planted in the soil and a tree is planted on top of it. According to the designers, the time it takes for the urn to biodegrade ranges from a few months to a few years, depending on the soil conditions.
“Capsula Mundi doesn’t have any religious implication and the project has been understood and accepted by people from all over the world, from different cultures and faiths,” said the designers.
In a similar bid to make death more sustainable, Shaina Garfield created an eco-friendly coffin that uses fungus to biodegrade the body so that it decomposes quickly and fertilises the surrounding soil.
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Explore the varied architecture of Mexico on our Pinterest board
Posted in: UncategorizedDynamic Mexican architecture features on our Pinterest board, including the worn concrete of UNAM’s modernist campus and a home designed by Frida Escobedo, which is inspired by a camera obscura. Follow Dezeen on Pinterest ›
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GamFratesi creates plant-filled interiors for Harlan + Holden Glasshouse Cafe in Manila
Posted in: UncategorizedCane furniture, tiled floors and mint green upholstery fill this glasshouse-inspired cafe in Manila, Philippines, by Danish studio GamFratesi.
The 60-seater Harlan + Holden Glasshouse Cafe is located in a 130-square-metre garden plot in front of one of Manila’s most popular shopping malls.
Surrounded by pedestrian traffic that moves between nearby skyscrapers offices and the mall, the street level cafe was designed to bring the small outdoor green space to life.
“The idea was to take inspiration from a glasshouse to emphasise the relationship with the outdoor space and maintain contact with the tropical nature that was already present in the area,” said GamFratesi, which was tasked with developing the cafe’s interiors.
“This breaks down the boundaries between indoor and outdoor.”
Surrounded by double-height glass windows, the space is lined with fig trees in cane planters and mint green curtains that match the upholstered seating.
A combination of materials such as stone and terrazzo were selected for the bar, while two marbles in contrasting black and white were used to create a decorative carpet effect around the sofa areas. Tabletops alternate between wood and stone.
In keeping with the modern glasshouse theme, the Copenhagen designers selected cane furniture, such as the bentwood Morris chair and the Targa sofa, which the duo designed for Gebruder Thonet Vienna in 2015.
The Beetle bar stools that the studio created for Danish brand Gubi in 2014 also line the bar, upholstered in quilted velvet fabric and set on a brass frame.
Founded by designers Stine Gam and Enrico Fratesi, GamFratesi has created furnishings for a host of brands including Ligne Roset, Casamania and Porro. It has also produced a collection of lamps for Louis Poulsen that can be slid or rotated to adjust light settings.
Back in 2017, the studio fashioned interiors for the two restaurants inside the Maison Du Danemark in Paris, decking out both in grey tones and mid-century Danish furniture pieces.
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Barcelona’s View From the Sky
Posted in: UncategorizedA seulement 18 ans, l’artiste hongrois Márton Mogyorósy a photographié le paysage aérien de Barcelone, cette ville côtière qui entretient un rapport intime avec la mer depuis des siècles, ses reliefs et ses rues vus du ciel. Loin de se concentrer sur les lieux touristiques, le photographe se concentre d’abord sur les dessins géométriques que l’urbanisation a dessiné sur le sol. Sa méthode ? Il repère sur Google View les endroits qui l’intéressent, puis les photographie à l’aide d’un drône. Cela donne ces clichés géométriques dont on ne sait plus parfois s’il s’agit vraiment de la ville côtière et festive que l’on connaît, ou d’un royaume cubique d’un autre âge. Sa première exposition se tiendra à Budapest en Mai 2019.