An extension made of blue corrugated metal panels has been added to a laneway house in Toronto’s Chinatown neighbourhood to create a new museum and residence for the Canadian artist Charles Pachter.
Charles Pachter is a Canadian artist, known for his paintings of moose, landscapes and Queen Elizabeth. The artist wanted to renovate an existing studio, which occupies an industrial lot in Toronto’s Chinatown.
Firma created the extension for Canadian painter Charles Pachter
The artist commissioned local architect Lia Maston of Firma for the renovation and extension. Firma, which Maston founded in 2014, focuses on revitalising laneway houses in Toronto.
“Pachter purchased the lot, which included a one-storey warehouse in the rear, in 1996 and used the existing space as an intimate event space for launches and fundraisers, dubbed the Moose Factory,” said Firma.
It forms a residence and a museum for the artist
The intervention was completed in October 2022 and added two storeys to the back of the property to create a 7,800 square-foot space (725 square metres). The building contains the artist’s living quarters, and office, as well as a gallery and event space.
The extension features curved corners on the outside that were inspired by the rounded forms found in Pachter’s paintings.
Curved corners take cues from Pachter’s paintings
“We used Charles’ paintings as a departure point for the building’s design: his colour palette of blues, the reductive simplicity of the form,” said Lia Maston.
“Working with Charles pushed me to do something more interesting than usual, using art as a springboard.”
Corrugated metal panels clad the exterior
As the building rises above its neighbours, it steps back to create exterior terraces on the second floor and on the roof.
“Rising above its surrounds, the new museum, with its curved tiers and large wooden decks is reminiscent of a 20th-century ocean liner,” said Firma.
The interiors were designed to be filled with natural light
The interiors of the space were designed to be filled with natural light while avoiding direct sunlight. Within the gallery spaces, multiple round skylights help to display Pachter’s paintings more naturally.
“Working together, Pachter and Maston created a space for the artist to both create and celebrate the art,” said the team.
Pachter uses the extension as a gallery for his artwork
At the back of the space, the studio included a white steel staircase with open treads that connects all of the floors. This stair wraps around a curved glass elevator that lends the space a refined and futuristic feel.
The building’s ground floor is reserved for public events. Upstairs are the artist’s quarters, which include two bedrooms, a living area and an office.
On the top floor there is a small overrun that is used to access the expansive rooftop. Perforated metal screens wrap the exterior spaces, offering some privacy.
“The building is clad in undulating teal sheet metal, and the decks are enclosed by screens made of wavy and perforated aluminum sheet metal,” said Firma.
Trends come and go, but some things seem to never die. Ever since the earliest days of Pong and arcade cabinets, video games have survived ups and downs in the economy but have so far remained a rather lucrative industry. In fact, the past years have been rather kind to gaming and gamers, with the surge of titles, devices, and accessories to tempt buyers to part ways with their hard-earned money. There has even been a sub-culture where people have started making their own gaming machines and peripherals. While a gaming computer might not be everyone’s forte, some more adventurous gamers might dare to dabble in a bit of DIY experimentation. What better way to get started then than with your own game controller that looks like it jumped straight out of a video game.
Thanks to modern electronics and 3D printing, it’s almost too easy to make your own gamepad with your own unique design. Of course, making it functional and ergonomic is a completely different matter, and it takes some domain knowledge to pull off a successful design. Thankfully, there are quite a few designers out there already doing much of that work, and some are even sharing the recipe completely free of charge.
The Alpakka game controller is one such design. It is already distinctive on its own, just by the way it looks. Unlike most controllers with smooth curves and polished surfaces, Alpakka has a more faceted and geometrical appearance that would fit perfectly in low-poly games such as Minecraft (though one could argue even Alpakka is too high-poly for the voxel game). Whether it makes for a comfortable grip is probably a bit questionable, but you can easily change that, too, by simply modifying the design for 3D printing.
And that is what really sets this controller apart from other quirky and interesting designs we usually come across. Everything you need to know about making the controller on your own is available under the very liberal Creative Commons license, meaning you can tweak it to your heart’s desire without worrying about getting sued. All you really need is to get a hold of all the components needed as well as a 3D printer. It does require that you know your way around soldering electronics and whatnot, but that pretty much comes with the territory.
Despite its almost whimsical appearance, the Alpakka is serious about its gaming functionality, including dual-gyro sensors that could be used in lieu of a mouse. And just like the design itself, the software needed to make these functions work is available under an open source license so that anyone can use them or, if they also have the know-how, even tweak those features to their liking.
Having glass windows is a rather common design in many residential and business structures. They can add a bit of class to a home or building while also helping a bit with the lighting. Few will probably complain about them, at least until it’s time to clean them. You might presume that cleaning glass windows is an easy task, but anyone who has done that chore before will quickly say otherwise. Of course, there are tools that try to make that task a little bit easier, but these are often uninspired and sometimes ineffective anyway. Unfortunately, it’s easy to take the glass window cleaner for granted until you’re faced with the harsh reality of its poor design. Fortunately, this concept does try to address those flaws by taking inspiration from a bird on Earth, though it ends up looking more like a spaceship or alien creature instead.
Designer: Vinay Khairnar
The most common window cleaning tool is the squeegee, which is pretty much just a bar with a flat rubber blade used to push down water on a glass surface. Some have sponges opposite the rubber for use in actually wiping the glass with soapy water. Some are more creative in utilizing different shapes, but they still share the drawbacks of that basic design. These hand-operated cleaners are, more often than not, not ergonomic, don’t have enough surface area to cover a larger span of the window, or require you to use a different tool for holding the water.
GLARC attempts to rethink the common window cleaner design by changing both its form and its function. For the former, it tries to observe the sleek and streamlined shape of animals, particularly the Arctic Tern bird. This bird exhibits almost contrasting forms in the same body, being both curvy and angular at the same time, creating an almost majestic shape that is admittedly not that easy to translate into an artificial form.
The result is something that looks like a cross between a sci-fi spaceship and an alien creature that actually more closely resembles a stingray than a bird. It almost looks like a handheld vacuum cleaner, one with a flat and wide main body. Regardless of the final shape, GLARC is meant to be easier to hold and move, with a more ergonomic grip and more accessible controls, like a button on top that dispenses the water from the built-in water receptacle.
The concept design is also meant to make window cleaning easier by providing a tool that dispenses water, cleans with a sponge, and wipes with a rubber blade, all in the same device. It even has magnets to hold another GLARC cleaner on the opposite side of the window so that you can clean inside and outside at the same time. Of course, that last bit might still depend on the thickness of the glass and the strength of the magnets, but it’s already enough to be able to clean a single side more easily if this device is able to deliver its promises.
Spotted from independent industrial designers, design studios and manufacturers from around the world, here are the most beautiful furniture designs we saw in 2022:
There’s good design, beautiful design, minimal design. Then there’s the just plain different. In the realm of furniture, with its clearly established forms, this category is often fascinating (for better or worse) and occasionally edifying. So here are the most unusual furniture designs we saw in 2022:
Food, travel, culture, cars, art, design and more in our most-read features from the year
Every day, we publish articles that cover a breadth of topics all linked by the intention to satisfy, inform and inspire. From artistic festivals to community-minded endeavors, travel guides and more, much of our site’s subject matter mirrors many of our own interests and never-ending curiosity. The following articles are the most visited of this year, so evidently they resonated with our readers, too. Whether you visit the site daily and have seen these features before or you’re reading them for the first time, we hope you find one (or several) worth diving into.
In 2019 we were invited by Ferrari to participate in their Tailor Made customization program with the encouragement to expand and explore the use of colors, materials and finishes further than the luxury automaker has ever done before. We had just returned from our CH Japan trip, and as we were still inspired by indigo and traditional Japanese crafts we decided to bring some of the artisans in from our Omakase collaborations to help create our dream car… Read more.
Within film, art, music, fashion and other creative industries, there is a lack of representation of people of color, including Asian people. While recent years have seen more Asian representation with films like Crazy Rich Asians and The Farewell, these depictions continually center East Asian narratives, leaving many people—including the Filipino diaspora—out of the picture. This dearth of visibility is what birthed Hella Pinay, a queer-led fashion and culture magazine celebrating those in the diaspora. (The word “pinay” is a colloquial term used to refer to Filipino women and femmes)… Read more.
Image of chef Emily Yuen and Bessou owner Maiko Kyogoku’s supper, by Walter Wlodarczyk; courtesy of Pioneer Works
Supper Club—a community-oriented, chef-led dinner series from arts organization Pioneer Works—returns to NYC for their 10th year of crafting original, memorable dining experiences helmed by Michelin-starred restauranteurs as well as emerging culinary studios. Rather than the series’ typical location in Pioneer Works’ Red Hook, Brooklyn building, Supper Club, for the first time, is traveling to a selection of off-site locations city-wide. For chef Tara Thomas, the rooftop garden at Brooklyn Grange is both the site of and inspiration for her romantic, plant-forward supper on 24 May, which will hone the bounty and beauty of sustainable and inclusive foods… Read more.
Back in 1975, in the United States, the first Volkswagen Golf (badged as the Rabbit) was often met with uncertainty. Many Americans didn’t understand the advantages of it, compared with the still-iconic Beetle. Today, many in the US avoid hatchbacks and that’s why the base Golf won’t be sold here anymore. But 45 years since the Rabbit, the eighth-generation Golf will be released here as the Golf GTI and Golf R… Read more.
Located in one of Sydney’s most beautiful Art Deco buildings, the Margot Kimpton (named for various Australian women artists, including Margaret Preston) combines heritage elements with contemporary style. While palatial, the hotel’s vast spaces are balanced by intimate corners with a focus on thoughtful details. Plush fabrics contrast the lobby’s expansive glass-tiled ceiling, verdant plants soften grandiose scagliola plaster columns and heritage-protected elements abound throughout the nine-floor property… Read more.
For Carlo Giordanetti—creative director of Biel, Switzerland-based Swatch—the last few weeks have been momentous. On 26 March, the playful watch brand debuted an unexpected collaboration with luxury watchmaker Omega. It was a loyal translation of Omega’s Speedmaster, specifically the beloved Moonwatch model, whose fourth generation was worn by the Apollo 11 astronauts during the first moon landing. Dubbed the MoonSwatch, the collaborative collection featured 11 models that expanded the Moonwatch aesthetic across the solar system from the Sun to Pluto. Audiences went wild for the release, which was available only at select stores. Even though it was clearly communicated that this was not a limited edition item, lines formed overnight and secondary prices soared for the $260 timepiece. It had been a long time since the watch world had seen such far-reaching excitement… Read more.
Between the base of the Grand Tetons and Snow King, the town of Jackson, Wyoming and the surrounding Jackson Hole valley provide a vibrant atmosphere amidst the quiet majesty of nature. The land of Native American Shoshoni and Crow people, it has become known as a snow sports hub (with plenty of upscale restaurants and hotels dotting Jackson and Teton Village) but it’s appealing year-round, with stunning hiking, climbing, river adventures, biking, horse-riding and more on offer. At the end of an adventure-filled day—whether spent snowboarding or on safari (we recommend EcoTour Adventures or Jackson Hole Wildlife Safaris)—there are countless spots to visit. If you want to kick back with a cocktail by an open fire, relish in some handmade pasta or sleep in a cozy cloud-like space, our favorite places in Jackson Hole have got you covered… Read more.
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It’s been quite the summer for Fire Island Pines, a queer social hub and safe haven along with the neighboring hamlet of Cherry Grove. Earlier this year, writer and actor Joel Kim Booster, actor and comedian Bowen Yang and director Andrew Ahn, brought international attention to the LGBTQ+ summer vacation destination with their heartwarming Pride and Prejudice adaptation, Fire Island. Of greater importance, this past weekend, the enchanting enclave received a permanent public space dedicated to the diverse activists that have fought for LGBTQ+ equality over the decades. It’s a necessary addition, found in the same harbor as the HWKN-designed Pines Pavillion, which greets guests as they arrive by ferry… Read more.
The 2022 Honda Navi is a new breed of motorcycle. Priced at $1,800, it’s less expensive than a lot of electric bicycles, but can go 45mph and gets 110 miles per gallon. It’s also more affordable than a lot of scooters that happen to be far slower. And, because Honda wants to push the Navi as user-friendly transportation, there’s no clutch: this bike gets a CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) automatic. Riders need only hop on, hit the electric start and twist the throttle—the bike does the rest. Riders still need a motorcycle license, but Honda’s message with the Navi is that a lot of the intimidation surrounding motorbikes has been removed… Read more.
Debuting within a whimsical masquerade ball in Wanship, Utah—home of the High West Distillery—A Midwinter Night’s Dram: Act 10 marks the 10th edition of one of the most beloved blended rye whiskies on the market. High West might not be a household name yet but those familiar with the signature bottle and exemplary portfolio look forward to this annual limited edition launch, and people in the brand’s home state line up bright and early on release day. Much to the delight of attendees in Wanship (and those who have learned of its existence since), High West also used the festive affair to announce a scene-stealing sister product: A Midwinter Night’s Dram: Encore… Read more.
Hero image of chef Emily Yuen and Bessou owner Maiko Kyogoku’s supper, by Walter Wlodarczyk; courtesy of Pioneer Works
Dutch architecture office Eek en Dekkers has completed a barn-like house in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, featuring a large, open interior punctuated by volumes containing more intimate or private rooms.
The studio headed by designer Piet Hein Eek and architect Iggie Dekkers designed House R for a family who wanted a simple home containing large social areas along with opportunities to spend time alone.
Eek en Dekkers has completed a house next to woodland in Eindhoven
The house is situated next to woodland in a neighbourhood where the majority of the homes are designed as basic white volumes. Eek en Dekkers set out to create something different that would evoke both the spaciousness and the appearance of a barn.
“The barn distinguishes itself from the environment by its simplicity and a 100 per cent focus on the quality for the family who lives in it,” Dekkers told Dezeen.
It is intended to mimic the spaciousness and appearance of a barn
The house is clad in profiled anodised aluminium that was chosen to recall the corrugated metal typically used to weatherproof agricultural buildings.
“The nice thing about a barn is that it’s made in a pragmatic manner in terms of costs and durability,” Dekkers added. “Normally barns have rough details, but our challenge was to create really refined details with an industrial material.”
It features an open interior
The house’s interior is opened up as much as possible to create generous volumes. Double-height living areas feature ceilings that follow the roof’s internal pitch to enhance this sense of spaciousness.
The architects chose to raise the main floor 80 centimetres above the ground level to allow for a basement below. A studio and TV room on this level feature full-height windows that look onto courtyard gardens.
A mezzanine level contains a study
Elevating the house above ground level improved sight lines and increased the amount of natural light that enters the living spaces.
The building was also pushed towards the rear of the lot, to prevent it being overshadowed by the nearby trees and neighbouring properties.
There is a large kitchen and dining area
An entrance hall leads through to the main living area, which contains a large kitchen and dining area overlooked by a mezzanine study. A staircase with open treads connects the different levels and maintains views throughout the house.
A lounge and play area on either side of the entrance hall can be closed off using glazed sliding doors. Most of the time the doors remain open so that the spaces feel connected to the rest of the house.
Window treatments on each floor are carefully adapted to the functional requirements of the various spaces, ensuring appropriate levels of daylight and privacy.
The basement openings protrude slightly from the facade to optimise the amount of light that enters, while the ground floor features frameless windows and sliding doors that enhance the sense of connection with the garden and the forest.
A lounge area can be closed off using glazed sliding doors
On the upper floor housing the bedrooms, the windows are set back into the facade and are much smaller in size to maintain privacy and remove the need for additional shading equipment.
Hein Eek and Dekkers launched their architectural studio in 2015 following the completion of their own multipurpose building in Eindhoven that contains a restaurant, gallery and workshop where Hein Eek creates his furniture designs.
The studio is involved in redevelopment and renovation as well as new construction.
Windows are set back into the facade on the upper floors
Previously completed projects by Eek en Dekkers include the transformation of a Friesian barn in the village of Woudsend into a guesthouse with an exposed timber roof.
Architect: Eek en Dekkers Contractor: Soetens Bouwbedrijf Structural engineer: Archimedes Bouwadvies BV Installation advice: Duurzame Installaties Architecten Interior design: Studio of Things x studio Jeroen Wand Kitchen design: Max Lipsey
The latest instalment of our 2022 review collects 10 of the most popular lookbooks published by Dezeen this year, which include homes featuring board-formed concrete and living rooms in warm neutral hues.
Also featured in the list of the most-read lookbooks are homes that make a feature of their corridors, interiors that are deliberately unfinished and unusual hotel bathrooms.
Read on to discover 10 of our most popular lookbooks of 2022:
This lookbook took a closer look at board-formed concrete, a method of concrete construction that involves pouring concrete into temporary volumes or moulds, typically made from wooden boards.
Among the featured interiors are a home with a board-formed concrete fireplace and a house in Mexico City where a concrete staircase zones a double-height library.
The bathrooms in these 10 hotels all feature unusual colours, materials and styles that lift them above generic hospitality interiors.
Projects by interior designers including Kelly Wearstler and Luke Edward Hall, who created an “anti-modern” design for a hotel in Paris’ 10th arrondissement, are among the many colourful and tactile wet rooms included in the article.
Projects that give an insight into the kinds of homes that architects and designers create for themselves are always popular, and this was our best-performing lookbook this year.
For their own homes, these architects and designers – which include John Pawson, Sarah Wigglesworth and Alan Maskin – drew on their expertise to create designs such as a home within a 17th-century farm and an extension to a beach cabin.
Neutrals don’t have to feel clinical, as proven in this lookbook of 10 US living rooms with interiors in warm neutral colours.
The homes showcased range from a Santa Monica home designed by architecture studio Woods + Dangaran with an earthy colour palette to a West Village apartment featuring terracotta-coloured tiling and a coffee table made from lava stone.
While corridors are often seen as a necessary evil, they can become a space to enjoy in their own right – as seen in this roundup of 10 corridors designed using smart lighting and colour choices.
Corridors that make visitors feel like they’re walking up a winding path, a hallway with bubblegum-pink walls and floor and a plywood walkthrough are among those included.
Interiors that use sliding doors in different ways are the focus of this lookbook featuring homes from all over the world, from Ireland to Kuwait.
The lookbook shows the versatility of sliding doors, which can be made from materials including glass and wood and even used to create a sense of trompe l’oeuil, as seen in a Lisbon apartment with mirrored sliding doors.
It can be difficult to create clever and stylish storage solutions in bedrooms, but these 10 projects provide ample inspiration.
The storage solutions in this lookbook range from small cupboards that have been inserted below stairs and within bed frames to custom-made headboards and floor-to-ceiling wall units.
In a break from convention, the interiors in this lookbook have all been deliberately left unfinished, offering a refreshing and unusual take on what homes could or should look like.
Many look as if they were abandoned before the decorating was finished, with peeling wallpaper, floors left untreated and hanging cables adding character to the projects in the roundup.
Brutalism, the architectural style that uses mainly concrete to construct large, sculptural buildings, isn’t known for creating the most welcoming interiors.
But for this lookbook, we collected 10 interiors – including a home in London’s Barbican building – that use textiles, plants and colours to soften monolithic concrete spaces making them warm and inviting.
Our second-most popular lookbook this year focused on homes in which interior courtyards, filled with indoor trees and greenery, created a peaceful athmosphere.
Projects featured ranged from a home in Oregon’s wine country with a garden populated by deciduous trees, to a Vietnamese house with walls made from hole-punctured bricks that create the feel of an indoor courtyard.
Emirati studio VSHD Design has completed a dark and dramatic interior for a restaurant in The Dubai Mall, featuring a pared-back palette of natural materials chosen to reflect Japanese minimalism.
Origami is a sushi restaurant, whose first outpost opened in Dubai‘s Jumeriah neighbourhood in 2014.
VSHD Design has designed the Origami restaurant in The Dubai Mall
For its second branch, the owners asked VSHD Design to create a space that provides a unique experience within the cookie-cutter environment of a shopping mall.
The studio, led by interior architect Rania Hamed, used materials such as textured grey plaster, matte-black tiles and low lighting to create an atmosphere that evokes the underground sushi bars found throughout Japan.
Glass bricks form a low bar in the waiting area
“Origami’s interior makeover features simple forms in natural materials, and organic shapes reflecting the simplicity and minimalism of traditional Japanese culture,” VSHD Design explained.
The interior features monolithic columns and walls informed by the architecture of temples, along with seating covered with draped fabric and textured glass partitions that contribute to the feeling of “intrigue and mystery”, the studio said.
Six-metre-thick columns frame the restaurant’s entrance
The restaurant is entered through the gaps between a number of six-metre-thick columns, designed to enhance the sense of separation between the mall and the main dining room.
A small retail space on one side of the entrance hosts a concession selling chocolates while on the other side, a low bar area with wooden stools and a glass-block counter provides a waiting area for diners.
“The solid shop front facade made of rammed-earth clay and glass bricks evokes a feeling of intrigue meant to draw people inside,” said VSHD Design.
The narrow entrance also limits the amount of natural light entering the dining room, which helps to maintain the dark and intimate feel.
The main dining room is dimly lit
The restaurant is arranged over two split levels that offer different seating arrangements, with the main area featuring built-in bench seating arranged around its perimeter.
Three steps lead up to a space housing the sushi bar, which is illuminated by an overhead light box and allows diners to watch the chefs at work.
A sushi counter at the back allows diners to watch the chefs at work
Black tiles covering the walls, floors and counter create a dark and minimalist ambience throughout the interior.
The furnishings, including wooden chairs and benches upholstered with draped white fabric, provide a more relaxed and tactile element.
“Overall, it is the lines, the materials and the colours incorporated within the design that uphold a Japanese sensibility and spirit, while still appealing to a modern sense of luxury,” the studio said.
Black tiles cover the walls and floors
Rania Hamed founded VSHD Design in 2007 and has since worked on residential and commercial projects in countries including Jordan, Egypt and the United Kingdom.
For the past 50 years, Electrolux has been collaborating with the students of the Umeå Institute of Design (UID) to create innovative and excellent product designs for homes of the future – compact homes with space constraint woes that accommodate single residents who need space-saving designs that can help them carry out their day to day chores in a more efficient and streamlined manner. Fourteen students from the Master’s program in Advanced Product Design created concepts for these ‘singletons’ to support their micro-living lifestyles in major cities. And one concept that truly caught my eye was the ‘Electrolux Adapted’, which was designed for single residents staying in the city of Munich.
Designer: Joel Sjödin, Corinna Diestel, and Silvester Kössler for Electrolux
The Electrolux Adapted is the kitchen essential of the future – compact, sleek, and ideal for tiny homes, this masterful concept is for the ‘singletons’ who want to make the most of a small kitchen. If you want to use the countertop for some real cooking, and don’t feel like cramping it with a gazillion appliances, then Adapted is the product for you!
Electrolux Adapted is a premium hub that utilizes the vertical space in a kitchen to organize and hold all the important appliances you need on a daily basis. The system is made up of standardized modules that are mounted effortlessly on a backplate, completely eliminating the need for tools usually required for installation. The backplate supplies all the modules with water and electricity, in an attempt to support highly customizable arrangments. This is especially useful for the kettle module, as you are able to add the exact amount of water you need for your tea/coffee without removing it! Adapted boasts a pretty versatile design since it can either be mounted on a wall, or placed as a free-standing product with an add-on furniture frame.
All the modules are connected via an Electrolux app, allowing them to be used simultaneously or in sync, and enabling users to create their own personal routines. So, you can sync your toaster with your coffee maker, ensuring that both your toast and coffee are ready at the same time for you to gulp down in the morning! The various modules also can be changed and replaced, so users can upgrade their kitchen appliances when the need arises. The Adapted is a flexible and expandable design, so you can make space for more appliances in the future, and for a more intriguing range of combinations.
In a day and age, where space constraints are at an all-time high, and modern-day apartments are as tiny as they come, the Electrolux Adapted is a boon for millennials who live all by themselves and are constantly hunting for the next genius space-saving design! I do hope the Adapted sees the light of day soon.
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