Hasta La Ideas

Hackney architects Theis and Khan have refurbished this apartment in south-west London by removing dividing walls, exposing the roof trusses and adding a terrace at the rear.

The residence is located on the approach to the Royal College of Art and sits on the first floor above an office that Theis and Khan previously renovated for the college.

Slight level changes in the timber flooring separate the different rooms of the open-plan living spaces.

Theis and Khan is one of the studios featured in our Designed in Hackney showcase of creative talent in the London borough that Dezeen calls home. See all the stories here.

Photography is by Nick Kane.

Here’s some more info from Theis and Khan Architects:

The residential refurbishment project, located above an earlier TKA office fit-out for the RCA, opened up the existing confined spaces to provide a generous, bright living area and open kitchen.

The two-bedroom apartment was extended to the rear, with a new terrace established. The roof trusses are exposed to provide a feeling of space and character to the apartment.

A controlled palette of timber floors and joinery with white walls provides a refined backdrop to a contemporary home.

These chandeliers by London designers Troika use large fresnel lenses to shape the light from LEDs suspended below them into overlapping geometric patterns on the ceiling of the Royal Society of Arts‘ headquarters in London.

The two chandeliers form part of a refurbishment project by Matthew Lloyd Architects, due for completion this summer.

Corian rings frame the lenses, suspended above the polished brass cradles that each contain eight high-power LEDs.

Troika’s studio is on Laburnum Street in Hackney and Matthew Lloyd Architects are on Kingsland Road. Check out our showcase of design from the borough here.

Other projects by Troika on Dezeen include installations at the UK pavilion designed by Thomas Heatherwick for the Shanghai Expo in 2010 and a computer application that makes your desktop icons roll around as if affected by gravity.

Here’s some more information from Troika:

After winning the competition organised in December 2011, Troika was invited by the Royal Society of Arts to create two lighting features for their London HQ to act as key components of the architectural refurbishment scheme designed by Matthew Lloyd Architects and set to be unveiled in June 2012.

Troika’s proposal builds on their fascination for optical phenomena, taking inspiration in the work of early Enlightenment scientists to create chandeliers which decorative elements are derived from manipulating the very substance of the light itself. The principles at work in both chandeliers, namely the diffraction and controlled scattering of the light, is reminiscent of the early experiments of Sir Isaac Newton and the later Augustin Fresnel, while signifying a quest for deeper understanding which found a natural resonance with the values and legacy of the Royal Society of Arts, founded in 1754.

The chandeliers use large fresnel lenses to shape the light generated by high power LEDs into colourful geometrical patterns projected onto the ceiling, thus contributing compelling decorative elements to the surrounding spaces while providing the necessary illumination levels.

The Grand Staircase chandelier is comprised of a large 1.2m diameter fresnel lens, rimmed by a white Corian ring, and suspended in front of a polished brass cradle housing 8 high power LEDs. As the white light generated by the LEDs passes through the lens, a pattern of 8 colourful rings is created, adorning the ceiling with a unique crystalline rose.

While reflecting the RSA’s commitment to 21st century enlightenment, the two chandeliers inscribe themselves in continuation to Troika’s work with light and optics, following Troika’s installation ‘Falling Light’ for Swarovski Crystal Palace first shown at Design Miami in December 2010, and ‘Light Rain’, 2010, for the UK Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo.

Troika, Chandelier, RSA House, Grand Staircase
Brass-plated aluminium, Corian, glass, fresnel lens, custom electronics
1.4 m (DIA) x 2.9 m (H)

Designed in Hackney: a renovated 1960′s residence that the Royal Institute of British Architects named best new house in the UK last year is today’s instalment in our showcase of projects designed in the London borough of Hackney.

Architects Duggan Morris cleaned and restored the house’s concrete block walls, upgraded the original aluminium-framed windows and replaced load-bearing internal walls with a supporting steel frame.

The refurbishment was completed in the summer of 2010 and the house went on the win the RIBA Manser Medal at the end of 2011.

Although the house itself is located in the north London borough of Camden, Duggan Morris Architects have their studios on Provost Street, just north of the Old Street roundabout in Shoreditch.

Designed in Hackney map

Key:

Blue = designers
Red = architects
Yellow = brands

See a larger version of this map here.

Designed in Hackney is a Dezeen initiative to showcase world-class architecture and design created in the borough, which is one of the five host boroughs for the London 2012 Olympic Games as well as being home to Dezeen’s offices. We’ll publish buildings, interiors and objects that have been designed in Hackney each day until the games this summer.

More information and details of how to get involved can be found at www.designedinhackney.com.

London designer Dominic Wilcox is building up to Britain hosting the Olympic games this summer by nibbling his way through 30 boxes of McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes to build models of UK landmarks and icons.

Watch this movie on Dezeen Screen »

The series includes depictions of the river thames, Tower Bridge, pound coins, the white cliffs of Dover, the Union Jack flag and the queen’s guards.

He used the orange plastic wrapper as a filter to get the appropriate lighting effect for a sunset at Stone Henge.

Other examples of his work on Dezeen include a smart-phone stylus that straps over your nose, coat hooks made from unwashed paint brushes and a series of sculptures that feature tiny characters perched on the hands of vintage watches.

Like Dezeen, Wilcox is based in the London borough of Hackney – see our showcase of design from the area here.

Photographs are by Dominic Wilcox.

Here’s the full story from Wilcox:

It’s quite a big year for Britain with the olympics coming up soon. In celebration of this, McVitie’s challenged me to create some British themed creations using their Jaffa Cakes.

I took my inspiration from friends who described their strange and unique methods of eating them.

I started to nibble and pick away, going through 30 boxes of Jaffa Cakes to try to get shapes that fitted with my British themed ideas.

One problem I had was when I got distracted by the radio and then looked back to see I had eaten the Loch Ness monster.

See the video and pictures of what I came up with below.

An exhibition of photographs depicting abandoned vehicles and derelict buildings surrounded by colourful clouds of paintball smoke by Hackney-based photographer Katja Mayer and art director Peter Chadwick is opening this evening at The Print House Gallery, London.

The photographs were taken on a woodland paintball range, where the discarded structures are used as hiding places for gamers.

Hackney, where the exhibition is being held, is one of the five host boroughs for the London 2012 Olympic Games and home to Dezeen’s offices, so starting this week we’re showcasing creative projects that were designed there – take a look at the first few here.

Read some more information about the exhibition below:

Days Lost

The Print House Gallery is pleased to present the collaborative photographic project ‘Days Lost’ by Katja Mayer and Peter Chadwick as the first London venue to host the exhibition.

On display is a series of photographic works depicting mythical landscapes of unidentified and disused buildings or abandoned vehicles, often covered by a blanket of smoke. Both beautiful and unsettling, the scenes reflect man’s relationship with nature, seduction and terror lying within the stillness of these eerie sites. The distinction between reality and fiction remains largely ambiguous, the images evoking larger narratives beyond the frame. Only the trace of a human subject is indicated in the form of acidic coloured clouds, emphasising an absence and sense of loss within the work.

Katja Mayer is a German born photographer and artist based in London. She has recently completed an MA in Photography at the London College of Communication. Peter Chadwick is a British art director and graphic designer living and working in London. He regularly teaches at Chelsea School of Art. Their collaborative project has previously been exhibited as part of the recent group show ‘The Wonders of the Visible World’ at the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art in Sunderland.

The images are accompanied by a short fictional text by John-Paul Pryor, contributing arts editor at Dazed Digital and AnOther Magazine.