Hasta La Ideas

The interior of this east London cafe by local firm TwistInArchitecture features copper tubes, timber boards and metal light fittings, designed to reference the area’s trade history (+ slideshow).

TwistInArchitecture converted a run-down space on Commercial Street in east London for a cafe called Trade, retaining three separate zones from the original layout to use for display, coffee and food preparation and customer seating.

The firm’s designer and co-founder Andreja Beric said the philosophy for the build was to create a “contextually responsive environment” by re-using materials that were once traded by builder’s merchants along the street.

Copper tubes are used in different arrangements to create a screen in the centre of the cafe and clad the base of the plywood counter. They are also implemented as a staircase balustrade and to construct a grid that hangs from the ceiling, used to suspend low-hanging lamps.

“The space is kind of strange, it had three different areas that were quite different in feel so we wanted to have a common thread that combined it all,” Beric told Dezeen, referring to the lighting grid.

“Lighting was something that was quite important for the shop and we wanted to achieve rhythm with this, it made sense and visually it was quite good to repeat the element at a high point,” Beric explained.

“Copper and wood work well together, both are warm materials and contrast with the matte and shiny surfaces,” he added.

Pieces of laminated oak wood zig-zag across the counter top in the food preparation area and continue to where customer seating is located at the rear.

Recycled boards salvaged from a timber yard form a floor-to-ceiling feature wall.

The designers also demolished the back wall and inserted bi-fold doors to open onto a wooden deck, creating more room and allowing extra light into the space.

Existing wooden floorboards throughout the cafe were stripped of their painted surface and varnished.

Sections of exposed brick wall form a backdrop to the coffee machine, while the remainder of the interior is lined with white tiles.

Here’s a project description from TwistInArchitecture:

Trade

London-based architectural practice TwistInArchitecture – founded on the principle of creating buildings with an unusual twist – today announces the opening of a unique new coffee shop in London’s East End, on Commercial Street. As well as recusing a run-down space, the philosophy for the build was to re-use a number of materials which were once traded along Commercial Street by builders’ merchants and in the material yards, to create a contextually responsive environment.

For this reason, the interior is dominated by copper tubes – which are normally hidden away within wall cavities – serving both an aesthetic and design role, but also a functional one. Indeed, hundreds of yards of copper tubing has been used to create both the internal screens of the main bar fascia, as well as being suspended from the ceiling to carry electricity to the lighting fixtures (see Figs. 1 and 2). The signature use of copper has also been applied to the staircase balustrade and handrails, creating atmosphere through muted reflections and intricate shadows.

The new venue – appropriately called ‘Trade’ – also benefits from a number of modelling changes. It has a new staircase location, new large opening to the back wall to allow natural light to enter, and a complete re-work of the basement. The unusual geometrical twists of the copper are warmed by the use existing brickwork and timber floors, while the true heroes of the shop – it’s coffee and home-made signature food are given the most prominent position.

Trade is located two minutes away from trendy Spitalfields Market, and can accommodate 60 people, spread throughout its three zones: the display section at the front, the preparation area in the middle, and the seating section at the rear. The shop front itself is open and inviting.

Andreja Beric, co-Founder of TwistInArchitecture, said: “We’re very pleased to have completed this quirky project, which brings something new and interesting to Commercial Street, while also breaking away from the ‘shabby chic norm’ of so many other sites. The three internal spaces would typically have three different interior concepts, so we decided to allow these spaces to have their individuality but be tied together by the use of copper – at a low height through the counter, and at a high level through the lighting conduit. These threads work to complete the interior with one idea. It also helps that trade looks seriously cool, has awesome food and coffee, and is in tune with its surroundings and historical significance.”

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references city’s commercial history appeared first on Dezeen.

A wooden treehouse with circular perforations is suspended from the ceiling inside this space for a south London theatre company for disabled children, echoing round patterns on its facade (+ slideshow).

Designed by London firm Hawkins\Brown, the Oily Cart theatre company headquarters sits in the Grade II listed annexe of Smallwood primary school in Wandsworth.

The theatre was created to give children who have disabilities and learning difficulties a place to express themselves artistically.

“Oily Cart works with children who have multiple and complex learning difficulties, helping to bring theatre to audiences who might not otherwise have the chance to experience it,” architect David Bickle told Dezeen.

The exterior of the building features an original soot-coated brick facade and an existing Victorian staircase, which leads up to the studio.

“We were very careful to retain as much of the original structure as possible and wanted to incorporate the same energy into the building as the theatre puts into its productions,” Bickle said.

The architect also installed a bright yellow aluminium lift dotted with black and white spots, which connects the playground outside to the theatre and provides access for disabled children.

“The golden lift, which rises up to the theatre, creates a link between the ordinary outdoors and the extraordinary world of the theatre inside,” Bickle added.

The top of the lift shaft was inspired by the traditional Dutch gables that line the roof of the primary school and is designed to mirror the original Victorian architecture.

On exiting the lift, the first floor lobby leads into an office and admin area with a mezzanine level above. The architects were given permission to remove a dividing wall and create a multipurpose timber treehouse punctured with circles, which hangs over the space.

“The circular theme that runs throughout the build was inspired by the scented bubbles the theatre use to get in touch with their audience,” Bickle explained. “The circular motif that runs across the facade and treehouse are designed to be effervescent like the bubbles themselves.”

Spotlights built into the underside of the wooden cube are designed as an extension to the circular pattern and illuminate a table in the centre of the office.

Upstairs, the timber meeting room extends into the roof and features skylights that fill the box with natural light.

The firm also improved existing studio and storage areas to create a workshop for building original props on the ground floor. The addition of a costume wardrobe, furnished with sewing machines and work benches, allows for every element of the theatre’s productions to be managed on site.

The architects used a bold colour scheme throughout the structure, coating interior walls with primary colours to differentiate between the spaces.

A white-walled group room with suspended strip lighting offers space for the children to take part in drama workshops, while a combined lounge and kitchen provides a place for the children to relax in between rehearsals.

Oily Cart theatre was recently nominated for a Royal Institute of British Architects London Award.

Photography is by Tim Crocker.

Here’s some more text from Hawkins\Brown:

Oily Cart Theatre, Wandsworth, London

Located in the annexe of the Victorian Grade II listed Smallwood Primary School based in Tooting, Wandsworth, Oily Cart theatre works entirely with children, many of whom have complex disabilities and often attend special needs schools. The theatre group aims to provide cultural stimulation for these often under-serviced audiences.

Stirling Prize nominated architects, Hawkins\Brown, worked with the Oily Cart theatre to create an inspiring and playful scheme in keeping with the theatre’s ethos. The complete development of Oily Cart productions is housed in the annexe, from inception and management through to prop building, costume design and rehearsals. The scheme dramatically improves workshop, rehearsal and storage facilities for the theatre and reconfiguration of spaces as well as improving working conditions within office spaces.

The original theatre had poor accessibility for its occupants and one of Hawkins\Brown major interventions was the addition of an external lift with patterned anodised aluminium panels to access the first floor of the theatre, formerly only accessible via an external staircase.

Bold colours were used throughout the theatre to aid with orientation around the spaces and a new mezzanine level insert was added to the building that acts as a flexible meeting room, as well as clean and dirty workshops to make all of the necessary props, sets and costumes for the theatre.

The resulting building creates an inspiring, bright and tactile space for children to lean and play, as well as reusing and recycling materials and found objects from the site.

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headquarters by Hawkins\Brown appeared first on Dezeen.

French architect Noel Dominguez has added a timber-clad residence with an angular penthouse to the former garden of a townhouse on the outskirts of Paris (+ slideshow).

Named Wooden House in Paris, the compact three-storey residence is clad with timber on its two lower storeys, while its glazed top floor is a wedge-shaped penthouse set back from the parapet.

Paris-based Noel Dominguez describes the building as “a periscope” mounted on “a wooden cube”. Its shape was designed to maintain privacy from surrounding buildings, but also ensure it doesn’t restrict the views from any neighbouring windows.

The two-storey base is a timber construction, with deeply recessed windows concentrated onto two elevations, while the upper section was conceived as “a mass of metal and glass” that “contorts and twists to avoid side views,” said the architect.

A large open-plan living room and kitchen occupies the entire ground floor and features exposed ceiling beams and recessed shelving units.

A spiral staircase leads up to a bedroom and bathroom on the middle floor, while the angular penthouse holds the master bedroom.

Due to the restricted nature of the site, construction become a challenge for the design team. Access was through a 1.4-metre-wide passage, meaning that timber had to be lifted into the site with a hand-powered pulley system.

In response to this, the architect built a digital model of the structure, giving each timber component a unique reference number for ease of construction. This enabled the house to be constructed in just three weeks.

Photography is by Fred Toulet, apart from where otherwise stated.

Read on for more text from the architects:

Wooden House in Paris

In the heterogeneous urban fabric of this part of the 20th district of Paris we are asked for a house. 
At the bottom of what was, before the breakup of the family and the sale of the house on the street, the garden, the client starts a new life.

To make the best use of the qualities of the plot of land allocated, the house is divided into two entities.

The wooden cube – a cube of wood is placed back-to-back against the terraced houses in the site. Four of its faces are open, according to the opportunity for views and illumination offered by the plot of land and the terraced housing.

The periscope – positioned on the wooden cube, a mass of metal and glass contorts and twists to avoid side views while making visual framing and lights of the project.

Ship in a bottle… 
Over the 18 metres that separate the narrow street from the construction platform site we circulate across passages 1.4m wide, we encounter a porch 2.5m high with a tree across it. The house on the street is inhabited, its garden opens itself on our plot. The project thus looks like a model ship in a bottle.

We choose a technique where small units of wood are assembled on site and placed by hand or pulley, without machinery (no crane !).
The entire structure is modelled in 3D, each piece arrives on site with a reference and is part of a very precise mounting process.
In order to limit damage to the environment (broadly defined), this technique allows the mounting of the house in three weeks and then the adorning of an insulating wool protection.

Architect: Noel Dominguez
Team: Léo Pollard, Zoé Salvaire
Structural engineering (foundation): N. Perifan
Structural engineering (wood): Rialland
TCE: LMP
Framing wood, insulation and siding: LS Charpentes
Aluminium joinery: FHA
Painter: ECRIN
Locksmith: La Boite de Fer
Carpentry: Francis Bonnet ébénisterie
Cost without tax/M²: €2850

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into Parisian garden appeared first on Dezeen.

Milan 2014: what started as a conversation between Swedish furniture brand Offecct and Milan-based Fattorini+Rizzini+Partners at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in 2013 has come full circle with the launch of the MEET sofa (+ slideshow).

“Our very first meeting during Salone del Mobile in 2013 quickly turned into a fascinating philosophical discussion about what informal meetings mean, and from there Fattorini+Rizzini+Partners have carried out this project perfectly,” said Offecct design manager Anders Englund.

Design studio Fattorini+Rizzini+Partners‘ brief for MEET was for a sofa fit for different types of activity, from work and informal meetings to casual time.

“When we work on projects aimed at the environment between office and residential space, we always want to see and feel how this product will actually work in a space so it can be of full service to the people who will use it,” said chief designer Robin Rizzini.

“We wanted to create a sofa that gives you the feeling of being virtually anywhere,” he continued. “Offecct’s new sofa system MEET is designed for this purpose. Its functions address Offecct’s main areas: the sustainability and sound absorbing qualities of their products, the importance of injecting life through plants in indoor environments and Offecct’s craftsmanship in working with wood and fabrics.”

MEET was shown on the Offecct stand at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile last week.

The post Fattorini+Rizzini+Partners’ MEET sofa combines
“sound absorption” with versatility appeared first on Dezeen.

Milan 2014: Dutch designer Frederik Roijé has created a series of metal trays that form criss-crossing patterns when stacked on top of each other (+ slideshow).

Frederik Roijé‘s set of three Texture Trays are made from bent powder-coated steel bars, which run in parallel diagonal lines.

These curve up at the edges and join a bar forming the rim around the top. A grid pattern is formed when the different-sized trays are stacked inside one another.

The two smaller pieces are designed to sit inside the largest tray.

“We were inspired by all the different textures around us so you can play with it and make different combinations,” Roijé told Dezeen.

Designed to fit together on a desktop, the trays can be used for organising files and stationery.

“You can put magazines and other things in there. We have all these phones, keys and stuff like that on the table so we wanted to put them somewhere,” said Roijé.

The trays were on show as part of an exhibition of Dutch design at Via Savona 33 in Milan’s Tortona district last week.

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form overlapping grid patterns appeared first on Dezeen.