Hasta La Ideas

Raw concrete and colourful fabrics are combined in this fashion store in Dubai by London designers Studio Toogood (+ slideshow).

Studio Toogood designed the boutique for Dubai fashion brand Mahani, introducing cast-concrete and monolithic forms intended as “an antidote” to the glamourous opulence of shops elsewhere in the Emirates.

Richly coloured drapes divide the space, while stools designed by Faye Toogood are upholstered in bright satin, providing relief from the plain concrete surfaces.

Garments can be hung from simple black railings that run along the perimeter of the store or suspended from discrete hooks that protrude from the walls.

Bespoke pieces of furniture constructed from metal mesh are used to display items such as shoes and jewellery.

A concrete catwalk spans the length of the store, providing opportunities for fashion shows and events, while white animal sculptures are dotted around the edges of the space.

A chandelier made from bare light bulbs hangs from the ceiling. Elsewhere, angled spotlights are combined with suspended strip lights to add to the store’s raw aesthetic.

The final addition is an in-store bakery serving tea, coffee and desserts made by food design collective Arabeschi di Latte, who Studio Toogood previously collaborated with on an installation where participants were served black food at midnight in a darkened apartment.

Other projects we’ve featured by Studio Toogood include a bar where guests selected wine by smelling scented totem poles and an installation featuring boxes decorated with multi-coloured electrical tape.

See all our stories about Studio Toogood »
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Here’s a description from Studio Toogood:

Studio Toogood’s design for the new Mahani – Dubai’s first concept store – is an antidote to the polished slickness of modern retail in the Emirates.

The walls and fittings of the store – which opened in May 2013 – are cast in raw concrete, creating a neutral, Modernist-inspired environment to showcase the fashion-forward collections on sale.

The ascetic qualities of the space are offset by subtle touches of femininity, including richly coloured drapes and satin upholstery on bespoke pieces designed by Faye Toogood; meanwhile, a series of animal sculptures add a playful element.

Mahani’s in-store “bakery” serves tea, coffee and sweet treats by food designers Arabeschi di Latte, while a dedicated catwalk area running the length of the boutique allows for exclusive shows by cutting-edge and emerging designers.

The interplay of Studio Toogood’s monolithic modern interior with the soft femininity of the directional clothes makes Mahani an exciting, exclusive and distinctive new fashion destination in Dubai.

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Studio Toogood appeared first on Dezeen.

This family house in Nara, Japan, is raised up on pilotis and residents have to enter using a staircase beneath the floor (+ slideshow).

Named 4n, the residence was designed by Osaka studio Ninkipen! to house a couple and their two children.

The site had previously been split into two levels with a retaining wall in between. Rather than levelling the ground, the architects decided to create a hill and position the house above it.

“We removed the wall, connecting the two levels with a gentle slope, and floated the house above it,” said architect Imazu Yasuo. “By elevating the house on pilotis we created good views and an all-weather outdoor space.”

The cantilevered front end of the building forms the shelter for an entrance porch, leading through to the staircase and up into the house.

Inside, the lower level of the house is divided up into different living areas. A concrete kitchen counter runs along one side, while a dining table is positioned centrally and the front end is a living room with partitioning glass screens.

A second staircase leads up to an attic floor, where exposed timber ceiling beams frame a pair of bedrooms.

Ninkipen! previously designed a house made up of a set of rectangular volumes. Other projects by the studio include a bakery in Osaka and a clothing shop with fake doors.

See more design by Ninkipen! »
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Photography is by Hiroki Kawata.

Here’s a project description from the architect:

This is a house for a family of four in Ikoma city.

The site had been divided into two levels with a retaining wall, and vehicle access was to the lower level only. We removed the wall, connecting the two levels with a gentle slope, and floated the house above it.

By elevating the house on piloti we created good views and an all weather outdoor space which is also a children’s playground and the entrance porch.

The window rail on the second floor is cantilevered to allow wind flow inside. The kitchen counter is a thin concrete slab on a timber frame and maybe it is suitable to call it just a flower stand.

The third floor is a cramped but has free flowing atmosphere like an attic. Children are running around these three floors now.

We hope that this family of four can have a house for their family in the wake of the 3.11 earthquake and live comfortably in their own way.

Project name: 4n
Architect: Yasuo Imazu / ninkipen!
Structural engineer: Masaichi Taguchi / TAPS
Contractor: Kimura Koumuten

Use: house
Location: Ikoma city, Nara
Completion: 2013.3
Total floor area: 118.98m2

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Ninkipen! appeared first on Dezeen.

An integrated pulley system allows items to be hoisted up and down around this workstation by Italian design graduate Micaela Nardella (+ slideshow).

Micaela Nardella was influenced by the movement of industrial cranes and lifts when designing the wooden structure, which is intended to be wheeled over an existing desk.

CRANE-IT features a series of hanging platforms with perforations and nets that can hold books, pens, coffee cups or plants.

The platforms can be lifted up and down using the spinning wheels on the side of the structure, creating a dynamic workspace that can be adapted to suit different activities.

“The project creates an innovative overhead experience by featuring different textures, densities and by expanding or shrinking the space underneath the structure,” explains Nardella.

All the pulleys, ropes and handles are deliberately over-scaled so that the working mechanisms of the structure become the main feature.

The apparatus can be used as a single module or combined with additional units to form a larger arrangement for several people.

CRANE-IT was presented earlier this month at the Post-Port exhibition in Rotterdam, a showcase of work by graduates from the Piet Zwart Institute.

Other adaptable workstations we’ve featured on Dezeen include a writing desk with sliding storage compartments that can be pulled out and rearranged.

See more stories about desk design »
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Here’s a project description from the designer:

CRANE-IT is a vertical moving machine on wheels to be located over an existing workstation. The wooden structure and its pulley systems add functional quality and new levels of spatial use to an ordinary desk.

Inspired by the mechanisms of harbour cranes and warehouse industrial lifts, the project translates their moving technique into the design of a new spatial organization. Different functional elements are suspended above head level and each set of systems controls the relocation of one component; objects would move up and down by spinning the wheels placed on the structure.

Every component of the vertical motion is exposed and over-scaled so that pulleys, ropes and handles become the main feature of the project.

This apparatus features a group of hanged surfaces: from extra space for pens or coffee cups to a small comfortable cushion for a short break. Net hangers, book holder and temporary partitions are added on a conventional work place. CRANE-IT stands as a singular active module that adapts to the necessities of one person. It can also be positioned in a multiplied spatial arrangement for a larger and lively working area, suitable for more users.

The project creates an innovative overhead experience by featuring different textures, densities and by expanding or shrinking the space underneath the structure. This new machine proposes a dynamic approach to work areas, where the continuous movement opens up for adaptability.

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Micaela Nardella appeared first on Dezeen.

This guest house by Russian architect Peter Kostelov has a patchwork timber facade with perforated panels that look like paper doilies (+ slideshow).

The Deco Pattern House is located in the grounds of a house in Russia’s Konakovsky district and was influenced by the decorative style of early nineteenth-century Russian architecture.

“It’s reminiscent of old Soviet-time buildings when people had limited access to building materials, so as a result most private houses looked like patchwork blankets,” Peter Kostelov told Dezeen.

The timber facade is broken up into a series of squares and rectangles, differentiated with pine slats of different sizes, orientations and finishes. All joints are hidden behind overlapping planks of white-painted wood, fixed to one another with zinc screws.

Doors and windows are surrounded by the decorative plywood panels and trims, featuring laser-cut patterns that look like computer pixels.

“The ornament seems to consist of enlarged pixels, bringing the modern computer to the decor,” explained Kostelov. “Similar drawings used to be seen on ornaments embroiled on tissues and were copied and multiplied like patterns framing the edges of the shape,” he added.

The guest house encompasses two bedrooms, an office space, a shower and a toilet along with a small kitchen and dining area. The living room sits between the two bedrooms while a workshop area is isolated from the rest of the house.

This isn’t the first time Kostelov has created a house with a patchwork facade. He previously designed a riverside summerhouse clad with an assortment of wooden slats in Tverskaya, Russia. See more design by Peter Kostelov »

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Photography is by Zinon Razutdinov.

Here’s some more from the architect:

Function

This house is the second after the bigger cottage on the same plot. It is the guests’ house. Apart from living room and a kitchen there are two bedrooms, toilet with shower, a workshop and storage. There is also a veranda and a garage for two cars. This house faces the bigger cottage. Its facade is richly decorated, which is sure to ennoble the plot and makes an attractive view if to look out of the bigger cottage. The house’s dimension is due to the size of the plot – 21 metres long and 6 metres wide – which is corresponding to the minimal size for two cars parking. Each of the two rather small bedrooms has kingsize beds, office zones and storage place for guests’ comfortable staying. Shower and toilet are next to the entrance. The living room is between two bedrooms. There are also a small kitchen, dining room and a divan area. Open air veranda with its small window for airing is under the housetop of the building. As for the workshop it is isolated so that the residents wouldn’t disturb the guests.

Decorations

The idea of the house decorations is recognisable for Russian style: a lot of decorative elements placed around windows and doors. Simple shapes and classical decorative elements should have created harmony. Walls are cut into segments and differ from each other in size of trimming wooden elements, colour and texture all of which create moving background. Above them decorative elements – trims and shutters are fixed. Joints of linings and threads are covered with crosswise planks fixed with visible zinc screws creating a bulge effect on simple shape of facade. Ornament of decorative elements is graphically processed. Oval elements are removed from it. The ornament seems to consist of enlarged pixels bringing modern computer origin of decor.  Similar drawings used to be seen on ornaments embroiled on tissues and were copied and multiplied like patterns framing the edges of the shape.

Technologies

Foundation is like a belt made of channel and is based on steel piles screwed evenly every 3 metres. Roof made from metal panels. Frame and panel technology is implemented in building of this house with timber 50 х 150 mm, insulation, hydro and wind proof pellicle and wooden trimming of both sides of walls. Decorative elements are made of waterproof plywood of 15 mm. thick.

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by Peter Kostelov appeared first on Dezeen.

Japanese studio FORM/Kouichi Kimura Architects has completed a family house in Shiga, Japan, that is 27 metres long but only 2.7 metres wide (+ slideshow).

Faced with an extremely long and narrow site, architect Kouichi Kimura designed both floors of the two-storey Promenade House with a simple layout, where sequences of rooms are connected by long corridors.

Most rooms open out to a corridor, making use of all available space. “As you proceed along the hallway you will see the spaces spread out, one after another,” said the architect.

A kitchen, dining area and living room occupy one space on the ground floor and feature windows that line the edges of the floor.

Steps at the back lead to a raised double-height study with a large rear window and a skylight overhead. A ladder leads from the study to the floor above, although residents can also use a staircase at the front of the house.

The corridor on the upper floor is divided in two. Silver curtains screen bedrooms and storages areas at one end, while the bathrooms are surrounded by turquoise walls, intended to give “an impression of cleanliness”.

Another double-height room is also contained on this floor and brings in light through clerestory windows. The architects refer to this space as a balcony, even though it’s completely enclosed by exterior walls.

Several polished concrete surfaces crop up though the building, while the floor in the living room is built from wood.

Kouichi Kimura set up his studio in Shiga in 1991. Other residential projects by the architect include House of Representation, which features a large light chimney, and House of Silence, designed to be deliberately alien to its neighbours.

See more architecture by FORM/Kouichi Kimura Architects »
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Photography is by Takumi Ota.

Read on for a project description from the architects:

Promenade House

The project is for the house owned by a young couple and is planned at the unique site 4 metres wide and 35 metres deep.

The geometrical restriction of the site is reflected in the internal composition of the house. The building, with a width of 2.7 metres and a total length of 27 metres, is laid out in accordance with the narrow site to draw its outline.

The internal space has been planned to have a long narrow hallway, with which your body senses the site geometry. As you proceed along the hallway you will see the spaces spread out one after another.

The long hallway is extended from the entrance on the first floor, led by the footlight through the dining and living rooms, and connected to the raised study at the very end. It reaches to the idyllic view seen through the large opening of the study where the tapered line of sight from the entrance is opened up.

On the second floor, two hallways are planned to be extended from the staircase that has a top light. One has a green wall aiming for colour effect. The vivid green hallway surrounds the balcony, giving an impression of cleanliness to the adjacent bathroom and washroom.

The other is connected from the kid room through the bed room to the bridge at the open-ceiling space. It is designed to control light; the light through the light transmissive curtain separating the kid room, or the sunlight from the high-side light in the open ceiling space leads you forward.

The end of the hallway becomes a bridge, and the ladder installed there connects the upper and lower spaces to produce continuity.

The green wall is used at both ends of the building, providing more impressiveness of the total length. The hallways laid out in this house are the promenades that strongly impress the site geometry.

Architects: FORM/Kouichi Kimura Architects
Location: Shiga, Japan
Client: Private

Construction Year: 2013
Site Area: 166,08 sqm
Constructed Area: 124,3 sqm

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Kouichi Kimura Architects appeared first on Dezeen.