Lettera 9 by Demian Conrad
Posted in: UncategorizedLausanne graphic designer Demian Conrad has completed an identity and interior that reference typewriters for a combined library and internet café in Bellinzona, Switzerland. (more…)
Lausanne graphic designer Demian Conrad has completed an identity and interior that reference typewriters for a combined library and internet café in Bellinzona, Switzerland. (more…)
Photographer Fernando Guerra has sent us his photographs of a spiral staircase lined with bookcases by Portuguese architect Manuel Maia Gomes. (more…)
Spanish architects Carlos Pereda Iglesias and Óscar Pérez Silanes have completed a jewellery shop in Bilbao divided by rippled glass screens. (more…)
Lenka Křemenová and David Maštálka of Czech studio A1 Architects have completed the interior of a dental surgery in Prague where the walls are covered with illustrations of teeth, animals and plants. (more…)
A serene retreat in the heart of Stockholm with modern Scandinavian style, the recently-opened Hotel Skeppsholmen makes a welcome addition to the more glitzy and bustling options in the area. Its tiny island location lends the 81-room spot its name, along with views of the water, a park-like setting, neighboring museums, and just enough distance from the city center to feel calm but not isolated. Combined with spare decor, warm service, and plenty of little luxuries where they count, the boutique hotel throws off a casually elegant vibe as appealing to business travelers as it is to those visiting purely for fun.
In lieu of a grand lobby (it’s housed in former Marine barracks built in 1699), a spacious room offers a lounge area on one end and airy café-style seating on the other (pictured above right), with windows looking out over trees and the occasional passing boat. Breakfast there—a delicious take on the smorgasbord with treats like blueberry-cardamom granola, traditional Swedish buns, and heartier fare—has charming touches like linen napkins, is included in the room rate, and not to be missed.
Rooms themselves feature the clean lines of contemporary Scandinavian design in a palette of marine blues, grays and whites that designers Claesson Koivisto Rune call “Fog”—complimenting the setting and adding to the peaceful tone. While some of the more “high design” fixtures presented minor functional issues, most of the furnishing choices marry tasteful minimalism (starting with the gorgeously restored antique floors) with playful surprises like a bright yellow splash of a side table. And, though Skeppsholmen may lack the wall-to-wall opulence that some look for in a hotel, comforts like quality linens and toiletries by the popular Swedish brand Byredo, left me wanting for nothing.
Lighting in particular, like the rubbery texture of what I call the Spy v. Spy lamp (pictured below left), stands out for how it subtly and thoughtfully delights guests. Hallway light installations (below right), one night turned the mundane trek back to our rooms into a giggly impromptu photo shoot. The building’s layout (Swedes call it the “Long Row”) does mean that the short walk from reception sometimes psychologically feels like more of a trek than it is, but also lends to the off-the-beaten path feel.
With amenities that include a small gym, alternate dining rooms, meeting rooms, free WiFi, flat screen TVs with DVD players, minibars, and a variety of services—from Concierge to laundry—graciously fulfilled by the efficiently attentive staff, Skeppsholmen represents welcome new version of Scandinavian hospitality. Rack rates hover around $1,314 SEK (about $185). Book through Skeppsholmen.
London industrial designers Priestmangoode propose hospital wards modelled on health spas and beds like those in first class airline cabins in a new manifesto for health service design, released today. (more…)
El Bistro at the Philippe Starck-designed Faena Hotel+Universe in Buenos Aires. Reader, there are unicorns.
It was many years ago, in a post-ICFF fever dream, that we imagined a young Philippe Starck taking Buenos Aires by storm, embracing the city’s heat, noise, and dirt while warning residents of his “star quality.” Back then, we chalked it up to a bad mix of colorful cocktails and the Evita soundtrack, but it turns out, we were seeing the future. While Starck hasn’t taken to the Casa Rosada balcony (yet), he’s flying high and adored in Buenos Aires, where he designed the Faena Hotel+Universe, which opened in 2004. Part of former fashion designer Alan Faena‘s renaissance vision for the Puerto Madero neighborhood, the hotel began its life as a dockside warehouse. For Starck, the project is “the child of two very very good friends, who dreamed together on the beach, some years ago, about a good place for our friends,” he told Tablet Hotels in a recent interview. “And we dreamed about this idea of Universe—the name comes from Alan. Alan loves the name Universe, and that’s all. That means it’s just a dream. It’s just a dream of two persons.”
Dreamy, got it! So what does it look like? Think Gramercy Park Hotel through the lens of Ruven Afanador. “It’s purely the incarnation, the crystallization, of the spirit of Argentina,” said Starck. “That means it’s red like passion, there is gold, there is black, it’s very passionate, there is life and death, there is poetry everywhere, there is a lot of surrealistic things, it’s—you cannot even define a style, because Argentina is made of so many civilizations, so many cultures, so many languages.” Meanwhile, Starck reiterated his lack of interest in the design world (“It’s so boring”) and offered a slightly confusing take on trends. “I don’t care about design architecture and trends,” he said, after emphasizing his focus on how people will experience places. “If you see what I do it is never in a trend. If there is a trend, we are at the end of minimalism, but it’s still minimalism. I don’t make minimalism. I make always—my only style is freedom.”
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