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Hotel Britomart has 99 rooms and is located in downtown Auckland, New Zealand. For the remodel, Cheshire Architects and Lucas Design Associates restored the existing century old building and constructed a new ten story building. The goal was to use as many local materials and craftspeople as possible on the project.

Above is one of the rooftop suites.  The walls are lined with wood paneling.  The surrounding area is a blend of historic and contemporary projects.  The interiors reflect the mix of the old and new that surrounds the hotel.

The rooms were designed with three different color schemes. Each room’s color theme was based on the orientation to the sun and light levels in the room.

Three of the five rooftop penthouse suites, in the new building, enjoy private terraces that overlook the harbor. Many bespoke objects were made for the hotel. Some of the most notable items are the timber bedside lamps and lanterns, tree branch bronze handles, and the moulded glass chandeliers.

In the main lobby, above, the reception desk has a Totara tree growing up though one section of the desk. The Totara tree is native to the area. The desk is made from sandblasted oak.

Across from the reception desk is a bench crafted from recycled kauri wood, also found only in New Zealand. Below is the seating nook in the lobby that features a blue stone coffee table sourced from the port city of Timaru and a wall of black cracked plaster made using Auckland clay.

The hotel features an open kitchen which is located directly between the two buildings. The kitchen windows are surrounded by logs adding a cozy feel.

The NZ Green Building Council, a voluntary sustainability rating system for buildings in Australasia, awarded the Hotel a five green star rating. The hotel is the first in New Zealand to earn a five green star rating.

DESIGN YOUR FUTURE TODAY!

Interior Designers Institute was founded in 1984 and is one of the few Interior Design Schools in California offering an Avocational Certificate Course, Associate of Arts Degree in Interior Design, Bachelor of Arts Degree in Interior Design, and Master of Interior Architecture Degree and is nationally accredited and also accredited by CIDA, Council for Interior Design Accreditation.

Is this the world’s wackiest bookstore? The defining feature in the newly opened Zhongshuge bookshop in the city of Shenzhen, China, is an enormous spiral staircase that twists around the shop – but customers can’t climb it. The jaw-dropping snaking staircase, which even features an ornate bannister, in fact serves as a fantastical bookshelf.

Li Xiang of Shanghai-based X+Living studios is behind the design of both the shop and the bookshelf, which doubles as ‘a huge artistic installation’. Describing the story behind the design, Li Xiang says: ‘In the process of researching the cultural background of this city, I realized that I could design a space which could become a symbol of Shenzhen itself as an inclusive and vibrant city of migrants, paying tribute to all those who have struggled to make history in this city. Thus, this retail space, which seems to have grown out of a giant art installation, was born.’

The bookshop, which opened this autumn, is divided into four separate spaces – a ‘concept’ area, a ‘forum’ area, a children’s reading bay and a conference space. There are also ‘levitating tables’ with legs that blend in with the black-tiled floor to create a ‘surreal atmosphere’. According to a statement from the studio, the staircase-bookshelf runs ‘in a curved trajectory through the entire concept area’ and connects with the entrance and exit, with bookworms able to wander through the coils, picking up novels along the way.

‘The designers have taken the symbolism of the ladder of wisdom and integrated the elegant and dignified bookshelves in the forum area into a towering ladder, creating a sacred temple of knowledge,’ the statement explains, adding that the structure intends to create an ‘intimate reading experience’.

Elsewhere in the shop, the children’s reading area is a riot of pastel colors and cartoonish shapes that aims to conjure up ‘colorful and joyful memories’. A Ferris wheel and a castle are built into the wall in yet more whimsical bookshelves, created using ‘simple lines and graphics’ and ‘childlike brushstrokes’. The table at the center of the space was designed to look like an amusement park carousel, ‘inviting children to make friends with books’. Zhongshuge bookstores are a chain of bookshops across China, founded by book publisher Jin Hao. Since 2010, X+Living studios has designed over 20 of the chain’s premises, creating spaces with spectacular, awe-inspiring interiors.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/galleries/article-10258947/Jaw-dropping-bookstore-spiraling-bookcase-opens-China.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ico=taboola_feed_article&ns_mchannel=rss&ico=taboola_feed%EF%BB%BF

DESIGN YOUR FUTURE TODAY!

Interior Designers Institute was founded in 1984 and is one of the few Interior Design Schools in California offering an Avocational Certificate Course, Associate of Arts Degree in Interior Design, Bachelor of Arts Degree in Interior Design, and Master of Interior Architecture Degree and is nationally accredited and also accredited by CIDA, Council for Interior Design Accreditation.

Over the past 160 years Louis Vuitton has collaborated with many leading artists. To celebrate, they created an exhibition in Los Angeles. At the exhibition there were custom bags and a tropical pop-up shop. The Louis Vuitton X exhibition was located at 468 North Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills. There were also almost two hundred items from their fashion house’s archive on display.

There were many different spaces, everything from vibrantly colored rooms to dark black spaces with glowing lights.

Above, is one exhibit room featuring rosey checkerboard walls, ceiling, and floors. Toward the top of the room is the illusion of an ocean complete with a boat, dock, and cliffs. Another space, below, is covered in large, black Louis Vuitton writing on a stark white backdrop for the contemporary art display.

Included in the exhibition are six Louis Vuitton Monogram leather duffle bags that have been reinterpreted by renowned artists and designers, including the late Karl Lagerfeld and Zaha Hadid, as well as, Rei Kawakubo, Yayoi Kusama, Cindy Sherman, and Frank Gehry.

The display above shows custom-designed Capucines bags designed by Sam Falls, Urs Fischer, Nicholas Hlobo, Alex Israel, Tschabalala Self, and Jonas Wood. The designs are part of the Artycapucines collection.

On the top floor there was a pop-up store. The space was decorated with pink palm trees and a domed yellow ceiling that gives the illusion of a glowing sunset. The shop included products curated by Sarah Andelman who is the founder of the consulting and curating company “Just an Idea” and former creative director of the Parisian concept store Colette. The store offered everything from women’s ready-to-wear clothes, leather goods, accessories, shoes, and fragrances.

Additional highlights included a collection of early twentieth-century special order Louis Vuitton trunks, art deco perfume bottles, and window displays designed by Louis Vuitton’s grandson, Gaston-Louis.

The exterior was vibrantly colored creating a cohesive flow in the design of the interior and the exterior.

DESIGN YOUR FUTURE TODAY!

Interior Designers Institute was founded in 1984 and is one of the few Interior Design Schools in California offering an Avocational Certificate Course, Associate of Arts Degree in Interior Design, Bachelor of Arts Degree in Interior Design, and Master of Interior Architecture Degree and is nationally accredited and also accredited by CIDA, Council for Interior Design Accreditation.

Take a look at the many ways to incorporate Shaker style into your design. Clean lines, function over frill, and natural wood with a focus on craftsmanship; built to last sums up the style.

The bedroom above, in the Círculo Mexicano Hotel in Mexico City, embraces the Shaker style with a traditional peg rail. The rail was typically used to hang garments and light weight furniture. The warm wood tones are framed by the white walls.

This artisanal bakery, Flourist, in Vancouver, Canada, was designed by Ste Marie. Shaker influences can be seen in the simple, natural wood, and clean lines giving the bakery a handmade feel.

The Toronto store Mjölk had an exhibition and on display was the above furniture piece made by the Shakers. The pressed flowers in the simple frames pay homage to the connection to nature that the Shakers relished.

In Queens rowhouse above, the Shaker style cabinets are embellished with a saturated blue paint. The counter top and shelf are simple and clean lined.

The seating above is a great example of function being the primary goal of the Shaker design. Even the light fixture and accessories repeat the concept of simple, clean lined forms.

Architect Ravi Raj designed the above Clover Hill Residence with the traditional angular Shaker style stove as a focal point. The warm, neutral color palette is framed by the dark blue accents. Again, we see simple, clean lined, wood furniture to finish out this Shaker inspired bedroom.

Designed for the Furnishing Utopia exhibition, above is a wooden bench with a matching table. The simple setting of stone and wood further the design esthetics of the furniture pieces.

Above we see Terracotta House, in Australia, which is a communal space designed after the Shakers’ common practice of communal living spaces. Simple, functional furniture anchors the room.

In your next design Shaker it up!

DESIGN YOUR FUTURE TODAY!

Interior Designers Institute was founded in 1984 and is one of the few Interior Design Schools in California offering an Avocational Certificate Course, Associate of Arts Degree in Interior Design, Bachelor of Arts Degree in Interior Design, and Master of Interior Architecture Degree and is nationally accredited and also accredited by CIDA, Council for Interior Design Accreditation.

Hermès has popped up in Brooklyn with a temporary gym that takes aesthetic cues from its signature accessory designs.

https://wwd.com/tag/hermes/

Against all likelihood, Hermès has headed for Brooklyn to open something of a branded jungle gym. The French house has opened an installation in Williamsburg called HermèsFit. Forget working out with therabands and stainless steel weights, though. Through Sunday, fans and customers can book special exercise experiences featuring Hermès scarves, which have been applied to boxing bags and inspired new yoga sequences. Those with more of a taste for jewelry can participate in a “kickboxing with bracelets” class that incorporate Hermès’ classic enamel Clic Clac bangle designs.

There are Hermès-inspired barbells, a climbing wall, photobooth and juice bar. Interested participants can pre-register for classes on Hermès’ website or drop by the space at 60 North 6th Street for a peek at the experience. Proof of vaccination is required for entry.

This is the HermèsFit concept’s first stop in the United States after an inaugural run in Chengdu, China, this past May. From here the concept will travel to Paris, Taipei and Shanghai.

DESIGN YOUR FUTURE TODAY!

Interior Designers Institute was founded in 1984 and is one of the few Interior Design Schools in California offering an Avocational Certificate Course, Associate of Arts Degree in Interior Design, Bachelor of Arts Degree in Interior Design, and Master of Interior Architecture Degree and is nationally accredited and also accredited by CIDA, Council for Interior Design Accreditation.

Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Center.

September 9, 2021 – April 3, 2022

Palm Springs Art Museum has reopened the Architecture and Design Center, Edwards Harris Pavilion with the exhibition The Modern Chair.

This special exhibition will follow a timeline of the development of the modern chair starting with the famous Thonet “B-9” bentwood armchair (circa 1905), which is widely considered the first modern chair. Le Corbusier frequently used it in his early architecture as there was no other modern furniture readily available at the time. 

The Modern Chair will trace the evolution from the first cantilevered example by Mart Stam, and then onward to designs of current times including examples by Cini Boeri, Charles and Ray Eames, Frank Gehry, Eileen Gray, George Nakashima, Charlotte Perriand, Rudolph Schindler, among many others.

Technological and stylistic advances pushed chair design forward at a breakneck speed in the 20th century like no other time before. The exhibition will also contain important examples of 21st century as well.

Drawn in part from the rich collection of Palm Springs Art Museum, the exhibition will also include key loans from noted collectors and collections. In total, The Modern Chair will include more than 50 works by designers of international scope, and is open to the public on September 9, 2021.

Palm Springs Life’s editor Steve Biller recently took a deep-dive into the exhibition in an article entitled Hot Seats

The Modern Chair exhibition expresses how design reflects the way we live.

DESIGN

Sometimes, a chair is more than something to sit on. It might be a work of art or a precious heirloom with great sentimental value. To a collector, it could be a trophy object, while others may value its familiar and reliable comfort. The go-to chair in my living room, a reproduction of Eero Saarinen’s Womb Chair and Ottoman, appeals in all these ways — a curvaceous ergonomic design in a molded fiberglass frame, padded and upholstered in fabric, and set on chrome legs to accommodate all the ways I sit in it: usually with my feet up on the ottoman and sometimes sideways across the arms of the chair. Its 1946 design responds to architect and fellow furniture designer Florence Knoll’s request for “a chair that was like a basket full of pillows,” something she could “really curl up in.”

The Womb Chair was the pinnacle of design, beautiful in form and function and embodying modernism’s spirit of experimentation and innovation. Seventy-five years later, it’s a midcentury classic, with Knoll reproductions and a variety of knockoffs still in high demand.

Although it’s not included in The Modern Chair, the season-long exhibition at the Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Center, Saarinen is represented by his iconic Tulip Chair. The show, drawn from museum’s collection as well as from other public and private collections, continues through April 3, 2022, and features 60 eye-popping and comfy-looking specimens spanning more than 100 years.

“During the last century,” says curator Brad Dunning, “new industrial materials and technological and stylistic advances pushed chair design forward faster than at any previous time. The exhibition follows the development and evolution of the modern chair.”

It begins with two early examples — a simple and unadorned bent wood Thonet B-9 armchair created in 1904 and used in the designs of architect Le Corbusier as well as the first cantilevered chair created by Mart Stam — and continues through the “fertile and innovative” midcentury years and concludes with contemporary designs.

Visitors can trace the history of the cantilever chair from Stam to the diminutive Rudolph M. Schindler example commissioned by Herman Sachs for the Manola Court Apartments in Silver Lake, and find many familiar designs, such as the Charles and Ray Eames’ molded plywood Side Chair (Model DCW), which Time magazine named as the best design of the 20th century in 1999. “I’m showing a rare early version,” Dunning says of the low-slung icon and Herman Miller best seller. “It launched the Eames’ career.”

Innovative entries reflect technological advances and aim to solve problems. Saarinen’s Space Age and single-legged Tulip Chair, for example, resolved what the Finnish-American designer described as the “ugly, confusing, unrestful world” underneath tables and chairs — the so-called, “slum of legs,” while the Danish designer Verner Panton’s S-shaped Panton Chair, created in the 1960s, became the world’s first molded plastic chair designed in one piece without legs.

Panton has a second work in the exhibition: his bright red Heart Cone Chair. He designed it in 1958, based on his striking Cone Chair. The heart-shaped form of its seat shell, also molded as a single piece, inspired the chair’s name. “Panton always loved the big English wingback chairs that envelope you,” Dunning says. “He was trying to do his own version of it. It was out in the 1960s and really has that pop sensibility.”

Vitra, which has produced Panton’s designs since the 1960s, reissued the Heart Cone Chair in the 1990s; the newer version replaces the cross-shaped foot with a round plate, lowers the heart “wings,” and adds a leather option.

Terje Ekström offers one of the most unusual forms in the playful and ergonomic Ekstrem armchair, created in 1972, commercialized in the 1980s, and now experiencing a revival. Its spider-like design was an instant hit for its odd look and imaginative versatility: You can sit on it like a regular chair, sideways, or even backward. “It’s fun to imagine how many ways the chair can be used,” Dunning says.

One of Dunning’s favorites in the exhibition is the Module 400 chair by French designer Roger Tallon. It has a cast aluminum pedestal base and egg crate latex foam seat and back. “It looks so industrial,” he says. “Tallon was fascinated with the foam that’s in packing crates. He [designed the chair] for a friend who had a disco in Paris. The whole floor was made of interchangeable tiles the same dimensions as the base of the chairs, as well as matching barstools and standing ashtrays.”

Materiality plays an important role in the exhibition, which includes two chairs constructed with paper, including Frank Gehry’s Beaver Chair and Ottoman, designed in 1980 and produced by Vitra in 1987.

“Gehry was doing architecture way before furniture and always made his models with corrugated cardboard,” Dunning explains. “There would always be tons of scraps around his studio. One night he started gluing them all together, took an X-Acto knife and hacked at them, and ended up with the Easy Edges [Cardboard Furniture series]. We’ve all seen the squiggly [Wiggle] Chair; this armchair is quite rare.” (It’s from an edition of 100 pieces.)

More delicate, at least in appearance, is the Honey-Pop Armchair by Tokujin Yoshioka, who formed wafer-thin sheets of paper into a honeycomb design to create a strong structure. It arrives folded flat, opens like an accordion, and takes the impression of the first rear end to sit on it.

Other chairs in the exhibition, like Danish designer Hans Wegner’s Round Chair, became popular in part because of the people who used them. This piece gained worldwide publicity in September 1960, when Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy sat for the first nationally televised presidential debate. “This may be one of the most beautiful chairs in the museum collection,” Dunning says. “Talk about delicacy. Wegner is the master of the wooden chair. This one is made of 11 different parts of wood, and he somehow joins them so they’re seamless and elegant.” The chair actually debuted in 1949 at the annual exhibition of the Cabinetmakers’ Guild in Copenhagen.

A few chairs might ring familiar to visitors, including Eames’ classic 670 and 671 Lounge and Ottoman — “The design for this chair has never gone out of production and remains a bellwether of success and status,” Dunning says — as well as Harry Bertoia’s Welded Wire Side Chair based on steel grid wire forms and Marcel Breuer’s reductive Wassily Chair.

Some are artful, like Gerrit Rietveld’s Red Blue Chair, which epitomizes the Dutch de Stijl aesthetic pioneered by Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg.

Others, like Cini Boeri’s glass Ghost Chair, will surprise. “Boeri wanted a chair that just disappeared,” Dunning explains. “Of course, it doesn’t, but it’s less than a half-inch thick of poured sheet glass.”

Visitors to the show might be tempted to pick up Italian designer Gio Ponti’s Superleggera chair. Its name translates to “superlightweight,” as it weighs only 3.7 pounds but can support the weight on a 350-pound person. Advertisements for the chair, designed in 1949 and continually produced by Cassina since 1957, featured a young boy lifting it with one finger. (Security will stop anybody who attempts it.)

In the center of the exhibition space, Dunning has organized a section to focus on California design that includes William Haines’ Custom Armchair (circa 1950), as well as a wicker example by Miller Lee Fong, who, Dunning says, “found a way to make rattan hip. It fit the sophisticated yet casual California lifestyle of the 1960s. The lines are both organic and sculptural.”

The California section also includes examples by the Eames duo, such as the popular Rocking Shell Chair, as well as Richard Neutra, Paul Tuttle, Luther Conover, Daniel Wenger and several underappreciated women, including Muriel Coleman and Dorothy Schindele.

The Modern Chair makes no attempt to be comprehensive; rather, it’s a survey exhibition that showcases the evolution of design over more than a century. “So much of design is cyclical and transitory,” Dunning says, “but a lot of the chairs that we’re showing are in the design zeitgeist now. There’s interest in them again.”

While visitors cannot sit in the chairs on display, he adds, each demonstrates how design reflects and expresses the way we live and have lived. psmuseum.org

DESIGN YOUR FUTURE TODAY!

Interior Designers Institute was founded in 1984 and is one of the few Interior Design Schools in California offering an Avocational Certificate Course, Associate of Arts Degree in Interior Design, Bachelor of Arts Degree in Interior Design, and Master of Interior Architecture Degree and is nationally accredited and also accredited by CIDA, Council for Interior Design Accreditation.

The postmodernist AT&T building in Midtown Manhattan was redesigned by Gensler’s New York studio. The goal was to pay homage to the existing structure. The landmarked Philip Johnson-designed building is located at 550 Madison.

The building’s large 110 foot entrance, along Madison Avenue, leads visitors to the triple height, vaulted lobby. According to Gensler they set out to create a “bright, minimalist space.” The redesign maintained the lobby’s height, volume, and vaulted features.

The lobby entrance welcomes visitors through a large scale arch. The grandeur of the entrance area surrounds guests with lavish finishes; such as, bronze mesh, leather, and stone. The geometric patterns on the floor were created with terrazzo in varying greys.

To help define the space and bring it to a human scale Gensler incorporated bronze mesh panels. The panels bring the eye line down from the marble above which leads to the triple height ceilings. Rust hued leather wrapped, recessed seating booths are inset into the bronze mesh panels. In line with the geometric floor pattern, you can see a welcome desk made of stone.

A marble sphere installation by Alicja Kwade was hung by chains from the vaulted ceiling twelve feet above the ground.

Strip lighting enhances the lines of the ceiling and decorative features.

DESIGN YOUR FUTURE TODAY!

Interior Designers Institute was founded in 1984 and is one of the few Interior Design Schools in California offering an Avocational Certificate Course, Associate of Arts Degree in Interior Design, Bachelor of Arts Degree in Interior Design, and Master of Interior Architecture Degree and is nationally accredited and also accredited by CIDA, Council for Interior Design Accreditation.

Marble is a metamorphic stone known for its smooth appearance and veining. It is often used on floors, walls, and countertops.

Above marble covers all the surfaces creating an opulent space. Ghanian-British architect David Adjaye designed the interiors for the apartments in the 130 William skyscraper in New York.

London interior design firm 2LG Studio remodeled the bath above with colourful accents. The white carrara walls frame the vanity in elegant fashion.

Marcante-Testa used colorful marble in the Teorema Milanes remodel above. The modern design above combines ancient marble and modern fixtures to create a truly unique space.

The project above, in Porto, designed by Portuguese studio Fala Atelier combines ceramic tile with marble floors and vanity. The geometric quality of the tile contrasts the marble veining.

Above we see emerald green marble designed by Sārānsh in the VS House in Ahmedabad. The curvilinear layout of the marble repeats the shape of the mirror adding a dramatic look.

The home above was designed by Innauer-Matt Architekten in the Rhine Valley. By bringing in the natural elements of wood and marble the outside and inside flow into one another.

The late 19th-century Lisbon apartment above was renovated by local firm Rar.Studio. The veining on the marble was installed both horizontally and vertically drawing the eye around the room.

London and Vienna-based design firm SIRS redesigned the above home which is located in a 1960s apartment building in England’s capital.

Above the 19th-century house near Paris that was renovated by Spanish studio 05 AM Arquitectura. The bookmatched slabs in the shower add a dramatic touch.

DESIGN YOUR FUTURE TODAY!

Interior Designers Institute was founded in 1984 and is one of the few Interior Design Schools in California offering an Avocational Certificate Course, Associate of Arts Degree in Interior Design, Bachelor of Arts Degree in Interior Design, and Master of Interior Architecture Degree and is nationally accredited and also accredited by CIDA, Council for Interior Design Accreditation.

Photoshop is the first computer class that the AA students explore. Many students start the class with very little computer skills. This can cause some students, in the first few classes, to feel tense and overwhelmed. In a very short time students become quite comfortable with the program and thrive. The first step is to learn the interface.

Students learn to take their hand sketched layouts and build them into digital files.

Throughout the class students create their own notebook. The tools they learn and the steps they take to utilize the tools are recorded. This allows students to function in Photoshop many semesters/years later.

Image searching is a skill that students learn in class, as well. They bring their high quality images into their canvas so that they can then start developing their layouts.

Preliminary layouts are reviewed in class with peer review and professor feedback. Then they use the feedback to further develop their projects.

Students learn new tools that they present in class. Their fellow students ask questions about the tools which allows them to add new tools to their notebook for projects in future classes. Final layouts are presented in class for further peer review and professor feedback.

DESIGN YOUR FUTURE TODAY!

Interior Designers Institute was founded in 1984 and is one of the few Interior Design Schools in California offering an Avocational Certificate Course, Associate of Arts Degree in Interior Design, Bachelor of Arts Degree in Interior Design, and Master of Interior Architecture Degree and is nationally accredited and also accredited by CIDA, Council for Interior Design Accreditation.

As we prepare for the upcoming fall semester we are reminded of warm color palettes and rich textures.

What are hues?

Hues: Hues describe a pure color that is found on the color wheel and has had nothing added to it to change its properties.

Tint Definition in Art

Tints: What is a tint in art? Tints are created when white is added to any hue on the color wheel. This process lightens and desaturates the hue.

Color Tone Terminology

Tones: Tones are created when grey is added to a color. The final tone depends on the amount of black and white used, and tones may be lighter or darker than the original hue.

Shade Color Definition

Shades: Shades are created when black is added to any hue found on the color wheel. This process darkens the hue and creates a more intense color.

Texture

Rich textured accessories tend to add to the warmth of a space. Items like blankets, throws, and baskets in warm colors can bring out the fall feel in a space.

Also, bring the outside in with fall foliage, floral, and gourds. They can be used separately or combined for added interest. Enjoy mixing it up a little this fall season!

DESIGN YOUR FUTURE TODAY!

Interior Designers Institute was founded in 1984 and is one of the few Interior Design Schools in California offering an Avocational Certificate Course, Associate of Arts Degree in Interior Design, Bachelor of Arts Degree in Interior Design, and Master of Interior Architecture Degree and is nationally accredited and also accredited by CIDA, Council for Interior Design Accreditation.