Various Associates designs Voisin Organique restaurant to resemble a gloomy valley

Towering ceilings and shadowy dining areas within this restaurant in Shenzhen are meant to emulate the experience of traversing a mountain valley.

Located in Shenzhen's Futian district, Voisin Organique is a farm-to-table restaurant that offers a contemporary take on traditional Chinese cuisine.

Various Associates was tasked with developing the restaurant's interior, which needed to include a lounge area, fine-dining room and extensive kitchen that measured over 100 square metres.

Immediately struck by the venue's soaring ceilings and dark, shadowy corners, the studio was inspired to create a dining experience that was similar to "wandering in a valley".

Diners first walk into the lounge area, where drinks and casual meals can be enjoyed. Tables and comfy armchairs have been arranged to sit directly beneath a void in the ceiling that the studio compares to a gully – a deep channel formed in hillsides by running water.

Surfaces throughout have been covered in a matte-finish silver foil to create a hazy quality of light that "makes people feel like they're in a mist".

"Entering the lounge area, people may feel like they are suddenly brought into a valley, with steep hills in between," explained the studio.

"The ceilings show great height discrepancy... some are as high as precipices, attracting people to look upwards."

The angular ceiling recession that sits above the fine-dining area has been painted a deep shade of red to foster a "sense of occasion".

More formal furnishings like jet-black bistro chairs and dark-wood tables have additionally been used to dress the space.

Lighting has been sparingly introduced into the restaurant.

Just a handful of spotlights pepper the ceiling and a simple LED strip has been fitted at the rear of the bar counter, illuminating the bottles on display.

A huge bronze screen has been incorporated into the restaurant's facade, blocking any sunlight from filtering through to the interior.

At the bottom of the screen is a row of convex peepholes, allowing passersby on the street to glimpse into the venue and diners to look out – a playful feature that the studio hopes will enliven the otherwise "sedate" exterior.

Various Associates was founded in 2017 and is based in Shenzhen. Last year, the studio designed the interior of a womenswear store in China's Chongqing district.

The space features mirrored partitions, fur-covered changing rooms and display areas enclosed by dramatic slanting walls.

Photography is by Shao Feng.

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Project credits:

Design team: Various Associates
Project leader: Qianyi Lin
Main designer: Dongzi Yang
Designers: Suki, Jingjing Tang

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Celebrate terrazzo interiors on this week's Pinterest board

From residential interiors to hotels and restaurants, terrazzo has been widely used by architects and designers in recent years. Our updated terrazzo Pinterest board includes the latest projects published on Dezeen that feature the design.

Marble and terrazzo tiles line the entrance hall floor in this renovated 1970s house

Among the most recent projects on the board is a 1970s house in London overhauled by Gundry & Ducker that features a terrazzo staircase and flooring, as well as a Beijing apartment that boasts colourful terrazzo fixtures.

The design is also popular in bathroom interiors. An example of the trend can be found at The Siren Hotel in Detroit, which features speckled terrazzo tiles in the showers and across the floors and basins.

Speckled terrazzo with base colours of red and blue is used in the bathrooms of this hotel in Detroit

Other images you can find on the board showcase restaurant and cafe interiors, such as a restaurant in New Haven, Connecticut, with a multi-coloured terrazzo counter and a cafe in the Silicon Valley with countertops and walls made of terrazzo.

Dezeen's Pinterest account features thousands of images, organised into hundreds of boards. Follow us on Pinterest to keep up to date with our latest pins.

 

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MUT Design blurs line between indoors and outdoors with Das Haus furniture

Multiple European brands came together for MUT Design's Das Haus installation at IMM Cologne to create hybrid indoor-outdoor furniture prototypes that are now being put into production.

Each year, the Das Haus installation showcases one designer or design studio's take on the present and future direction of interior design.

For the 2020 edition in January, MUT Design focused on blurring the line between exterior and interior, and between architecture and nature, with a project titled A La Fresca! (Step Out into the Fresh Air!).

The studio wanted to do more than just adapt interior design for outdoor use or vice versa; they wanted to explore how home life might change if these boundaries were eased or eliminated entirely.

To that end, their space has five living zones – an Active Area, Cleanness Area, Resting Area, Kitchen and Patio. While some of these have a nearly traditional name and function, others are more flexible and open to interpretation.

For the furniture prototypes inside these spaces, MUT Design wanted the high standards of design and feeling of cosiness to extend across both the indoors and outdoors.

"We don't separate outdoor and living room furniture according to the usual norms," said the studio. "Nowadays, that's the only way the interior design can create a consistent overall picture."

To create the prototypes, MUT Design worked with multiple European brands including Gan, Preciosa Lighting, Sancal, Diabla and Expormim. Several of these brands are now putting the pieces into production.

Among the pieces is the Armadillo chair, launched at Stockholm furniture fair by Expormim, which is a reinterpretation of a papasan bowl chair that was popular in the 1970s.

The chair is made of rattan with a UV-filter coating that protects it from solar radiation, and has removable cushions.

Sancal is manufacturing the Roll chair, which has cylindrical cushions said to be inspired by the leg-press machines found in gyms. The chair is meant to look as attractive stacked and stowed as it is while in use.

There's also the Zig Zag hammock and rug, made by Gan. Both pieces are made of artificial fibres suited for outdoor use and feature an open weave that is meant to cast interesting shadows.

Another chair, the aluminium Grill, for Diabla is reminiscent of an outdoor barbecue, while the Bao pouffes for La Cividina are more like plush stones. Rounded shapes and playful approaches to weight are common themes across the pieces.

There is also a series of lighting for Preciosa and a set of coloured glass side tables for Pulpo.

The prototype bath collection in the installation will have a future too, as it has been developed into a range with Antonio Lupi that is also likely to launch in Milan.

MUT Design was founded by Alberto Sánchez and Eduardo Villalón in 2010 and is based in Valencia. Among their previous designs are the Twins outdoor chairs for Expormim and the chocolate-bar-like Onza tiles for Peronda.

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ZeroCabin in Chile designed to operate off the grid

A multidisciplinary team in Chile have designed a self-sufficient cabin that can be tailored to the local climate and topography, along with a client's specific needs.

The ZeroCabin was envisioned as a low-impact, customisable dwelling that operates without the use of public utilities.

The cabin was conceived by a diverse team of six people, who collectively have backgrounds in civil engineering, physics, biology, chemistry, sustainable farming and interior design. None of the team members have formal training in architecture.

Felipe Lüer, one of the lead designers, said the idea for the cabin took root in 2007, when he saw the documentary Garbage Warrior. The film is about the American architect Mike Reynolds and his efforts to build "earthship" houses, which are made of natural and recycled materials.

Lüer said the film sparked his dream of building an off-the-grid house, and he later found others who shared his vision.

"My team is made up of people who heard about the project and came to start building this new future," Lüer told Dezeen.

The designers have conceived the cabin as a "kit of parts" that can be customised based on a customer's needs and desires, along with the local site conditions.

The first ZeroCabin has been built within a puma sanctuary in Puerto Varas, a town in southern Chile. The building is rented out to tourists, with the proceeds going toward the wildlife preserve.

The cabin features a timber structural system with metal joints and biodegradable insulation. Exterior walls have metal cladding and thermally efficient glazing.

To provide views and minimise its impact on the earth, the two-storey dwelling is elevated two metres off the ground.

Encompassing 26 square metres, the cabin accommodates all of the basic living requirements. The lower level offers an area for cooking, eating and relaxing, along with a water closet.

The upper level contains a sleeping area, a closet and a shower. The bathing water travels via gravity to the lower level, where it is reused in the toilet.

The cabin's water needs are met by rainwater, which is collected in basins and treated on-site. The water can be heated by a solar panel system or by a wood-powered stove that was invented by one of the team members.

Energy needs are met by photovoltaic panels, and heat is provided by sunlight and the stove. Lüer noted that cabins in other locales might incorporate power-generating devices such as micro water turbines, depending upon the climate and topography.

A second cabin is currently being constructed on Chiloé Island, located off the coast of southern Chile.

Because the building site is not accessible by road, the team has transported all materials and equipment by boat to a beach. From there, it is carried 100 metres by foot, according to the team.

This second dwelling, which will serve as a private vacation home, will total 46 square metres.

The designers have formed a company – called ZeroCabin – and they intend to construct additional units and retrofit existing buildings. Moreover, they are selling their "DIY kits" to customers wanting to build their own off-the-grid retreat. The starting cost for a ZeroCabin is about $50,000 (£38,455).

Other off-the-grid buildings include a simple, black cabin by designer Marc Thorpe that is tucked into the woods of Upstate New York, and a family retreat in Ohio by architect Greg Dutton that evokes the feeling of being in a tree house.

Photography is by Matias Riveros.

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Project credits:

Team members: Felipe Lüer, Hector Becker, Luis Valladares, Andrés Lüer, Oscar Villalon, Ian Burbulis

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Nearly 100,000 Images by Harlem Photographer Shawn Walker Acquired by Library of Congress

Shawn Walker, “Neighbor at 124 W. 117th St, Harlem, New York” (Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

Working alongside the Photography Collections Preservation Project, the Library of Congress recently announced that it has acquired nearly 100,000 photographs, negatives, and transparencies by Harlem-based African American photographer Shawn Walker. Depicting the rich culture of the New York City neighborhood, the collection spans nearly six decades from the 1960s to the present and is the first comprehensive archive of an African American photographer to join the national library.

Walker also donated a 2,500-piece collection of audio recordings, images, and ephemera representing the Kamoinge Workshop, a collective of Black photographers established in 1963. Self-identifying as a “fine arts photographer with a documentary foundation,” Walker was born and raised in Harlem and has worked to capture the neighborhood as he sees it.

Portrait of Shawn Walker. Photo by: Jenny Walker

“I look for the truth within the image, the multi-layers of existence and the ironies in our everyday lives,” he said in a statement to PCPP. “Working from a Black Aesthetic, my work tries to speak to everyone. For more than 50 years, I have tried to reflect on the positive aspects of my community and to see the relationships between various communities of color.”

“We are very pleased to celebrate the addition of these two important collections to the Library’s extensive representation of African American life in the United States, from photography’s earliest formats to the present day,” Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden said in a statement. The New York Times reports that once organized, Walker’s archive will be made available to view via appointment. Some of his photography along with works by 14 other Kamoinge Workshop members will also be exhibited this summer (July-October 2020) at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Shawn Walker, “The Invisible Man Series: Dedicated to Ralph Ellison,” 1990s (Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

Shawn Walker, “Trick-or-treaters,” ca. 1970s. (Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

Shawn Walker, “African American Day Parade, Harlem, 1989.” (Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

 

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