Competition: win a BC21 digital wireless charging clock by Braun

In our latest competition, we are giving readers the chance to win a BC21 digital wireless charging clock by Braun.

With a silhouette similar to Braun's early DN 40 digital alarm clock, the BC21 combines a classic form with the need to tackle the modern issue of too much screen time.

Five readers will win a BC21 digital wireless charging clock in black.

We are giving readers the chance to win a BC21 digital wireless charging clock by Braun

The BC21 encourages its user to put their device out of sight whilst it's charging – therefore out of mind – as its wireless charging pad sits behind the self-adjusting LCD display.

The charger's slimline design also makes it a subtle piece that would complement many styles of room.

The silicone charging pad is compatible with all Qi wireless charging phones. It also prevents devices overheating and provides a non-slip surface area.

The BC21 encourages its user to put their device out of sight whilst it's charging

An advanced Vertical Alignment (VA) LCD display allows users to adjust the time from 12-hour to 24-hour, depending on how they prefer it displayed.

It is also possible to manually customise the brightness of the screen – alternatively leave it to change automatically according to the surrounding level of light in the room.

A crescendo beep alarm, which gets louder if it is not turned off, ensures there is no risk of over sleeping.

The charger's slimline design also makes it a subtle piece that would complement many styles of room

Braun is renowned for its functional approach to design, and counts German industrial designer Dieter Rams and his protege Dietrich Lubs amongst its heads of design.

The brand's mission to create "honest, unobtrusive, practical devices" helped establish it as one of the most influential manufacturers of the 20th century.

Fives readers will win a BC21 digital wireless charging clock in black by Braun. It is also available to buy online where you can find full product details.

Competition closes 8 January 2021. Terms and conditions apply. Five winners will be selected at random and notified by email.

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Katsutoshi Sasaki tops cross-shaped house with large overhanging roof

Japanese studio Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates has built a house' in Japan with a cross-shaped plan and huge overhanging eaves that shelter four covered gardens.

Named Kasa House, the home in the Japanese city of Kariya has an unusual plan with enclosed rooms only occupying a small amount of the space under the house's roof.

According to Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates founder Katsutoshi Sasaki, the aim of the design was to reverse the amount of space found under a typical Japanese house's eaves versus its indoor space.

Kasa House has large overhanging eaves

"The house is a new interpretation of traditional Japanese space under the eaves," he told Dezeen. "The ratio between the interior space under the roof and the space under the eaves is inverted."

"The eaves of a Japanese house are usually placed at the edge of the building by about one meter, but in this project, the eaves are reversed and placed under the roof with a narrow interior space and depth," he continued.

The house has a cross-shaped plan

Under the large roof, the home's rooms are arranged in a cross shape with each arm being 2.3 metres wide.

On the ground floor, a long room that runs the length of the house contains a kitchen, study and living room. Crossing this space the other two arms of the house are divided into two floors with enclosed rooms on the ground floor and bedrooms above.

A long living space stretches the length of the house

The cross shape means that all of the home's rooms are alongside two of the four gardens that have been placed under the large roof.

Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates intends that these covered gardens be used as an extension of the home's living spaces.

Bedrooms are located on the first floor

"The large space under the eaves of the house allows life to extend outside, except in the middle of winter," explained Sasaki.

"In today's Japan, where most of the houses are closed with a strong emphasis on privacy, the outside is rarely considered as a living space."

A dining room was placed between the arms of the cross

A glass-walled dining room is positioned between two arms of the cross to provide a bright eating space alongside the garden.

"The glassed-in dining room makes the inhabitants feel as if they are eating outside," added Sasaki. "Even when working outdoors, the shelter makes the inhabitants feel enveloped by the building."

Four gardens are located around the house

Established in 2008 Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates is an architecture studio based in Toyota, Japan. The studio has previously designed an unusually skinny house on a three-metre-wide site and a hexagonal home that features suspended wooden slats hung across the central living room.

Photography courtesy of Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates.

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Project credits:

Design team: Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates
Structure company: Tatsumi Terado Structural Studio
Construction company: Toyonaka Construction Co

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Homework creates curves inside GoodBody hair salon in Oakland

Curved seating, shelving and mirrors feature throughout Goodbody hair salon in Oakland, California, which design studio Homework has finished with salmon-pink accents.

GoodBody, which specialises in cutting, colouring and styling textured hair, is located in downtown Oakland. It takes over a building that was previously host to several dated offices.

To transform the site into a modern salon, San Francisco-based studio Homework had to completely strip away any evidence of the previous fit-out.

Top image: GoodBody is set inside a spacious hall. Above: curved elements are used to break-up the space

As well as removing decorative elements, the studio tore down partition walls and knocked through a dropped ceiling to create a vast, double-height hall.

It was initially unclear as to how the space would be organised to accommodate the salon's various service areas.

A semi-circular bench anchors the salon's waiting area

"After rounds of iterations, we developed sinuous millwork curves to promote the service functions while defining the space," explained Ben Work, who runs Homework alongside Susan Work.

Curved elements can be seen as soon as customers walk into GoodBody – a semi-circular bench has been placed in the salon's entryway to delineate a waiting area.

Arched mirrors accompany the salon's styling stations

The grooved, salmon-pink bench bends round to adjoin a matching desk where staff can stand and check appointments. Overhead hangs a quartet of brass pendant lamps.

Nearby sits a salmon-pink platform that dips inwards to form an arc shape. The platform is topped with chunky tiered shelves that display various hair and beauty products that are available for purchase.

Each mirror is illuminated by an LED strip light

On the opposite side of the room is a sequence of styling stations. Each one has a tall arched mirror framed by an LED strip light and a comfy swivel chair upholstered in caramel-brown leather.

These complement the salon's buttermilk-coloured walls and the gold-velvet curtains that have been hung in front of all the doorways.

Curved shelving displays an array of hair and beauty products

At the rear of the salon is a huge vaulted opening which leads through to the hair-wash room.

This has been completed in a darker, richer palette – surfaces have been painted what the studio describes as a shade of "peacock green", while the sinks are made from black porcelain.

A rounded, salmon-pink cabinet visually ties-in this room with the rest of the salon.

A vaulted opening looks through to the hair-washing area

Other striking hair salons to open this year include Hawthorne Studio in New York, which design practice BoND had to adapt to suit health and safety regulations put in place as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

All of the styling stations, for example, are mobile so that customers can be moved to sit six feet apart. Spaces are also divided by wooden frames instead of walls, so that staff can monitor how many people are entering the salon.

Photography is by Aubrie Pick.

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Project credits:

Design: Homework
Styling: Bianca Sotelo

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Vo Trong Nghia Architects builds bamboo dome over lakeside restaurant

Vietnamese studio Vo Trong Nghia Architects has created a 16-metre-high bamboo dome for Vedana Restaurant, which is built over an artificial lake facing the mountains in Ninh Binh Province.

Vedana Restaurant is the centrepiece of the Vedana Resort – a holiday complex nestled in Cuc Phuong National Park, Vietnam's largest nature reserve.

Vedana Restaurant is in Cuc Phuong National Park

At 18 metres wide and 16 metres tall, the bamboo dome is the tallest yet from Vo Trong Nghia Architects. Previously the practice designed a spiralling bamboo roof for a cafe in Vinh.

The restaurant serves the resort's 1,350 guests and can also be made available for weddings.

The dome is made of 36 modules

Three concentric thatched rings form a stepped profile reminiscent of traditional Vietnamese roofs.

Although it appears to be three separate gabled structures, the dome is actually a single structure made of 36 bamboo modules.

The restaurant is open to the air at the sides

An oculus at the apex of the dome creates a shaft of light through the centre, highlighting the flower-like pattern created by the intersecting arcs of bamboo.

At the colonnaded base, the restaurant opens out onto the artificial lake. As well as making for a pretty view, the lake acts as a natural air conditioner during hot and humid summers, cooling the air as the water evaporates from its surface.

Diners can enjoy views of the mountains

Rainwater and runoff from the mountains collect in the lake, which is also used to irrigate the trees and plants that grow around the resort – including 15,000 blossom trees that were planted specially.

Trees in round planters are also set into the lake around the perimeter of Vedana Restaurant.

Vo Trong Nghia Architects also did the master plan for the whole resort

Vo Trong Nghia Architects has also done the master plan for the rest of the resort, which includes 135 villas, five "condotels" and eight bungalows on stilts over the lake.

The practice, which was founded by Vo Trong Nghia in 2006, has also built a resort that looks like beach huts for a small island off the Cat Ba Archipelago.

Photography is by Hiroyuki Oki.

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Project credits:

Architect: Vo Trong Nghia Architects
Principal architect: Vo Trong Nghia
Design team: Nguyen Tat Dat, Nguyen Duc Trung, Tu Minh Dong, Nguyen Tan Thang

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Dezeen's top 10 home interiors of 2020

Continuing our yearly review, Dezeen has selected the top 10 home interiors of 2020 – including a rustic home in rural France and a multicoloured Tokyo apartment.

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MA House, France, by Timothee Mercier

This dwelling, which architect Timothee Mercier built for his parents, is meant to be aesthetically harmonious with the rural landscape of Vaucluse, France.

Inside there's whitewashed walls and just a smattering of rustic furnishings, which Mercier either found in Parisian flea markets or had custom made.

"I decided early-on to infuse the house with the monastic qualities of its surroundings," he told Dezeen. "[The house] had to be a spectacle, but a discrete one."

Find out more about MA House ›

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House V, Slovakia, by Martin Skoček

Bricks salvaged from the ruins of an 80-year-old property now line the interior of House V, which is situated in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava.

The time-worn bricks cover walls in the living room, bedroom and even the master bathroom, where a freestanding tub has been placed beneath the peak of the home's pitched roof.

Find out more about House V ›

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EGR Apartment, Ukraine, by Ater Architects

To open up the constricted floor plan of this Kyiv apartment, Ater Architects demolished partition walls and replaced them with cobalt-blue curtains.

The curtains – and the pink grouting between the kitchen tiles – offer a shock of colour amongst the otherwise monotone interior, which has white-painted walls running throughout.

Find out more about the EGR Apartment ›

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Edinburgh apartment, UK, by Luke and Joanne McClelland

Having lived in a poky London flat for eight years, architects Joanne and Luke McClelland set about making the rooms inside their Edinburgh apartment as bright and spacious as possible.

The pair painted surfaces white, widened doorways to let in more sunlight and opened up the kitchen to include a dining area. Commenters were particularly impressed with the high-end look of the kitchen's wooden cabinetry, which was actually sourced from IKEA.

Find out more about the Edinburgh apartment ›

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Imperfect Residence, Hong Kong, by NC Design & Architecture

Naturally flawed materials feature inside this Hong Kong apartment, which draws on the values of wabi-sabi – a Japanese philosophy that encourages finding beauty in imperfection and transience.

Jagged offcuts of marble have been set into the floor, while oxidised copper has been used to make custom lights or decorative panels. Beige plaster also gives the walls a slightly uneven surface finish.

Find out more about Imperfect Residence ›

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Kew Residence, Australia, by John Wardle

Commenters loved the personal feel of architect John Wardle's Melbourne home, which he decided to revamp after his three children grew up and moved out.

At the heart of the plan is now a "cocoon"-like study where Wardle displays books and ceramic ornaments that he's collected over the years. The architect also made sure that his favourite type of wood, Victorian ash, was used for all of the home's joinery.

Find out more about Kew Residence ›

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Urban Cabin, Italy, by Francesca Perani

A daybed that doubles up as a storage box and a wardrobe that hides a washing machine are some of the handy space-saving elements that feature inside this tiny guest cabin, which occupies the porch of a home in Bergamo.

Architect Francesca Perani made the unusual decision to line the 25-square-metre interior with OSB – a material she had previously only seen used on construction sites.

"I love its textural irregularity, random organic composure and recycled properties," she explained.

Find out more about Urban Cabin ›

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Nagatachō Apartment, Japan, by Adam Nathaniel Furman

Tasked with turning this lack-lustre Tokyo apartment into "a place of happiness, joy and lightness", designer Adam Nathaniel Furman applied vivid, food-inspired colours to its interior.

The kitchen has watermelon-green floors, while the dining area has lilac carpet that looks like icing. "Zesty" lemon-yellow taps and milky orange tiles also appear in the bathroom.

"The colour scheme became a matter of choosing ingredients for a beautifully calibrated visual feast," Furman explained.

Find out more about the Nagatachō Apartment ›

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Flat House, UK, by Practice Architecture

Prefabricated panels made from hempcrete – a mixture of hemp and lime – were used to construct the structural shell of this zero-carbon house in Cambridgeshire.

Practice Architecture left these panels exposed on the interior to create warm, textured surfaces. Wooden furnishings and an assortment of woven rugs further amplify the home's cosy feel.

Find out more about Flat House ›

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Casa A690, Mexico, by Delfino Lozano

Architect Delfino Lozano fashioned what he describes as a "Mexiterrean" aesthetic for this 1970s property in Zapopan.

Lozano says that whilst the home's architecture is traditionally Mexican, the interiors appear more Mediterranean because of his use of "simple and pure" materials. Almost every room boasts plain, white-painted walls and built-in wooden furniture.

Find out more about Casa A690 ›

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