Ten timeless mid-century modern interiors

For our latest Dezeen lookbook, we have collected 10 projects from the Dezeen archives that showcase elegant mid-century modern interiors with a contemporary feel.

As the name suggests, mid-century modern is the name of a style of design and architecture from the middle of the 19th century, usually seen as spanning from the mid-1940s until the late 1960s.

A number of designers and architects who were active during this period created furniture pieces that have gone on to become modern classics, including chairs by Ray and Charles Eames and lights by Isamu Noguchi.

Here, we have gathered images of 10 projects where mid-century modern design has been used to create interiors that are elegant without feeling cold or stark.

This is the latest roundup in our Dezeen Lookbooks series that provides visual inspiration for designers and design enthusiasts. Previous lookbooks include home libraries, minimalist bedrooms and Shaker-style interiors.

---

Frost House, US, Karen Valentine and Bob Coscarelli

Michigan's Frost House is a prefabricated house from the 1960s. New owners Karen Valentine and Bob Coscarelli decided to minimise their interventions and take a preservationist approach when they bought the house, which still has its original layout.

Frost House has also retained its original Knoll furniture, including a gridded-steel Bertoia side chair, as well as its distinctive built-in cabinetry.

Find out more about Frost House ›

---

Biscuit Loft, US, by OWIU Studio

Pieces by mid-century modern designers such as Ray and Charles Eames, whose lounge chair sits next to a floor-to-ceiling window, and Isamu Noguchi decorate this Los Angeles loft that was designed to nod to Japanese minimalism.

The living room's neutral cream-coloured palette is enhanced by wooden details and black window frames, which add a graphic element to the interior.

Find out more about Biscuit Loft ›

---

Eames House, US, by Charles and Ray Eames

Perhaps the ultimate example of mid-century modern design, designer couple Ray and Charles Eames' eponymous house is filled with the couple's own creations.

The current decor is meant to reflect how they enjoyed the property, with various furniture, books, fabrics, art, shells, rocks and straw baskets kept in the building, which was completed by the Eameses in 1949.

It is viewed as a key example of the Case Study House experiments for building postwar American homes.

Find out more about Eames House ›

---

Puro Hotel, Poland, by Studio Paradowski

Studio Paradowski's renovation of a hotel in Kraków, Poland, was informed by the city's interwar cafes as well as the "clean functionalism" of its mid-century modern cinemas.

The result is a beautifully realised interior with a strong retro flavour but a contemporary layout and details. Natural oak panelling and stone was used together with Polish-made glass and ceramics to create tactile surfaces.

Find out more about Puro Hotel ›

---

Moore House, US, by Woods + Dangaran

Los Angeles studio Woods + Dangaran gave the Moore House in LA's Los Feliz neighbourhood a refresh that preserved many of the 1960s house's original details.

In the bedroom, pale teak panelling and large glazing that opens out onto a verdant garden lend the room the feeling of a mid-century holiday home. A black-leather upholstered Eames chair and bedside rice lamp add to the laid-back vibe.

Find out more about Moore House ›

---

Louveira Apartment, Brazil, by Ana Sawaia

This São Paulo apartment features vintage furniture and colourful patterned surfaces in a clever broken-plan interior. Pieces such as the wood-and-leather Boomerang chair by American architect Richard Neutra perfectly suit the style of the 1946 Louveira building.

Window frames were painted yellow to match the facade of the building, their bright hues matching the polished wood used for both the floor and much of the furniture.

Find out more about Louveria Apartment ›

---

Eichler house, US, by Michael Hennessey

This two-storey residence in San Francisco's Diamond Heights neighbourhood features post-and-beam structures, an open floor plan and glass walls.

In the living room, an elegant metal reading light hangs over a mid-century style chair and a cosy rug softens the room's hard surfaces and symmetrical lines.

Find out more about Eichler House ›

---

Gallery apartment, Brazil, by BC Arquitetos

BC Arquitetos designed this Brazilian apartment to look like an art gallery, filling it with decorative sculptures and classic furniture designs by Brazilian masters of the 1950s and 1960s.

Sculptural furniture is displayed against a backdrop of walnut panelling that wraps the apartment. A black and white Akari light by Isamu Noguchi for Vitra peeps into the living space from an adjacent room.

Find out more about Gallery Apartment ›

---

Azabu Residence, Japan, by Norm Architects and Kaiji Ashizawa Design

This minimalist Tokyo home features muted dark tones and natural materials, as well as bespoke furniture created by the studios who designed it together.

"This project has been inspired from the interior design of mid-century American and Brazilian modernist uses of warm dark natural materials and wooden wall panelling, lush carpets and tactile upholstery," designer Keiji Ashizawa told Dezeen.

Find out more about Azabu Residence ›

---

Irwin Caplan house, US, by SHED

This 1950s house in the Pacific Northwest was originally built for cartoonist Irwin Caplan. Today, it is a modern home, with an interior that nonetheless respects the bones of the building.

White Eames shell chairs sit around a streamlined wooden table in the dining area, which also has a graphic "Modernist" lamp from Z-Lite.

Find out more about Irwin Caplan house ›

---

This is the latest in our series of lookbooks providing curated visual inspiration from Dezeen's image archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks showcasing home libraries, minimalist bedrooms and Shaker-style interiors.

The post Ten timeless mid-century modern interiors appeared first on Dezeen.

from Dezeen https://ift.tt/3hIYVvp

Laura Owens covers Vincent Van Gogh exhibition in colourful handmade painted wallpaper

American artist Laura Owens has covered the walls of an exhibition of Vincent van Gogh's works in colourful handmade wallpaper.

Currently on show at Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles, the exhibition Laura Owens and Vincent Van Gogh explores the relationship between the seminal artist and the contemporary painter.

The exhibition is located at the Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles

Seven of Van Gogh's paintings, which have been loaned from museums and galleries around the world, are exhibited on walls covered in Owens' distinctive wallpaper.

A selection of Owen's own artworks are also on show.

To make the wallpaper, the American artist used pastels and watercolours to paint colourful patterns onto a giant sheet of handmade wallpaper.

Owens also employed a variety of other artistic techniques such as screenprinting, felt-flocking, black sand, oil woodblock printing, airbrushing to create the expansive painting.

Seven paintings by Vincent van Gogh's are displayed in the gallery

"Parts of the wallpaper have over fifty layers of silk-screening; some of the paints include iridescent pigments whose colours shift under different lights," said Owens.

"The wall becomes an intoxicating, refreshing means of conquering the space of an exhibition and charting surprising new mental territory."

The wallpaper was created using pastels and watercolours, among other techniques

The resulting design is almost tactile, and features lots of geometric shapes, swirling patterns and elements of nature such as flowers, shells and trees.

At the same time, the wallpaper is meant to recall the decadent, silk-covered walls found in historical chambers of palaces and castles.

Owens drew on the work of van Gogh as well as the English artist and designer Winifred How to inform the wallpaper design.

For the exhibition, she conducted detailed research into the provenance of each of the Van Gogh paintings on show. She also spent most of 2020 living in and around Arles, where she was able to research the history of the city and Van Gogh's experience there.

Owens drew on the densely populated paintings from Van Gogh's later work

According to Owens, the juxtaposition between the two artists' works "creates an environment suspended between the pre-modern and the contemporary".

"The spaces on this level evoke not just the wallpapered interiors that Van Gogh knew from his time in Arles, but equally the world of scanners, Photoshop and digital printing," she said.

The exhibition makes manifest the relationship between the two artists

Other exhibitions that make use of strong set design include Fashion from Nature by Studio 10. The Chinese design firm used translucent materials and winding ramps to create a series of abstract spaces to display artefacts.

OMA's New York office created a site-specific backdrop for the House of Dior exhibition Dior: From Paris to the World. Each section of the exhibition space was designed to reflect the garments on display there.

Laura Owens and Vincent van Gogh will be on show at the Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles until 31 October 2021. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

The post Laura Owens covers Vincent Van Gogh exhibition in colourful handmade painted wallpaper appeared first on Dezeen.

from Dezeen https://ift.tt/3k3QGLH

Matt Fajkus adds perforated steel screens to Austin boathouse

Austin studio Matt Fajkus Architecture has designed a boathouse in the Texas city with perforated metal facades calibrated to balance light and shade throughout the year.

Located on the shore of a ravine in Austin, the Filtered Frame Dock is a two-storey boathouse positioned close to a nearby house built above water level.

Filtered Frame Dock sits on the shore of a ravine

The boathouse has a steel roof arranged in two triangular planes that protect the upper wooden deck from sunlight. The deck is wrapped by glass balustrades and features outdoor lounge chairs.

Filtered Frame Dock gets its name from the perforated stainless steel screens that flank its north and south sides.

Two triangular planes form the boathouse roof

The screens are designed so that the boathouse receives equal amounts of sunlight and shade during the year, with light and shadow perfectly balanced during the equinox.

"An instrument for light and ventilation, the structure is calibrated to provide a comfortable balance of sun, shade, shelter and breezes throughout the year," said Matt Fajkus Architecture.

The upper deck is wrapped by glass balustrades

"As the seasons shift, the dock provides greater shade during the heat of the summer and welcomes more sun during the cooler winter months."

The laser-cut perforations on each screen are also organised based on sightlines, so that visitors can enjoy views of the water from the deck.

Other materials incorporated into the project are hardwood decking and natural stone, which are intended to echo the boathouse's surroundings.

"Sensory experiences are both articulated by and inherent in the relationship between the dock and its natural context," concluded the architecture firm.

A small balcony juts out above the water

Matt Fajkus Architecture has completed a handful of projects in its home city, including a house with a roofline that mimics a mullet and a mid-century home with an extension formed from wood, stucco and glass.

Boathouses are popular in Austin, since many locals like to enjoy the warm climate by spending time on the water. Architecture studio Andersson-Wise has created two on Lake Austin: one that allows users to dive from its upper level, and another assembled from salvaged materials.

The photography is by Leonid Furmansky, Charles Davis Smith and Matt Fajkus Architecture.

The post Matt Fajkus adds perforated steel screens to Austin boathouse appeared first on Dezeen.

from Dezeen https://ift.tt/38WYRmX

Studio.traccia shows food-waste table and crockery at Milan design week

Milan-based architecture and design practice Studio.traccia has designed and curated an installation at Milan design week that comprises a modular table and objects crafted from food waste.

Titled Tabula [non] Rasa, the installation-cum-table setting was developed in collaboration with a collection of designers, researchers and companies in an effort to explore the possibilities of food-waste recycling.

Top image: a place setting at the installation. Above: the table was set with objects made from biowaste

The installation is on display at the BASE Milano exhibition in Zona Tortona as part of the 2021 edition of Milan design week.

"It's a table that is made from organic waste and we wanted to invite every designer and brand involved with food waste research to design objects," Studio.traccia co-founder Luigi Olivieri told Dezeen.

The table is comprised of five individual modular tables

The studio explained that around twenty per cent – roughly 931 million tonnes – of food produced for human consumption is wasted each year.

"Food [recycling] is one research that is currently not developed yet," said Olivieri.

"A lot of people are recycling other products like plastic, waste from oil, industrial products, steel and concrete, but no one is really exploring [recycling] food."

Its surface was made from a bio-based resin

The table shown at the exhibition was created by Studio.traccia as a modular design, with each piece forming its own individual table. These can then be combined to create a larger table.

Its tabletop was created by Mogu, a European brand that uses mycelium-based technology to develop sustainable materials, and was constructed using bio-based resin and food waste including rice, straw, corn crops, coffee grounds, algae and shells. It rests on steel legs.

A cow-blood bowl and cup by Basse Stittgenare were placed on top of coasters and placemats

The Studio.traccia-designed table was then topped with tableware and objects that were also crafted from food waste.

"The food was something you ate and now it becomes something you eat from," said Studio.traccia co-founder Claudia Orsetti.

A Crafting Plastics translucent placemat was placed on top of a table cloth by Orange Fiber and a placemat by Malai

Each place setting was framed by organically shaped placemats. The mats were made by Malai using waste-fibres from fruit and vegetables, and were individually shaped to perfectly fit the forms of each table module.

Individual, rounded tablecloths by Orange Fiber were also used for the table setting. Each was derived from citrus juice byproducts by extracting cellulose from the fruit peels and weaving it into yarn.

"The use of organic waste for the creation of new materials that could replace traditional ones is only one of the possible paths that must be urgently explored," said the studio.

"It is a way of relating two separate problems, which together have the capacity to produce reciprocal solutions, and at the same time to generate positive effects on a social, economic and environmental level."

Ylem studio's Midushi Kochhar created rounded plates from eggshells

Artist and designer Basse Stittgen created bowls and plates from discarded cows' blood collected from slaughterhouses.

Beneath the blood-formed bowls sits plates by Midushi Kochhar, which were made from calcium-based waste from bio-materials such as eggshells.

Crafting Plastics' contribution to the installation included towering beige-hued bio-plastic vases and semi-transparent placemats that were similarly made using corn bio-plastics.

The products each have a textural quality.

Translucent bowls made from microbial cellulose, developed by Swiss designer and researcher Emma Sicher, as well as plates by Rice House were also shown as part of the display.

Squared, coaster-like ornaments by Korean research studio Newtab-22 were constructed using discarded seashells and rest beneath cups by Repulp Design derived from citrus waste.

Vases and chargers by Crafting Plastics

Other projects on display at this year's Milan Design Week include a scented bioplastic room divider by Crafting Plastics and Office MMK and a powercut-resilient incubator by Fabien Roy that protects babies from hypothermia.

---

Tabula [non] Rasa will be on display at the BASE Milano exhibition as part of Milan Design Week, which takes place from 5 to 10 September 2021. See Dezeen Events Guide for all the latest information you need to know to attend the event, as well as a list of other architecture and design events taking place around the world.

The post Studio.traccia shows food-waste table and crockery at Milan design week appeared first on Dezeen.

from Dezeen https://ift.tt/3C2hn9T

"We thought it was the end of New York City" say architects on anniversary of 9/11

Today marks 20 years since the World Trade Center in New York City was destroyed in a terrorist attack. In the final part of our 9/11 anniversary series, architects share their memories of the traumatic event and the impact that it had on architecture.

On 11 September 2001, the 110-storey World Trade Center towers in lower Manhattan, New York City, were struck by two planes hijacked by Al-Qaeda terrorists.

The attack, which claimed the lives of 2,753 people, sent shockwaves across the world and led many people to question the future of New York and high-rise buildings.

Today marks twenty years since the World Trade Center terrorist attacks. Photo is by Wally Gobetz

That day, a third plane also hijacked by Al-Qaeda terrorists struck The Pentagon, while a fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania as passengers attempted to regain control.

The four coordinated hijackings claimed the lives of 2,996 people.

"You knew immediately that something was not right"

Ung-Joo Scott Lee, the New York partner of US studio Morphosis, had just arrived at his office in the city after the first plane had struck the North Tower.

"You could see this gigantic black smoke in the sky because it was a beautiful, clear blue sky day and you knew immediately that something was not right," he told Dezeen.

In the office, he said "everybody hurtled around the conference room" where they watched the second aeroplane hitting the World Trade Center live on television.

"We thought it was the end of New York City," Lee recalled. "It was this crazy escape from New York situation that day, you were trying to run away from anything that had significant cultural value."

The 110-storey World Trade Center towers were once the tallest buildings on the planet. Photo is by Jeffmock

His memories are echoed by many other architects working across the US that day, such as Adrian Smith of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, who was "stepping into a meeting with the Trump executives" regarding Trump Tower in Chicago when he heard about the attack.

Upon hearing the news, they also turned on the television and watched the tragedy unfold.

"We saw the building collapse," he recalled. "Everybody was in shock, in shock about that and how could a building like that actually collapse," he continued.

"That was a very significant moment in time for architects and structural engineers in particular. Initially, they all wondered whether we're going to do any more supertall buildings."

Architects felt "involved with the problem"

James von Klemperer, president of Kohn Pedersen Fox, describes the event as what felt like a "direct assault".

"It had a visceral effect because you woke up and the ash was in the air," he told Dezeen. "It was this kind of inescapable feeling that you were part of the disaster."

He added that architects everywhere felt "involved with the problem because we're the ones who design buildings".

"The shock that comes with seeing the most robust and unassailable structures turned into powder was almost tangible," he explained.

The site of the Twin Towers has now been rebuilt. Photo is by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Eui-Sung Yi, the Los Angeles partner of US studio Morphosis agreed, stating that the event serves as a continual reminder of the role of architecture.

"For architects, 9/11 always reaffirms in somewhat of a macabre way the relevance of architecture in terms of its role, not only in terms of symbolic nature but in terms of history," he told Dezeen.

"We're always just reminded of the responsibility, that impact on the community and the people."

"It changed everything for me"

For some architects, the impact of the event was more personal.

"At the time, my six-year-old daughter was living on the lower east side," recalled Andrew Waugh, co-founder of London studio Waugh Thistleton. "It was two days before I knew she was ok."

"I managed to get a flight about a week later and stayed in an empty hotel and the ash still thick on the ground," he continued. "It changed everything for me, I grew up."

For Dan Winey, chief operating officer at Gensler, the event made him reassess his role as an architect and "think a lot about why we do some of the things we do".

However, one of his most harrowing memories of the tragedy came in the weeks following when he went to view the site of the Twin Towers from a neighbouring high-rise.

The buildings surrounding the area had been covered in protective shrouds of fabric, he said, but because of the debris and dust, they had shredded and turned black.

Read:

"Everything changed in architecture" after 9/11 attacks says Daniel Libeskind

"These surrounding buildings looking down on the site with this shroud waving in the wind, it looked like a veil over somebody mourning," Winey explained. "It was just... it was something that I'll never forget."

Studio Fuksas' founder Doriana Fuksas said that after the "deeply shocking and tragic day" she "tried to seize 9/11 as a new starting point from which we could restart and move forward".

"Architecture is not conceived for war or violence," she told Dezeen, "in my vision architecture belongs to everyone, it is a space for peace and participation."

She added: "Experimentation and innovation had to keep up, facing the emergency and offering new scenarios for architecture and people."

9/11 exposed "inescapable symbolism of architecture"

Italian architect Carlo Ratti, who had just joined MIT at the time of the attack, said he was struck most by how the tragedy "exposed the inescapable symbolism of architecture".

"It is not unusual for a casus belli to cast the built environment at the centre of the scene," he told Dezeen.

"However, the way in which the World Trade Center towers embodied the American values, as well as the sheer scale of destruction – not to mention how fast the images were broadcast globally – made this event unique on so many levels," he explained.

The rebuilding followed the Ground Zero masterplan by Daniel Libeskind. Photo is by Hufton + Crow

Founder and director of FOOD Dong-Ping Wong recalled a similar feeling from when he watched the events unfold with his roommates as an architecture student.

"I never understood how powerful the symbolism of buildings could be until that point," he told Dezeen. "That it could directly result in life or death."

"That the destruction of a building and what it represented could change an entire country's philosophy on nationalism and foreignness for decades."

Trust "will take decades to rebuild"

At the time of the attack, Alexandra Hagen was a newly employed junior architect at White Arkitekter, where she now holds the position of CEO.

She remembers 9/11 as "one of those markers in time that so clearly has a defined before and after" and believes that its impact on the built environment is still clearly felt today.

"In a few hours it robbed us of trust that will take decades to rebuild," she said. "Doors to many public spaces that were previously open to explore were locked for security reasons and have since not been opened."

She continued: "Where trust was damaged it was replaced with surveillance and control. However, it is only through rebuilding trust that we will be able to maintain the open and democratic society that we strive for."

One World Trade Center was built on the site of the attack. Photo is by Hufton + Crow

For OMA partner Reinier de Graaf, "the real significance of the moment only manifests in hindsight".

"At the time of the attacks, I was in Brussels presenting our proposal for the Image of Europe," he told Dezeen, "I remember the presentation being interrupted by someone storming into the room holding a bunch of printed news from the internet."

"Since 9/11, the US has progressively lost its global dominance facing China as an ever-more assertive contender," he explained. "In the context of an increasingly polarized world, Europe was and is an important project to pursue."

Ground Zero architects felt "moral obligation to do good"

Despite the initial feelings that the tragedy could lead to the end of New York, just two years after the attack, Daniel Libeskind won a competition to masterplan the rebuilding of the 16-acre World Trade Center site.

One of the first buildings to be constructed there was the One World Trade Center, which was completed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) in 2014.

SOM partner Ken Lewis, who was project manager for One World Trade Center, describes working on the tower as "one of the greatest honours" of his career.

"It was an emotional experience in every way," he told Dezeen. "It had to be a symbol of New York's resilience in the face of disaster, a building that replaced the void in our skyline, as well as one of the most advanced towers in the world in terms of technology, life safety, and security."

Read:

9/11 anniversary: how the World Trade Center site was rebuilt

Georgina Robledo, a partner at Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners who led the design of the 3 World Trade Center tower, described working on Ground Zero as "emotional" and "one of my top experiences".

Meanwhile, the director in charge of 4 World Trade Center, Gary Kamemoto of Maki and Associates, said the project was "a tremendous honour".

"We felt such a moral obligation to do good for the general public," he told Dezeen.

"Out of the tragedy has come a very positive outcome"

Kamemoto added that, while 9/11 was a tragedy, he sees "something wonderful that has emerged from it".

"The beauty of the redevelopment was the memorial park... it is not a cemetery, it's actually a public asset," he explained. "We do miss the great architecture that Minoru Yamasaki had built, but out of the tragedy has come a very positive outcome."

British architect Thomas Heatherwick said: "Twenty years on, either despite 9/11 or maybe directly in defiance of it, the city's special confidence seems to have come back".

A memorial was also built on the site. Photo is by Alejandro Gonzalez

He added that the attacks illuminated the value of shared community spaces, which have become more important than ever.

"The only light that can come from the shadow of a horrific tragedy such as 9/11 is that perhaps we can all realise the intense importance of cherishing each other a little bit more," Heatherwick said.

"And in this new time of global loneliness, where the digital realm can unwittingly keep us physically apart from each other, the role of shared space where we can all truly see each other is more critical than ever."

---

9/11 anniversary

This article is part of Dezeen's 9/11 anniversary series marking the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

The main image is by Michael Foran via Wikimedia Commons.

The post "We thought it was the end of New York City" say architects on anniversary of 9/11 appeared first on Dezeen.

from Dezeen https://ift.tt/3tKRngt