Archinect - Features

Exploring Coffee and Architecture With These Ten Mesmerizing Cafes

2023-10-01T00:01:00-04:00

October 1st marks International Coffee Day, and to celebrate, we explore exceptional projects that exemplify the distinctive attributes and meticulous design considerations behind a diverse array of cafes across the globe.

Celebrate Coffee and Architecture With These Stand-out Brewing Spaces

2022-10-01T09:00:00-04:00

October 1st is International Coffee Day, and to celebrate, we’re taking a look at some superlative projects that showcase the unique qualities and considerations involved in the design of different cafés across the world.

Nicole Hollis on NICOLEHOLLIS: 'One Thing I Have Learned Is That Nothing Replaces a Site Visit'

2022-07-27T09:00:00-04:00

For the latest episode of our Studio Snapshot series, Archinect connected with Nicole Hollis, Founding Principal and Creative Director of award-winning design firm NICOLEHOLLIS. Established in 2002 and run in partnership with her husband, CEO Lewis Heathcote, the San Francisco-based practice has grown into a household name in the world of luxury residential, hospitality, and product design.

Hollis opens up about the firm's guiding principles when accepting new commissions, key qualities in new hires, the challenges her team went through during the pandemic, and the advice she has for young professionals hoping to pursue an interior design career.

Archinect's Guide to Job Titles: Interior Designer

2020-11-06T13:59:00-05:00

Interior Design is one of those disciplines that the architecture profession can often overlook. Many of the misconceptions about Interior Designers come from misinformation or old "traditional" mindsets within the industry. But, we should take this important professional's role in the design of spaces quite seriously.

For our eighth installment of Archinect's Guide to Job Titles, we take a look at the Interior Designer. What qualifications does one need to operate in this role? What's the pay like? And how does it function alongside other design disciplines?

HUSH on the Future of Experiential Design

2020-06-22T13:00:00-04:00

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to upend and disrupt everyday life around the world, it has become clear that how we use buildings is also due to radically change, at least for the near-term. The door handles we touch, how close people wait in line, and when and how we occupy work spaces, retail establishments, and other shared facilities will likely be modified in some way. And while surely many of these changes will be both ad-hoc and temporary, some designers are looking to longer term technological upgrades to help streamline and bring a sense of wonder to the adaptation of these spaces.

We caught up with David Schwarz, Partner at New York City-based HUSH to get a better understanding of how experiential design might be challenged and re-calibrated in the aftermath of the pandemic. Schwarz highlights the ways that building use is poised to rely more heavily on non-tactile, auditory, and visually-based cues, for example, and how these changes can be filled with joy as well as ...

Husos Architects: One Guy, One Bulldog, One Vegetable Garden, and the Home They Share

2020-03-21T14:34:00-04:00

Project by Husos. Text by Camilo García and Diego Barajas (Husos)

This is a small refurbished house, 495 square feet (46 square meters) in size, in a modern variation on the traditional Spanish corrala––a block of flats whose access corridors look out over a shared interior courtyard––in the Acacias neighbourhood of Madrid. It began as a commission from Jaime, a young doctor who works in Casualty, in order to cater to his needs and those of his bulldog Albóndiga (Meatball).

Lessons in Monochromatic Composition from Arthur Elrod

2019-07-27T07:13:00-04:00

Arthur Elrod, the noted Mid-Century Modern interior designer, is widely known for his eye-popping, colorful, and groovy designs, but what can we learn from his monochromatic works? Stylistically eclectic, formally complex, and materially decadent, these works hold valuable lessons that, upon further inspection, make great precedents for contemporary design explorations.

Why? Because Elrod anticipated a now distinctly contemporary form of eclecticism that combines the curatorial approach of discerning taste with a no-holds-barred, cabinet of curiosities-centered sensibility that relies on color and materiality to seemingly tie together new and traditional spaces and objects alike. While Elrod’s colorful works are sure to wow, this approach is more effectively appreciated through the subtlety of his monochromatic designs, where Elrod manages to work in surprisingly explicit ways to undermine the notion that Modernism was founded on newness alone, and to erode the idea that design ha...

Emerging Firm Farouki Farouki Taps Into New Orleans' Vibrant Restaurant and Hospitality Scene

2018-09-17T14:40:00-04:00

With its thriving restaurant and hospitality scene, New Orleans was the perfect place for husband-and-wife team Farouki Farouki to set up their full-service architecture and interior design practice. Since its recent founding, Caroline, with a background in interior design, and Sabri, whose CV includes stints at BIG and DS+R, have made their mark on the historic yet continuously emerging city with a variety of interior projects that have tapped into the influx of new restaurants, shops, and landmarks opening their doors. Here, the two talk about their expanding practice.

Upstarts: Design, Bitches

2015-07-22T13:34:00-04:00

As the name suggests, Design, Bitches is a synergy of creativity and earthiness. Combining a refined sense of order with playful humor, the Los Angeles-based firm founded by Catherine Johnson and Rebecca Rudolph distills the splendor of urban chaos in their graphic branding, art projects, and commercial and residential interiors.

Working out of the Box: Anne Dérian, Architect turned Mosaic Artist

2014-10-15T11:16:00-04:00

Working out of the Box is a series of features presenting architects who have applied their architecture backgrounds to alternative career paths.

In this installment, we're talking with French-born Berlin-based mosaic artist and pattern designer Anne Dérian.

Are you an architect working out of the box? Do you know of someone that has changed careers and has an interesting story to share? If you would like to suggest an (ex-)architect, please send us a message.

Student Works: "[X]City: Making Interior Cities" from the Piet Zwart Institute

2014-03-20T16:59:00-04:00

Focusing on a defunct submarine wharf in the Port of Rotterdam, students in the Masters of Interior Architecture and Retail Design program at the Piet Zwart Institute explored whether interior design can give way to urban redevelopment. As part of last fall's [X]City studio, students proposed a spectrum of redevelopment strategies for the wharf, varying from commercial to artistic to recreational.