Chic and masterful interiors to swoon over!
Inspired by the “mid-century modern” style, the Garnier residence located in the trendy Plateau Mont-Royal neighbourhood in Montreal Qc, Canada is an atypical renovation where the beauty of the materials is at the service of singular spaces that redraw the boundaries between public and private. With this project, Dupont Blouin Architects creates chic and masterful interiors inviting to both festivities and comfort, in a hushed and luxurious universe.
Designed for a couple and their young children, the former triplex gives pride of place to reception areas. The large living room on the top floor receives maximum light, while the bedrooms, nestled on the first floor, live in the shadow of the double garage in the backyard. The renovation of the three levels also includes the basement which is partly occupied by an independent studio dedicated to the visiting family, or for rent.
The clients desired an inspiring and warm welcome when they returned home in the evening. For a better day-to-day getaway from the daily stresses and strains of life, the communal living spaces were treated like a restaurant bar lounge. To play with these codes, the architects created a wooden stairwell, powder room, and integrated kitchen furniture. These architectural modules define the spaces while contributing to the house’s hushed and somewhat secret atmosphere.
The kitchen is traced by an elegantly curved countertop, topped by a suspended structure that follows the shape of a U. Everything related to the domestic is hidden in the built-in furniture. At night, the curtains are drawn and the space takes on the appearance of a speakeasy. By day, this festive space is bathed in natural light thanks to the skylight above the kitchen and the large bay windows overlooking the alley.
In the central module dressed in walnut are the staircase and a small powder room hidden behind a door carved in the same wood. Here, the smoked glass, copper faucets, Italian pedestal washbasin, and terracotta ceramics reminiscent of upholstered leather create a discreet chic. A second skylight overhangs the stairwell and creates a vertical light axis in the residence. On one of the sides, a textured glass opening lets the light through, but obscures the view, contributing to the slightly intriguing character of the place. When the sun’s rays pierce the material, rays of light are projected onto the floor.
The Garnier residence is accessible through six entrances, including three vestibules. The owners wanted to keep a multitude of accesses on the three levels in order to have official entrances for guests and more private ones for their children, but also for parents whose bedroom opens onto an interior courtyard. This maze creates a certain complexity in the program and contributes to the singular treatment of this project.
The colorful terrazzo slab that adorns all the floors brings a joyful and playful character to the space. The different shades of stone that make it up contributed to the construction of the color palette and the arrangement of the different materials to magnify each element, from the copper baseboards to the walnut walls. In the master bedroom bathroom, the Verde Saint-Denis marble countertop, emerald green sinks, and warm natural felt walls also harmonize with the terrazzo.
Photo credit: Olivier Blouin
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Kimpton Vividora Hotel by El Equipo Creativo is an ode to chic and cheerful Barcelonian lifestyle
The new Kimpton Vividora Hotel, located in Barcelona’s Old City, offers a genuine Spanish experience. Designed by El Equipo Creativo, these unique spaces, rooms, and restaurants reflect the Barcelonian lifestyle, with a chic, cheerful, and fresh atmosphere, just like the city itself.
Kimpton Hotels are unique boutique hotels, with no uniform brand design, offering genuine and local experiences. Kimpton Hotels like to describe themselves as a brand that “offers luxury without the attitude”, with locally loved restaurants and bars and a very personal style. The briefing was to create a Hotel with a local approach, handcrafted and custom-designed, with unique spaces that reflect Barcelona’s lifestyle and architecture.
The design strategy is to create a dialogue between the Hotel and Barcelona, and more specifically, a close connection with the neighbourhood where the property is located. Ciutat Vella, meaning Old City, which is indeed the oldest part in town, is undoubtedly a different area with its slow pace of life; an artsy neighbourhood with an old body and a young soul: small pedestrian streets, full of museums, street art, small shops, traditional bars and cafes, improvised skate parks, etc.
The idea is to create different and unique spaces inside the hotel, inviting both guests and locals to stay, enjoy, meet, and interact. They all reflect the local lifestyle, with a chic and joyful atmosphere, unforcedly elegant and genuine at the same time. The design brings handcrafted elements, local brands, and art, colourful ceramic patterns, together with reinterpreted references to its historical past, mixed with a contemporary spontaneous design approach that gives Vividora Hotel a unique, energetic personality.
One of the challenges was organising the public program, as the street level was especially small. The strategy was using this street-level exclusively for the bar. Cafe Got acts as a connection between the city and the hotel: an active space with a long façade facing the street, inviting guests and locals to enter and interact.
The lobby area is located on a mezzanine level. A double-height space connects it with the bar while bringing a watery effect to space through a cascade of glass lamps. Three stones perform as reception desks, referencing the stone fountains in the Gothic patios.
The lobby space is completed with a lounge area and a co-working table.
Barcelona is a really colourful city. Still, if the team had to select only two, those would be, without a doubt, the warm terracotta tones of its architecture, and the fresh bluish tones of the Mediterranean Sea. As in an abstract art composition, the team brings two protagonists color-blocks to the Vividora rooms: the warm leather headboard in the sleeping area opposed to the colder bluish crafted ceramic dividers of the bathroom area.
The bathroom area is one of the protagonists, as it is visually connected to the rest of the room. This strategy helps us broaden the spatial feeling, also bringing natural light into the washbasin and the shower area, behind this glazed wall.
In the suite rooms, the designers bring a similar color, temperature, and material strategy based on playing with contrasts and opposites.
But in this case with upgraded comfort features, as a stylish living room area or the extraordinary experience of a bathtub facing the private balcony and the views of the city from the highest floor of the building.
Photographer: Adrià Goula, One Represent Agency
Humbert & Poyet gives a chic makeover to Bahia boutique in Monaco
Located on the prestigious Avenue Princesse Grace in Monaco, the historic address of Bahia has been completely renovated in collaboration with Humbert & Poyet.
Spread over three floors, this 300sqm setting welcomes Sabrina Monte-Carlo’s clientele in a beach chic style.
The showroom, the centerpiece of this ‘made in Monaco’ hot spot, is located on the ground floor. The latest products by the most beautiful lifestyle brands are mixed together with works of art carefully selected by Sabrina Monteleone-Oeino and her team. The design office is located on the first floor, while a meeting room is located downstairs.
Decorated in refined and natural materials, the decor is made of light oak, bamboo, marble, bronze, glass and mirror. Whether indoor or outdoor, the latest collections of furniture, lighting, carpets and decorative accessories are highlighted in a warm, elegant and contemporary atmosphere.
The new interior architecture of the must-see Bahia boutique also accompanies the opening of the new beaches on the famous avenue Princess Grace and promises exceptional shopping experiences right by the sea.
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