Rhode Island may be the smallest US state but its design scene is proving to be mighty according to these five studios, which praise the work-life balance, easygoing attitude and community it offers.

Ben & Aja Blanc, Work In Use, O & G Studio, Lotuff and A/L Studio were all founded by alumni of Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), the revered university in the state's capital city Providence.

While graduates commonly move on to bustling cities like New York City to continue their careers, this group has chosen to enjoy the benefits of living in the tiny state. In turn, they are helping to foster a blossoming creative scene.

"The design scene in Rhode Island is super vibrant," said Ben & Aja Blanc. "It's a small state and the overall American Design scene can feel pretty small, so the design scene in Rhode Island is like a prolific microcosm."

Read on to find out about about the five Rhode Island studios:

Ben & Aja Blanc

Ben and Aja Blanc's eponymous design studio specialises in mirrors and has pieces sold by US gallery The Future Perfect.

In comparison to New York City, the Blancs find the distractions of Rhode Island, like a beach owned by RISD, more conducive to productivity and creativity.

"New York is gloriously distracting," they told Dezeen. "Rhode Island has distracting charms of its own, but there is a natural sense of focus we can cultivate here."

"Rhode Island is crazy beautiful and no matter how stuck in our studios (or heads) we get, there is always a design friend there ready to pull you to the water or beach."

Ben studied at RISD and chose to stay in Providence, where the couple says they can raise their family while managing a business together.

"Living in Providence supports the things we care about more than New York City can," they explained. "We care about large, affordable studio space, access to nature and a beautiful landscape that nourishes our creativity, and the ability to work hard in a focused way while raising our daughters."

Work In Use

Work In Use's founder Wu Hanyen makes objects for working out that she developed after learning fitness techniques from a trainer in Brooklyn.

After graduating from RISD and studying under Ben Blanc – who teaches furniture design – she moved to New York to work for Egg Collective and soon became friends with its founders Crystal Ellis, Stephanie Beamer and Hillary Petrie.

Hanyen moved back to Providence to launched her own studio last year, where she enjoys the thriving food and design scene. Her friends are designers children's toy designer Cas Holman and Meg Callahan, who specialises in quilts and teaches at RISD.

"There's a lot of great people here," she said. "It's definitely a slowly but surely growing design and maker scene."

O & G Studio

Furniture designer Jonathan Glatt was raised in Manhattan but has set up O & G Studio in Warren, a small harbour town 15-minutes drive from Providence. He specialises in hand-carved pieces made with techniques used for British Windsor chairs in the 1700s.

"I think the greatest parts of the design world in Rhode Island is the family feel, the inventiveness and grit of the designers here, and an appreciation for working hard and playing hard," he told Dezeen.

Glatt teaches at RISD and said the school continues to have an impact on professional life after graduation. "RISD is always a nexus of energy, and the local professional and academic worlds are intertwined in an exciting way," he added.

The designer, who has created interiors for Bywater restaurant in Warren, also highlights the food scene in the area – a result of Providence's leading culinary college Johnson & Wales University.

"In Providence, we have so much right at our fingertips but in a different way. Things like community, space, the ocean, and great food are all a meaningful part of everyday life here."

Lotuff

Industrial design alum Lindy McDonough is the creative director and co-founder of leather atelier Lotuff, which produces bags that are cut, assembled and stitched by hand in a Providence workshop and store.

McDonough also worked in New York before choosing to move back to Rhode Island to kickstart her career.

"As a RISD alum, I spent a few years in New York before coming back to start the in-house Lotuff studio, so I'm a prime example of the magnetism that Providence has for those who went to school here," she said.

The greenness of Rhode Island's design scene allows for more creativity and opportunities, according to McDonough.

"There aren't many big design firms, so there isn't a big corporate culture," she said. "Most people are here to work independently or start their own studios, so there is a strong entrepreneurial spirit."

McDonough also credits Rhode Island's small size for its sense of belonging among designers. "Oftentimes, the best collaborations or ideas come from bumping into someone at the local coffee shop or gallery opening," she added.

"The design scene in Providence is tight-knit, collaborative, supportive, and innovative," she explained. "Because of Rhode Island's small size, it spills out into neighbouring cities and towns, from industrial centres like Pawtucket and Warren to coastal creative hamlets like Little Compton and Jamestown."

AL/Studio

"Everywhere you go there is art, performance and design thinking and people really do want to build each other up," said Anastassia Laurenzi, who runs AL/Studio in Providence. "The impossible is possible here. Everyone is always 'on'."

Laurenzi spent much of her childhood in Memphis, Tennessee and received an architecture masters from RISD, and then moved to New York. But she said Providence "always felt like home".

"At any moment you can find yourself in an amazing conversation with someone working in another field and it completely opens a new way to think about your own work," she added. "There are artists that are farmers, musicians that are chefs, designers that are teachers... design thinking is in everything."

Her projects in the area include Berri restaurant that she designed with Oblique Studio, which is among a growing number of design-focused eateries across the state.

Laurenzi added that the strength of the design community has become even more apparent in the coronavirus pandemic.

"Even at this moment of social distancing and fear of contamination, the community has rallied to make sure that all of the local designers, makers, restaurateurs, farmers are not going under," she said. "All the old systems are being rethought and that's where design thinking comes in strong."

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American architect Marc Thorpe has designed this Hollywood Hills residence for an art collector to draw on the modernist Case Study Houses.

Thorpe has released renderings of Case Study 2020, a house he designed to bring elements of modernist architecture into the 21st century.

"Understanding that architectural principles of modernism ultimately failed to take hold residentially within the American physical and psychological landscape, my intention was to redeploy those principles of modernism within a contemporary socio-cultural context," he told Dezeen.

He drew on principals explored in the experimental Case Study House project of the 1950s and 1960s. Sponsored by Arts & Architecture magazine, it was intended to provide a way to build American residences efficiently and inexpensively for the housing boom following the second world war.

Prominent modernist architects and designers, such as Richard Neutra, Eero Saarinen and Charles and Ray Eames, were commissioned to design houses. A number were built in Los Angeles like the Eames House, which is among the most well-known Case Study Houses.

Like its precedents, the 5000-square-foot (465-square-metre) Case Study 2020 is built with simple materials including concrete, steel, wood and glass.

It has a square concrete roof punctured with openings for trees to grow, or for skylights. Slender pilots, a popular element of modernist architecture, support the roof, with glazing underneath slightly set back from the columns giving space to a series of outdoor walkways.

These paths divide the floor plan of the interiors into three volumes dedicated to living, sleeping and a gallery to showcase the client's art collection.

"Hosting the programmed volumes is the circulation or passageways unifying the spaces," Thorpe added. "The passages transition from exterior patio to interior hallway seamlessly, blurring the boundaries of the house."

Renderings show board-marked concrete walls with warm touches of wood and a minimal amount of furniture.

Outdoor areas extend beyond the space beneath the roof to two decks and an L-shaped swimming pool that wraps a corner of the house.

In addition to aesthetically referencing modernist houses, Thorpe also wanted to draw on the ideas of environmental responsibility and infrastructural independence – which he defines as being self-sustaining.

"The idea is that all buildings should be able to sustain themselves while also providing for others," he said. "It's a systemic approach to integrating ourselves and the things we make into the natural working order of the planet."

Thorpe imagines the house using a series of off-grid and sustainable systems, like solar power, water harvesting and composting to work "in perfect balance with its environment".

Construction on Case Study 2020 is slated to begin later this year. The architect, who founded his eponymous studio in New York City in 2010, has also built a black off-the-grid cabin in Upstate New York.

His other projects are a housing prototype for Senegal and a conceptual installation near Marfa, Texas and the border of Mexico that resembles a large spaceship landing on earth.

Renderings are by Truetopia.

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San Francisco's Blue Truck Studio clad the exterior of this holiday house in Manhattan Beach, California with cedar siding to tone down its unusual geometries.

Blue Truck Studio added the cladding during the renovation of the property called 30th Street house, which was completed in the 1990s.

The practice used Alaskan yellow cedar to soften the irregular shapes of the 3,770-square-foot (350.2-square-metre) residence, with the aim was to give it a Northern California feel.

The custom-milled wood will grey in colour as it weathers, similar to architecture found in coastal community The Sea Ranch.

"What they had was a house with wild geometry, such as octagon-shaped rooms and triangular spaces," the studio said.

"What they wanted was a home of simple forms and rustic textures, like the ones in the Northern California community of The Sea Ranch."

The studio's redesign maintained the residence's existing geometries, but reconfigured the arrangement of windows across its facades.

It kept the octagonal unit that juts out from one side of the house, the two rectangular volumes that extend outward from the facade and the angular structure that forms part of the house's second level.

A garage and outdoor shower are located on the rear elevation, while the sides of the house feature gabled rooflines and windows fronted with wooden slats that match the cladding.

"The siding serves as screening in front of some of the home's windows, mitigating sunlight and providing a measure of privacy," the studio added.

In addition to the siding, the studio has also used wood to blend the keyless pivot door with the house and to surround the interior stairwell.

The clients, a family of four, purchased the holiday house to be close to relatives and to enjoy the outdoor activities in the region. Large gathering areas, an outdoor shower and soccer field were added to the house and property to provide space for a number of activities.

The studio converted part of the garage unit into an art studio and play area, and opened up the house's interiors by removing a fireplace from the centre of the living room.

Light coloured hardwood floors are coupled with the angular white walls. Several other wood accents feature throughout the house including the kitchen cabinetry, shelving units, window coverings and outdoor bench seating.

Natural light floods into the interiors through the row of sliding glass doors that open from the main interiors living spaces onto two outdoor decks.

The plan of the second floor narrows in its centre to allow for a patio on one side of the ground floor, which is topped with a slatted wooden roof to allow light to filter in. The roof on the other side is punctured by a skylight.

The slender portion of the first storey forms a walkway that connects two bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms on one end. A third bedroom with an ensuite bathroom is located on the other side.

Manhattan Beach is a coastal Californian city south of Santa Monica. Other projects in the area include a remodelled 1950s bungalow by Edward Ogosta Architecture.

Photography is by Gregg Segal.

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Designer David Rockwell has created a kit of parts to turn New York City's streets into outdoor restaurants that allow for socially distanced dining.

The American designer and his studio Rockwell Group have developed a way to extend existing restaurants onto the surrounding pavements and nearby streets so they can safely reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The kit of parts includes a dining booth, a sanitation station, wooden decking panels to cover pavements and plant-covered street fencing. These are accompanied by accessory details like lighting, umbrellas, fans and planter benches. The existing restaurant would be limited to employees.

"Our hope is that we can create a template that is adaptable for different locations and sidewalk and street environments, and that it will be cost-effective for the city and restaurant owners and also provide potential revenue to offset costs," said the team.

New York City bars and restaurants have been closed to the public, aside from takeout and delivery, since 22 March in a bid to mitigate the spread of coronavirus in the city. While inside spaces mean that people spend a lot of time in close proximity, Rockwell believes outdoor dining could offer a safe way to dine out as lockdown measures start to ease.

"David and Rockwell Group knew from the first days of this pandemic that we would have to make adjustments to how we dine out until the virus is resolved from a medical standpoint," the studio said.

"This includes, first and foremost creating a safe place for restaurant workers and guests, and better utilising space within and outside restaurants during this period of social distancing, which will continue to evolve."

Rockwell is currently working with restaurant operators, active members of the restaurant business and the city to develop the concept. To show how it could work, the studio has mocked up an adaptation of Melba's, a corner restaurant in New York neighbourhood Harlem.

The proposal adds nine covered booths divided by fencing on the street, with additional seas placed on the pavement to meet with social-distancing regulations. These tables are interspersed with sanitation stations for restaurant employees to regularly wash their hands.

It has also developed a series of floor plans detailing ways to create a small 30-seat outdoor restaurant and also more ambitious proposals to takeover a street with a 204-seat eatery.

The project forms part of a series of investigations to find ways to dine following the pandemic. Arts centre Mediamatic has also developed a socially distanced dining experience in Amsterdam where guests sit in their own greenhouse and hosts wear face shields.

Dubai-based studio Roar, meanwhile, has gathered together a trend report to predict ways coronavirus will impact the hospitality industry. It suggests that there will be a rise in escapist restaurant interiors, and physical menus, cash payments and buffets will largely be abandoned.

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The grass of New York's Domino Park has been painted with white circles to encourage the public to stay safely apart during the pandemic.

Located in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighbourhood, the waterfront park is one of the first in the city to devise a way for implementing social distancing by six feet (1.8 metres) – a procedure recommended to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.

The design, which was created on Friday 15 May, comprises a series of white circles applied with chalk paint onto a plot of AstroTurf, or artificial grass. They mark out circles for groups or individuals to sit inside.

Domino Park's staff came up with the design of the circles, and two employees spent four hours painting them. There are approximately 30 circles arranged symmetrically in rows, and each is eight-feet (2.4-metres) in diameter.

As the public begins to flock to parks in the city and the weather warms, the concept is intended to keep patrons apart from one another. It is also a relatively cheap and quick concept to implement.

"In total, it took a few 99¢ (81p) cans of white chalk paint from the local paint store, two people, and four hours to implement this strategic tactical urbanism," said Domino Park. "Visitors started using them properly almost immediately."

The circles are among a number of measures that Domino Park is using to encourage people to safely use the park during the pandemic. Others include signs about social distancing guidelines and wearing masks, while police officers patrol the area and give out facemasks to those not wearing them.

When it is very busy and crowded, the park closes the road that passes through – River Street.

"Domino Park continues to stress the importance of social distancing on its Instagram stories, continues to have park ambassadors be a visible presence and encourage wearing masks and social distancing," it added.

Domino Park was completed in 2018 by local landscape architecture firm James Corner Field Operations and developer Two Trees Management. It is part of a large-scale scheme to revitalise the property once owned and by Domino Sugar for over a century. The former sugar factory on-site, and which was abandoned for years, is currently being overhauled into a new office and commercial complex.

The park itself measures six acres (2.4 hectares) and includes a children's playground, interactive water designs, a volleyball court, a taco shop with an outdoor dining area, and several areas to sit with chaise lounges and benches.

A variety of plantings and artefacts like former sugar refining equipment are interspersed throughout, communicating the property's industrial past.

"The local neighbourhood, which previously had the lowest park-to-person ratio in the city, now has direct access to the Williamsburg waterfront that previously locked the community out for over 150 years," said the park.

Other designs to encourage social distancing in parks include a picnic blanket by Paul Cocksedge and a fibreglass frame for two people to sit inside by SBGA Blengini Ghirardelli.

Photography is by Marcella Winograd courtesy of Domino Park.

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Architecture firms Snøhetta, Studio Gang and Henning Larsen have been shortlisted to design a presidential library for Theodore Roosevelt in Medora, North Dakota.

The three firms were selected from 12 practices that applied to the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) that the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation made public in April to find a suitable architect for the project.

Firms to start designing concepts

"These architects share our vision and values," said Melani Walton, chair of the foundation's design and architecture committee. "They want to listen and spend time with the community, study the ecology of the Badlands, and embrace the complexities of Theodore Roosevelt's life."

US firm Studio Gang, Copenhagen firm Henning Larsen and Snøhetta, which has offices in New York and Oslo, will begin developing concepts for the library. It will be built in North Dakota, the home state of Roosevelt, who served as the 26th president of the United States from 1901 to 1909.

The foundation has found a plot in Medora, a city located in the state's rugged Badlands and abuts Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

"We're deeply honoured to be part of this historic opportunity and are looking forward to immersing ourselves in the majesty of the Badlands," said Henning Larsen partner Michael Sørensen. "This project could not be conceived anywhere else, it could not belong anywhere else."

Projects to explore "Roosevelt's pursuit of conservation"

"I have personally been inspired both by Teddy Roosevelt's pursuit of conservation, but also by the Badland's majestic landscape and ecology," said Studio Gang founder Jeanne Gang.

Snøhetta co-founder Craig Dykers echoed Gang's sentiment, adding that Roosevelt's conservation ambitions "have even greater relevance today".

"Theodore Roosevelt overcame many challenges in his life and translated his experiences into a deep appreciation for the value of our natural resources and the power of our landscapes," Dykers said.

Initial design concepts will be submitted by 17 July, and digital or model renderings are due by 3 August. Proposals will be made public on 10 August. The winning firm will work on the project with an executive architect and construction management team that is based locally.

There are 13 presidential libraries in the US that serve as archives and museums illustrating the life and work of each president since Herbert Hoover, who was in office from 1929-1933. They are built in the president's home state, with the most recent completed for George W Bush, in Dallas, Texas.

Presidential Library will provide "economic stimulus for North Dakota"

The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation initiated the project to complete a library for Roosevelt because it believes it will provide a boost to North Dakota's economy.

"This is an exciting next step in creating not just the TR Library but also an economic stimulus for North Dakota," said director of design and construction Ken Vein.

"The project is an investment in construction and jobs, and the TR Library will add to our state's economy for generations to come."

Architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien are designing the 14th presidential library for Barack Obama, who ended his term in 2017. They were selected for the project in June 2016 from a strong-list that included Snøhetta, Renzo Piano and David Adjaye.

The Obama Presidential Center, however, has encountered controversy because of its siting in the historic Jackson Park, which was designed in 1871 by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. The Cultural Landscape Foundation president Charles A Birnbaum likened the project to "confiscating 20 acres of New York City's Central Park" in an Opinion piece for Dezeen.

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A photographer and his family live in this boxy house clad in cedar that design-build practice Ras-A Studio has designed near the ocean in Los Angeles County.

Ras-A Studio completed Walk-Street House in the city of Hermosa Beach for the professional photographer, his wife and their son, who is a keen surfer.

Comprising a series of stacked volumes clad in slats of western red cedar, which are milled in different ways to offer contrast and texture, it is similar to a home that Blue Truck Studio recently renovated nearby in Manhattan Beach.

When designing Walk-Street House, Ras-A Studio aimed to create the maximum amount of living space and a two-car garage – two important requests of the homeowners – while observing the city's zoning requirements.

One of the main challenges was the limitation of the site, which is fronted by a walk street that allows residents to walk up to their homes rather than drive.

"The challenge was the home's tight 30-foot (nine-metre) by 70-foot (21-metre) lot flanked on one end by the pedestrian-only street and on the other with a narrow alley," said the studio.

"Our clients wanted an open concept on the ground floor that leads to natural grade and outdoor areas, but zoning mandates a large two-car garage that would otherwise force the living spaces of the small footprint to be split between multiple levels," it added.

Scaling two storeys, the home's footprint takes up its entire 2,100-square-foot (195-square-metre) site.

To meet the clients' requests, Ras-A Studio built a garage along the alley side of the home with a mechanical parking lift that fits two cars stacked vertically in the footprint of one. The studio says it's the first one to meet Hermosa Beach's zoning requirements.

The parking design frees up space on the ground floor to allow for an open-plan kitchen, dining and living room. A foyer with a black baby grand piano, a den and a bathroom are also located on the main level.

At the front of the home, facing the walk-street on 31st Street, the team created a porch with ipe wood, drought-tolerant plants and screens made from white concrete masonry blocks.

A glass pocket door stretches 27-feet (eight-metres) along the side of the home and accesses a second terrace.

This side yard setback was also a zoning requirement, and Ras-A Studio designed the area to allow the interiors to borrow over six feet (1.8 metres), thus "making the modest-sized footprint live larger than its square footage".

The second level contains three bedrooms, two bathrooms, an office and two balconies – one of which has views of the Pacific Ocean and stairs that access another patio on the roof.

Interiors feature white walls, cedar ceilings and accent walls, and floors in either white oak or polished concrete. Most of the furniture and fixtures are white, wood or leather. Red bar stools by Hay add a pop of colour.

Several sustainable design details complete Walk-Street House, including a solar water collector on the south part of the roof that provides hot water and supplements a boiler for an in-floor hydronic radiant heating system.

A turf-block driveway next to the garage allows rainwater to percolate into the water table, and operable doors and windows utilise the sea breeze for passive cooling.

Ras-A Studio is based in nearby city Redondo Beach and has also renovated a mid-century home in Los Angeles' Los Feliz neighbourhood.

Photography is by Joe Fletcher.

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Ian Schrager's decadent hotel in New York's Times Square is closing just over one year after it opened due to financial issues caused by the pandemic.

Bloomberg has reported that The Times Square Edition – which opened last year as a partnership between the legendary hotelier and Marriott International – will close on 13 August.

The news comes as the drops in business during the pandemic resulted in a cash shortfall that put the hotel's developer Maefield Development in default of its contract with Marriott International, according to the report.

It added that the pandemic exacerbated financial difficulties the 452-room hotel was already facing – in December 2019 a group of lenders led by Natixis SA tried to foreclose on the project after issues with payments from Maefield.

Closing Public hotel temporarily was "an agonising decision" says Schrager

The Times Square Edition had been temporarily closed since late March when New York governor Andrew Cuomo placed the entire state on "pause" and ordered all non-essential businesses to shut.

Along with The Times Square Edition, this impacted Schrager's other hotels including the Herzog and de Meuron-designed Public. At the time, Schrager said the temporary closure of his Public hotel was "one of the hardest things" he has had to do in his career.

"This has been an agonising decision for me and one of the hardest things I have had to do in my entire career," said Schrager. "Not only because it is against everything I personally believe in, but because staying open to serve our guests is in our DNA and what we live for."

"However, in this case, closing is the only ethical, moral and humane thing to do in order to contain this illness and protect everybody."

Hotel industry "severely affected by the global crisis"

Hotels across the globe have also been affected by coronavirus lockdown measures.

"Our industry has been severely affected by the global crisis," Ace Hotel said when the brand closed all its global outposts in early April.

"We're assessing the situation in real-time as it relates to our other properties, and will be updating any announcements on our websites," it added.

"This decision was difficult, emotional, and one we took very seriously, knowing the acute impact it will have on our teams."

Coronavirus lockdown measures are gradually easing elsewhere in the US, allowing hotels to reopen. The Santa Monica Proper Hotel in California is expected to reopen tomorrow, while regions in the New York State are slowly reopening as they meet targets.

The city will currently remain on pause until 25 May.

The Times Square Edition designed by Yabu Pushelberg

It is yet to be seen if the hotel business can and will return to normal following the pandemic. UK architecture studio The Manser Practice has outlined how hotels will be adapted to allow social distancing when they reopen, and how future designs will be impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Designed by Yabu Pushelberg, The Times Square Edition was the latest outpost of the Edition chain that Schrager launched with Marriott International, following other locations in London, Miami and Hawaii.

It included a series of public spaces alongside the hotel, such as the Paradise Club nightclub and performance venue inspired by Schrager's infamous Studio 54 nightclub, restaurants and outdoor terraces.

Photograph by Nicolas Koenig.

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American studio Specht Architects has designed this Dallas residence with long corrugated concrete volumes to reference brutalist architecture.

The Preston Hollow home is influenced by the texture and shape of modern Dallas, Texas houses built in the 1950s and 1960s. Its plan is spread across three long cast concrete volumes that comprise 8,826 square feet (820 square metres).

Specht Architects oriented each of the orthogonal structures to wrap around courtyards, grassy patches and stone covered patios.

Large windows and steel columns are paired with corrugated concrete walls that were constructed using custom-fabricated formwork. The textured material gives the residence its brutalist appearance while the thin window frames and metal pillars intend to soften its heaviness.

"This technique, a staple of brutalist architecture from the 1960s and 70s creates a play of shadows and pattern that changes throughout the day," said studio founder Scott Specht.

"Unlike the brutalist work from that era, however, the heavy walls here are countered by delicate steel columns, thin window frames, and the hovering cantilevered edges of the roof," he continued.

"The concrete is a grounding element that provides a contrast to the overall lightness of the spaces."

Concrete steps and gravel pathways that surround the volume are shaded by a flat overhang that spans across a portion of the house. A rectangular opening is cut into the roof structure above a courtyard situated at the centre of the house.

The cutout, an impluvium modelled after traditional Roman houses, is designed to let rainwater and sunlight reach the array of plants in the central garden space.

A stream that lights up at night snakes around the edge of the residence and cuts into the partially open courtyard space. Its water flows into the rectangular swimming pool that runs alongside one of the concrete volumes.

Inside, the studio has painted the walls a bright white and covered the floors in the main living spaces with light coloured hardwood. Some of the precast concrete walls are left exposed inside.

Corrugated concrete clads a fireplace in one of the light-filled sitting rooms, while dark wood planks are used to cover an additional hearth in the master bedroom.

In the kitchen, stainless steel appliances are paired with white counters and wood cabinets. The space opens to the formal dining area, which is furnished with retro red chairs and playful light fixtures that reference the design of the mid-century era.

Specht Architects was founded by architect Scott Specht, and has offices in New York City and Austin.

It has completed a number of projects in the US including a cedar beach house on stilts in New Jersey and a concrete residence that overlooks New Mexico's mountain landscape.

Photography is by Casey Dunn.

Project Credits:

Architect: Specht Architects
Landscape architect: Hocker Design Group
Interior design: Magni Kalman Design
Contractor: Sebastian Construction

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New York architecture firm Arnold Studio has covered the walls of this sensory deprivation spa in Brooklyn neighbourhood Greenpoint with rigid felt and bold colours.

Vessel Floats is a spa designed for the practice of sensory deprivation, a process that involves cutting off all external stimuli including sounds and light.

Arnold Studio has outfitted the meditative space with six walk-in isolation tanks, in which a user submerges themselves into salted water heated to 93.5 degrees Fahrenheit (34 degrees Celsius). The saturated water keeps them afloat as they enter into a relaxed state.

There are also pre- and post-float lounges and a guest reception area. According to the studio the facility is the largest of its kind on the US East Coast.

Its design focuses on the transition between the environments. The illumination, colours and sounds change as patrons traverse through the space, similar to the experience of sensory deprivation therapy.

"Moving through the space there is a structured, peeling away, of external light and sound, followed by the gradual introduction of subtle, focused, sensory stimuli," Arnold Studio said.

A rounded concrete desk set against a blue wall forms the guest reception area where patrons check-in to enter the spa.

Two black chairs furnish the pre-float lounge, where guests wait before traversing through the spa's entry hall, a dark passageway clad with corrugated grey felt walls designed to absorb sound and block light.

Each of the six isolation tanks is located along an additional dark corridor with a gold mirror running across the length of its ceiling. The reflective surface is outlined with dimmed lights designed to obscure the room's physical boundaries.

A single deprivation tank occupies the area within each of the flotation rooms, which are light and soundproofed. The walls of the rooms are covered with cleaved slate stones and lit up by a subtle pink glow.

"The natural striations of the stone impart a subtle touch sensation and visual texture which is enhanced by the singular nature of the material's use," the studio added.

Following floatation, patrons walk through an exit hallway covered with ribbed felt walls to enter the post-float lounge.

Two upholstered yellow couches are built up against the walls of the seating area, which are clad with vertical oak batons.

The spa's vanity room and bathroom are painted dark blue and outfitted with white shelving, sinks and mirrors that all emit a soft glow against their dark surroundings.

Arnold Studio is a New York architecture and design firm founded by Simon Arnold in 2015. The studio completed an apartment inside a historic brick building in Brooklyn's Clinton Hill neighbourhood.

Another sensory deprivation chamber with an isolation tank also recently opened in a bathhouse in Williamsburg, a Brooklyn neighbourhood that abuts Greenpoint. Aptly called Bathhouse, the project occupies a 1930s soda factory that Verona Carpenter Architects converted into a subterranean spa and restaurant.

Photography is by Chaunte Vaughn.

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New York's Islyn Studio has overhauled an old lumber warehouse in Albuquerque, New Mexico and turned it into a sun-lit food hall with various spots to indulge.

Called Sawmill Market, the project occupies an old warehouse in the city's Sawmill District that measures 40,000 square feet (3,716 square metres). It is billed as the first food hall in the southwestern US state.

Islyn Studio designed the market with its owners Jim Long, and Lauren and Jason Greene. The design brief was to create a "new food and wine revolution in New Mexico — a state known for Route 66, craft beer and green chili".

Interiors feature a combination of industrial details but with a light palette for an aesthetic that Islyn Studio chose to reinterpret New Mexico's heritage.

There are elements of the existing structure, like voluminous dust collectors outside, and new glass doors and windows to usher natural light inside.

The studio said it drew cues from indigenous craft of the Navajo people, referencing adobe architecture and trading posts, as well as the colourful paintings of local nature by Georgia O'Keeffe from the 1930s.

"Sawmill Market is a contemporary interpretation of an unsung New Mexico — a place synonymous with electric pink sunsets, bleached white cow skulls, pinon pine and the otherworldly landscapes immortalised by Georgia O'Keeffe and DH Lawrence," it said.

Decor includes handmade tiles, a mix of wood furniture, plants and a range of light fixtures. Much was sourced nearby or built from reclaimed materials.

"We utilised adaptive reuse and creative salvage everywhere we could," said the studio. "Most materials were sourced within a 10-mile radius."

One bar area has wood pegboards and stacked lumber, representative of the building's past, while an enclosed dining area and wine bar is designed to be more intimate and formal.

A chocolate shop, coffee bar, patisserie, a Japanese ice cream joint, and a bright and airy cafe with a gift shop are also included.

Rounding out the design are concrete floors, walls painted in cream or white, a gridwork of steel beams and exposed beams and ductwork overhead.

Islyn Studio was founded by Ashley Wilkins in 2017, and it has also designed a veterinary clinic in Brooklyn.

Other food hall designs are Malmö Market Hall in a former freight depot in Sweden, a food court in Mexico City by MYT+GLVDK and a street-food market in the Netherlands in an old grain silo.

Photography is by Read McKendree.

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Brooklyn design-build studio Desciencelab has overhauled a gabled house in Montauk on the furthest tip of Long Island with greyed cladding and teak interiors.

The two-storey house was stripped back to its concrete block shell and turned into a contemporary holiday home by Desciencelab.

While the exterior was updated with horizontal boards of Meranti wood, also known as Philippine mahogany and commonly used for wooden boats, the studio maintained the house's footprint, linear form, gabled roof and openings.

New windows, sliding glass doors and a large skylight were added to bring more natural light inside.

The home's existing wrap-around balcony was also updated to offer better views of a nearby bay to the north, while a new patio, landscaping and two outdoor showers are among other new elements.

"The site was reimagined as a familial refuge," the studio said, adding that the house is nestled among wetlands with a fragile ecosystem.

The design and build studio led the renovation, from conceptual design to fabrication and installation. It split the project into two phases to suit the family, which only use the house in the summer.

"The renovation began with updating the exterior of the dwelling in preparation for the family's summer arrival," the studio said.

"Once the summer months faded out and the family departed for the fall, the second phase of the project began."

Inside, the house has an open-plan kitchen, dining and living room upstairs, whose pitched ceiling was retained during the renovation. The top floor has windows that offer views of the Atlantic Ocean to the south.

A new staircase was added to lead down to three bedrooms that were enlarged. Their dropped ceilings were removed leaving exposed ceiling rafters that are painted in high gloss white paint.

The interiors feature a pared-down aesthetic with walls clad in wood, wide-plank white pine flooring, built-in cabinets and wood furniture custom made by Desciencelab, which specialises in millwork.

"Pretty much everything was built in our 8,000-square-foot (743-square-metre) woodshop in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, allowing the design to happen organically," said the studio.

"As certain rooms started to take shape, they informed the next room and things could change and evolve as we went."

The kitchen and master bedroom feature teak, as well as much of the lower level panelling and built-in furnishing. Cedar wall panelling decorates the kids' rooms, master closet and master bathroom.

Other pieces that were designed and fabricated by Desciencelab include an L-shaped couch, a dining table with a bench, built-in beds, cabinets, bookcases and closets. The furniture is in a similar wood tone to match the walls.

Each piece was designed to be integrated into the home and to "unify the spaces and provide a state of harmony," according to the studio.

Founded in 2000 by Simrel Achenbace, Desciencelab's other projects include millwork for a house in New York's Dutchess County by Desai Chia Architects and Glenstone Museum with Thomas Phifer and Partners in Maryland.

Montauk is a popular beach town on the tip of New York's Long Island. Many houses in the area similarly feature rectangular volumes with wood cladding, including Bates Masi Architects' Hither Hills residence, a dwelling by Desai Chia Architects and East Lake House by Robert Young Architects.

T W Ryan Architecture has renovated a home in Montauk in a similar style with exterior and interiors of wood, including a pitched ceiling in the kitchen painted white.

Photography is by Danny Bright.

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A screened porch is sandwiched between two cedar volumes to form this holiday home that the founders of Berman Horn Studio in New York built themselves on an island in Maine.

Maria Berman and Brad Horn, who run Berman Horn Studio, completed the Little Peek residence in Vinalhaven, an island 15 miles (24 kilometres) off the coast of Maine.

The duo designed a simple "long bar" shape with a gabled roof that segments into the three volumes.

Eastern white cedar shingles with a silvery hue clad the larger main house and a small, detached guest cottage. The patio in between has a pitched covering to match and is enclosed with mesh screen.

"The house is designed to be used in all seasons, and we do get up there throughout the year," they told Dezeen.

"This porch, which creates a shared exterior room and frames views to the landscape, extends the profile of the roofline to tie the two houses together."

The cedar covers the entirety of the main house and guesthouse, including the roof and doors, for a uniform look. Gridded windows and doors puncture the facade and provide expansive views of the surrounding nature.

The house is rectangular in plan aside from a portion that accommodates the entry and juts out at a perpendicular angle. This is intended as a reference to the shape of nearby New England farmhouse buildings known as Ells that date back to the 1800s.

"The house is a contemporary reinterpretation of the New England connected farmhouse," the studio added.

"Along its length, the house transforms from cape to saltbox to create the traditional 'Ell' found in historic buildings in the area," the studio added.

A large dining table occupies the patio with two French doors providing access to the adjoining open-plan kitchen, dining and living room.

Two bedrooms, a bathroom and a foyer are also in the main house, while the guesthouse contains a bedroom and bathroom. A door from the enclosed patio provides access to a deck with folding chairs for sunbathing.

White walls, cabinets and pale floors in yellow birch painted with a glossy paint feature throughout the interior.

The decor comprises an eclectic mix of pieces, including American and French antique furniture and floral textiles. A wood table painted green anchors the dining area, and varying shades of blue-green are then duplicated on a stool, coffee table and the front door.

"Within the whitewashed interior, the decision was made to limit the visual presence of wood to give nature the chance to enter uncontested through the large industrial windows and bring focus onto the textures and colours of the stone, huckleberry, bay and lichen that surround the house," said the studio.

A fireplace is flanked by a sofa upholstered in a cream fabric and a bench is placed opposite, while an island nearby serves as the only demarcation of a kitchen.

The one-storey house called Little Peek is located on a rocky cliff complete with a steep path down to a dock for enjoying Penobscot Bay on the western side.

"Perched atop a Rhyolite outcropping overlooking one of the island's many coves, the project is named for its unique siting, which offers only glimpses of the house as one climbs a meandering footpath from the water," said the studio.

In addition to designing the house, Berman and Horn also oversaw the landscaping, which features lush plantings and wildflowers. The property includes untouched ledges to the east with evergreen trees and views of Maine's Camden Hills state park to the north.

Vinalhaven, which is accessible by ferry from the town of Rockland and famous for its granite. It is home to about 1,000 full-time residents and its population nearly triples in the summer.

Design-build firm Go Logic has also built a house on the island, called Little House on the Ferry, which is based on a trio of units linked by decks.

Photography is by Greta Rybus.

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Oklahoma artist Rachel Hayes stitched together colourful fabrics to create abstract representations of natural landscapes that hang in a Los Angeles gallery.

Called Land Lines, the project comprises 12 panels that hang the full length of a 13-foot-high (3.9-metre-high) in a space in Lowell Ryan Projects gallery.

Hayes, who is based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has stitched together rectangular cuts to create the geometric designs. They each comprise a mix of opaque and translucent fabrics in bright colours.

The artist typically creates large-scale geometric textiles that she installs in a range of environments. Land Lines is intended to reference the forms and shapes of landscapes, which she describes as influenced by a range of sources.

"When I think about what landscape drawing means to me, I think of fields of tulips in Holland, beaches scattered with hundreds of wind breakers in New Jersey, lines of laundry running between buildings, textiles lying out to dry in India, rows of corn and wheat in the Midwest, "Smithson's Spiral Jetty, the surrounded islands of Christo and Jean-Claude, and the sprayed paint from Katharina Grosse covering buildings and walls," Hayes explained.

"Knowing about, and seeing all these ways of creating markings on the land has always had an impact on my imagination," she added.

A mixture of polyester, nylon and cotton rectangular segments are arranged in horizontal and vertical orientations so that each panel is different.

One is made of a series of vertical shapes of similar sizes for example, while another has cuts that gradually decrease in size towards the centre.

They form a contrast to the muted hues of the industrial-style gallery space, which has exposed piping and beams, white walls and grey flooring.  Each is suspended from delicate wires in rows offset from one another, inviting visitors to walk around them.

"Viewers will be encouraged to wander through the maze-like installation and experience shifting patterns of color and light as sheer sections frame the panels behind and around them," said Lowell Ryan Projects.

"Confronted with the scale of Hayes' work, viewer's perceptions of space are challenged, while the rhythm of pattern begs the viewer to slow down and contemplate the experience," it added.

Land Lines is on show at Lowell Ryan Projects on 4851 W Adams Boulevard, Los Angeles from 16 May to 27 June. It is available to view by appointment due to restrictions caused by the pandemic.

Design studio Orange or Red similarly recently created a series of huge tapestries called Dashes that could be installed in multifunctional spaces.

The project was showcased as part of Virtual Design Festival's collaboration with Ventura Projects, in which it presented the work of 88 international designers, academies and brands.

Photography is by Ruben Diaz.

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New York studio WORKac has inserted a white perforated steel staircase into this three-storey Brooklyn apartment as part of a renovation designed to brighten its dark interiors.

Wyckoff Street Residence was designed for a family looking to bring more natural light into the upper levels of its home. The 2,550-square-foot (236-square-metre) space comprises three levels, each with a unique floor plan.

For the renovation, WORKac introduced a number of decorative elements including bold coloured furnishings and patterned wallpapers to create an "eclectic, yet cohesive, air".

To draw light into the dark areas the studio installed steel-framed windows and a perforated steel staircase. The curving staircase is painted white and its surrounding walls are covered with wallpaper patterned with bees.

"The tension between the refined stair and the overscaled wallpaper gives the apartment a thoroughly eclectic, yet cohesive, air," WORKac said.

"That tension between brightness and clarity, depth of colour and restraint, and humour and seriousness produce a vibrant and evolving combination of eclecticism and cohesion that continues throughout the house."

The steps extend from the basement level where the master bedroom is located up to the main living area and then on to the children's bedrooms located on the top floor.

"The sculptural form of the staircase becomes a constant on each level, weaving the disparate floors together and orienting the eye to create visual connections," the studio added.

An exposed brick wall that nods to the building's industrial past spans across the length of the spacious living room. A blackened steel fireplace with a trumpeted opening contrasts against the brick walls.

WORKac custom made the sculptural piece for the project in collaboration with C+D Fireplace Design. Its curved shape rests on top of a granite platform that doubles as a storage cubby for firewood logs.

In the kitchen the custom made wood cabinets and open shelves are constructed using slabs of blue stain pine wood. The variety of colours in the wood are picked up by the white bas relief porcelain backsplash, marble counters and stainless steel appliances.

A semi-circular arch filled with a floral wallpaper from British textile designer William Morris is surrounded by the deep purple feature wall in the master bedroom. Decorative porcelain tiles cover the walls and a portion of the walls in the adjoining bathroom.

Other details in the residence include a series of custom-built walnut shelves, a pair of teal sofas and a sculptural chandelier designed by David Weeks.

WORKac was founded by Amale Andraos and Dan Wood and is based in Manhattan. Its other residential projects in the city include adding a jagged metal roof to the top of a historic building in Tribeca.

Photography is by Bruce Damonte.

Project credits:

Structural engineer: Robert Silman Associates (RSA)
MEP engineer: Plus Group Consulting Engineering, pllc
Lighting consultant: Tillotson Design Associates
General contractor: Boum Design
Wood: Torzo Sustainable Surfaces

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Gensler has added a black metal volume to an airport servicing ski resorts in Vail, Colorado, containing lounges with fireplaces and pale wood ceilings.

The project was designed for Eagle County Regional Airport (EGE) in the town of Gypsum that services Vail, Beaver Creek and other towns.

The international architecture firm's Denver office and Colorado contractor Hensel Phelps designed a two-storey black metal addition for the existing airport, which was built in 1996 in a log cabin-style with exposed timber beam interiors and a green metal roof.

Designed as a collaborative design-build project, the structure was created to improve EGE's operations and interior design. The airport now measures 65,000 square feet (6,038 square metres).

"The airport needed improvements to address both operational needs and enhance user experience," the team said.

"The concourse suffered from crowding, especially during the peak winter season when flights were often cancelled due to inclement weather."

The gabled addition is mostly open-plan with long glass walls that provide expansive views of the surrounding Rocky Mountains. Cross braces across the glazing inside support the metal construction.

The linear layout has seating and gates on one side and amenities tucked into the structural core. The form of the terminal responds to the function of the project and also takes cues barn buildings, according to the team.

"The design is inspired by the region's agrarian nature using unassuming materials and a subdued natural palate," it said.

Several lounge areas, a bar, restaurant and bathrooms are housed in the addition. A concession area, which offers on-the-go snacks, food and drinks, is integrated into the existing terminal building.

The addition also includes six new airline gates with two loading gates outside on the ground level and four gates upstairs with new jet bridges for airside passenger arrival and departure.

Interiors feature exposed black steel that frames the large windows with views to the airfield and out beyond, vaulted ceilings clad in strips of maple wood ceiling and polished concrete floors.

Many of the details are designed to make the airport fit in with its rugged surroundings, are durable and hand-crafted. The aim is to create a contemporary space that is more akin to a home than an airport.

A sitting area on the first floor is arranged around a fireplace with cushioned seating, Last bar stools by Hem, leather chairs and plaid textiles.

"Two fireplaces, a bar area, and more comfortable seating create a lodge-like environment for guests," the team added.

Wood benches were created using Douglas fir sourced sustainably from Knapp Ranch about a 30-minute drive away.

The project also includes a central hall, departure and arrival passenger hold room areas, renovated offices and space for baggage handling equipment. The checkpoint area was also expanded and relocated for the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

The airport has only one runway and is considered one of the most extreme and dangerous airports in the world because of its mountainous terrain at such a high elevation and with ever-changing weather conditions.

Other airport designs are Zaha Hadid Architects' Beijing Daxing International Airport, an airport in Israel's Negev desert by Amir Mann-Ami Shinar Architects and Moshe Zur Architects, Morocco's Guelmim Airport with perforated panes and Platov airport in Rostov-on-Don, Russia.

Photography is by David Lauer Photography.

Project credits:

Aviation director: David Reid
Project manager: Josh Miller
Lead designer: Adam Ambro

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Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani worked with Argentine-American architect César Pelli to complete this residential skyscraper in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida.

Pelli Clarke Pelli, the firm founded by the Pelli who died last year aged 92, designed the Residences by Armani/Casa tower, and Armani's interior design studio Armani/Casa oversaw the interiors, including amenities and residences.

Developed by Related Group and Dezer Development, the condominium tower is located in Sunny Isles Beach, a city in northeast Miami-Dade County and about a 30-minute drive north of Miami. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east and views of the Intracoastal Waterway are to the west.

"This building is a love letter to South Florida from Giorgio Armani and César Pelli, and now stands as a landmark for design as striking as it is thoughtful," said Jon Paul Perez, executive vice president at Related Group.

Pelli Clarke Pelli's design for the 649-foot (198-metre) glass tower makes the most of the water vistas. Placed at an angle to the ocean, it has a curved front and chamfered shorter edges that gradually extend outwards towards the top.

Each residential floor is wrapped by balconies so that the 260 apartments all have access to outdoor space with kitchens.

Larger three and four-bedroom apartments "are designed to include 'flow-thru' terraces facing both east and west, allowing sunset and sunrise views," according to Pelli Clarke Pelli.

The firm's design also includes a raised outdoor pool deck and a series of cabanas that stagger down towards the ocean.

Residents have access to a host of amenities, including a gym, a bar and restaurant, a "club-inspired game room" and a spa, all of which are designed by Armani/Casa.

While Armani is better known for his eponymous fashion design brand, his interiors studio has completed a number of projects such as the Armani Hotels in Dubai and Milan. Residences by Armani/Casa marks the first project in the US.

Golden, bronze and green tones are used throughout the interiors, as shown by the decor of the curved entrance area.

In the restaurant, translucent curtains cover the floor-to-ceiling windows and glossy stone flooring contain green curves reminiscent of the tower's shape. Wooden dining chairs with bronze-coloured legs have green leather lining to pick up this detail.

Green-toned cabinetry provides storage in the temperature-controlled wine cellar and curves around a black table. The lounge has wooden flooring, plant-covered wallpaper, and cream sofa with cushions printed with Armani branding.

A children's room, a movie theatre, private cigar room and are among the other facilities that occupy two floors of amenities.

The residences are complete with kitchen cabinetry designed by Armani/Dada, a collaborative brand by Italian design group Molteni&C and Armani. Master bedrooms feature an Armani/Dada marble sink, and bathrooms are finished with a sink and tub designed by Armani/Roca – a collaboration between Roca Group and Armani. 

Aside from these finishes, residences are left "designer ready" so they can be designed by owners. Furniture brand Artefacto has fitted out two turn-key homes in the property.

In addition to this tower, the Miami-Dade County beachfront is peppered with residential high-rises designed by well-known firms.

Herzog & de Meuron's Jade Signature skyscraper is just south of Residences by Armani/Casa in the Sunny Isles district, while Zaha Hadid, OMA, BIG and Renzo Piano and Herzog & de Meuron have all towers in Miami and Miami Beach.

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NASA will use the Danne & Blackburn-designed "worm" logo for the first time since 1992, while its astronauts will debut SpaceX spacesuits when the Demo-2 flight to the International Space Station launches tomorrow.

The astronauts will be carried aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft, marking the first time that astronauts will travel to the orbiting International Space Station aboard a commercially built and operated American rocket. It is also the first astronaut launch from US soil since 2011.

To mark the occasion NASA has brought the curving red wordmark, nicknamed "the worm", which was created by Danne & Blackburn in the 1970s out of retirement. The logo was phased out in favour of the original 1950s "meatball" design in 1992.

"The worm is back," said NASA. "And just in time to mark the return of human spaceflight on American rockets from American soil."

"The retro, modern design of the agency's logo will help capture the excitement of a new, modern era of human spaceflight on the side of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle that will ferry astronauts to the International Space Station as part of the Demo-2 flight."

The SpaceX Demo-2 test flight will send two veteran NASA astronauts, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, from the Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the International Space Station (ISS).

Originally planned for 27 May, the launch "was scrubbed due to unfavorable weather conditions" and rescheduled for liftoff at 3:22pm EST (8:22pm UK time) on Saturday 30 May. Behnken and Hurley are expected to dock at the space station at 10:29am on Sunday 31 May.

The worm will also decorate the front of the SpaceX-designed suits Behnken and Hurley will wear for the mission.

As shown in the dress rehearsal on 23 May, these will be white with grey contrast panels and piping, and detailed with an American flag on the right shoulder, alongside the astronaut's name.

The suit is completed with a 3D-printed helmet, touchscreen-compatible gloves, a flame-resistant outer layer and offers hearing protection during ascent and reentry.

Elon Musk, who also founded Tesla, established SpaceX – short for Space Exploration Technologies Corporation – in 2002, with the goals of enabling Mars colonisation and reducing space travel costs.

The company was selected along with Boeing to develop a domestic vehicle that could launch astronauts from American soil, as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The last flight from USA took place in 2011 and NASA has been sending crew from Russia since.

"This test flight is a pivotal point in NASA's Commercial Crew Program, which is working with the US aerospace industry to launch astronauts on American rockets and spacecraft from American soil to the space station for the first time since 2011," explained NASA.

Tomorrow's planned demo flight follows the Crew Dragon Demo-1 test flight last year, which saw an unmanned craft sent to the ISS.

Behnken and Hurley are now expected to spend a few months in the ISS with NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagne. NASA believes the time could provide useful research in an eventual goal to send humans to the Moon and Mars.

"The goal of the Commercial Crew Program is to provide safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the International Space Station. This could allow for additional research time and increase the opportunity for discovery aboard humanity's testbed for exploration, including preparation for human exploration of the Moon and Mars."

This mission follows the SpaceX Demo-1 flight, which saw an unmanned Crew Dragon sent to the station. It makes a major step forwarded for NASA's Commercial Crew Program, established to develop a domestic vehicle that could launch astronauts from American soil.

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US architecture firm MASS Design Group has suggested that restaurants add barriers, remove bar seating and seek local produce sources to curtail the spread of infection and allow patrons to safely eat out following the coronavirus lockdown.

The studio's research, called Spatial Strategies for Restaurants in Response to Covid-19, comprises diagrams and case studies that detail potential physical alterations for restaurants that keep both employees and guests safe from the spread of disease.

"In the midst of this global coronavirus pandemic, when the very nature of public space has become both threatening and threatened, the future of the restaurant industry is brought into question, and its path forward remains uncertain," MASS Design Group said.

The team has identified five key strategies to guide redesign: updating food safety and sanitation codes, sequencing and designating all points of exchange, creating space for a variety of seating configurations, amending current zoning regulations and designing legible signage.

Diagrams show the layout and division of space in each restaurant in its pre-Covid-19 state, current condition and a proposal for post-Covid-19. They point out that kitchens and food prep areas near dining spaces are subject to possible contamination, and propose moving seating away from those areas and creating food pick-up locations closer to the entrances.

The studio suggests that bar seating should be phased out because of its difficulty to enable safe distancing practices. Tables would be further spread out to meet the recommended six feet (two metres) spacing. Higher barriers could also provide an alternative to the necessary distancing rule, as they separate guests from one another by decreasing the risk of airborne infection with a protective shield.

"These recommendations are based on the understanding that the relationship between emerging food safety protocols and viable, equitable business models for restaurants is inherently a spatial relationship," MASS Design Group added.

"Navigating the space between ideal food safety protocols and the application of those strategies to a business and operations plan requires design interventions."

Improved ventilation could be added to booths to protect diners, as researchers have found it is possible for the virus droplets to spread through air conditioning in enclosed environments, like restaurants.

MASS Design Group also proposes extending dining onto the street, alleys, sidewalk, parking lots and rooftops. It says in order for more public space to be added, the area might need to adjust its current zoning regulations.

American architect David Rockwell and his studio Rockwell Group similarly suggested that restaurants in New York City could be extended onto sidewalks and streets to allow for socially distanced dining.

MASS Design Group suggests that restaurants "localise" their food production by growing ingredients on vacant plots or rooftops to minimise contact between employers and the supply chain.

Hanging visual documentation to outline protocols concerning the need to wear personal protective equipment, such as masks, to encourage hand washing and social distancing and direct the flow of the restaurant's workers and patrons are also outlined.

MASS Design Group developed the Spatial Strategies to follows its experience and research designing for infection control, and studies of current food and safety regulations and restaurant protocols.

The studio has trialled its plans with two restaurants in the Boston area, Porto and Little Donkey. Boston prohibited on-premises dining in restaurants on 17 March but allowed takeaway.

On 18 May the city released its phased reopening plan that says restaurants can resume operations as part of phase two, but will need to follow regulations like reducing capacity and requiring customers to wear masks.

MASS Design Group hopes to gather other case studies and iterate the designs in different contexts to support restaurants as they consider how to safely reopen.

The project follows a number of other proposals by architects and designers to find ways to dine following the pandemic.

French designer Christophe Gernigon has proposed suspending individual plexiglass hoods shaped like lampshades over tables so diners can eat and reduce their risk of airborne infection.

Arts centre Mediamatic has designed small greenhouses for a restaurant in Amsterdam that guests sit in. A trend report by Dubai-based studio Roar predicts the ways the coronavirus will impact the hospitality industry, including alterations to restaurant design, menus and cash payments.

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New York firm No Architecture has designed this house in Oregon's Willamette Valley wine country around a glazed garden fill with deciduous trees.

A large dark roof covers the aptly named Courtyard House residence with an irregular piercing in the middle marking the courtyard. Inside, it forms a garden wrapped by glass walls with wooden frames.

"Piercing the centre of the home, the fully-glazed courtyard planted with native deciduous trees conceives landscape as partition, shaping the interior through more porous and dynamic boundaries that transform with the seasons," No Architecture said.

In addition to providing a feature of the interior, the studio said the courtyard also improves the passive heating and cooling. A glass door included in the walls also helps with natural ventilation.

"In wintertime, the courtyard's position increases passive solar heating, while in summertime, the courtyard stimulates passive cooling and natural ventilation," it added.

Designed for a couple, the one-storey residence is embedded into a hillside so it is hidden among its natural surrounds from the front.

While the house is disguised at the front, at the rear it opens up to enjoy views down to the wild river and wetlands.

Glazed walls match the enclosure around the courtyard, while the concrete platform cantilevers from the rear to form a viewing platform.

The kitchen, lounge, dining room and bedroom are arranged around the courtyard with views of both the enclosed garden and the house's natural surroundings on the eastern side.

"Inside, the courtyard liberates the internal circulation into a continuous loop where every living space doubles as a sleeping space at night," No Architecture explained.

Rather than adding in walls, No Architecture added storage cabinets in L shapes that form create lateral bracing and enclose two bedrooms in opposing corners.

"Departing from the compartmentalised 'room-and-corridor' plan found in conventional homes, the interior flows in a continuous loop sculpted by a faceted courtyard and two L-shaped storage cores," it said.

The volume enclosing the south-east corner is fronted with wooden cabinets for the kitchen on one edge, and a bathroom on the other. The second contains two bathrooms interspersed with closets, storage and space for mechanicals.

"Maximising usable space while minimising poché, the cores condense the fixtures necessary to support daily life, including: the kitchen, bathrooms, closets and mechanicals," it added.

No Architecture has used a minimal palette throughout the house including exposed concrete floors and walls, white-painted walls and wood-framed windows. Furnishings are sparse and include pale curtains, decorative rugs and wooden furniture.

Other houses designed to make the most of natural surrounds found in US state Oregon include a house built atop a pond and a holiday home built in volcanic landscape.

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