Inside A Pastel-Hued University Residence In Southern Spain

While the Burjassot housing was an entirely private initiative, another RYA-Lejarraga project—the recently built Loop Homes dormitory for the University of Huelva in southern Spain—resulted from winning a competition. Founded in 1993, the university occupies a former infantry barracks at the edge of the historic Andalusian port town, just 25 miles from the Portuguese border. Until last year, it was also the only institution of higher learning in the region without a residence hall—hence the call for proposals to develop and manage one.

In response to height restrictions imposed by the municipality and the university—and aiming to maximize room count—Martín Lejarraga configured the six-story, 113,000-square-foot building in the shape of a comb: a slab spine from which four residential blocks project like teeth, with interstitial gardens between them providing light, ventilation, and, he notes, “a strong proportion between solid and void.” Zoning requirements left open spaces at the site perimeter for a swimming pool and outdoor exercise facilities while, inside, common spaces are split horizontally across the ground floor, with the base of each residential block dedicated to a different use: dining, coworking, lounge, and gym.

The building’s long facades, punctured with orderly processions of windows, are rendered in the same blazing white plaster that coats houses and churches throughout Andalucía, while the blind end walls of the serrated blocks are clad in pale-blue sheet steel—a color that references the local soccer club and so, as Lejarraga observes, “is very much of the city.”

How Martín Lejarraga Revitalizes This University Dorm

FROM FRONT
RESOL: MODULAR SOFA (COMMONS). SANCAL: ROUND SOFAS (COMMONS), OTTOMANS (COMMONS, GAME ROOM). FARO BARCELONA: TRACK LIGHTING, SCONCES (COMMONS, GAME ROOM). INCLASS: DESK CHAIR (SINGLE ROOM). DECATHLON: PING-PONG TABLE (GAME ROOM). EUROPERFIL: STEEL PANELING (EXTERIOR). SAINT-GOBAIN WEBER: PLASTER.
THROUGHOUT
TITAN: PAINT.

Community Meets History At A Spanish Student Residence

Before Martín Lejarraga Architecture Office started work on Loop Homes Burjassot, a dignified block of student housing named for the Spanish town it serves, the plot where the resident hall now stands had been abandoned for a decade. An agricultural suburb of Valencia for most of its history, Burjassot had experienced radical urban change starting in the 1940’s, when a cement company established a factory complex there. In the late ’90’s, the company moved away and donated its facilities and land to the city; around the same time, a new university campus reinvigorated the otherwise-sleepy town.

Rezoned in the early 2000’s, the former factory site sprouted mid-rise apartment blocks and, on one lot, the beginnings of an office building, but the economic crisis of 2008 stopped construction in its tracks. The residential developments staggered forward—“There have been thousands of housing projects across Spain that have gone through that process,” notes architect Martín Lejarraga, principal of his eponymous firm—but the projected offices never progressed beyond the foundations, leaving nothing more than a three-story-deep concrete scar in the ground. Then, in 2022, the Madrid-based student-housing developer, RYA Residencias, acquired the plot as a raw footing for something new.

Martín Lejarraga Crafts Student Housing Inspired By Burjassot

By the time RYA brought Lejarraga on board, the architect, who is based in the coastal city of Cartagena, had been rehabilitating preexisting structures for over three decades. “Cartagena has a very interesting built heritage, so our experience here has pushed us to reform and transform lots of structures,” he explains. “Before ‘reuse’ and ‘rehabilitation’ became fashionable, it seemed interesting to me to give buildings new life.” He first worked with RYA in 2012 on a proposal for campus accommodations. (Spanish universities seldom run their own residence halls; most are built and operated by for-profit developers like RYA.) The door to a long-term collaboration opened when the company decided to transition from managing to developing student housing, creating the Loop Homes brand of dormitories, which was inaugurated in 2019 with the transformation of two 19th-century palaces in Granada.

Before taking on the Burjassot project, “We carefully analyzed all the elements that had been built—retaining walls, foundations, slabs, pillars,” Lejarraga reports. “Since it was all belowground it hadn’t suffered any deterioration.” Working within the same volume projected for the original office, Lejarraga designed a 13-level slab building around the existing structural elements, “growing the columns from the bottom up.” From there, the planning of a 120,000-square-foot, 221-room residence hall turned on the dictates of real-estate economics. “Like any developer, RYA was looking to get as much as possible out of the building, which meant looking for a balance between the private rooms and common areas,” the architect continues. “We pushed the rooms to their limit—they’re a bit monastic, though they meet every need—and so we tried to make the common areas ample, generous.” The residence, in other words, replicates the European model of urbanism wherein occupants sacrifice the private realm in favor of accessible, high-quality public space.

Ample Public Spaces Encourage Community

Spanning the top seven floors, student accommodations vary in typology—from individual and double rooms to shared, accessible, and suite-style units—but all of them compress a kitchenette, closet, and work area into built-ins along what Lejarraga terms “an active wall.” The rooftop swimming pool serves as an urban beach, as attractive as any high-end hotel’s, while on the double-height ground floor, common areas draw light and ventilation through tall banks of windows shaded by a graceful pergola connecting to the sidewalk and city outside.

Inexpensive, durable materials also played an important role in suppressing costs and extending the building’s lifespan. Corrugated steel the color of fired brick—which, Lejarraga observes, “has an industrial connotation connected to the memory of Burjassot”—appears as cladding inside and out, most notably on the ground-floor exterior and rising the full height of the blind lateral facades. Lacquered-steel paneling in the same color sheaths paired chimneylike volumes that run up both end walls—a gesture toward an adjacent smokestack that also shifts the vertical circulation of plumbing, electrical, and extraction lines off the tight floor plates. Valencia’s strong tradition of commercial ceramics provided a sustainable, low-cost solution for floors and walls in much of the interior. “In terms of service systems,” Lejarraga adds, “we decided to leave them exposed to remove an additional, unnecessary layer of finishes and expense such that the building, overall, would be more direct, raw. You can see its guts.”

Design Details Nod To Industrial Roots

Where budget-cutting exercises like these frequently lead to facilities that are blandly institutional and often inhospitable, here the use of industrial materials lends a strong sense of place and tactile warmth to both interior and exterior spaces. Thoughtful interventions throughout—undulant, perforated sheet-metal ceilings that visually lift the otherwise low overhead in the hallways; a dramatic, steel-clad spiral staircase in the reception hall—demonstrate an unusual degree of consideration for the lived experience of the building. Such measures, as Lejarraga points out, cost nothing while “offering an element of attention.” Construction may be expensive, but care is not.

MARTÍN LEJARRAGA ARCHITECTURE OFFICE: JOSE BOTÍ; FÁTIMA SAAVEDRA; PEDRO JOSÉ SÁNCHEZ; GUILLERMO NARANJO; INMA CARRERA. PM ARQUITECTURA Y GESTIÓN: CONSTRUCTION COST CONSULTANT. FLORENTINO REGALADO: STRUCTURAL ENGINEER. VALNU ENGINEERING SERVICES: LIGHTING CONSULTANT; MEP.

FROM FRONT 
RESOL: TABLES (TERRACE), CHAIRS (TERRACE, DINING HALL). OFITA: MODULAR SOFA, OTTOMAN (LOBBY). SANCAL: ROUND SOFA (LOBBY, COMMONS), HIGH-BACK SOFAS, OTTOMANS (COMMONS). FARO BARCELONA: PENDANT FIXTURES (LOBBY, DINING HALL). INCLASS: SIDE TABLES (LOBBY), TABLES (DINING HALL), DESK CHAIRS (DOUBLE ROOM). LEROY MERLIN: PING-PONG TABLE (PERGOLA). KENGURU PRO: CALISTHENICS PARK (WORKOUT AREA). ESCOFET: BENCHES (WORKOUT AREA), CUBES (POOL TERRACE). GANDIA BLASCO: CHAISE LOUNGES, CHAIRS, TABLES (POOL TERRACE). BODYTONE: EXERCISE EQUIPMENT (GYM).
THROUGHOUT
EUROPERFIL: STEEL PANELING. SAINT-GOBAIN WEBER: PLASTER. TITAN: PAINT.

A Window Into Molteni&C’s Milan Locale And Top Products

Molteni&C, the third-generation Italian design group founded by Angelo and Giuseppina Molteni, just marked 90 years in business, a milestone it celebrates with a new Milan address in a historic palazzo. The grand late-19th-century residence underwent renovations in the 1920’s, so art nouveau flourishes pair with the tony neoclassical architecture. Conceived by group creative director Vincent Van Duysen as the home of an astute collector, the seven-story space takes visitors on a journey through 32,000 square feet of design morsels. There’s glossy lacquered Lèa coffee tables from the 1990’s by Christophe Delcourt; a 2025 reissue of Monk, a chair of solid wood and leather designed in 1973 by Afra and Tobia Scarpa; and artwork curated by architect and designer Elisa Ossino. The top two floors function primarily as a gallery and currently play host to an exhibition of Santi Caleca photographs that capture works by Frank Gehry, Aldo Rossi, Ettore Sottsass, and Johanna Grawunder. 

Step Inside Astraeus Clarke’s Darkly Divine Showroom

The New York showroom of Jacob and Chelsie Starley’s design studio, Astraeus Clarke, is darkly divine—which is fitting, considering the brand’s name alludes to the Greek god of stars and twilight. Founded just three years ago making lighting fixtures in Brooklyn, AC has gone from strength to strength; later this year, furniture and objects will round out the catalog. “Each phase of our work—whether lighting or interiors—flows naturally from the last,” notes Chelsie Starley. “The showroom is the next step.”

The first collection taking pride of place in the new Chinatown showroom is Darning: tubular-steel sconces and pendants laser-cut with linear perforations that are then threaded with cord in a motif reminiscent of denim topstitching. Animal-hide parchment diffusers add to the rugged western charm (the Starleys’ home state is Utah, where they once salvaged and flipped condemned properties). As for the homey mahogany-and-maroon showroom, it’s laden with personal history, from the mirrored ceiling strewn with hand-cut stars referencing the couple’s surname to a curtain based on the pattern of a family quilt.

Visit Visionnaire’s Luxe Showroom In London’s Design District

Founded in 2004, Visionnaire’s roots actually date back to 1959, when Carlo, Pompeo, and Vittorio Cavalli established IPE, producing automotive upholstery in Bologna, Italy. Two years later, the company’s first furnishing, Mercury, was unveiled at the inaugural Salone del Mobile. The armchair, based on a sketch by sculptor Rito Valla, was made of expanded polyurethane, a material rarely used in furniture at the time. Today, you can see (and sit on) Mercury at the company’s new Italian-luxe showroom in London’s Knightsbridge design district, a space that joins existing locations in Milan, Dubai, Miami, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. Two of the five floors are open at present, with more to come, all anchored by a sculptural staircase, curved armchairs by Alessandro La Spada, and organically shaped wool-silk rugs. Other hits from the brand are also on view, such as Studiopepe’s Shibari chair based on Japanese rope binding. 

How Ace Group International Curates Hospitality Hot Spots

Brad Wilson: We were creating the W brand at the same time we were creating an amazing hotel. Barry focused on engaging interesting new designers and moving them into the hospitality realm, in this case David Rockwell. It was David’s first hotel, and I worked with him on the program, using his vision for it—spalike, tied to nature, organic—to create the overall lifestyle that would be W Hotels. I had the same opportunity with George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg on the W Times Square—taking a fresh look at hospitality design and aiming to make something new and different but also elegant and sophisticated.

ID: Why have you continued working with hospitality newcomers at Ace?

BW: The Ace DNA weaves through all our properties, but we want to make each hotel unique, very site specific, with a strong individual personality—a one-off experience in one particular location. We’ve found that partnering with upcoming designers allows us to achieve that more than going to firms who’ve already done a hundred hotels, because a lot of times what you get is their hotel.

ID: How does a collaboration between Atelier Ace and an outside firm work?

BW: Before we hire a designer for a project, our team—headed by director of interiors Jonny Ribeiro and director of architecture Steven Dremov—does deep research into the culture and history of the city, and also of the building if it’s a renovation, which a lot of our properties are. From that, we develop a visual narrative for the project—where we’re going with it—and then we look for designers that are a good fit for what we’re trying to create. At the Ace Hotel Sydney, for example, the building we renovated was the site of the city’s first brick kiln, so we were interested in using masonry surfaces and textures. We also developed a huge appreciation for Australian modernism, which is very organic. We found a Melbourne-based designer, David Flack, who’d played with those elements on residential projects. Our palette tends to be tight while David’s approach is very colorful, so we learned a lot from him about expressing Australia through color—even using purple, which I never thought we’d do!

ID: The polychrome ceramic-brick reception desk is extraordinary.

BW: It came out of the original narrative—that this was a kiln site—and how to express it in a modern way. We often solve things by making them art projects—in this case, an installation of graffitilike painted bricks. It’s an example of taking the localized narrative, bringing in art and design elements, and partnering with them to make a space that defines the hotel.

ID: The natural-wood and earth-tone palette at Ace Hotel Toronto, a new-build in collaboration with small, local firm Shim-Sutcliffe Architects, seems more typical of the brand.

BW: We did the interiors ourselves. Brigitte Shim and her husband Howard Sutcliffe had mostly done residential work, no hotels, but their houses are exciting—powerfully rooted in Canadian design and aesthetics. They’re teachers and experimenters on the cusp of architecture there, and we saw a chance to create a new building that adds cultural value to the city. We focused on empowering them to make great architecture and took the lead on the interiors, so they knit seamlessly with the building and emphasize its architectural presence. I think we were able to make a cathedral to hospitality where the spaces and structure determine the finishes and furnishings.

ID: The three-level lobby with its concrete arches recalls grand old hotels with giant public spaces but on a warmer, more human scale.

BW: We used organic and craft materials to help create that sense. You can sit in the lobby and feel you’re in a very intimate space, but if you turn your gaze upward, you realize there are three open floors above you spanned by massive concrete structural elements. It’s truly unique.

ID: At your most recently opened location, the Ace Hotel & Swim Club Athens, the pool becomes the property’s social and cultural hub, no?

BW: We brought that idea to Athens from our swim club in Palm Springs, which has always been one of our most celebrated hotels. We acquired a ’70’s modernist hotel with two swimming pools and an interesting grid of balconies, almost brutalist in feel, which we loved.

ID: You worked with a French studio, Ciguë, which is also quite experimental, on the architecture and the interiors.

BW: Yes, the firm is really into the concept of architectural design as an installation process, which attracted us. It looks on its work as radical collage, layering spaces with materials and furnishings that feel real and authentic, that have craft and art—all things that give an environment depth and make people feel comfortable in it. There was also a collage of other firms involved: Back to the Future, a local source of vintage furniture from all over Greece; art consultants Matthieu Prat of Diplomates Studio, who focused on the public spaces, and Aliki Lampropoulous of Mare Studio, who oversaw guest rooms; and Ogust, an Athens graphics studio, which did the signage and wayfinding. We wanted to evoke the Athens Riviera of the ’70’s, not Miami Beach—no billowing white curtains!—so we played a lot with color. Many of our choices, like the yellow of the sun umbrellas, are nostalgic for that era, so they’re not hues you’ve seen over and over, which is always our goal.

Seek A Refuge Of Calm At These Hotels By Ace Group International

Collaboration Is Key For These Stunning Hospitality Spaces

Explore Cisco’s Smart Approach To Hybrid Culture

In a post-pandemic effort to consolidate—and apply more consistent design standards to—its global workplace footprint, Cisco hatched a quartet of guiding principles: Facilities should foster staff wellness, optimize sustainability (to meet net-zero ambitions), support mixed-presence scenarios, and be informed by metrics like space and energy utilization. In office locations including New York, that approach has been highly effective. “By starting with the employee experience, using real data on how work actually happens, and running every decision through our four design pillars, we created spaces that attract, engage, and inspire,” says Bob Cicero, leader of the company’s Future Proof Workplaces Practice.

The agile workspace, a collaboration with Gensler, boasts state-of-the-art smart systems, low-voltage power-over-ethernet infrastructure, and platforms to support all types of hybrid meetings. “The goal was to create an environment where collaboration feels seamless,” Gensler principal Tom Krizmanic says. To that end, “we designed the space around the optimum delivery of the technology: camera angles, sight lines, and microphone/speaker relationships.” More than 70 percent of the 59,000-square-foot space is devoted to video-enabled collab zones, from huddle rooms to corridor breakout areas. “That’s a high ratio, but it could become the norm in organizations with mobile, creative, and hybrid working policies,” Krizmanic adds. By pairing advanced tech with access to in-office and building-wide amenities, he continues, “Employees can choose the setting that works best for them, ensuring the workplace supports connection and flexibility.” And so it does.

Cisco + Gensler Design A Collaboration-First Workplace

Office Design Meets Hospitality In This San Francisco Locale

The Cove’s primary selling point is not its hidden podcast room, multiposture work lounges, private fitness suites, or Wolfgang Puck–operated eateries. It’s the vibe. Cushman & Wakefield executive managing director J.D. Lumpkin, who served as client rep on the project, knew design would be the differentiator for the 29,000-square-foot staffed amenity zone, accessible to all tenants of the 525 Market Street office building in San Francisco’s Financial District neighborhood. “Most developers think of an amenity as a line item, whereas I looked at it as a moment and a feeling,” Lumpkin recalls.

The thesis behind the “on-site off-site” space, which serves as workplace extension, clubby gathering hub, wellness destination, and bookable event venue, was that, “If we enrich the workday experience of every employee, then everybody wins: Employees will be happier and more productive, companies will want to stay in the building, it will help them achieve their return-to-office objectives, and leasing will go up,” Lumpkin explains. Brad Zizmor, cofounder of Architecture Plus Information, which oversaw design of everything from the interiors and the staff uniforms to the logo and sales brochure, agrees: “It’s an inspirational space to have your best day at work.” Zizmor praises his client for being a true partner: “J.D. dug in with all four limbs. He believes people respond to environments that have a perspective and a personality, teeth and history and quirkiness—and that these things really matter and are good business.”

Both parties describe their teams’ close collaboration as key to the building’s success, with Lumpkin providing deep knowledge of San Francisco’s history and what would read as authentic to the local audience, and A+I contributing its holistic approach—and knowing when to push the client just out of his comfort zone, for instance, seizing the opportunity to amp up the color quotient (see the blue-on-blue game room, the green wood–paneled Twin Peaks conference area, etc.). “At every turn, we took the appropriate amount of risk, and those ended up being the design hallmarks, the ‘wow’ moments,” Lumpkin says. Zizmor credits his client with weighing in on “literally everything,” from the commissioned artwork to the two-tone seating upholstery. “I sat through hundreds of hours of design meetings, and that isn’t even technically my job,” Lumpkin admits. “That pays off when I tour people through the space: I remember all the little decisions and exactly why we did them.”

Architecture Plus Information Sets The Tone For The Cove

Amenities Define Where—And How—Work Gets Done

Lawson-Fenning’s NoHo Shop Glows With Terra-Cotta Hues

The quintessentially L.A. furniture brand Lawson-Fenning has gone bicoastal, setting up shop on the fifth floor of a prewar cast-iron loft building in the NoHo neighborhood of New York. Residentially minded and color-drenched in rich terra-cotta paint, the space’s heady yet grounding vibe was masterminded by Manhattan-based interior designer Josh Greene, who also conceived a 12-piece collection. “Josh was the perfect partner: He’s a Southern California native with a New York voice,” says Lawson-Fenning cofounder Grant Fenning. “The collaboration helped us reimagine our brand for a different audience.” Greene’s Agapanthus collection, named after the flowers that lined the garden of his childhood home in the San Gabriel foothills, includes various case goods and low tables in materials such as leathered Rojo Alicante marble and pigmented oak, plus Fairview, a series of nostalgic tufted seating with matching upholstered bases that recall his grandmother’s sofa. 

David Rockwell’s New Rug Collection Plays With Nature’s Contrasts

Interior Design Hall of Famer and multidisciplinary creative David Rockwell has collaborated with London-based The Rug Company since 2010. “Throughout, we’ve explored an obsession with nature’s contrasts,” Rockwell says of the partnership. His new collection, Flow as Form, continues in that vein, taking water as the wellspring of inspiration and showcasing its many natural forms. There’s wool-and-silk Falls in moody Graphite, where sinuous lines flow like currents; Fjord, a wool number inspired by frozen water, in Flint and Frost; and Splash in blue-hued Sea or rosy Salmon, its painterly strokes mimicking turbulent waters. In-stock and made-to-order rectangular sizes plus puddle-shaped, runner, and round versions provide the ground for the collection’s quiet drama.