This week’s instalment of the #SBIDinspire series features the vibrant and enlivening luxury apartment in New Cairo which successfully integrates home automation technology with a sophisticated, contemporary design. We spoke to Eng. Mohamed El Abagy, The CEO & Co-founder of DAR Designs about this truly refreshing residential apartment design.
This luxury apartment in Egypt successfully integrates home automation technology with a sophisticated, modern design. Seeking to create harmony between the traditional and contemporary, the designer has given the apartment a high-end, luxury look while maintaining a connection with Arab culture through the display of local crafts throughout the interior. This residence also caters to the client’s active social lifestyle through an open plan space which includes the kitchen, guest living room, and dining room, all designed as one zone. To give the client privacy, the private area was also designed with its own exclusive family living room located between two bedrooms. The apartment also takes a huge step forward in terms of sustainability and energy efficiency, with its advanced home automation system designed to automatically shut off lighting and air conditioning when the occupants leave the room.
Company: DAR Designs
Project: Parkview Residence
Project Location: Cairo, Egypt
The client for this particular project is a young, open minded businessman who was obsessed with Arabian horses and enamoured with the yellow colour.
What inspired the design of the Project?
The clients passion for horses inspired us to play on this particular theme throughout our design process. The main design concept was to create a modern design with an Arabian touch to reflect his interests and personality beautifully.
What was the toughest hurdle your team overcame during the project?
The main challenge during this project was achieving optimum space management for all required spaces in this small area whilst preserving the need for privacy for residents during the design process. Creating the perfect mix of contemporary style blended with Arabian culture was also challenge as it was somewhat difficult to create without distortion.
What was your team’s highlight of the project?
The team’s goal was to integrate home automation technology with a sophisticated, modern design. Seeking to create harmony between the traditional and contemporary, with a high-end, luxury look while maintaining a connection with Arab culture through the accessories whilst promoting sustainability and energy efficiency.
Why did you enter the SBID International Design Awards?
The SBID International Design Awards is a very reputable & honourable organisation and being celebrated as winners in our category is very beneficial and adding credibility and value to our leading Middle Eastern firm.
Questions answered by Eng. Mohamed El Abagy, CEO & Co-founder of DAR Designs
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If you missed last week’s Project of the Week with the truly incredible renovations of a Category A Listed building in the heart of Glasgow’s Park District by Bernard Interiors. click here to see more
Entries were received, finalists deliberated and the winners of the SBID International Design Awards 2017 have been announced! Click here to see the full list.
We hope you feel inspired! Let us know what inspired you #SBIDinspire
DAR Designs | SBID International Design Awards 2018
This week’s instalment of the #SBIDinspire series features the incredible renovations of a Category A Listed building in the heart of Glasgow’s Park District by Bernard Interiors.
This imposing five-storey sandstone townhouse, situated in one of Glasgow’s most sought after areas, majestically overlooks Kelvingrove Park with fantastic views across the city. The townhouse had lain derelict for over 5 years, once used as office space throughout the 90’s, and had fallen into disrepair. Bernard Interiors were challenged to create a contemporary design whilst also utilising the historic and period features which run throughout the building. Bernard Interiors worked alongside the developer for three years to win planning permission to convert the building back to a residential dwelling. The client brief was to create a stylish and inviting family home with a luxurious finish and an abundance of high-end details to ensure ultimate “wow factor.”
Company: Bernard Interiors
Project: Park Terrace
Project Location: Glasgow, United Kingdom
What was the client’s brief?
Bernard Interiors were challenged to create a design, which was contemporary yet sympathetic to the historic and period features which run throughout the building. The client brief was to transform a 9700 sq ft Grade A listed, derelict office building into a stylish, chic and inviting family home with a luxurious finish and an abundance of “wow factor” details.
Glamorous 70’s influences were high on the clients as agenda, and can be seen throughout the home with interesting touches such as chaise lounge fringed in silk, large scale lamps and photography by Slim Aarons.
Due to the scale and complexity of the Grade A Listed building, maintaining and restoring period features including oversized bespoke cornicing, ceiling roses and original fireplaces in line with a contemporary edge proved challenging
The team enjoyed working closely with the developer to commission a bespoke chandelier designed by George Singer. The chandelier cascades from the top of the stairwell to the ground floor, and features thousands of smoked glass Swarovski crystals creating maximum impact as soon as you enter the home, greatly enhancing the effect of the imposing staircase.
It is an internationally recognised award and we felt that our challenging project Park Terrace warranted recognition from this prestigious award body.
Questions answered by Jennifer Bernard, Managing Director at Bernard Interiors.
If you missed last week’s Project of the Week with the truly majestic ‘Whale Bar’ designed by WOW Architects click here to see more
Bernard Interiors | SBID International Design Awards 2018
This week’s instalment of the #SBIDinspire series features the breath-taking ‘Whale Bar’ designed by WOW Architects. We spoke to Wong Chiu Man (Founder and Managing Director) of WOW Architects about this extraordinary project, our overall winner of the SBID Awards 2017.
The Whale Bar’s iconic shape was inspired by the majestic whale shark. This imaginative yet elegant retreat is elevated by light oak interiors and a softly lit neutral palette. The use of fish scale inspired timber shingles around the kitchen and smooth iridescent stucco inside the “body” of the whale emphasises the marine iconography that is unmistakable. The team endeavoured to make as many aspects of the project as sustainable as possible, up-cycling and recycling wherever appropriate, focusing their attentions on highlighting the fragility of the surrounding environment within their design in the hope that this would motivate guests to contemplate the creation of a responsible future for the next generations.
Company: WOW Architects | Warner Wong Design
Project: THE WHALE BAR
Project Location: St Regis Resort Vommuli Island, Maldives
The clients desire was to create a resort destination that would standout from the existing resorts in the Maldives and be commercially successful. After much research and discussion, the components of the brief were decided upon, the master plan designed and construction started. Upon appointing the St Regis as the operator, the brief was evolved further and refined, and improvements were made to fully achieve the brand’s potential, and the clients vision for a leading resort hotel.
After visiting many resorts in the Maldives, we understood the evolution of resort design throughout the last twenty years. The latest and best resorts had a strong ecological aspect but still stayed within the realm of design inspirations from the human perspective. We saw an opportunity to create even more eco awareness and draw inspirations directly from nature itself, and to pointedly draw attention through our design to the fragility of atoll and marine habitats in particular. Thus, the design evolved through our inspirations and observations on atoll ecology and marine biology. We hope that the design will uplift and motivate our guests in creating a responsible future for the next generations.
Building sensitively with minimal waste and consideration for protecting the islands ecology was by far the biggest challenge. Efficiency and speed minimises waste and the logistic and carbon footprint on the Maldives and resources we needed. Despite using all forms of prefabrication and eco friendly materials, up-cycling and recycling, the longer the construction time is, the larger the waste footprint. Our challenge on a daily basis was to find affordable and intelligent solutions to minimise the waste while achieving a high standard of construction and finish.
We had many highlights over 4 years. From the beauty of the sunsets to the drama of the storms, and the pleasure of seeing and preserving the island and the marine life around us.
However, an unexpected reward was how we were able to connect with the villagers from the neighbouring islands by offering them employment and gaining their trust and respect. They were instrumental in minimising waste because they up-cycled many leftover building materials and packaging materials into their villages and our project actually improved the villagers lives. This was truly sustainability in practice.
We hoped to gain recognition for a project very close to our hearts and wished that by winning an SBID award, we could not only celebrate the design, but tell the meaningful stories that made the design possible. For receiving the overall winners award, we are extremely proud and grateful, but also humbled by the quality of the other winners.
Questions answered by Wong Chiu Man (Founder and Managing Director) WOW Architects.
If you missed last week’s Project of the Week with Orkun Indere’s winter wonderland ‘Log House Extension’ click here to see more
WOW Architects | SBID International Design Awards 2017
2018 copyright WOW Architects | Warner Wong Design
This week’s instalment of the #SBIDinspire series features the magical ‘Log House Extension’ by Orkun Indere Interiors. Located in Kazan, this project features all the seasonal cheer you’d expect from a stunning ‘chalet’ in the wintertime. Decked with Christmas decorations and high end interiors, this project is the epitome of festive opulence.
The extension was created to expand on this family home to meet the families growing needs. Conventional log house patterns around the location and separate building blocks were designed to emphasise the warm & cosy “chalet” feeling. Every single-functioning building block is connected by hallways. All the new buildings are made of timber and constructed with special joinery techniques which forgo the use of screws and bolts. The new main space is to be used as a living room, while also functioning as a flamboyant area to welcome guests. In contrast to the traditional log house aesthetic this area has a very high ceiling profile.
SBID had the opportunity to speak with Orkun Indere, Founder & Designer of Orkun Indere Interiors about this magical project.
Company: Orkun Indere Interiors
Project: Log House Extension
Project Location: Kazan, Russian Federation
The idea of adding an extension started with the need for more space. The existing building didn’t meet the client’s needs as the whole family (of five) was about to move into the house. The existing building was quite small in relation to its mass. The vernacular architecture of the district which consisted of highly inclined roofing was diminishing the beneficial use of interior areas.
With a new life beginning, the client required a bigger en-suite bedroom, three rooms, one for each child, a bigger area for the walk in closet, a proper entrance to the building (the building entrance was not suitable due to its mass and the connection to the living room was not suitable for the guests), a proper dining room and a stunning reception room. We decided to extend the existing building, adding a new area to be connected to the previous. After this change the whole complex would be seen as one chain of buildings.
The design emphasises every single room as a building block thus maximising the perception of space in every room. The joint points of short hallways which connect the buildings together, give an extra spacious feeling to every new room you step into.
The new layout also affected the existing building as a part of the new chain. After resolving the facilities of dining room, reception room and entrance hall in the new extended blocks, the existing building then turned out to be the intimate and most private part for the family. The new blocks were for welcoming the guests, entertaining and organising special events for celebrations so that the existing building could be used for the private, everyday life of the family.
The toughest hurdle was to connect the two existing buildings (the main house and barbecue house) and constructing new buildings in between them, so that the position, angle and distance between existing buildings was a big reference for the shape of the final design. Firstly we positioned the new reception room building with an area of 9 x 8 metres, we had to connect them one by one to the existing building. There planned three main blocks approaching to the existing house; reception room, entrance space and joint block which includes the staircase around a preserved tree existing on the land. We chose the side façade of the existing building (the kitchen façade also including an exit to the land) for the joint point of new blocks.
The plan layout and shape of each single block, derived from the positions of the buildings as came out of the joint angles. As many different blocks had to join each other properly we wanted to use the biggest block (reception room) as the conjunction unit, so the first idea was to design it in an octagonal shape to use some façades to connect to other blocks.
For this project there were a variety of of highlights. One of my favourite aspects of this project includes the height of the rooftop of the main building block used as the living room, it was 8,5 meters high inside the building, supported with a mesh of beams to keep the huge block stable. Stunning!
Another highlight was the preservation of an existing tree so at the time of snow in winter you can have a well snowed tree inside the house right in the middle of the staircase.
SBID is an internationally known professional body registered in the UK to accredit professionals in interior design, to be accredited by SBID is a great opportunity to spread our design approach and projects to an international platform. That’s why I wanted to enter and be chosen by SBID.
Questions answered by Orkun Indere, Founder & Designer of Orkun Indere Interiors.
If you missed last week’s Project of the Week with HBA’s outstanding Ultima click here to see more
Orkun Indere Interiors | SBID International Design Awards 2017
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