While fast-food restaurants often feature dingy plastic furnishings and retro lighting, Australian chain Nando's is introducing refreshingly modern, bright and designed spaces. Inspired by the history of Portuguese sailors exploring the world, the 135-sq-m Nando’s Canberra has a raw, natural concept. The focal point, a ceiling installation made of curved plywood panels, is above the raised seating area and accented with rope and copper detailing. ‘These panels evoke and abstractly convey the interior structure or “ribs” of an explorer’s sailing ship,’ says Kristina Hetherington, director of Design Clarity. ‘The finishes include tone-on-tone decorative floor and wall tiles, white washed brick and copper details to create a natural aged, raw look.’ Laser-cut timber combines with rustic wall paint to accent the concept of being on a ship.

Polished concrete within interiors

The Centre Pompidou-Metz will be a large hexagonal structure with three galleries running through the building. A central spire will reach up 77 metres, alluding to the 1977 opening date of the original Centre Pompidou. Viewed as a whole, the architecture evokes a vast marquee surrounded by a square and garden

inspiration

Raiffeisen Bank - Zurich. The Rise of Designer Banks

Financial institutions once occupied the most prestigious and opulent buildings and locations in every city and town. They oozed intimidation, grandeur and wealth. Then banks became nameless and faceless boxes, one or more in every block, just like franchised fast-food chains. And then it seemed we’d soon have no physical banks at all, only banking machines and online banking.

But now we are starting to see banks that seem to want to talk to us again. It seems that they want to make us feel welcome, actually wanting to appeal to customers again.



The new financial spaces are designer banks that look more like five-star hotel lounges, bars or nightclubs than the boring boxes banks have become.



Our recent examples of cool banking environments — from retail spaces to offices — have come from Paris, Milan,Moscow, Melbourne, Sydney and Amsterdam.

The latest of these designer banks is the Raiffeisen Bank’s flagship in Zurich designed by design co-operative NAU with associate team of DGJ (Zurich.)



The goal of this white space-agey environment is to break down the physical and emotional barriers between customers and staff. Stern tellers and three-piece-suited bankers behind high counters and glass walls, and accessible only through little windows like jailbirds — these are things of the past.

Skype's On Cloud Nine In A Historical Brewery, Stockholm, Sweden

As recently as in October 2010, the Luxembourg-based Skype’s Stockholm office in Slussen housed only 35 employees. But the video- and audio-focused team’s digs were bursting at the seams and new offices were needed.

Skype found its next Stockholm home in a completely restored massive historical building, Münchenbryggeriet, a landmark of Stockholm’s skyline. Built in 1846 as a clothing factory, the building became Sweden’s largest brewery in 1857 and operated as a brewery until 1971.





Skype’s new offices in the München Brewery now have room for 100 employees. Head architect Mette Larsson-Wedborn ofPS Arkitektur with team members Peter Sahlin, Thérèse Svalling, Beata Denton and Erika Janunger, was charged with expressing the Skype brand’s playful spirit and its mission to connect the world in the working environment.



To do this, the designers used round shapes, fun light fixtures and bright-color furnishings in an otherwise almost completely white space. The rounded shapes of the furnishings and cloud-like lights speak the same language as Skype’s rounded font and cloud logo. The custom-made wallpaper is literal, depicting the audio and video world of the staff.

Glocal Design Magazine Station - Mexico

Simple ideas meticulously executed make a big impact in Glocal Design Magazine’s trade show booth presented at the May 2011 Habitat Expo in Mexico City.

The 258 square-foot (24 square meter) exhibit was created by Mexico City-based ROW Studio, a partnership between Álvaro Hernández Félix, Nadia Hernández Félix, Alfonso Maldonado Ochoa.





The sponsor of the construction and material for the booth was Masisa Mexico, a leading manufacturer of MDF panels in Latin America. Masisa was looking to showcase the versatility of its 15mm DecoMDF Masisa panel, covered on both sides with a decorative foil in a wide range of colours and designs.

Allure Nightclub, Abu Dhabi Marina

Standing out in Abu Dhabi takes more than clever gimmicks. Among the opulence of luxury hotels, lavish restaurants and all other forms of pampering and spectacular entertainment – including Ferrari World and a few breathtaking golf clubs – being merely great is nowhere near enough.

The legendary Cipriani Group is one of the brave enterprises that has recently entered the competition for the attentions of the demanding super-elite clientele.



Designed by Orbit Design Studio (Bangkok, London and Singapore), Allure is divided into The Main room adorned with gold leaf and bronze cladding, and The Terrace that overlooks the race track.

interesting interior .. archive?

HAPPY PILLS

D ' Espresso - New York

Innovative floor/Ceiling pattern!
http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/article/detail/1807/despresso--new-york



The new D’Espresso on Madison Avenue (at 42nd) in New York has received more media attention than is generally awarded to a tiny coffee shop in this world of millions of new coffee shops.



The reason for the attention is the fun design by the Manhattan-based nemaworkshop, a team of designers and architects that has created numerous cool retail and hospitality concepts. Founder Anurag Nema took the idea of a coffee shop that looks like a library – giving a nod to the nearby New York Public Library’s Bryant park branch – and turned it on its side. The walls are not lined with books but the floors and ceiling are. Except that it is all an illusion, a life-size image of books printed on custom tiles. Pendant lighting does not hang from the ceiling; it sticks out from the walls.

Staircase design

Escada Head Office - Munich


Sometimes you come across an environment that really lets the merchandise or content (such as people, merchandise or furnishings) stand out. This 2,000 square-meter jewelry-case – the head office of the venerable fashion house Escada in Munich, Germany – is a luxurious example of this.

Completed in late 2008, the location hosts the international fashion media and buyers who gather here to view the latest Escada collection each season. The three dominant areas – entry court, lobby and interior courtyard – are separated by transparent facades. This creates a visually stunning, 75 meter-long runway that flows right through the center of the entire building. http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/article/detail/1520/escada-head-office--munich

Continous ceiling and wall finishes

This streamlined and crisp office environment in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, is the work of Sergey Makhno’s design and architecture firm. The play between soft and hard, round and angular, plain and colorful creates a sense of whimsy and energy, but does not overpower the space.

Ceiling Features

Japan is a hot-bed of out-of-the-box creativity and retail design is one of the areas in which it excels. The latest store with more is the new Patrick Cox boutique in Tokyo's Aoyama district, a mecca for fashion.

innovative flooring

Graphics within an interior

T-O 12 is a new nightclub on Stuttgart's notorious 'party mile,' Theodor Heuss-Strasse. Like the street, the club is also named after the late Theodor Heuss, a fun-loving, dashing man and the first person elected for a full term as the President of the Federal Republic of Germany. Clubbers call the joint either Theo (T O sounds just like Theo in German) or Theo Zwulf (=Theo 12 in German).

To create the three-story club, the owners hired two Stuttgart-based firms: Architecture and communications firm Ippolito Fleiz Group, and graphic designers i-d buero. The result is a sleekly mysterious, pitch-dark space with white furnishings and massive black-and-white murals. The all-black walls, ceilings and floors together with the huge mirrors and tiny light spots produce an effect that is vertigo-inducing and fun. Theo would approve. By Tuija Seipell

SNOG

The first frozen yoghurt store in the United Kingdom, called Snog, is designed by Studio Uribe.
Snog is a retail concept invented by Ico Design Consultancy. As the name implies, Snog derived from snow and yoghurt, the store offers pure frozen yoghurt and all kinds of natural toppings and healthy tea.

“Snog is a new retail concept offering pure frozen yogurt, natural and green tea. Snog's formula uses non-fat organic yogurt and milk, is low in calories and is sweetened with organic agave nectar – free from sugar and artificial sweeteners. You can choose from 15 healthy toppings, including fruits, nuts and granola. The shop interior evokes the feeling of summer,” explains Pablo Uribe.

The yoghurt store features eye-catching fluorescent colours, edgy typography and a quircky illustrative style.

Studio Uribe collaborated with lighting designer and architect, Dominic Harris from Cinimod Studio, to create a bespoke, high-end interior space. Dominic explains: “The concept for the store was to evoke the feeling of a perfect never-ending summer. The interior is deliberately quirky, with a photographic grass floor and British flowers on the glass walls. A key element is the digital sky which will adjust the mood of the store perpetually throughout the day and evenings.”