Stories On Design // Trees In Interiors, Revisited.

Long time readers and eagle-eyed amongst you would be aware that this is not the first time we are chatting about Trees In Interiors. No sir. We ran a story about it two years ago, where I introduced this at-the-time newish “trend” (urgh, I hate that word – can someone please think of a better way to describe “trends”. Yuck.) As it turns out, I’ve continued to spot many more examples of this “design meme”, so I’ve decided that revisiting this story would be well worth it. I hope you will agree.

Trees and large plants are a powerful way to soften almost any interior and bring a sense of the familiar to a space. As our lives continue to get progressively more hight-tech for most of us, we continue to yearn for and seek out a much-needed connection to the natural world. It is therefore not surprising to discover that our fascination to introduce trees inside our buildings and interiors is showing no signs of slowing down. I think I’m pretty happy with this decision, dearest clever designers of this world. I hope today’s post encourages you to look at ways in which you can incorporate your own interpretation in your next project. Only where relevant, of course!

Related Post: So Hot Right Now // Trees In Interiors.
See More ‘Stories on Design’ Curated by Yellowtrace.

Photo by Marek Kruszewski © vg bild-kunst, bonn 2015.

Erwin Wurm’s German Forest Installation // This extraordinary site-specific sculptural installation by Erwin Wurm provides a mere hint of the unusual and eccentric world awaiting gallery-goers within the great exhibition hall of Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg.

Victoria Beckham London Store // Last December, Victoria Beckham celebrated her London store’s first Christmas with an upside-down tree installation by Iranian artist Shirazeh Houshiary. Genius! The tree is Houshiary’s updated take on her Christmas tree installation at the Tate in 1993.

Photos by Rafaela Netto.

FEED Meat Market by FGMF Arquitetos & Projeto de Perto in São Paulo, Brasil // A butcher shop in São Paulo redefines the experience of buying meat by channeling sophistication and a gallery-like ambiance. The Brazilian FGMF Arquitetos and Projeto de Perto studio set out to create an “un-butchery” butcher shop that kept meat selling as its focus by venturing into new territory.

Photo by Toby Scott.

Raven Street House by James Russell Architects in QLD, Australia // Raven Street House by James Russell is an alteration and addition to a traditional workers cottage in the inner Brisbane suburb of West End. The new structure plays with timber tradition respectfully but it reworks the dark Victorian core.

Photo by Maris Mezulis.

Isabel Marant Paris Store by Ciguë // A small wooden cabin with louvred brass windows occupies the centre of this Isabel Marant fashion boutique in Shanghai, designed by Ciguë to reference the traditional houses that once populated the site.

Yvonne Kone Copenhagen Store // Designed by the wonderful Oliver Gustav, pint-sized Copenhagen store of Yvonne Kone, shoes & leather-goods designer extraordinaire, features a perfect shade of dusty pink applied in a monolithic fashion, with a singe fiddle lead fig tree taking pride of place next to the cash register. Simply stunning.

Photo by Toshiyuki Yano.

House in Ohno by Airhouse Design Office // Located among the kaki (persimmon) trees, this beautiful house is a project by Japanese architecture studio Airhouse Design Office. To meet the client’s brief for a home with large open spaces and high ceilings, the architects designed a large roof that sits on top of seven substantial columns.

Read the full article & see more images here.

Photo © Fanny Allié.

JG Domestic in Philadelphia by creme // JG Domestic is an inviting restaurant in central Philadelphia dedicated to Americana. Designed by Brooklyn-based creative design firm crème, the restaurant features reclaimed materials, vintage collectibles and a living wall of herbs and live trees.

Photos by Fernando Alda.

Perro Viejo Restaurant by Donaire Arquitectos // Perro Viejo is a transformed old house that’s become a tapas bar & restaurant in Sevilla, Span, designed by Donaire Arquitectos.

Courtesy of Nature by Johan Selbing Architecture // For the 2013 edition of the International Garden Festival, architect Johan Selbing and landscape architect Anouk Vogel have produced Courtesy of Nature, “a contextual installation that invites the visitor to reflect upon our relation to nature.”

Tokachi Hills by Nadamoto Yukiko Architects // Overlooking a sightseeing garden with 1000 species of different flowers and trees, ‘Tokachi Hills’ by Japanese studio Nadamoto Yukiko Architects was originally used as a greenhouse for growing vegetables. The renovated building is located on a small hill on the Tokachi plain in Japan, and its new design includes an entrance to the garden, a souvenir shop and a cafe. The functions are separated across the open-plan space, loosely tied together by organically shaped soil cut-outs in the floor with plants growing in them.

Photo by Toshiyuki Yano.

House in Yagi by Suppose Design Office in Hiroshima, Japan // On a narrow site perpendicular to a small canal, the ‘House in Yagi’ by Japanese practice Suppose Design Office boasts an entirely concrete structure with a single storey living area supported above a double height atrium space.

Photos by Prof. Valentin Wormbs, Stuttgart.

House WZ by Bernd Zimmermann Architekten in Ludwigsburg, Germany // An existing family house from the 50′s was fundamentally renovated and modernised. While the exterior form of the existing building wasn’t allowed to change, the interior was completely converted. A large skylight above the three-storey atrium, with a tree planted in it, provides an ideal natural lighting for the house.

Spring at Somerset House by Skye Gyngell // Skye Gyngell’s first solo venture, Spring, brings warmth and elegance within a beautiful dining space set in the New Wing of the iconic Somerset House, in the arts and cultural heart of London. The light-flooded drawing room, which seats 100 covers, is decorated simply and warmly allowing the large windows, airy high ceilings and original cornicing to frame the space. Cloaked by Black Olive trees, an atrium garden sits enclosed at the room’s centre with flora and fauna designs by acclaimed landscape designer Jinny Blom.

Photos by Jack Hobhouse.

The Woodspeen Restaurant & Cookery School by Softroom // London studio Softroom has renovated a 19th-century village pub in southern England to host a culinary school, a bar and a glass-fronted restaurant. Softroom inserted long panels of glazing into the brick facade and roof of the old thatched-roof building to give views into an adjoining half-acre plot, which has been planted to create a kitchen garden to supply produce for the restaurant.

Photos by © Hidaka Yasunori.

The Times Resuscitation Building by Nano Architects in Japan // Japanese studio Nano Architects has renovated a small 1960s apartment with custom-built wooden furniture, ornamental driftwood and unusually shaped openings – a process described by the team as “cyborg surgery”.

Three Storey Urban Residence by Pleysier Perkins // This residence in Melbourne designed by Pleysier Perkins utilises the existing shell of it’s former incarnation as a medical centre. Internally a timber ‘box’ sits within the original volume, containing a wine cellar and bathroom at ground level, and mezzanine living space above.

Read the full article & see more images here.

Photo by Marko Bradich.

Casa Chinkara by Solis Colomer Arquitectos in Guatemala // Located in a privileged area surrounded by forests but still close to Guatemala city, the Casa Chinkara presents itself as a dual residence exploring the contrast between the natural and the man made; between the primitive and the contemporary.

A Scandinavian Midsummer at Platform Gallery by Design Junction // During last years London’s design and culture exhibition Design Junction transformed Habitat’s Platform gallery on the King’s Road into a Scandinavian midsummer pop-up exhibition and café experience. The exhibition showcased the latest products from leading Danish, Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian brands all staged within a woodland-inspired setting.

Photos by Yvonne Lukkenaar.

T’Park by CUBE Architecten in Amsterdam, The Netherlands // T’Park is a redevelopment of a store that was transformed into an office building by the practice of CUBE Architecten and it is located in a plaza on Jodenbreestraat in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The designers created a semi-public plaza that can be used for eating, drinking, working and interacting.