DesignLed Creates a Theatrical Interior for a Dublin Home

After spending the early part of her career as a documentary film director, Dublin resident Lisa Marconi pivoted a decade ago to become a self-taught interior designer. As principal of DesignLed, she has cultivated a practice informed by her visual-arts background but with a strong focus on client collaboration and input. Due, perhaps, to her outsider’s perspective, Marconi’s approach to each project is especially accommodating. As she says, “I’m not someone who has very strict rules about what you can and cannot, should and should not do.”

No surprise, then, that Marconi enthusiastically accepted the challenge when a couple came to her with a residential project full of highly specific requests—dark teal walls, among them—as well as some fundamentally contradictory ones. The clients were tearing down a 1970’s house to build something more modern yet modeled after the Irish capital’s famed Georgian architecture. U-shape in plan, the 4,500-square-foot home would span two stories and include formal and casual living areas along with five bedrooms, all connected by broad corridors, yet it needed to feel cozy for a family with small children. DesignLed’s brief was to make the interior as striking, even showstopping, as possible while still being friendly and welcoming to the guests the family frequently entertains. The spaces Marconi and her team created address those issues by embracing eclecticism and playing with color, scale, and detail.

How This Home Interior Reflects Dublin’s Georgian Architecture  

A key element in the designer’s overall strategy is something so subtle it’s hardly noticeable at first, despite the fact that it begins the moment you walk in the front door: the use of custom wall paneling to visually bridge the gap between the residence’s late 18th century–style facade and its contemporary interior. Vertical panels, inset with pale tonal wallpaper depicting herons, backdrop the twin staircases on either side of the double-height entry hall, where a giant bubble chandelier and oak parquet de Versailles flooring add to the immediate wow factor.

In the formal sitting room, the molding is more pronounced and traditional, despite the fact that the walls are color-blocked in aqua and the requested teal, the paintings are modernist-inflected acrylics by the contemporary Irish artist John Redmond, and the furniture is, as Marconi observes, “a motley crew of uber-modern and vintage” that includes such up-to-the-minute pieces as a maroon Terje Ekstrøm chair and a purple Sacha Lakic sofa juxtaposed with a pair of 1960’s oak armchairs the clients already owned. “We really liked that contrast,” she notes. The molding also performs another traditional function, which is to camouflage a cabinet bar set into the wall and a door to the adjacent study.

One Design Detail: Hidden Doorways

While Marconi takes plenty of stylistic risks, she acknowledges she was spurred on by her adventurous clients. “They weren’t looking to play it safe,” she reports, noting that the couple found DesignLed through Instagram and specifically approached the firm because of its fearlessness. “Our designs are dramatic,” Marconi admits, “though I wouldn’t describe what we do as ‘out there’ or ‘wacky’—it’s just about making an impact. Playing with shapes and colors or putting something into a room that’s theoretically too big for it but somehow works, that’s our brand.” Showstopping indeed.

Patterns and Bold Colors Make This Home Design Pop 

designled: sarah drumm.

varier: maroon chair (sitting room).

e15: side table.

sovet: coffee table.

rockett st george: sconces.

roche bobois: gold chair, sofa (sitting room), throw (main bedroom).

floor story: rugs (sitting room, study, main bedroom).

through april and the bear: vases (sitting room), lamp (entry hall), pendant fixture (bedroom).

ca design: chair (study).

through acquired: desk (study), nightstands (main bedroom), sideboard (entry hall). hay: stools (kitchen).

rothfels: pendant fixture.

jonathan williams kitchens: custom cabinetry.

tecnografica: wallpaper (entry hall).

doherty flooring: parquet.

zoffany: chaise lounge fabric.

&tradition: side table.

mullan lighting: chandelier.

hartô: pendant fixture (main bedroom).

through vinterior: vanity.

oliver bonas: mirror.

marks & spencer: stool.

through etsy: shelves.

linwood fabric company: bed fabric (bedrooms).

fossil stone specialist: wall tile (powder room).

dusk lighting: sconces (bathrooms).

lusso stone: vanities.

drench: sink fittings.

italian tile & stone: floor tile.

feathr: wallpaper (dressing room).

love your home: bed (bedroom).

west elm: nightstand.

cc-tapis: rug.

farrow & ball; fired earth: paint.

Unwind in this Updated Sedona Spa Surrounded by Red Rock

The Arizona desert town of Sedona is sometimes referred to as the New Age Capital. It’s a longtime mecca for yogis and spiritual seekers, thanks in part to its otherworldly landscape of striated red-rock formations. That’s why Enchantment Group, the Scottsdale-based resort-management company, decided to open Mii amo—one of the country’s first destination spas—there in 2001, and why Gluckman Tang Architects decided to put its concept for the project entirely in the service of one goal: highlighting Sedona’s beauty. “It’s so awe-inspiring and transporting,” says architect Dana Tang, who’s now a partner at GTA but had only been with the firm three years when she first began work on Mii amo. “Back then, we looked to create a building that didn’t compete with that, that prioritized a sense of place in the canyon—really a frame for a visitor’s experience of the natural surroundings.” The approach paid off, with Mii amo becoming known as one of the top spas in the world. But 20 years of runaway success ultimately left the 16-key property in serious need of expansion and updating. This past February, it reopened after a two-year, $40 million renovation, led by GTA, with FF&E by EDG Interior Architecture + Design.

Inside, she focused on using strategically placed glass walls to maximize views, and adobe brick, river-rock floors, and local woods to blend in with those views. “The style was in the background,” EDG president and CEO Jennifer Johanson begins. “It wasn’t the kind of place you’d walk into and think, Oh wow, that’s an amazing interior. It’s more like you really feel the power of this place.” That feeling was heightened by GTA’s very intentional, James Turrell-inspired approach to light, with skylights, wall cutouts, and colonnaded fin walls employed to showcase the desert sun as it changed throughout the day, or across seasons.

Mii amo, a Destination Spa, Undergoes a Design Refresh

Even spaces that received the most dramatic overhauls in Mii amo’s makeover stay true to those objectives. In the property’s central living room—above a new onyx-framed, dusky rose–upholstered conversation pit retrofitted into the footprint of a former indoor pool—GTA created a moon-shaped wall cutout that’s illuminated from behind by shifting natural light, somewhere between an artwork and a primitive timepiece. “The circle also symbolizes completeness and wholeness,” Tang notes. The spa’s restaurant, now called Hummingbird, was enlarged, opened up to the canyon views via a new glass expanse, and updated with canted walls and a coffered wooden ceiling that creates a more interesting and dimensional interplay with the light. And in the added and renovated guest rooms, bathtubs are now set beneath huge picture windows and surrounded by textured, fluted porcelain tile that also recurs in the revamped spa areas. “You’re in this rugged landscape, so having smooth tile didn’t seem quite right,” Tang adds. “The porcelain’s texture references the way the water carves the rocks in the canyon.” Even the movement and contemplation rooms are understated spaces oriented toward floor-to-ceiling views, first of a new relaxation garden filled with native plantings, and then of the canyon beyond.

The Resort Features More Space for Guests and Spa Services 

While the renovation expanded the resort’s footprint by more than 70 percent, which includes the addition of seven more guest rooms— housed in three freestanding casitas—and an expanded spa building that now features a fitness wing, bringing the total square footage to 57,000, both firms hewed closely to the spirit of the existing building, which was meant to be as spare and reductive as possible. Its exterior was imagined as a minimal take on the local pueblo revival style, with red stucco walls echoing the rich hues of the canyon and a striking cylindrical element painted blue to mirror the sky. (In fact, Tang required members of her team, some who began designing the original Mii amo 25 years ago, to mountain-bike and hike the Sedona trails together to kick off the renovation project.)

Explore the Sultry Interiors of Mii amo, which Reflect the Desert Sun

edg interior architecture + design: jane mcgoldrick; cecily watson; christine anneken; katie everidge; julie compagno; pieter stougaard.

gluckman tang architects: greg yang; mark shahlamian; elena english; astghik danielyan; grant scott; richard tobias.

woodward engineering: lighting consultant.

curate art group: art consultant.

colwell shelor landscape architecture: landscape architect.

rudow + berry: structural engineer.

associated mechanical engineers: mep.

shephard-wesnitzer: civil engineer.

lily jack; ironwood mills; j.e. wood & metal; skypad; woodland furniture: custom furniture workshops.

hopper finishes: custom plasterwork.

balfour beatty: general contractor.

good fellas industries: custom cushions (living room, grotto).

brentano fabrics: sofa fabric (living room).

andreu world: chairs (restaurant).

resolute: sconces.

carroll leather; lvl custom upholstery: custom seating upholstery.

source furniture; table topics: custom tables.

glyph haus: wall hanging (guest room).

century industries: custom sconces.

las vegas rock: vanity solid surfacing (bathroom).

through bed bath & beyond: stool.

masayaco: custom bench.

baths of distinction: tub.

swfcontract: blinds.

brizo: sink, bath fittings.

quality & company: custom sofa (suite living room).

akula living: furniture (balcony).

presidential pools: custom spa (spa).

perfect wellness group: sauna.

pierpoint: custom rug (relaxation room).

material bespoke stone + tile: stone flooring.

sherwin-williams company: paint.

Chiaozza Copartners Dream Up Fantastical, Nature-Inspired Works in Their Brooklyn Studio

Interior Design: As a New York–based couple, what’s it like to experience your art on public view there?

Terri Chiao: It’s been amazing to contribute to the emotional and cultural landscape of a city that’s already so layered with history, architecture, and culture. And since New York is so global, having our work on view in places like Industry City and Central Park speaks to locals as well as those passing through, connecting us, and helping us have a conversation, with the whole world.

ID: What appeals to you about exhibiting outdoors in general?

Adam Frezza: Placing our work against the neutral backdrop of an urban environment creates a surreal feeling, because it has such high-key color and whimsical shapes and patterns. It lets us create a moment of awe for someone that they can carry with them throughout their day. We love exhibiting in an art gallery, but the concepts are isolated there, especially since some people don’t feel comfortable even walking into a gallery. Outdoors, there’s more potential for a flow of these ideas, with the viewer seeing it more freely and carrying it farther.

ID: Scumble Lumps at Industry City is designed to be touched and climbed. Is human interaction important to your work?

TC: A lot of public art you’re not supposed to touch. But when we’re out in national parks, or even Central Park, there are rocks to climb and so many ways to interact with nature. We want our work to have that same invitation—to lay on it, dream, and expand your mind.

AF: But even if our work causes someone to change their pace, look up from their phone, or distract them from what they were thinking, that’s also a huge compliment, especially in a place as dense as New York.

TC: Or when a child hugs one of our sculptures, which happens some­times. It speaks to the emotional connection art can have with people.

ID: Which recent New York project is particularly exciting?

AF: Our Floating Wooden Wall Works series for the café at Google Pier 57. They were inspired by maps and wayfinding symbols that loosely reference the building’s history as a former marine and aviation terminal. We like imagining Googlers eating lunch with these charms on the wall acting as little encouragements to daydream.

ID: You also make tabletop sculptures and standard-size paintings. Why do you work in different scales?

TC: Our projects often start small. For example, our Lump Nubbins, small sculptures of recycled paper pulp, act like sketches or tests for our ideas. The process is like a stream of consciousness that we harness to create interesting forms. The work flows directly from our hearts and minds, and there aren’t many restraints. At a larger scale, there are more practical considerations—and hands—involved. For Coachella, we made Sharpie drawings, then a 3-D designer, a team of builders, and our own painters and sculptors brought the forms to life. Whether the artwork fits in your palm or towers above you, though, the goal is to create a feeling of immersion, where the viewer can mentally, spiritually, or physically enter another place, where anything feels possible.

ID: What’s next?

TC: More interventions in nature, and I’d like to experiment with outdoor materials like mushrooms or tree sap. I’m also interested in doing more work with bare stone; I love shapes before I love color, and with interactive work, paint is a challenge anyway, because it wears away. I want to use materials that can just be materials, and the piece’s form—and its relationship to space, and to the person who’s viewing it or touching it—is what makes it powerful. As humans, we respond to bright colors and contrast, the way bees and hummingbirds respond to flowers. Colors create joy and curiosity and prompt touch. The next step for us is to make things that will last outdoors not for months or years but decades.

Ippolito Fleitz Group Creates an Inclusive and Accessible Office for Aktion Mensch in Bonn, Germany

2021 Best of Year Award Winner for Greater Good: Social Impact

With this headquarters, Interior Design Hall of Fame members and co-managing partners Peter Ippolito and Gunter Fleitz and team prove that an accessible workplace can be attractive and inviting. The mission of Aktion Mensch is to provide aid for projects that support people with disabilities, and to advocate for equality and inclusion in society as a whole. In fact, the nonprofit’s motto is “Together we win.” The renovation of its five-story, 46,285-square-foot office puts those values on display, neutralizing disabilities while also celebrating them. It’s a place where differences are normal. So, in addition to transitioning from closed offices to open-plan, improving acoustics, incorporating up-to-date digital technologies, the project also took into account the specific needs of the nearly 15 percent of Aktion Mensch employees who have disabilities themselves. Color plays a huge role in functionality: High-contrast hues make it easier for those with visual impairments to delineate between spaces and allow for a simpler wayfinding system for the learning impaired. Also adding liveliness is a system of modular acoustic panels that each staffer can configure for their own workstation to suit their aesthetics and level of privacy. Purposefully designed to be charmingly asymmetrical, they’re a metaphor for the organization itself. “The shapes have their own personalities,” Ippolito notes, “resembling a gathering of diverse characters, doing something great together.”

Ippolito Fleitz Group: Michael Bertram; Marlene Court; Gunter Fleitz; Pilar Huerta; Peter Ippolito; Christian Kirschenmann; Tim Lessmann; Lea Luckenbach