David Kohn Architects’ Carrer Avinyo apartment in Barcelona was crowned the best interior design of 2013 at the INSIDE: World Festival of Interiors award ceremony at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore last month. The winning design beat 55 other nominations to the prize.
“We are absolutely delighted to have won the award,” said Kohn. “The project demonstrates how an interior can be about the city in which it is situated—an homage to Barcelona.”
The refurbishment of the apartment in Barcelona’s gothic quarter features an open plan living room, bathroom and three bedrooms—two-stacked one above the other with the third joined by an elevated mezzanine level. Kohn has remodeled the space, removing partition walls and harmonizing the apartment with the medieval streets beyond, to create a pied-à-terre for his clients, two brothers, who have lived there for some time.
“The project has a quality we set out to find today, that is the quality of magic,” said head judge, Nigel Coates. “Spanning extremes of scale, it has become a suitcase you can sleep in but also a place for celebration and entertainment. The newly achieved large central room combines simplicity with a sense of space that stimulates curiosity.”
Aside from the best interior of the year distinction, there were 12 other projects awarded throughout varied categories. Those winners include:
Bars and Restaurants: Ammo Bar + Restaurant by Wang
Creative Re-use: Dardanel Administration Building by Alatas Architecture & Consulting
Culture: Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki by Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp, fjmt + Archimedia (Architects in Association)
Display: Hublo Pop-up store by Asylum Creative Pte Ltd
Education: DPS Kindergarten School by Khosla Associates
Health: Knowledge Centre, St. Olavs Hospital by Nordic Office of Architecture
Hotels: Parkroyal on Pickering by WOHA
Office: Clemenger BBDO by HASSELL
Shopping Center: Emporia by Wingårdh arkitektkontor
Shops: Tashya by charged voids
Transport: Barrakka Lift by Architecture Project
Judges for INSIDE: World Festival of Interiors were Pernilla Ohrstedt, Pernilla Ohrstedt Studio; Shawn Sullivan, Rockwell Group; Koichiro Ikebuchi, Atelier Ikebuchi; Scott Walker, HASSELL; Nicolas Henchoz, EPFL+ECAL Lab; Ian Moore, Ian Moore Architects; Wendy W Fok, director/founder and team member of WE-DESIGNS.ORG, LLC (Architecture); Andrew McCann, creative director of MoreySmith; Chris Lee, creative director of Asylum; Sean Barrington Pearson, Director of RUF Project; Alberto Miceli-Farrugia, partner at Architecture Project and Mien Tan, Director at Shed Asia.
Now in its second year, the three-day INSIDE Festival attracted top designers and industry professionals from around the world to view thousands of products and enjoy various events, and nominations for the awards came from more than 25 countries.
