A London office by Oskar Kohnen Studio is inspired by midcentury modernism

Oskar Kohnen Studio has recently unveiled its latest project, the interior design for newly built offices at 2 Dover Yard in London’s Mayfair. The studio was commissioned by Crosstree Real Estate, the developer behind The Standard Hotel, to create a domestic-feeling space that evoked the company’s luxury hospitality portfolio. 

Oskar Kohnen Studio unveils new interior for Crosstree Real Estate

The new offices are set within a low-rise pavilion designed by AHMM as part of their redevelopment of One Berkley Square and Dover Yard. This project will mark the second time the London-based Oskar Kohnen Studio has collaborated with the developer. In 2022 the firm’s interior design for The Standard Ibiza was revealed, a breezy and colourful property that married Californian and Balearic aesthetics (and a staff uniform by SMR Days). 'The client has worked on many luxury design hotel projects and therefore has a keen interest in quality interiors,' Kohnen explains.

Set over three floors, Kohnen divided up the space according to the company’s new flexible working arrangements. 'The initial brief was to create an office that fostered post-covid working conditions,' he adds. 'Which combined traditional stations and private meeting rooms with more social and relaxed, collaborative areas.'

In devising the finishes, Kohnen stuck to warm materials that counterbalanced the building’s steel and glass shell. That included installing both fluted and dark stained wood wall panels, diaphanous sheer curtains and terrazzo flooring, all of which was offset by a palette of peach tones, cool beiges and the occasional pop of orange or blue. The furniture, however, is largely vintage.

'The office’s furnishings were in direct conversation with mid-century and modernist designs,' says Kohnen. 'In each area of the office, we wanted to exhibit statement vintage pieces to make this link to the atmospheric and sleek interiors of the twentieth century more visible. The entrance hallway pairs a series of Lumi Milano wall lights and a Djinn sofa by Olivier Mourgue.

'The first floor lounge is dotted with Luciano Vistosi’s Onfale lamps, and has a 70s-inspired orange velvet and stainless steel sofa, as well as low Lina armchairs by Gianfranco Frattini originally designed in 1955. The top floor landing has a pair of original Alky chairs by Giancarlo Piretti.'

In fact, Kohnen mined a myriad of references from the fifties and sixties in developing the design, including the architecture of Philip Johnson’s Rockefeller Guest House in New York and the photography of Julius Shulman, best known for capturing the work of modernists like Frank Lloyd Wright and Richard Neutra.

'He did not focus solely on the architecture but equally on the environments surrounding them,' Kohnen explains. 'You can see this clearly in his series on the Case Study houses in and around Los Angeles. He often looks through the buildings, to see the layers of the structure, from the glass and steel exteriors, to the furniture and people inhabiting them.'

oskarkohnen.com