Located at the Filmhuis Den Haag theatre in The Hague, the IkHa restaurant is based on an IKEA showroom and is filled with wooden shelving units that integrate both storage areas and dining tables.

Diners tear their tablecloths and placements from wallpaper rolls that hang from the walls, before making their order using a pad and pencil.

The project is part of the wider "IKEA hacking" movement where designers modify or repurpose the Swedish brand’s products and publish them on the website IkeaHackers.net.

This week IKEA has installed a temporary airport lounge in Paris, which you can see here.

Photography is by Nadine Stijns.

Here's a project description from Oatmeal Studio:

Oatmeal Studio hacks Ikea

IkHa is a dining experience by Oatmeal Studio, where the concept of IKEA has been dismantled and translated into a restaurant interior. It’s not a self service restaurant in the usual sense of the word. Instead, visitors are invited to participate and customize their surroundings while dining.

While ‘IKEA hacking’ – or creating spaces using the budget-savvy Swedish brand’s products in new ways - is a popular trend,the designers say they wanted to extend this concept.

IkHa is based on the showroom of IKEA itself.

A maze of shelves and rooms to navigate, often multiple times as one reconsiders their choices, and then arrives home with their flat-packed goods to begin the assembly process. Fortunately, they also sell Swedish Meatballs.

Guests fill in their ordering forms with pencils and dinner is served on trays, delivered to the furniture construction at which they’ve chosen to sit.

Visitors can create their table setting from a selection of materials and cut their own tablecloth or placemat from a selection of wallpapers, ready to measure and cut.

“Even the Swedish meatballs are hacked”...and very nice, according to one patron of the restaurant.

One of IKEA slogans is “Big ideas for small spaces”, an important aspect of the IkHa restaurant. Everything is collapsible and fold-able and when not in use can be quickly broken down to fit within a two square meter space.

This makes it ideal for temporary solutions, events, and festivals, according to the designers.

The restaurant is located in the Filmhuis/Den Haag Theatre in The Hague, the Netherlands, and can be visited until 30 July.

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Story Hotel is a new hotel concept in Stockholm by Swedish architects Koncept where guests book rooms online and check themselves in.

Guests pay for their rooms in advance and receive booking confirmation via email or text message, containing a five digit key-code that give access to their room.

The hotel is a conversion of an existing building, which has been stripped back to a bare shell of raw concrete walls.

The interior is decorated with a mixture of vintage and contemporary furniture.

Original doors from the building have been reused as headboards for the beds.

The hotel has been shortlisted for the European Hotel Design Awards 2009, the winner of which will be announced on 2 November.

Here are more details from Koncept:

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STORY HOTEL

A new hotel concept designed by Koncept Stockholm

Story Hotel opened on the 9th of March, and has already attracted a lot of attention. It is without doubt going to be a sought after meeting place, says the hotel manager Sören Hullberg.

Koncept was commissioned to develop a completely new hotel concept right in the heart of Stockholm at Riddargatan 6-8.

The aim has been to create a hotel that is both inspiring and surprising in an authentic and relaxed way. The location, nearby Stureplan, was perfect, and the building had in itself many qualities that has now been used in unexpected ways.

One of the main ideas has been that both the hotel and restaurant should have a timeless feel. New York pubs and bohemian hotels in Paris have been sources of inspiration. Much of the expression has also been picked up in the buildings existing details. Beautifully worn walls have been saved and for example the old entry doors have been reused as bed frames.

The especially made interiors together with a well chosen mixture of vintage and new design gives a perfected result which we really like, says Anne Marie Ekroth at Koncept.

Our assigners interest in finding smart and effective solutions has resulted in a very cost efficient hotel. They dared to leave the conventions, to trust us and therefore to win new grounds.

To commit to early development, work has paid itself off in ten folds. The construction costs were 40% lower than comparable projects, says Daniel Wengelin at Koncept. In all this means that the rooms will sell at a  significantly lower price than what the competitors are able to offer.

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Makoto Tanijiri of Hiroshima architects Suppose Design Office has completed an installation at the Diesel Denim Gallery Aoyama in Tokyo, Japan.

Called Nature Factory, the installation uses plastic plumbing pipes and joints to create a series of tree-like forms inside the store.

See our earlier story about this project.

The installation opened last week and runs until 31 January 2010.

More Dezeen stories about Suppose Design Office:

House in Minamimachi
House in Matsuyama
House in Nagoya
House in Saijo
House in Jigozen
House in Sakuragawa
House in Kamakura

More Dezeen stories about exhibitions at Diesel Denim Gallery:

Power Plant by Geneto
Heart of Shapes Keiko + Manabu
Boojum by Megumi Matsubara with Assistant
Arrojadoa by Jaime Hayon
Another Geography by Kimihiko Okada
Suspended Figure by Ayako Murata

Here's some info about the project, about Tanijiri and the gallery:

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Diesel Denim Gallery Aoyama is presenting a store installation “nature Factory” by Makoto Tanijiri.

Concept

Denim as recognised work clothes formerly has, at times, shown different expressions as fashion items to the people. Equally, a group of plumbing, usually unnoticed, shows completely different expressions under the name of “Nature Factory”. The complex plumbing, trailing by the wall in all directions will cover all over the space. It is like a tree grown over a long time. An atmosphere like a natural arbor is created in the space covered with artificial plumbing.

New attractive scenery is presented with plumbing and fashion-items to show such primarily functional things actually are more diverse and also have higher value.

Artist Profile: Makoto Tanijiri

Architect. Born in Hiroshima in 1974. Established suppose design office in 2000. Has designed over 60 residences and his work sphere is broad including commercial spaces, set-ups of exhibition spaces and products. As of 2008, many domestic and international projects are in progress while based in Hiroshima and Tokyo.

www.suppose.jp

Prizes

2002 JCD Design Award
2003 JCD Design Award
2003 Good Design Award
2004 Hiroshima Town Planning Award
2004 JCD Design Award
2005 INAX Design Award
2005 JCD Design Award
2006 Good Design Award
2007 JCD Design Award
2007 INAX Design Award
2007 Danto tile Design Contest
2008 INAX Design Award
2009 Environment of House Design Award

Curator Profile: Masaaki Takahashi

Masaaki Takahashi is an independent writer and editor specialising in design, architecture, art and culture. He is a regular contributor to AD:Architectural Design, Interior Design, FRAME, and Mark magazines. His work also appears in other international publications such as environmental design at London Metropolitan University. Gained degree at the Fashion Institute of Technology at The State University of New York., at the same time he took courses at New York University.

He established his own editorial production company, Brizhead, in 1996. Authored: Japan The New Mix: Interiors, Architecture and More, Cardinal Rules of Architectural Presentation, Design City Tokyo, Sweet Shop Interiors & Graphics, etc.

www.brizhead.jp

About Diesel Denim Gallery

Only existing in Tokyo and New York, DIESEL DENIM GALLERY is the signature store for the most prestigious collection at Diesel, and it functions as a gallery space as well. It has been actively supporting talented rising artists by providing its space to exhibit their work.

DIESEL DENIM GALLERY AOYAMA holds art installations twice a year on the 1st floor, and art exhibitions four times a year, featuring different artists on each floor. Actual artworks can be purchased at the gallery. Experience our unique and innovative art space at DIESEL DENIM GALLERY.

www.diesel.co.jp/denimgallery

Information

Title: Nature Factory
Artist: Makoto Tanijiri / Suppose design office
Curation: Masaaki Takahashi (BRIZHEAD)
Date: 2009.8.14 (Fri) – 2010.1.31 (Sun)
Venue: DIESEL DENIM GALLERY AOYAMA 1F
Address: 6-3-3, Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Tel: 81-3-64 18-5323
Hours: 13:00-20:00
Holidays: Non-regular Holiday
Web: www.diesel.co.jp/denimgallery

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Japanese designers Nendo have completed a shop front and interior for Italian clothing company ASOBIO in Shanghai, China.

The floors and walls are covered with images of leaves, of varying size and clarity, intended to evoke the effect of a camera zooming in and focusing.

More Dezeen stories about Nendo:

Collar and Hexagon
Blown Fabric
Camper display
Ghost Stories
Elastic Diamond
Chocolate Pencils
Kazodokei
Diamond Chair
Meguro office space
New tables by BarberOsgerby and Nendo for Capellini
Illoiha Omotesando climbing wall

Photographs are by Jimmy Cohrssen.

Here's some text from Nendo:

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Fashion brand ASOBIO's first storefront shop, a spacious bi-level interior with a generous opening.

The shop's theme is 'focus', so we positioned monotone photographs on the floor and walls, and varied the size to imitate the effect of a camera’s zoom lens, and the sharpness to recall the sense of being out of focus.

These effects enhance the space with depth and continuity, provide variety and make the products on display stand out by appearing 'in focus' in contrast to the shop's own patterns.

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Berlin architects J Mayer H have completed a permanent exhibition on sustainability for car brand Volkswagen's Autostadt visitor attraction at their factory in Wolfsburg, Germany.

Called Level Green and designed in collaboration with Berlin designers Art+Com, the exhibition explores the concept of sustainability in relation to the environment, economy and society.

Space is divided by a green network of display stands inspired by the PET recycling symbol.

Touch-sensitive screens mounted on the vertical surfaces provide more in-depth information about the printed displays and models.

More Dezeen stories about J Mayer H Arhictects:

Brauner Wegner Priehn centre for dentistry
J Mayer H book competition
Home.Haus foster home
An den Alster office building
Steckelhoern 11 office building
Danfoss Universe theme park extension
Chit.Chat and Positive.Negative art installations

Photographs are by Uwe Walter.

Here's some more information from J. Mayer H Architects:

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Personal responsibility in the sustainable use of global resources continues to play an increasingly important role in the life of the average consumer. In this context, the offices of J. MAYER H. Architects and Art+Com Berlin were commissioned to develop a permanent exhibition on the topic sustainability for the Autostadt in Wolfsburg, Germany. The exhibition LEVEL GREEN was opened on the 4th of June 2009 and encompasses approximately 1000 m2, the exhibition renders this highly complex topic tangible, providing for an aesthetic access to information. In so doing, it seeks to unfold the various aspects of the topic while creating an information environment that addresses the visitor on different sensual levels.

Subject to constant re-evaluation based on the latest scientific findings, the term sustainability is characterized by a high degree of complexity. The architectural design of LEVEL GREEN takes the numerous interdependencies of the topic as a starting point and translates this quality into the metaphor of the web. Similar to a continuous organism, the single elements of the exhibition are connected into one homogenous structure that houses all content and technical installations.

As one of the first prominent signs of the growing consciousness for environmentally friendly consumption, the well known PET-sign was taken as a starting point from which the metaphor of the extensively branched web was developed. This originally 2-dimensional sign was extended into the third dimension and through a series of step-by-step manipulations a complex structure was created, which allows for an abstract property of the topic to be experienced on a spatial level.

The dramaturgy of the exhibition is not determined by a linear approach but one of nonlinear logics, opening the space for a more ambiguous experience. Vertical Elements define different areas within the exhibition without strictly separating them, allowing the visitor’s experience to be carried by the idea of playful discovery.

After a phase of extensive material research, the design was executed by the use of easily processed wood composite sheets (MDF) with varying thickness according to the structural and geometrical demands. The MDF-Material is specially treated to meet the fire rating requirements (B1) necessary for this project. In order to guarantee the structural performance of the construction, all vertical elements were reinforced with a steel structure and bolted to the concrete floor. After various testing, the colour coating was executed with acrylic-based car paint, developed to guarantee high usability while meeting strict environmental regulations. The painting was done by local firms accustomed to high quality standards common in the automobile industry.

The concept for the display of information is based two main formats: the object-like display of data and statistics on a more sensational level and touch sensitive surfaces for in-depth explanations on different aspects of the topic. Designed to evoke the visitors initial interest, the first are placed within the exhibition space in the form of data sculptures or sample objects. The latter take on the form of black surfaces for interaction or information carrier and are seamlessly integrated into the vertical elements which define different areas within the space.  Necessary technical installations are also integrated into the design and appear only in the abstract form such as glowing lines or painted covers.

As far as the subject matter is concerned, the exhibition LEVEL GREEN argues for scientific research and the use of latest technological development as necessities for survival in the future. This point of view is represented as an atmospheric environment, in which physical and digital spaces complement each other, creating one common narrative.

Here's some more information from Autostadt GmbH:

At the opening were German Federal Minister for the Environment, Sigmar Gabriel, Bernd Osterloh, chairman of the Volkswagen Group’s Joint Works Council, Dr. Ulrich Hacken-berg, board member of brand Volkswagen, Jürgen Mayer H., the exhibition’s architect, Dr Maria Schneider, Creative Director of the Autostadt and Otto Ferdinand Wachs, CEO of the Autostadt.

The Autostadt’s exhibition LEVEL GREEN examines three aspects of sustainability – the environment, society and the economy - and brings the everyday interaction between these components together in an artistic installation. The design displays the content in an interactive and playful way, stimulating the visitor’s curiosity about the subject of sustainability.

The exhibition, situated on the first floor of the Volkswagen GroupForum in the Autostadt, on approximately 1 000 m_, offers 25 exhibits from which to explore the theme of sustainability. The visitor is led to discover the areas in which she/he can become an active participant.  Sustainability is one of Volkswagen’s core values and a long-term policy. “Sustainability at Volkswagen” illustrates this specific approach. The focal points in this area are sustainable mobility and responsibility: presented in this area are drive-train and energy strategies, car life-cycle assessment and research into traffic congestion.  “Sustainability and the economy“ presents points of view held by prominent business people, politicians and environmentalists.  This area clearly shows that companies with global interests have a great responsibility when it comes to implementing sustainable development.

In the area “Personal use“, the visitor discovers more about how they personally affect the usage of resources, the “Effects of Climate Change” and “Mobility Concepts for the Future” are also presented within the exhibition.  How big is your “Ecological Footprint”? An interactive installation allows each visitor to compare the impact she/he has on the planet with the German average. For instance if everyone on earth consumed resources at the average level for Germany, we would require 2,5 “earths” to absorb the environmental impact.  The Autostadt’s CEO, Otto Wachs, comments: “Each one of us can contribute to sustainable living. If you are aware that 16 000 litres water are needed in the production of one kilogram of beef, then perhaps you will ask yourself whether from time to time a vegetarian meal wouldn’t do just as well?”  He continues: “We would like to draw attention to the potential there is for sustainable action in everyday life”.

That there are many aspects to sustainability which are interwoven, is mirrored in LEVEL GREEN’s architectonic concept. The architectural firm J. Mayer H. of Berlin developed the concept utilizing the green recycling symbol of three arrows as a starting point, they created a net-like structure, rather like a sculpture, which draws the content of the exhibition into an integral whole.

During the construction of LEVEL GREEN, the Autostadt made use of C02-neutral -and recycled materials as far as possible. In addition, when it came to the surface area and lacquering of the architectural components, the same high standard of quality that is used in the production of Volkswagen vehicles, was implemented.  Since its inception the Autostadt, as the Volkswagen Group’s communication’s platform, has engaged with themes and values which are fundamental to responsible business practice e.g. environmental protection or social responsibility. Since 2006 these fall under the heading of sustainability. Together with external partners, this theme is continually being developed.

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