Margarita de Freitas

She considers herself a hard-working person, who always tries to deliver good quality work. Throughout her four years of studying Interior Design, she explored different design styles, and at the end she discovered that she loves to create colourful and fun Interior spaces. Margarita’s next goal after completing her degree, is to work in a great Design Practice where she gets to develop her knowledge and skills in designing. She rather enjoys a big project than a small one, as she considers herself an ambitious designer who enjoys challenges.

Dockland’s Retirement Village

These last two years have been difficult for many people, but even more so for the elderly. From one day to the next, the national lockdown prohibited the elderly to leave their home. This was a challenge for those who were separated from family, seeing friends or neighbours pass away and the impact of restrictions on their physical and mental health. Their independence was reduced causing enormous distress.

The aim of this project focuses on resuming older people’s positive role in society. The luxurious Retirement Village situated on the Dockland’s of Dublin, offers community living and is designed for elderly to communicate easily with others. The workshops encourage them to participate, as there is a variety of classes, like reading, writing, art, music and more. Not only residents can use the amenities but members of the retirement village too, making it easier to socialise. The restaurant will be open to the public to create a different environment for the elderly and to have the ability to communicate with different generations.

The design of the retirement home has been carefully considered and is accessible for everyone regardless of their mobility. The apartments have been designed for users with or without mobility aid devices. On every floor you will find Help Desks available every hour of the week. The Retirement Home offers one-to-two-bedroom apartments for couples or friends who like to live together. It offers luxurious interiors the elderly can enjoy with opulent materials. The Retirement Village offers a modest convenience store outside the elderly persons apartments, giving them fresh aliments each day, and facilitating an independent life. Medical treatment is available to them 24/7.

Overall, the Dockland’s Village Retirement Home is an ideal home for the elderly who want to live independently while having access to additional care, for the elderly who like to have a social life, and for the elderly’s family who will be at ease knowing there is professional help available for their parents or grandparents.

Balenciaga Retail

Balenciaga was founded in 1919 by designer Christobal Balenciaga in San Sebastian, Spain. Balenciaga is a luxury fashion brand. What makes Balenciaga so unique and influential is the fashion house's artistic and avant-garde approach to design. Utilising abstract architectural shapes, Balenciaga became an expert in manipulating fabrics. Each new collection includes experimental wardrobe items that implement new, more daring ideas of a designer.

Gvasalia (designer of Balenciaga) adopts a sociological strategy to understand the client. His style is exceptionally influenced by deconstructionism. Balenciaga's character brand reflects in abstract forms, deconstructionism, and innovating ideas.

The aim of this project is to redesign the Huguenot House into a retail store. Like Balenciaga, I wanted to work with different shapes and forms to design the interior of the Huguenot House. The prestigious location in Dublin City Centre overlooking St. Stephans Green fits the luxurious brand and identity to transform the office/apartment building into a Balenciaga retail store.

The new Balenciaga clothes collection was in neon colours. The concept is using Balenciaga’s new colour palette for the interior design of the retail store. Since Balenciaga's theme is to be luxurious, I wanted to add a touch of luxury and mystery with the colour black. The interior is very futuristic and different from Balenciaga usual retail stores which use industrial materials only. I decided to keep the concrete of the industrial style while adding pop of neon colours.