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| Sun 06 Jul 2008 |
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Tag: House
These items have all been tagged with the tag "House", You can see other tags in the Tag Cloud| Humlegård House - Braving The Elements |
| 2008-06-12 06:10:30 |
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Humlegård House is the stark-looking, year-round residence of a former Finnish TV documentary producer. He moved to this house, located in the town of Fiskars, 78 kilometers west of Helsinki, from a central-Helsinki heritage apartment. Many aspects of Humlegård, especially its placement to respond to the forces of nature, resemble the owner’s childhood home, a large country manor in central Finland. Designed by Kimmo Friman of Friman Laaksonen Architects of Helsinki, Humlegård House is situated on a small, flat hill so that the north-south line runs diagonally through the building. This is the traditional way of placing a building so that it functions optimally as an energy efficient and comfortable dwelling in the harsh, Finnish climate. Protection from the wind and maximum use of sunlight are primary considerations, and the placement of rooms is as much dependent on how much the room needs heat and daylight as it is on how the residents use each space. The floor plan resembles the layout of a traditional peasant farmhouse, split lengthwise into two. The house consists of three multi-function areas: two large living rooms linked by a loft with a bathroom and walk-in closet below. In a typically Finnish fashion, the building appears simple, stark and utilitarian yet exudes a harmonious and stylish form & function sensibility. The owner and architect selected each building material carefully, opting for traditional, natural materials. “I did not want materials of which we did not have decades of experience,” said the owner. Horizontal spruce board – left untreated for maximum structure breathability -- is the main feature of the interior. The spruce-clad outer facade weathers into a beautiful gray color that matches the stark surroundings. The east-facing facade is clad with galvanized corrugated-steel that protects the wall from rain and sun and also reflects excessive sun away in the summer. The placement of windows was determined by the requirements of the interior spaces. A separate, tiny log sauna, also designed by Friman, was built later east of the main building. By Tuija Seipell |
| House in Tenerife, Canary Islands |
| 2008-05-06 16:34:55 |
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We do our best to seek out exceptional design from all corners of the globe, and on Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands off the north west coast of Africa, we found an extraordinary architectural example in timber, glass and concrete. The House in Tenerife was built into the cliffs 300m above a black sand beach. The entrance to the house leads to the upper tier of the double-height living room. And descending the concrete staircase, the minimalist interior becomes second nature against the surrounding backdrop – where the blues of the sky and the sea appear vertically in formation. Before long, the sensory experiences from the natural world envelope the built form, and the house’s relevance in its surroundings are revealed. The layout places living areas of the home on the shorter end of the L-shaped form, while both bedrooms and bathrooms sit along the longer side. Both living and sleeping spaces open out to a wooden deck and pool that spills into nature. The heaviness of the concrete double-story living room allows glass panels to sit effortlessly on the deck. The room’s only furniture, le Corbuiser’s chaise and Mies’ Barcelona chair face out, away from a small fireplace that meets a wall of two-storey shelving. The sleeping spaces both open to the deck and pool as well. Each has its own bathroom – and from the master, the owners can sleep and bathe in the same space looking out at the same view, as the sink and the concrete tub sit at the foot of the bed. The house even contains a basement where a home gym looks through a glass wall into the side of the pool. We couldn’t really think of anything else we would want from a home on a Spanish island – except great wine storage, we’d be doing plenty of entertaining. By Andrew J Wiener |
| Misha Handmade Wallpaper - East meets West on the wall |
| 2008-03-31 06:41:15 |
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Screens and scrolls have been part of Asian interiors for thousands of years. When Quing Dynasty (1644-1911) furniture and textiles found their way to Europe, a new movement — Chinoiserie — was born in the 17th century. Ornate and delicate Chinese hand painted wallpapers became hugely popular. Fast-forward to 2003, when Milanese architect Chiara Enrico moved to Beijing and Shanghai to explore opportunities there. One of the results of this exploration is MISHA handmade wallpapers, a Milan-based company that selects, produces and distributes hand-painted silk wallpapers. Ancient tradition meets current Western sensitivities exquisitely in the China Classic collection. The China Graphic collection will be launched at the Rosanna Samaritani Interni showroom in Milan during the Fuorisalone, April 16-21, 2008. By Tuija Seipell |
| ZIG - Modular Storage Made From Bamboo |
| 2008-03-12 07:36:05 |
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Zig is a modular shelving system designed by Ryan Frank. It was commissioned by and will be displayed at the Post Design galleryin Milan this April. Zig modular units are on castors, which makes iteasy to create and endless number of customized combinations. Zig ismade of solid bamboo and it will eventually be available in severalnatural stains. Frank is a South African-born product designer livingand working in East London. He is known for his use of recycled,recyclable and salvaged materials in his furnishings. Perhaps his bestknown and most photographed “sustainable” pieces are the Inkuku chairmade of plastic shopping bags and the woolly Ishongololo foot stool. By Tuija Seipell |
| Home Theatre |
| 2008-02-20 06:05:58 |
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If you are lucky enough to have a home theatre, most of us would be happy with a projector, surround sound and perhaps a comfy sofa or two. Not so for these homeowners. Pentagram Architects partner James Biber has designed this home theatre in Montauk New York, taking inspiration from Radio City Music Hall and 2001: A Space Odyssey. The theatre has a series of round arches, which house 600 five-watt dimmer-controlled light bulbs that provide a soft ambient light for when you need to find that elusive remote control. And as in the Music Hall, the lights are positioned to glow away from the viewers – because we all hate to have lights in our eyes when watching the big screen. Biber has designed the theatre to function like a TV room, in that it is comfortable and intimate enough for a romantic night in with a bottle of red and a Hugh Grant movie, but can also easily accommodate up to ten people to watch the big game, or perhaps a slumber party with the girls. All of the surfaces in the room are covered in orange felt to help with the acoustics, and seating on the floor has been taken care of by Edelman Leather who custom made the beanbags. This house, which also boasts a large private outdoor space looking onto the Atlantic Ocean, recently won an American Architecture Award for distinguished buildings and a Citation for Design in the AIA New York State Design Awards. By Brendan McKnight See also - A Home with the coolest outdoor home theatre |
| Moving On Up - The New Attic |
| 2008-01-29 02:27:14 |
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A house attic does not evoke images of style and chic design. Rather, we find ourselves thinking of dark, cobweb-infested, damp and dreary crawl spaces. We think of attics as leftover space under the roof where we abandon unwanted stuff – outdated clothing, old books, grandma’s hat boxes, grandpa’s hunting gear, coin collections and bags of seashells from that long-ago beach holiday. But as space in our urban areas is at a premium - not a square metre can go to waste. Architects and designers are starting to see the potential of this extra space, and offer solutions that meet the needs of the most demanding style freaks. Sunlight, additional rooms, extra bathrooms — it is all possible in the attic. Starchitects around the world have made dramatic rooflines trendy, so we can all give up on our visions of the embarrassing drywalled and pine-paneled disasters that attics tended to morph into, every time we tried to make them livable. Within very few square metres, designers are finding space for sleeping, cooking and eating, and using the sloping rooflines to create impressive skylight windows. We can all see the delightful benefits of maximising the amount of livable and usable space – even if it involves clearing away the precious collections of bric-a-brac we’ve spent generations accumulating. Ample sunlight penetrating the attic apartment means than even nocturnal arachnids are sent packing. By Andrew J Wiener and Tuija Seipell We're looking for more attic renovations, if you spot one, send to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Random Archive Stroyines Bookcase Scoop Ice Cream Truck Jan Von Holleben Luna Lounge |
| Straps Band Chair by Yahïa Ouled-Moussa |
| 2008-01-09 17:13:42 |
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Paris based designer, Yahïa Ouled-Moussa, has a way with reinventing old clothing or fabrics into funky and functional design objects. He studied interior architecture in Paris, but it was through a job with a French cabinet-maker who specialized in restoring period furniture where he developed his passion for furniture and design. Ouled-Moussa transforms sturdy, vintage French linens, army sacks or antique porcelain tea sets into stylish smocks, small sitting stools, and bound sculpture. His “strap bands chair” uses old canvas belts that you may have worn in the 1980s, (and those born in the 1980s may be wearing today), and weaves them onto discarded, wooden chairs to create the seat and back. The unwoven part of the belts hang under the seat or along the back, giving the piece an added, looser dimension in contrast to the tight weave of the front. The “strap bands chair” has been made in shades of pinks, as well as in a mix of bright yellow, red, blue and orange. There is also a military version, which incorporates old canvas military belts in green, brown and beige. Chairs can be commissioned by the piece or bought directly from his boutique on rue Nollet, in Paris’s 17th arrondissement. By Blaire Dessent |
| Test Patttern Clock | ||
| 2007-10-25 13:56:40 | ||
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| Volker Haug Lighting |
| 2007-10-23 10:28:18 |
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Do only the design-minded notice the lighting when they walk into a room? Melbourne-based designer Volker Haug strives to ensure his ideas are essential and deliberate features – hanging from ceilings, attached to walls and placed on tabletops. From a young age Haug’s preference for raw, industrial lighting design emerged. The ‘Antler’ series primarily in black and white consists of a range of configurations the most intricate he calls ‘Rudolf.’ And ‘Cable Jewelry,’ the long pendant, can be curved and bent to suit personal preferences. Haug has discovered that the potential lighting can have on our lives is limitless. By Andrew J Wiener |
| Kitchen Club |
| 2007-09-21 07:36:27 |
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You are in Stuttgart and in need of a cool party space. Or maybe you just don’t know what to do with your spare old house. Either way, you’ll want to connect with the Berlin-based trio of architects —Thorsten Blatter, Andreas Blödow and Georg Schmidthals — at and off . These guys have just reclaimed an old house in Stuttgart and created Die Blaue Caro (German for Blue Diamond), an ever-changing temporary club. They call it a kitchen club and, on last look, it did indeed resemble a kitchen slightly. Here’s how it’s done: Use blue and white tile samples for wall and floor coverings, position cool objects on tiny shelves jutting off the tile walls, crank up the superior sound system (by Logitech) and invite some fun people to your funky kitchen, which of course is the place where all good parties start and end anyways. Each event alters Die Blaue Caro space, an idea that is typical of and off. They use found objects and eclectic combinations of styles, and they want the spaces constantly converted and rearranged. So, check out Die Blaue Caro now, while it’s still a kitchen. By Tuija Seipell |
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