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visible sound sewing machine by sounds butter
00/00/0000, 00:00 | designboom weblog, design related news, reviews and previews
the interactive design group sounds butter wanted to create a new way to make sound visible. while things
like equalizers and sub-titles already visualize sound, they sought to find a way to make sound physical.
using an old sewing machine as a basis, they conceptualized a prototype, which would take sound input
and convert it into a sound wave of thread on textile. the sewing machine is synonymous with producing
products in industry and thus served as a fitting analogy for the project.
http://www.soundsbutter.com
via infosthetics
nothing design group at experimentadesign amsterdam 2008
00/00/0000, 00:00 | designboom weblog, design related news, reviews and previews
a detail of one of the flying fish
image © designboom
just an update from experimentdesign amsterdam 2008. nothing design group, who just participated in
designboom's tokyo mart were also participants of the urban play exhibition which was part of experimentadesign.
the group of young korean designers, directed by koo jin-woog, presented 'fish in the sky' as their contribution
to the exhibition. along the IJ riverfront, transparent wind vanes in the shape of fish, were attached to flag poles
and soared above. the fish were meant to be a school of dutch herring, with the flag poles acting like
fishing rods, which have caught the fish swimming through the sky.
the fish are meant to be a representation of dutch herring
image © designboom
image © designboom
a member of nothing design group preparing one of the fish
image © droog design
fish flying high along the IJ riverfront in amsterdam
image © designboom
droog design: http://www.droog.com
urban play: http://www.urbanplay.org
experimentadesign amsterdam: http://www.experimentadesign.nl
LamiDesign office featured on Unplggd!
00/00/0000, 00:00 | LamiDesign Modern House Plan Blog
Unplggd has a series where they show the workplace of a blogger that they like or follow. We are very pleased that they follow our blog workalcious and asked us to share our workplace with their readers.
The workalicious blog is about, you guessed it, the workplace! We write about office design, office furniture, accessories, about office culture, and we also like to share examples of interesting workplaces.
So check out our office:
Behind the Blog: Workalicious
and check out workalicious
Technorati Tags: modern design
WANK by Craig Alun Smith
11/20/2008, 07:19 | MoCo Loco
Craig Alun Smith's WANK chair is a metaphor of the interdependent relationship between the first and third world and speaks to the war for oil in Iraq. You may have noticed the white chair is missing a leg (possibly due to a roadside bomb) and is bleeding oil....
Craig's summary of this work: "In reality WANK is a joke, a commentary on the current state of design and the trend of designers to create pointless 'one line' design objects and pass them off as art". WANK is also currently on display at the Winnipeg Art Gallery as part of the 2 Chairs exhibition.
links for 2008-09-21
00/00/0000, 00:00 | :: Vol. 2: the design management weblog | by ralf beuker :-
In general I find the conferences organized by Trendbüro Hambug quite corporate and too often the same players (aka speakers) show off. However Tim Leberecht from frog design pointed me to a slideshare summary on the key findings of the German Trend Day 2008 conference. Have a mind on your own and browse the slides:
"In May this year, frog design founder Hartmut Esslinger spoke at the German Trend Day in Hamburg. The Trend Day is an influential annual forum that gathers thought leaders from business, media, and academia to discuss emerging social and cultural trends. This year's theme was "Identity Management," and other speakers besides Hartmut included Richard Florida, Danny Choo, and David Bosshart."
The discussion continues
00/00/0000, 00:00 | David ReportThere has been a lot of reaction in the blogoshpere concerning our latest report called “5 Key Design Trends“. That’s fun, we like the discussion to continue and evolve. Below I’m posting a few of them. Check them out, they are all an interesting read.
Apartment therapy, Psfk, Home rejuvenation, Dexigner, Hi-id, Design Milk, Designophy, Mocoloco, Martin Koser, Trendbites, Desire to inspire, Live modern, Trendbird, Gems Sty, bwl zwei null, Frizzifrizzi, A ghost of daisies, Will it brand, Das Kulturmanagement blog, Addidea, Daidesignblog, Moneyfoxs, Foxerus, Yourtail, Daymoon design, Heyho, polymerclay daily, Docstoc, Design Latvia, Change the thought, Ffffound, Designcentre, Fav.or.it.
Andra bloggar om: design, trender, inspiration, kultur, framtid
Pugh + Scarpa Atchitects | Solar Umbrella
00/00/0000, 00:00 | Modern Residential Design
Model Rebuild - When remodelling their own residence Angela Brooks and Lawrence Scarpa could never have imagined the press and accolades that would be bestowed upon a build designed around their own very personal needs. Economical, solar powered, solar water heating, nearly off the power grid and with a fitting yet aesthetically contrasting extension. A rear extension that embraces the house's 1920's bungalow origins and pays homage to its design sake, the Paul Rudolph Umbrella House of 1953.
Name of Project: Solar Umbrella, Venice, California, USA Information courtesy of: Pugh + Scarpa Architects
Overview and Plot
The lot, in Venice California, typical of the area, has two road frontages. This allowed the house's orientation to be flipped, the crux of this build. With the living area and kitchen behind now facing the larger rear garden, an additional bedroom was added upstairs, and the second bedroom converted to an office. Most of all, the flip orients the house to the southern sun allowing the sun's energy to be stored in the concrete eastern and western walls and floor. 
Design
The extension has the majority of its glazing along the warmth facing southern wall, with northern glazing opening up for cross ventilation. The architects describe it as "global regionalism," Californian indoor outdoor flow, wrapped in modern technology using recycled and sustainable materials, offsetting the use of concrete with gains made through its thermal storing properties that lead to lower power bills. Overhangs regulate the sun in its strongest months and double glazing with a low-E film , framed in aluminium with thermal breaks, control the wind and indoor environment. To save on materials the solar panels themselves form the outer canopy and Solar Umbrella, shading the house. With the rear set up, insulation was blown into the walls and floors of the original wing and operable skylights in the kitchen and bathroom provide natural light and ventilation whilst maintaining privacy.
Upstairs
In winter, warmth is provided through radiant in-floor heating powered partly by one of three solar hot water panels. Two are used to pre-heat the domestic hot water before it gets to the gas-fired hot water heater and the other to heat the pool. These panels halved the gas use of the house which is now 2.5 times as big! As usual there was initial outlay for the solar water heaters and panels, which 10 years.
Living area extension
Although the double height extension sets the house apart from its neighbours, the fact that it is at the rear facing the alley, contrary to most of the houses on the block, mean its northern facing traditional façade, lets it fit in with the Joneses. The services are concealed up the side of the house, and a bike rack just inside the new front gate provides mobility to the nearby shops (apparently a novelty in the US).
Exterior
Well thought out landscaping incorporates gravel, to allow the plot to drain and prevent it from heating up like large paved areas do, and planting is drought tolerant, with species that appeal to the abundant hummingbirds in the area. The new pond and pool also help regulate the temperate and composting was also included as part of the landscape design.
Layout
A relatively simple layout provides for both open plan living and more intimate work and rest areas.
Downstairs the office, with access to the main street, sits beside the second bedroom and main bathroom on the eastern wall. The living room and kitchen take the southern and western walls respectively. As well as allowing heat to rise up and out the upstairs windows, the industrial like steel stairs link the downstairs area to the more private master bedroom with en-suite.
The Results
The house now provides an additional open plan living area ideal for the couple's son, connecting outdoor play and space indoors. The Solar Umbrella plays its dual role, keeping the house cool and shaded in summer and warm through its solar panel composition in winter. Utilitarian, the house is built to be lived in and enjoyed rather than as a show-piece 'typical' modern build. This to me is what makes this a home.
Plans
Architect: Pugh + Scarpa Architects
Completed: April 2005
Total project cost excluding land: US$390,000.00
Usage: 3 permanent occupants 105 hours/week, 15 visitors/week at 3 hrs per visit average.
Two Things Design Experts Do That Novices Don’t [del.icio.us]
00/00/0000, 00:00 | :: Vol. 2: the design management weblog | by ralf beuker :Clinton Murray - Gunyah Residence
00/00/0000, 00:00 | Modern Residential Design
Solid as a rock - A challenging section on Gunyah beach in Bundeena, forced Clinton Murray to rethink the vernacular (perhaps simple) Australian beach side house and create a resilient coastal retreat. Built to last forever.
via: Many thanks to Clinton Murray 
Overview
Huge boulders throughout the cliff side, would have made slapping a wooden prefab house on the top of the plot the easiest option. Choosing instead to hide the house well down the plot near the breaking shoreline, posed challenges, yet rewarded both the architect and owners with stunning results. It also appeased the planning officials and nearby residents.
"The linear site is divided midway by a massive rock face, defining two distinct levels. The natural, sheltered enclave at the base of the rock face is where we believed the building belonged."
Tucked into the hillside, the copper clad roof has set out to weather itself in the ocean green shade of the bay beyond, further minimising the impact of the building for neighbours above.
Combined with the weathered copper is the solid base of the house. The ground floor living structure, of textured off-form concrete made with horizontal board forms, gives the impression of weathered timber, which contrasts with the fresh browns of the Oregon sleeping quarters and gallery above.
Building on a series of staggered rock platforms, the logistics of site management for labour, plant & equipment was challenging. All materials had to be craned in or manhandled from the top of the site, or from the beach front below. The entry stairs and concrete bridges required innovative reinforcement and form work solutions to achieve both continuous spans and the appearance of thin concrete blades hovering above the site. These thin blades continue inside with kitchen bench tops and bathroom surfaces formed on site of ultra thin jet black concrete.
Layout
To reach the timber front door, you negotiate the rock face via timber steps that weave through the boulders. Crossing a bridge that leads to a discreet front door you push open an oversized panel to reveal the high stud gallery. Strategically orientated, the full height end window of the gallery frames a nearby palm. Everything is overscale, stretched vertically, to relate to the magnitude of the cliff face behind the building site. Here, the reused Oregon timber stands vertical, allowing the seams to disguise two door panels, behind which hide two of the three master bedrooms. Each with, en-suite, balconies and outstanding views across the bay.
Heading down the hillside, you arrive at the main living quarters, housed in that heavy masonry base of textured off-form concrete. As with the rest of the house, glass front windows bathe the room with light, yet here, in contrast, the kitchen area to the rear and cubbyhole rooms, are lined with dark black concrete floors and bench tops. The darkness providing refuge from the summer heat, and mimic the caves often found tucked into cliffs around the Australian coast.
Also taking notes from nature the orientation of each level shifts as you rise up the cliff face. Thus forming fronds like the nearby palms, and allowing the building to sit back, minimising it's visual impact from the shoreline.
Results
"The house sits with its toes touching the sea and with an exposed worn rock face at its back, both constant reminders of the power of wild storms blowing in from the north-east. And should the big seas come, this house is a safe haven, no question about it."
Slideshow
Architect Clinton Murray
Project team Polly Harbison (Project Architect), Tanja Klocker, Jeff Umansky
Project Gunyah Beach House
Location Bundeena, New South Wales
Google Location
Builder Bellavarde Constructions
Structural Engineer O’Hearn Consulting
Landscape Architect 360 degrees
Photographer Simon Kenny
Plans
Architectural Horror [Clipping]
10/31/2008, 16:54 | Land+Living: Modern Lifestyle + DesignHOUSE kn by Kochi Architect's Studio
00/00/0000, 00:00 | FUTURE HOUSE NOW
Nice treatment of parking space too. My pet peeve is nice homes ruined by ugly attached garages and bad driveways. HOUSE kn gets it right.
Via the girl in the green dress. It's a wonderful design blog, so please do click over and take a look. You'll be delighted.
Image credit - Kochi Architect's Studio site.
Mass. EcoSteel Plat House - steel on site
00/00/0000, 00:00 | LamiDesign Modern House Plan Blog
We've watched these go up here before and they generally happen very fast. I'll be posting progress photos in the coming weeks as fast as I receive new photos so stay tuned!
Here is the slab layout ready to receive the steel framing. The garage is in the foreground and the house beyond with the home office at the far end of the photo. More pictures in a photo browser below the link.
Technorati Tags: ecosteel, modern design, modern house, Plat House, prefab house
wallpaper by mashallah design
00/00/0000, 00:00 | designboom weblog, design related news, reviews and previews
good old times wall-carpet
mashallah design is a berlin based design studio which works in fashion furniture and wallpaper.
the studio has developed a few designs for adorning vertical surfaces which definitely dont fit the
traditional wallpaper mould. diva is a line of 3-d wall paper which is quite normal on the upper
portion and fringed on the bottom. their other design is good old times a clever reworking of the
persian carpet for your walls.
http://www.mashallahdesign.lacaptas.com
wallpaper
diva 3-d wallpaper with fringes
diva 3-d wallpaper with fringes
via apartment therapy
Earthbag Building in Haiti
00/00/0000, 00:00 | Green Home Building and Sustainable Architecture
I think it really is one of the best yet, because it shows the entire project from foundation to finish work on a simple home that would appeal to most people around the world; it was created by poor Haitians who had no prior experience; and it was done in a manner that I could easily recommend for others to follow. I think this really shows how earthbag building can really work for people throughout the world.This home was built at Pwoje Espwa in Southern Haiti, where Father Marc has dedicated his life to serving and helping suffering children. This project not only houses over 700 children, but has an agricultural project, three schools, carpentry and masonry facilities, and an arts and crafts program. They have many ideas to help the Haitian economy and people living there. Because they are a non-profit, and are continuously struggling with funding, I encourage you to visit their website (www.freethekids.org) and consider making a donation to their cause.
Trend: Mobile Location Based Services in China
00/00/0000, 00:00 | CScout TrendBlog
A snapshot of the latest trends of Location-based Service (LBS) in Beijing, Shanghai, Hongkong and Tokyo.
Trend Description:
Many people would agree that Location Based Services are becoming more and more popular worldwide and are opening a host of opportunities for business, but few would agree on the business model that will best monetize the service. Nokia, the mobile market leader, expects to ship 35 million GPS-phones in 2008 and the latest ABI report blueprinted a $ 3.3 billion market value for LBS, but still the way to whip up revenues from existing technology and infrastructure remains unclear. Here we filtered some promising, if not profitable, practices of LBS in Asia to summarize new trends for industrial practitioners and those who may be concerned.
GyPSii is a social networking platform headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherland. It has partnered with Shanghai Rannuo and China Unicom to launch its GyPSii service during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and has opened a China Data Center to enhance local user experience. What GyPSii is doing in China is encouraging its network users to send back location information via mobile devices and integrate it into the digital map. Other users (who are also content creators) then, can experience a seamless mobile lifestyle, connecting with friends and communities, searching UGC and viewing maps and directions to points of interest.
Naviblog X is Japan’s first location-based moblog/mobsearch website. With this service, usrs can easily create their mobile diary sites within 60 seconds even if they know little about programming. After the sites are created, they point their mobile phones to the QR Code auto-generated with the sites and transfer them to the mobile phones of their friends or clients to log on the sites. It is also designed to geo-tag users’ information by one-click. Naviblog is said to be used on non-Japan phones soon.
Fashion makers lag behind to none in creativity if not in high-tech. With thousands of foreigners entering China this Olympic year, Louis Vuitton, the French luxury fashion brand entered the mobile space with a unique location-based audio guide, available in six languages, to three major cities, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. The voice is coming from three locally born actresses: Gong Li for Beijing, Joan Chen for Shanghai and Shu Qi for Hong Kong. It directs visitors by mobile phones in real time through the cities and costs 17 USD for for each city in one of the six languages, English, French, Cantonese, Chinese, Korean and Japanese.
Trend Potential:
The convergence of social networking, user-created content and location is a big trend. Mobile-enabled LBS is important because it links up something missing on the internet. There are some major barriers for business related to mobile internet, such as licensing and sophisticated algorithms, but as some of the global players have discovered, a fast track to enter a local market is to line up with local mobile carriers, technological developers and last but not least the users, who know best what they want.
Read the original post at CScout China Blog.
introducing a new design: Hus1
00/00/0000, 00:00 | LamiDesign Modern House Plan Blog
The result of my year long study of the Swedish housing industry, and my love of mid-century modernism, the Hus1 puts these influences together with practicality and livability of the many small 50s and 60s homes in my own neighborhood. The basic two bedroom house will start out at modest 1,350 sqft, or the larger 1,750 sqft 3 bedroom plan shown below. Both have the option of an additional 500 sqft master bedroom upstairs which in the larger plan allows the downstairs master to serve as a family room.
A very livable home, the L shape creates privacy for its rear terrace where family life can flow out from the living areas. Conventional construction makes this house easy to build, and the iconic traditional form won't scare the average home builder.
Look for Design Prints to come available on the site soon. Well, you will hear about it here when it happens! And yes, this is the house for which we have been experimenting with new drawing styles. Not quite sorted out yet, but when its done the new collection will have a distinct graphic look apart from the original collection of designs.
Technorati Tags: house plans, modern design, modern house, Hus1
PREFAB FRIDAY: The Spoorhouse
00/00/0000, 00:00 | Inhabitat
We often see new home designs at Inhabitat that incorporate advanced technologies, reduce energy use and provide a healthy and safe living environment, but we really enjoy seeing home designs that have been vetted in competitions such as the Lifecycle Building Challenge. This annual competition, in its 2nd year and sponsored by well-known organizations such as the EPA, AIA, Building Reuse Association, Southface, and West Coast Green, is a challenge to design buildings with several points in mind: incorporate local building materials, consider the whole lifecycle of building materials, reduce the overall embodied energy and greenhouse gas emissions from materials, use innovative and creative strategies, and reduce environmental and economic costs. The 2008 winner of this contest for Best Residential Design was the Spoorhouse, by Benno van Noort of Van Noort Designs, LLC.
Paint-free shirt design from Viidrio
00/00/0000, 00:00 | David Report
The idea behind Viidrio shirt designs is to practice other options aside from screen-printing. Initially when they knew they wanted to use an aluminum tin, they were thinking about having the containers printed by packaging manufacturer. But that option would have contradicted the concept behind Viidrio.
The shirt designs have embroidery-art, and Viidrio wanted the packaging to have a cohesive design and theme. Packaging to Viidrio has a big impact on how you perceive a product at the beginning, and at the end of its use. Packaging becomes part of the product, and is a form of presentation. But it must be done correctly, the same way someone can plate a meal attractively, for one to be excited about what they are just about to eat.
The top of the tin has an embroidered design that foreshadows the design that is in the shirt. The recycled paper band that is wrapper around the tin (that contains additional graphics and product identity) is sewn together at the ends. The band around the tin is also affixed with clear stickers for easy removal.
The materials of the Viidrio shirts are 100% cotton threads, aluminum tin, 100% recycled printed matter and aluminum foil tape.
The other main concerned about packaging is the waste it produces. With this particular shirt packaging, the paper used for the band is 100% recycled paper from grocery bags (therefore making a 3rd cycle of use). After removing the band (if the consumer wishes) the tin can be reused to store any small non-perishable item. Example: jewelry, loose change, keys, paper clips, etc. If you ultimately don’t want the container, you can always take it to a recycling center. Last, but not least, you can return 5 undamaged containers to Viidrio. In exchange of a free t-shirt of your choice.
Andra bloggar om: kläder, mode, miljö, shopping, hållbarhet
tokyo design week 08: 'cellular automation' by ross lovegrove
00/00/0000, 00:00 | designboom weblog, design related news, reviews and previews
'celluar automation origin of species 2'
image © designboom
as animals grow, their bone structures increase in size. they develop into the ultimate shaped forms,
being able to support the entire structure with just one fifth the mass of the whole. this is a study
of ross lovegrove's organic essentialism. in his work he analyzes the composition and structure of bones
and finds ways through modeling and structuring. for 'cellular automation' he created complex structures
experimenting with 3d software to create pieces that imitate nature. his work is on display as part of
the second nature exhibition at 21_21, tokyo, japan.
image © designboom
image © designboom
image © designboom
image © designboom
detail
more:
http://www.rosslovegrove.com
designboom article on ross lovegrove's organic essentialism
Arkhefield - Couran Point House
00/00/0000, 00:00 | Modern Residential Design
Island retreat - The team at Arkhefield bring us one of their latest residential wonders in form of a simple, low maintenance, sustainable living volume which can be enjoyed all year round. The motives behind the design - maximising space and privacy - are attacked head on, as are the isolation and harsh climatic conditions on the island with basic low maintenance materials. The resulting simplistic structure, appears as a coastal tree, with its roof-line shaped by the strong winds and elements. Elements from which it can hunker down further, shelter, isolate and reorientate the use of external spaces.
Overview
The house offers a stark contrast to the predominant low shacks by the way that it expresses and celebrates volume, simplicity of form and its ability to manage/manipulate the external environment. The house appears to be inspirational amongst the community with many new houses currently under construction on the island being designed and sited in a similar manner. 
The house is a simple extruded profile with its form being solely dictated by town planning constraints. Height, setback and roof pitch essentially created the volumetric section which was extruded to the road and waterfront boundary, then set back to maximize the enclosed space. The house breaks out onto the terraced waterfront on the east, for summer fun and to an enclosed "winter courtyard" on the west. The relatively closed north and south façades retain privacy from the adjacent blocks, and shelter from strong summer sun. 
Design
The isolation of the site put a premium on the construction cost as all materials and skilled labour had to be barged out to the island. These constraints created unique challenges and encouraged a rethink to heavy/bulky build elements that couldn't be barged out to the site. Environmentally Sustainable Design principles of orientation and sitting along with use of solar, gas, rainwater harvesting, bamboo cladding/screening and a thermally efficient monolithic floor slab were all core ideas behind the build.
Layout
The house is split in half down the centre of its length with a large double volume "communal" living space on the north and a 2 level "private" core, comprising of bedrooms and service zones, on the south. The interplay between the two halves of the house creates a sense of inclusion and encourages interaction between family and guests whilst still enabling privacy and seclusion.
Our clients desire to recreate a "Bahaman" styled beach cottage with shingled, pitched, roof and quaint shuttered windows made for a challenging brief. They wanted the house to take them back to the memorable vacations they had spent in exotic locations. Through exploration and development it became evident that decoration and themed architecture may enable brief relapses into the bygone but that intelligent design and the creation of flexible spaces stimulated communal interaction, which was what really recreated that relaxed holiday atmosphere they were seeking. They are extremely happy and are enjoying there "Contemporary Bahaman" cottage which they have aptly named "the shed" out on Stradbrooke Island.
Results
The team at Arkhefield have managed to strip back this brief to the real essence of what the client was after. Conviviality and family togetherness were the clients true request and the flexibility of the hoses and its communal spaces are what makes the house such a wonderful island retreat.
Plans
Architect: Arkhefield [AF employees] - Director, Andrew Gutteridge
Project/Design Architect: Simon Wynn
Project Team: Justin Boland, Julie Tomaszewski
Building Surveyor: Bennett & Francis
Construction completed: July 2006
Hydraulic: BRW Enterprises
Interior Designer: Arkhefield
Landscape: JW Concepts
Lighting: Arkhefield
Structural: McVeigh Consulting Engineers / Steel House Frames Australia
Structure and Frame: Steel House Frames Australia
Builder: Clarke Construction (Kelwyn Cassidy, Steven Parker)
Gross floor area: 355 m2
Project cost per square metre: Client wishes this to be kept confidential
Photography: Scott Burrows
via: Arkhefield
News: Mission Future 2008 - Accomplished
00/00/0000, 00:00 | CScout TrendBlog
On September 8, 2008 at the Ars Electronica digital media festival in Linz, Austria, 170 people from fields spanning business, culture, arts and technology gathered at Mission Future to explore the power and potential of open innovation and collaboration. Under the theme „We’re Open“, participants spent the day immersed in presentations, panels, interviews, breakout sessions, Future Slams, a Future Hunt, music and interactive art.
Over 25 speakers lead discussion, sharing their expertise and opinions on topics including the future of intellectual property, open source, crowd-funding, social networking, the future of creation, open community, open business and open arts. Over the coming weeks and months we’ll be posting video clippings and summaries of Mission Future 2008 sessions on the Mission Future website, so visit http://missionfuture.trendpool.com/ to find out what went on.
An enormous amount of gratitude is due to all the speakers for sharing their foresights and insights with us, and equally sincere thanks go to our participants, whose contributions were key to the success of the day, to Ars Electronica Linz for their support in realizing this first major undertaking of Mission Future, and to our sponsors, the Berlin School of Creative Leadership, Weingüter Retzer Land, Art Directors Club, Red Bull, Carpe Diem, Linz 09, Indigo, Der Standard, Linz Tourism, Groupile and rebell.tv.
Building on the success of the 2008 event, the goals for Mission Future 2009 are now far loftier. We intend to receive speakers of the same high calibre as those we were privileged to hear this year, to tap into the knowledge and experience of participants to even greater effect, and to further advance Mission Future’s initiative to create tomorrow’s economy.
(Photo: Oswald Schröder, Elizabeth Stark and Joichi Ito discuss the future of intellectual property. Credit: Ars Elelctronica)
MODERN ARCHITECT - VANCOUVER
00/00/0000, 00:00 | GAILE GUEVARA
Client: Jean Claude LeBlanc
Architect: Peter Cardew, David Scott, Angie Jim
Structural: Rob Smith
Contractor: John Mason and Associates; Peter Montgomery, Highliner Construction
Groun Floor Area: 2,961 ft2
Completion: December 2006
This house is now on the market, a perfect home for the sophisticated Vancouverite who appreciates a modern minimalist interior with the influence of west coast materials. To read more about this property visit realtor Jason Soprovich's website.
I love this beautifully executed renovation by Vancouver based design team Peter Cardew Architects. The interior has a sophisticated restraint of materials combining polished concrete floors, natural stone and a signature of BC architects - the subtle layer of maple seen in flush panel millwork. Each interior space is filled with natural light filtering through full height glazing throughout the home.
Nicholas Burns - Johanna Beach House
00/00/0000, 00:00 | Modern Residential Design
Thinking Globally | Acting Locally - Nicholas Burns has taken this "green" addage and designed a modern residential retreat that: incorporates international ideas, templates low impact construction, has relatively minimal impact on the environment and embraces this spectacular plot.
The Johanna residence sits a few kilometres off the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia, up a bush track leading to a gravel turnaround. This porous parking area is the first step into Nicholas's realm of environmentally concious design, allowing the water to soak through in a semi un-constructed area, combats erosion far better than a concrete slab.
Constructed of rammed earth taken in part from the surrounding area the house self regulates in temperature for all but the coldest of days. A super insulated wood burning fire in the centre of the living area tops up on the few days that it is required, whilst for most of the year the 300mm walls and thick floor store daytime heat for night time release. Carefully judged overhangs and windows, shade the rooms from peak summer heat, and allow cooling air to pass.
Arriving at the house you play out a mini script that depicts the notion of a holiday home. A getaway, a release from the constrictive day-to-day life we lead in the city.
Leaving your car you head towards a strong rear wall. From this angle the house appears a small bank or cliff, solid and permanent, with stripes of layers in the rammed earth walls creating cliff like strata. Nearing the house, a courtyard leads you in to a "Burns" play on space and dimensions.
As if entering a cinema through the back corridor, the short courtyard, with its imposing 300mm thick rammed earth walls, contracts to a single passageway and heads to the front door.
The constricting nature of the entrance has you prepared to duck your head and don a helmet and caving lamp. Yet as you pass the front door and round the partitioning wall, you're released into a panorama of views out across Johanna beach and along the coastline. About ten minutes later, you'll realise you're in a wonderful open plan living / dining room.
Nicholas Burns has an affinity for the architecture of Tadao Ando, which he studied for years, admiring as I do, his self taught designs.
Hidden in full view throughout the design of this residence are homages to Ando. Tadao's designs, based of the Tatami mat, 900mm x 1800mm, are all divisible by this measure, leading to a hidden, calming simplicity. Nicholas's dimension is 600mm "so everything has an inherent logic in the space, making it unobtrusive.” Simply furnished, the house allows you to focus on it's surrounds.
Layout
A slight twist on a single plane design, the two bedroom wings are set back from the living area to allow 180 degree views. This also allows a raised courtyard to be placed behind the living area. A sheltered area from winds heading up hillside, it also provides an area for BBQs and outdoor dining.
All but one of the four bedrooms soak in the views and sunsets, the fourth, a more reserved room, is windowed to the rear and surrounding bush, an ideal room for private contemplation.
Plan
About Nicholas Burns
In the 1990s, Burns left his architecture studies in South Australia to pursue a self-education in philosophy and building crafts, a la Tadao Ando. In 2000, he moved to Singapore, where he is still based, travelling from there through Europe, India, China, South-East Asia and Japan. I think Nicholas's practice really focuses on balancing the three way split, design, clients desires and the environment in which the build sits.
As part of all initial concepts and drafts, Nicholas's practice now encourages all of their clients to offset the carbon footprint of the build with United Nations-Certified carbon credits.
The environment is a strong stakeholder. But as you can see, in no way at the expense of fantastic design.
via: Nicholas Burns
Related Articles: http://materialicio.us/2008/01/15/johana-beach-house-nicholas-burns/
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New Mexico EcoSteel House - interior finishes coming together
00/00/0000, 00:00 | LamiDesign Modern House Plan Blog
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MacGabhann Architects - Tuath na Mara Residence
00/00/0000, 00:00 | Modern Residential Design
Armoured Longboat - Standing vigilant over a northern Fjord in Ireland, the Tuath na Mara Residence, by MacGabhann Architects appears solid as a rock. Zinc clad for resilience, the low slung house blends seamlessly into the heather-covered rocky landscape, its own seams, echoing the strata of surrounding rocks. Contrasting a well hunkered core, the roof line warps and twists upwards like wonderful grey weathered seaweed, revealing the surrounding views to the living areas.
Overview
The project's focus around the specifics of the site and putting the personal and particular experiences above the powerful and the public, seeks to create a mood which is meditative instead of tensing or relaxing.
The site is hidden from the public road and is accessed from high ground on the landward side where the first experience is of an elevated view of the site and the sea beyond. Therefore the importance of the roof, or fifth façade, dictated a metal zinc cladding which is suitable for both walls and roof. Said façade, mimicking the seaweed found on the shores beyond. The anthracite colour of the zinc makes the building camouflage itself into the heather landscape.
The roof of both living areas is flipped and directed in opposite directions and towards particular points in the landscape and sunlight. Both living areas are fully glazed, thus embracing nature and developing a conversation with it. By way of contrast the sloped slit windows of the bedrooms act as a counter point to the absolute horizontal of the ocean horizon.
In order to emphasise the fact that the owners were embarking on a holiday each time they entered the house, the step and entry ramp at the front door is disconnected from the building thus making the visitor step over a gap not unlike stepping from the static platform onto a passing train. Thus a physical step from the day to day life into this adventurous house.
Layout
The plan form was inspired by the traditional narrow cottage and is orientated towards warm southern sun. It contains three sleeping cells and auxiliary spaces in the middle with two living areas, one at each end, connected by a library. Glazing is relative to the function of the rooms, with the centre bedrooms and auxiliary spaces horizontally glazed with small landscape framing windows, while the end living areas are wide open to the surrounding views.
The roof rain water is drained by way of gargoyles making one aware of the elements even in the lightest of showers, thus reinforcing the connection between inhabitant and nature.
Client's Comments
For us, ‘Tuath na Mara’ is wonderfully paradoxical: profoundly contextual and strikingly free-floating.
It is contextual in two senses: Firstly it speaks to the built experience of both our families, being the width of a house on the west coast that has been in the family for generations, and having the name and some of the shape of a house built by a Scottish grandparent (‘Tuath na Mara’ equally well in Scots and Irish Gaelic). Secondly it is rooted in the Donegal landscape, or more precisely in the inter-tidal seascape with which it shares its colour and, very nearly, its location. From the sea, it is virtually invisible.
But it is also free-floating, both in the way it sculpts light internally, and in the way its design is part of a cosmopolitan architectural conversation that is above national boundaries. This global-local interchange marks it out as capable of belonging only to the 21st century.
Results
MacGabhann Architects have made, as the client describes, a wonderful modern escape. With integrated reference to vernacular buildings and the landscape, without compromising aesthetics and impressive modern design, I'm confident that this is not the last we'll hear from them in great residential design.
Plans
Project: Tuath Na Mara
Architect: MacGabhann Architects
Team Credits: Tarla MacGabhann, Antoin MacGabhann, Niels Merschbrock & Barry Maguire
Completed: 2006-2007
Awards: Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland, Public Choice Award
Best house 2008 Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland, Irish Architecture Awards 2008
Photographic Credits: Dennis Gilbert - VIEW Pictures