Splitboarding is the best way to ride beyond a resort’s boundaries for those snowboarders without the budget or inclination to use a snowmobile or helicopter. Splitboarding uses snowboards which separate into a pair of mountain touring skis. Every splitboard switched from a snowboard stance to a forward-facing, free-heeled touring-ski operation.

Splitboarding is for people that love to ride fresh snow. You can go anywhere, put your splitboard together, skin up and snowboard all day for free. Such a way of riding has been around since 1980s, but several companies manufacturing splitboard models. Some early participants fabricated their own by cutting old snowboards in half.

However, today splitboarding has caught on. Sales of splitboards doubled over the last two winter seasons to nearly $350,000, according to Snowsports Industries of America. The setup isn’t cheap, or simple, since you need to assemble the elements yourself, the board, mounting kit and bindings, sold separately, start at $1,000; the skins and poles add around $250.

People are getting to the point, that world-class snowboarding is sitting right off the side of the road, and the powder can be ridden nearly every day if you are willing to, of course. It’s amazing how fast you can travel! You can hiking or snowshoeing in deep snow, making it easier to travel long distances in the nature.

You never have to ride at a ski resort if you don’t want to, or you can go to a resort, take one lift up and access all that backcountry.

Splitboarding is such an intimate experience, and so much goes into each run. You mix the endorphin high on the way up with the adrenalin on the way down, and you’ve got one of the best feelings in the world.

The Web site splitboard.com is a good source of information on splitboard products and tips for beginners. The real freedom.

Photos by: Justin L’Heureux

Haji Lane in the heart of Singapore is a historic Kampong Glam neighborhood, which become a meeting place for the city’s anti-mall crowd who buy upscale vintage clothing at fanciful boutiques. 

Soon Lee sells women’s handbags, clothing and accessories.

Know It Nothing is a smartly curated menswear shop in a minimalist loft-style space. It also has a tiny gallery. The retail area features nerd-chic button-down shirts, imported all the way from the Cleveland-based independent label Wrath Arcane, and Vans.

Outside of Cosmic, which sells men’s clothing and music.

A Michael Jackson and Jimi Hendrix display at Cosmic.

Pluck is half store, half ice cream parlor and offers the latest from Singapore’s independent interior designers.

Shoes and purses on display at Victoria Jomo.

Dresses for sale at Duplex.

However there are shops in Singapore’s Kampong Glam neighborhood that have been selling Indonesian batik textiles and Muslim prayer carpets for almost a hundred years.

Photos by: Basil Childers

The Caribbean island of Tobago takes it nice and easy. There are no reasons to stir, except for the stirring swimwear worn here at Back Bay beach on the Caribbean side of Tobago. Vitamin AR Signature collection by Amahlia Stevens bathing suit, $246. Go to vitaminaswim.com. Yossi Harari hoop earrings. Robindira Unsworth bangles. Ippolita bangles.

D&G bathing suit top, $210 (sold as a set). Go to dolcegabbana.it. Blank NYC shorts, $68. Go to blanknyc.com. Paul Morelli earrings. Sequin cuff and bangles. Robindira Unsworth bangles. Janis by Janis Savitt bracelets. Ippolita Bangles.

Bulgari B.Zero1 earrings. Go to bulgari.com.

Louis Vuitton shorts, $985. Go to louisvuitton.com. Jacob & Company hoop earrings. Bulgari bracelet. Janis by Janis Savitt bracelet.

Vitamin AR Signature Collection by Amahlia Stevens bathing suit, $246. Go to vitaminaswim.com. Yossi Harari hoop earrings. Sequin bangles. Robindira Unsworth bangles. Ippolita ring.

Fendi bikini, $590. Go to fendi.com. Sequin necklace, cuff and bangles. Robindira Unsworth bangles. Ippolita bangle.

Fashion assistant: Lindsey Gathright. Hair by Miki for Tresemme. Makeup by Polly Osmond for Christian Dior at Art Department. Model: Arlenis Sosa. Photographs by Camilla Akrans.

I present you Amy Long and TQ Shang’s shophouse, located in a suburb of Singapore. The house was built around 1950. During the years the facade was well-maintained, but the whole interior has been redesign. Here we can see the living area with the garden, and dining room. All of them in one unit! Many of the framed photographs on the wall were taken by Ms. Long and Mr. Shang, during their travels.

A floating staircase connects first and second floor. Some of the furniture comes from Dahlia Gallery in Singapore.

The central garden in the whole spacious room brings a little bit of the outdoors sense inside an urban home.

There is also an atrium garden, which provides an abundant natural light in rooms like the den. The sofa and the water hyacinth chaise lounge are from the couple’s first apartment. The owners are avid readers who display their large collection of books in the den.

The dining table and chairs were custom-made in Jepara, Indonesia, for about $850. The lantern is from an antiques shop, which Ms. Long purchased and took back to Singapore.

The kitchen is locate in an addition to the original shophouse.

The bed is Indian one, and had the piece custom made in Jepara, Indonesia, for about $250. The bedding was custom-made from silk purchased in Thailand.

Amazingly the shower and the wash area in the master bathroom have windows overlooking the garden.

The original facade of the shophouse, which was was preserved, dating back from 1950.

Although the big distance from downtown to the new neighborhood, Mr. Shang and Ms. Long have come to appreciate its charm.

Photos by: Lauryn Ishak

A trip to a deserted ranch in the Salinas Valley, an exchange of cash in an old barn, and a harrowing towing adventure up Highway 101 netted Andreas Stavroupolos’s current abode—a 1959 Airstream travel trailer. The Airstream is tucked into the back garden, with chickens just over the fence.

The materials palette that he chose is light in color with a few splashes of color. This lightness gives roomy space and contemporary feel.

In the kitchen he was intent on keeping the original stove, incorporating it into the cabinetry. He created a back splash using inexpensive aluminum flashing that texturized with a ball-peen hammer.

The interior is represented with several medium sized windows and an off-the-shelf track lighting system. With the door open, diffuse light makes the space glow. The bed measures 7 feet from head to toe. Every panel hides a full extension drawer that provides unparalleled access to storage.

It was one the hardest but most rewarding tasks to stripping paint to reveal the beautiful aluminum. For him revealing the structure honors the original craftsmanship.

The enormous slide out drawer was necessary to create a storage area for clothes.

He also did restoration work on the exterior as well with polishing the aluminum skin which probably is an exercise in patience! He remake the lights, and retouched the original license plate and wanted the space to be alluring from all angles, inside and out.

Photos by: Mark Compton

The Netherlands is a geographically low-lying country, most of the country is very flat, with the exception of foothills in the far south-east and several low-hill ranges in the central parts created by ice-age glaciers. The Netherlands is a densely populated country. It is known for its windmills, tulips, clogs, weed, Gouda cheese, visual artists, and bicycles. Dutch architecture has played an important role in the international discourse on architecture. The image displays the cantilevered “outboard units” of the WoZoCo seniors’ housing complex in Amsterdam maximize daylight in the interiors and preserve outdoor spaces.

This structure is some kind of work position outside of architecture, as a clear piece of sociology and ecology. The Dutch Pavilion is an emblem of MVRDV’s resolutely pro-density thinking. Stackability is a recurring feature in all of MVRDV’s urban solutions. Inside this building is evoking the artificial nature of the Netherlands in the “tulip fields”.

Maxima Medical Center, conceived in 2002, in Veldhoven, the Netherlands.

The 2005 Effenaar Eindhoven, in the Netherlands.

The CCA, 2006, in Rotterdam.

Overall Dutch architecture shows how architects form the new urban spaces will have an effect on a society’s culture for years to come, so design is a political issue for us, for the feature.

Architectural photographer Iwan Baan recently shot the Universe House, designed by Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco and built by architect Tatiana Bilbao in Roca Blanca, Mexico.

The house is inspired on the Jantar Mantar Astronomical Observatory, built in Delhi in 1724. Stefano Boeri from Abitare interviewed Gabriel Orozco about this project, where you can read more about his vision. Check out the photos of the house with one of the best pools I have ever seen.

When a 40-year-old pine tree fell over at the rear of a Brentwood estate in Los Angeles, the owner decided to honor its resilience by incorporating it into a 172-square-foot office / guest house.

While most tree houses have a trunk running vertically, this one floats above the tree, suggesting the delicate tension between nature and the built environment. A gallery and a guest cottage – it’s perched atop a hill and overlooks canyon vistas, downtown Los Angeles and the Getty Center.

The creators are Rockefeller Partners Architects, which spent about eight months on the design. “We had a bunch of fun with it.” said Chris Kempel, the project’s architect.

The entry and stairs to the tree house complex was sculpted from exposed, unpainted concrete, designed to suggest the ladder of a traditional tree house.

The tree house serves as well as  modern-day amenities like a daybed, a sink, a toilet, a small refrigerator, a fireplace and a microwave.

To connect back to the fallen tree, the architects carved a portal in the walnut floor, affording a view of the inspiration for the house itself.

Materials and craft has a significant role inside and out. The columns are Type 316 stainless steel – almost nautical grade. Floors and walls are walnut; windows are mahogany.

The whole process of designing the house took about eight months.Construction of the inhabitable sculpture, with its studio and lounge, took another 18 months.

Large floor-to-ceiling windows and doors provide abundant natural light and ventilation.

The outdoor shower below the tree house was shaped and formed from concrete to be a truly private experience.

Photos by: Eric Staudenmaier

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual parade presented by Macy’s. The tradition started in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States. The three-hour event is held in New York City starting at 9:00 a.m. EST on Thanksgiving Day.

The balloons for the parade are inflated the day before (Wednesday) on both sides of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The balloons are split between 77th and 81st Streets between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue. The inflation team consists of various volunteers from Macy’s as well as students. The inflation is open to the public the afternoon and night before the parade. Horton the Elephant hung a right on Seventh Avenue.

Many measures are taken to prevent accidents and balloon related injuries. One measure was the installation of wind measurement devices to alert parade organizers to any unsafe conditions that could cause the balloons to behave erratically. Also, parade officials implemented a measure to keep the balloons closer to the ground during windy conditions. In the picture Students performed in Macy’s Great American Marching Band.

The picture show the parade at Seventh Avenue rather than Broadway.

Spectators watched from balconies.

Just before the start, a costume’s head waited to be placed atop a body.

Joe Civitillo, who works in Macy’s advertising department, rode the Santa float. This is his fourth parade. Photos by: Ruth Fremson

Backstage images always make me so excited. Moreover I would like to express my feelings behind the scene! A model displays a creation of Moschino Cheap and Chic show. Photo by: Christophe Simon

A model poses in front of the mirror backstage before the show of Seduzioni Diamonds Valeria Marini. Photo by: Stefano Rellandini

Models huddle under an umbrella during an outdoor fashion show of designer Norma Kamali. Photo by: Justin Lane

Model poses backstage at Gap Show, Spring 2009.

A model presents a creation from the Mizrahi Spring 2010 collection, while shielded from a sprinkler overhead. Photo by: Eric Thayer

A model is prepped backstage before the Tracy Reese show. Photo by: Louis Lanzano

The photographers pit at the Diane Von Furstenberg show at “The Tent” at Bryant Park. Photo by: Stephen Lovekin