“It is not uncommon for children to play with their shadows or to imagine that they are tangible. However, in order to grow up, children must leave behind this fantasy…no one ever fully grows up. Instead, growing up is a process that continues throughout life.”

Music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.

It is 96 sq. ft. and has a 50 sq. ft. loft where I have my bed and store my clothes. I call my house “Nido” which loosely translated into Italian means “Birds nest.” The house sits on the lakeshore and views of the lake can be seen from both the bottom floor and the loft.

The bottom floor is pretty much a lounge/living room where I lay back and enjoy the starlight along with some smooth jazz. The house is designed to maximize the allowed 96 sq. ft., acoustics and to bring in as much as possible of the natural light and nature during the night as during the day.

The Principals, a studio focuses on industrial design, interactive environments and the influence of new technologies on traditional craftsmanship sent us their latest project: ‘Cosmic Quilt,’ a quilt suspended from on the ceiling, that interacts with users as they approach. Cosmic Quilt was created with the help of 20 students from the Art Institute of New York, a prototype combining technology, sensors, micro controllers and motors, with traditional craft in the form of quilt making.

“The project aims to answer the question ‘What if architecture responded to our presence?’ This project is a realization of our ultimate ambition, which is to design spaces and objects that expand upon our understanding of the built realm without abandoning its history. Soon, just as we can sense a space as calm, contemplative or frenetic … space itself will be able to sense our presence and react accordingly.”

These popsicles by artist Sebastian Errazuriz “are made of “frozen holy wine transformed into the blood of Christ” and featuring a crucifix instead the tongue depressor that typically hosts the frozen treats.

An image of Jesus Christ positioned traditionally on the cross is visible once the ice pop is consumed. As for the frozen wine, Errazuriz said, he concealed it in a cooler and took it into a church, where it was “inadvertently blessed by the priest while turning wine into the blood of Christ during the Eucharist.”

“In the past years America has appeared to suffer a historical regression becoming more politically and religiously extremist than previous decades. The current religious fanatic groups although deemed potentially violent, are dismissed due to the current focus on religious fundamentals from the Middle East. While fighting the War on Terror, we forget that only a few decades ago, groups like the Ku Klux Klan, where a functioning, dominant political force in American society. The Klan much like other extremists identified themselves as a Christian organization, carrying out ‘God’s work’ branding the Flaming Cross as their symbol during their reign of terror. Today the Klan is long gone; nevertheless extreme religious and political groups continue to hold a dangerous and growing influence over American politics, demanding that politicians publicly profess their faith in God and enforce laws that defend the ideology of the Bible over individual liberties.”

The Belgian artists was commissioned by De Invasie and STUK as part of a larger exhibition on sustainable living. This super green street art is made by cleaning rather than adding on.
A wall along a staircase leading into the centre was covered with moss and Strook used it as the backdrop for his latest work. Using a hand-held pressure washer, he etched his designs into the moss and algae. With this is graphic art via cleaning, no chemicals, paint or cleaning agents were used at all.

“More and more, we are dictated by technology. That intrigues me. And so do the cities we live in. That’s why I populate my drawings with humanoids – robots with a human shape – and cyborgs – physical merges of man and machine.”

Lixil’s new tub has a sinuous, clean and almost spatial shape. A unique water control technology combines water and air and creates a constant stream of creamy foam, that’s at once incredibly soft and rich while retaining a somewhat firm consistency. The frothy water overflows over the sides of the tub and collects in a special attached drainage system that allows the tub to be installed virtually anywhere in the home.

‘Imagine time passing pleasantly – you are enveloped in warm foam; you’re reading a book, watching a movie, feeling the air and the light on your skin. You’re bathing in creamy foam. More than a new style of bathing, this is something that will liberate a new horizon of human desire. Witness a small slice of the future of bliss and relaxation that we human beings can savor, from a perspective in which the human body, our living spaces and technology are treated as one’.

VillaLola by Arkis Architects is built with a frame of sustainable goal settings. Villa Lola is clad on the exterior with Larch-wood. The larch is weathered to its nature gray-ish color, forming a natural weather protection. All loadbearing members are of wood except for one concrete wall, used for stabilizing the structure, and a concrete foundation. Flooring is of robust wooden boards and concrete terrazzo.

Inner walls are gypsum surfaced stud frame walls painted with environmentally friendly paint. All windows are of wood, clad with aluminum on the exterior. During the construction process the plot was carefully protected and the working space around the building was minimized. During construction, all waste was carefully sorted and appropriate materials sent to recycling. The building is specially designed as a low maintenance structure.

The client requested the possibility to divide the house into three spaces, or apartments that could be enlarged or reduced as needed. Villa Lola is 128m² of gross floor area. Another request from the client was to use low maintenance materials and to develop an inclusive approach with regards to the site and building. Based on these requests the design process started.

The design of villa Lóla was an especially enjoyable dialogue process between client and architect. Various ideas of materials, concepts and techniques where discussed in the process. Inspirations range from Swiss mountains cabins, a sea ranch in Sonoma County in California, and Japanese solutions in spatial efficiency. Furthermore, the framing of views was an important topic of discussion.

The natural surroundings of the site and the fjord of Eyjarfjördur were key factors to address.

Via [archdaily]

FREAKS freearchitects have been commissioned for the interior design of the shop for a new natural comestics brand Heliocosm located in Herold street, Paris 1st ward.Clément Sauvet from Helicosm wanted to create a brand that banishes the chemical ingredients of conventional cosmetics and respects both the consumer and their environment. The architects have inserted a rectangular timber tunnel inside this Paris cosmetics shop. An opening cut away from the wooden box provides the location for a salvaged second-hand table, while integrated shelves display products.

xThe program of the shop consists mostly in a big workshop table onto which the customers are invited to make up their own cosmetics based on natural products lead by professional tutors.
As the total dedicated budget of 100K€ was pretty low compared to the total 100sqm area to be refurbished, the project focuses onto one single space characteristic: the impressive length of nearly 20 meters, pretty rare as a shop setting within the typical parisian context.

The major efforts were made on the renewal of the first and the last rooms, linked with a wood-covered tunnel-alike space hosting all the display shelves and cupboards. The chosen color is a light greenish blue, a so called “cool mint” color, applied all over floors, walls and ceilings, wrapping the visitors within a both refreshing and disturbing feeling.

+Cottage Industry

Whangapoua is a Prefab Hut built by Architects Crosson Clarke Carnachan on the shore of an idyllic white sanded beach in New Zealand’s Coromandel Peninsula rests an elegant hut. Closed up, the rough macrocarpa-cladding blends into the landscape and perches quietly on the dunes, as passersby wonder how it could possibly function for a family of five.

Designed to close up against the elements, the hut measures a mere 40 square metres and rests on two thick wooden ‘sleds’ that allow it to be shifted around the beach front section. This innovative portability is a response to the ever changing landscape that line the beachfront in this coastal erosion zone.

Within the hut, the ingenuity reveals itself further as no nook or cranny is overlooked. Every available space has been utilised, right down to the secret individual cubby holes hidden in the children’s bunk room.

For these clients it was all about the real essence of the hut; small, simple and functional. The hut comes to life when the enormous shutter on the northeast façade winches open to form an awning, revealing two-storey high steel-framed glass doors that form the main entrance. The hut then transforms into a sun drenched haven, opening up to the views of the surf and the distant Mercury Islands.

The mezzanine bedroom is accessed by climbing a wall-mounted ladder through a closeable hatch, it shares the same view as downstairs through the huge glass doors. Climb the ladder again and you arrive on a roof terrace which catches rainwater for the gravity tanks behind.

From the industrial style fittings to the quirky furnishings, this whole structure plays with the idea of the most egalitarian of Kiwi recreations and embraces and challenges the image of the traditional ‘Kiwi bach’. Small, simply and elegantly self-contained, this tiny elegant hut strips holiday living right back to basics.
Via Mocoloco

“Our goal was to give consumers the high quality home that they desired at a price point that they could afford,” said Jared Levy, Co-­‐Founder of Connect Homes. “The conventional building process is inefficient and the prefab industry does not currently deliver on its potential. We knew there must be a better, smarter way to build modern, sustainable homes that people could actually afford.”

While the conversation about prefab continues, the main shortcoming for the industry to date has been the inability to deliver prefabricated structures that are better and less expensive than traditional site built alternatives.
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”We’re pushing the conversation to the next level,” explained Gordon Stott, Connect:Homes Co-­‐Founder. “We set out to confront the status quo and address problems within the prefab industry. Rather than rehashing the same prefab rhetoric, we’re talking about a new practice, a new way of building homes.”
A NEW AFFORDABLE, GLOBAL SYSTEM
All Connect:Homes Series Homes are built to be easily transported, and modules are sized to work with the intermodal network. Connect:Homes is the first prefab company to be able to deliver homes not only by truck but also via rail or ship. These innovations are necessary because standard prefab modules cost about $20,000 to ship cross country and up to $400,000 to ship overseas. Connect:Homes’ patent-­‐pending modular system cuts delivery costs by up to 90%, allowing the new company to affordably deliver homes virtually anywhere in the world. System design allows modules to be 90% completed before shipping, far surpassing current industry standards that are closer to 50%. This greatly reduces the amount of time spent on installation and finishes on-­‐site, and means the hidden and surprise costs often associated with conventional construction projects are removed from the equation. The predictability of the Connect:Homes system means homebuyers can be quoted a simple and all-­‐inclusive price from the outset. All Connect:Homes, which range in size from the Connect:2 to the Connect:8, start at $145/sf delivered, and range to $165/sf installed.

“We did not want to be limited by geographic location,” explained Levy. “There is a growing global demand for affordable green, energy-­‐efficient homes, but until now there hasn’t been a way to sell homes to national and international markets. Connect:Homes will change that, delivering our homes from factory to doorstep anywhere in the country with the same ease as any other major commodity.”

Adaptable designs give homeowners an infinite number of possibilities to personalize their own space.
SUSTAINABLE
Connect:Homes centralizes the construction process with the goal of eliminating waste entirely. In contrast to the 8,000 pounds of waste generated at a traditional home building site, building in a factory cuts waste by over 75%. Once the homes are delivered to homebuyers, Connect:Homes products also offer superior energy efficiency, using less resources and providing significant yearly savings. For example, all homes come standard with LED lighting systems, and all Connect:Homes are designed to attain the points necessary for
LEED for Homes Silver certification before factoring in site variables, at which point Gold and Platinum will likely be possible.