With respect for the actress, Beatrice Lillie known as Lady Peel, who once lived there, the house inherits a talent: playing a new role while living in the same skin.

Architect: Reza Aliabadi [rzlbd]
Project Team: Lailee Soleimani, Ehsan Zareian
Structure: Hossein Azargive
Construction: Fardin Chadorshabchi
Architectural Photography: borXu Design
Building Type: Single family house
Location: Toronto
Basics: Three-story masonry & wood structure
Lot: 15’X130′
Living Area: 3000 sqft
Design: 2011
Completion: Spring 2012

The Birthplace of the world celebrated star of English Musical Comedy, Beatrice Lillie known as Lady Peel, is over a century old, located in downtown Toronto, is now rejuvenated and playing a new character. With respect for the actress who once lived there, the house inherits a talent: playing a new role while living in the same skin.

The reformation of the house takes a responsible approach towards the neighborhood and the adjacent buildings by focusing the transformation on the interior spaces and minimizing it on the exterior façade. The exterior alterations are limited to the careful enlargement of the windows and the exposure of the brick structure underneath the previous cladding.

The 60’ x 15’ house gives the architect an opportunity to emphasize on linearity of spaces. By eliminating the unnecessary elements in the floor plans, the house is transformed into continuous open-concept spaces in which natural light makes a soft voyage and exaggerates the length of the rooms.

The long, broken, and dark Victorian interior spaces on the ground level are now contemporary white and airy continuous spaces with just enough exposed brick wall in the kitchen and dining room to remind us of the origins of the house. The enclosed long and linear staircase used to be both a physical and a visual barrier between the interior rooms on the ground level. Now it is transformed into a light, and open structure circulating around voids and creating a dynamic connection between not just the ground floor spaces, but also all the levels. On the second floor the bedrooms and the home office are connected with a bridge overlooking the stairs and the dining room. A unique modern master bedroom with a freestanding tub and a direct access to a private deck is on the third floor, the attic, where the roof structure is exposed once again as a reminder of its past.

Floor Plans

The Old Building Before Remodeling

Old Interior Views of Basement Floor

Old Interior Views of Ground Floor

Interior Views of Second and Third Floor

The Front Facade After Remodeling

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Blue Pie, inspired by the photograph of an iceberg and a painting, “Back Alley Abstract” by Sandra Duba-Shubs, is a poetic invasion of the blue into a white room washed with natural light.

Architect: Reza Aliabadi [rzlbd]
Design team: Ehsan Zareian, Bahar Joshanpoosh, Lailee Soleimani
Logistic: Nikta Mazloom
Construction: Royal Falcon Inc.
Architectural Photography: borXu Design
Building Type: Condominium unit
Location: Toronto
Area: 450 sqft [total living area 650 sqft]
Design & Completion: Summer 2013

Blue Pie is a transformation of a typical Torontonian condo into the celebration of a man’s living style and artistic curiosities. It is a poetic invasion of the color blue into a white room washed with natural light. The client, a 40-year-old passionate family doctor with a love for colors white and blue, purchases a photograph of an iceberg. The photograph was taken by rzlbd on his explorations of the arctic in which he found respect for the peacefulness of the icebergs. When they find their mutual interest in simplicity, purity and humble environments, the doctor hires rzlbd to alter his living space into a manifesto of these interests. With a limited budget and a tight schedule, rzlbd starts the challenge inspired by the two recently purchased artworks, one being the photograph of the iceberg and the other a painting, “Back Alley Abstract” by Sandra Duba-Shubs. Both are in blue and white. The artworks are an elaboration of the client’s idea of a calm desirable living area, which rzlbd focuses on achieving. The budget included the cost for the interior architectural alterations as well as the cost for home decorations, cutlery, bed and bath accessories and personal items. All had to be done within 4 weeks.

Blue Pie is the public domain of the client’s condo, a 450 sqf area, a quarter of a circle in plan that resembles the slice of a cake. The transformation began with removing the hardwood floors to expose the rough concrete slab underneath. The floor was then painted with blue oil based floor paint to create the platform that embraces the furniture. The serenity of the icebergs floating on the surface of the deep blue sea helped envision the blue pie that was yet to be born. Two solid walls frame the living areas while the large curved curtain wall allow for the natural light from southwest to fill the space. As a cost saving strategy the existing kitchen cabinets and appliances on the north wall were kept while the kitchen island was removed to make space for a built in dining table that cantilevers from the column just hovering above the blue floor. The east wall is a 65cm wide millwork containing the workstation, a lower bench and a wine rack. A blue hanging seat sits on the radius of the circle and is visually merged into the light that floats the space from the curved curtain walls. All lighting fixtures has been removed from the ceiling and only 5 spotlights are installed on a linear rail highlighting each of these arrangements.

Space is normally accessorized after the architecture is born. But in this case the architecture itself is the accessory for the space. The built-in furniture that hovers above the floor and the millwork’s reveal that attempt to hide the edge of the contact with the surface of the blue concrete are architectural translations of icebergs, which, by laws of nature only, portray such serenity.  The evolution of the Blue Pie was an inspirational experiment that truly fulfilled the individual needs of the client and trusted its fate in the art of the arctic nature.

By: Lailee Soleimani

Floor Plan

“Back Alley Abstract” Series

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An expandable clothing airer that unfolds into a star shape to create more space for hanging wet clothes.

Designer: Aaron Dunkerton

The dimensions of the clothes horse are 56cm long, 32 wide and 23cm high when it is collapsed so it is much easier to store when not in use.

When in use its dimensions are 56cm deep, 112cm wide and 112cm tall. The shape of the clothes horse when erect allows for good air circulation around the clothes, which will help them to dry faster.

It has 36 drying arms which is around 10 more than normal airers. It is made from brushed aluminium rod and beach plywood.

Via Dezeen

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The entire residence is actually a staircase.  The client wanted a home with no partitions (except for the bathrooms), which made it possible to achieve total continuity from basement to roof terrace.

Architects: Moussafir Architectes

Project team: Jacques Moussafir with Alexis Duquennoy (project manager) and Na An

Client: private

Location: 22, rue Jacob, 75006 Paris, France

Budget: € 850,000 ex VAT

Photographer: Hervé Abbadie

Built to replace a semi-abandoned house squeezed between two buildings in the heart of a very well preserved block in central Paris, this project is a tree-like structure delimited on three sides by existing walls. Only the fully glazed south façade gives away the almost total reconstruction of the building and provides a glimpse into the volumetric complexity of its inner space. An even better metaphor for the project would be that of a gigantic stairway. The entire residence is actually a staircase: its core contains the kitchen and wet rooms; its stairwell is shaped by the gables of the neighboring buildings, while its steps and landings form a sequence of living spaces. The client wanted a home with no partitions (except for the bathrooms), which made it possible to achieve total continuity from basement to roof terrace. The steel structure is an assembly of cantilevered floors borne by the central core and partly dissociated from the three outer walls onto which concrete boxes have been grafted to serve as built-in furniture. The choice of materials reinforces the design concept: the central core, floors and ceilings are uniformly clad in locust wood whose color and grain contrast with the texture and whiteness of perimetral masonry walls.

Study Model and Plans

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Are you wishing to go to the beach but reluctant to go into the water for the fear of jellyfish, sharks and stepping on corals? Then, SeaGaia is for you.

SeaGaia Ocean Dome – Japan’s Indoor Man-Made Beach, is for those that would like to go to the beach, but don’t want to go into the water for the fear of jellyfish, sharks, coral or any of the hazards you would at the coast.

Located at Miyazaki, Kyushu Island, this is one of the largest indoor water parks in the world that it has been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. The size is about 300 meters in length, 100 meters in width with the temperature of 30 degrees Celsius year-round.

Unlike the real ocean, the Dome features some specialty pools such as the heated indoor pool, the wave pool for surfers, the kiddie pools and the three water slides. There are also numerous hotels, restaurants, shops and other activities inside the SeaGaia area. If you forget to bring along your swimsuit, you can easily rent the swimsuit with latest fashion within the dome.

Accomodotion wise, you can choose to stay in The Ocean Dome Club Alliance Hotels, a group of Miyazaki City hotels that cooperates to provide quality accommodation for Ocean Dome guests.

Via Design Rulz

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A house that spreads out at ground level and blends into the garden.

Architects: Moussafir Architectes

Project team: Jacques Moussafir with Laëtitia De Lubac, Florent Biais, Cristiana Floris, Rémi Schnebelin  and Gilles Poirée

Client: private

Location: 71, rue Danton, 93100 Montreuil, France

Budget: € 304,000 ex VAT

Photographers: Gilles Coulon, Mario Palmieri, Bertrand Limbour

Situated in an orchard, in the heart of a perimeter block, the plot stretches from north to south, along an old peach-growing wall – a green enclosure delimiting an isolated area of calm. Rather than a mere receptacle for a building, this orchard immediately struck the architect as an interior space that lent itself to dwelling. The house spreads out at ground level and blends into the garden, of which it occupies the entire width (and half the total surface). Invisible from the outside, with neither a façade nor a social status, this «non-house» is designed to be experienced from within. Mobile components (curtains, revolving and sliding partitions) make it possible to modify the outline and configuration of the main living area, while glazed panels fold away, opening up patios and terraces, and extending the domestic space into the garden. Box-shaped structures in glazed stainless steel reflect the light and facilitate the interior/exterior transition. The outline of the building blends into that of the orchard, and is only visible thanks to the horizontal plane of its roof. The result is a house that maintains direct contact with the sky and the surrounding nature.

Plans and Design Concept

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See how the architect was trying to preserve the identity of this classic brick-and-stone suburban house and at the same time double its surface area.

Architects: Moussafir Architectes

Project team: Jacques Moussafir with Gilles Poirée

Client: private

Location: 2, rue Charcot, 92270 Bois-Colombes, France

Budget: € 360,000 ex VAT

Photographers: Jérôme Ricolleau and Hervé Abbadie (building), Géraldine Bruneel (model)

In order to preserve the identity of this classic brick-and-stone suburban house and at the same time double its surface area, the architect decided to duplicate it by adding two side blocks, or «clones» positioned at right angles to each other and replacing an old tool shed. This arrangement has allowed them to create a harmonious trio of buildings set around an inner garden while respecting the street alignment. The new house consists of three distinct elementary blocks, a square and two rectangles, separated by narrow glazed gaps and topped with matching gable roofs. Boasting a new truncated roof that lets light from the south into the living areas laid out on the north side, the «stem cell» blends in so well with its extensions that it becomes hard to distinguish the old from the new. This is achieved through coordinating shapes, materials and fenestration. The load-bearing brickwork that defines the character of the original building reappears in the new build as external protection for the insulation layer – and, vice versa, rough load-bearing breeze blocks of the two extensions line the walls of the original structure, insulating it from within. To complete the fusion, large windows framed in larch wood boxes pierce each of the three volumes, offering north-south visual perspectives throughout the house and into the garden.

3D Modeling 

Plans

Below are site plan and some layout plans of Clone House.

Site Plan

Layout Plan

Layout Plan

Layout Plan

Section

Section

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Ingenious door opens and closes like folded paper! See how this Austrian artist has completely reinvented the door.

Klemens Torggler’s door is an invention based on rotating squares where the door moves sideways without the use of tracks. This technical trick opens up new applications for the door.

During the development of the doors, several solutions were found for connecting the squares efficiently, in which it results into five different systems as below:

• System with rods
• System with epitrochoid curve
• System with triangles
• Screen
• 8 panels

Klemens Torggler’s door opens and closes in a surprisingly elegant way at the slightest touch, folding in on itself like pieces of paper. Torggler calls this system a “flip panel door” (Drehplattentür).

Watch the videos below for several variation of Klemens Torggler’s door.

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Stacks is a simple stacking stool for children and a step stool for adults.

Designer: David Pickett

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The former premises of a plumbing company being converted into a group of five apartments.

Architects: Moussafir Architectes

Project team: Jacques Moussafir and Bernhard Buchberger with Nicolas Hugoo

Client: BG Avenir

Location: 22-26, avenue d’Agent Sarre, 92420 Colombes, France

Budget: € 450,000 ex VAT

Photographer: Arno Gisinger

A private property developer wished to convert the former premises of a plumbing company into a group of five apartments whose highly flexible, «raw» spaces would reflect the industrial character of the existing building. The project team kept their intervention down to the minimum required to convert old workshops, offices and garages into saleable loft-like residential units, while preserving the memory of the premises as a place of work.

The project team chose to maintain the entire metal superstructure, yet opened it up where necessary to create patios for better daylighting of the interiors. They mainly focused on the following tasks: the wet room design that would free up as much space as possible; the quality of natural light in the living spaces; exterior wall treatment; and the transformation of the parking and outdoor delivery areas into gardens.

Old garage doors were replaced by a new frontage, while the windows on the west façade of the office block were substituted with moveable and fixed frames, their metal shutters fitting flush with the original metal structure to ensure optimum sun protection.

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