Milan 2016: Australian designer Ross Gardam has created a desk lamp with a mirrored shade that can be rotated to adjust light and shadow (+ movie). (more…)
Ross Gardam’s Polar desk lamp has a rotating metallic shade
Architecture
Starkman House / Norm Applebaum
© John Durant
- Architects: Norm Applebaum
- Location: Paso Robles, CA 93446, USA
- Area: 490.0 sqm
- Project Year: 2015
- Photographs: John Durant
© John Durant
The architecture was created for my client Linda Starkman, a horse women, and is named after the site known as Fox Hollow. She had owned the property for 25 years before building her home.
© John Durant
Completed in 2015 the home took 5 years to design and construct with major overhangs cantilevering out 25′ to 75′. Concrete is used for the roof in order to control wind loads of up to 85 mph. The structure is steel post and beam with steel I beams 27 inches high, weighting 227 pounds per lineal foot.
Plan
The square footage of the house is 4,357 square feet and is woven amongst 3 ancient multi-trunked oak trees. The location of the house is a tree covered knoll which is part of a 320 acre site where warmblood horses are raised and feed is grown. The location is on the west side of Paso Robles, California.
© John Durant
All fine art, leaded glass, fine details and iron work are by Norm Applebaum Architect.
© John Durant
Noodle Diner Sanlitun SOHO / Lukstudio
© Dirk Weiblen
- Architects: Lukstudio
- Location: Beijing, Beijing, China
- Design Director: Christina Luk
- Project Team: Cai Jin Hong, Shanyun Huang, Leo Wang, Yiye Lim, Alba Beroiz Blazquez, Marcello Chiado Rana, Pao Yee Lim.
- Area: 200.0 sqm
- Project Year: 2016
- Photographs: Dirk Weiblen
- Client: Longxiaobao Restaurant
- General Contractor: Shanghai MaiChang Construction Project Co., Ltd.
© Dirk Weiblen
From the architect. Based on the original “noodle rack” concept, Lukstudio has created a layered experience at the Longxiaobao flagship restaurant in Beijing where dining areas are shaped by multiple steel frames and wires.
© Dirk Weiblen
The journey begins with a composed foyer where two windows frame the views into the kitchen on the left and the dining space beyond. Walking pass the main door finished with rusted steel and copper plate, one is presented with three volumes. Though a consistent palette of exposed cement wall, rusted-metal frame, wooden tables and display boxes has been applied; three different dining ambiences are created. The first rack has a canteen style with 3 rows of long tables and serves well the busy white collars. The second rack is equipped with banquette seating and tasteful china decorations; it entertains those who take time to savor their meal. In the third rack that embodies the double-height stairwell, one special table gets to enjoy closely the visual anchor of the restaurant: the signature “noodle” pendant.
1st Floor Plan
Walking up the stairs within two frame layers in the atrium, one arrives on the private dining level. The area explores further the potential of steel wires. “Noodles” are hung in an overlapping manner to define a dining volume. These see-through screen dividers exude an ethereal beauty that is unique for the noodle shop.
© Dirk Weiblen
Ibda Design uses contrasting sandstone and white marble for mosque in Dubai
Mariusz Wrzeszcz completes house in Poland with cedar walls inside and out
KAAN Architecten Designs New Building for the University of Tilburg
© Beauty & The Bit
KAAN Architecten, in collaboration with VORM, have designed a new 11,000 square-meter Education and Study Center (OZC) for the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands. The OZC will be used by approximately 2,500 students and educators on the campus. The goal is for the new facility to increase the quality of education at the university.
© Beauty & The Bit
The design of the center mirrors the square and low form of other buildings on the campus. The OZC is nestled within the landscape, and provides ample views from within to observe the environment. The programmed study spaces are “enclosed in a green setting, as an opening in the woods.”
© Beauty & The Bit
Along with designated study spaces, the center will also include fully equipped lecture rooms and a centrally located sunken auditorium. All of the interiors, including the corridors, are wide and tall so that the building never feels too crowded.
Construction will begin at the end of this year and is expected to be completed by the fall of 2017.
Freestanding roof spans Haiti orphanage by Bonaventura Visconti di Modrone
Kate’s House / Bower Architecture
© Shannon McGrath
- Architects: Bower Architecture
- Location: Melbourne VIC, Australia
- Area: 385.5 sqm
- Project Year: 2015
- Photographs: Shannon McGrath
“A house for living in!” exclaimed the client in the early stages. “Textured and warm with a touch of whimsy – but no stunts that will date..”
© Shannon McGrath
With this in mind we collaborated with the client to explore brief and site opportunities for a house that appears to reveal itself effortlessly, a series of spaces that feel meant to be.
© Shannon McGrath
The design concept resisted the addition of a second storey, utilising every part of the site to stitch a new single storey extension in between existing street facing bedrooms and the original garage at the rear. The need to house unique artwork combined with opportunities for memorable entry experiences, framed views and varied garden connections in the pursuit for joyful, practical and surprising spaces.
© Shannon McGrath
A new screened carport cradles and softens the proportions of the retained frontage and becomes integral to the arrival journey, leading to entry into an intimate courtyard at the centre of the house. This courtyard is continually re-experienced – a pivotal space between public, family and private areas.
© Shannon McGrath
East-west orientated galleries buffer kid’s areas from living zones, provide natural cross ventilation and welcome differing qualities of natural light during the day. The cross section of the house continually compresses and expands as it gently terraces down the site, level with the garden. Sustainable passive performance is optimised through zoning and orientation, solar power and a 20,000L watertank add to these measures.
Floor Plan
Views are deliberately framed – blade walls are embraced to house artwork, direct and refrain from specific outlooks and provide a sense of enclosure. Long sightlines are sparingly used to provide only glimpses beyond, maintaining the drama of experiencing each space upon arrival.
© Shannon McGrath
The little surprises – touches of brass, leather, steel and discovered gems of colour are both considered and cherished. The house is photographed as it is lived in – full of family “stuff” from daily life on display, not meant for hiding away. This gallery for living in has an abundant and experiential richness which cannot be fully described with drawings and photos alone
© Shannon McGrath
Elizabeth Tower and Big Ben to Undergo Renovations
© Flickr CC User Alun Salt, Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
The Parliament of the United Kingdom has announced a series of renovations that will take place on Elizabeth Tower and Big Ben in London, starting in early 2017. During the renovation period, the tower and clock will be partially covered with scaffolding, which will be removed as the work progresses. Moreover, the clock mechanism will be stopped for several months, during which there will be no chiming or striking of the iconic bells.
The last significant conservation work on the Tower and Clock was completed in the mid 1980s and 1990s, and involved cleaning and repairing the stone, painting and gilding works, repairing the cast iron roof, and stabilizing the structure. Now, after many years without repairs, the clock mechanism is at risk of failure, and the building is at risk of long-term degradation.
Furthermore, the renovations will include improvements to health and fire safety, such as the installation of an elevator inside one of the Tower’s existing ventilation shafts to compliment the 334-step spiral staircase. Enhanced energy efficiency will additionally be created through modernized lighting of the tower face.
Overall, the 29-million-pound project seeks to preserve Charles Barry and Augustus Wellby Pugin’s original design as best as possible. A team of conservation architects is currently analyzing the original paint used to decorate the areas surrounding each clock dial, and once a clear picture of early color schemes has been built up, the stonework will be painted to reflect Pugin’s original design.
The work to the Tower and Clock is not a part of the larger, more controversial Palace of Westminster Restoration and Renewal Program that is set to start in the 2020s.
Work on the Tower and Clock will begin in early 2017, and is expected to extend about three years. Learn more about the project here.
News via the United Kingdom Parliament.
