The Klein Bottle House—located in Rye, Australia—is made of concrete sheets and black metal, surrounded by trees and next to a beach. I like it, but if I had to choose something, I would rather get Ben Rose Home, Cameron's house in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Or if you want to get all freaky funky nerdy with me, I'd pick Rem Koolhaas's Maison à Bordeaux. [McBride Charles Ryan via Design Boom]
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Such gorgeous design. When I snuggle up in my own cocoon of blankets tonight, I'm going to dream of being in that building and of being that particular super heroine. Right after I figure out a proper alter ego name that is. [WAN]
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The exterior facade of this structure speaks to age and dignity with floral decoration, soft white coloration and classic structural proportions. The remodeled interior could not be more different: stark whites and blues, ultramodern materials and creative contemporary spaces -including an incredible open outdoor courtyard set right the center of the enclosed floor areas to connect the old original street-front building with an all-new modern backyard addition.
Dealing with a long and narrow space is difficult in any architectural design project, but far more complex when the designer needs to deal with buildings on both sides that preclude the possibility of letting in interior light from anywhere but above. The drastic solution found in this case by Ong & Ong was to conceptually carve a space from roof to ground right in the center of the property – outside insofar as it has no ceiling, but inside in terms of visibility and interior circulation.
Kitchen, storage and other support spaces can be accessed only by crossing through a stunning blue-lit courtyard pond with sheer corrugated walls on both sides, a single tree and stepping stones to cross the water – making the trip seem as if it were truly a walk outside and back indoors.
Walls were mostly avoided in favor of glass partitions and divider-free spiral stairs to create a sense of spatial divisions from one room to the next but without blocking the flow of natural light, air and a sense of openness throughout the home. In the main portion of the renovated home, the bedroom floor has an internal sense of privacy but looks out both out on the street on one side and the interior pond on the other. The lower floor is more open from front to back, through and through.
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Some people saw this old industrial water pumping station as an eyesore, a giant architectural relic out of place and scale in its now-residential semi-urban surroundings near the middle of contemporary downtown Berlin. An artistic duo, however, saw it is a huge blank canvas on which to create a masterpiece of modern minimalism.
For the price of a cheap condo in most other major European cities, Elmgreen & Dragset were able to purchase the property for under a million dollars – a steal considering the fine structural shape it is in and the incredibly vast interior space it contains. Just imagine, for instance, what a comparable space would cost in Paris, London or New York City.
Rather than overwork their new home, the buyers chose simple white paint for much of the interior and industrial materials and other surfaces to match the character of the structure. Much of the existing piping, lighting and other raw industrial fixture work was simply left as-is or coated with a layer or two of paint.
The finished work is simple, spacious and open – allowing room to grow as needed and never-ending options for using the owners’ own artworks as interior decoration. Already they have pealed off some pieces of the original building to reuse as fireplaces and bathtubs, and sectioned off essential support spaces like kitchens, bathrooms and guest bedrooms, but the bulk of their creative construction work is no doubt yet to come.
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There are good reasons for constructing homes with right angles – making this curiously cylindrical eccentric exception fit about as well in its context as a round peg in a square hole. Fortunately, that was just what the owners wanted.
Inspired by theater-in-the-round designs (complete with a cute black-box attachment), this house makes the experience of dwelling much like living in the kind of full-time performance space after which it was modeled.
This place pulls out all the stops: while there are a few flat surfaces for doors and niches with necessarily-rectilinear accessories, virtually the entire interior is as round as the exterior. Further, much of the interior is wide open and allows views across, up and down the central cylindrical space.
Building materials and construction techniques are part of the story, but even once a residence is built there are furniture objects, wall fixtures and all kinds of other design elements that make rounded homes like this one by Ryoko and Keisuke Masuda a radical challenge inside and out.
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Remember the early days of the real estate bust, when it was shocking to learn that a planned condo building was going rental? The Chapman is going rental--OMG! Today, news of another bank failure and another FDIC takeover doesn't even get a 'Breaking' in the headline. Case in point: The Exposition, that 22-unit Kanner Architects-designed development at 11320 Exposition Boulevard in West Los Angeles is currently taking a break from sales following the FDIC takeover of its lender, Ventura-based Affinity Bank. The FDIC then sold the assets to San Diego-based Pacific Western Bank this fall, a move which ultimately complicated the process of completely finishing the building, according to Chris DeBolt, head of Hollywood-based development company Urban Environments, who tells us he expects sales to resume at the project early next year.
DeBolt believes an agreement with Affinity to finish the building (which is basically done at this point, and just needs final construction documents) and get the last of the subcontractors paid, is close.
It's a situation that sounds similar to that stalled Echo Park project, in which the developer basically has to wait on the new bank. 'When a new bank comes in, they really control the loan, and it's a matter of waiting,' says DeBolt. 'Sometimes they want to sell the loan, and sometimes they want to work with the borrower.'
And asked if any units sold before September, DeBolt says: "We received a few offers, but we didn’t accept any because we didn’t know what was going on with the bank." Meanwhile, this project was one of many new developments to open in West LA in the last year.
· The Exposition [Official Site]
· PriceChopper: Kanner Architects' Exposition Blvd Drops [Curbed LA]
