AA House by Parque Humano

This house is an exploration on the trace of a variety of formal and architectural lineages in the ongoing transformation of the modern dwelling that ranges from Neutra’s Kaufmann House to the Case Study Housing Program.

This house was designed as a man-made pavilion for observing and living in close proximity to nature. Organized around an open landscape, the result is an L-shaped plan one room wide, an intersection of the two axis radiating from the central living / dining space in which all rooms flank the swimming pool and face the view of the park, including bedrooms with headboards. Pushing the limits of interior space through the use of floor to ceiling glass openings, we sought to bring house and landscape into a higher unity. More than a composition on lines and planes, this residential design provides a framework for appreciating nature. Through the use of a steel structure we created a greater feeling of lightness and openness. Through the use of overhangs we provided shade and reduced glare. Brick was a fundamental material in the house, brick provided insulation for extreme temperatures primarily from the intense summer heat. We created a special composition whereby walls organize space but do not bear weight. The rectilinear composition is supported by the straightforward landscape designed by Pamela Burton. The pool, not only recreational asset, also intensifies the view from the interior through its constantly changing reflections of the sky and clouds.

AA House, Mexico City by Parque Humano, via: Contemporist

Landscape Rocker by Jeffrey Bernett for B&B Italia

Designed by Jeffrey Bernett for B&B Italia in 2001, Landscape is a modern classic. For the 10-year anniversary of this project a new rocking base transforms it into the most modern of rocking chairs, while a cushioned seat with a three-dimensional surface, designed by Kvadrat for B&B Italia in seven colour variations (mustard yellow, purple, yellow, beige, sage green, orange and dark brown) enhances its comfort.

Landscape Rocker, by Jeffrey Bernett, for B&B Italia

Exhibition: Hélène Binet: Architecture Photographs

For the last twenty years, Swiss artist Hélène Binet has captured the works of contemporary architects including: David Chipperfield, Coop Himmelblau, Daniel Libeskind, Sauerbruch Hutton and Peter Zumthor. In the language of photography Binet reflects her own notion and interpretation of the building, resulting in her work separating itself from pure documentation to a work of art. through her imagery, she lets light and shade take effect, seizes walls and openings, corners and curves, to express through the use of her camera, her personal point of view.

This exhibition at Gabrielle Ammann /Gallery presents a selection of Hélène Binet’s works from 1999 to 2011: ‘lfone’ (Zaha hHadid) from 1999, Le Monastère de Sainte-Marie de la Tourette’ (Le Corbusier) from 2007, as well as her landscape images entitled ‘Formations’. the ‘Kolumba 01′ (Peter Zumthor) a work from 2007, will be on the cover of the upcoming monograph ‘hélène binet: composing space, the photographs of Hélène Binet’, published by Phaidon in a limited edition. On the occasion of this exhibition, the gallery is proud to present, worldwide for the first time, ‘Vardø’, June 2011 (Steilneset, memorial for the victims of the witch trials in Vardø, Finnmark) built by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor.

Architecture Photographs by Hélène Binet, at Gabrielle Ammann /Gallery, Cologne, Germany, September 09 – October 28

Showtime Vases by Jaime Hayon for BD Ediciones

Inspired by Classic MGM musicals, Jaime Hayon has designed a home furniture series of chairs, tables and vessels called Showtime collection. These playful vases are a more than passive flower holders – they have personality. A special edition of the vases in gold were exhibited during Stage, at the Aram Gallery in London.
Jaime Hayon is the most intriguing figure in new Spanish design. He has energy, talent and a style of his own, he plays with the boundaries between classicism and modernity, all of which are all distilled into the Showtime Vases.

Bd Barcelona Design Showtime Vases, by Jaime Hayon

Myra Vale by Katon Redgen Mathieson

Set on five acres in the NSW Southern Highlands, this house is presented as a steel and glass pavilion perched upon a raised podium to take advantage of a north aspect and views across rolling hills and a nearby reservoir. Internally the house features terrazzo floors that extend out onto external terraces. The house overlooks a contemporary garden with a small purpose made lake and a 15 meter lap pool set amongst trees.

Myra Vale, Southern Highlands, Australia by Katon Redgen Mathieson

Cube Illusion by Laszlo Tompa

The case is a simple cube, with a surface covered with no space matching geometric ornaments produced by CNC-woodturning. So beside the storage function there is originated a new, unusual, powerful abstract sculpture-looking furniture. At a first glance it’s not visible that the furniture hides a relatively large storage place inside due to the optical illusion of the ornaments. The case is diagonally symmetrical, so the storage section can be covered with the lid rotated 180 degrees. Cube Illusion was selected on IFDA Asahikawa 2011 as finalist.

Cube Illusion, 40 x 40 x 40 cm, cherry wood, by Laszlo Tompa, via: Contemporist

Jaffa Apartment by Pitsou Kedem Architect

The 100 square meter residential home is located in Old Jaffa. Its location is unique in that it is set above the harbor, facing west with all of its openings facing the majestic splendor of the Mediterranean Sea. Whilst it is difficult to determine the buildings exact age, it is clear that it is hundreds of years old. Over the years, it has undergone many changes and had many additions made that have damaged the original quality of the building and its spaces. The central idea was to restore the structure’s original, characteristics, the stone walls, the segmented ceilings and the arches including the exposure of the original materials (a combination of pottery and beach sand).

The building has been cleaned of all of the extraneous elements, from newer wall coverings and has undergone a peeling process to expose its original state. Surprisingly, modern, minimalistic construction styles remind us of and correspond with the ascetic style of the past, and this despite the vast time difference between them.The central idea was to combine the old and the new whilst maintaining the qualities of each and to create new spaces that blend the styles together even intensify them because of the contrast and tension between the different periods. The historical is expressed by preserving the textures and materials of the buildings outer shell and by respecting the building engineering accord. The modern is expressed by the opening of spaces and by altering the internal flow to one more open and free and the creation of an urban loft environment along with the use of stainless steel, iron and Corian in the various partitions, in the openings and in the furniture.

The project succeeds in both honoring and preserving the historical and almost romantic values of the structure whilst creating a contemporary project, modern and suited to its period. Despite the time differences, the tensions and the dichotomy between the periods exist in a surprisingly balanced and harmonic space.

Jaffa Apartment, Old Jaffa, Tel-Aviv, Israel, Design Team: Pitsou Kedem, Raz Melamed,
Irene Goldberg, Pitsou Kedem Architect, Photography by Amit Geron

Sculpture by Axel Brechensbauer

Nature is not evil, it´s ugly. Thats why we have gardens.
It´s like ok, but we can do it a little bit better by arranging everything.
We are obsessed by tetris, order and man-made systems.

Mother Nature, Cliff bird, Model of Surroundings, Modern Painters, Endless Growth,
by Axel Brechensbauer

Books: Cosmic Communist Constructions Photographed

Photographer Frédéric Chaubin reveals 90 buildings sited in fourteen former Soviet Republics which express what he considers to be the fourth age of Soviet architecture. His poetic pictures reveal an unexpected rebirth of imagination, an unknown burgeoning that took place from 1970 until 1990. Contrary to the 1920s and 1950s, no “school” or main trend emerges here. These buildings represent a chaotic impulse brought about by a decaying system. Their diversity announced the end of the Soviet Union.

Taking advantage of the collapsing monolithic structure, the holes in the widening net, architects went far beyond modernism, going back to the roots or freely innovating. Some of the daring ones completed projects that the Constructivists would have dreamt of (Druzhba Sanatorium, Yalta), others expressed their imagination in an expressionist way (Palace of Weddings, Tbilisi). A summer camp, inspired by sketches of a prototype lunar base, lays claim to Suprematist influence (Prometheus youth camp, Bogatyr). Then comes the “speaking architecture” widespread in the last years of the USSR: a crematorium adorned with concrete flames (Crematorium, Kiev), a technological institute with a flying saucer crashed on the roof (Institute of Scientific Research, Kiev), a political center watching you like Big Brother (House of Soviets, Kaliningrad). This puzzle of styles testifies to all the ideological dreams of the period, from the obsession with the cosmos to the rebirth of identity. It also outlines the geography of the USSR, showing how local influences made their exotic twists before the country was brought to its end.

Frédéric Chaubin Cosmic Communist Constructions Photographed, by Frédéric Chaubin, Hardcover, 26 x 34 cm (10.2 x 13.4 in.), 312 pages, ISBN: 9783836525190, Multilingual Edition: English, French, German, Published by: Taschen

Buy it here: Amazon

Vessel Series Lamps by Samuel Wilkinson for Decode

Each looks to celebrate the bulb from a different perspective. The designs were produced specifically to complement the flowing forms of the Plumen 001. when illuminated the glass tint mutes the light without hiding the form and produces an unexpected irregular reflection that appears holographic. The outer veil of the Vessels is pierced by a fluid machined aluminium form which holds the bulb in the centre of the volumes. Every piece is totally unique as they are all mouth blown by eye, without a mould, by a local master craftsman. Of the three variations two can be either hung as a pendant or placed on a flat surface as a floor or table light. The angle cut form references the traditional type of impossible bottle (ship in a bottle).

Vessel Series Lamps, by Samuel Wilkinson, for Decode