“Our design for the project responds to the layering of Tokyo; the juxtapositions of scale and the character of buildings that draw the eye upwards,” says Neil Hubbard, group leader at Heatherwick Studio.

“Set within a natural valley, we have chosen to accentuate that topography through our design, creating an undulating arrangement that uses a pergola-like structural system to create a variety of landscaped spaces, from hidden gardens to sunken courtyards. Weaving and flowing through the scheme, a family of pavilions emerges from the grid of the pergola. Rather than focus on one single impression, we hope to encourage exploration by creating hundreds of moments to be revealed and discovered.”

Led by architect Thomas Heatherwick, London-based Heatherwick Studio is no stranger to working living vegetation into its designs. In this case, the “planted pergola” makes brilliant use of an irregularly shaped plot, with an undulating roof that stretches down to reach the ground and planted balconies tucked into the vertical spaces.

“As many new developments around the world can be harsh and sterile, we wondered if we could provide a more human-centered alternative by integrating surprisingly intense quantities of planting and greenery,” says Heatherwick.

“As a way of combining an architectural construction system with significant amounts of nature, we developed the idea of a garden pergola scaled up to district size. This concept has allowed us to bring an overarching logic to an eight-hectare piece of Tokyo whilst also making space for facilities such as housing, shops, hotels, spas, a school, and a temple within the sections framed by the grid.”

Some areas of the “planted pergola” penetrate the ground, reaching down into the basement levels to provide natural light. The design references traditional Japanese crafts like edo kiriko, a 19th-century glass etching technique.

The project is the first by Heatherwick Studio to be constructed in Japan, and it’s set for completion in March 2023. Other structures in the district are currently underway, including apartment towers with wood-clad interiors by architect Sou Fujimoto, hotels, and a seven-story school for 700 international students. All of them will be connected by an underground pedestrian tunnel that contains a food hall.

Developer Mori aims for Toranomon-Azabudai to be a “modern urban village” offering a park-like atmosphere in the heart of Tokyo. It’s been in the works for 30 years, and construction finally began on August 5th, 2019.

“It’s been a remarkable period over the last four years to work with Mori Building Company, to create this new part of Tokyo — going beyond the norms of typical large mixed-use developments to create something meaningfully embedded within the city,” says Hubbard.

The post Heatherwick Studio Proposes a Planted Pergola Building for Tokyo first appeared on Dornob.

Growing gardens full of bee-friendly plants is one great way to do that. Another is engaging in some small-scale urban beekeeping. Starting a honeybee hive can be a daunting prospect for beginners, especially if the only space they have is a small backyard or balcony. Now, a new kit called the B-Box aims to make it as easy and compact as can be.

Designed to be safe, simple, interactive, and city-friendly, the B-Box is an innovative hive design featuring patent-pending technology that lets you monitor your bees and harvest honey without disturbing the hive. The only entrance and exit for them is at the top of a long chimney about 7.2 feet above the ground, keeping them safe and well away from any people that might be around. That means no protective clothing is needed to approach the hive.

It works using a special lever you pull when you want to access the honey. Bees can then exit the honeycomb chamber, but can’t enter. After a few hours, the chamber will be completely empty of bees, so you can pull out just one of the 16 mini-frames full of honey at a time, which are just the right size for use by an average household. Plus, this modular system also makes sure there’s enough honey left for the bees themselves to use. You can also collect beeswax, nutrient-dense bee pollen, and royal jelly from the frames.

The whole setup is small enough that it requires no more than a square meter of space, so as long as you have even the smallest of outdoor areas, you’ll be able to use the B-Box, too.

The product’s Indiegogo page reads: “B-box is, at its core, a bee hive. We aren’t pretending otherwise! But the traditional beehive we all think of today was invented over 150 years ago for professional use. It’s time that home beekeeping caught up with modern technology! That’s why we’ve re-engineered the traditional beehive to be more people and bee friendly — not to mention better adapted for domestic use.”

“In traditional hives, you have to disrupt your bees to check on their health. Imagine if a giant suddenly took the roof off your house! With B-Box, regularly agitating (and sometimes squishing) your bees is no longer necessary. Polycarbonate walls (the same material as shatterproof windows and eyeglass lenses) are hidden below the warm and cozy wood exterior panels of B-Box, allowing you to observe your hive anytime you like! See them at work, storing honey, and building honeycomb as you please. This also means you can monitor your bees’ health without disturbing the hive.”

The B-Box just completed a successful round of crowdfunding, raising over $200,000. Pre-orders have closed, but the unit will likely be available to the general public by early 2020.

The post B-Box Compact Hive Made for Backyard and Balcony Beekeeping first appeared on Dornob.

There are a lot of weird-looking architectural renderings on the internet, and most of them never get built — so it’s kind of fun when some of those proposals end up existing in the real world. L’Arbre Blanc Tower isn’t particularly outlandish, but it’s certainly unusual, and now that it’s complete, it serves as an interesting example of how digital concepts translate to three-dimensional structures.

Its name means “The White Tree,” and it’s easy to see why, though the result ends up looking more like a spiny cactus than branches sprouting from a narrow trunk. Sou Fujimoto Architects collaborated with Nicolas Laisné Associés, Dmitri Roussel/DREAM, and Manal Rachdi Oxo Architects to produce this mixed-use multifamily project for Montpellier, France. Its defining feature is clearly the many cantilevered balconies of varying lengths that protrude from its facade in all directions.

Winner of the 2013 “Folie Richter” competition by the Montpellier city council, which sought a blueprint for a beacon tower to enrich the city’s architectural heritage, the 17-floor L’Arbre Blanc demonstrates a novel way to give all of the inhabitants of an apartment tower access to the outdoors and gorgeous views of the city. On the ground floor is a glass-walled space full of shops and cafés, while the top floor contains a bar that’s open to the public and a common area for residents, so even those who live on the bottom floor can enjoy panoramic vistas.

The balconies act like sun shades, helping to cool the building throughout the day. The architects compare them to “leaves that fold out in search of sunlight… forming a protective veil for the facade.” In offering all of these outdoor spaces as well as access to the rooftop, they hoped to avoid the sort of “inaccessible tower syndrome” often seen in urban high-rise projects. A landscaped park at the ground level extends to the banks of the Lez River.

Unique, modular interior spaces are one of the hallmarks of the tower’s apartments, as the architects imagine a future in which freedom of choice becomes more important than ever when it comes to housing.

“The many balconies and pergolas really do promote outdoor living and enable a new type of relationship between residents,” say the architects. “Each apartment boasts an outdoor space of at least seven square meters (the largest is 35 square meters), with multiple levels of privacy and layout options; residents of the duplex apartments can move from one balcony to the other. So that all apartments have pleasing views, the architects sculpted the blueprint with a series of spatial experiments using physical 3D models.”

“The many technical innovations of L’Arbre Blanc include the terraces, whose cantilevers, which are up to 7.5 meters long, constitute a world first. These exceptional outside spaces are fully-fledged living rooms, which are connected to the dwellings in such a way as to allow residents to live inside and outside, a luxury for a city bathed in the sunshine 80 percent of the year!”

The architects also describe the tower as a cross-cultural endeavor and an interchange between two generations of architects. World-renowned Japanese firm Sou Fujimoto offers its prestige and expertise to youthful French architects while also bringing some of its own cultural aesthetics to the project.

The post Cantilevered Balconies Make L’Arbre Blanc Tower Look Like a Giant Cactus first appeared on Dornob.

The project was commissioned by Swire Properties, who themselves are long-recognized for creating swanky residential structures and had previously worked with Heatherwick Studios on the Pacific Place mall in Hong Kong.

Set for completion in late 2019, this ultra-luxurious apartment building aims to meld with Singapore’s vision of a “city in a garden.” In most of the country’s other developments, the architecture either provides a yard or garden space inside itself or is made extremely compact so as to preserve the existing outdoor space.

“Eden,” as the project is dubbed, is a 20-story complex, with each individual apartment taking up an entire floor. In sharp contrast to typical apartment living, Eden offers both large, well-developed units and outdoor gardening and living space. Plus, each four-bedroom, 3,000-square-foot apartment comes with an unobstructed 270-degree view. Situated on a quiet side street in the country’s Orchard Road strip, the view of nearby Draycott Park can be enjoyed from the private hanging balconies that make up the bulk of the building’s facade.

Giving life to the concept of combining urban apartment living with nature, each balcony has its own built-in garden area. The goal was to think outside the confines of typical apartment building design in order to combine upscale city living with private outdoor space, a luxury that is becoming increasingly difficult to find in urban areas.

“Like most global cities, Singapore’s skyline is filled with angular steel and glass towers. With Swire Properties we wanted to create something distinctive that represents Singapore as a city in a garden, and recreate the verdant backyard access once ubiquitous across homes here. Instead of glass-clad edifices with token balconies, each home within ‘EDEN’ will have a lush garden right at the doorstep with organic and generous living spaces achieved by breaking up the traditional boxy floorplate,” Thomas Heatherwick, founder of Heatherwick Studio, explains.

The building’s design resembles a spinal column, with simple vertical rectilinear plains and slim windows forming the foundation and generous garden balconies situated in between to allow privacy in each apartment and a large, centralized living space in the center of each floor. And while it may not be as tall as other buildings in the area, the drapes of greenery that’ll soon be planted on each level will grow to form a stunning vertical garden. More specifically, the designers plan to use torch ginger, elephant ears, heliconias, and split leaf philodendrons to accentuate the garden feel.

While Eden’s balconies bring the private garden experience to apartment living, they’re far from the only extraordinary things about its design. For instance, the building skips the traditional boxy construction and instead embraces curved architecture, quite literally poured into shape from concrete. This concrete has also been imprinted with a topographic map of Singapore as a reminder of the surrounding city island.

Eden has already earned a Green Mark Platinum rating from Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority (BCA), with natural ventilation stemming from its well-thought-out window placement and solar shading.

The post Heatherwick Studios Designs Luxury Apartments with Private Gardens first appeared on Dornob.

Among these exceptions is the GREENOX Residence by Mental Design Works. Set among Istanbul’s tangle of concrete, Turkey’s “first vertical forest” proves that the ultimate results of an ambitious architectural project can be just as beautiful and exciting as the initial illustrations. An astonishing 900 trees cover the entire facade of the 16-story high rise, peeking out of staggered balconies that create a dynamic zig-zagging pattern as you gaze up at them from the sidewalk. The developers describe the GREENOX project as “lungs” for Istanbul, perpetually oxygenating the city and increasing its biodiversity.

With a name fittingly derived from the words “green” and “oxygen,” it’s not so surprising that this 170-unit residential tower is every bit as green on the inside as it is on the surface. The building incorporates high-efficiency boilers for space heating and hot water, low-flow faucets, solar panels, built-in graywater treatment, and rainwater collection systems — not to mention a material palette that helps it save 35 percent more energy, 42 percent more water, and 41 percent more embodied energy than a similarly sized conventional apartment building.

All of these features helped GREENOX earn the World Bank Group’s EDGE certification, which recognizes “Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies.” EDGE actively participates in the funding and planning of sustainable architectural projects, helping them find systems and solutions that work best for different climates and bringing international cachet to the table without sacrificing local context. Thus far, EDGE projects have saved a collective 246,627 MWh of energy and 6,611,561 cubic meters of water per year.

“The unique visual appeal of GREENOX draws customers interested in living a sustainable lifestyle,” EDGE explains. “GREENOX became a reality when two major real estate developers, Aycan Real Estate and Feres Gayrimenkul, combined to form Aycan-Feres Joint Venture. GREENOX is the first project the new partnership has completed together.”

“The unique residential building is located in the heart of the European side of Istanbul in close proximity to business, shopping, and entertainment. GREENOX contains 170 units consisting of one and two-bedroom apartments. Residents have access to outdoor spaces, a rooftop swimming pool, and entertainment facilities. With many terraces to enjoy the outdoors, residents will be able to enjoy the natural appeal of GREENOX.”

Part of a global trend toward sustainable architecture, the GREENOX Residence is also one of many new buildings being constructed in the city of Istanbul to prepare for an “inevitable” major earthquake. As older buildings are demolished and new, seismically safer buildings are erected in their place, projects like GREENOX could serve as models for a new wave of visually-captivating, resource-efficient architecture.

The post The Towering GREENOX Urban Residence is Turkey’s First Vertical Forest first appeared on Dornob.

Local architecture studio BETA Office took on the challenge of designing this adaptable residence, fitting it onto a narrow city lot while also making it accessible for the potential future needs of its new elderly residents. Moving back to Amsterdam from a rural area to be closer to urban conveniences and amenities, the grandparents have their own retirement oasis at the penthouse level, while their children occupy the two lowest floors with their own kids, giving them easy access to an adjacent ground-level garden. Essentially, it’s a private apartment building containing two to three units.

A fifth level at the center offers an intermediary space that can be added to either the top or the lower apartment, or kept as its own independent space entirely. Currently, the grandparents use it for guest accommodations, but in the future it could easily be used to house a college-age grandchild or another relative. An elevator ensures easy access to all levels of the house for anyone who lives there or visits, running right alongside an angular staircase in a striking shade of yellow.

“Instead of reducing vertical circulation to a necessity, it occupies the heart of the building,” explain the architects. “Omnipresent as a sculptural element in the lower apartment, the system gradually transforms into a series of voids higher up in the building. This central access system allows a ‘surplus floor’ to be combined with either apartment. Initially used as a space for guests for the topmost apartment, this space can be easily added to the lower apartment through a few elementary technical amendments.”

In effect, the house remains a bit of a mystery from the street but blooms like a flower in the rear as it welcomes in the outdoors on every level. Terraces, balconies outfitted with hammocks, and potted plants soften what could otherwise be a harsh stack of concrete slabs and glass, while the daylight that comes streaming inside cheers up low-cost cement block walls. As a home for multiple generations of a single family, “Three Generation House” demonstrates the importance of an intrinsic ability to embrace and accommodate change.

All photos by Ossip van Duivenbode

The post Three Generation House: Adaptable Space Fits a Large Family first appeared on Dornob.

The new Sir Joan hotel, a 38-room boutique paradise with a unique faceted exterior, reflects that transformation. The first Spanish property to come from the Sir Hotels hospitality collective, Sir Joan is set right in the city center adjacent to Talamanca Beach, and its design quirks and details pay tribute both to its nautical surroundings and to the island’s untamed artistic legacy.

Architects and interior designers Baranowitz + Kronenberg have created a stunning design scheme that symbolically brings the waters of the sea right into the rooms without relying on kitsch or being too literal. Textured mirrors applied to the walls and ceilings mimic the look of sunlight reflecting on the surface of the water, while round mirrors in the rooms call to mind the portholes of ships. Wood is used extensively and strategically for the effect of being inside a hand-crafted boat, and in common areas like the hotel’s two restaurants, the IZAKAYA Asian Kitchen & Bar and THE BUTCHER burger bar, rippled stainless steel ceilings create a sense of movement.

“Sir Joan is rooted in bygone days when free-spirited communities would meet to create music and art in Ibiza,” says the hotelier. “A sensual and highly exclusive retreat for the party animal or quiet introvert alike. The private paradise celebrates a nostalgic era of the island, while catering to the needs of the modern traveler. Each room features a balcony, while the suites have up to three balconies as well as an indoor living area. We also offer two penthouse suites on the top floor, each possessing private balconies encircling the room with outdoor seating areas and a private cabana.”

The rooms are full of hand-picked local sculptures and books and double as galleries for curated collections of art by such Spanish artists as Carlos Irijalba Inercia and Joan Hernández Pijuan. They’re spacious, soundproof, and packed full of luxury goodies like local ayurvedic oils, spa body amenities, and rain showers. It’s not hard to see the allure of taking in views of that sunny triangular pool from your own private balcony with a tropical cocktail in hand. The top floor “Sir Penthouse” suite enjoys 700 square feet of space with its own cocktail bar, a large terrace with an open-air kitchen, and views of the historic Ibiza Old Town.

Rooms start at about $702 USD per night, and if you book at least 21 days in advance between October and February, you’ll get 20 percent off.

All photos by Amit Geron

The post Modern Nautical Luxury in Ibiza: The Bold New Sir Joan Hotel first appeared on Dornob.

In January 2017, a Reigate, Surrey, tea room extension was completed in the back of a couple’s house as a retirement gift from the husband to his wife. The couple wanted a place to sit and enjoy the views of their garden and the outdoor world while they sipped on their tea in the mornings. Pitched roofs and bi-fold doors were prominent in their vision for the extension, but after mulling over several design concepts, Vita Architecture came up with a proposal that would ultimately give the couple a balcony and a conservatory without taking up twice the space.

What Did the Project Entail?

This new idea doubled the amount of new room the couple would be getting and offered them the desired picturesque views of their backyard while also giving them the option to sit out in the sun (or take shelter from that unpredictable British weather on the cooler days). The bi-fold doors were replaced with a fully glazed sliding door, whose 18-millimeter frames allow the maximum amount of daylight to flood into the room. The result is a stunning and sleek glass and aluminum-clad extension that boasts a lot of space and a modern aesthetic.

Of course, when it comes to construction, planning permission is required to make any physical alterations to a property. Thanks to a handful of pre-application meetings and a carefully detailed design, Vita Architecture was successful in their proposal. To ensure a minimal impact on the neighbors’ privacy, the team fitted the balcony with a privacy screen to deter people from looking over into their gardens.

Some key statistics include the firm’s doubling of the floor area from 22 to 44 square meters, allotting the balcony a comfortable amount of walking and lounging space. The extension’s south and east-facing facades were achieved by installing “super insulating” floors, roofs, and walls into an existing loft. This expansion also increased the home’s list price by a generous 32 percent, which made for two very overjoyed clients.

Who is Behind this Masterful Work of Architecture?

Vita Architecture is a group made up of young architects based in Surrey, England. Founded by Ben Lee and Charlene Shum, the company has quickly garnered global recognition, having already won multiple design awards both in the UK and internationally. The innovative team has worked on everything from furniture to buildings to art installations, adding a vast array of diverse projects to their repertoire. Approaching every project with the goal of “maximiz[ing] the potential of spaces,” Vita Architecture aspires to produce bespoke and idiosyncratic environments for clients looking to better utilize their under-developed living areas.

How Can I Get Involved?

Vita Architecture prides itself on the quality of its services, as well as its boundary-pushing designs. The team wants to make sure that they can deliver design magic to your doorstep just as well as they can breathe life into your living space — so head over to their website and present them with your project specifications to begin your collaboration today!

The post Tea Room: One Husband’s Incredible Retirement Gift to His Wife first appeared on Dornob.

Take, for instance, this highly unusual prefabricated home in Stockholm, Sweden. Conceived of by Street Monkey Architects, the roof of the “Pulkabacken House” (Swedish for “Sledding Hill”) doubles as a bunny slope.

Pulkabacken House is deceptively simple when viewed from the back. Constructed from concrete modules and black steel panels, the home mostly looks like a standard modernist unit and contrasts beautifully with both winter snow and summer vegetation. Walk around to the front of the house, however, and you’ll think you’ve accidentally wandered into a ski resort.

Built on a sloping site on Värmdö, an island in the center of the Stockholm archipelago, Pulkabacken House is warmed and protected by its neighboring hillside. The clients wanted their home to feel like a refuge, camouflaged and obstructed when viewed from the road despite its close proximity to other houses. In reality, the architects chose to angle the home’s roofline down toward the higher end of the hillside for privacy purposes just as much as they did for recreational ones.

Most of the ramp’s surface has been made smooth for sledding fun. Below, on the home’s second story balcony, a ladder conveniently leads back up to the roof for those who want to go down the hill a second (or third?) time. This same balcony opens into the main living area, which looks out onto the sea. This floor boasts living and dining spaces, a kitchen with a study bar, a master bedroom, and two bathrooms. An internal stairwell leads down to the ground floor and features a cozy reading nook for those days when it’s just too cold to go outside.

Three more bedrooms, a family room, and a bathroom are all located on the Pulkabacken House’s bottom level, along with an outdoor terrace that steps out into a garden. The entire interior makes heavy use of a wintry color palette, whose recurring shades of white and silvery gray help blend the home into the surrounding outdoor landscape. The result is very much in line with the clean, orderly aesthetic of modern Swedish design.

During the summer, the rooftop ramp is covered in grass, transforming the slope into a terrace that the architects have called a “party deck.” In fact, Street Monkey sees the home promoting a vacation lifestyle all year long. While most homes on Värmdö are only used in the summertime, Pulkabacken House seems to have been made for all seasons. Plus, as Stockholm continues to grow, more people are beginning to inhabit its surrounding islands beyond the summer peak season.

“In the summer, the population of this area doubles and children migrate in packs from house to house,” explains architect Cage Copher. “One night you could end up with all of your friends’ children sleeping over, so the bedrooms are large and many.” On the local reception to the sledding roof, he says, “The kids who live nearby seem to be making the most of it!”

The post Sloping Roof Doubles as a Sledding Hill first appeared on Dornob.

The house was initially two stories tall and built using brick masonry that had begun to leak and crumble in the twenty years since its construction. High winds, salt water, and sand erosion are no joke! To make the home more structurally sound and protect it from further exposure to the harsh coastal elements, the architects surrounded the original brick in a five-inch layer of concrete.

The design team also noticed that the captain’s house was relatively squat compared to the surrounding buildings and that its bathrooms occupied most of the interior space closest to the ocean—an arrangement that they felt was wasting some gorgeous vistas. To make the most of the home’s seaside location, the architects rearranged its layout so that common areas like the living and dining rooms could overlook the sea and have more access to fresh air and natural daylight. They also equipped the house with a rounded, lookout-like third floor.

The third story is undoubtedly one of the renovation’s most spectacular additions. The textured concrete of the room’s vaulted ceiling beautifully contrasts with its wooden floors. Up a small ladder, this new area houses a loft that the family can use to gaze out over the land or sea, unobstructed by the roofs of neighboring houses. Vector explains that the balconies on the each end of the vault tie the home to two drastically different worlds: “one being the serene sea [and] the other one being the noisy port.” The roof’s rounded shape encourages rainwater to run off the sides of the house, reducing the potential for leaks. More symbolically, the arched ceiling simulates the feel of a temple, in which the captain’s religious family will be able to meditate and pray. Of course, the space has been left relatively open to accommodate changing needs and is also ideal for working out, playing games, and entertaining guests.

Downstairs, new concrete window frames that protrude from the house have been installed as part of a “window-furniture” system. Aside from being windows, these extended areas can also be used as couches or lounge chairs and contain several cabinets for storage. Plus, the overhang of their concrete envelopes will help prevent water and unwanted wind from entering the house. In the living room, family members can climb into one of these padded window seats to read, draw, or daydream. The master bedroom even hosts an extra-deep windowsill that doubles as a desk!

“At dusk, the gentle light comes out from the[se] translucent glass blocks,” read the architects’ project notes. “We hope the house gradually becomes the carrier of emotion for the captain’s family, and gives deserved dignity and decency to the daily life of ordinary people, which is particularly meaningful under the current circumstance of China.”

The post Renovation of a Captain’s House: Unusual Seaside Home Design first appeared on Dornob.

Of course, these “baskets” are actually made of steel and only wrapped in wicker. The balconies protrude from every other window to give each resident a private outdoor space they wouldn’t find in most other London apartments, much less the ones built on such narrow lots. Each balcony boasts bamboo flooring and is long enough for an adult to lay down in. Below, a wicker fence separates the building’s front patio from the sidewalk and complements these eye-catching additions to the brick facade.

The architects felt that the baskets provided a nice relief to the building’s otherwise harsh brick exterior, explaining: “Wicker woven steel balconies are hung from every other aperture softening the material palette. These are large enough for dining and are alternated to allow neighbors the opportunity to develop the limited social space above and below them when communal gardens are not available. For similar reasons the front door is an extruded version of the bronzed window reveals, becoming a porte-cochere with a bench made of the same CLT as the superstructure inviting use when meeting neighbors as well as being convenient to rest yourself and grocery bags while fumbling for keys.”

The building is notable for more than just its curb appeal. Located on Barretts Grove, a street filled with archetypal Victorian architecture and terraced brick homes, the complex successfully blends in with its surroundings while simultaneously acting as an example of progressive architecture.

Underneath its brick facade, the structure is made almost entirely out of cross-laminated timber, or CLT. The architects used CLT as a “superstructure’” for the building’s walls, floors, and roof. The bricks, in turn, shield the timber from rain. In the past, most people assumed that wood was too weak and too flammable to use in buildings over three stories tall. However, recent tests have proven those assumptions to be false. Governments around the world are now amending their building codes, as wood can be manufactured more sustainably, is often more affordable, and produces less construction waste than steel or concrete. Plus, there’s something about wooden structures that just feels warmer and more welcoming than metal ones.

While the building’s exterior might hide its wooden composition, its interior plainly reveals its true form. The architects left all interior CLT exposed and unfinished to emphasize its natural beauty. Plus, it eliminated the need for drywall, paint, plasterboard, and suspended ceilings, reducing the project’s carbon footprint by 15 percent. A wooden framework also made it easier for the team to incorporate built-in elements like window seats, timber cabinetry, and full height doors.

How would you decorate a wicker balcony of your own?

The post Skinny London Apartment Building Features Wicker Basket Balconies first appeared on Dornob.

Attics and upper-floor spaces with angled roofs can feel stuffy and constricting, often cut off from both daylight and fresh air. Instead of renovating the roof to add attic windows or balconies, you could have both in one. European window manufacturer Velux offers dormer windows that transform into outdoor spaces in seconds, the bottom half featuring pop-up banisters and the top half opening vertically into an overhang.

The Cabrio system fits snugly into the roof when closed, but becomes an instant balcony just by pushing both panes open. Available in single, double or triple formats, they bring daylight, fresh air and a view to rooms under sloping roofs, making the space inside feel dramatically larger and more open.

The top-hung section rotates 180 degrees for easy cleaning, and protects the indoor space in case of sudden rain. Previously unusable floor space butting right up to the ceiling becomes an indoor/outdoor lounge space.

If you want an instant balcony that’s a little larger, there’s also an option for a triple window with bottom panes that swing out to the side, creating a full-sized door leading to a small terrace with a standard balcony railing.

“VELUX CABRIO balcony opens in seconds to give your loft space a place in the sun. The innovative balcony adds air, light and a great view to your home. For added convenience, the VELUX CABRIO balcony fits flush with the roof when closed.”

“Enjoy a balcony instantly – VELUX CABRIO® goes from roof window to balcony in seconds. Bring the outside in – let in more natural daylight and fresh air. Roof window or balcony – your choice – the top half opens like a traditional roof window.”

“With a small investment, you can dramatically transform any room in your home with daylight and fresh air. In the long run, installing roof windows will help you save on your utility bills. Costs vary depending on the number of roof windows and your ceiling type.”

The post Attic Window Transforms into Pop-Up Balcony first appeared on Dornob.

This French apartment building is equipped with wavy balconies that extend the living space and create a fascinating visual effect from outside. Each balcony alternates wavy parts with the balcony below it, providing residents a surprising amount of vertical space and creating a fun look for the facade.

The idea behind the project was to call to mind stacked villas which are wide open to the environment. By adding the wrap-around balconies to the inexpensive housing units, the architects – ECDM Architectes – effectively doubled the living space of each unit.

Each level of the building features a slightly different floor plan so that no residence overlooks another. This careful planning gives the housing development’s residents a high level of privacy – something that most apartment balconies just can’t offer.

The terraces are outfitted in perforated metal balustrades which let in plenty of light. Thin green garden equipment cupboards separate one balcony from the next. From the street, these cupboards create vertical green lines that run up the height of the buildings.

As the residents have begun to plant vegetation on their balconies, the plants have created the appearance of the entire building being a huge vertical terraced garden.

More from the architects

“The idea was to extend the surface of the apartments by balconies representing a minima 50% of the living area with a drastic construction cost : 1350 € / sqm. The project implements objective values where all the constructive and architectural aspects are drafted for their practical value and their economic performance. The façade serve as an expression of a living place whose alternate sinusoids movements are realized in order to allow an optimal amount of sunlight despite cantilevers up to 3.20 meters of depth. Therefore, in front of each living room, the amplitude of the balcony is maximum and refines in front of the rooms or secondary rooms.”

“Dwellings are alternated floor by floor in order to never superimpose living rooms. Then despite very generous dimensions of balconies, there is no mask effect between apartments. The unique qualities of the location provide an opportunity to re-think the creation of a link between a landscape and settlements patterns.”

The post French Apartment Building Looks Like a Giant White Layer Cake first appeared on Dornob.

‘Balcony House’ by Ryo Matsui Architects is located in the middle of bustling Tokyo, yet it has the kind of private outdoor space typically only seen in the suburbs. Three verandas jut out over the sidewalk, and the entire roof is a terrace affording nearly panoramic views of the city.

Wooden decking brings some warmth to the angular concrete structure, and thin black metal railings avoid blocking views and let in as much light as possible. The terraces are planted with small trees, in a city where greenery can be hard to come by.

A two-car garage on the ground level leads up to the living spaces, which are lined in a variety of species and tones of wood for a dynamic feel. The master bedroom is on the fourth level, elevated above most of the surrounding buildings for optimal views.

“In Japan, especially the centre of Tokyo, the house next to each other extremely approaches the site boundary. Although it is the place where we want to  expect the openness to the frontal road necessarily, the site facing each other is the same  condition.  There are small balconies, and the planters for blindfolds. It is not exaggeration even  if it is said that balconies influence the cityscape in the crowd place of the residential area. The balcony with the depth of 2m becomes the buffer area with the road and takes the function of  eaves. ”

“Getting plants grown wild by keeping enough depth of the balconies, it is higher than an  upper balcony and brought it up. We suggest that the balconies have a beneficent influence to not  only the interior, and it enable to become the new cityscape.”

The post Urban Balcony House in Tokyo first appeared on Dornob.

If you’ve convinced yourself that you couldn’t possibly downsize into a smaller house or apartment, maybe you just haven’t met the right space yet. Because when it comes to making a micro apartment or tiny house work for you, every little detail matters. That includes a smart layout, making use of vertical space, being selective about the items you want to highlight and focusing attention on the architecture, not your stuff.

In a total of 90 square meters, this Swedish apartment fits an entire stylish home into an impossibly tiny space. The narrow staircase just inside the entrance leads to a small but dramatic loft space, which is just the introduction to a modern and bohemian living area.

A comfortable living area has been created using muted colors with little splashes of bright hues and whimsical details. A working fireplace brightens the main living area, acting as the main focal point beside the sculptural stairs.

Strategically placed skylights bring in natural light, while suspended bare-bulb fixtures add to a feeling of modern living.

Even the kitchen and bathroom have a thoroughly modern edge, but they are not without their rustic charm: textured walls and scattered live plants smooth out the modern look.

The living space, overall, feels so much brighter and larger than you might expect from such a small space, and the sculptural walls give the apartment a much more organic feel than you might expect to find in the city.

Easily the most striking feature of the apartment is the impressive terrace which opens up off of the kitchen area. Filled with a comfortable sitting area and tons of plants, the terrace seems like one of the coziest places to spend a relaxing evening.  Overall, it’s a beautiful example of how a small space can actually be quite comfortable and stylish.

(via: Freshome)

The post Tiny Lofted Apartment With a Terrace first appeared on Dornob.

Less is more when you need to make the most out of a small space, and this apartment shows how using a few materials and making smart layout choices can lead to a lovely and open-feeling home. It’s a great example of how your design choices can make your home feel spacious, no matter the size. Designed by Alan Chu (images by Djan Chu), this Sao Paulo abode features white brick walls, a black spiral staircase and light-colored pine built-ins and platforms to keep the space bright, simple and multi-functional.

Of all the choices Chu made, the staircase is obviously the most impactful: sure, it’s functional, but it’s also like a modern sculpture. We love how it contrasts with textural white brick and the natural textiles on the sofa.

Most of the wooden elements are stacked to one side, serving as shelves but also storage spaces while leaving other walls open and light and the plan itself also largely open to being rearranged as needed.

The lower level serves all primary daytime functions – kitchen, dining space and living room – with a thin balcony on the exterior face of the building and a fold-out couch sleeper for lounging or guests.

The upper floor houses a minimal but elegant bedroom, a darker and more relaxing space. The project was made for a single occupant, but could house two as needed.

More info from the architect

“The idea is to use a single element to organize the space of the small apartment with an area of 36 sqm, distributed in two floors. The crates built with autoclaved pinewood and colorful interiors serve well for this purpose and arranged in a seemingly random way bring to the environment a youthful and unpretentious atmosphere.”

“The crates have several functions: in the pantry, kitchen, living room and one of them, suspended in space, camouflages the existing structure of the mezzanine and receives the metal ladder in its dark and cylindrical interior, creating the transition between floors.  The apartment is the temporary residence of a recently divorced businessman and the decor plays with the transience of the moment: a time of changes, improvisation and reorganization.”

The post Exemplary Interior: How to Make 380 Sq Ft Feel Spacious first appeared on Dornob.