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Enter Taylor Swift’s former New York residence, a charming carriage house in Greenwich Village which the songstress rented as recently as 2016. Situated in one of NYC’s most iconic neighborhoods, the five-story former pop palace is perhaps most famous as the subject of her song “Cornelia Street,” in which she refers to the early days of her relationship with the actor Joe Alwyn. The townhouse is situated on the quaint (you guessed it) Cornelia Street near Washington Square Park. At the time of Swift’s living there, it was owned by former Soho House executive David Aldea, who according to Vulture didn’t even know who Swift was when she asked to rent the property while renovations were being made to her own Tribeca apartment.

Upon first glance, 23 Cornelia Street is easily overlooked from the street. With an unassuming brick facade and wooden doors, the property doesn’t exactly scream “glamour.” Swift herself supposedly chose the townhouse because of its private garage, through which she could enter and exit in relative peace (though devoted Swifties naturally discovered where she was staying at the time).

Built in 1899, the historic home is a sprawling 5,500-square-foot dream of luxe grandiosity and glam touches that are very fitting for a star of Swift’s caliber. The basement alone is an airy, seemingly sky-high ceilinged lounge complete with a queenly glass chandelier, a private garden, indoor pool, and gym area. But it’s the townhouse’s living room which undoubtedly holds the most appeal for fans, as it’s featured in a video Swift posted of herself at the time writing the song “King of my Heart.”

During her tenure at 23 Cornelia Street, Swift reportedly used up the entire home, which boasts a total of four bedrooms and six bathrooms. It’s hard not to picture her using the sumptuous primary bedroom, complete with a small terrace and free-standing bath, or spending time on the rooftop terrace with her beau (as she sings in “King”: “With all these nights we’re spending/Up on the roof…”).

The home most recently sold in 2019 for a whopping $11.5 million. Today it’s unoccupied by residents, but instead serves as a “corporate house” for the Italian furniture company Zanotta. Any fans dying to get a glimpse into the pop star’s former abode can still book a tour hosted by the New York Junior League (NYJL). The female-led organization recently hosted a Fall House Tour and is planning another one in Spring of 2023, so make sure to mark your calendar if you’re a Swiftie!

The post Get a Glimpse Inside Taylor Swift’s Former NYC Home Turned Furniture Gallery first appeared on Dornob.

The architects were tasked with building for the long-term while using present resources wisely, working with designers, consultants, builders, and craftsman to develop a space that improves the success and well-being of students. The College wanted The New Library to honor its past without just passively “blending in.” The result is an inspiring structure that preserves a human scale.

“The result — a solid and confident, yet deferential new kid on the college block,” says Allford. “The light-filled, warm-wood interior lifts spirits and fosters connections. The overarching commitment to build something that will stand the test of time can be felt in every material and detail, and from every viewpoint. This is the epitome of how to build for the long-term.”

Sited in a sensitive historic setting along the boundary wall between the enclosed Master’s Garden and open Fellow’s Garden, The New Library is a contemporary, sustainable addition to the Magdalene College campus. Its exterior consists of elegant brickwork set adjacent to the wood-and-glass gables. The older college buildings are made of load-bearing brick with timber floors and similarly gabled pitched roof structures — the architects simply translated these elements into modern forms that maintained a sense of harmony with the historic facilities.

The interior spaces are built with cross-laminated timber structural elements as well as hardwood bookshelves and tables. There’s a sense of rhythm to the layout, with all the roof lights, columns, light baffles, windows, and balustrades forming an orderly “warp and weft” throughout the space. Natural light comes streaming in at just the right angle to illuminate the library without creating glare or damaging the books. Spaces are single, double, or triple height, ranging from small and intimate study areas to awe-inspiring halls with contemplative views.

“The library is approached from Second Court, through a little doorway, and out under an old Yew tree,” say the architects. “From this shady corner, you sense the presence of the river opening out at the edge of the lawn. We wanted to make the building a journey that gradually rose up towards the light. On the way up there would be rooms, galleries, and places to perch with a book. At the top, there would be views out over the lawn towards the water. We wanted to create a variety of ways for someone to situate themselves depending on inclination. You might sit in a grand hall, a small room, or tuck yourself into a tiny private niche.”

They add: “For us, good architecture plays a variety of experiences against underlying order so as to produce harmony. The new library is based upon a logical latticework of interrelated elements. A regular grid of brick chimneys supports the floors and book stacks and carries warm air up to ventilate the building. Between each set of four chimes, there is a roof lantern bringing light down into the spaces below: air rising and light falling.”

The selection marks the first time the RIBA Sterling Prize has been awarded to a college. It’s also the first win for Níall McLaughlin Architects, who have previously been shortlisted for the prize in 2018, 2015, and 2013 for its timber Bishop Edward King Chapel.

The post Níall McLaughlin Architects Wins the 2022 RIBA Prize for Magdalene College Library in Cambridge first appeared on Dornob.

Formerly known as Harman Hall, the Cherry Creek North gem was built at the turn of the 20th century and is an integral part of Denver history. Often referred to as the city’s most iconic residence, the building served as a town hall before being converted into a stylish residence. However, like many buildings of its age, this Colorado landmark also has its secrets, including a former speakeasy (a remnant of the days of Prohibition, when passwords and hidden rooms were the norm). Today, the expansive home is a renovated dream space on the market for approximately $15 million, making it by far the priciest listing in the area.

Purchased by Pat Hamill, CEO of Oakwood Homes, the historic residence certainly needed a little TLC. Hamill was just the man to return the home to its former glory. After an epic 2010 expansion and renovation, the former Harman Hall is now a contemporary residence that retains nods to its iconic past, complete with authentic turn-of-the-century touches like reclaimed wood and blast-from-the-past patterns.

For his part, Hamill felt that the “iconic home” was special, and certainly worth all the trouble. In addition to expanding the residence’s square footage by approximately 7,000 square feet and gutting the interior, he also paid homage to the house’s past by restoring its original red brick facade. In a nod to the former speakeasy, Hamill also transformed the lowest level into a private event space fit for Prohibition-era partying, though it now hosts charity events and gathering rather than secret social meetings.

The former speakeasy also has another more modern function. Connecting to an underground showroom with space for up to 10 cars, the space serves as a showcase for grandeur and luxury, complete with a hydraulic lift and connecting three-car garage.

Though replete with modern touches like heated wood floors, floor-to-ceiling doors, and elevators, the former Harman Hall remains an iconic cornerstone of Denver architecture. Now a sprawling luxury residence, the historic home retains much of its turn-of-the-century charm with nods to the past that can be seen everywhere from its restored brick facade to its speakeasy-turned-entertainment space. And while you may not need a secret handshake or code word to enter this majestic manor, you do need a cool $15 million to make it your own. But perhaps that’s price worth paying for this unique piece of Denver history.

The post This $15 Million Denver Home is Packed with Historic Secrets, Including an Underground Speakeasy first appeared on Dornob.

Located in the town of Franklin, about 20 miles south of Nashville, Cyrus’ former home is set in a secluded rural area at the end of a private dirt road. Five bedrooms might not sound like much for such an expensive home, but the eight-year-old farmhouse measures an extremely generous 6,689 square feet and includes four full bathrooms and two half bathrooms. A massive barn-sized 30-foot-long living room takes up much of that real estate, featuring a double-height wood beam ceiling, built-in bookshelves, and a huge stacked stone raised hearth fireplace.

The style of the home is tailored to its Southern setting, with details like wide-plank rustic wood floors, shiplap interior wall paneling, tongue-and-groove wood ceilings, wainscoting, classic hexagonal bathroom tiles, and textural brick. A double-wide island with a snack bar takes center stage in the home’s country-style kitchen, complimented by two-tone cabinetry, a brick fireplace, and premium Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances. The main floor primary suite also boasts its own fireplace, and a clawfoot soaking tub tucked into a bright corner with views of the trees outside.

The other four bedrooms, a den, game room, and rooftop deck make up the rest of the home’s square footage. French doors in the living room open onto a palatial screened porch with yet another stacked stone fireplace, tile floors, and a swing suspended from the ceiling by ropes. This indoor/outdoor space leads out to an in-ground swimming pool and spa surrounded by a terrace and small putting green. A smaller, separate barn-style building could act as a guest house or recording studio. Best of all, the property enjoys lots of privacy thanks to its cul-de-sac location, and a buffer of forest on all sides.

Since the home never went on the market this time around, no new photos are available, but we do have the listing photos from when Cyrus purchased it in 2017. It’s possible she made some renovations since then that have boosted the property’s value. The sale is just the latest real estate deal for Cyrus, whose estimated net worth is around $200 million. Last year, she sold her Hidden Hills home for $7.2 million (the same neighborhood multiple Kardashians and Jenners currently call home). In 2020, she sold her $1.7 million Malibu home to Matthew Wilder, and before that, she sold a Toluca Lake, Los Angeles mansion to Texas oil heir Nats Getty and his wife, YouTuber Gigi Gorgeous.

The post Miley Cyrus Sells Nashville Ranch for $14 Million first appeared on Dornob.

Enter the Community Design Agency (CDA), an architecture and design agency with a vision to create “an inclusive world where every human enjoys access to vibrant, safe, and healthy spaces to live, work, and play.”

An initiative of the Curry Stone Design Collective, the sustainably-minded CDA recently worked with both the Ahmednagar Municipal Corporation and non-profit group Snhalaya on a project meant to revitalize the housing blocks in the city of Ahmednagar, India. The city’s Sanjaynagar neighborhood in particular is plagued by subpar living conditions, including homes built from unsuitable reclaimed materials like scrap metal and a lack of adequate sanitation facilities.

The community’s residents directly contributed to the design of the buildings’ interiors. As CDA Managing Director Sandhya Naidu Janardhan explains, the overall process “evolved at different scales of the neighborhood [from] the masterplan…[to] each family designing their apartment interiors.” The result is an “apartment typology [that] allows for multiple combinations and iterations based on the preference of families.”

The new housing will literally transform the area, creating a vibrant multipurpose living space that continues the neighborhood’s community-minded ethos. Built with locally-made bricks and understated decorative features, the units are so much more than the cookie-cutter constructions commonly associated with affordable housing. And the residents’ input did prove to be invaluable, as their requests for good lighting, ventilation, and adequate space for their families, pets, and livestock helped the designers envision a space where real people could live, work, and thrive.

Over 30 families have already moved into the completed homes, but they’ll eventually house almost 300 families, with construction of the remaining homes beginning in November 2022. With the completion of the development, Sanjaynagar will be one step closer to becoming a vibrant and affordable place for the locals to call home.

The post CDA Revitalizes Indian Neighborhood with Resident-Designed Community Housing first appeared on Dornob.

At last, the client was able to hire Raúl Sánchez Architects to give the space a new lease on life. That required ripping out almost everything inside and starting from scratch, maintaining only the facades, dividing walls, and roof slab. As hard as it was to get past all of these hurdles, the slow progression gave the architects a few striking moments of inspiration. They began to see the building as a vessel for what would become its defining feature: a stunning four-story spiral staircase at its heart.

“The construction process, slow and complex, at least allowed decisions to be made as the essence of the estate was revealed with the demolitions,” they explain. “Thus, once all the floors slabs had been demolished and the building was seen as a slender and tall prism formed by walls with a completely heterogeneous composition of all kinds of bricks and stones arranged without apparent order or composition, the idea of leaving all these walls exposed became conceptual: these four walls, over 15 meters high, are a museum of the building’s history, where any trace of its construction (arches, lintels, stairs, and beams), and of its use (mortar remains, furnishings, claddings) will be left unaltered, exposed in all its crudeness.”

When putting in the floors for the three upper levels, the architects chose not to extend them all the way to the original brick walls. Instead, they placed sheets of glass in between, creating a four-story void looking all the way up to the roof. Not only does this help transmit daylight through the home, it continually draws attention to the sculptural beauty of the staircase as you ascend.

The juxtaposition of the smooth spiral staircase with the textural original brick is what makes the space sing. Left exposed and visible, the remnants of the building’s past hint at a complex history that seems even more remarkable when placed beside new elements like the gleaming brass kitchen suite. The kitchen was placed on the ground floor and a bathroom lined with lacquered wood on the second.

The architects add: “In terms of materiality, a certain refinement has been pursued in the new elements to be implemented, in opposition to the crude expressiveness of the existing walls, conscious that the space must house a home. Thus, the kitchen is a frosted brass piece of furniture, shiny and with reflections, with a white marble top; the bathroom equipment is paneled with lacquered wood in a slightly cream color, with black and brass details; the ‘headboards’ of the floors are covered in white microcement; the hydraulic mosaic, microcement, and oak floors add warmth and color to the interior; and the lacquered wood ceilings incorporate registers and grids to ‘design’ these needs.”

Service elements like the electric cables, air conditioning system, and telephone wires are routed within six steel tubes running vertically along one wall, themselves forming another interesting visual element. The other levels have been left mostly empty so the occupants can use them as bedrooms, offices, or anything else they like without restrictions.

Outside, the tall and narrow home maintains its historic charm, complete with balconies at every level, but the architects added what might be one of the coolest front doors you’ve ever seen. Made of three different kinds of aluminum, it features a graphic rhomboid-based design in a tribute to the traditional tile motifs found inside.

The post A 4-Story Staircase Spirals Up the Heart of This Beautiful Barcelona Remodel first appeared on Dornob.

On Primrose Hill in north London, Jamie Fobert Architects has taken a third path. A brick Victorian home typical of the area looks as it always did on the outside, retaining the character of the neighborhood and blending seamlessly with surrounding houses. But inside, dark and cramped rooms have been replaced with a striking sense of luxurious openness, and the clients have even gained two levels of living space. All of this was achieved without a hint of disturbance from the street-facing facade, but even more importantly, the new materials complement and exaggerate the old.

“When we considered the external form of the house, we were keen to find a solution that would be neither pastiche nor overbearing; instead, we have designed an elegant addition to the historic streetscape,” say the architects. “New building elements are built using water-struck and coal-fired bricks, made in Denmark. During construction, the two original upper floors were literally suspended; underneath, and within the Victorian skin, two lower floors were built. These new spaces are characterized by robust materiality, fluid floor plans, and extraordinary generosity of volume.”

Two strategies brought a wealth of sunlight deep into the home. The first was the creation of new shafts in the front and rear, which deliver natural daylight to the lower floors. The second was the insertion of nearly uninterrupted walls of glass on both levels facing the private garden. Sunken below the level of the adjacent neighbor’s yard, this outdoor space gains a feeling of a secret sanctuary full of plants, stepping stones, and seating areas.

Inside, careful attention to detail pulls new and old together. The architects were tasked with designing everything from the kitchen and lighting to the joinery and even the dining table. The result feels ideally balanced: a fluid staircase with warm timber steps merges into the kitchen, where travertine and polished concrete glow softly beside walnut cabinetry. The shafts of daylight stretching all the way to the roof of the home terminate in strategic locations, like a reflective indoor swimming pool lined with Pietra Piasentina stone.

The colors of these materials recall those of the original brick without trying to match it perfectly, and organic surfaces soften the angularity of all the new minimalist features and built-in furniture. The additions could have easily felt like an imposition on the scene, but instead, they read as a natural and respectful extension of the home. The refreshed interiors are a pleasant surprise upon entering, making the space a lot more fitting for a modern family.

The post A Victorian Facade on London’s Primrose Hill Hides Minimalist Interiors first appeared on Dornob.

Because there are strict regulations regarding the separation of food preparation spaces and animals, the architectural duo had to get creative, answering the call in their typical cool style.

Though the project, dubbed “Together Apart,” was completed pre-pandemic, its opening was effected by lockdown and all the ensuing guidelines, and its layout proved to be essential to its success. The space’s design allowed it to function as an animal shelter and cat adoption facility as well as a café, supporting each other and coexisting beneficially for both the local community and its inhabitants.

This is ultimately the goal for the space and its surrounding areas, with Buckminster’s Together Apart Cat Café being only the first stage in construction on the surrounding lot (itself an area zoned by the city to encourage mixed-use communal spaces). The café, despite its necessary divisions, makes use of its space in creative and unexpected ways that could also accommodate other activities. As Davidson Rafaildis co-principal Stephanie Davidson explains, “We are interested in connecting activities that are otherwise problematic to come together.” In this case, cats and caffeine.

To accomplish this, the pair made the space accessible from either end, allowing for the two halves to operate independently while still adhering to local health code regulations. Of course, the two are still connected via “many sliced, mismatched, misaligned, and mirrored elements in the space,” according to Davidson.

The spaces meet in the center with an overlap area that’s cleverly integrated into the overarching design scheme. Transparent partitions and a full-fledged glass wall encourage connectivity and the chance to encounter the café’s feline residents, while the “human” space is lined with benches for visitors who want to enjoy a hot cup of joe.

Though the color palette here is neutral, it serves as the perfect backdrop for all the zigs and zags of the partitions and clever architectural details. The whole effect encourages a sense of continuity within the space despite its physical separations; though distinct halves of the same whole, one never feels that far away from a furry friend or two. The café’a rear area, where the “catio” is located, contains a nine-foot-tall masonry wall ideal for supporting a possible second floor in the future, if necessary.

Thanks to the city’s new zoning ordinances, lots of projects that creatively fulfill multi-use spatial needs are now on the horizon — and Davidson Rafailidis will almost certainly have a hand in developing them. With their eye for blurring the line between the indoors and outdoors and creating community-driven spaces, the possibilities are endless. As Davidson says, “The richness in how spaces might be shared, and how different programs could co-exist with a lot of density and visibility, is really exciting to us.” Until then, residents will have to be content with the Together Apart Cat Café: great news for feline fans and coffee connoisseurs in this historic Buffalo neighborhood.

The post The Perfect Combo: How Davidson Rafailidis Created a Stylish Cat Café in Buffalo first appeared on Dornob.

“The design concept starts with the radical difference between the rural and urban interpersonal networks,” explains the Macau-based Studio A()VOID team, adding that it “reinterprets the native cave dwellings of the site as vertical ‘grottos’.” The 23-foot-tall huts are laid out irregularly on a 13-by-19-foot grid, each calculated on the length-to-width ratio of the original cave structures.

Composed of double-layered gray brick, the buildings curve organically into gentle rectangles. Individual bricks protrude asymmetrically along the outsides, too, marking the levels where scaffolding was used in the construction process.

Each pod is topped by a giant skylight, and together with the uber-tall ceilings, they encourage visitors to appreciate the verticality of the space. The access to natural light all day long also recalls the agricultural roots of Xiyaotou village. The studio says it “contextualizes residents to rurality’s rhythm of ‘working from dawn to dusk” and “exposes their sensitivity to the sun’s trajectory.”

In the winter, the double-thick walls use those sunrays to help warm the grottos from the average outside temperature of 50 degrees Fahrenheit. When it gets hotter in the summer, heat can escape through the pods’ strategically-placed windows, and through the chimney effect of each unit’s elongated geometry. The windows and doors of each cave structure are composed of pre-weathered steel that pushes out from the brick facade. Individual units are connected on the second story by a raised wooden walkway.

“By flowing the bridge of connectivity in between the private grottos, the design attempts to realize a community in which public and private coexist,” the studio explains, adding that “it serves as the keynote for the layout of the corridor structure and supports the new building complex in a spiritual sense.”

The bridge is held up by pine columns and snakes in between each dwelling to provide a link to all the units. The elevated sidewalk also gives walkers a birds’ eye view of the surrounding landscape, including a dense grove of trees, a nearby shoreline, and the “aboriginal architecture of Yu County.” The empty spaces below the boardwalk are designed to provide room for hosting workshops, exhibitions, and even markets.

The grotto sanctuary, completed this year under the direction of lead architect Yun Hon, was created as part of a larger Chinese initiative to rejuvenate rural “hollow” villages across the country like Xiyaotou, most of which have seen conditions deteriorate as residents have migrated to newer areas. The idea is to transform abandoned communities into destination places for tourists, with unique accommodations, local cuisines, and fun activities. Grotto Retreat Xiyaotou’s compilation of clustered units was designed to be flexible to these types of future needs and more.

Studio A( )VOID characterizes itself as a design group that “celebrates the emptiness and possibilities of a void.” They “design to allow capacities for randomness and surprises in different aspects of a project, so involved parties are encouraged to participate in this controlled mayhem.”

The post Chinese Retreat Designed to Mimic Ancient Cave Dwellings first appeared on Dornob.

And this apartment building in New Delhi, India is no exception.

While not designed by Kahn himself, he certainly inspired it. The firm responsible for the over 2000-square-foot space, Amit Khanna Design Associates (AKDA), certainly invoked Kahn as a muse when conceiving the bold and dynamic building. Though located on an otherwise-nondescript residential street, the building’s eye-catching exterior is striking, to say the least, and immediately echoes Kahn’s singular design approach.

Amit Khanna, the founder of AKDA, says that the building “is an ode to Kahn and his idea of how a building should be.” Discussing the late architect’s impact on the architecture of the Indian subcontinent, Khanna adds that “crucial to his form-making was the act of puncturing seemingly vast brick and concrete walls with soaring geometric voids, creating dramatic shadows as the harsh Indian sun made its way through the sky.” This poetic assessment is surely true of such buildings as the Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad, designed by Kahn and highly representative of his way of “evok[ing] a mystical, yet calm monumentality” in his works.

The facade of the new apartment building is what one immediately associates with Kahn’s “soaring geometric voids”: the cut-out brick, rounded as if to soften the hard lines of the steel it surrounds; the dramatic shape and scope of the brick “screen” itself (it covers the top three stories of the building); and the way it both seems to hover and anchor the building itself. The interior of the building is equally as striking, as the openness revealed by the lens-like brick screen allows for plenty of light to stream through the windows. The upper floor also has an area that’s open to the sky, further allowing light to filter through. The layout itself is almost like a split screen, with bedrooms, bathrooms, a kitchen, a staircase, and an elevator on one side, and the other areas, such as the living and lounge areas, on the other.

The muted colors of the interior decor are the perfect backdrop for the dramatic confluence of more raw materials like brick and concrete, with the exposed brick especially adding a homey and charming feel to the otherwise sharp and angular space. There are surprise bits of light throughout the apartment that peek through and further add a feeling of warmth to the scene, softening it against the space’s more industrial elements.

This striking building in Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi, with its geometrically attractive brick facade whose thinness belies its strength and whose openness encourages meditation, rises majestically on its stilts and emerges from residential conformity like a great prow of a ship — or like a monument to the late, great architect Louis Kahn. Embodying the monolithic structure and modernist lines and shapes that defined Kahn’s work, this New Delhi space is a fitting homage to one of the most acclaimed architects of the late 20th century—and shows his continuing influence into the 21st century.

The post Modernist, Louis Khan-Inspired Apartment Building Perfectly Evokes the Architect’s “Calm Monumentality” first appeared on Dornob.

Bringing in ultrasound scanners, the council learned that the tunnels spread out over 65 feet in every direction, right beneath neighboring houses, and one even leading to the rail line. Lyttle, a retired engineer who became known in the press as “The Hackney Mole Man,” was evicted, and the city filled most of the tunnel system with aerated concrete to stabilize the ground, noting that it was a wonder a bus hadn’t fallen right through the street. Lyttle was moved to council housing, where he tried to dig through the floor of his apartment before dying in 2010.

The home was abandoned until 2012, when it sold at auction to British artist Sue Webster. She was fascinated by its bizarre history and found the shabby exterior charming. The process of cleaning it out was arduous, to say the least. Incredibly, among the 300 dumpster loads of junk unearthed from the home were three cars and a boat. Webster then hired architect David Adjaye to transform it into her own home and studio while preserving as much of its history as they could. They dug out 2,000 tons of the city council’s aerated concrete to create a basement level in tribute to the home’s subterranean history and creatively repurposed some of the junk, like a set of “stairs to nowhere” that became a terrace.

Adjaye says the design was borne “from an archaeological exercise, a gradual reveal of time through the process of excavation.” The newly reconfigured interiors have an open plan surrounded by a sunken landscaped garden along the perimeter. Multiple entrances on different levels reveal the locations of some of the former tunnels, aiming to preserve the feeling of discovery as you walk. The contrast of old and new, high and low can be found in every space. Wood formwork left organic imprints on all the concrete walls and ceilings, complementing the salvaged wood flooring and built-in plywood cabinetry. Webster has also filled the home with things like salvaged industrial details, artwork, modern furniture, and plants.

Outside, Webster wanted to maintain the building’s “derelict bunker-like appearance,” so Adjaye reconstructed the masonry facade with 15,000 reclaimed London bricks while adding large windows bordered by patinated bronze. Touches like these help it retain its its sense of timeworn history and curiosity. One wonders what Lyttle would think of it now, but it certainly seems like it fell into the right hands. Instead of being demolished by a developer and paved over with a new cookie-cutter project, it’s been given new life by someone willing to steward its spirit of wonder and adventure.

The post Crazy Network of Illegal Subterranean Tunnels Transformed Into Modern “Mole House” first appeared on Dornob.

Back then, you could buy a brownstone for a mere $20,000. A lot has changed in the 50-plus years since, not the least of which is the neighborhood’s affordability for artists. One deteriorating paper factory that was turned into makeshift artist apartments in the 1980s is now in the process of being renovated into full-fledged luxury apartments, including architecture firm OSSO’s Boerum Hill Loft.

As you can probably imagine, after decades of industrial use, abandonment, and then reclamation as gritty studios, the building already had a lot of character, but it also needed a lot of love to elevate it to modern standards of living. The client, Google executive Malik Ashiru, had a vision for the space that would require completely gutting it. While he waited for the city to review the permits, Ashiru took a sabbatical from work, traveling all over Africa, Europe, and Asia.

“The moment they told me the approval was almost done,” Ashiru told Dwell, “I was on an airplane back.”

The firm decided to keep as many original elements as they could, including exposed brick walls with old painted signs still visible in some areas and a striking black metal spiral staircase. In before-and-after photos of the loft renovation, you can see how OSSO’s new walls, floors, and other surfaces augment the space without significantly changing its historical feel.

One load-bearing brick wall was removed to open up the living area, replaced by a massive steel beam that’s become the standout feature of the room. There’s also a step up into this slightly elevated space from the adjacent dining room and kitchen, taking advantage of the three generously sized windows on the front wall.

White-painted drywall and a melange of oak, maple, and American walnut wood surfaces soften the apartment and make it feel lighter and brighter. The original spiral staircase now leads to the second-floor bedroom, bathroom, and an outdoor terrace, while a second, ladder-style staircase in the kitchen offers access to a lofted, plywood-lined guest bedroom.

OSSO Architecture, a New York City-based firm founded in 2017 by Margot Otten and Douglas Segulja, worked with Ashiru to design and furnish the space with features like a wood island, new Bosch appliances, and an alcohol-burning hanging fireplace by Fireorb, which itself meets all New York City’s strict rules about ventilation.

Cities are like living organisms, constantly changing and evolving. While we’d love to see a lot more projects converting cool old structures into affordable housing, it’s nice to see renovations that honor the character and history of their original buildings and the neighborhoods around them – projects that work hard to preserve architectural elements instead of merely replacing them with something new.

The post OSSO Architecture Turns Old Paper Factory Into Hip Brooklyn Loft first appeared on Dornob.

Architectural firm Abin Design Studio (ADS) drew on this tradition for a beautiful new modern building in the town of Bansberia, West Bengal. “Gallery House” features an organic asymmetrical shape, a facade of rectangular bricks laid in dynamic patterns, and a cantilevered terrace that projects out over the front steps. The client originally purchased this plot of land across the street from his house as a parking lot for his vehicles, subsequently hiring the architects to build a garage with staff quarters above it.

Upon being asked, ADS had just completed the client’s home, “Wall House,” itself a contemporary residence clad in weathered steel occupying nearly 7,000 square feet. Built out to the edges of the plot, the home embraces the ongoing trend of inscrutable street-facing facades concealing luxurious courtyards, lawns, and pools. Not wanting to take up too much of the public lands, the architects managed to convince the client to use the lot across the street in a way that gave back to his fellow citizens instead of expanding his private complex.

The client initially agreed to build a garage on the ground level with a multipurpose public activity space overhead, featuring a design that would symbolically welcome community members by stretching out toward the street. As the project progressed, he decided he wanted to forgo the garage altogether in favor of opening more of the building up to the public. The ground floor then became a community hall, while the upper floor doubles as a dormitory for his resident staff by night and a multipurpose room for community yoga sessions and classes by day.

“The client enjoys a sense of pride and joy of ownership seeing the space put to good use,” say the architects, who add that “as a decision to introduce another architectural expression to the community, the building took cues from Bengal’s terracotta temples. Exposed brick masonry walls inlaid with ceramic blocks define the building character as a contemporary expression of the inspiration. Collaborating with a ceramic artist, rejected ceramic blocks produced for industrial use were collected. Terracotta bricks were procured from a riverside brick field located nearby. These two were combined, using locally prevalent finesse of building masonry.”

Regarding the structure’s name, the ADS team explains: “Every year, this locality holds a festive procession along the narrow, winding neighborhood lanes as a part of a cultural celebration. Reciprocating this, the building steps down towards the street form a gallery for the onlookers to sit, who gather at the street-side during this event. Through judicious planning and play of voids in volume, the integral space of the building was shared with the neighborhood people as a humane gesture of giving back to the local community, without disrupting the privacy and security of inner functions.”

The post Bricks Go Bold with Organic Shapes and Patterns Based on Bengal Temples first appeared on Dornob.

Nzambi Matee, a 29-year-old entrepreneur and engineer, felt compelled to do something after years of seeing single-use bags littering the streets of Nairobi.

“I was tired of being on the sidelines,” Matee says, adding that “here in Nairobi we generate about 500 metric tons of plastic waste every single day, and only a fraction of that is recycled. Plastic is a material that is misused and misunderstood. The potential is enormous, but it’s afterlife can be disastrous.”

In 2017, Matee quit her job as a data analyst and started experimenting in her mom’s backyard. “I shut down my social life for a year and put all my savings into this,” she notes. “My friends were worried.”

Mixing sand and plastics, she started producing brick-like paver stones. Through trial and error over many months, she was eventually able to determine which types of plastics bound better than others.

Matee studied material science and previously worked in the Kenyan oil industry, after which she won a scholarship to a U.S. social entrepreneurship training program. This opportunity allowed her to further test her component ratios in the University of Colorado Bolder labs.

“Plastic is fibrous in nature, so therefore, the brick ends up having a stronger compression strength,” she explains. And she’s telling the truth, too. Matee’s pavers have a melting point over 662°F, and they’ve been tested to withstand twice the weight of standard concrete bricks.

Her startup company Gjenge Makers Ltd, founded in 2018, uses a mix of plastics for the pavers: high-density polyethelene, commonly found in milk and shampoo bottles; low-density polyethylene, the substance that makes up cereal and sandwich bags; and polypropylene, often used in bottle lids, packaging products, and industrial fabrics. However, they do not use polyethylene terephthalate (PET) from single-use bottles.

Gjenge Makers get most of their material from Kenyan factories. “Companies have to pay to dispose the waste, so we solved their problem. That waste essentially comes for free,” says Matee. They do have to buy some supplemental scraps from recyclers, though.

“So far we have recycled 20 metric tons, and we’re looking to push that value to 50 by the end of next financial year,” she adds. Matee and her team can currently produce roughly 1,500 brick per day, all using machines she designed herself.

The bricks are fully certified by the Kenyan Bureau of Standards and come in a variety of colors, including red, green, blue, brown, and gray. They can be very inexpensively made and priced, with a basic gray brick selling for 850 Kenyan shillings ($7.70) per square meter.

Matee and her company have earned praise from the United National Environmental Program. “We must rethink how we manufacture industrial products and deal with them at the end of their useful life,” says Soraya Smaoun, a UNEP specialist in industrial production techniques. “Nzambi Matee’s innovation in the construction sector highlights the economic and environmental opportunities when we move from a linear economy, where products, once used, are discarded, to a circular one, where products and materials continue in the system for as long as possible.”

As Matee emphasizes, “Plastic waste is not just a Kenya problem, but it’s a worldwide problem.”

The post Kenyan Woman Makes Bricks “Stronger than Concrete” from Recycled Plastic first appeared on Dornob.

It’s a dystopian vision in response to a dystopian event, replacing the temporary fences that went up in real life with permanent brick. The concept, called “Capitol Castle,” turns the Capitol complex into a literal fortress capable of withstanding much more than a violent crowd of domestic insurgents, but it comes across menacing and authoritarian in the process.

The wall would be made with recycled bricks from construction waste, featuring rounded corner towers and triangular bastions. In the renderings, it’s fortified by armed guards, not dissimilar to the current situation outside the Capitol as the nation remains on guard. But these walls are opaque, imposing, and impenetrable, hiding the building from view, and giving us an idea of what government buildings would look like if they were designed to frighten and intimidate.

The symbolism is pointed and potent, presenting the neoclassical Capitol as a visual representation of democracy at home and abroad. Both democracy and the physical Capitol itself are currently in peril in the face of rising nationalism, fake news, and stark division between political parties.

“As a reaction to the storm on the Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump, we designed a plan to convert the Capitol into a fortress to protect democracy,” says Benedikt Hartle, Opposite Office founder. “During his reign, Trump undermined the democratic system from within. To give expression to this drama, we remodeled the Capitol and built a fortress around it.”

The firm isn’t advocating that we actually build this wall. Describing its proposal as tongue-in-cheek, Hartle says he knows you can’t protect democracy with walls or architecture. Instead, he’s hoping to “shake you awake,” promoting discussion about what makes a democracy, and what we must all do to nurture it and help it thrive, including the guarantee of social justice, fair living conditions, and fair wages.

As Hartle told Dezeen, “The architectural concept is simple: adding a second layer to the Capitol as a protective shield. The political and social concept behind it is a bit more profound, even if it doesn’t look like it at first glance — the dystopia of Capitol Castle is intended to contribute to the debate about democracy, the ability to protect democracies and, above all, the division of our society.”

“We take democracy for granted. But it is not and it was fought for over centuries. Democracy is not a gift. Democracy must be fought for, filled with life, and renewed.”

Opposite Office is known for its provocative proposals for architecture and design, all of which address major contemporary challenges facing cities around the world. Other designs have included “Affordable Palace,” which opens Buckingham Palace’s 775 rooms and 79 baths to public housing, and “Superhospital,” which transforms the new Berlin airport into a hospital for coronavirus patients.

The post Opposite Office Proposes Protecting the US Capitol with a Decorative Brick Wall first appeared on Dornob.