“Monka Apartments” offers a beautiful example of this process in the medieval town center of Torún, Poland, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A centuries-old Gothic granary with beautiful bones offered an interesting possibility for conversion to housing, but its layout presented a few challenges. Originally designed with industrial usage in mind, the building features numerous large round-topped windows through which sacks of grain were once moved in and out of each level, but the ceilings are low, and the internal rooms lack access to natural light altogether.

Architect Pawel Tatara teamed up with the firm Znamy Sie to design nine new apartments on the second, third, and fourth levels of the building, with the ground floor being occupied by Monka Restaurant. The two knew they wanted to preserve as much of the historical structure as possible, with minimal modern interventions being made, but the client wanted the residences to have a bright, airy, and decidedly more contemporary feel.

Many developers would have simply inserted single-level apartments into each floor, but the results would have been dark and dreary, especially toward the center of the building. This team chose to remove some of the floors and ceilings to create multi-level lofted apartments instead. The result is a mix of apartment sizes and styles, with some smaller units mostly occupying a single floor, a few with lofted bedrooms, and a few more spacious ones stretching all the way up into the building’s gabled top floor.

Because most of the original structure was left intact, each unit is entirely unique, enjoying its own individual character. To both enhance this uniqueness and unify the apartments while ensuring that daylight streams all the way into the building, the architects added a colorful steel volume to the interior of each one. These “cubes” contain the bathrooms and divide the space between the living areas and bedrooms. Both the color of the cube and its geometric motif, inspired by the stained glass windows of the Cathedral of St. Janów, are unique to each unit.

“Due to the unusual history of the city, the architectural detail has become the inspiration for the project,” says Znamy Sie. “Nine apartments were designed on three floors. On the second and third floor, there are two-story apartments with mezzanines. On the fourth floor there is a one-level, but with locally high ceilings illuminated by roof windows. As a result, higher and better-lit living spaces were obtained. The project refers to the unusual character and climate of the city of Torún. Each of the apartments is completely different, which is largely due to the irregularity of the old building but above all from the individual detail.”

“Certainly stained glass windows will create a unique atmosphere in the interior, becoming a non-obvious element that changes in the direction of the sun’s rays. In the apartments, the historic features of the building have been confronted with modern materials and elements of interior design.”

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Great architecture and interior design finds inspiration in innumerable places, so what better way to unleash creative thinking than by tapping into some of the most imaginative ideas on the planet? With six very specific Disney characters in mind, review site Angie’s List and marketing agency NeoMam Studios worked together to explore the things each of them might prioritize if they left their magical lives of luxury behind for a shot at the minimalist tiny home lifestyle.

The process began with several hours of research in the form of watching and analyzing popular Disney films to better understand the elements that would be absolutely essential to each character in their 300 square feet (or less) of living space.

Woody’s Tiny House (Toy Story)

In a single word, Woody’s tiny house can best be defined as rustic. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s aesthetically boring. While the sheriff embraces the wraparound Old West-style balcony, complete with iconic rocking chair, the exterior of his home screams Western mountain appeal.

The inside resembles a classic cabin with wood plank flooring and wall accents. Woody’s recognizable cowboy hat hangs from (cruelty-free) bone antlers, with an even more impressive antler chandelier taking center stage overhead. A wood stove, open shelving, and rustic cabinets round out the intentionally simple design.

Elsa’s Tiny House (Frozen)

While this tiny home may not be as spacious as Elsa’s on-screen abode, it’s easy to “Let it Go” in favor of this compact chic design. Elsa’s new place features lots of icy green and blue hues, with eye-catching white snowflake-shaped ceiling beams standing out next to the paneled walls. A cubicle-style library, complete with ladder, provides storage and display space. And of course, the teal couch is a shout out to the dress Elsa wears while singing her hit song.

From the outside, Elsa’s home nestles neatly into the surrounding woods, with a stand-out a-frame design that emphasizes the look of frosty windows while holding true to the Norwegian influence prevalent in the film.

Merida’s Tiny House (Brave)

A home for princess Merida would need to be “brave” indeed, which is exactly why this tiny house features strong, dark, and bold elements. Hardwood planks adorn the walls and floors while stone accents the medieval-style central fireplace and workspace countertop. A little character personalization can also be seen in the vintage painting here, depicting Merida’s trusty steed Angus. The exterior a-frame design of this home borrows from the Scottish architectural elements seen in the movie without sacrificing any simplicity or rustic appeal.

Mulan’s Tiny House (Mulan)

The Asian influence on Mulan’s home brings together many design elements. The exterior features a traditional Chinese tent-style roof with wraparound deck and highlights Japanese-style sliding panels. Inside, the Eastern theme continues with Chinese lantern-type light fixtures, floor pillows for seating, and decor loaded with iconic figurines, pots, and cherry blossoms.

Jack Skellington’s Tiny House (The Nightmare Before Christmas)

Gothic is the best description for the home of Jack Skellington, leader and “Pumpkin King” of Halloween Town. His tiny house incorporates the bachelor vibe with blue and black decor, but even the nearly bare interior features the must-have Christmas tree and colorful orange Jack-o-lantern pumpkin head. Ultra-rustic IKEA flooring and beams are further ‘deadened’ with the addition of branches and spooky trinkets.

If you find yourself wandering through the woods, Jack’s is not a place you’d hope to wander upon, which is exactly the goal with the uber-witchy exterior of dilapidated, seemingly pieced-together wood. It’s fair to say that this tiny home oozes a warning message from every one of its rusty nails.

Belle’s Tiny House (Beauty and the Beast)

From dark and dreary to bright and cheery, we move on to the tiny home of the beloved Belle, princess from Disney’s classic Beauty and the Beast. The lively interior of this home matches Belle’s spirit of adventure with a massive central fireplace and stacks of books, a nod to her passion for intellect. Purple cabinets, a colorful rug, and a whimsical blue-green sofa bring her character to life in a space that perfectly captures her enchanting on-screen presence.

The stone exterior is nothing like the castle where Belle meets and falls in love with the Beast. Instead, it commemorates the home Belle shares with her father, simple yet full of history.

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Kiev, Ukraine-based designer Konstantin Kofta of Kofta Studio makes some of the wildest and most attention-getting bags you’ll ever see, but they don’t sacrifice any function for their interesting looks. Made primarily of leather or rubber, Kofta’s creations take on unexpected shapes, sometimes looking like bizarre extensions of their wearers’ bodies. To wear them, you probably have to be okay with a certain amount of gawking from strangers.

The studio’s most recent offering is its fall/winter collection, “ABC,” which consists of nine sculptural geometric bags that are simple in shape but never boring.

“[The] relationship of man and space, the synthesis of technical and creative, making the form is absolute by bringing [it] to geometrical perfection. Forms cleared from any symbolism and metaphoricity or repeatability, monochrome, neutral surfaces, industrial materials, and methods of manufacture. ABC seeks to convey the simplified essence and form of objects, cutting off secondary images and shells. The symbolism prevails based on three main figures, [as well as] colors, dots, and lines.”

Some of Kofta’s designs may seem dark and strange, almost gothic — like the ones resembling anatomical human backs, matte black gas masks, and screaming faces. Others are industrial and architectural, like the barrel, canister, brick walls, and tires.

2017’s “Fear” collection includes some of these darker pieces. Kofta adds that: “fear has its own beauty, elegance, and sensuality. It is one intricate phenomenon. Only living beings may experience fear. The dead [are] nonchalant. It becomes the absolute silence, immortal and eternal, clear from the doom of an imminent ‘I.’ It is important to stop grasping things by their names. Contemplate the feeling and let it reveal itself.”

But Kofta doesn’t only work in stark black. Some of his collections are downright bright and playful, like a series shaped like fruits and vegetables, or the beautiful jewel tones of bags resembling beetles and other natural specimens.

Of the fruit-shaped “Mellow” collection, released for spring/summer 2019, Kofta writes “A fruit to be considered as a product, a final point, destination, and result of any long-term process, effort, contact; the path from birth through blossom towards art.”

Founded in 2010, Kofta Studio is the recipient of numerous art and fashion awards, including the Red Dot 2018 Award and an A’Design Award in 2016. You can see their entire archive at KoftaStudio.com.

“We want to allow the viewer to gain [a] different perspective on familiar things through synergizing our artwork. Our bags serve as a canvas for expressing our creative intentions through properties that they did not initially possess, endowing them with ability to bring aesthetic pleasure while maintaining functionality.”

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Judging Criteria

The list of criteria the museum uses to judge buildings is as rigorous as it is diverse. Accessibility and sustainability earn top marks, as do robustness, client satisfaction, design visualization, overall improvement, originality, and the ability to stimulate, connect with, and enchant both visitors and occupants. The judges specifically acknowledged the Union Trust Building for being “academically rigorous in terms of repairs, reversibility, and in the selection of new materials.”

The Original Union Trust Building

Designed by Frederick John Osterling and commissioned by industrialist Henry Clay Frick in 1915, the Union Trust Building is a 500,000-square-foot architectural milestone located at 501 Grant Street — right in the heart of Pittsburgh’s celebrated Mellon Square. The structure’s Flemish-Gothic design has made it one of the most well-known parts of Pittsburgh’s architectural legacy.

The building is presently owned by an investment fund associated with The Davis Companies of Boston, who purchased the property in 2014 and initiated restoration plans sometime between 2015 and 2016.

Jonathan Davis, a Pittsburgh native and the CEO of The Davis Companies, remarked: “It was our goal to invite people in and bring vibrant energy back into the building and its surrounding streets and parks. It is a great honor to be recognized by the American Architecture Awards committee for turning one of city’s most historic and inspired buildings back to its turn-of-the century grandeur.”

Preservation Focal Points

The $100 million restoration aimed to preserve the building’s distinctive architectural features and remarkable charm while incorporating a few 21st-century upgrades. Among the architects’ modern tweaks are an additional 40,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space, a 5,000-square-foot high-tech fitness center, and a 190-space underground parking garage with valet service and secure, onsite bicycle storage. Elsewhere, they refurbished a 70-seat conference facility and a 400-seat auditorium. All areas of the Union Trust Building are LEED-certified and have been equipped with energy efficient Class-A retrofitting. The new decor also proudly includes 28 original Pittsburgh-inspired works of art.

Additional Accolades

The Union Trust Building has earned several other prestigious awards, including Honors in Restoration from the Society of American Registered Architects, a Gold Reconstruction Award   from Building Design + Construction magazine, the American Architecture Prize for Architectural Design/Restoration & Renovation, and a Certificate of Merit for Historic Preservation from AIA Pittsburgh.

The Union Trust Building one of just three buildings on the museum’s top 100 list that was categorized as “historically significant,” with the other two being the celebrated St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City and Unity Temple in Oak Park, Illinois.

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Over a quarter of a century ago, an architect stumbled upon the half-ruined remains of an old cement factory. The grounds contained dozens of silos, vast subterranean spaces and long-silent manufacturing equipment.

Decades later, the results of his ongoing renovation project are beyond remarkable.?The complex now houses its re-designer, Gothic-influenced Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill, serving as his primary residence.

It is also home, however, to include vast offices, archives, design labs and flowing series of outside patios, decks, gardens and paths – parts of an ever-evolving master plan.

Perhaps the most impressive space in the place is called The Cathedral (and with good reason). It is a huge, open-plan, high-ceiling gathering area used for everything from exhibitions and lectures to parties and concerts.

Layers of lush greenery – ivy, cypress, eucalyptus, palm and olive trees – have been slowly added (and subsequently grown) throughout this piece-by-piece remodel, giving the exterior grounds new life as well as the interior areas.

As for decor: twenty-five years is enough time to know that less can be more, and the resulting decorative evolution errs on the side of simple and conventional objects, careful not to detract too much from the majesty of the rooms themselves. But looks can be deceiving – some of the core-seeming concrete is itself new, but mixed in with the old.

“The factory, abandoned and partially in ruins, was a compendium of surrealist elements: stairs that climbed up to nowhere, mighty reinforced concrete structures that sustained nothing, pieces of iron hanging in the air, huge empty spaces filled nonetheless with magic.”

“The transformation process began with the demolition of part of the old structure to leave hitherto concealed forms visible, as if the concrete had been sculpted. Once the spaces had been defined, cleaned of cement and encompassed by new greenery, the process began of adaptation to the new program.”

“Eight silos remained, which became offices, a models laboratory, archives, a library, a projections room and a gigantic space known as The Cathedral, used for exhibitions, concerts and a whole range of cultural functions linked to the professional activities of the architect. The complex stands in the midst of gardens with eucalyptus, palms, olive trees and cypresses. This project is evidence of the fact that an imaginative architect may adapt any space to a new function, no matter how different it may be from the original one.”

The post Ricardo Bofill’s Cement Factory Home first appeared on Dornob.

Ever try wearing a red-carpeted spiral staircase, suiting up in a stunning cathedral, wrapping your wrist or neck in an aqueduct or arcade, or perhaps just putting your hand straight through an ornate window? This strange set of 3D-printed jewelry includes architecture-inspired bangles, collars and coils, and they make just about anything seem possible.

These fascinating accessories seem to mold themselves to their wearers like living works of art, animated dream-like sculptures. Joshua DeMonte’s unique (post)modern jewelry pieces sure do make a statement, but what that statement is could be a bit difficult to say.

Sometimes a fashion design idea is functional, and sometimes couture is fashioned to make a designer statement – this is clearly a case of the latter, with Classical Roman and Greek building elements as well as exaggerated Gothic structural details and decorative touches applied to gigantic pieces of unwearable jewelry.

“My jewelry objects mimic ancient architectural elements activating the space surrounding the body and altering the viewers perception of the wearer. My work has replaced the traditional embellishments of jewelry objects with the details of traditional architectural form. The objects have become jewelry that have defined architectural space around the body, altering our perception of the figure.”

About designer Joshua DeMonte:

“Joshua DeMonte is an artist, educator operating out of the Baltimore area, and teaching at Towson University.  Through various digital and industrial processes, Joshua creates objects that speak about the world and structures around our bodies.  Through the lens of adornment, these objects place the wearer within the space of these architectural objects.”

“Joshua is also the coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Object Design Program in the Department of Art, Design, Art History, and Art Education at Towson University.  The IOD program is a fast paced curriculum that challenges students to envision and create objects of the 21st century using traditional craft, digital fabrication, and industrial process.”

The post Stunning 3D-Printed Jewelry Captures the Complexity of Ancient Architectural Marvels first appeared on Dornob.