This project is rooted in an entertaining exercise: clients ‘from the future’ seeking a multi-functional abode that can be configured to fit their needs. The quirkiness does not end with the design itself, though, as even if the finished-layout photographs feature curiously pixelated occupants.

Created by Dash Marshall, there are four core components to this futuristic “space age” project – first, some space-saving strategies: (1) replacing hallways with sliding walls to eliminate relatively-useless circulation areas, (2) a flexible living-plus-bedroom with a walk-in closet, all enabled by a thick pivoting wall, giving the feel of secret rooms.

Next, things get futuristic – (3) flush-fitting, easily-vanishing, built-in storage the recedes from view when not in use and (4) a reflective, glossy, and rounded interior to bounce light throughout and make the entire residence feel more open.

As engaging as the apartment is in and of itself, this entire sequence from concept to realization to representation also shows a level of consistency not always found in design work – every step reinforces and reflects the core ideas that went into the process and final product. The story is told in part by the choice to computer-blur people in the final pictures, and even to round the corners of the photographs themselves.

“This client came to us with an apartment in the Kips Bay complex designed by IM Pei in the 1960s. We responded by designing a space capsule temporarily docked here on earth.”

“They wanted a home to charge up between missions: a place where every boot and book, every single little thing could be hidden away. They wanted something that would make the most out of their 715 square feet.”

“We measured and labeled the total volume of possessions (569 cubic feet) so we would have the necessary data to design a place for each and every thing to be hidden away.”

“Central to our strategy is a rotating storage wall called the Transformer. By moving a series of translucent sliding panels the floor plan to be reconfigured easily for different levels of privacy.”

The post Space-Age White Apartment first appeared on Dornob.

Invisible Closets

Have you noticed that all the chicest home renovations seem to include hidden closets these days? The so-called “invisible closet” is a modern update to the European style closet, which is basically a built-in armoire packing tons of storage onto a wall instead of a walk-in closet space. The invisibility comes in when the seams of the doors and drawers are as tight as possible, and push magnets take the place of visible hardware.

Office Sugurufukuda took advantage of this technique for its 404 Apartment in Tokyo, making the space appear larger using a system of wall panels that conceal closets, cabinets, shelving, and even entire rooms. Interior designer Kate Polak created a similarly clean look for a UK apartment by spray-painting the front of lacquered birch plywood wardrobe doors and drawer fronts with a nearly seamless result.

Pleasing Pantries

It looks like we’re still on a major collective pantry organization kick, making it easier to keep track of all of our food in the process. TikTok remains a great way to somehow lose hours watching videos of pantry reorganizations and tutorials, so head to the #pantryorganization hashtag for inspiration. This is definitely one trend that’s worth following, considering that all those matching food containers will keep your stored goods fresher and more aesthetically pleasing.

Use clear containers with tight-fitting lids to store things like cereal, oats, flour, sugar, and other pantry basics. A matching set of baskets in the right size for your shelving can help corral items like bags of chips, root vegetables, and paper products. Use risers for canned goods and spices so you can see exactly what you have on hand at a glance. A label maker will also come in handy here, or you can get a little bougie with professional-looking custom sticker labels from Etsy.

Hidden Electronics

Electronic devices rarely add any aesthetic value to a space, yet we seem to need more and more of them with each passing year. It’s best not to store things like Wi-Fi routers, phone chargers, smart home hubs, and portable speakers in closed compartments to maintain airflow and signal strength, so you’ll need to come up with creative ways to hide them. If you’re up for a project, a DIY built-in media cabinet with decorative metal grille doors is one way to do that — check out a tutorial from Frugal Family Times.

Another possibility is something like this fun CovoBox available on Etsy. It’s a three-sided box that uses real reclaimed books to conceal a storage area for whatever you’d rather not display. You can even choose the color scheme of the books to match your decor.

Closed Kitchen Cabinets

Many people have spent the last decade ripping out all the upper cabinets in their kitchens and replacing them with open shelving. That can open up the space and make it feel less cluttered — but only if you’re highly disciplined at keeping the items on the shelves to a minimum. In reality, most of us can’t manage to do that, so it’s no surprise that open shelving is now on the outs.

Closed, opaque cabinetry is hip again in the kitchen, which is good news for people who never jumped on this trend to begin with. Keep your stuff corralled and out of view, or maybe limit the open shelving to just one small area of the kitchen, retaining the utility of upper cabinets elsewhere.

Vertical Home Office Storage

Remote work is here to stay, no matter what CEOs like Elon Musk might say. 25 percent of all professional jobs in North America are likely to be remote in 2023, and that means a lot more of us need comfortable places to work from home. One of the biggest downsides of remote work is the blurring of boundaries between work time and downtime, so it’s best to have a clearly defined workspace that’s not spilling out into adjacent domestic spaces.

Make it easy to stay organized, no matter how small your workspace might be, by taking advantage of the vertical wall space above your desk. If you just need to keep a handful of items handy, a mesh grid wall organizer like this one from Wayfair might do the trick. But if we’re talking about printers, paperwork, reference materials, and other bulky items, consider either closed cabinets or a track-style organizer unit to keep it all in check.

The post Top 5 Storage and Organization Trends to Try in 2023 first appeared on Dornob.

The existing layout of “404 Apartment” stretches from the front to the back of the building, with windows and balconies on the north and south ends. The common spaces like the living room, dining area, and kitchen are arranged along one side, with the private bedrooms and bathrooms on the other side. There was no way to physically enlarge the apartment, so optical illusions had to suffice.

Color plays an important role in this kind of expansion. The architects painted both the floor and ceiling a medium shade of gray and used cherry blossom pink for the walls on either side. “By visually lowering the ceiling, the aspect ratio of the perceived space is crushed horizontally to 16:9, further emphasizing the lateral expansion of the space,” they explain. “The aspect ratio of 16:9 is used for movie screens and television monitors, and is a familiar frame image for most people.”

Since we don’t view the real world through angle-limiting frames, the architects applied the 16:9 ratio view of the space from just one end of the room. The placement of all elements, including furniture, counters, and doors, is optimized so there’s more to look at horizontally than vertically, with the gray ceiling “crushing” the interiors. Nearly every piece of furniture is built in, with just a narrow table and bench along the center.

The pink wall panels are another visual trick. Some of these panels are actual doors to the bedrooms, bathrooms, cabinets, or closets, while others are just in place to make it seem like there’s more to the space than there really is, kind of like a movie set. The pink shimmers and catches the light, further guiding the eye along that horizontal line.

The team adds that “each of the cherry-red walls lies about its own role. They are not only walls, but also fixtures, wall decorations, and furniture. In short, a single component has multiple roles, but since they are all composed of the same details, finishes, and modules, it is sometimes difficult to tell which is a wall and which is a fixture. If we recognize it as a piece of furniture, we feel that even a mere wall is somehow intimate.”

If the space feels a little bit futuristic or reminiscent of a sci-fi movie, that’s also intentional. “This room, with its slight eeriness and discomfort in the midst of everyday life, is perceived as more expansive than reality,” they say.

Sugurufukuda’s 16:9 aspect ratio follows common advice to use eye-catching, reflective materials in the center of the space and darker contrasting colors above and below to change how narrow or wide the space is perceived. If you have plenty of horizontal space but the ceiling is lower than you’d like, just flip those colors, with the lighter, more reflective shade on the ceiling. It’ll catch the light coming in through the windows and make the whole area brighter.

The post Movie Studio Tricks Visually Expand Tokyo’s Tiny 404 Apartment first appeared on Dornob.

“How can one feel protected? What can be done when one feels vulnerable?” the Mexico-based studio mused. “This question was accompanied by an image, or perhaps a memory: a frightened child covering himself with a light bedsheet as he peeks out to make sure he can see what is going on around him.”

The result was a home that resembles exactly that: a concrete roof reminiscent of a light bedsheet nestled into the soft grass of the landscape, and a semicircle window rising in a gentle slope like the head of a little one checking to see if it’s safe yet.

Called “The Hill in Front of the Glen,” the new home in the forests of Morelia, Mexico begins with a walkway lined with concrete walls leading down into the underground retreat. The passageway is wide enough for one person to comfortably navigate but narrow enough to prevent two people from walking side-by-side, casting visitors into “a pilgrimage of solitude.” Along the journey, a large tree intersects the footpath, forcing a deviation in direction.

This pathway eventually leads to the solid pearled stone steps and heavy steel entry door. Once inside the concrete vault, guests can explore the more social living, dining, and kitchen areas on one side, or the more private bedroom spaces on the other. They’ll even find that the light sources have been matched to the intended mood and purpose of each wing.

“Public areas on the left side of the house are completely exposed to the wooded ravine, and on the right side are open more timidly to a courtyard with treetop and sky views,” HW Studio notes.

The contemplative ambience of this project was a good fit for the firm, who has a longstanding history of valuing quiet designs. They explain that “HW Studio derives its name from the union of the letter H – considered a silent letter and a graphic representation of silence in Spanish – and the letter W – taken from the Japanese concept Wabi-Sabi, which has no Spanish translation or direct equivalence with any Western concept – understood as the beauty of the impermanent.”

They add that “We understand architecture as being the act of placing limits within the void and that these limits achieve an elegant beauty of humble simplicity.”

The home also blends discreetly into the surrounding forest, according to the client’s wishes. It was never meant to be the showcase of the setting.

“The architecture is like an accent on the words of a poem, like a comma or a question mark, but never the actual poem itself,” the studio explains. “The poem is already written by the pines, the oaks, the sweet acacia, the fireflies, the road, the fence, the neighbor’s water well, the earth, the orchard, and the nightingale.”

To achieve that goal, the architecture firm used minimal materials to complete the simplistic design. Concrete takes center stage, creating the structure of the “lifted layer of grass,” while wood floors and furniture warm up the coldness of the walls. Meanwhile, steel accents like door handles and clothing rods provide hints at the modern world that created this hidden bungalow.

The post Mexico’s Hidden Hill in Front of the Glen House Recalls a Childlike Innocence first appeared on Dornob.

What all this means is that the home office is quickly becoming a necessary and lasting feature in many households. But since not all dwellings come with built-in workspaces, remote employees are often looking for ways to create small offices within their existing square footage. Here are seven handy space-saving tips for making the most of your cubicle away from the office:

Build Under the Stairs

Many homes have an empty stairwell. Depending on the positioning of yours, this might be the perfect cozy nook to insert a desk and some shelving. Just be sure to choose a chair with a minimal profile so it can be pushed in when not in use, leaving the walkways free of obstacles.

Add a Fold-Up Desk

When you truly have no extra room to spare, build up! Fold-up desks can easily be installed on walls, leaving room above for shelves to hold folders, pencils, or whatever else your daily work needs require. When it’s time to clock out, the desk can be hidden away with no trace in sight.

Turn an Ottoman Into a Hidden Office

This resourceful idea allows you to pop open your office and put it completely out of sight (and hopefully out of mind) when you’re through making a living for the day. With a simple table or nightstand nearby for laptop use, the storage ottoman-turned-office cuts the clutter while saving plenty of space.

Use Pegboard for Infinite Storage Combinations

A simple wooden pegboard with some hooks, shelves, and baskets is all you need to form a functional wall of storage. And since the hooks are removable, your storage options can be endlessly reconfigured to fit your changing business needs.

Convert an Old Hutch Into a Desk

Got an old hutch or china cabinet that’s not being put to good use? It could make for excellent and tidy work spot, with its included room for paper, binders, and miscellaneous office supplies. You can even add a little color or pattern like this one to make it an especially sunny work environment.

Embrace the “Cloffice”

What do you get when you stick your computer in your closet? The “cloffice.” Sometimes these designated storage areas are the best place to add a few permanent shelves and drawers to create a practical workspace. And while built-ins are nice, if you’re going for easy, most closets already have at least one existing shelf for stowing things. All you have to do is add a stand-alone desk below.

Create a Mobile Office Trolley

If you don’t want to commit to any one area for a home office, you could store all your essentials on a transportable trolley. You could check morning emails in the kitchen, log on to a meeting in the living room, and even get some overtime done from the comfort of your bed.

As we do our best to navigate the work-life balance of remote employment, it’s important to remember that creativity is key to finding storage solutions and optimal home office positioning.

The post 7 Inventive Ways to Carve Out a Space-Saving Home Office first appeared on Dornob.

The original version of Ori’s Cloud Bed is brilliant in its own right, making the kind of robotic furniture we associate with The Jetsons look stylish, contemporary, and inviting. Aiming to save space by combining two rooms in one, it raises a king or queen size bed into the ceiling on demand, revealing the couch and coffee table hidden underneath. Now, an equally useful and adaptable version is available that swaps out the living room furniture for a sleek work area.

Ori’s Cloud Bed Table Edition allows your bedroom to do double-duty without requiring you to physically move anything other than your desk chair and laptop. No arduous pushing, pulling, or folding; you literally just tap a button on the bed or on your smartphone. It doesn’t get much easier than that. When you’re ready to turn in for the night, the bed descends, pushing the tabletop down to a lowered position. A built-in bookshelf along the wall then acts as a headboard, and your desk lamps become bedside lighting.

When the bed is tucked away within the ceiling unit, it’s virtually invisible. That’s what gives this transforming furniture unit its remarkable versatility. The desk is designed so you could sit across from visiting clients and they’d never guess they were really in your bedroom, which makes the Ori Cloud Bed pretty perfect for live/work setups. It’s not just ideal for people who work from home, though. It’s also a great way to make better use of a guest room, and it could even come in handy for hotel rooms, too. When space comes at a premium, why have an entire room dedicated to a part-time function like sleeping?

“Now more than ever we need our living spaces to better accommodate our many needs for working, sleeping, and living,” says Hasier Larrea, founder and CEO of Ori. “Ori’s new Cloud Bed, Table Edition makes the limited square feet of our spaces more usable and flexible – more livable. Adding the Cloud Bed, Table Edition to the Ori collection means developers have one more solution that can turn even the smallest apartment into a flexible and versatile space that adapts on demand to the needs of its residents.”

Both the table and sofa editions of the Cloud Bed are now available at select residential developments across the United States and to Real Estate Developers. They include built-in outlets, hidden dimmable LED lighting, and integration with home assistants like Amazon Echo and Google Home. Best of all, it’s modular, flat-packed, and assembled on site with no components permanently attached to the room, so you can easily disassemble it and take it with you if you move.

The post Ori’s New Version of Its Drop-Down Cloud Bed Integrates a Work-From-Home Desk first appeared on Dornob.

Part of what’s so satisfying about the Canoo is the fact that it finally nudges vehicular design into the future after decades of minimal aesthetic changes. The electric Ford F-150 looks more or less the same as it always has, and Tesla’s Cybertruck goes so far in the other direction, it’s been the butt of countless online jokes. Like its self-driving van, Canoo’s truck falls somewhere in the middle, which is right where most people want it to be.

Unveiled ahead of an Automobility LA event in March, Canoo’s truck is about the size of a Ford Ranger and features a rounded nose, an oversized bubble-shaped windshield, and far more cargo capacity that you might think. Though it has a small footprint, its cab is generously sized, placing the driver almost right over its front wheels, and its six-foot-long cargo bed offers a pull-out extension for eight feet in total available length. A second layer of tailgate doors swivel out to the edges of the extension to protect whatever you’re transporting.

The coolest parts of the design are a series of fold-out “secret compartments” that make the truck feel kind of like a Transformer. The first is a fold-down work table and storage compartment right between the headlights, which holds extra gear. The work surface has two sliding components that stretch it the full width of the truck, and electrical outlets on either side are available to power tools and gadgets.

Flip-down side tables on either side of the cargo area also become work benches with their own multi-functional power sources, and a hidden side step makes it easy to step into the truck bed. Beneath that step is yet another storage area for a first aid kit, a cooler, and lockable laptop storage. The bed itself is modular, too, with a space divider system that keeps items from sliding around while you’re in motion. Optional roof racks expand storage options, and the bed is designed to accommodate a variety of different camper shells.

The company explains that “the pickup truck is the third vehicle that will be based on the company’s proprietary multi-purpose platform architecture, enabling the accelerated development timeline. Canoo’s EV platform functionally integrates all the critical components of an electric powertrain to be as flat and efficient as possible. Traditional EV platforms have power units, shock towers, and mechanical steering columns that protrude into the vehicle and take up space.”

“By incorporating steer-by-wire and other space-saving technologies, Canoo’s thin platform, with no need for an engine compartment, allows the company to offer a flatbed size comparable to America’s best-selling pickup truck on a smaller footprint. This makes the vehicle easier to maneuver and more convenient to drive and park in any terrain.”

With more than 200 miles of battery range, 600 horsepower, and a payload capacity of 1800 pounds, Canoo’s truck is equipped to meet the needs of both workers and adventure seekers. GM, Tesla, Rivian, and Lordstown expect to introduce their electric pickups later in 2021, with Ford following in mid-2022 and the Canoo truck hitting the market the following year.

The post Canoo’s Electric Pickup Truck Makes the Future Look Both Cute and Practical first appeared on Dornob.

Led by principle architect Patrick Lam, the firm aims to challenge our perceptions of smart homes while exploring the many ways in which thoughtful design can maximize even the smallest living spaces. Lam brought his own experience living in a small tenement apartment in the infamously cramped district of Kowloon to this bright, airy, and absolutely brilliant renovation for a young family.

The narrow unit benefits from a wall of windows on one side facing a view of beautiful natural scenery. At first glance, the living area appears oddly empty. There are no appliances or furniture to be seen aside from an entertainment console and a television along one wall. Panels in the floor are the first clue that the space contains more than it appears to, concealing all manner of storage, pop-up tables, and more. All visible surfaces are covered in plywood and timber veneer for an even cleaner look.

“Eric and Lory moved to Hong Kong from Taiwan many years ago and have a son; Eric needs to travel frequently throughout the country, and Lory is a flight attendant,” the architects explain. “Their lack of time spent at home means they often need grandmother to [come over and] take care of the children. Eric and Lory often talk about the scenery and homestay in Taiwan, and how they miss them so much.”

“Sim-Plex lifts up the entire living room with a wooden platform so that every corner can also come down at will. In addition to a large amount of storage, the platform also hides the intelligent lifting coffee table, creating a gathering point, sometimes as a tea ceremony, and sometimes as a toy’s playground. The dining room is made up of an open kitchen with a quartz stone high-top dining table and two arc-angle storage chairs, so no matter [where you are] while cooking or dining, you could also enjoy the scenery outside the window. The windowsills of the two rooms are surrounded by wooden frames to match the natural scenery.”

Ancient principles of feng shui and the latest in smart home gadgets coexist peacefully throughout the home. The architects also made use of natural materials, Zen philosophies about layouts that promote the proper flow of energy, and adaptable features that can meet the family’s constantly changing needs. A sliding partition separates the living room and kitchen either for privacy or to create a fourth bedroom, and the master bedroom is a peaceful refuge full of built-in storage.

With Smart Zendo (named after zendo, a place for Zen meditation), Lam shows that high-tech home features like voice-activated lights, speakers, air conditioning, motor-powered furniture, and projection screens can actually be kind of poetic.

He notes that: “Haiku, the Japanese poetry, is deeply influenced by Zen. There are ‘seasonal languages’ in the haiku. The Smart Zendo in this case is just like the seasonal language, and the four seasons of the scenery outside the window are introduced into the room to make the perfect merging of home and nature, so that the emotions of the homestay can be fermented.”

The post Transforming Hong Kong Apartment Makes Smart Home Tech Downright Zen first appeared on Dornob.

If you’ve been following our posts about designing small spaces over the years, you probably already know the answer to this problem. A combination of built-in cabinetry and hideaway furniture that’s easy to access and put away can make even the most challenging tiny spaces livable, and that’s exactly what K-Thengono Design Studio did for their “3-in-1 Living” apartment design.

The designers gave the couple the master bedroom of their dreams, clean and simple with plenty of storage, closets, display spaces and room to walk around the queen bed. The bathroom is a standard size, as well, so they didn’t have to sacrifice any functionality there. They also managed to fit a small bedroom for guests or future children. But as you can see in the original floor plan, that didn’t leave much room for anything else.

K-Thengono’s alteration incorporated additional built-in storage into every room and created a streamlined cabinet system that takes up an entire wall of the remaining space. Hidden behind the minimalist white cabinet doors is everything you’d find in a bigger apartment, including a fold-down dining table and two fold-down benches, a couch hidden in its own little nook, and tons of room for all the couple’s stuff. Some of those cabinets even become displays when various components are in use, like the dining set. Others remain closed to hide things the couple doesn’t necessarily want to show off.

“When all the panels are closed, the clutter is hidden inside, the living space allows some extra activities like yoga and home workout to take place,” the designers say. “Both the master bedroom and bathroom are connected with a translucent pivot metal door to maximize the daylight penetration. Sliding panels are used to hide unorganized closet space in the rooms or allow the veneered wooden rack for displays. Functionality is key to the various design strategies, making every piece of furniture as efficient as possible for multiple uses.”

The wall opposite the cabinet is almost entirely mirrored, including the doors to the bedrooms and bathroom, to create the illusion of additional space. With a sliding glass door and balcony on the end and all that white, there’s plenty of daylight to go around, and the view becomes the focal point. It seems like the couple isn’t much into cooking, either, since the kitchen remained the same size before and after, located just inside the front door.

Another thing to note: there’s no loft involved in this small-space renovation. Lofts are often a great way to make use of vertical height, which often just ends up being wasted space. Sometimes, when ceiling height allows, they’re placed on top of new built-in cabinetry units like this one to free up even more floor room. It’s a smart tactic, but not everyone wants or is able to climb up into a loft to go to bed. But this design demonstrates that you really can make a tiny apartment work even if you treasure your bedroom as a spacious, private sanctuary.

The post Hidden Fold-Down Furniture Makes This Ultra-Narrow Jakarta Apartment Livable first appeared on Dornob.

This apartment looks nothing like any cruise ship suite we’ve ever seen before. In fact, if not for a few tell-tale details, you might think you were looking at a well-appointed studio apartment in Manhattan. Rendered in soothing pale blue, the rounded built-in structures brimming with transforming features reference Le Corbusier’s modernist Unite D’Habitation housing project in Marseille, France, which was itself inspired by midcentury ocean liners.

“As a jumping off point for the project, we looked to Modernist architecture’s fascination with nautical design and cruise ships, which optimized for small-scale living, modular organization, and efficiency,” says Chen. “In particular, Le Corbusier’s belief that a home should be regarded as a ‘machine for living,’ his own multifunctional apartment and atelier at the Immeuble Molitor, as well as his fascination with cruise ships as models for self-sufficient, utopian apartment complexes, like his famed 1952 Unite D’Habitation, offered inspiration.”

The clients are an older couple who use the residence as a getaway for themselves and, occasionally, their adult children. They wanted the ability to expand the space from a one bedroom to a two bedroom as needed using extra tables and beds that fold away almost imperceptibly. Hidden behind surface panels are the components of extra sleeping spaces, two baths, a dressing room, a sitting area, a trunk room, and a “landing zone.”

The dining area converts into the second bedroom on demand, with the cantilevered folding bed tucked behind a fold-down table. When all four guests are present, a sliding screen divides the apartment to create privacy while maintaining access to the common living area, which itself faces a wall of glass that looks out to the ocean.

Chen adds that “concepts of motion and multi-functionalism underpin all aspects of the residence’s organization and aesthetic. In addition to disappearing tables and beds, MKCA has incorporated hidden lighting and integrated appliances that can be boldly revealed or neatly tucked away. Continuous aluminum ribs help conceal panel divisions, doors, and appliances, and also impart a sensation of height in the relatively low, eight-foot tall space.”

“Finishes across the apartment are either impervious or designed to patina over time. This dichotomy extends to the furniture selection, whose surfaces are highly tactile, shifting from polished metals and stones to more plush materials such as mohair, velvet, and suede, and serve as sculptural elements within the space.”

It’s obvious from the deft execution of this project that Chen is accustomed to designing small spaces. Micro living is a common theme in his firm’s portfolio, including the brilliant “Unfolding Apartment” and a 12×16-foot micro-housing concept designed for Häfele. Building on a ship presented a few new challenges, like restrictions on potentially flammable materials, but the resulting combination of warmth, simplicity, and nautical style is a refreshing take on both small spaces and floating residences.

The post Pied-a-Mer: Small Residence Onboard a Yacht Transforms to Accommodate Guests first appeared on Dornob.

But you know what makes studio apartments so much more livable? Transforming furniture. Nothing short of living like a monk makes quite the same impact. It can be as simple as a table that folds up against a wall or a good old classic Murphy bed. But imagine how much easier it would be to transition from day to night if your bedroom was basically whisked out of the way to reveal a living room whenever you needed it.

The “Cloud Bed” by Ori does just that. So effortlessly does the entire bed glide up into the ceiling by day, it almost feels like magic. You wave your wand —or, in reality, press a button on your phone — and your furniture shifts in response to your whims. That’s it. You don’t have to take off all the bedding and put it away somewhere. In fact, you don’t have to physically move anything at all.

The unit consists of an upper cabinet that hugs the ceiling and contains the bed when it’s not in use, tracks that run along the wall, the bed itself, and an entire living room underneath. When the bed glides down, it fits snugly within the body of the sofa, and it can even rest directly on top of the coffee table. The arms of the sofa become dual bedside tables, and two pull-out drawers beneath the couch offer storage for things like linens and clothing.

Built-in dimmable LED lighting lets you set the mood for evening entertainment or a little reading before you go to sleep. Four built-in outlets make it easy to plug in your devices. The couch fits three people, and the bed comes in either king or queen size, with an eight-inch foam mattress included. It takes just 30 seconds to transition between bedroom and living room setups, and you control it using either the Ori app, Amazon Alexa, or Google Home.

Made of poplar laminate sourced from Spain as well as spruce bed slats and powder-coated carbon steel for the mechanical elements, the bed comes in a single contemporary light wood color. You can even set it to “lock mode” if you want to make sure no mischievous kids or accidental wake-words activate it to raise or lower unexpectedly. A continuous monitoring system watches for potential failures, and the firmware automatically stays up to date.

The Cloud Bed is just the latest brilliant space-saving furniture system from Ori. If you’re in the market for higher-end transforming furniture for studio apartments, you’re going to want to check out their Pocket Office, Pocket Closet, and Studio Suite Slim. The Pocket Office encloses an entire home office setup within what looks like an entertainment system when it’s not needed, and you just roll out the cabinet when you want to use it.

The Pocket Closet works similarly, instead hiding a whole walk-in closet worth of clothes, shoes, and accessories. And the Studio Suite Slim manages to fit all three of these functions into a single unit, making small homes far more adaptable than they’ve ever been.

The post “Cloud Bed” by Ori Glides Up Into the Ceiling to Reveal a Couch first appeared on Dornob.

Diego Rincon of Diego Alejandro Design approached this project with an unusual source of inspiration in mind: the sense of peace and calm you find in art galleries. When imagining a space that feels highly functional, spacious, and clean but with a creative edge, Rincon thought of artist Yves Klein’s posthumous “Propositions Monochromes” exhibition, which famously paired a single distinctive shade of blue with the blank white gallery walls.

The “before” image shows a fairly standard contemporary kitchen with mid-grade appliances, green Formica countertops, white subway tile, and off-white cabinetry that doesn’t match the white walls. The new custom-designed cabinetry is a cook’s dream, with each cabinet and drawer outfitted with special partitions and trays for pots and pans, cutting boards, cooking tools, colanders, and more. The new cabinets have no hardware or milled details for a more streamlined look, not to mention the fact that there are fewer doors overall, making the space look larger.

Thick, open shelving allows a curated selection of objects to set a mood while clutter is kept hidden away. Rincon took the door off the pantry to the left of the stove and transformed it with extra counter space and a pull-out cabinet to physically enlarge the kitchen. Lighter marble countertops make a big difference, too, with the extension of the marble pattern up onto the backsplash giving the space a more harmonic feel.

Rincon explains: “When I started designing this custom kitchen for my client — an avid cook with a busy schedule — I wanted to give him an efficient and functional space. But I also wanted to create a space for him that had a sense of peace and calm resembling an art gallery’s atmosphere. Cerused Oak wood with a natural grain mixed with custom, high-gloss lacquered cabinetry, alongside calacatta lilac marble from Italy were some of the materials carefully sourced for the redesign of this kitchen in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York.”

“I removed an old set of upper cabinets to make the space feel airier. Two floating shelves took their place. To me, this is perhaps one of the most graceful parts of the kitchen. I wanted to highlight the craftsmanship that was put into every little detail that makes up the kitchen. I designed a small spice cabinet — six inches deep, to store herbs from different regions plus a selection of olive oils and vinegar bottles, which is especially convenient in New York.”

Obviously, not everyone can take their pick of Viking appliances and luxury surfaces, but just seeing how Rincon changed certain elements to alter the ambiance and functionality of the space can help spur your own ideas. Plus, if you’re a renter or on a serious budget, you can always try recreating some of these elements with IKEA’s LACK wall shelves, sleek handle-free cabinet doors, self adhesive marble film, and some organizing inserts.

All photos courtesy of Gieves Anderson

The post NYC Kitchen Renovation Takes Inspiration from Art Galleries first appeared on Dornob.

Like watching television but sick of staring at the dish-shaped eyesore in your yard, on your roof or sticking out from the side of your house? Architects enjoy shaping the big picture (so to speak) when it comes to design, but few will remember to factor in those details that most homes have but most homeowners wish to hide. Fortunately, from camouflage dish covers to huge fake rocks, there are a few clever solutions to this standard problem.

On such stealth dish from Sqish comes with various patterns pasted onto its from, from faux-brick finishes to fake wood-slat patterns, imitation concrete to artificial grass, all so it can fit into any site or setting as subtly as possible.

“You can make your Sqish even more discreet by adding a sqishoflage sticker. Take a picture of the location where the Sqish will be sited and we will supply a UV-stable matt finish sticker for you to attach. We now print 3 stickers to allow a better match, one light tone one medium and one dark…”

“The Sqish currently comes in white. It can be made more discreet by adding a skin. We can produce a skin in any colour or from an image taken of the installation site as follows:

Take an photo of the installation site ideally with our colour match chart to one side. The colour match chart helps us to match the tone. The image needs to be around 60cm wide for us to crop the correct size skin.”

Sure, the texture will never quite match the background, but it may be an aesthetic step up from those standard black, white and gray varieties that most satellite dishes tend to come in – and few residential building materials do.

There are also companies that sell stickers made to smoothly slot into the circular form of round, standard-sized satellite dishes – some (such as cats, sunflowers and flags) may be a bit too tacky for your taste but again may also be better than no dish decor at all.

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How It Works

Bumblebee Spaces, a startup technology venture, has developed a furniture system of drawers, beds, and wardrobes that is entirely stored on the ceiling using an innovative suspension system. Operated by an app on your smartphone or tablet, the furniture pieces are elevated upwards when not in use, leaving an empty room for you to use as you like.

The Inventor

Indian engineer Sankarshan Murthy relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area from Baltimore to work at Apple, and later, Tesla. He knew the rent prices there was among the most expensive in the world (Silicon Valley rents have almost doubled since 2010), but was still amazed at how small each unit was given the cost. He then started mulling over options with Bumblebee co-founder Garrett Rayner, also formerly employed by Tesla, to address the bay’s oppressively small apartments, eventually landing on the idea of ceiling-suspended furniture.

The Inspiration

Murthy often watched Disney Junior on TV with his 18-month-old daughter. One show on the network, The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, features a clubhouse that magically changes to accommodate the characters’ ever-changing needs. For example, when Mickey is entertaining, the clubhouse has tables and chairs for guests. When Goofy is getting ready to prepare a meal, the space morphs into a kitchen. Murthy believed that shape-shifting concept could be applied to real living spaces, and thus Bumblebee was born.

Working Out The Glitches

Murthy and a select team of designers and engineers started experimenting with and building the robotic furniture concept in a garage in the San Francisco Mission District. With the input of one of Apple’s leading designers, they streamlined the appearance of the furniture itself and worked on debugging the system. Today, about a dozen apartments have the Bumblebee Spaces system installed in them, with growth potential looking good.

Of course, Bumblebee’s game-changing technology is still undergoing some growing pains. For instance, at least three tenants who have the system in their small apartments admit that it sometimes malfunctions when they attempt to lower the bed. This is because an important safety feature prevents any furniture items from ever being lowered if their sensors detect any objects on the floor beneath them. Unfortunately, these sensors occasionally detect objects that aren’t there. And while the company can override the system remotely in these instances, it’s easy to see how this glitch could be extremely irritating to users who just want to climb into bed at the end of a long, tiring day.

Cost Considerations

Since production has been scheduled on an as-needed basis at this point, the cost for the system and furniture currently lies somewhere between $6,000 and $10,000 per room based on the cubic footage of the space. Software, system updates, and maintenance cost another $200 to $400 a month.

Even for top-salaried tech industry execs, these prices are high. Murthy anticipates that once installation can be subcontracted as the company grows, they will drastically drop, leaving Bumblebee Spaces free to concentrate on quality assurance and cost-effective upgrades.

The post Living In The Upside Down: Bumblebee’s Ceiling-Suspended Furniture first appeared on Dornob.

Any home that’s been around for a century or more has likely seen its fair share of renovations, both small and major. Spaces that started out with high ceilings and few interior walls were almost always subdivided to fit more people as cities grew more crowded and belts tightened. Old wooden floors were covered with carpet or tile, then restored. Original trim and molding was stripped away for something more modern, which quickly became passé. Then occupants with more wealth came along and attempted to recreate the original proportions and materials, starting the cycle all over again.

These houses and apartments changed more than their original designers and builders would have imagined, says Quinzii Terna Architecture, and often in ways that are both surprising and confounding. The firm, led by Diego Terna and Chiara Quinzii, argues that these changes follow those of the occupants’ psyches, reflecting both inner transformations and the evolution of the world outside.

“House N,” an apartment in Milan measuring just over 530 square feet, is presented as an example. The architects point out the details of the home that would appeal to a wealthier current resident and managed to survive many renovations: the plaster geometric-patterned frames in the ceilings, the wood of the window frames, and the terrazzo floors, which themselves are made from a mixture of cement and marble scraps since real marble would have cost too much money at the time of building.

These things were not remarkable when they were originally included in the home, but today, they carry a quaint sense of authenticity that so many spaces built more recently tend to lack.

“So the new project wants to maintain the original intention and some traces of the previous inhabitants (who have changed the original ambient too), such as the arch between the entrance and the living area, a first attempt to open the spaces between each others, especially the ones of conviviality, like the living room, to mark the passage between the different areas of the house in a lighter way. But what the original project offers is precisely the space, in its different dimensions, the high ceilings, the long corridor, the large rooms, areas that we are no longer used to, with the surfaces designed nowadays to reach the minimum dimensions in an economic context.”

“The space, in fact, is the object of the greatest transformation and so the new project folds the old one without breaking it, without canceling it completely. The space, which is already there with all its qualities, is released and re-structured with light elements, the furniture. These pieces, like large objects, create new environments, no longer as separate spaces but as nuances of space, continuously modified by a movement of furniture, which open, move, rotate, become alcoves, deposit, surface of work, archive, game.”

The architects think that ultimately, many of us need to feel that our home is both tied to its own particular history and able to adapt to our current needs. This focus on the “nuances of space” results in new flexible elements that act like oversized pieces of furniture, giving the small apartment the ability to shift and transform at a moment’s notice with tables that fold out of walls, hidden storage, and a small room that can open or close to the rest of the home.

But the addition is intentionally temporary in nature: easily removable and able to adapt yet again to the needs of future inhabitants. Like so many past changes, the pressboard used throughout the renovated interiors was considered low-end not so long ago, but it’s currently in vogue as a budget-friendly yet visually pleasing material.

With these psychological considerations, “House N” anchors itself in past, present, and future all at once — quite a feat for a home that’s over 100 years old.

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That might seem like it’s simply not enough space to store all your possessions, let alone enjoy time in your home, but the secret here is all in how you use the limited square footage. Micro apartments utilizing clever space-saving tricks like lofts, built-in storage, and transforming elements can meet just about all of your needs — as long as you stay on top of keeping the place tidy, of course. 

The 22m2 Apartment by A Little Design demonstrates how this can work for a resident who’s a single busy urban professional. The owner of the flat commissioned the architects to renovate the old 236-square-foot space with roughly 11-foot-high ceilings to complement her lifestyle, comfortably fitting in everything she owns and accommodating her habits without breaking the bank.

Some architects would accomplish this by packing furniture and other items into every available square inch of floor space, but this client wanted to leave almost the entire living area open so she could exercise and freely rearrange the furniture. That left a window nook and minimal space along the walls for the designers to work with, but the results prove that they certainly were up to the challenge.

Unsurprisingly, A Little Design prioritized making full use of the ceiling height by adding in a sleeping loft above the kitchen and bathroom. Though there’s only enough room up there to crouch, sit, or lay down, it’s still plenty suitable for sleeping, accessing some of the storage spaces, and even using a desk built into the wall. The stairs contain two shoe storage cabinets, and also hide the television from view when it’s not in use.

Despite the space limitations, the client also wanted to find a way to fit in some crucial functions: lots of clothes storage, a washer and dryer, a kitchen you could actually cook in, a dining table that could accommodate a guest or two, and a bath tub. After traveling abroad for work, all she wanted to do was come home and have a hot bath before getting a good night’s sleep.

The architects explain: “Firstly, the shower was replaced with a bath, and the washer was moved to the kitchen. Because in Taiwan the gas can not be piped into a house without a balcony and a small electric heater can not provide sufficient hot water for a bath, we adjusted the layout of the toilet to make room for a storage water heater, and a sliding door with a mirror which not only makes the maintenance easy but also amplifies the space visually.”

“Fixed furniture such as the kitchen cabinet, the wardrobe, and the shelf are attached to the wall to fully utilize the height and avoid aisles. The wardrobe is below the shelf due to the higher frequency of use, but a part of the shelf still can be accessed conveniently from the mezzanine area.”

“The tatami area and cabinet alongside the window make full use of the alcove and also provide ample storage. There are two wooden tables alongside the wall in the living room that could [also] be a long bar table, which economizes the room and can be combined in the other direction to be a dining table. Therefore, the empty space is flexible for different needs, and makes the small flat less cramped.”

Lots of bright white paint, pale wood, and ample natural light from the windows visually enlarge the micro apartment, while clutter like clothing and electronic items are all kept behind the doors of the built-in wardrobe and cabinets. A swing-arm lamp and a library-style ladder are two small touches that make a big difference, too, taking up very little space but moving easily when needed. The overall result feels clean, orderly, and anything but cramped.

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