The entrance is purposefully mysterious, finished in black steel with no apparent function. The intention is to raise expectations for the interior space, taking inspiration from the entrances of traditional Japanese shrines. Carving the new retail space right into the thick concrete walls and leaving their unfinished contours in place, the architects create the sense of penetrating into a deep, dark cave or bunker. Seeing all the watches lined up on their pristine white and steel shelving, one wonders if they’ll find the Batmobile around the next corner.

The architects intentionally chose materials that would be in conflict with the rough nature of the concrete to create a visual tension. Shallow beds of gravel make the transition between the original surfaces and the new tile flooring. Most fascinating of all, perhaps, is the choice to subtly highlight the brokenness of the concrete in some areas with gold powder in the spirit of “kintsugi,” the Japanese art of repairing broken vessels with gold to highlight the beauty of their imperfections.

“By laying gravel between these spaces, we express a sense of calmness and beauty reminiscent of a Japanese garden,” say the architects. “The floor was finished by old lumber and floated in the space as a stage for encountering rare products. The stainless steel showcase makes a sensation of an otherworldly bank vault and the rarity of the product stand out more. The display stand of the watch uses natural stone as it is, and by contrasting it with the natural beauty of the stone, it enhances the attractiveness of the artificial beauty of the wristwatch, which can be said to be the crystallization of advanced craftsmanship.”

The firm adds that “you can bring your favorite products to the negotiation booth and carefully examine them. The booth is a neutral space finished with white steel and plastic and surface emission from the ceiling makes [it so] you can concentrate on the detail of the product. The strong contrast of various materials makes each space stand out independently. And through those ‘space’ experiences, you can feel the connection with the concept of ‘time.’”

There’s a certain poetry to Kenta Nagai Studio’s approach to this project, especially given the history of Shinjuku City. Now known as Tokyo’s major commercial center, home to the busiest railway station in the world and most of the city’s skyscrapers, Shinjuku was almost 90 percent destroyed during the Tokyo air raids in 1945. Only its roads and rails remained, preserving its pre-war form for post-war reconstruction. In this sense, those roads and rails are almost like the gold lines of kintsugi passing through the city, knitting together old and new.

The post Old Tokyo Building Sliced Open for a New Store and Repaired with Traditional Japanese Kintsugi first appeared on Dornob.

“Kami is the Japanese word meaning ‘god,’ ‘divinity,’ or ‘spirit’; but it also means ‘paper,’” Shibata explains. “Kami reside within nature. They dwell in the sky, in the ground, [and] in the wind, as well as various objects such as old trees, big rocks, and manmade creations. Kami move freely beyond time, universe, and places, appearing during events, as well as in our houses and our bodies. These spirits also dwell in paper. In the religion of Shinto, white paper is considered as a sacred material.”

Shibata hopes to use the traditional method of Japanese paper cutting to draw attention to “the delicate relationship we as humans have with the environment.” Her interest in paper cutting started when she began to play with the needles, strings, and leftover fabrics in her mother’s quilt and patchwork atelier shop as a child. She moved to New York after high school and experimented with paper art and stained glass before enrolling in the Printmaking and Sculpture mixed media department at the National Academy School in New York. In 2015, she moved to Paris.

Shibata sees her paper art as a way to travel to strange worlds, and her travels to new countries have broadened her ideas about what those worlds can look like while reinforcing her appreciation for her Japanese identity. The landscapes she creates are often surreal, mysterious, and even ghostly, occasionally offering a glimpse of a shadowy figure within the forests and dense cityscapes. She’s fascinated by the way the layered cut-outs interact with each other, creating highlights and shadows that she sometimes enhances with strategic lighting.

Even her smallest works can consist of many sheets of paper and hundreds of hours of careful slicing. These pieces might be enclosed within a goblet, apothecary jar or vase, and illuminated with a single tiny bulb for an enchanting effect. But Shibata’s “paper worlds” are downright jaw-dropping when they’re at their largest, crafted as interactive experiences within art galleries. Currently, Shibata is working on an installation she calls “Inochino-uta, Poetry of Life,” a large-scale project consisting of over 100 pieces of paper suspended from the ceiling. It’s set to be exhibited later this year.

“I cut paper to express my thankfulness to the ‘Kami’ spirits for having been born in this life,” Shibata says. “Each cut, each page is a prayer. My process helps me to be quiet and clear my mind in meditation or prayer. I purify my soul through the act of cutting paper. By interacting with the ‘Kami’ spirit material, I can connect to this spirit world with our own.”

The post Layers of White Paper Spring to Life in Sculptures by Ayumi Shibata first appeared on Dornob.

The Ainu village of about 120 people consists of many artists and artisans, who still practice ancient techniques like hand-carving traditional motifs into wooden plates. To translate the project to ceramic, the artisans carved wood blocks that press the patterns into the plates before they’re fired. The result is a beautiful twist on “Arita ware,” the name for porcelain produced in Arita, which has a history of ceramics dating back to the early 1600s, when porcelain stone was discovered in the area. This porcelain became a well-known luxury product within Japan and around the world, where it was often called “Imari.”

The project was initiated by Akan Ainu Consuln, an organization founded in a small Ainu settlement. The Ainu are the indigenous people of Japan, who now mostly live on the northernmost island of Hokkaido. “We have an accent culture, born from a lifestyle of harmony with nature,” they explain. “Among traditional Ainu culture lives a rich tradition of crafts, including wood carving, textiles, embroidery, and more featuring unique patterns and designs. Akan Ainu Consuln works to disseminate Ainu culture and protect Ainu intellectual property related to Ainu performance arts, the Ainu language, Ainu cooking, and traditional Ainu designs.”

The group works directly with artists and creators in Ainu to facilitate collaborations with other creative traditions of Japan. In this case, it’s two potteries in Arita called Kyuemon and Yamaheigama. They hope to draw attention to the Akanko Ainu Kotan village and its unique culture, bringing in tourism revenue that can help keep its traditions alive.

“Since the pandemic hit, tourism to Akanko Ainu Kotan has dropped dramatically, especially among foreign tourists who aren’t allowed in the country right now,” says Akan Ainu Consuln. “This project serves as a chance to bring in some much-needed revenue to our artists, as well as deliver a piece of Ankanko Ainu Kotan to people who can’t visit in person right now.”

The plates include designs by five Ainu artisans: Fukiko Goukon, Erika Katsuya, Masaki Saito, Kiyosho Hikawa, and Hideharu Taira. “I came up with my designs while hoping that Ainu culture will become better known throughout the world,” says Goukon. “I made designs that incorporate traditional lucky Japanese patterns in order to reflect the collaboration with Arita ware, while still staying true to classic Ainu patterns.”

A Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign raised over $25,000 to bring the project to life, offering backers the choice between each artist’s collections as rewards. Once the campaign is fulfilled, the creators hope to offer the plates to the wider public. If you missed it, keep an eye on the page for future updates.

The post Ainu Meets Arita: Beautiful Plates Made in Japan with Designs by Indigenous Artists first appeared on Dornob.

Concrete manufacturers run advertisements in these countries professing the superiority of their product, one bearing the tag line “concrete is a strong material for strong men.” Occasional collapses of mud walls during heavy rainfall have influenced opinions as well. But even as villagers express new preferences for concrete over mud, some architects, tribal chiefs, and government officials are working to preserve the use of traditional materials, especially in the face of climate change.

With its high thermal mass, mud is capable of keeping interiors cool even in the hottest desert temperatures. Concrete blocks, on the other hand, allow heat to pass right indoors, where it’s trapped even after outside temperatures cool at night. The materials used to build mud structures are also plentiful, locally available, mostly biodegradable, and virtually free. An annual application of a waterproofing mixture consisting of motor oil, clay, and cow dung keep rain from penetrating the walls, which can be up to three feet thick. Plus, patterns and drawings can be carved into the mud before it cures for a decorative effect.

Some of West Africa’s most stunning vernacular architecture is made of mud. That includes the Great Mosque of Djenne in Mali, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the world’s largest mud brick building, which was designed in the Sudano-Sahelian architectural style. The first mosque on the site was built around the 13th century, and the current one dates to 1907, built by Djenne’s traditional guild of masons. The walls are decorated with bundles of rosier palm sticks, and ceramic half-pipes extend from the roofline to direct rainwater away from the structure.

Other significant mud buildings include the Grand Mosque of Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso, a series of mud tower houses in northern Togo called Koutammouko, the gate to the Emir’s Palace in Kano, Nigeria, Dogon mud houses tucked into the Bandiagara Escarpment in Mali, Larabanga Mosque in Ghana, and traditionally decorated Hausa structures in Niger, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, and Benin, as well as other West African countries.

Architect Clara Sawadogo is among those working to make mud popular again, demonstrating through her projects how the traditional materials can be applied to contemporary designs for those who want a more modern appearance. And in cities like Koudougou and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, brand new mud structures are showing off what’s possible. The Burkina Institute of Technology by Francis Kéré (2020), for instance, is made of poured clay and features a secondary facade of eucalyptus for additional passive cooling.

These structures serve as great examples of how vernacular architecture made of sustainable local materials can and should be prioritized over homogenized developments lacking aesthetic and cultural connections to their settings, even in the midst of the global housing crisis. They’re beautiful, inexpensive to build, rooted in local traditions, and well equipped to withstand climate change without the addition of high-cost, energy and resource-intensive modern technologies. There’s a unique version of this kind of architecture almost everywhere on the planet, or the potential to adapt traditional knowledge and skills into new but similar ideas.

The post West Africa’s Traditional Mud Architecture is a Low-Cost Sustainable Marvel first appeared on Dornob.

That’s what architecture firm KRADS has achieved with its “Holiday home by Þingvallavatn,” which perches on a densely vegetated hilltop sloping in the direction of Lake Þingvallavatn. This lush, intensely green landscape, with views of viridian and black hills in the distance, informed the shape, appearance, and layout of a vacation home for a couple. The design consists of three staggered planes following the contours of the terrain, almost as if the home were a natural extension of the hill.

“An essential part of a good building is a good client, they say,” explain architects Kristján Örn Kjartansson and Kristján Eggertson of KRADS. “This general principle felt particularly present in the process surrounding Tina Dickow’s and Helgi Jónsson’s holiday home. As performing artists, they showed an unusual understanding around the creative process, and all the aspects it involves. This led to a journey that was characterized by an enthusiastic exchange of thoughts and ideas which were anchored in a common understanding of materiality and general expression. This created an atmosphere of mutual trust and openness between the architect and the client that one rarely experiences. We hope this feeling is conveyed in the finished house.”

The north-facing facade of the home faces the sparkling lake, poking up and out of the hill like new growth. The roof, planted with grasses and moss in the Icelandic turf house tradition, slopes down toward the ground on the south side, interrupted by a void that separates this section of the building into two volumes. KRADS designed the layout to take full advantage of the lake view while integrating the home into its surroundings. A southwest-facing terrace ringed by trees provides peeks of the mountains Jórutindur and Hátindur.

The design team explains that “apart from the terrace, the immediate surroundings of the building are so densely vegetated that they are close to impenetrable. Preserving the landscape as pristine as possible was a major intention in both the design process and during the construction of the house. In return, the greened roof is established as an accessible plane. Access to the roof can be gained from inside, from the house’s sleep and play loft, or from the outside where the slope starts at the foot of the integrated boat shed. Following the ascend, standing at the top of the roofs edge above the trees, the landscape opens up in a magnificent and ever-changing panorama towards the lake and the surrounding mountains.”

Inside, an older turf home dating back to the 18th century or earlier would most likely consist of either earth, stone, or timber panelling (usually imported, since Iceland doesn’t have a lot of timber of its own). But this home is all contemporary luxury with its smooth white walls, whitewashed wood floors, and timber details. A sunken living area and an adjacent tile-clad tub hidden beneath bench seating enjoy some of the home’s most stunning views.

The post Moss-Draped Holiday Home in Iceland Bridges the Space Between Lakes and Mountains first appeared on Dornob.

Among Japan’s most beautiful vernacular architecture, Shinto shrines are considered the dwellings of the kami, the Shinto gods. While the full-sized shrines draw visitors to marvel at their beauty, pay respects to the kami, and pray for good fortune, miniature versions called kamidana offer a way for individuals to invite the kami into their homes. Translating literally to “god/spirit-shelf” in English, kamidana are usually placed high up on a wall and used to display items related to Shinto-style ceremonies, like shintai, which are objects that house a chosen kami, giving it a physical representation to worship.

While traditional kamidana vary from small and simple shapes to more ornate shrine reproductions, architect Naohiko Shimoda has created a pair that are a bit more contemporary in style. For the latest one, Shimoda used incredibly narrow lengths of miniature lumber to construct a minimalist structure with a complex framework underneath it, almost as if a Shinto shrine were elevated on stilts to take advantage of a beautiful view.

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Presented on Instagram, the bespoke miniature shrine is just as fascinating in tightly-framed detail views as it is taken in as a whole. In some of Shimoda’s older Instagram posts, he shows off architectural models he’s built for his full-scale projects, and you can see a similarly complex structure underpinning his boxy modern designs.

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This is the second such miniature Shimoda has custom-designed for a client. In 2018, he created “Kamidana in the corner,” a shrine that fits an outer corner rather than an inner one. Both designs take on more of a symbolic and decorative role than the shelf-like type of traditional kamidana that’s capable of supporting objects, but there’s still something powerful about the delicacy of their construction. The almost toothpick-thin supports give them an appearance of transience, as if they might pick up and leave in the night of their own volition.

“In general, architecture is too large, so we design using the concept of ‘scale.’ However, there is no scale on the kamidana,” Shimoda says. “Although the figure looks like a miniature, it always appears at a scale of one-third. The purpose of the kamidana is to build a company in the house, and there is a practical aspect that it must be a small company for that purpose. However, because it is a small company and a company that humans cannot enter, there is a sense of scale that is a method (maniella) peculiar to kamidana that has escaped from the human scale.”

“As a result, the driving force that determines the design is purely the details that create the beauty and corporateness of the proportions. This time, the proportions of each part are based on the aspect ratio (1:10) at which the architecture reveals its commemoration, and the details incorporate elements of temples and shrines nationwide. This is because a certain sense of déjà vu is important for the kamidana (= company). When a person prays for something, he or she needs a yorishiro to accept that thought. At that time, yorishiro needs some kind of production that makes it easy for people to think about it. The déjà vu effect used this time is a receptor that accepts the thoughts of those who pray.”

The post Miniature Shinto Shrine by Architect Naohiko Shimoda Offers a New Take on Tradition first appeared on Dornob.

A restaurant located quite far from Japan, in Lisbon, Portugal, honors these traditions in a very unusual way: through symbolic architecture. The Ajitama Ramen Bistro by JCFS Architects contains a gorgeous wooden trellis installation featuring a repeated motif of egg shapes. Located in a newly refurbished building on a block that dates back to the early 20th century, the bistro occupies a prominent position on a street corner, and the illuminated installation can be glimpsed from the doorway not long after dark.

The trellises are meant to recall the kind of complex wooden construction that’s often seen throughout Asia, commonly hand-crafted with an emphasis on the craftsmanship of the joinery. The architects explain that to them, the trellises symbolize the determination, rigor, and precision of the Japanese people. The egg shape, on the other hand, is pure comfort.

JCFS hoped to represent a duality between Eastern traditions and their Western interpretations, elegance and informality, softness and structure. The wooden framework is geometric but sculpted into ovoid shapes, sometimes stretching down vertical surfaces for a sense of continuity and envelopment. The design of the space would be serviceable enough without it, but the installation truly transforms the interiors.

The design team explains: “The Ajitama Ramen Bistro is a restaurant fruit of the dream and ambition of two friends in love with this traditional Japanese dish. After their visit to Japan, their long friendship was reinforced by this passion, the search for the most authentic ramen of Lisbon. Unlike many countries in Europe, the Ramen in Portugal was until a few years ago an unknown concept. The two friends, not being satisfied with the existing offerings, decided to venture into their own project together.”

“When JCFS was challenged to develop the [concept] for the restaurant, the egg – ‘the Ajitama,’ is present in everything that is the most beautiful, tasty, and memorable, and that we keep in memory when eating the ramen of these friends, [making it] the generator of all the construction of the idea for this place.”

“The repetition and interpretation of the egg gesture is projected in these facilities, [the] counter, [the] bathrooms … the result is a mixture of sensations in which the neons of the facade transport us to the crazy streets of Tokyo. The suspended wood, sculpted in the form of an egg, confers a lightness to the space, leaving us the sensation of having no end and in which the sky has no limit. The counter makes us remember the Japanese meal in its natural habitat, in which we visualize the chef to cook the beautiful delicacy.”

Is anyone else suddenly craving a hot bowl of fresh ramen?

The post Egg-Shaped Wooden Trellises Hang from the Ceiling of Lisbon Ramen Restaurant first appeared on Dornob.

Made with a base of blue-black glaze dotted with oily-looking spots, the bowls were likely unappreciated in China, where rainbows were considered unlucky. Somehow, a number of them made their way to Japan, where they were prized by collectors and valued for use in tea ceremonies. The style was eventually recreated by Japanese ceramicists, but today only a small number of artists still work with the style.

The beautiful crystalline patterns on the bowls appear spontaneously during the firing process, which are different from the “oil spots” found on other forms of pottery baked in the Jian kilns of China. Modern potters, for all their new techniques and technology, can’t seem to replicate the workmanship of the originals.

A new crowdfunding campaign called “TENMO” pays tribute to their uniqueness while enhancing the qualities that make them look like “the cosmos in a cup.”

The campaign’s official Kickstarter page reads: “Tenmoku, also known as Jian Ware, is a legendary, precious type of porcelain that produces unique designs that are both mystical and unpredictable. It’s impossible to produce two identical Tenmoku porcelains. The name of Tenmoku comes from the word ‘Tenmo(天目).’ It means the eyes of the sky in Chinese and Japanese.”

TENMO founder Tom Fu adds that “other than just being a cultural symbol, many elderly people from China and Japan appreciate Tenmoku for its potential ability to soften water and enhance flavor thanks to the special clay and glaze used to produce [it]. One time when I was getting my morning cup of coffee, I serendipitously used a Tenmoku teacup for my coffee instead of my normal coffee cups. The feeling I got when drinking my coffee out of the Tenmoku was unlike anything else I had experienced with common coffee cups.”

“Drinking my morning coffee out of the Tenmoku that day made me realize that there are no authentic Tenmoku coffee cups on the market currently and that the delicate and exquisite designs of Tenmoku perfectly match the elegant and fine flavors of coffee.”

The result is a Kickstarter campaign aiming to revive the tradition, created by an engineer of magnetic materials in collaboration with master ceramicist Sun Whenzha. They’re made of the very same natural iron-rich clay from Fujian, China that created the originals, and they feature a nano-porous surface that’s believed to enhance the flavor of coffee and tea.

The TENMO campaign page contains lots of fascinating details about the science behind the clay and why its iron content affects the glaze in a way that produces these gorgeous nebula-like patterns. And while the campaign itself may have already ended, you can still follow the project to be notified when the cups are made available to the public.

The post TENMO: Cosmic Coffee Cups Revive an Ancient Chinese Craft first appeared on Dornob.

Thankfully, there’s a movement in place to protect some of these remarkable residences and preserve their historical value while also making them livable for people who want modern creature comforts. Homeowners, architects, and developers are restoring these neighborhoods known as “hutongs” to transform them for both private and public use. Some remain family homes while others are becoming hotels, tea houses, and community spaces.

Beijing-based architecture firm ARCHSTUDIO has helmed more than one of these transformations with sensitivity and skill, bringing in beautiful modern elements that augment and complement the existing structures. Their latest is called “Qishe Courtyard,” a small siheyuan located within one of Beijing’s old hutong quarters.

Before the renovation, the building was in poor shape, with most of the roofs, walls, doors, and windows damaged or missing. But potential remained in the framework, arched door openings, and other elements, and ARCHSTUDIO wanted to “renovate the old and insert the new.” They repaired and reinforced what they could with the goal of restoring the building to look like a traditional siheyuan, but added a bathroom, kitchen, and garage as well as HVAC lines and new verandas. One of the biggest challenges of living in unrestored siheyuan is the fact that most of them don’t have indoor plumbing, so these simple additions make a big difference.

This siheyuan was originally a cluster of three houses: one on the north and two on the sides. ARCHSTUDIO followed its original layout to create a new tea room, living room, dining room, and kitchen. But their design deviates from the traditional one in two major ways. Firstly, the billowing of both the roof and new glass enclosures creates spaces that are protected by the weather but almost seamlessly connected to the outdoors. Covered indoor pathways have also been created between what would have been strictly outdoor spaces, fluidly leading from one side of the building to another. The architects say this “veranda” ensures ample light and ventilation while bringing in undulating organic shapes.

The architects add: “ARCHSTUDIO embedded a veranda — a basic element of traditional Chinese architectures, into the old siheyuan to link up the seven separated pitched-roof houses. The veranda functions as a circulation route, reshapes the spatial pattern and layers, and provides a playful walking experience as well as fantastic views. The front courtyard is mainly used as a garage. ARCHSTUDIO retained its pitched roof, removed the front and back walls, and shifted the entrance door to the side so as to leave more space for parking. The design team restored and preserved many valuable historical elements such as the gateway and carvings of the arched door opening, and even a dry tree. In addition, the wall between the front and middle courtyards w[as] dismantled and replaced by a transparent veranda.”

“The veranda features a curved plane and presents variations according to different landscapes and spatial functions. It’s closely combined with the curved edges of the pitched roofs, hence forming several arc-shaped transparent spaces, which integrate the houses, landscape, and sky into the same picture. In the front courtyard, part of the veranda’s roof was bended downwards to form a curved wall, behind which are some functional spaces, including the washroom, service room, equipment room, and so on.”

Check out ARCHSTUDIO’s other strikingly beautiful siheyuan restoration, which integrates a curving courtyard floor that pierces into the indoor spaces.

The post Billowing Glass Rooms Enlarge a Traditional Beijing Courtyard House first appeared on Dornob.

These carpenters are said to be descended from Maya, son of the “divine engineer” deity Vishwakarma. For millennia, they’ve handcrafted everything from utensils to chariots to ships, organizing into guilds where fathers passed on their techniques as master craftsmen to their children. More impressive still, every family, religion, and region has its own style.

But, as the designers note, “traditions cannot outlive time,” and there are concerns that the Sutradhar art may not survive things like mass deforestation, the increasing cost of wood, and the amount of labor required to complete each piece. The government has even suggested that the craftspeople start using plywood in place of timber.

Occupying the first floor of a retail shop in a market complex, “Timber Rhyme” invites visitors to walk through and experience the piece in full and contemplate how the artform must evolve to remain relevant and accessible in the modern world. It’s made of digitally fabricated plywood ribs that are connected in a waffle-like pattern to achieve unique curvatures.

Once assembled, they’re almost self-supporting, with black metal bars connecting them to the ceiling in some areas and transparent acrylic supports holding them aloft in others. The design is reminiscent of the “Superdesk” created for an office by Clive Wilkinson Architects, but the possibility of functional use is far less important here — almost an afterthought.

The architects explain: “Represented through the ribbon that pours itself into space, ‘variety in a unified continuum’ nourishes our concepts. The ribbon is envisioned to blur the boundaries between the static, the movable, and the art both in and on these components of the built space. [The] role of static elements like partition screens is obfuscated with that of movable furniture. Propounding as a functional art space, a series of ‘wooden ribbons’ twist and turn to form the display shelves, sitting spaces, meeting tables, and other design elements each flowing into the other. This transcends the interior into an art-landscape.”

“This amalgamation of technology for cost, time, and ease of making with an advantage of old craft is a win-win situation for all stakeholders of the project. The retail shop becomes a setting befitting for a dialogue between the carpenter, the end-user, and the retailer, [thereby] deepening social engagement. As plywood-carpentry meets its entropic spiral, ‘Timber Rhyme’ hopes to create an opportunity to re-imagine [the] craft of the traditional curves as an inexhaustible source of inspiration for the next generation of torchbearers of intricate carvings.”

Photos show the piece before it was put into use in its retail context, but it would be nice to see it in use, too. In any case, it’s a thought-provoking meditation on the resiliency of craft and tradition in a rapidly changing world.

The post Timber Rhyme: A Flowing Wooden Desk Inspired by Ribbons first appeared on Dornob.

Today, as creativity and social commentary continue to push the boundaries across almost all genres, people’s interpretations of the event has become much more inventive, although many still prefer the classical interpretation of yore.

Here are a few of our favorite examples:

Barbie Nativity

In an effort to highlight the gaudy sense of consumerism that’s tainted the Christmas season over the years, Argentine artists Marianela Perelli and Emiliano Paolini created this Mattel-toy driven nativity scene called “Barbie, The Plastic Religion.” Ken and Barbie hog the scene in various costumes; the baby is the only original player.

Pork Lover’s Nativity

Back in 2010, one artistic Flickr user shared their bizarre take on the famous stable scene by making bacon and sausage the stars. The straw is made from sauerkraut, but the people and animals are 100-percent pork.

Vacuum Cleaner Nativity

If the spirit’s right, a nativity scene can be created from anything. A Brit with an appliance store in the UK’s Westcliff-on-Sea teamed up with his son to build this unique scene out of the line of Henry vacuum cleaners he sells to customers.

The Three Wise Aliens

Instead of bemoaning the commercialization of Christmas, artist Matt Henderson rewrote the nativity story altogether when he recreated the scene in a former church located in Portland, Oregon. Besides throwing an extra wise man into the mix (can’t have too much wisdom), he also invited Santa Claus to the party. The characters were hardly recognizable in the end, with the magi being portrayed by space aliens and Santa decked out as a shaman with antlers on his head.

Cats in the Cradle

Sisters Annette and Sue Amendola spent over a decade carefully building a traditional nativity scene on their lawn in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Then they added food to the display, and the local stray cats quickly spread the word, edging Baby Jesus off his perch for their own enjoyment of that cozy hay.

Hipster Nativity

When Casey Wright designed “The Modern Nativity Hipster Nativity Set,” he was thinking about how religions would be much more diverse if their hallowed texts and characters reflected today’s world. His details mirror his vision: Joseph has a man-bun, wears a denim shirt, and snaps a selfie with Mary, who’s holding a cup of coffee from a trendy shop. The Wise Men sport shades and cruise in on Segways with presents from Amazon. The event is shared on Instagram, and all the gadgets are powered by solar panels on the roof of the manger.

The post 6 Nativity Scenes You Probably Won’t See Around The Neighborhood first appeared on Dornob.

Some of it was the standard Christmas decor you’d expect based on decades of White House traditions, but other elements were more than a little controversial, like a hallway of silvery branches casting creepy shadows onto the ceiling. The internet drew pop culture comparisons ranging from The Chronicles of Narnia to Silent Hill, with one observer even saying “Why do the White House Christmas decorations look like Voldemort is about to come back?”

2018 wasn’t much better, with blood-red Christmas trees lining that very same hallway striking many as something out of The Handmaid’s Tale.

This year, the White House is looking a little less macabre. The infamous corridor known as the East Colonnade has gone in an entirely different direction with transparent towers displaying a timeline of greatness in American architecture and design.

Designed by Melania herself, the decorations throughout the White House are a little lusher and greener than usual, aiming to celebrate patriotism above all else. Other corridors are filled with tall flocked trees, golden accents, fake snow, and red and blue ornaments referencing Melania’s “Be Best” initiative.

One tree is dedicated to Gold Star military families and etchings of 60 innovative structures around the country, like New York City’s Woolworth Building and Seattle’s Space Needle. The official White House tree, which stands alone in the Blue Room, is an 18-foot Douglas fir harvested from Mahantongo Valley Farms in Pitman, Pennsylvania and adorned in 50 paper replicas of state flowers.

Other features include gingerbread models of the White House and Mount Rushmore, dangling silver stars, and giant golden eagle tree toppers. 800 feet of garlands, 15,000 bows, and 2,500 strands of lights went into the decor, which has been in the works since July.

The official White House website reads: “The First Family is celebrating their third Christmas in the White House. This year’s theme, ‘The Spirit of America,’ is a tribute to the traditions, customs, and history that make our Nation great. Designed by First Lady Melania Trump, the White House decorations celebrate the courageous individuals who have shaped our country and kept the American spirit alive.”

“This Christmas season, I want to honor those who have shaped our country and made it the place we call home,” says Mrs. Trump. “When I travel the country, I am inspired by the hard working people and families that I meet. No matter which state they call home, many Americans share a strong set of values and deep appreciation for the traditions and history of our great nation. Thank you to all of the staff and volunteers who worked to make sure the People’s House was ready for Christmas.”

Where’s the weirdness? What happened to the vague sense of unease, and the easy targets for ridicule? Alas, there are next to none in 2019. We’ll see what we end up with next year, though!

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From outside, the house is defined by its geometry, looking almost monumental in form. The cutouts give it a lightness in terms of air flow, natural daylight, and weight. Commissioned as a private residence for one of the firm’s clients, the project gave Habib an opportunity to “redefine the image of residential buildings in Kuwait,” which he says are all similar in style and less visually interesting than they could be.

The architect describes the two stone walls as “imposing,” taking inspiration from ancient temples to create an approach with a moat-like bridge to the house’s main entrance. The structure itself is made of concrete and honed silver travertine stone, while black steel, off-white stucco, desaturated brown stucco, matte walnut wood, and double-glazed glass add textural details in areas like the central black metal screen and the walls that line the courtyard. The built area of the property measures over 20,000 square feet and stands nearly 50 feet tall.

This semi-enclosed space is both lush and orderly, featuring two green walls, a grassy surface, palm trees, and tropical foliage adjacent to areas set up for outdoor dining and lounging. Floor-to-ceiling glazing allows several of the interior spaces to look out upon this greenery.

“The conceptual idea was to explore the architectural relation between solid and void through the addition and subtraction within a cube, creating a dialogue between indoor and outdoor,” says Habib. “The floor plan design is based on two shifted masses, creating an internal atrium (which includes an air conditioning system that will help to enjoy the garden experience throughout the year) and two external courts in the front and rear inspired by traditional houses.”

“Architecture is all about creating a good quality environment, and I believe it has a direct impact on human psychology. Space, form, materials, colors, lighting, acoustics, and many more architectural elements play a big role on the psychology and behavior of an individual. Architecture is the art that can change the world around us.”

The Cube won a 2019 Gold A’ Design Award in the architecture, building, and structure design category for its creative approach to reimagining the traditional vernacular architecture of Kuwait. Construction on the project is set to begin shortly.

Habib is known for his work on large-scale projects throughout the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, which includes Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. He is currently the managing and design director of architecture at Lines.

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Boston-based industrial designer and multimedia artist Mian Wei recognizes both the beauty and strength of the dougong with “Grid Table,” a project he started in China in 2015 and completed in 2018 in Massachusetts. Noting how these grids are able to distribute weight and bind together the roof and pillars of a timber frame structure, he figured they would also serve as a beautiful support system for furniture.

It’s not unusual for contemporary architects to draw inspiration from traditional dougongs and reinterpret them in their own ways, says Mian, but in an effort to modernize the appearance of the system, they often end up oversimplifying it, resulting in overall weaker structures. The designer wanted to pay tribute to the innovative system and reinsert it into modern life without losing any of its inherent benefits. The ability for anyone with any skill level to easily put it together was also an important consideration.

“The project started when I was on an architectural road trip across China,” says Mian. “There are a large amount of ancient wooden architectural relics scattered across central-northern China, particularly in the Shanxi province, where I spent the most time. These buildings withstood the test of time and are still standing today. A few of them became prized tourist attractions, but most of them remain quietly in the mountains and villages that are mostly unknown to the fast developing outside world. The wooden structure Dougong (Dou Gong) plays an important role in the historical development of Chinese architecture.”

“Dougong serves primarily as a structural element in [the] architecture [of] early dynasties, used to distribute weight evenly across large architectural volumes. In later dynasties, Dougong gradually turned into a decorative element of architecture and served mainly aesthetic purposes. This project, on the one hand, tries to go back to the root to reinvestigate the practicality and scalability, and bring new life to the ancient tradition. On the other hand, the project seeks to explore new aesthetic possibilities [for] the structure with modern forms and production techniques.”

The supporting structure of the table is made of modular parts that can easily be disassembled and reassembled when needed for moving or storage. The beams (dou) slide together with the bracket connectors (gong) so precisely, the system is a bit like a puzzle, staying together when you lift the table despite the fact that no glue or fasteners were used in its construction.

Made of ash, maple, and plywood, the Grid Table has already gone on to receive a Silver A’Design Award.

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It says something about a design (particularly for a fast-paced mobile house) when someone can look at it three decades later and still marvel at the simple, efficient and effective use of materials and space.

Created by Dutch designer  Eduard Bohtlingk, the name of this classic award-winner means ‘The Awning’ – a fitting description of the fold-down mechanism at the heart of its ingenuity.

On the road, it folds up to look like any other camper, but once on site, it deploys to have a footprint three times the size of the main volume, simply by having the walls turn into floors on either side.

Add a few pieces of furniture to these auxiliary spaces and they become functional overflow for living and sleeping, while the core functions remain housed in the central area. When stored up for the season, it’s incredibly compact – especially compared to standard trailers and recreational vehicles.

From Campanda:

“The magic happens when the trailer’s side walls are opened and the accordion-like awnings come down to create two new living compartments. In seconds, you can effectively triple the living space into 290 square feet — enough room for up to six campers.”

“While the bedroom awning shields light and provides privacy, the other awning is made of a transparent but weatherproof plastic. In nice weather, the awnings can be retracted like the ceiling of a convertible — making it possible to sleep under the stars or spend a breezy morning under a summer sky without ever leaving your couch.”

“Only a few prototypes of the De Markies trailer were ever produced. But with the growing “tiny house movement” there has been a revival of interest in Böhtlingk’s design. It may only be a matter of time before this visionary concept becomes a viable reality and De Markies trailers start appearing in your local RV park.”

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