Newsubstance and the Unboxed crew moved the retired oil rig from its former location in the North Sea to the Somerset coast and transformed it into a new public art installation and visitor experience this summer. It was transported by sea on a barge the size of a football field and then lifted over the seawall by crane and set onto prefabricated legs.

The four-story, 450-tonne rig is set within a shallow pool on the beach. Its top platform hosts the garden, while a 6,000-piece kinetic installation featuring the work of Ivan Black and Trevor Lee shimmers across the front. The vegetation was chosen to stand up to the Atlantic gales and corrosive saltwater sprays. The waterfall, dubbed the “SEE MONSTER’s roar,” recirculates via the pool at the base, and the kinetic art moves along with the wind.

Lee’s installation, WindNest, was designed in collaboration with Land Art Generator initiative and consists of two rotating airborne pods that generate clean energy through wind and solar technologies, powering the irrigation systems for the “Garden Lab” on the upper platform. Black’s installation features 6,000 aluminum tiles representing the “monster’s scales,” fluttering in response to weather conditions. Three drone shows by SKYMAGIC light up the skies above the shores of the town, drawing people in to see the installation after dark.

The creators hope SEE MONSTER will inspire conversations about how our industrial history has shaped our climate (mostly for the worse), and what we can do about it.

“SEE MONSTER is a celebration of how we can use our past to shape our future,” the creators say. “Harnessing renewable energy from the great British weather, this reimagined platform will feature experiments, performances, gardens, and even waterfalls — showcasing local innovation and showing how creativity can challenge and change the status quo.”

“SEE MONSTER is being brought to life on the site of Weston’s iconic Tropicana lido by Leeds-based studio Newsubstance with support from Weston-super-Mare Town Council and North Somerset Council. Throughout the UNBOXED summer, it will stand as a vivid reminder of our shared past — and a symbol of our united journey towards a more sustainable future.”

As for Unboxed’s connection to Brexit, The New York Times explains that the $132 million festival was meant to display the best of British creativity after the nation voted to leave the European Union. It’s now being investigated as a “waste of money” by the government’s spending watchdog. The festival has attracted 238,000 visitors since it opened in March; organizers had predicted it would draw up to 66 million people from then until its closure in November.

The post An Abandoned Oil Rig Became a Massive Art Installation in England This Summer first appeared on Dornob.

As Portelli’s evolving artistic style morphed from Impressionism to Cubism to Constructivism, he infused such Maltese hot spots as the Whisky a Go-go, La Stella Band Club, the Dragut and Piali restaurants, and the sanctuary of St. Therese of Lisieux with his love for moody color palettes, clean lines, and blocky shapes.

The post-war modernist also designed his own live-work space in Attard, an ancient city nestled within the center of Malta’s main island. Architecture firm Valentino Architects just completed a retrofit of this space, which they call “La Serenissima,” aiming to preserve “the intentions of the artist’s design as a contemporary living space.” The result is an artist’s dream, bright and modern with high ceilings and plenty of windows to let all-important sunlight deep within the living quarters.

Preserving a Sense of History

The original studio is defined by tall geometric windows and strong southwestern light, and Valentino Architects decided to focus on these elements in their new design. The reworked interiors follow the same north-south axis, placing private living spaces at the south and north with a small home office and conservatory at the intersection. At the south end, which gets the most light, they integrated 45-degree skylights and high windows.

Sliding glass doors lead from the kitchen to a covered outdoor space with a raised timber deck and new glass perimeter. The angled skylights above this deck were removed to give the space more exposure to the elements, allowing it to become an external terrace that’s shaded from the summer heat but still capable of being opened to cooling breezes. The deck steps down into the living room to double as interior seating.

This cleverly converted outdoor space also acts as one big sunlight collector. The light bounces off the new brushed concrete flooring, pale countertops, and white walls and ceilings, further transmitted into the apartment by interior windows and glazing. Additional new elements like angular floor mosaics, sharply arched entryways, and a sculptural staircase recall the strong dynamic lines of Portelli’s paintings.

“Throughout the apartment, Portelli’s collection of midcentury furniture and lighting have been restored and integrated into the decor, his original plywood pinup board kept hung in the kitchen,” say the architects. “At the northernmost end of the plan, a bedroom and bathroom flank a central, floor-to-ceiling triangular window. A sliding door provides the option for closing off these rooms for privacy, whilst allowing the central sight-line to remain uninterrupted while open.”

About Valentino Architects

Based in Valetta, Malta, Valentino Architects is a design-led architecture studio with projects spanning residential, retail, and commercial sectors, with an emphasis on tailored solutions. “Our work is a study in form, proportion, detailing, and texture, characterized by an economy of scale, color, and material,” they say. “We have built a design approach that prioritizes collaboration and is driven by social, environmental, and urban impact.”

The post Valentino Architects Transform a Live-Work Artist Studio in Malta first appeared on Dornob.

Situated in the backyard of the couple’s LA home, this wee work of art may not be the pair’s primary residence, but through its doors one can find all the amenities of home, tucked away in a cute corner that’s brimming with personality both inside and out.

The tiny home itself has an interesting past that gave the LA couple the inspiration for the project. Dating back to the 1800s, it’s believed to have had its own starring role in the bright lights of Hollywood as a prop in many TV shows and movies, including The Wizard of Oz. Traditionally known as a “vardo,” (a word deriving from the Romani word “vurdon,” meaning cart), wagons like these were used as mobile homes by the Roma people while traveling. These wagons were historically full of colorful and ornate details, much like the current iteration in the Thorsons’ backyard.

While the history and Hollywood glamor surrounding this tiny home are definitely big parts of its appeal, it was Rachel’s devotion to capturing its whimsical side that really inspired her to revamp the wagon and preserve it as an “important piece of history” that could be shared with others. The tiny home is currently listed on Airbnb for those who want to experience the magic for themselves.

Though the wagon itself is only 84 square feet, it’s still packed with modern conveniences like a full-size bed and mini-fridge —though guests do have to access what Rachel dubs the “water closet” through a connecting building that’s attached to the wagon via an outer stone pathway. Still, this does little to diminish the effect, as the atmosphere outside the wagon is just as colorful and delightful as its eclectic interiors, complete with verdant greenery, comfy hammocks, and even a hot tub.

With retro touches like hand-curated mosaic tiles reclaimed from a local tile manufacturer, a riot of patterns, colors, and textures throughout, and boho beauty galore, the Thorsons have created a real wonderland in their own corner of La La Land. Playfully dubbed “Vardolandia” by the creative couple, this wagon certainly has its place in Hollywood history and will continue to delight those lucky enough to snag a stay in its curated confines. As Rachel says, it’s a place “to remember what [it] feels like to let your imagination run free” – a bit of Oz tucked away in modern-day Los Angeles.

The post This Vintage Wagon-Turned-Tiny Home Brings the Magic of Oz to LA first appeared on Dornob.

“My Ami Buggy is a proposition in line with the philosophy of Ami,” said Samuel Pericles, the vehicle’s designer in a press release.

The company took inspiration for the concept from industrial design, construction games, fashion accessories, and everyday objects like furniture and lighting. “The simple, extruded shapes of the camera and smartphone holders, for example, were inspired by the work of designers who created essential and timeless consumer objects in the second half of the last century,” Pericles explains, adding that “My Ami Buggy Concept needed to be functional and simple, in the purest spirit of iconic and contemporary industrial objects.”

Revamped with chunky wheels and roof racks, the tiny 2-seater vehicle certainly looks the part of an adventure buggy. The doors have been pulled off for frequent in-and-out access (a protective rainproof canvas can be attached for inclement weather), and the headlights have been covered in protective grills that add a rugged flair.

For adequate illumination on evening excursions, the Buggy got an LED light bar installed across the front of the roof. Also added to the top were a pair of bull bars that help hold the spare tire in place.

The entire car got a color scheme overhaul, now sporting a mix of Anodized Khaki, Speckled Black, and Citric Yellow. The khaki alludes to nature, the yellow is for adventure, and the black hides any mud kicked up on all the off-road expeditions.

Inside, the seats have been upgraded with memory foam that increases their padding thickness to 2.8 inches, roughly twice as much as the traditional Ami’s cushion.

Storage has been cleverly and functionally built into the dashboard, in front of the passenger seat, and even the steering wheel. Several detachable accessories were designed to hold personal devices while adventuring.

Billed as having an “intrepid and friendly backpacker personality,” it’s assumed the automaker would have to give the My Ami Buggy a little more power under the hood compared to its all-electric city cousin. The in-town version tops out at 28 mph and can only last 44 miles on a single charge of its 5.5 kWh lithium-ion battery. With those specs, the off-road buggy would hardly qualify as a “trail-blazer with an extroverted, colorful, and muscular style.”

The company press release also says that the car and its accessories are “a short step from idea to reality with 3D printing.” Citroën gives no hint, however, as to whether the car will ever be put into production, saying instead that it’s just one possibility for the company lineup.

“My Ami Buggy Concept is above all an invitation to have fun and to satisfy your thirst for freedom, leisure, and non-conformity. A study in style…My Ami Buggy Concept illustrates one of the many faces that could be developed for Ami, the atypical vehicle developed by Citroën, ready to explore new horizons.”

The standard Ami electric city car is set to appear on U.S. streets sometime in 2022 as part of the Washington D.C. fleet of car-sharing service Free2Move, itself a subsidiary of Citroën. The eco-friendly, cash-saving car is already available in Europe for short-term rentals.

The post Citroën’s Tiny Electric Ami Gets an Off-Road Makeover first appeared on Dornob.

Set back from a cliff overlooking the water, the old barn structure consisted of two parts: a taller volume with gabled ends, and a wide addition off one side with a sloping shed-style roofline. No doors, windows, or actual roofs remained – just holes where they used to be. Aiming to keep as much of the concrete structure in place as possible to preserve its aged and weathered character, the architects decided to insert a lightweight two-story timber structure into the original volume, mimicking its shape.

Preserving the crumbling concrete required some creativity. The old barn was made of thick and stable mass concrete, but most of its walls lacked foundations, and some were very fragile. They decided to retain only the perimeter walls, leaving them in a ruined state peppered with lichen and patchwork patterns of local pebbles. They also stabilized the existing structure and lined the barn floor with a reinforced concrete raft to ensure the home wouldn’t continue to deteriorate after the renovations were complete.

New openings were created sparingly to avoid compromising the structural integrity of the old concrete shell. One was added to let more light into the kitchen, and another adds a separate entrance to the art studio so the homeowners can move large artworks in and out. Both the new openings and the original ones were diamond-cut to a smooth surface that contrasts with the roughness of the outer facade. On the ground floor, Studio Bua placed a kitchen and dining space adjacent to the studio, giving them all a floor of polished concrete.

The client, an artist, had previous experience staining plywood and wanted to experiment with adding light washes of color to the birch walls. She and the architects collaborated on a palette inspired by the colors of the meadow as they shift from green in spring to yellow in winter and purple in late summer. On the second floor, the white stained pine boards and plywood surfaces are left in their natural color to complement the darkness of the concrete and stone. A plywood staircase leads from the ground floor dining room to a mezzanine sitting room overlooking a double-height space, with both rooms taking advantage of the massive amount of daylight emanating from a fully-glazed end facade.

Outside, the walled garden might just be the coolest part of this old-meets-modern renovation. Protected from both strong winds and hungry wildlife, the garden preserves the framed views of the original windows and doors, now open to the air, and uses the remains of the original interior walls as row dividers.

The architects also chose a number of materials that are uniquely Icelandic in character. They explain that “the cladding of the new volume is corrugated Aluzinc – a reflective material that takes the color of the sky and meadow around the house, changing with the seasons and weather embodying the lightness of the inserted volume. This allowed us to extend to a second story without overpowering the concrete barn. From our experience working in harsh climates, this rather industrial material is one of the few cladding options that can withstand the extremes of weather.”

“The corrugation is also a reference to a local building tradition. From the early 20th century corrugated steel has been used diffusely in Iceland in rural and urban settings for all typologies. Most dwellings and farm buildings in the area are partly or completely clad in this material.”

The post Dilapidated Barn Ruins Transformed into a Remote Artist’s Studio in Iceland first appeared on Dornob.

Located in the north of Beijing, The Playscape – Children’s Community Center is a 29,000-square-foot facility that aims to inspire kids to move their bodies and interact with each other like previous generations did when more Chinese people lived in intimate neighborhoods rather than huge impersonal cities. Developed by a health care provider specializing in children’s development, the center is designed with five traits in mind: Hide and Seek (group interaction), Adventure Playground (risk), Nook and Cranny (body proportion), Maze (discovery), and Fantasy (imagination).

These spaces encourage kids to play pretend with each other, decide what level of risk they feel comfortable experiencing, understand how their bodies fit within various spaces, be brave and adventurous, and make their own decisions within an abstract landscape with few signs or instructions. The undulating play surface interacts with a system of climbable tubes, stairs, hidden indoor spaces, trampolines, slides, and more. Built around existing trees as well as the old buildings, it completely changes how visitors experience the complex, creating new connections between upper level indoor spaces and the outdoors.

The project uses three main architectural devices – “pipe,” “roof,” and “mound” – to engage kids in creative play. The pipes are seen as armatures arranged as a series of connecting bridges and staircases, as well as slides, safety balustrades, and lighting. The walkable roofs reward kids who exert themselves in climbing to the top with new vantage points, while the mounds hide additional covered play spaces beneath the topography of the space. The architects say much of the design is based on the notion that many play spaces dictate exactly where kids should go and how they should use each element, while the Playscape inspires a lot more freedom and imagination.

“We believe the missing element in a child’s development in a modern Chinese city is chiefly a functioning neighborhood,” explain the architects. “We hoped to create the experience of street play and prioritize the reductions of gizmos and screen time. Drawing inspiration from popular culture of the past and abstracting important identities for our new neighborhood’s character.”

“The Playscape is a tool to promote learning while allowing narrative creation for children to dream and develop senses relating to equilibrium (balance) and proprioception (awareness). Balance is taken for granted until it is challenged. It is our hope that activity-based emotional responses to this built environment and the perceptions harnessed can augment the client’s tools in helping strengthen coordination within the child’s development.”

Judging from photos of the project, The Playscape looks so fun, adults might even be tempted to go explore it themselves, kids or no kids. It’s certainly an imaginative way to reactivate an industrial site that was no longer useful in its previous form.

The post 50-Year-Old Industrial Warehouse Transformed Into an Organic Playscape for Kids first appeared on Dornob.

Since then, the city has flourished, and today, it draws nearly half a million travelers every year. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Sassi have become comfortable residences, bed and breakfasts, restaurants, and spas. One of the newest businesses beckoning tourists inside is the Aquatio Cave Luxury Hotel & Spa by architecture firm Simone Micheli, which occupies 5,000 square feet within an area called Sasso Caveoso.

As the Smithsonian notes, the locals here still “cheerfully refer to themselves” as troglodytes, a word that literally means “cave dwellers.” But the caves don’t exactly look prehistoric anymore. Once lacking even the most basic hygienic standards, they’re now beautifully lit, packed with contemporary artwork, designer furniture, flat-screen televisions, and all the other modern amenities you’d expect from high-end hotels anywhere in the world. That’s certainly true at the Aquatio, where smooth new limestone bricks merge seamlessly into the raw cave walls, now cleaned of lichen and brightened up to their original pale color.

The architects took inspiration from the powerful force that shaped the caves in the first place: a single drop of water. Honored near the main entrance with a drop-shaped bronze sculpture by Kengiro Azuma, the water drop “summarizes in its simplicity the meaning of life through the metaphor of the water cycle,” says Micheli.

The lower entrance leads into a reception area, restaurant, breakfast room, meeting room, and wellness center in two large open spaces that were once part of a neighborhood. The arches, tunnels, ceilings, and walls are illuminated from below to create a soft glow that Micheli calls “scenographic effects.” Even the old wells and cisterns around which the ancient occupants gathered have been restored so the guests of the hotel and spa can enjoy them.

“’Creating emotions is the concept that animated the entire design process,” says Micheli. “The wellness center is the space where this motto is best expressed, in fact it is a suggestive place and occupies the deepest heart of the structure, recovering hypogeal rooms dating back to the ninth century. The restaurant room is a flexible, intercommunicating space with the breakfast room and the meeting area. Its capacity varies according to the occasions, making itself available to contingent events and needs.”

“The rooms mainly present in the upper part of the structure…enjoy breathtaking views of the Caveoso cliff and the ancient city, [while others are] hidden inside the womb of the earth, with only a door to indicate their presence as the ancient shelters of the men of the Neolithic settlements on the Murgia.”

The post Ancient Cave Dwellings in Italy Transformed Into a Luxury Hotel and Spa first appeared on Dornob.

Well think again. When Adam Collier-Woods, a U.K. based carpenter, discovered that one of these behemoths was en route to the scrap yard, he decided to put his skill and creativity into repurposing it as a destination for vacationers looking to have a unique, relaxing retro experience.

While on a drive through the countryside, Collier-Woods saw a decaying bus in a field and was immediately inspired to transform his own double-decker bus into, to paraphrase Monty Python’s Flying Circus, “something completely different.” After purchasing one on Ebay for £4,500, he spent over half a year renovating the enormous bus, documenting the entire process on a local television station.

Built in 1982, Collier-Woods’ bus ended its career after clocking nearly 700,000 miles on the odometer. Hoping to evoke an air of nostalgia for those who may have taken a similar bus to school when they were children, he placed a strong emphasis on keeping as much of the original structure and features as intact as he could, including the steering wheel, driver’s seat, and select other seats. Throughout his renovations, Collier-Woods also sought to keep the interior design retro, taking great care to procure matching furnishings and paint to create the perfect bright, nostalgic vibe. That included keeping the bus’s original bright green exterior. Finding the project “one massive recycling exercise,” Collier-Woods was able to put his skills as a carpenter to good use devising what is now known as the “Big Green Bus.”

Now located on a campsite in East Sussex, the bus is available to rent and can sleep up to six people. Nestled in an idyllic forest setting, holiday makers should prepare to max and relax (and unplug, as there’s no Wi-Fi) around the bus’s picnic area, heated outdoor shower, and outdoor hot tub. Inside, features such as a full kitchen (including stove), a log burning stove for warmth and coziness, comfy beds and seating areas, and the funkiest electric lime green decor make the former transport vehicle both comfortable and stylish.

If you feel like venturing out and exploring the surrounding area, there are plenty of things to do in East Sussex. And if you want to just kick back in the bus and dig those funky vibes the whole trip, you’ll have almost as much to do. A lounge area toward the front of the bus contains board games, and there are also plenty of books laying around in case you want to pretend you’re cruising through the forest while lounging on one of the Big Green Bus’s original seats.

With amazing views, luxe accommodations, kitschy design, and a bit of nostalgia, the Big Green Bus is sure to delight guests who want a cozy cottage experience in a unique, retro setting. Learn more about it here by taking an online tour of the bus and its beautiful surroundings.

The post The Big Green Bus: See How a Carpenter Transformed This Double Decker Into a Hip Retro Vacation Spot first appeared on Dornob.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The post Heritage Granary in Poland Transformed Into Modern Apartments first appeared on Dornob.

Today, the castle also known as “La Tossa” has reclaimed its position as the “salta de la donzella,” or the “maiden’s leap,” the highest point in the vicinity. Architect Meritxell Inaraja stabilized the ruins and transformed them into a lookout providing the public with the same views once enjoyed only by royalty and nobles. Given the castle’s historic and cultural value, Inaraja took a delicate approach, preserving the experience of the original medieval architecture while also making it safe to climb.

Before starting on the renovation, Inaraja carried out a historical study that revealed the existence of a slab roof on the structure’s first floor. Based on the layout of similar buildings from the same time period, she determined that the original staircase ran along the now-collapsed western wall. The interior was divided into two floors and a basement, with the entrance on the eastern facade, which is itself about 33 feet tall (10 meters). It’s no wonder this building was used as a fortress, given that the walls are six feet thick.

“The restoration proposal is based on these historical findings and the available information about the tower’s original construction,” Inaraja says. “The project proposes reinforcement of the existing walls and the construction of specific elements referencing historical details, which will allow us to climb to the highest part of the tower, offering a view of the region and the other frontier castles.”

With its original roof missing, the upper levels are now open air, turning the ruins into a sort of pavilion. Instead of enclosing the building, Inaraja maintained this openness, inserting a new floor and a staircase with several viewing platforms that go all the way up to the highest point of the remaining walls. Visitors can gaze out the original arched windows, taking in the landscape from all sides.

Inaraja adds that “the level corresponding to the original roof is reached by the stairs that consist of the west wall and recovers the idea of a possible original staircase located within the thickness of the walls, as is typical of many towers of this time. The sloping shape of the staircase also makes it possible to respect the unfinished appearance and the memory of the ruins. The same idea of uniting function and historical explanation is used in the construction of a small section of slab corresponding to the original level of the main floor of the tower as a balcony-viewpoint from the opening of the north sector, possibly the original access to the tower from the outside.”

With smooth modern materials that match the color and texture of the original irregular stone, Inaraja’s additions complement the original structure without trying to update it or achieve a faux-historical effect that matches. The result pays respect to the Castello’s historical importance and restores it as a functional landmark, drawing tourists from all over to the area.

The post Crumbling Italian Castle Transformed Into a Modern Lookout Tower first appeared on Dornob.

Designed by Nguyen Khai Architects & Associates (NKAA), the four-story residence is a fresh take on the Vietnamese architectural trend of wrapping homes with airy perforated facades that blur the boundaries between indoors and out, regulate sunlight, and allow for plenty of natural ventilation. In this case, vertical white louvers set in front of all-glass walls provide just the barest hint of privacy for the building’s inhabitants, with wide horizontal strips blocking views from the sidewalk below. This visibility to the world outside is buffered by placing less private functions on the outer edges of the building, like dining tables, kitchen counters, and stairways.

The design began with an existing 18-year-old house that was in dire need of renovation. The footprint measures just 376 square feet, and is fully occupied at the lowest level by the café run by the building’s owner. The nearly all-white café features sculptural furniture, bamboo chairs, and living greenery, a theme that continues as you ascend into the residence above. The next level up is home to the clients, a couple and their two young daughters, while the third floor and half of the fourth floor host grandparents and uncles. The “sacred space” is a balcony tucked behind the louvered facade, accessible to the whole family.

Working with such a confined floor area, the architects managed to make each level feel airy and comfortable. Platform beds are set along the rear wall behind sliding woven screens, beside the bathrooms. The kitchens are small, but when you’re gazing out all that glass at the world outside, it’s hard to feel confined. Smart details like a bench with a sliding table that also serves as the base of a ladder-like staircase make the most of the space available. The grandparents’ level has a somewhat more conventional layout with a dining table and benches, and the uncles’ lofted bedroom nooks stagger upwards toward the roof.

“Spending time talking to and understanding the essential needs of the owner, we designed Tiam in a way to give him a better standard of living, along with valuable experiences for each and all members in the house,” say the architects. “It has three floors, one attic, a balcony, and a terrace. The effective solution for such limited built area is to design the interior as minimal as possible, and to create continuous and open spaces. We create functional zones and place objects in order to bring members of the family closer to each other, but still be able to have their private spaces if necessary.”

They add that “plant pots of different sizes are found in every corner of the building. Plant pots on the louvers, balcony, terrace, and inside the house create a calm and pleasant atmosphere. Although Tiam is located near a crowded crossroad, all family members still feel close to nature and [enjoy] a peaceful living space.”

The post NKAA Fits Café and 3-Generation Home Into Tiny Corner Lot in Vietnam first appeared on Dornob.

The hotel was a popular place to stay in its day, set within the historic city center close to the Matriz Plaza and the Public Market. But in recent years, demand for small, affordable apartments has grown so much, it only made sense for the owners to renovate it into a “co-living building,” where residents enjoy both their own private spaces and larger communal areas, making the sacrifice of personal space worthwhile.

The owner of this particular unit wanted a space that was somewhere in between permanent and temporary lodging. He commissioned the architects to create a “bed and breakfast” feel in an apartment that can either be rented out Airbnb-style or eventually used as a full-time home. Adding yet another layer of difficulty to the project is the fact that the apartment is oddly shaped. A bed, living area, kitchen, bathroom, and storage all had to be packed into its tiny 30-square-meter footprint.

The angled exterior wall, which features lots of windows overlooking the city, informed the bulk of the design. The architects created a large bank of floor-to-ceiling built in storage following the same angle. Painted white to match the other walls and ceiling and complement the textural parquet wood floors, this massive closet nixes clutter, and it’s really what makes the whole thing possible.

“The search for parallel lines resulted in the project’s concept,” the firm explains. “A large closet, which is summarized in a multifunctional white volume, hides the plan’s ‘zigzag’ and includes a bathroom, kitchen, as well as space for clothes and groceries. In line with this volume, the lighting, in a smooth industrial black profile and directional spots, accompanies the main flow of the apartment, drawing an ‘L’ and illuminating the way.”

“The shelves to the right of the front door contain the television, plants, books, and decorative objects. The window, which faces the street and the front facade of the building, was supplied by a wooden ‘frame,’ which finishes the peeled walls and a curtain with a shelf accompanying the entire wall of the window. This shelf was designed to accommodate plants, which would bring a little green into the house, since the view from the window is predominated by the concrete jungle of Porto Alegre’s historic center.”

This apartment is a great example of how built-in storage can completely transform even the smallest apartments into livable environments. The added open shelving creates a nice focal point, and the plant shelf above the windows brings in some color and vitality. A simple room divider screen could even be used to create a little extra privacy and separation between the work and sleep areas without cutting off the flow of air and light, if you so desired.

The post Hotel Room Transformed Into an Ultra-Compact Apartment in Brazil first appeared on Dornob.

His latest is yet another tea house/treehouse amalgamation, blackened on the outside in a traditional Japanese process called “yakisugi.” The wood is intentionally charred to carbonize it, giving it natural protection against insects and weather and a dramatically crackled appearance. Simultaneously, the structure’s curving shape, pointed roof, and rounded windows lend a bit of softness to the effect.

A narrow 19-step metal staircase leads to the entrance. Inside, a U-shaped wooden bench wraps around a table used for tea ceremonies. Irregular cutouts in the oak-paneled walls reveal gridded leaded glass windows, adding to the organic and seemingly sentient qualities of the house with an effect that’s almost like eyes.

The Ein Stein House’s (“One Stone House”) location is almost as notable as its architecture, standing on Europe’s first permanent NATO missile base, Hombroich Rocket Station, which was abandoned before being purchased in 1994 by art collector Karl Heinrich Müller for use as a museum and outdoor art gallery.

The Museum Insel Hombroich, set in the German town of Neuss in North Rhine-Westphalia, features over 62 acres of meadows and woods. Now dotted with a collection of outdoor installations, the property was once so secretive that Neuss wasn’t even noted on maps, guarding stored warheads for cruise missiles and rockets. When he renovated and adapted the site, Müller wanted to embrace its history while infusing it with art and culture, leaving the storage facilities, hangars, observation tower, and bomb-shelter systems in place.

A description of the project on architecture site Metalocus explains that the “stone tea house and other architectures were developed together with the Japanese architect. The selection of projects focuses on the tea houses he has planned, in particular the Ein Stein tea house designed for the Hombroich rocket station and its creation. The tea houses — like other buildings and furniture shown — are shaped by the use of natural materials and their relationship to the surrounding landscape.”

“Karl Heinrich Müller, the founder of Museum Insel Hombroich, was particularly interested in the tea ceremony and in objects and works of art from the context of this centuries-old tradition. The foundation’s collection includes numerous tea bowls and other vessels that were used in ceremonies. A selection not previously shown will be exhibited.”

Inside the converted rocket station building on the grounds of the museum, visitors can take in the rest of the “Ein Stein Tea House and Other Architectures” exhibition, which features large black and white murals of Fujimori’s other works and an exploration of Fujimori’s creative process. The natural components of “Ein Stein House” are also highlighted, enabling a close examination of the “yakisugi” siding and the logs used to support the structure.

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The brief was to take over the factory, located in Los Angeles’ Culver City area, and make it a showroom in which minimalist bathroom fixtures by The Splash Lab could shine. Founded by brothers Justin and Fraser Lovell, The Splash Lab emphasizes craftsmanship, cutting-edge manufacturing processes, modularity, and rich raw materials like marble and copper in its washroom designs. Their work challenges conventional ideas of what these spaces can look like and offer, combining high functionality with streamlined looks.

Highlighting these products meant designing a flagship showroom that got to the essence of The Splash Lab’s identity, granting mundane objects an air of dignity. The designers’ solution? Introducing an interior scheme that looks a lot more like a church than it does a public bathroom.

“The Splash Lab wanted to create something unique that resonated with their passion for design, experience, and exploration,” says McLaren Excell. “They were, however, open minded as to how this intent might be communicated as a work of architecture…We introduced a series of monumental insertions that would create an evocative user experience, whilst establishing a clear spatial hierarchy to the unit. The design needed to have enough tactility to achieve the weight and presence necessary to establish this identity but without competing with the existing building fabric.”

The designers created four “monumental interventions” to establish six distinct areas, all separated by large cathedral-like archways that “suggest a theme of spirituality and ritual cleansing.” Visitors first walk through the “portal” arch at the entrance to transition into the gallery and proceed through the rest of the space.

“Much like a church or cathedral, the interventions establish a simple structuring to the space. To continue the analogy, from the narthex you enter a central nave which is flanked by two side aisles. There is a transept with a sculptural steel table as the central altar, which is intended to encourage participation through interactive displays and formal seminars. An triple-arched apse provides the axial focal point and marks the end of journey, while a screen divides the public areas of showroom ‘worship’ from the private area of the staff ‘choir’ — or, in this instance, meeting rooms — helping to establish a clear threshold between public and private spaces. This simple and timeless format provides the setting for showcasing The Splash Lab.”

Simple geometries, muted colors, and carefully chosen lighting frame the products without overpowering them. Concrete plinths, built-in display niches and extensive use of marble reinforce the subtle theme. If there’s one thing that draws your attention away from the goods, it’s that stunning ceiling, but you can only crane your neck for so long. The result presents the brand’s serene faucets, basins, hand dryers, grab bars, and other products within a sanctuary, which is just what The Splash Lab intended.

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Some critics say they contribute to a gulf between client expectations and what architects are able to deliver, and frankly, it’s hard to argue with that. Over the last decade, we’ve seen some pretty outrageous visions of vertical greenery that skyscrapers probably can’t actually support, ultramodern residences spliced into remote cliffs, and other concepts that are unlikely to ever be built as they’re pictured in initial renderings.

But in the process of making such ideas workable, there’s often middle ground to be found. When there’s plenty of money available for the project, things that seem improbable sometimes manage to materialize, and smaller details can always be easily modified. Other times, even renderings that look so spectacular they can’t possibly become reality defy all expectations. But perhaps the best creative architectural renderings of all break out of contemporary constraints to hurtle us into a more interesting future.

Polish architect and designer Bartosz Domiczek has built an impressive portfolio brimming with these kinds of buildings, some more futuristic than others. While those straddling massive waterfalls (or designed for other planets altogether) are more conceptual, some are fully ready to go, despite being very different from most architecture seen in cities today.

“Henge Hill” is one of those creations. It takes the footprint of an old farm storage building set upon picturesque olive slopes in an unnamed Mediterranean region and crafts the remaining “ruins” into a protective shell, which is itself “restored and anchors the new suites of rooms deep in genius loci.”

These types of adaptive reuse projects can be pretty striking in rural areas, and they’re only growing more common. Real-life examples like renovated stone ruins in Portugal by N2X Aarquitectos and on the Azores island of Pico by SAMI Architects keep some of the original dilapidated structures intact, nestling modern architectural elements within them to retain a contrast between old and new. But “Henge Hill” takes this idea a few steps further in a few different ways.

First, there’s the rounded shape. Within the original ruins, rooms are arranged around a central courtyard that opens to the sky. The outermost ring of the home is left open to the outdoors, as well, creating a semicircle of indoor-outdoor space looking out across the landscape.

Then there’s the way this circle merges with a second one that’s built just slightly higher up on the terraced landscape. Impressively, this swimming pool is as large as the entire home. Inside, the decor is bright, livable, and accented by all sorts of interesting textures, like the brick floors set into hexagonal shapes seen throughout.

This dwelling has plenty of futuristic flair to it without feeling like an impossibility — and it makes us wonder why there aren’t a whole lot more round homes out there.

If you’d like to see more home concepts in a similar vein, check out Domiczek’s “Northern Wisps” cabin, “Hoodoo House,” which was built among natural rock formations, and “The Outpost,” a tropical home that looks primed to survive whatever challenge climate change might throw at it.

The post Henge Hill: Circular Home Contained Within a Shell of Ruins first appeared on Dornob.

Fully equipped with all the things health professionals might need in an underserved area, these shipping container clinics are constructed off-site and shipped wherever they’re needed, whether that’s a rural area lacking the kind of medical infrastructure needed to address a crisis like COVID-19 or an overloaded urban hospital. And since it’s so compact and already the standard size shipped by trucking companies, it’s easy to move and locate just about anywhere, requiring no foundation or other prep work. It just has to be hooked up to electricity and running water.

The Startup Scene reports that “within urban centers, it also provides a solution for sporting clubs, residential compounds, and doctors for whom the process of finding, renting, and setting up a space for a clinic is not accessible or affordable. Fully portable and made with all antibacterial materials, the product is also fully customizable.”

“The first pilot will be delivered within a month, along with a team that will be managing the operations of the unit,” says Youssef Farag, Qubix co-founder and COO. “And then we’re hoping to become a go-to option for all health providers, as well as providers of medical supplies.”

Founded in 2016 by two young entrepreneurs, Qubix has created and delivered over 50 unique shipping container buildings to clients in all sorts of industries. They say their prefabricated shipping container architecture saves up to 30 percent compared to conventional building methods, and they offer fully customizable projects based on each client’s needs and ideas.

Shipping containers have taken off over the last decade as a fast, cheap basis for buildings. They can have a lot of benefits, but only when they’re properly decontaminated, insulated, ventilated, and finished. Unfortunately, used shipping containers are often made with potentially toxic materials and used to transport toxic goods, and their interiors can get very hot and build up condensation. After all, they were originally made for goods, not humans.

While many shipping container building concepts are pure fantasy, with renderings depicting the crates stacked in ways that aren’t structurally sound, Qubix appears to take a more realistic approach. Most of their projects feature single-height shipping containers placed adjacent to each other, sometimes within a steel framework that adds on additional terraces, balconies, and usable rooftop space with stairs. The interiors are finished like a conventional building, and much of the exterior walls are replaced with large expanses of glass to make sure they feel bright and spacious.

The Qubix team explains that their members “share a dream that cannot be contained, we are fueled by believing we can do things better and faster than our competitors as well as attempt exciting and daring projects that others wouldn’t. Quality is synonymous with our brand and we will always strive to add value to our clients through our services and products which we constantly develop in order to stay fresh, unique, and innovative.”

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