Part of the inspiration for the peculiar shape was that “the dome is the geometry that involves the minimum surface of the material, as well as working very well structurally,” the architects explain.

The 11.5-foot rounded structure was constructed from horizontal and vertical ribs cut with CAD-CAM technologies. The exterior was then covered with strips of cream-colored upholstery foam for maximum heat capture. “The flexible condition of the material easily adapts to the igloo shape,” notes Muiño.

Strands of steel chains wrap the outside, securing the foam in place and giving the entire dwelling an air of security. The entryway is also draped with a curtain of the same chains, all remnants of previous design endeavors. “This solution made out of individual vertical elements allowed us to adapt to the arch-shaped entrance as a regular door wouldn’t be able to do,” the Barcelona-based architects said.

The inside of the igloo is a cozy winter wonderland. “The interior space has a floor at a height of 90 centimeters (three feet) where the mattress lies, all covered in a white furry carpet ready to be enjoyed barefoot,” Muiño adds. “Below this big bed, there is a space for storing, playing, or hiding.”

Everything inside sticks to the arctic theme. In addition to the polar bear-like material coating the walls, bed platform, and stairs, the arched beams are bound in more cream-colored foam, the bedding looks like swiss cheese, and the lighting gleams in ivory. There are also six globe lightbulbs placed strategically at the top of the dome, simultaneously providing the impression of gazing up to the stars at night and warming the otherwise-cold loft space.

While unconventional as a residence, living in a warehouse provides the couple the freedom and flexibility they desire for immersive designing. “The house-workshop is a 400-square-meter (4,305 square feet) space that can host the installations that we design and produce,” says Luzárraga. “At the same time, the space is being colonized by some domestic spaces that condition it for living. It’s continuously changing depending on the work that we are developing. Some of the pieces stay forever, and some of them are temporary.”

Luzárraga and Muiño founded Takk in 2008 after both earning architecture degrees in Spain. In their own words, their work focuses on “experimental and speculative practices in the intersection between nature and culture, with a particular emphasis on the overcoming of anthropocentrism.” In 2012, the team won the Konecta Foundation prize for social architecture with their “Suitcase House,” an accordion-folding emergency dwelling. In addition to their design work, which has been featured in the 13th Venice Biennale and the first Biennale d’Architecture d’Orléans, the couple currently teach at several universities and institutes around their country.

The post Spanish Architects Craft a Cozy Igloo for Their Daughter’s Bedroom first appeared on Dornob.

Entitled “STAR/KL,” this starburst made of 111 individual piece of LED ropes, acrylic tubes, and steel was created by Malaysian artist Jun Ong as part of the city’s annual “Art in the City” event. It’s a follow-up art installation to Ong’s 2015 breakthrough light piece, a 12-sided star that appeared to pierce through the floor and ceiling of a concrete building in Butterworth, Panang.

This reincarnation began its life on November 26th, 2021, and will flash and flicker each night to an ambient soundscape through March 26th, 2022. Over that period of time, the lights will gradually fade until extinct.

“‘Star’ exists as a wormhole for us to experience beyond our realities. It is a metaphorical monument that will and should disappear, leaving behind only thoughts and reflections,” said the artist in a documentary video. “…Like all organic matters, the decay of ‘Star’ is celebrated. Over time, its illumination is reduced, ‘Star’ dissipates and lives on in hyperspace till it finds a new host.”

Soon the only recollection of Ong’s creation will be photographs and videos that live on through humanity’s collective memory, the internet.

In an interview with a local media outlet, Ong shared that “I have always been making art but I also enjoy the many different ways we as humans can inhabit and experience a space. For me, light is an exciting medium to work with as it is both predictable and unpredictable. My works sit in between these two realms, and it is the process of making it materialize that excites me.”

Ong originally studied architecture at the University of Melbourne and the University of Westminster, but has since turned his sights to light art. He’s previously teamed up on installations and projects with brands such as Nike, Adidas, Gucci, and Philips Lighting. Together with partner Kyle E., he co-founded POW Ideas, a spatial design studio based in Malayasia, but his work has taken him all around the globe.

“I have been working on many light installation projects in different parts of the world with some of the most talented collaborators,” adds Ong. “Right before the pandemic, I was also offered a teaching position for lighting design at Sunway University which allowed me to create a research think tank on the innovative applications of lighting and its impact on human psychology.”

At the same time, light poses a challenge for Ong in his everyday life. “Ironically I have thin corneas, meaning my eyes are very sensitive to glare,” he notes. Hence my [apartment] is usually dark with only a few eye-level/low ambient lamps. I never turn on my ceiling lights. For me, my abode is my retreat. I start with darkness and then slowly use light to unravel the darkness.”

The STAR/KL project is open to the public daily from 6 to 10 PM until it finally meets its interstellar demise in March, giving us “new facets of thinking as terrestrial, cosmic, and human beings.”

The post Jun Ong’s “Star” Bursts Out of an Old Warehouse in Kuala Lumpur 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.

Companies everywhere have been sampling various automation systems to speed up the flow of goods while improving employee safety, but the infrastructure behind them is often bulky and expensive. Stretch is marketed as an adaptable plug-and-play solution that can move in any direction, navigate obstacles, ascend ramps, and identify boxes using “computer vision technology.” Its gripper has embedded sensors to handle a variety of package types while operating at high speeds, and its arm features seven degrees of freedom to reach extra-high shelves. High-capacity batteries keep it moving all day long, though it can also be plugged in for continuous operation.

Boston Dynamics is currently seeking customers to pilot test Stretch in real-world scenarios like truck unloading before releasing it to the public.

“Warehouses are struggling to meet rapidly increasing demand as the world relies more on just-in-time delivery of goods,” said Robert Playter, CEO of Boston Dynamics. “Mobile robots enable the flexible movement of materials and improve working conditions for employees. Stretch combines Boston Dynamics’ advancements in mobility, perception, and manipulation to tackle the most challenging, injury-prone case-handling tasks, and we’re excited to see it put to work.”

Boston Dynamics was inspired to create “Stretch” after demonstrating what its humanoid “Atlas” robot could do on YouTube.

“When we released our first Atlas ‘Next-gen’ video, there was a part of that video that showed Atlas moving boxes, and we got a big reaction from people in the warehouse space,” says Kevin Blankespoor, Boston Dynamics VP of Product Engineering. “They wanted Atlas to come work at their warehouse. We thought, ‘Well, Atlas is probably a bit complicated to actually go work in a warehouse, but we could design a robot that’s much more simple that has the same attributes.'”

Last year, Boston Dynamics announced their first foray into the commercial market in the form of “Spot,” a $74,500 robot dog that can stand in for humans in a variety of potentially dangerous scenarios, from doctors in the midst of a pandemic to inspectors at oil and gas facilities. Spot was used throughout 2020 as a mobile telemedicine platform that allowed healthcare providers to remotely triage patients using an iPad and two-way radio.

Experts expect that robotics and intelligence will be a big part of daily life by 2025, according to the Pew Research Center. Just about every industry will be affected, but some of the biggest implications will be seen in transport and logistics, customer service, health care, and home maintenance. It’s unclear exactly how this will impact employment. About half of experts interviewed in 2014 expected robots and digital agents to displace significant numbers of both blue and white-collar workers, while the other half believed new jobs and industries would rise to create additional ways to make a living.

The post New “Stretch” Robot by Boston Dynamics Accelerates Warehouse Automation first appeared on Dornob.

“Colorama Skatepark,” set in an old 20th-century warehouse renovated by French architect Patrick Bouchain in 2004, is an installation created as part of Lille’s World Capital of Design 2020. Commissioned by La Condition Publique (the cultural institution currently occupying the warehouse), the indoor skatepark fuses the architecture of the space with new ramps and brightly-colored details.

The brick walls are reinvigorated with shoes of peach and pink, overlaid with bold murals in neon green, orange, red, and yellow. The concrete pillars that punctuate the interiors are also colored, making them feel like a more active part of the design of the space. Ilori’s colors and motifs derive, in part, from the details of the building, while the skateable features were developed in collaboration with local skateboarders and Decathlon skateboarding product manager Jean-Philippe Rode.

Those elements include two corner quarter pipes with banked ends, a volcano ramp, and a central hybrid module. All of these obstacles were made using FSC-certified recycled paper from Skatelite, a renowned manufacturer of premium skate ramp surfaces used by pro skaters. If you’re not familiar with the ins and outs of designing a skatepark, using paper for this purpose might sound odd, but Skatelite’s products are weather-resistant and nearly indestructible, designed to deliver a balance of speed and grip.

As you can probably imagine, the way projects like this are carried out has changed substantially due to the pandemic. Ilori participated remotely in the construction process during the coronavirus lockdown, overseeing La Condition Publique’s staff as they built and papered the new indoor skate park.

“It was important for me and La Condition Publique to design a skatepark that was inclusive and not intimidating but inviting for all ages and all levels of skateboarders,” Ilori says. “They really wanted to celebrate one of the different ways La Condition Publique, a cultural venue, can be used to bring people together, and they felt that I could create this experience.”

Colorama aims to engage the growing skater community in Lilles, France, also inviting BMX riders and other urban sports athletes to partake in the fun. Whether they’re engaging in skating, dance, basketball, or parkour, users get to enjoy a highly unique street art-inspired environment. The park opened in September 2020, and in the future, it’ll also host events and classes, including educational and employment opportunities.

“This project also finds its place in la Condition Publique’s will to forge a bond with its neighborhood,” reads the project’s press release. “By inviting neighbors to a warm and family-friendly space dedicated to sports, it allows them to gather together and get to grips with this cultural place, where they may [otherwise] feel as ‘outsiders/outcasts.'”

“La Condition Publique also shelters not less than 20 organizations from cultural and creative sectors and accompanies its neighbors in realizing their projects. In addition to this, it strives to enhance collaboration with the social, urbanistic, and associative actors in Pile, an underprivileged neighborhood in Roubaix where the venue is located. In that respect, la Condition Publique searches to organize rendezvous in various forms in order to generate new dialogs within this community.”

Ilori, who began his practice in 2011 as an upcycled furniture designer, draws many cultural influences together into his trademark visuals, including traditional Nigerian parables and West African fabrics. He likes each piece to tell a story, often bringing “Nigerian verbal traditions into playful conversation with contemporary design.”

The post Colorama Skatepark: A Vivid Urban Cultural Center by Yinka Ilori first appeared on Dornob.

MAD Architects envisions a fluid, reflective staircase that will pierce the roof of the pre-existing Fenix warehouse, soaring through a new atrium on the building’s first and second floors and up toward the sky to act as a sculptural overlook. Renderings depict the staircase as a dramatic blue swirl gleaming in the sunlight, adjacent to an enormous abstracted seagull perched on the edge of the warehouse’s roof.

In selecting the Chinese firm to bring the project to life, the Droom en Daad [“Dream and Do”] Foundation honors both the merits of the firm’s striking design and the fact that its location was once home to one of Europe’s oldest Chinatowns. This project marks the first time a public cultural building in Europe has been designed by a Chinese architectural agency.

“Around the 1900s, it was here that one could find opium kits, and that the first Chinese restaurant opened its doors in the Netherlands, and possibly in Europe,” explains the MAD team. “By choosing MAD Architects for this project, this forgotten part of history will be brought to life once more.”

Droom en Daad also commissioned the Rotterdam-based company Bureau Polderman to restore the historic warehouse, which used to be among the largest of its kind in the world. Built in 1923 by Dutch architect CN van Goor, its contained within an expansive concrete building once used for the storage and shipment of commodities. Two railway lines cut right into the building — an especially remarkable feature given the time period.

Parts of the complex were damaged during World War II, and though they were later rebuilt, port activity eventually relocated to the west, rendering it obsolete. Now, on the eve of their rebirth, the Fenix name seems more fitting than ever before. The new structure creates an eye-catching silhouette at the water’s edge, acting as a fresh landmark for the city of Rotterdam.

The firm went on to explain that the facility’s first floor would soon function as a museum highlighting Rotterdam’s history of migration, as millions of migrants left Europe through this port on their way to new lives in the United States.

“We are proud to realize a dynamic transformation of the historical warehouse that will encourage people to move through the space, and be enjoyed by the community,” says Ma Yansong, founder of MAD Architects. “It will lift body and mind and be a place of pleasure and contemplation. The Fenix will inspire wonder and exploration about the past, the present, and the future.”

Wim Pijbes, Director of the Droom en Daad Foundation, says MAD was his first choice for the job from the very beginning, mostly because he knew they’d be able to come up with something organic and feminine to soften the industrial skyline of the Katendrecht borough.

“The Fenix Warehouse will become a landmark for all those millions who left Europe from the banks of the Maas, and for everybody arriving today,” he adds. “It offers a great future for Rotterdam’s past.”

The post A Spiral Staircase Pierces the Roof of This Historic Warehouse Turned Landmark first appeared on Dornob.

Not many brands live to to see their 333rd birthday, and in 2016, Gaggenau celebrated in fine form with a stunning pop-up restaurant in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood. German designer Hendrik Müller transformed an art gallery into an immersive dining experience for 48 lucky guests, with fine cuisine crafted by three-Michelin-starred chef Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park, NoMad New York, and NoMad Los Angeles. In May 2018, the award-winning team reconvened, bringing the immersive installation to a warehouse in Los Angeles in even bigger and more dramatic form.

Named for the year of Gaggenau’s founding, Restaurant 1683 brings a little bit of Black Forest mystery to L.A.’s fashion district. Strategic lighting illuminates the branches of full-scale 22-foot trees glittering with faux snow, each one planted in a mirrored island for the effect of a winter forest glowing under the moon. Little wooden structures appear like houses in the background, offering intimate dining areas where guests can feast on spring garlic custard, foie gras, snails grilled with morel mushrooms and ramps, and chicken roasted with nettles and new potatoes.

Six of these stations are set within the black-painted space, each one manned by a crew with significant culinary credentials and outfitted with Gaggenau’s signature luxury kitchen appliances. An ambient soundtrack of running water and bird calls plays from between mosses and ferns as models in traditional dress act out the automated movements of a cuckoo clock. Though many parts of the installation were made in Germany and shipped to Los Angeles, others were constructed onsite by Hollywood set designers, like the hollow plywood trees coated in rubber bark.

Reservations to attend the three-night spectacle were auctioned off for Operation Smile, a charity benefitting children with cleft conditions. Though this iteration of the installation may be over, Restaurant 1683 will be back. Gaggenau says it plans to recreate the installation in new locations in the future.

“In 1683, shrouded deep in the mystery of the Black Forest, a single nail was drawn to a perfectly even taper, forging 333 years of luxury craftsmanship. Cultivating the abundant ore deposits of the Murgtal Valley, the ringing of hammer and wrought iron brought with it the dawn of the industrial age. Savored over three centuries, Gaggenau continues to create the finest luxury appliances in the world.”

“Restaurant 1683 is a three-century journey, from hand-forged beginnings to the pinnacle of culinary luxury,” the company explains. “Greeted by an unprecedented legacy of innovation, guests are swept through the centuries with the sensorial exhilaration of a fully immersive culinary experience that reflects the precision only Gaggenau provides.”

The post Dining in the Black Forest: Immersive Themed Restaurant Pops Up in a Los Angeles Warehouse first appeared on Dornob.

Given all of these limitations, how could it possibly become a comfortable, livable dwelling? By cutting out a large chunk of the interior and turning it into a huge courtyard. The architects lined the new private outdoor space with glazed walls resembling garage doors to complement the industrial aesthetics of the original structure, brightening up the interior and vastly improving air circulation.

The double-height indoor/outdoor courtyard features remote-controlled rectractible skylights that open the home to the outdoors, but can also be closed when desired to minimize the noise from airplanes flying overhead. A cedar hot tub is set into a timber-lined wall on one side. Accordion doors can open up the interior spaces to each other and the courtyard in various ways.



Other notable details include a lower level lounge housing a classic car as well as a nine-meter-long concrete counter that swoops up to waist level from the floor. Glossy black and stainless steel built-ins separate the rooms, provide storage and conceal appliances, while new surfaces like gray travertine walls complement the historic industrial materials.

The post Warehouse to Home: Challenging Site Leads to Creative Solutions first appeared on Dornob.

Taking up residence within the double-height living room of a gorgeous renovated warehouse in Sydney, this amorphous blob looks like it could have grown organically as if harboring a monstrous insect of horror movie proportions. Thankfully, nothing frightening is about to burst out of it anytime soon: it simply houses a bedroom and bathroom. Made of white carbon fiber, the room-within-a-room was molded around the existing wooden trusses.

Australian firm AJ + C created the pod as a centerpiece for the unusual home, which also boasts an indoor swimming pool, treehouse-like walkways on the upper floor and an indoor/outdoor patio that opens to the interior via oversized floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors. 

Finished in a semi-gloss, the pod is a sculptural addition to the second level. Inside, the floors are padded with leather and lined with recessed LED lighting to highlight the organic curves of the structure. A skylight connecting to the ceiling like a chimney brings natural light to the cave-like interior.

The home retains the historic character of its industrial origins, pairing the original brick and wood with large expanses of glass and white-stained wood cladding. There’s also a fully-stocked bar with a giant 8-ball as a stool, and the kind of walk-in dressing room most of us can only dream about.

The post Blob Bedroom: Curvaceous Carbon-Fiber Cocoon Pod first appeared on Dornob.

An old industrial building in Ghent with massive shed roofs has been transformed into a modern residence that opens completely to the fresh air in pleasant weather. The converted warehouse by NU architectuuratelier of Belgium takes advantage of an ideal location perched atop historic buildings for a space that feels comfortable and private, but retains the character of its former life.

Upon passing through the gate, visitors enter a workshop space covered with the original shed roof of the warehouse, functioning as a park and play area as well as a space to build and create. Three shipping containers are set up within this space; one is used for storage while the other two are stacked to create a ‘bed and breakfast’  for guests. These two containers don’t just add extra space, they also stabilize the fragile old structure’s front facade.

The house itself is a volume conceived as a ‘transparent filter’ between the workshop space and an additional garden that’s open to the sky. When it’s nice out, the owners can open all of the exterior walls of the home to join the interior spaces with the exterior. Translucent green plastic canopies shade the garden area from the southern sun and link the sleeping spaces directly to the garden.

More from the architects

“Renovation of a forge to single family home with guest room, studio and gardens. On a unique location in the city of Ghent a single-family is realized within the walls of an old industrial building. The old brick forge and carpentry became the scene for the house as scaled room. Some shed roofs are retained, others are removed. Similarly, pieces of the concrete flooring are retained or removed. The house, a wood and steel framing with rational structure and readable use of material, cuts the plot in half. The result is a south facing, bar shaped volume which absorbs the confrontation between two complementary outdoor spaces: the walled garden and the workshop. If one goes through the gate, one enters a first room, a workshop space covered with the original shed roof.”

“This open space is both a park and play area for the residents and a workplace. In that room three containers are strategically set up. Out of economic necessity, these compact prefabricated steel structures are used as storage and entry perpendicular to the house, and as ‘Bed&Breakfast’, stacked above the entrance porch. This ‘B&B’ is created by two containers internally linked to become a very vertical residence. At the same time they are used to stabilize the fragile old and by heritage institutions protected front facade.The second outdoor space is formed by an enclosed rear garden, bounded by a space under a maintained shed roof. This space looks back at the house. The feeling, of the room as a shed without a roof, is made permanent at any point of the plot.”

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This former Victorian warehouse in South London had been home to an artist and his wife for several years, but when their first child came along the couple knew it was time to turn it into a proper living space. They called on London architect Dingle Price (now Pricegore) to create a comfortable living and working space.

The solution involved the use of an existing mezzanine to divide the home in half. On one side, a two-story home. On the other, a bright and open double-height studio.

Price’s concept was to more or less insert a home into the existing building by dividing the space in half. Since the mezzanine provided a natural separation of the vertical space, that side of the warehouse was naturally to become the living area.

The two halves aren’t completely separate, however. Small windows in the walls of the two upstairs bedrooms and two large doors on the ground floor allow the family an opportunity to connect with both sides of the home.

Looking from the house into the studio gives the feeling of looking over a private courtyard. The feeling is emphasized by the huge landscape paintings in the artist’s studio.

The internal landscape of the building offers a unique opportunity for the family to combine their personal and work spaces without forcing the two to intermingle. If they desire, the family can completely close off the studio half of the building by shutting the connecting doors and windows.

Sophisticated pine wood floors – some painted, some left natural – brilliantly offset the bright white walls and ceilings. Skylights allow ample natural light to flow in to both the house and the studio, highlighting the unusual space and its colorful contents.

“A two bedroom house installed inside the shell of a Victorian warehouse to provide accommodation for an artist’s family. The rest of the warehouse remains as the artist’s studio which, overlooked and animated by the facade of the house, attains the character of a small piazza or garden.”

“In the future, the artist is expected to move to a separate studio building, allowing the double height volume to be used as a living room, with the current living space becoming a more generous kitchen and dining room.”

The post Double-Duty London Home for a Painter first appeared on Dornob.

A former industrial facility in France’s capital city was reinvented by interior architect Grégoire De Lafforest, going from a wide open 1,100 square feet to a creative, completely unique loft. Although the architect has worked with some of the most high-end brands in the world, he used some clever cost-saving measures to create this striking Paris warehouse makeover on a reasonable budget.

Despite the rather limited space, Lafforest segmented the loft into six distinct zones that he refers to as “a village of six small houses.” The kitchen and living area are located under an A-frame glass ceiling that fills the loft with natural light. As a continuation of the glass aesthetic, the kitchen is enclosed in a DIY greenhouse. Inside, an all-black IKEA kitchen is a gorgeous modern place to prepare meals.

The one element that is nearly impossible to miss is the huge pine tree in the middle of the living area. Lafforest cut and dried the branches, then meticulously glued plastic needles to them. The tree emphasizes and expands the theme of outdoors and nature without actually dealing with a growing tree in the living room.

Budget-friendly IKEA furniture and fixtures were used in the loft, giving it a modern flair with subtle pops of color. A wall ledge sits three feet above the floor in the living area to support pictures and objects. Beneath the ledge, rectangular IKEA storage units act as independent bookcases.

Interesting surfaces, small highlights of color and the occasional simple pattern keep the loft from looking too sterile. This Parisian home is a testament to the fact that, with some creativity and out-of-the-box thinking, even people with smaller budgets can create stunning home spaces.

About Grégoire De Lafforest

“An interior architect and designer by training (graduated from ESAG Penninghen), Grégoire went through the agency of Bruno Moinard, Noé Duchaufour Lawrence and Gilles & Boissier where he was able to work on major projects such as the head office from Hermès in Paris, the Cartier boutiques, a private mansion for Veuve Clicquot and more recently the Baccarat hotel in New York. He is currently collaborating with Hermès for the design of furniture collections. At the same time, he develops his own interior design and furniture projects which earned him the VIA laureate in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 and the “Talent de l’Elegance” laureate at the Sommet du Luxe et de Creation 2017.”

The post Paris Warehouse Makeover: From Old & Ugly to Bright & Cozy first appeared on Dornob.

The light bulb is such a familiar icon that it is almost painful to see it so deformed – sure to give any visitor a start and at least force them to do one double-take.

Hans Bleken Rud used 3D models to take and break the initial form of a typical bulb shape, pulling and pushing pieces apart, then reconnecting them with thin lines of support. He titles the end result is called “Scheisse …” feel free to translate that from German if you need to.

The result is an effective blend of the ‘bare bulb’ industrial aesthetic and a quirky artistic surprise sure to impress clients of offbeat companies in warehouse lofts.

Want one of these cool and unusual lamps for your own home or workplace? The Scheisse pendant lamp is available for sale through Interior Deluxe for $1,968 USD.

“The Scheisse Pendant Light by Northern Lighting has been designed by Hans Bleken Rud. Scheisse is a large pendant lamp. The lamp pays respect to the traditional incandescent light bulb, which with its warm light and good colour reflection, has given light to our households for so many years. The classic light bulb is one of man’s most important inventions. Unfortunately it si inefficient, which creates challenges in our threatened environment. The Scheisse Pendant light by Northern Lighting features the shape of a broken bulb. The original lamp is made of aluminium and steel lacquered in matt white. The lamping comes with 1 X E27 max 200W Incandescent.”

“Hans Bleken Rud (born 1980) is a Norwegian Industrial Designer. He began his studies at the Art and Design college in Asker, Norway and later graduated with a Masters in Industrial Design from the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. His career has been focused towards various projects related to lighting and light design. He now works as a professional lighting designer for Glamox as.”

The post Faux-Exploding Light Bulb is a Real Blast first appeared on Dornob.

It seems such a waste when people go to the trouble of hiring an architect only to build a boring or generic home – if you are going to go to all of that trouble, why not include the kind of unique functionality you have always dreamed of?

Be-Fun Design is an aptly-named architecture studio and the mastermind behind this a small-lot, two-story dwelling for a Japanese couple – a pair of clients that, as you might have guessed, lead a rather active lifestyle.

The crown jewel of this simply-titled ‘WareHouse’ is a climbing wall that reaches up above the top story of the house, surrounded by skylights to let indirect daylight filter into the second story and main level below.

A core-and-circumference strategy works its way down in the plan, from these rooftop windows to a wrapping staircase that hugs the exterior walls down to the lower floors.

Combined living, kitchen and dining room spaces thus become one large open central area ringed with circulation, while the hollowed climbing volume above leads up to a roof deck accessible only by a ladder.

“The house is a small two-storey dwelling for a couple in shinagawa-ku. Aiming to create a space that honestly reflected the clients’ activity-driven lifestyle, the design features a vertically-open area that is topped off by a rock-climbing cove. The layout revolves around a central bathroom. The kitchen, living, and dining room ,arranged as one open space, are located on the second floor which opens up to a generous stretch of glazing and terrace.”

“Bands of void space above the staircase ensure natural sunlight to the lower levels of the house. To assure some privacy, the exterior form lends no views of the interior from the street level, however, we maximized the point of contact with the outside to bring natural light and air circulation into the building. Reversaly, it stands as a garden light in the neighborhood from dusk. While sitting through a cityscape where buildings are crawling next to each other, the project plays between privacy and openness to offer an enjoyable living space.”

The post Indoor Climbing Wall in a Tokyo Home first appeared on Dornob.

Drawings by architects are rarely meant to (and perhaps never can) be actual representations of reality – they are always perspectives, even if they are plans or sections. This project shows, though, that even when a project changes, the original vision need not necessarily be lost.

Silver+Ong had a lot to contend with in this New York warehouse-to-condo conversion from late 1970s. Their first step was to strip out dropped ceilings and partition walls that divided various cramped and closed-off interior spaces in this three-story shoe box.

Though many of the more fanciful details were left behind in the transition from 3D models to physical reality, the initial gestures were carried through admirably – and some of the actual moves made more sense than the drawing versions did (for instance: giving up on a space-displacing spiral staircase).

A subtle emphasis on linear, corner-turning elements – to visually connect the front-and-back-of-house areas – was preserved in spirit if not rigorously in detail, transforming from a formal gesture to an executable design along the way.

All in all, this project provides a good example of how the finished product can be perhaps less sexy but more livable than the first round draft(sman’s) pick.

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It was easy to overlook this boring gray building, shorter and duller than its more cheerful neighbors – a series of classic Dutch two-to-three-story townhouses. What starts with a few small-but-critical design decisions on the exterior turns into an illuminating series of simple lighting and material strategies on the interior.

A pop-out box window makes for a classy modern replacement to the second-story opening on the front facade, while old garage doors gave way to a large sheet of solid glass with a simple new residential door on one side.

On the inside, recessed lighting animates remnant vintage brick walls along one side of the main living and dining areas, while rustic wood ceiling slats and heavy-timber riser-and-tread blocks bring warmth against a minimalist lack of decor.

White, black and steel can be found throughout, but these colder materials are continuously offset by a series of warm- and cold-colored lights in bathroom, kitchen and other frequent-use spaces.

It would be an understatement to say that Studio Rolfe (images by Frank Hanswijk) were forced to make the best out of a bad situation. Who knew a garage/warehouse could convert so well into a contemporary living space? Perhaps now the neighborhood jealousy will reverse. Then again, one comes to expect these kinds of creative conversions of bland buildings from Zecc.

“The renovation of the Rotterdam ‘metier house’ is turned into an architectural spectacle, where was experimented with time and space,” the architects say. “The 100 years old facade of a dwelling in a closed housing unit, is totally painted black. Both masonry, frames and “windows” are covered with a shiny black oil. This creates a kind of ‘shadow’ of the original facade. In some places the new transparent windows pierce through the historical facade. The new windows announce a time with a very different way of living. This creates a relationship between the original facade and the new interpretation which become readable. All floors and small rooms behind the old windows run into one spatially contiguous entity.”

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