Designed by Mark Naden of Toda, a New York based multidisciplinary design office, the Topos Chair was designed to create a three dimensional form out of a two dimensional material. The result is a grid of contoured Finnish birch plywood with maple veneer that contours to the body.
Designer: Toda - Mark Naden
Manufacturer: Malofancon
Link: Exterior : Interior
Following up on our post yesterday about contemporary Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx, we have complied some links to websites that feature images of his works. One of the sites is in Portuguese and another in German, and both of those are somewhat difficult to navigate, but the effort is well worth while. Unfortunately, there are few images on the Burle Marx firm website (Burle Marx & Cia. continues today lead by Marx's partner Haruyoshi Ono who joined the firm in 1968), but there is a little bit of history.
"Roberto Burle Marx is internationally known as one of the most important landscape architects of the 20th century.Firm: Burle Marx & Cia."An artist of multiple facets, besides being a landscape designer he was also a remarkable painter, sculptor, singer, and jewelry designer, with a sensibility that is shown throughout his work."
An article by Janet Eastman in the Los Angeles Times covers the homes of lesser known California modernist architect, Harwell Harris.
Harris, who designed houses in Southern California in the 1930s through 1950s, merged elements of Greene & Greene's Arts and Crafts style such as wood, bold roof overhangs and Japanese influences with Modernism's lean lines and liberal use of glass. His small houses showcase walls of windows and see-through doors in every room.Link: LA Times (with images)
London based Christopher Farr creates handmade contemporary wool rugs designed by a range of leading artists and designers. Farr has stores in London, New York and Los Angeles and Farr rugs can be found in selected oulets worldwide.
Link: Christopher Farr
"His sweeping forms and painterly approach to planting were revolutionary when they first came to public attention in the 1930s, and many contemporary designs today owe his vision a great debt. Born in São Paulo, Brazil, the son of German emigrants, Burle Marx studied painting in Rio de Janeiro, an aspect of his work that persisted throughout his career. Drawing on his masterly knowledge of Brazil's rich tropical plants, his fine-art training, and his love of music and sculpture, he began with private landscape commissions before his work caught the eye of architects Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer. With them, Burle Marx created some of his most memorable works in Brasilia and elsewhere around Brazil."
Link: Amazon
I'd hang a sentinel over my dining room table, though this design is a bit less menacing. We like the simple concept and the streamlined modern/industrial aesthetic of these light fixtures.
This cool restaurant in New York City is owned by AvroKO, "an idea driven, integrated design group that creates and enhances high-style brands, products and environments." And what an environment they have created here.
Without becoming a "themed" restaurant, Public is filled with design references (literal and subtle) to public spaces from the library to the post office to the common streetscape. The concept is to offer a unique and adventuresome menu in an accessible setting.
Very nicely done.
The union of the innovative New York based design group and the acclaimed kitchen team from London marks one of the first successful collaborative restaurant ventures of its kind.
Link: Public
Firm: AvroKO
Location: L+L Maps - Public
Link: BuildingGreen.com
Sleek light fixtures finished in premium automotive paint finishes with seamless construction. The "Aliente Family" line of fixtures is designed by Stefano Casciani was the winner of ALA 2002 Lighting for Tomorrow Contest. A new line designed by New York architects Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis (shown at right) is being introduced this year.
IVALO is committed to the great tradition of modernism and its powerful intuitions about future modes of living. By rigorous attention to the changing conditions of our fast-moving culture, new ways of living can be detected and accommodated through better design.Link: Ivalo Lighting
Jump back, Denny Terrio, put on those dancing shoes and flip on Gordon "Venus Flytrap" Simms... we're having disco flashbacks. C'mon... how cool was that dance floor in Saturday Night Fever?. Well, if you were a kid in the 70's like us then you probably thought it was cool. Anyway, that was just flashing lights, this is something different.
Lightspace has been used for nightclubs (of course), health clubs, stage lighting, fashion shows, etc., and can be used on floors, walls, countertops, etc. The sophisticated software is highly adaptable with an almost limitless variety of display effects and interactive programs.... this is not your one trick pony effects system.
Link: Lightspace
A three and a half day event, trade fair and festival combined into one for designers and consumers. The festival will include exhibitions on design, prefab, architecture, landscape and furniture as well as home tours, speakers, bands and DJs, restaurants and lounges.
CA Boom is coming up soon! Don't forget to register early for discounted admission.
Link: CA BOOM
UPDATE:
Report: CA Boom Opens!
Report: CA Boom - Day 1
Report: CA Boom - Day 2
Report: CA Boom - Day 3
Report: CA Boom Wrap Up
Moving right along with our Saarinen theme (1, 2), we would be remiss if we did not feature the furniture designs of Eero Saarinen.
The tulip chair is perhaps as well known as the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the TWA Terminal in New York. Knoll Studio still produces several of Saarinen's modern classics.
Link: KnollStudio
Speaking of things Saarinen, the Design Observer has posted an article about Eero Saarinen's TWA Terminal with a bit of history of the building along with links to photos, facts, etc. Also today, a New York Times article outlines plans for Jet Blue to use the currently shuttered facility.
Link: Design Observer
Link: New York Times
More contemporary photos at: Galinsky
"At dinner every night, we had discussions about art or design in some form," she says. "It was a very rich environment in terms of art and design. I didn't know until much, much later how much I picked up by osmosis."After a series of career and life changes, Susan now runs a small landscape architecture practice in Golden, Colorado.
Link: Rocky Mountain News - Artist, designer by nature
Firm: Saarinen Landscape Architecture
Beautiful contemporary rugs by a range of talented designers.
elson & company was founded with the vision of fusing custom-designed, hand-knotted Tibetan rugs with the endless possibilities of sophisticated modern design. Each collection is a delicate balance of present and past. The weavers with whom we work in Katmandu are masters of traditional techniques that reflect the rich heritage of the unique Tibetan craft. Our designers translate their innovative vision into individual works of art. The collections embrace the harmony between the established art form of Tibetan weaving and the simplicity of timeless, modern design.Collections include "Tibetan Modern: The Architects Collection" where architects (such as Steven Holl, Greg Lynn, Michael Rotondi, Billie Tsien & Tod Williams, David Yamawere and many others) translated their impressions of Tibet into carpets design.
Link: Elson & Company
We love the work of Bay Area landscape architect Robert Royston who was one of the pioneers of modern landscape design. He was partners with Garrett Eckbo and Ed Williams in a firm that shaped the California School of landscape design. The firm continues to this day as Royston Hanamoto Alley & Abey. This online portfolio provides a glimpse into the early work of Robert Royston and his influential designs.
Link: Postwar Portfolio - Robert Royston
Firm: Royston Hanamoto Alley & Abey
While certainly not an inexpensive or small house, this residence by New York architect Michael Haverland was created out of a process of budget minded editing and attention to detail making it much less costly to build than the neighboring Houses at Sagaponac.
The home incorporates an eclectic mix of classic modern and antique fixtures and furnishings while the design of the architecture is also modern yet timeless.
"Modernism is really about economy of means and rigor, and how you design space. If you lose those values, it's just a superficial treatment of modern surfaces."Link: Michael Haverland Architect
An an interview with Michael Graves by Linda Tishler in Fast Company about his partnership with Target to create an affordable line of designer products. The arrangement with Graves paved the way for Target's future collaborations with other designers and making Target the budget outlet for designer products.
Article: Fast Company
Link: Graves at Target
The upscale outdoor urban shopping complex can be found these days even in China, complete with Starbucks and Haagen-Dazs. The photos seem to show a very high quality project beyond many that we have seen in the United States. We are kind of fascinated by this project as it seems to do a pretty nice job of combining historic architecture and landscape with modern additions, but even more so because one of the restored houses in the project was the site of the first Communist Party meeting in China... hello irony.
Link: Xihu Tiandi
Article: Straits Times
Firm: Wood + Zapata
Firm: Nikken Sekkei - Planners Architects Engineers
Firm: Cicada Landscape Architecture
Space is a contemporary lifestyle store and interior design studio in Atlanta, Georgia.
Representing more than 30 manufacturers of modern contemporary furniture, lighting, textiles, and accessories, our 8,000 square foot showroom affords our clients the opportunity to view in person many of the products that we specify.
Our design projects include commercial, corporate, and residential interiors both on a local and a national level. We can offer a variety of design solutions, from the most basic initial consultation to fully developed interior design presentations including color-rendered floor plans.Link: Space
The company is hosting an exhibit at their Saarinen designed headquarters in Moline, Illinois entitled Structures of Our Time: 31 Buildings That Changed Modern Life. It is a special architectural exhibit celebrating buildings that have received the American Institute of Architect's 25-Year Award. The Deere Administative Center was one of Saarinen's last designs. The surrounding pastoral landscape setting was designed by Stu Dawson of Sasaki Associates.
Link: John Deere & Company
Link: Eero Saarinen bio (via USNPS)
Link: Sasaki Associates
Via: Quad-City Times - "Deere’s World Headquarters is centerpiece of new exhibit"
Via: Quad-City Times - "Landscaping was dear to their hearts"
This combination sink/dishwasher is perfect for small kitchens and washes with half the water in half the time of traditional dishwashers. The lid can be used as a cutting board or removed for a full function double sink.
The stainless steel brivaTM in-sink dishwasher is a first-of-its-kind product that reflects the quality and quite performance you've come to expect from our legendary dishwashers
Link: Briva
Ever take a look inside someone else's medicine cabinet? How about rummaging through someone's entire house online? Not exactly the usual L+L fare, but it is quite an interesting anthropological kind of cross section of a contemporary American home.
mc.clintock.com was originally developed as a way to test Apache configurations.Really.
But it also comes down to an appreciation for documentation and lists, as well as a keen appreciation for the absurd aspect of "revealing" the contents of my home to the entire world. There isn't much in my house that isn't also in everyone else's house, and precious little that's not visible to the casual visitor, but almost everyone I've spoken to sees this project as either an incredible intrusion, or as an invitation to be robbed.
Link: McClintock.com
One is the loneliest number, but maybe not when you are sitting this chair. If only we had this chair in high school world history... we may have been comfortable while taking that snooze. Actually, it reminds me of a project in first year architecture studio where we had to design a table and chair for one... if only I had thought of this...
"SOLITAIRE, designed by Alfredo Häberli for Offecct, is an upholstered chair with an organic shape that is designed in one piece. One of SOLITAIRE's armrests is like an integral tabletop, for reading or writing or as a side table. The chair is equally suitable for the home and dynamic workplaces."
Designer: Alfredo Häberli
Manufacturer: Offecct Interiör
Moving right along with the green theme: a building material.
PV-TV is a revolutionary new building material that transforms any glazed surface into an environmentally sound power station by day and a full colour screen by night.Whoa! Now THAT is cool.
Via: Metropolis
Manufacturer: MSK Corporation
Continuing our green theme here and going with yesterday's blog about Losing the lawn, here is a book that sheds light on the problems with lawns and provides good sustainable solutions.
"The authors in this book argue that our dedication to maintaining beautiful lawns is contributing to the serious environmental problems facing the planet, and they offer strategies for creating and caring for aesthetically pleasing and ecologically sound lawns. This new edition updates the original text and adds a chapter and illustrations showing what progress has been made in the ecological management of landscapes over the past decade."
Link: Amazon
The lawn is a deeply rooted "need" in the minds of most Americans, but we have been advocates of "less lawn" for some time. There are lawns that are useful (for playing sports, for pets, for kids) and then there is the landscape filler; broad emerald green swaths of land dedicated to nothing but grass for the sake of grass... because it would be (somehow) weird not to have a lawn. An article in the Journal News takes a look at the lawn and some slowly changing attitudes.
"Scientists say these lawns come at considerable environmental cost, and for at least a decade there have been efforts to rein them in."
Link: The Journal News
We like the work and playful spirit of this New York based design-build firm.
Brave Space is a triad of independent minded designer/fabricators with the goal of bringing you modular, multi-functional, and durable objects. We design custom furniture for the home and office setting. Our form follows function and our pricing follows integrity.
Link: Brave Space