An experiment in flexiply
"The bent one is a lounge chair. And it's bent. It began as an experiment to see what can be achieved with flexiply, yet as interest grew, Morgan Cheetham began working on The Bent One. The result takes flexiply to its limit. The body of the chair is made of five layers of 3mm flexiply. The production of the chair is a little complex - a collapsable former had to be made to release the glued body. Each laminate is glued and clamped up seperately. The armrests are made of steam bent laminated timber. These are bent over a regular mould, seperate to the flexiply laminating. Once the armrests are ready, they are glued and clamped to the body section. The whole chair is sanded, sealed, and waxed to finish."
Link: Morgan Cheetham
"FOLD was created with the modern bed in mind"
Really nice modern bedspreads, pillows and throw blankets by Bay Area designers Max and Linda Geiser. The line offers a wide variety of patterns, colors, materials and sizes.
Link: FOLD
A television show from the creators of Dwell Magazine
If you are like us, you are just dying for something to divert your attention from the train wreck parade of so-called design and make-over shows that currently abound... and we have to watch, don't we? Painful as it can be, we watch... like a junky who needs a fix. But save for the very rare morsel of inspiration, we are just not satisfied with what we see.
Well, there may be hope for the home design genre of television. A television program by the creators of Dwell Magazine is currently in production and will air on the cable television network Fine Living this fall. So hold your breath along with us, won't you?
Article: San Francisco Chronicle
Via: Dwell Forum
Indoor/Outdoor furniture made from Iroko wood
"The Deneb Outdoor system is derived from the Deneb table. The system is comprised of a table and matching bench. The same base is used for both and they each have an Iroko solid wooden top.
The principles of Stua are embodied in this system, simplicity, timelessness and warmth. The Deneb system is suitable for indoor and outdoor use."
Iroko wood is a popular alternative to teak with a similar texture and grain.
Link: Stua
Designer: Jesus Gasca
Photo documentation of the natural and built Japanese landscape
A photographic documentation of the travels in Japan of two scholarship winners; Roche Scholarship winner Colin Franzen and SOM Traveling Fellowship recipient Zane Karpova. Four "sections" cut across the island were chosen as paths of travel and documentation. The images are keyed to these lines of investigation revealing a wonderful array of landscape, architecture, culture and space.
Link: Franzen and Karpova Japan Sections
Via: A Daily Dose of Architecture
Beautiful bentwood chair from Swedese
From Swedish furniture maker Swedese comes the Bend Chair. The bend chair is available in either birch or walnut. An upholstered seat is an option.
Update: We received an email from Scott Hartkopf of the Hightower Group. He wanted to let us know that the Hightower Group is the North American distributor of Swedese and if anyone is interested in purchasing a Bend chair, they stock them at their distribution center. The Hightower Group's website can be found at www.hightoweraccess.com
Link: Swedese
Designer: Mårten Claesson
Revisiting Owens Lake
While this might not really fall under the guise of Modern Lifestyle & Design, this is actually an issue that we've followed over the years and if you're an LA resident, an issue that has had an enormous impact on modern LA society. As noted on our about page, we're avid snow sports enthusiasts and during our pursuits for Sierra Nevada snow, we pass by Owens Lake several times each month. It's nice to read about the efforts the LA DWP is making to restore Owens Lake in a publication such as Metropolis.
"Today, parts of Owens Lake look like a sandy desert floor, parts are under a few inches of water tinted red from algae, and still other parts are covered with a thick salt crust. The lake is the largest stationary source of pollution in America; its amount of wind-blown dust violates EPA standards of particulate matter 20-30 times a year. The EPA’s standard is 150 micrograms per cubic meter; levels measured at the lakeshore reach 12,000.
Now the DWP is trying to reverse the damage it did to Owens Lake. The Department has tapped into the aqueduct to re-direct up to a quarter of the flow back into the lakebed, and is using a combination of shallow flooding and managed vegetation to bring the water body within EPA standards. The project is scheduled to end in 2006 with 29.8 square miles treated.
Link: Metropolis
Related: Trees for a Green LA
Images: © Krystal Chang
Molded recycled 100% wastepaper wall tiles
"Tangent tiles allow you to customize the acoustic and aesthetic properties of any environment. Three-dimensional and reconfigurable, they can be assembled in a variety of patterns. These tiles fit almost any wall or ceiling area and are made from 100% post and pre-consumer waste paper. Tangent tiles are easy to recycle when no longer needed. They are durable, can be painted with water-based paints and are easy to install."
Link: MioCultureLab
Designers: Jamie Salm, Esther Chung
Durfee Garden and Bartlett Court on the University of Massachusetts Amherst Campus, and the Plastic Garden
We were taken with these modern gardens by landscape architect Dean Cardasis, Associate Professor at University of Massachusetts, Amherst and the Director of the James Rose Center. The playful yet refined use of built elements of the Durfee Garden and the Plastic Garden create special outdoor spaces year-round. Bartlett Court is a contemplative garden that highlights the geology and traditions of New England with a serene style reminiscent of Japanese gravel gardens.
Link: Dean Cardasis
Visit: UMass Amherst
Long overdue and contentious memorial to those who served is dedicated
The design submitted by Friedrich St.Florian, an architect based in Providence, R.I., was selected from a group of six semi-finalists in an open, national competition.
Pictures: National WWII Memorial website
Link: New York Times article
Australia's first five-star-rated eco-sustainable office building
"Lend Lease's radical new building is cool, eco-friendly and there's not a hairshirt in sight, writes Elizabeth Farrelly." Unfortunately, we can not find pictures of this project, but this article in the Sydney Morning Herald is still worth a read. Designed in-house with Peddle Thorp collaborating
Link: Syndey Morning Herald
Calm dawns in the awessome use of green
A fantastic Pacific Northwest garden full of birch, locust, and fir trees, placed first in the 11th-annual Pacific Northwest Competition for Home Gardeners out of a field of 94 entrants.
"WHEN JIM AND Charlene Geiszler step onto the upper-level porch of their Shoreline home, they can sink into rattan chairs and relax in complete privacy amid a woodland setting of Japanese maples, vine maples, bamboo, decorative grasses and ferns. A gurgling waterfall in one of two modest pools disguises the rumble from the outside world, including nearby Interstate 5."
Link: Seattle Times Magazine, Pacific Northwest
Photographs: © MIKE SIEGEL
Morphosis wins 2012 NYC Olympic Village design competition
We have been looking at these images for some time, but it didn't click until yesterday when we came across a photo tour of Le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation. The Morphosis design seems to us to take many cues from Corbu; the plan for Algiers also came to mind. Thus we decided to post an entry about Corbu's Marseille project, and to follow up today with a feature on the Morphosis Olympic Village.
Our design for the Village establishes an iconic landmark and proposes an innovative vision for a 21st century urban environment that will redefine contemporary urban living through its commitment to sustainability, connectivity and interdependence. It is our intent to transform Hunters Point into a revitalized “new territory” that will leave an important legacy, or gift, to the city, while also providing the new generative tissue, or architectural DNA, that will continue to stimulate and inspire the development of the Queens area.
With 43 acres of open space reserved for both urban and natural parkland, this development’s greens will create the largest urban waterfront park in New York City. By working carefully and deliberately to sculpt land and building forms into a coherent relationship with the existing urban fabric and naturally advantageous site conditions, we will create a vibrant new neighborhood that will become an important stimulus for creative and optimistic development of the adjacent urban areas for years to come.
Link: NYC 2012 press release (Morphosis announced competition winner)
Link: NYC 2012 (finalists)
Link: New Yorkled (images of Morphosis design)
Firm: Morphosis
Watch me watch you
"The fishbowl home, where it's really easy to look inside, is becoming more common as buttoned-up cottages buffered with frontyards are being replaced by glass-paneled homes that press up to the property line. Meanwhile, the people peering in have become even more curious about what goes on in these houses, say behaviorists who study those on both sides of the window."
Link: LA Times (via Archinect)
A chronicle of bad conversions and storefronts past
Driving around LA, we've certainly seen our share of converted Taco Bells. This site now confirms that what we've witnessed is in no way unique to LA. Imagine that.
"It is not without the bitter taste of self-awareness, specifically about the overwhelmingly crass and commercial (and, indeed, downtrodden and dreary, bleakly suburban, and economically grim) nature of the content of this site, that we at NFA embark on our quest to document bad conversions. That said, it is perhaps best that we look at this phenomenon as a delightful yet sad part of our culture's clattering landscape: it is an amusing diversion, it is an economic gestalt, it is a crime of design, it is a confusion to the would-be consumer. Let us rejoice in bad conversions and seek to amuse ourselves with them wherever possible, taking utmost pains to observe the careful, hopeless touches of their renovation and their indelible flourishes of nonsense on our landscape. Embrace blight! We have no other hope."
Link: Not Fooling Anybody
How retro can you go?
Time Magazine's Style & Design issue asks the question, "How retro can you go?" They present several articles touching on America's current fascination with mid-century design, prefab homes, and Ingvar Kamprad.
How Retro Can You Go?
Fifties style is stalking the runways, and mid-century design is making its way into every room of the house. A look at the allure of America's favorite era
Absolutely Prefabulous
Say the words prefab housing and most people think of snap together bungalows and log cabin kits. But a new generation of architects is making prefab more fun.
Ingvar Kamprad
With one little wrench, Ingvar Kamprad gave the world access to great design.
Urban direct meets Northwest groove, up and down.
From the Seattle Times Magazine, Pacific Northwest, comes this article about a couple remodeling their 1939 home in Seattle's Queen Anne neighborhood.
"When you can't go sideways, go up. That was part of the solution for Dave and Heidi Boone, remodeling a 1939 house snuggled onto Queen Anne Hill. With the potential for grand views and lots of design/construction savvy — he's an upper-end residential contractor who once considered being an architect — this project had a lot going for it."
Link: Pacific Northwest (Seattle Times)
Photograph: BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER
Le Corbusier's vertical village in Marseille, France
Stumbling about again today, this time over at Hyperkit, we found this nice little feature. Hyperkit spent 3 days in Marseille at the Unité d’Habitation designed by Le Corbusier (1947-1952). The pictures show some wonderful views of the building including the sculptural rooftop "garden." The Unité was designed to be a self contained urban village, and is but a piece of Le Corbusier's idea for modern city living, the Cité Radieuse.
Link: Hyperkit visit Le Corbusier
More info about Le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation:
Great Buildings Online
Galinsky (including info on how to visit)
Illustrated History of the Folding Chair
Over at Designboom, we stumbled across this fantastic poster. It has been in production for quite some time, but we still think it's pretty cool. It features everything from early Egyptian and Chinese folding stools, to contemporary chairs by James Irvine, and just about everything in between. 196 chairs in total.
The illustrated folding chairs history poster is printed on white coated cartoon 210 gr.
dimensions:
70 x 100 cm.
27 3/4 x 39 1/2
Link: DesignBoom
Link: Easy Chairs
Link: Transformer Chairs
Link: Folding Chairs
Link: Chaise-Lounge
Chaise for Indoor or Outdoor use.
"Tokyo Pop is a family of seating of single-block polyethylene, made possible by a rotational plastic production technique which allows for its complex hollow form. The design, modified from its original model of paper honeycomb, maintains an organic shape consistent with an imprint of the human body. The four versions are well suited for both indoor and outdoor use and are available in an ivory similar to th ehue in rice paper, gray-green or orange. An upholstered version for indoor use is available in various shades of wool."
Designer: Tokujin Yoshioka
Link: Driade
Sculptural outdoor/indoor furniture by architect Jeanne Scandura
We like the fluid forms and tactile quality of this line of furnishings including some pieces suitable for outdoor use.
Float has been an effort to create objects with material integrity that improve over time, respond to the human form, and welcome a dialogue with architectural space. The furniture reflects a joy for experimentation, versitility, and cultural curiosity.
Link: Float
Modular Water Storage System
"The Waterwall modular system is a rainwater storage solution for urban households. A slim line tank design, each unit is only 330 mm deep and yet holds 1200 litres of water. The beauty of the design lies in the ability to connect any number of tanks together. Not only does this increase storage capacity dramatically, the interconnected tanks can be used as a fence, as a dividing wall in a garden, or fit neatly in a narrow sideway. This gives even a small city yard substantial water storage capabilities."
Via: ID Fuel
Link: Waterwall
Screen wall designed by Pelikan Design.
"The Labyrint screen wall series is a room divider for many different areas. Labyrint was designed by Danish Pelikan Design in 1992.
The units may be curved or straight.
The units are composed of oblique slats in natural beech and maple. The large units may stand alone on plate feet.
Labyrint is available in two different widths, with castors, plate feet or wall mountings.
Link: Fritz Hansen
Designer: Pelikan Design
Landscape designers from around the world compete at the Chelsea Flower Show in London
The Chelsea Flower Show is the premier garden show in the United Kingdom and features talented landscape and garden designers from around the world. Designs are showcased in a series of garden categories, and landscapers take the opportunity to show off inventive ideas and to highlight everything from sustainability to low-allergy gardening.
Link: Chelsea Flower Show 2004
Link: BBC coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show
The Obsessive Furniture Line
"In loose change, you see a couch. In pieces of show leather, a chair. In jars, a chandelier. These are all visions turned into reality by Johnny Swing. and his Obsessive Furniture line. Taking common, everyday materials and re-purposing them, Johnny Swing has created practical art that is as stunning to view as it is stimulating to use.
His nickel couch, made of over 6400 welded nickels, is a magnificient piece of work that is contoured for the body. His Jardelier, a chandelier made of glass jars, evokes a feeling of early 20th century invention with its illumination. These are but two example of an exceptional furniture line. The difference is in the art. Each is a unique example of beautiful and functional sculpture."
Link: Johnny Swing
Simple design for simple - and tasty - food.
One of the things we've admired when grabbing lunch at Chipotle is the simple interiors they have in their restaurants. Materials such as concrete, wood, stainless steel, exposed conduit, corrugated aluminum, and old-school pull-chain porcelin light fixtures. Perhaps they've taken the typical "let's make this look like an artist's loft" approach to their design (on their behalf, what project these days doesn't use at least some of those materials?) but for a fast food restaurant, we like what they're doing. Rip out the dining tables and chairs, throw in some furniture, and hell, I'd live there. Also, we didn't know this but according to their website, each Chipotle interior and exterior is unique.
"The design of Chipotle mirrors the idea behind our food: simple ingredients put together in creative, new ways, elevating them to a higher level. Each Chipotle uses the same basic materials - wood, concrete, raw steel and metals - but no two look the same."
Not bad considering they're owned by McDonalds.
Link: Chipotle
UPDATE
Artist: Mayatek (chairs & artwork by Bruce Gueswel) [Thanks, Craig!]
A sense of beauty, harmony, and order.
"The intrigue of this piece lies in the interplay of convex and concave forms that produce a unique undulating form. The hinges are placed at the top and bottom of the panels creating a sliver of uninterrupted space between the panels. The screen is modular. We recommend a minimum of six leaves but any number greater than two is possible. This is a great piece to section off a space or to provide a sculptural element within a room."
Link: Soorikian Furniture
Marmol Radziner Furniture creates reproductions of Schindler's 1920's designs
The Kings Road Group offers faithful reproductions of California modernist architect R.M. Schindler's revolutionary redwood designs from the 1920's. These simple pieces were originally designed for Schindler's own residence on Kings Road in Los Angeles.
All designs are licensed to Marmol Radziner Furniture through Friends of the Schindler House/MAK Center for Art and Architecture. Significant proceeds from the sale of this furniture go directly towards the continued conservation of the Schindler House.
Marmol Radziner Furniture is an arm of Los Angeles based architecture and construction firm Marmol Radziner + Associates.
Link: Kings Road Group by Marmol Radziner Furniture
First purchasers describe the process.
"Before excavating, Barry and I decided exactly where the LV Home would be built. We chose a knoll with southern exposure. We marked the trees that needed to come down and staked out the building's rough location with rebar. Since we wanted the LV Home to 'float' on the ground per Rocio's design, we were faced with a problem. The building site is on a hill with a 7-foot slope. We wanted to keep the natural landscape of the knoll undisturbed. So we chose to level the hill where the house will sit and terrace the remainder of the hill. This was a risky decision because we didn't know if the excavator would hit rock..and there's plenty of rock!"
Link: Article
Link: LV Home Kit
Reference: LV Home - Building Update I
First class
"Show your friends and bill collectors your devotion to design with the recently-released Isamu Noguchi stamps from the US Post Office."
Also of note, the Noguchi Garden Museum is slated to reopen in June, 2004.
Via: ID Fuel
Link: U.S. Postal Service
Link: Noguchi.org
