Life Architecturally – A Documentary about McBride Charles Ryan
March 10, 2012 at 5:15 pm | Posted in architecture, film | Leave a commentTags: charles, documentary, mcbride, ryan
Dome House by Mcbride Charles Ryan. Photo: John Gollings
This great documentary by Britt Arthur recently screened on ABC 1 in Australia.
‘Life Architecturally follows internationally acclaimed husband and wife team, architect Robert McBride and interior designer Debbie Ryan, to discover what inspires their groundbreaking architectural concepts and designs. This intimate documentary observes the pressures of building a multi-story, twin-tower development; revolutionary new schools, one in the shape of an infinity symbol, and the ongoing construction and design of their own family home – which is on the backburner once again due to how busy they are. Plus, they’re part of an international consortium short-listed to design and construct the new billion-dollar Cancer Care Centre in Melbourne.’
The documentary is now available to watch on ABC iview
Watch the preview for the documentary below:
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Ice Cube Celebrates The Eames
January 26, 2012 at 1:51 pm | Posted in architecture, events, film, furniture | Leave a commentTags: charles and ray eames, eames, ice cube, pacific standard time
This video was doing the rounds back in December but I still want to share it with you. Created to promote the Eames exhibitions and events in the Pacific Standard Time Cultural Festival.
Interestingly before his rap career Ice Cube studied architectural drafting. In the video he describes the Los Angeles he knows and gives props to Charles and Ray Eames.
Love the line: “They was doing mashups before mashups even existed.” – Ice Cube
via archdaily
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Happy Haus – Donovan Hill Architects
July 4, 2010 at 11:21 pm | Posted in architecture, houses | Leave a commentTags: architecture, australia, houses, modular, prefab
Queensland based architecture practice Donovan Hill have designed a series of prefabricated housing modules for designer pre-fab housing company Happy Haus.
Titled the DHAN series, it consists of base modules that include a fully fitted bathroom, kitchen, bedroom and living space as well as smaller expansion modules such as additional bedrooms or living areas. With over ten different modules to choose from, multiple configurations can be created to suit any family, lifestyle or site. This allows owners to extend or add freestanding modules when needed as well as having the flexibility to downsize over time.
Phillip Johnson Portrait by David LaChapelle
April 26, 2010 at 4:16 pm | Posted in architecture, photography | Leave a commentTags: Phillip johnson, David LaChapelle, portrait, glass house
Saw this awesome portrait of Philip Johnson over on archdaily the other week taken by fashion, advertising and fine art photographer David LaChapelle.
Philip Johnson (1906-2005) was one of the most influential American architects and the inaugural Pritzker Prize winner back in 1979 (considered by many as the Nobel Prize of architecture).
I don’t know many old architect greats, let alone old men that would be into a light hearted photo shoot like this. Philip Johnson = champion.
Below is one of his most famous buildings, his personal residence, The Glass House, which was built in 1949.
Osler House – Marcio Kogan
April 2, 2010 at 5:10 pm | Posted in architecture, houses | Leave a commentTags: concrete, houses, minimalist, timber
The Osler House by Marcio Kogan is located in Brasilia, Brazil.
The house is composed of two rectangular volumes, stacked one on top of the other and arranged perpendicularly to create a sheltered entertaining terrace at ground level. Concrete, timber and glass form the simple palette of materials and add to the house’s minimalist nature.
Suurupi House Extension – Arhitektid Muru & Pere
March 16, 2010 at 8:37 pm | Posted in architecture, houses | Leave a commentTags: architecture, estonia, houses, timber
The Suurupi House Extension, located in Estonia is designed by Arhitektid Muru & Pere.
Initially designed and built in 1998/99, the one-storey house was a simple wooden ‘”matchbox” to cater for the needs of a young family with children. As the family grew and the children got older various additions were made culminating in the latest addition of a second floor in 2008/09.
‘The modest “matchbox” has been made bigger in time, the drawer was stretched out further and further until it came out of the box and could be placed, crosswise, on top as a first floor and could be covered with tangled matches.
That is how the first floor looks: a box covered with crisscrossed sticks which resembles an angular bird’s nest, a ball of hay that is pressed together, a tangle of boards, all of which glows in the dark.’ – Arhitektid Muru & Pere
I personally wonder how this timber skin will age. Will it age gracefully as the timber weathers? Or will it require a lot of maintenance and need to be replaced after a number of years? Either way it looks really cool.
via archdaily
Photography: Tarvo Varres
Continue Reading Suurupi House Extension – Arhitektid Muru & Pere…
‘World Headquarters’ – Parliament
February 28, 2010 at 8:58 pm | Posted in architecture, graphic design | Leave a commentTags: fitout, office, parliament, reclaimed, salvaged, timber
Parliament are a graphic design/creative agency in Portland, Oregon.
Upon checking out their website you’ll find not only are they a talented and accomplished graphic design/creative agency, they are also not too bad at interior design judging from the photographs of their studio fitout.
The DIY project allowed the team at Parliament, alongside carpenter Kyle Sharp, to create a space that reflected their aesthetic qualities while at the same time utilising salvaged and reclaimed materials such as old pizza ovens, street signs, crates, a 1930’s barn and a 20th century church.
I love the contrast that has been created between the original raw, industrial building shell and the warm character of the new timber elements. The stacked firewood walls are a standout and their collection of screen printed posters is awesome too!
Check out Parliament’s website here.
Photography by Lincoln Barbour
via CONTERMPORIST
A is for Aalto
January 31, 2010 at 10:40 pm | Posted in architecture, objects | Leave a commentTags: aalto, glass, savoy, vase
This will be the first in a series of 26 posts on modern design icons – one for each letter of the alphabet (inspired by the Alphabet of Design Classics Poster by Blue Ant Studios.)
Aalto Vase (1936)
The Aalto Vase (also known as the Savoy Vase) is a world 
famous piece of glassware created by the renowned Finnish architect, Alvar Aalto (1898-1976).
The vase was designed as an entry in a design competition for the Karhula-Iittala glassworks factory in 1936. As a result Aalto never made money with the vase, as the design belonged to the factory.
It also became known as the Savoy vase because it was one of a range of custom furnishings and fixtures that were created by Aalto for the luxury Savoy restaurant in Helsinki that opened in 1937. 
Aalto’s design for the vase was inspired by the clothes of a Sami woman with his first sketches for the vase playfully titled "Eskimo woman’s leather trousers".
Initial prototypes were created by Aalto by blowing glass in the middle of a composition of wooden sticks stuck into the ground, letting the molten glass swell on only some sides and creating a wavy outline.
To this day the vase is still manufactured in a large range of colours and sizes at the iittala glass factory in Iittala, Finland.
For more information on the Aalto Vase check out the iittala website here.
Photo via Flickr: Joel Pirela
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Skyline Residence – Belzberg Architects
January 12, 2010 at 10:52 pm | Posted in architecture, houses | Leave a commentTags: architecture, california, hollywood hills, houses
The Skyline Residence by Belzberg Architects is located in the Hollywood hills overlooking the San Fernando Valley and was designed and built by all 13 staff members of Belzberg Architects for director Hagy Belzberg.
To combat a narrow and difficult site with cliffs on two sides, the house is arranged in a long pavilion containing the bedrooms, kitchen and bathrooms with the living area protruding to the north east. There is also a guest house that has been strategically separated from the main building to create a terrace space and car parking court between the two buildings. This space also doubles as an outdoor theatre. Movies can be projected onto the southern wall of the guest house and viewed from the terrace above the garage.
The form of each of the two buildings is derived from a single, solid, folded plane with glazing infill on the remaining sides. These folded forms act to shelter the interiors from the sun while still allowing views to be maximised.
Timber slat screens on the western facades of both buildings also protect them from the afternoon sun while the corridor in the main building is situated to the west to act as a heat buffer. Large opening doors take advantage of cross ventilation and openings at either end of hallway encourage breezes to flow through the house and through the bedrooms.
Other aspects of the house that aid in reducing its carbon footprint include sourcing recycled and local materials as much as possible, keeping granite excavated from the site for gravel paving and using products like reconstituted timber instead of hardwood for the slats on the western facade.
Aside from this house having the most awesome home theatre ever, I particularly like the suspended fireplace in the living area and the wet edge infinity pool overlooking the amazing view. But something like this doesn’t come cheap – According to la.curbed.com it was sold for $5.6 million US just last December!
To view more photos of the Skyline Residence along with other work from Belzberg Architects visit their website here.
Photos: Benny Chan of Fotoworks
Mafoombey Acoustic Space – Martti Kalliala & Esa Ruskeepää
December 14, 2009 at 11:12 pm | Posted in architecture | 1 CommentTags: architecture, cardboard, cardboard architecture, mafoombey
Mafoombey is the title of an award winning corrugated cardboard sound installation designed by Finnish architecture students Martti Kalliala and Esa Ruskeepää with the aid of architect, Martin Lukasczyk.
Designed for a competition organised by the Helsinki University of Art and Design in 2005, the competition brief called for a space for listening to and experiencing music within the set dimension of a 2.5m cube.
Kalliala and Ruskeepää’s resulting design is a very sculptural form that plays on the contrast between the regular cubic volume, and the irregular free form interior, while also making use of the unique and underutilised material – corrugated cardboard.
The interior contours of the cube were designed mostly via 3D computer modelling. Once an appealing form was decided upon, the 3D model was sliced into horizontal layers in order to produce the cutting files for the computer-controlled cardboard cutter.
The structure itself consists of 360 layers of 7mm thick corrugated cardboard made up of 720 half-square sheets cut out one by one. Cardboard columns run through each corner of the cube to stiffen the structure with cable runs and apertures for the speakers, DVD player and lamps all integrated within the stack.
Another impressive detail is the fact that no adhesives were used in the project! The installation is held together entirely by its own weight which lends itself to being a temporary structure – easily assembled and disassembled.
Mafoombey’s simple, yet playful form creates the ultimate listening and relaxing space, further enhanced by the sound-absorbing properties of a very eco-friendly material: cardboard.
via paperforest, iaac blog and finnish design shop
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