momeld - modern living | modern design

Hooray!!!! I am in love with the Brooklyn Bridge but have never EVER liked the big Verizon billboard in the background messing up my view and my photos. It looks as though change is brewing with a new all glass “iconic downtown office building”.

Cook + Fox can be credited with the glass make over. Although the diagrid structure and the mullion system appears a little heavy to me, the new building (skin) is warmly welcome in my eyes. Goodbye, Verizon sign!

+more from curbed and the NYpost

Like the site?

With the Bloomframe, the push of a button can transform your living space from interior to exterior.

The winner of a 2008 Red Dot Design Award, Bloomframe, by designers Hofman Dujardin Architects, will be available to buy sometime early this year. Designs can be customized and made to order.

Flexibility is a buzzword in modern and sustainable design and Bloomframe provides an excellent design option for architects in high-density residential design. Architects will be interested in the ever changing nature of a facade. Owners will enjoy the fresh air and light without the cost of a balcony.

+More about Bloomframe
+via Dexigner
+Red Dot Design Awards

Like the site?

So after perusing Record houses 2008, here are my favorites:

Dairy House by Skene Catling de la Pena:

Palmyra House by Studio Mumbai Architects:

VH r-10 House designed by Darren Petrucci:

Like the site?

Richard Hutten has designed a new MG H2O store in Rotterdam. It caught our eye because it almost appears as though the store is an installation. It kind of reminds me of shopping in an attic, it would be great for vintage wear. The upper loft looks a little un-sturdy which adds to the character of the store. You could never get away with a store like this in the states as there are no railings.

It seems as if we are seeing a lot of storage stairs lately and MG H2O has another great one. Using the stairs as a storage display rather than creating a dead space to jam a closet into is a much better response to the problem of unoccupiable space.

.

{via: designnws}

Like the site?

This is a look into one of Rural Studio’s more recently completed projects, The Hale County Animal Shelter. For some reason I missed the press about this project and did not know about it. The tours consisted of more driving than seeing projects due to the rural nature of the area. When we went sailing past this one in our cars I knew it had to be a Rural Studio project. Luckily we doubled back and I got to visit this treat as well.

It sits directly in front of a county jail and at first glance it appears as part of the vernacular of farming storage buildings and hay sheds. As you move past it you realize the beauty and complexity of this seemingly simple out building.

The Students used the cross braced Lamella structural system to shelter the animals. The challenge was to build a large building with off-the-shelf lumber. Keep in mind that students built this and not professional carpenters. Each piece is hand hand cut to fit in its particular spot. (I am sure that free student labor is the only reason that the structure could have been built as is) As you can imagine this was the longest running student construction project that the Rural Studio has had. The process began in 2005 with an intense 6 months of planning and is has just recently been ready for move in which will occur this summer.

The lamella structure makes the construction appear heavy but that is counteracted as the vault elegantly hovers over the landscape on steel feet. The skylight and long horizontal slits also begin to make it appear lighter.

The cat cages:

The dog are kept in between the offices and cat shelters which are towards the openings of each end. It is open airebut the concrete slab is heated in the winter. I imagine that the majority of it being open to breezes will be nice for the dogs and keep the smell less potent than most shelters. The skylights are positioned so that the animals will be shaded in the summer and get direct sunlight during the winter.

+ flickr set
Related Posts:
Rural Studio #1
Rural Studio #2
Rural Studio #3
Rural Studio #4
Rural Studio #5

Rural Studio #6

Like the site?

The Paper Tea House by architect Shigeru Ban is at auction today in London. It’s made of square paper tubes and cardboard.

{read more}

Like the site?

I have attended some state fairs where jellies and jams are judged and blue ribbons are handed to the meanest batch to gooey sweetness. This, however, brings a new meaning to Jelly competition:

Bompas & Parr are curating the event which will be held during London’s Architecture Festival to benefit Architects for Aid. Each entry will be judge for innovation, aesthetics and (my favorite) the “wobble Factor”. Judging a competition like this sounds like a ton of fun.

The moulds and preparatory goods will be auctioned off; so you can bring the fanciest jello to the next dinner event and start the conversation.

Like the site?

As architects we don’t get to do much more than picking out fixtures very often. Even when the client has tons of money to throw at the toilet room it is usually eaten up in materials rather than in form. I love these sets of projects from the rural studio because they demand a unique response and have so much potential for student creativity.

These student projects are set in Perry Lakes Park near the bridge and tower. Here there are “toilet experiences” connected by a raised pathway that leads to a pavilion. Each project is unique and will have you wishing for a better bathroom.

The tower toilet is 50 feet tall and I imagine using it could be pretty amazing.

This bathroom is composed of two cantilevering walls that frame a tree. The tree acts as a barrier that allows the ‘toiletee’ to view nature without being viewed by others. There were a few wooden boxes obstructing my shot of the toilet but I liked the wall that it is anchored to. The concrete slab met the wood nicely and the reveal to the right speaks to the language of the whole.

This is the Mound Toilet. It creates a panoramic view of the mound that it sets on and the nature behind it. I am pretty sure the angles work out so that the person on the toilet cannot be seen. I especially like that when the door is left open you can begin to experience the view from other parts of the site. As you approach the view becomes more in focus and direct.

+ flickr set
Related Posts:
Rural Studio #1
Rural Studio #2
Rural Studio #3
Rural Studio #4
Rural Studio #5

Like the site?

Once again we are back with more on Rural Studio this time with a set of projects from Perry Lake Park walking bridge and tower. The bridge is made of cypress wood and covered with salvaged tin. It creates three triangular sections: the outer two sections support the central section which allows it to float above the creek below.

The steel cable connections accentuate the lightness and allow it to gently sway as you move across it.

The footpath is simple and hovers over the swamp land below.

and the tower:

This tower is exactly 100ft tall and is made from an old fire tower and re-galvanized for its new use.

+ flickr set
Related Posts:
Rural Studio #1
Rural Studio #2
Rural Studio #3
Rural Studio #4

Like the site?

Introducing one of Sweden’s first pre-fabricated passive homes, designed by Kjellgren Kaminsky Architecture. Clearly derived from traditional courtyard houses, Villa Atrium uses time-tested concepts to allow for lots of cross-ventilation and natural light.

Cross ventilation becomes possible because of the narrow band of space between exterior walls. Sunlight is also allowed in both sides, greatly reducing the need for artificial lighting during the day.

The exterior walls are thick, providing thermal mass for greater insulation and temperature lag. The atrium is kept small to reduce the inefficiency of the circle. In other words, walking from one side to the other is kept to a minimum distance. The flip side of this is that the atrium probably doesn’t get direct light for much of the day. During the summer this can be beneficial.

As an approach to passive design, there isn’t any new advancements here. But it is a novel design punctuated by the fact it is a donut. But the donut/courtyard concept has one major flaw that isn’t conducive to cold climates (Sweden is in one). That flaw is that it creates much more exterior wall which means during the winter there is more heat loss. It will also cost more money for insulation.

All in all, it’s an advancement to a growing trend - prefab homes. And I look forward to learning more about its development.

+ via: Dezeen