You may have thoughts tennis balls were just for tennis - but creative Dutch designer Tejo Remy has found a another use for the bright yellow bouncy felt-and-rubber balls. The same material qualities that make tennis balls bright, bouncy and easy-to-spot make for seating that is comfortable, sturdy, and extremely eye-catching. While many museum goers observe works of art perched upon the usual wooden bench, visitors at Rotterdam’s Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen are able to sit and stare in style on these colorful and clever tennis ball benches designed by Tejo Remy and Rene VeenHuizen.
12.7.07
PREFAB FRIDAY: WIRED Living Home
Preparing for its big debut in Los Angeles this fall, the WIRED Living Home is making quite a splash. We’ve written about Steve Glenn’s Living Homes prefab company before, and touted the houses’ green design innovations by renown architect Ray Kappe, but this recent collaboration with WIRED Magazine is taking prefab to a new and “high tech, low impact” level. The WIRED Living Home will combine all the green elements we love, from the reuse of building materials and a LEED® Gold rating to passive heating and cooling and solar power. Combine all that with some cutting-edge technologies, like automated theatre, temperature, and lighting, and you’ve got yourself a 4,000 square foot masterpiece of green design.
CUMULUS LIGHT CANOPY By Steven Haulenbeek
Using everyday objects as design inspiration is nothing new, but rarely do we see it executed in such a poetic and gorgeous way as Steven Haulenbeek’s Cumulus Light Canopy made from simple white photographers’ translucent “shoot-through” umbrellas. The umbrellas, which can be arranged in various configurations and numbers, making the system fully scalable, creates a cloudlike form (hence the name ‘Cumulus’) while making the umbrella a playful light fixture rather than a shield from the dreary rain.
Yonoh Estudio Creativo
I received an email from this young Spanish design firm, notifying me of their updated website. The two designers Alex Selma and Clara del Portillo have a great design sense in their multi-disciplinary firm, utilizing their skills in graphic, industrial, furniture, and interior design. I especially like Yonoh's use of simple shapes to create a unique form, such as with the origami table. Check them out!
Mailboxes on the Brain
Ever since Karen mentioned the great modern mailboxes she saw, I've had mailboxes on the brain. Its really difficult to find a good modern design and in my opinion, even more difficult to find ones that are modern, but not metal! Wouldn't this be a great place to use some sort of innovative material?!?! Something that would be great in small doses, but perhaps not as good on a large scale would be perfect for a mailbox.
As a sidenote... please pardon the poor image editing, as I mentioned before, I don't have consistent internet access and this particular computer doesn't have image editing software!
I actually bought this mailbox for my parents last Christmas... so although I like it, I don't think I could have it for our house.
Fabulous Folding Facade
A friend sent me a link to this project by BEHF Architeckten... Even thought I'm not generally a fan of mirrored glass, you've got to love the folding element of this project. An interesting element, is that I don't think that the glass is actually mirrored, but the dark sky background helps to create a mirror when the curtains are open at night. The architect's objective was to create an atmosphere full of energy and drama and they've obviously succeeded! As usual, I love the interplay between the older existing facades, and the new technical one. Still, I'd be interested in checking out the restaurant front when all of the glass curtains (a new take on a glass curtain wall, for sure!) are closed. I wonder if the glass wall allows you to peek into the restaurant, or if it acts as a mirror reflecting the city street. If you're in Vienna, be sure to check out Fabios Restaurant and let me know what you think!
Looking for Something Good to Read
Now that we are settled into our new house and I'm done with my exams, I've finally got time to catch up with my reading. I recently stumbled on The Sequipedalist, which is a fantastic blog offering insightful reviews on a wide variety of architectural publications. Its a great site that not only provides intriguing commentary, but also gives basic information regarding cost and length of the books. I've already added several to my reading list based on these reviews!
Interior Weeds
We fight them in our gardens and in the cracks of our sidewalks, but there's something delicate and beautiful about these cultivated weeds.
No word on whether the Interior Weeds planter will be available for sale.
Via Josh Spear.
Nevermind the Pits
We don't grow a lot of cherries in Texas. To my knowledge, we don't grow any. It's just too hot. Luckily, they still find their way to our tables via the local grocery store. And this year they are spectacular.
Every time I eat cherries, I can't help but think of the scene from The Witches of Eastwick. I won't get into the details. It's just too early. But those pits can be avoided all together if you use this cherry pitter from Oxo. It takes out those stones in one swift swoop.
Via The Kitchen.
Delapitated Flow
Matthias Pliessnig’s most recent chairs are the Delapitated Flow of steam bent oak and the Point Network of steam bent ash and oak. Both seats, which curve beautifully, can be used as loungers to stretch out and relax in or as benches. Pliessnig’s work as a sculptor comes through in the execution of the fluidity of the forms of these graceful seats, as well as his work in boat building.
New Woodgrain Plynyl
Invented by designer Sandy Chilewich and architect Joe Sultan, Plynyl is a woven, vinyl fabric bonded to a soft polyurethane cushion. Currently available in several weave styles, the new Woodgrain will be available in July. Woven to create the look of natural hard wood, this durable material can be used for floors, upholstery and wall coverings. Visit their website for a list of regional an online retailers.
Pinch
Pinch is the award-winning, husband and wife team of Russell Pinch and Oona Bannon. They have recently launched their Armoire collection, the first line of furnishings where they design, manufacture and distribute directly. The armoires are available in any color you choose, and the solid cherry interiors are created to offer unlimited flexibility.
The Mimetic House, Dromahair, Ireland
Every architect (well, almost) wants his design to be part, as much as possible, or feasible, with the environment, particularly if the edifice to be designed and built lies in the middle of a natural habitat, outside rural and industrial areas. Dominic Stevens has done just that: He incorporates the building so much into the environment, that you blink and miss it. This is the Mimetic House.
Dominic Stevens is not your usual architect. He does no more than one or two projects per year, he is a farmer (breeding goats, chicken and geese and produces cheese) and also does not think twice about doing carpentry work on-site during building phase of his projects. It goes without saying then that his buildings will not be your run-of-the-mill modern towers of self promotion. The Mimetic House is build in the village of Dromahair in County Leitrim in Ireland. the owners, Grace Weir and Jo Walzer are both conceptual artists-no surprise! The site is a lush green plateau (after all, this is Ireland), with a small valley that the house is placed on top of.
The cladding material is sheets of glass, alternating with reflective panels. Along with the grass roof, it manages to imitate the surrounding countryside: in broad daylight it is hardly discernible from the nearby bushes and blades of grass. Only during the night, it becomes most visible, when the lights come on.
The entrance is not very visible either. Dominic Stevens has cut into the slope below to make it out of the hillside. All bedrooms, bathroom and cloakroom are dug out of the earth-so you have to enter through the ground, to rise above into nature and light, into the white interiors of the living room-with an inclination outwards, it is a space outside our classic living room notion. The inclination of the walls means that the ground, not the sky, is reflected. The use of recycled materials is ubiquitous: the retaining wall is made of car tyres.
The house is thus made part of the landscape, reflecting it and changing with it, season after season. It won an AAI (Architectural Association of Ireland) award this year for architectural excellence. It was designed and built as part of research undertaken under the auspices of the Arts Council / Office of Public Works Kevin Kieran Award 2005-07. It is also consistent with Stevens’ own thesis to make architecture affordable to all – a house built for the same cost as a typical one-off Irish bungalow.
Fiat 500: "Possibly the Best Small Car on the Planet"
We motor on about how it shouldn't be too hard to squeeze more efficiency of American cars, and that the Europeans and the Japanese are doing it already. Here is another example: the Fiat 500 or Cinquecento. Eric Reguly of the Globe and Mail rocketed around Torino at 100 MPH and says "Fiat has created a marvellous car, perhaps the best small car on the planet. It's a compelling combination of value, style, safety, performance and parkability, though reliability is unknown. (the joke used to be that FIAT was short for "Fix it again, Tony) He continues: "I know this car would obliterate machines like the (smaller) Mercedes Smart and the (larger) Toyota Yaris in the Canadian and Ame...
Point/Counterpoint: Is Corian TreeHugger Green?
The first of a new series where we try to look at both sides of an issue.
Collin recently asked this question and concluded "it hasn't earned a TreeHugger thumbs up." Corian is a proprietary product invented by Dupont, and in an era where specifiers and users demand transparency, their "environmental case for Corian" is a study in mushiness and meaninglessness; the stuff could be made of compressed baby seals for all one can tell from their website. On the basis of their vague statements of green-ness one could only come to the sam...
Trippin' the Green Fantastic: Looking for Green Inventors!
Biodiesel homebrewers, hyper-recyclers and solar gadgeteers: take note! "Trippin' the Green Fantastic" is a new (not yet broadcasting) show on The Science Channel that is seeking out and spotlighting grassroots green inventors -- everyday folks who have taken it upon themselves to create their own ingenious solutions to environmental conundrums. Hosted by a couple of everyday guys who are passionate about being green, each episode will start with a trip aboard "Lady," a straight veggie oil-fueled SUV and trek across America on an awesome road trip adventure to find the homespun green gold: those far out, homemade eco-invention...
Flat Pack Magic: Emergency Stool 5 by d e s furniture
Designed by d.e. Sellers (remember him?) to "transcend function and question furniture as object, art, or image", the Emergency Stool is a clever, laser-cut piece that packs flat (for easy shipping, and it'll slide right under a really big door upon delivery) into a single, mobile sheet of plywood (that would make a pretty interesting wall-hanging) but comes apart to create a handy bench. The laser-etched, international instructions (see 'em on the big piece in the middle) make it a "snap" to put together, as it requires no tools or fasteners. Hit the jump to see it put t...
Green Basics: Biodiesel
Ed. note: This is the first post in a series TreeHugger is writing to provide basic information about important ideas, materials and technologies for new greenies (or those who just need a quick refresher). Read on and stay tuned!
Usually derived from vegetable oils -- soy is very popular these days, but animal fats can also be used -- biodiesel is made through a chemical process called transesterification which essentially splits the oil into two parts: alkyl esters and glycerine; the esters are the fuel, while the leftover glycerine is often used to make soap and other beauty products. Both virgin and waste oil (often collected from restaurants) can be used in ...
Greenfield Residence
As promised, the good folks at Minarc-Architects have passed along photos of the Greenfield residence which was part of the Sunday CA Boom 4 home tour.
Be sure to read Nico's full report, and enjoy this exclusive Greenfield Residence featuring the amazing Greenfield residence.
Firm: Minarc-Architects
Photo Gallery: Greenfield Residence (L+L)
Reference: Kaboom 4 - Judgment Day, The Closing Chapter
Writing Desk
The Writing Desk is available in several different wood types including alder, beech, maple, and walnut.
Link: Team7
Blogged with Flock
SPOT Collection
Canadian graphic design studio Valerydesignwrks was recently added to the Spot Collection of decorative mural adhesives by ADzif.
The character driven studio has also announced that twice a month, they will be posting a brand new wallpaper featuring new designs and characters "to help give your desktop a fresh and exciting look".
Link: valerydesignwrks
Link: ADzif
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