All posts from CONTEMPORIST

Mecanoo Architects have designed the Villa Nefkens in Wageningen, The Netherlands.

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Description from Mecanoo Architects:

Villa Nefkens is beautifully situated in Wageningen where the border of the Veluwe and the Gelderse Vallei and the Rhine River meet one another. The Nefkens family found this extraordinary location on which to build their home, affording them magnificent views of the Rhine. The design for the Nefkins villa takes its inspiration from the beautiful views from the living room and main bedrooms and also from the spacious kitchen/lounge area toward the big garden. Large terraces elevate the house to just above grade, making the house appear as if it is floating. The villa’s transition from interior to exterior is gradual and a canopy surrounding the whole house provides beautifully framed views while allowing the outdoor spaces to be enjoyed in the summer and fall. The round forms of the villa express the wish of the family to stay close to nature while simultaneously realising an individual design.

Visit the Mecanoo Architects website – here.
Photography by Christian Richters
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Abie Abdillah, a young Indonesian designer, has sent us images of the Doeloe Lounge Chair and Pretzel Bench.

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Description of the Doeloe Lounge and Pretzel Bench from Abie Abdillah:

Living in a city that’s already crowded and hectic, makes me often suprised seeing new buildings, apartments, and malls were still built rapidly these days in Jakarta. This condition makes me wonder how it felt to live in Jakarta in the 1970′s, when there are still many green places spread along the city.
From an eager to live on a time that I never felt, I want to create a furniture that took a piece of shape that could resemble that time. And this is why “doeloe lounge chair” was created.
Doeloe (read: dulu) means a time that has passed. Inspired by a design of “Oplet” (modified from Morris or Austin van designs), public transportation vehicles that used in Jakarta on 1930′s to 1979. Using rattan materials, which are consider as a classic material, “doeloe” was mean’t to represent my feelings to live on a time that I wish I could had.
Rattan is a unique material that mainly came from South East Asia, especially from Indonesia which was claimed 70% of worldwide needs for rattan materials are from the country own resources. Why does rattan unique? Rattan as a plant could grow more than 100 meters long and have 400 various kind of species which about only 8% of them are already explored  and used as raw material for human needs products.
The other uniqueness of Rattan are the characteristics  of the material itself, which are strong, and able to be bend. But yet, it was tricky to create a piece of furniture from rattan materials, since the stretchy characters make them need to have various braces support to keep the furniture strong and  steady.
And to create a piece of furniture from modular shapes that came from continuous lines of rattan materials, is my attention when create the “Pretzel Bench”. The pretzel shape was taken because it had a continuous line shapes and looped as a rope tie. “Pretzel Bench” was meant to show the most unique of rattan material characteristics, which is the “stretchy and able to be bend” character.

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Australian designer David Pidcock has sent us images of the Percy Lamp.

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Description from David Pidcock:

Launched at Workshopped 10, Percy is a simple task light design by Sydney based designer/maker David Pidcock.
Percy evolved out of an exercise in stripping the task light object back to all but its most essential elements. The aesthetic is strongly inspired by natural forms and structures, particularly the buttress root system of the Moreton Bay Fig Tree which is referenced in the organically splayed lamp base.
The three dimensionally curved head and base are hand-raised from sheet aluminium. Through working closely with Canberra based Gold & Silversmith, Alison Jackson these components were developed to allow consistent production using traditional panel beating techniques.
A moulded polyurethane carrier supports the lens and articulating joint between the head and base. Percy lamp is powered by a highly efficient 1-watt Cree LED light source. The aluminium head functions as an integral heat sink, allowing the LED to run at optimal temperature by dissipating the generated heat over a large surface area.
100% recyclable aluminium construction, adhesive-free assembly. Available in raw or anodized finish.

Visit David Pidcock’s website – here.
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Space International have completed the Deronda residence in Los Angeles, California.

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Description from Space International:

This custom residence lies near the apex of Beachwood Canyon, in the Hollywood Hills just under the shadow of the Hollywood sign. Utilizing the existing footprint of a previous home, this new residence is comprised of two main rectangular volumes which are shifted off-axis from each another to accentuate the difference in program which lies within. The more public “living” areas of the house are situated on the ridge of the site, so as to take advantage of flanking outdoor spaces which are designed as extensions of the living dining, and kitchen areas. Large expanses of sliding glass panels connect these spaces to the adjacent terraces and views beyond, inverting the interiority into an open, covered outdoor room.
The more private sleeping and bathing areas are situated in an enclosed cantilevered bar, which hovers over the hillside and is nestled amidst the tall pine trees located at the perimeter of the property. A white plaster shell demarcates the spatial hierarchy of the house, operating as a supporting floorplate for the private volume, then folding upward to serve as clerestory roof plane over the more public spaces. This undulating skin enhances and mitigates the varying degrees of enclosure and exposure to the picturesque surroundings and skyline views which encircle the property.

Visit the Space International website – here.
Images © Steve King Photography
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Montreal-based Saia Barbarese Topouzanov Architects designed the Canadian Pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, China.

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The Canadian Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010
The will to develop cities that are at the same time inclusive, creative and sustainable is above all the quest for an ideal, an immense societal project that must be ceaselessly nourished and renewed through the efforts of the greater Canadian community nationwide. It is this large-scale and, at the same time, thoroughly human project that seemed to represent for us the fundamental element of our identity, the centre around which the architectural concept and experience of the pavilion should gravitate.
The pavilion’s architecture layers and weaves together a series of intertwined metaphors at different scales. The first represents the country, and serves as site for the second, that of the city, which in turn encompasses that of the town square.
The architectural parti distinguishes two closely related entities:
The building as a looped ribbon
The interior court as a circumscribed public square
The building
Mimicking the territorial disposition of cities described above, the long, bar (ribbon) of the building supplely coils between the slender ends of the allotted terrain’s perimeter. In this way, it supports the idea of a loop that unifies in spite of distances. It projects the image of a country that embraces that which it holds most dear: its population. The continuous path between entrance and exit suits the program of public performances, creating a platform upon which a series of events may unfold. Their starting point will be in the interior court left free at the centre of the pavilion that encompasses it.
The Interior court, public square or urban room, it is the place where urban life crystallizes and is renewed.
Symbolized by the physical form it adopts and the characteristics that emanate from it, the court evokes the true nature of city.
First, it is porous
At times resting on the ground, at others hovering, rising, lifting, and straightening, the ribbon building creates passages equivalent to roads, lanes and alleys that invite visitors to make their way into the central square. On the west side, one of the covered passages slips under the raised slopes of the structure. It straddles a pool of water of engaging coolness. On the side of America Square, the entrance, open to the sky, is manifest by a large notch in the building which is adjacent to the welcoming protection of two raised extremities offset from one another. These varied access points render the pavilion permeable to the curiosity of the visitor who is drawn towards this place, through a glimpse, intriguing by its atmosphere and activities.
Second, it is inclusive
The walls that circumscribe the square define its nature. These vertical surfaces, at times covered with greenery, at times with a reflective material, maintain the sense of a protective, enveloping enclosure as they palpably extend the space towards other possible places, like getaways to the sky or boundless landscapes of a vast country. In addition, these walls frame the court and hold the power to draw attention toward the nerve-centre which they create. This place, like a town square, depicts city living, and mirrors this aspect by favouring encounters, exchanges, and interactive participation. Creativity can be released to provoke a spontaneous event in an artistic and fun manner.
THE SYSTEM OF CONSTRUCTION TAKES SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INTO ACCOUNT
A first shell
The shell constitutes the interior face of the building. Minimal in its construction, without decoration, it lays low and holds only a functional, supportive role to the spectacles that it houses, those that constitute its vibrant heart.
A second envelope
Distinct from the first, it covers the latter with a space between the two. This double wall, itself an insulating coat, reduces the energy expenditures for air conditioning.
Exterior peripheral wall
Multiple facets placed randomly sculpt the facades like crystals under the light of atmospheric, luminescent phenomena. It uses a series of flat-surfaced fans striated only by fine grooves. Wood, the Canadian material of preference – natural, renewable and recoverable – offers an infinite variety of effects depending on the hour of the day or the quality of light.
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Visit the website of Saia Barbarese Topouzanov Architects – here.
Photography by Patrick Alleyn
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Dutch architects BogermanDill have transformed a former printing office in Amsterdam into a home they’ve named House Pinck-Heerkens.

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Description from the architects:

House Pinck-Heerkens, a former press office, lies on the Prinsengracht – one of Amsterdam’s most coveted streets. Architects BogermanDill renovated the former industrial space to form a family residence, while preserving a number of original features such as wooden floors, low ceilings and I-beams.
To connect the space’s four floors and unify the main living areas, BogemanDill created a large void in the centre of the house. The first and second stories are interconnected by a wooden staircase without a balustrade, and a floating staircase leads up to the third floor; both are in keeping with the open-plan feel of the space.
Because the void cuts through the top floor of the house, its two rooms are joined by a floating bridge made from steel I-beams. Overall, the original features such as the visible brick work and steel caged windows contribute to an atmosphere somewhat reminiscent of a New York loft.

Visit the BogermanDill website – here.
Photography by Wil van Iersel
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Garett Carlson, a landscape architect in Southern California, has designed the Joshua Tree Boulder House located on 2.5 acres in Joshua Tree, California.

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Description of the Joshua Tree Boulder House by Garett Carlson

The Joshua Tree Boulder House proves imagination is still alive and well. Every inch of this 1700 square foot, 2-bed / 2-bath home is intentional, and every design element is deliberate. This magical creation sits on 2.5 acres in Joshua Tree, California.
The house is the brainchild of W. Garett Carlson, ASLA, a licensed landscape architect for more than 30 years (www.wgarettcarlson.com).  His landscape designs grace Hollywood’s recently remodelled Sunset Marquis Hotel, as well as the gardens of celebrities such as Jack Nicholson, Goldie Hawn, Johnny Depp, Blake Edwards, and more.
Having studied architecture as well as landscape architecture, designing a house has been a long-held ambition for Garett Carlson.  His concept for the Boulder House came from ‘imagining what the house would look like if it emerged from the ground.’  The house is at one with the land in such a way that it is almost invisible as you approach it.
With Joshua Tree National Park on the doorstep, inspiration for the Boulder House is obvious. “Joshua Tree has some of the most fascinating boulder shapes anywhere in the world,” explains Carlson.  Painstakingly built formations of faux boulders appear to rise from the desert floor embracing and sheltering the west side of the house, and providing welcome shade from the late day heat.
The house was built with sustainability in mind, using an intriguing palette of metal, wood, concrete and glass to create a peaceful modern living space where traditional boundaries are dismissed.  Ten-foot high, custom-made floor-to-ceiling pocket glass doors open to create a 40 feet wide expanse that connects the living area to the landscape.  A fire pit to one side of the patio, and a water feature on the other side are both set within boulders to further enhance the experience.  This is indoor/outdoor living at its best.

Visit Garett Carlson’s website – here.
The house is currently for sale for $975,000, visit the website here for more info.
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i29 Interior Architects have completed a very compact apartment interior in Amsterdam.

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Description from i29 Interior Architects:

This small apartment in Amsterdam, NL (45 m2) is completely renovated because of foundation repair. In it’s new layout all the functions of the house are placed in two wall units. Entrance hall, wardrobe and kitchen equipment are hidden behind a pinewood wall. On the opposite a second wooden wall of the same material is placed. This wall integrated a bench, fireplace and storage. Floor, ceiling and walls are all white. A custom designed table and bench, together with the fireplace are anthracite gray. The simplicity of the design and choice of materials give this apartment lots of space within the limited area.

Visit the website of i29 Interior Architects – here.
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Stephen Lindsay of the Canadian design studio UrbanProduct has sent us photos of their Dune Wall Treatments. The tiles are made from local materials in either concrete, wood, or ceramic.

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More info from UrbanProduct:
Each tile measures 8″ square and rise 1″.7/8ths from the applied surface.
Weights…
Wooden – 0.47 kilo
Gypsum – 0.93 kilo
Concrete – 0.96 kilo
We produce these tiles in limited batch runs and can offer a wide range of finishes and textures in each material. Painted, flocked and luminore technology are just a few examples we have provided for past clients. As every batch is different our cost varies but tiles range from between $18 to $30 per square foot.

Visit the UrbanProduct website – here.
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Studio H:T have designed the Fractured residence in Boulder, Colorado.

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Description from Studio H:T
The project creates spatial experience from the fracture implied by splayed property lines. The resulting volumetric fissure of the building mass organizes the horizontal circulation and creates the space of the stair cavern. The fracture also serves as a connector between the two entries of the long narrow dwelling, thus remediating the challenging circulation issues of building from street to street with a sectional shift of almost 40′. The unique spatial experience is punctuated by, and allows for, highly varied apprehension of form, light, and shadow.

Visit the Studio H:T website – here.
Photography by Raul Garcia
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American designer Kyle Buckner has made a lounge chair from 152 layers of pine wood, which has been carved and finished with a red mahogany stain and cushioned leather upholstery pads.

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Visit Kyle Buckner’s website – here.
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Inon Rettig, a young designer from Israel, has created the Rik collection of stools and lamps that combine wood and plastic in such a way that one confines the other with in it.

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Description from Inon Rettig:

I chose to design and produce a series of stools and light fixtures that combine wood and plastic in such a way that one “confines” the other with in it, giving it form and structure.
I worked with the well-known and old fashioned plastic industry technology known as vacuum forming (the processing of plastic bolts through heating and stretching on a tray using vacuum). This is a technology that began with a design orientation but quickly became reduced to a secondary element that is considered inferior within the industry.
As with every technology, vacuum forming has its unique advantages and disadvantages. One of the primary disadvantages of this technology is the creation of “bridges” or “webbing”: in places where the raw material does not reach the tray’ it sticks to itself to create sort of plastic walls alongside the tray.
The idea of this project is to take that same unintentional disadvantage and to turn it into an intentional advantage. Within these limitations, I created an aesthetic that uses the element of chance as a formal language and, moreover, structurally reinforces the object.

You can watch a YouTube video of Inon vacuum forming a stool – here.

Visit Inon Rettig’s website – here.
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