Architect Bill Peterson and his partner developer Carol Swedlow are cool. How do I know. Check out this place. This has to be the coolest use of a garage door I’ve seen in a very long time. The designers here have use the same mechanism to open up walls in this totally renovated Manhattan brownstone. Nice one. Via New York Magazine.
We stayed on Deer Isle, off the coast of Maine, for a sunny week. The island is dotted with beautiful homes but it was Haystack, an art and crafts school, that really caught my eye. It was the only contemporary building I came across. The campus, which sits amongst pines on a sloping 40-acre property in the town of Sunshine was designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes in 1960. A central stair functions as the spine with studios and accommodation branching left and right in a series of seperate structures. Barnes managed to take the cedar shingle that is so common on the island and make it modern by completely cladding every building in silvery scales. The roof line is flat, the edges crisp and the cedar has weathered to a lovely grey. As soon as I figure out how to get the pics of my Iphone I will post more images of this place!
We’re going to the US premiere of Billy Bragg’s libretto on August 29. Yes, he has rewritten the choral version of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. It’s happening at the new-ish Broad Stage in Santa Monica. The building looks very cool and is designed by Italian architect Renzo Zecchetto. Supposedly the acoustics are superb. I’m fascinated to hear Bragg and Beethoven. Such an unlikely pairing. It’s a benefit concert with proceeds going to Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice. There are still tickets available…
Architect Brian Zulaikha and his partner, artist Janet Laurence live in this house on the water in Sydney. Zulaikha built the house with Drew Heath – a rare breed of architect who is also a truly innovative builder. There’s a great weight to those downstairs rooms and then a wonderful airiness upstairs as the house opens to the view and water.
Great house right up in the leafy green. It is home to architect Ellen Cassilly and Frank Konhaus in Durham, NC. Via New York Times.
Hometta is taking the prefab model and giving it a tweak. I met one of the designers at the Dwell conference last week and was impressed with what they had to offer. They’ve taken really interesting designs from mostly American architects and made them readily available. The idea is you buy the design and then you hire local contractors to build it. Hometta is there to guide you and they can customise the building but the hard design work has been completed. They have only just launched but I really hope they do well. Below is an image of a Hometta plan by the LA based Borden Partnership. Above is the Seed’Em House by Mike Jacobs Architecture.
A quickie before I take the kids to the beach today…Tom Marble’s Casa Cuadrada was a wonderful addition to Dwell’s eastside house tour. What a warm and inviting home that wraps around a courtyard full of gingkoes.
OK, now that I am 40 I am ready to commit…to a house. We’re renting and I’d really like to buy. Something like this weekender by Dasic Architects would do me fine. I can’t see us making this jump anytime soon. But I can still dream.
Australian architect Scott Weston (below) is the guy you go to if you want your home full of style, colour and wit. He’s the Australian answer to Jonathan Adler (except Weston has a degree in architecture). His designs are never safe and never boring. I first came across his interior work at Terry Schwamberg-Kaljo’s Medusa hotel. I still lust after those custom-made circular balustrades (above). Design to Inspire just posted Weston’s latest residential work. Snaps taken before the apartment is completed still look amazing. I’m looking forward to seeing the whole thing.
I’ve long admired Australian architect Sharon Fraser. I published her first renovation in Domain years and years ago. Now she’s done a new house in Federal – the lush green countryside behind Byron Bay. It’s an extraordinary house – not particularly Australian. Although there is that ubiquitous inside/outside quality. This building feels more international to me. Have a look at it in full on Fraser’s webiste…or Yatzer (where I found it). It’s also in InsideOut this month. The photographs are by the wonderful Richard Powers. We published many of Powers’ shoots in Belle.
