DD California Home

The DD Southern California Home was designed by Peggy Dupuis, interior designer, Dale Naegle, Architect and her husband, a civil engineer and international builder.

The property with an ocean view and with a north west orientation and setting sun proved to be the source of inspiration for the home. With two stories, the contemporary home offers an amazing view from each room. There is also an spectacular roof terrace, where on a clear day you can view the coastline of Mexico.


Inside, the decoration and its furnitures are refined, “using blackened white, grey, graphite, black, stainless steel along with the use of solid oak wood furnitures, entry door and parquet floor. One of the centrepieces of this house is the 7 meter curved wall with decorative sand base red paint” which adds warmth to the house.

Special thanks to Freshome for the above images.

Stylish Gothenburg Apartment

With a bright and comfortable style yet with simple interior design lines this Gothenburg apartment draws “inspiration from truly amazing sources”. The entrance features stylish anthracite tiled floors where there is also a sliding door wardrobe covered in mirrors. This acts as a way of greeting the guests to the apartment and making the space look larger.

To the right there is a spacious living room which also includes a dining room that can accommodate 6 to 8 people. The natural light from the glass wall spreads right across the living space and brightens up the apartments entertaining areas.

A glazed balcony, which is also accessible from the master bedroom, ensures that natural sunlight enters the apartment during the morning. A small wooden deck overlooks the street and is accessible from the living room through large sliding glass doors. The kitchen, which is fully equipped, opens to the private courtyard. The apartment also features two bathrooms.

Parquet Oak Flooring is used to bring consistency across the apartment. The flooring gives the entire apartment a sense of warmth throughout.

Special thanks to Freshome for the above images.

The East Windsor Residence

Alterstudio have designed this East Windsor Residence in Austin, Texas.

The extraordinary views “in the heart of the city and a small buildable footprint limited by restrictive easements prompted” the creation of this thin, three story home. The main living spaces and master suite are on the top floor, which is essentially a one bedroom loft with 270° views. “A 16’ ipe screen envelopes the body of the house, and rests delicately atop a base of long courses of black Leuders limestone”.

Visitors to the residence enter through a pivoting glass door, “where the natural stone gives way to its dressed counterpart, and is immediately greeted by a stair of massive ebonized oak treads floating above twin steel channels, and hanging in a three story vertical space. Beyond, an etched glass wall captures the projected shadows of a stand of giant bamboo, and a band of clear glass directs one’s gaze out to a private garden.”

“Punctuating the ipe facade are two steel box windows, their mirror like reflection or deep shadow are posed against the filligree of the screen. In the evening this screen transforms into a lantern revealing a collection of spaces behind. The screen also holds possibility of transforming the building when two 10’ sections dramatically unfold and reveal the formal dining room”.

The upstairs of the residence is designed to embrace the expansive view “with an unmitigated ceiling plane that provides a surface for reflected light, while the screens 18” extension above the floor level gently corrals the visitor. Adjacent power lines to the west are eschewed, although a constellation of portholes arrayed across this wall embrace the dramatic western light and enliven the facade from the high street beyond. Here, an open plan is accentuated by laminated low-e corner glazing, twin Akari lanterns and sliding panels. Exquisitely matched Lacewood veneer cabinetry and a marble bathing area punctuate the ensemble and add a sense of finesse and delicacy throughout.

Special thanks to Contemporist for the above images.

Swinley Forest Replanted

More than 85 acres of woodland in Berkshire which were destroyed by a forest fire have been replanted with the help of hundreds of volunteers.

The blaze, which took place in Swinley Forest, lasted for three weeks in May 2011 and damaged 100,000 trees, most of them pines.

The Forestry Commission has since spent six months clearing the area ready for 60,000 new trees to be planted. More fire retardant species such as oaks, aspens and alders are to be planted on the forest boundaries.

Many of the volunteers were evacuated from their homes as the flames spread through the area. These volunteers will create ponds to form natural barriers to try to reduce the risk of fires spreading.

Nick Hazlitt, who is a forester with the Forestry Commission, said they were also hoping to promote wildlife on the site, which is important for ground nesting birds, dragonflies and damselflies.

“My job is to try to design and establish a robust multi-purpose forest which will be sustainable in the long run,” he said.

“One which is economically sustainable with a continued supply of much needed sustainable timber and acts as a carbon sink but equally more robust in terms of fire, pests and diseases.”

“We’re also taking the opportunity to build in some more opportunities for habitat and wildlife.”

Last Friday up to 300 people were expected to start replanting in the most severely damaged area of Crowthorne Forest with species including sweet chestnuts, sequoia, Douglas firs and mountain pines.

A number of experts also came to help the volunteers, which will included members of the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service who brought the forest fire under control.

Pam Warhust, who is the Chairwoman of the Forestry Commission, said: “It’s just incredible to witness the passion and enthusiasm volunteers have for forests all over the country, especially in the case of Crowthorne.”

“There is an emotive connection and when people make that decision and commitment to volunteer, it is a great leveller and brings unexpected pleasure and joy in many different ways.”

Special thanks to Geograph.org.uk for the above image.

Iconic “Urban Retreat”

Architect Paul Rudolph, in the 1960’s, transformed this 19th century carriage house into a four story home which is located in Manhattan’s Upper East Side in New York city, USA.

According to Architectural Digest, the residence, “commissioned by a real-estate lawyer, was later sold to fashion designer Halston, who used the living room to host bacchanals for his famous friends.

Its most recent owner, the late German-born industrialist and photographer Gunter Sachs, replace the wall-to-wall carpeting with white-oak floors and added balustrades on the precarious mezzanine and catwalk.

The rudolph scheme otherwise remains intact”.

“We look at it as a piece of art,” said Noble Black, a broker at Corcoran Group, who is listing the house along with Bonnie Pfeiffer Evans and Carmen Marques Perez.

“There are no comps for a house like this”.

Special thanks to Home DSGN for the above images.

Koerner Hall

Kuwabara Payne Mckenna Blumberg Architects (KPMB) have designed this Koerner Hall in Toronto, Canada as a part of the Royal Conservatory of Music’s TELUS Centre for Performance and Leaning.

The design of this 1135-seat concert hall is based on the classic shoe-box shape of some of the world’s finest concert halls. It features two balcony tiers above the main orchestra level, and a third technical balcony. “Juxtaposed against the shoebox form of the hall, the wood balcony fronts and curing walls create a warm, sculpted ‘liner’ within the rectangular form. Sightlines and adjustable acoustics allow for a broad range of concert types including live televised broadcast”.

“The signature element is the ‘veil’ of undulating oak ‘strings’. The ‘veil’ form the backdrop for the chorus at the first balcony level, then hovers over the stage below the fixed acoustic canopy, extending into and over the hall at the technical balcony level. The strings act as part of the acoustic reflection when under the canopy, and then become acoustically transparent over the rest of the space”. The balcony fronts and seats, as well as the hall floors are all made from natural oak which contrasts against the “undulating black plaster panels that line the hall and resonate the dark stone that wraps the exterior of the Hall”.

Special thanks to Contemporist for the above images.

AR Design Studio Boathouse

The Winchester-based architectural firm AR Design Studio has designed the Boathouse Project. Originally completed in 2008, this contemporary week-end retreat is located in the Lower Mill Estate in the Costwolds. This area is a range of hills in the West Midlands of England, UK.

This “boathouse was conceived to serve as a tranquil retreat, the concept being that it should float over the lake.”

Consisting of a 4-legged steel frame structure, the Boathouse sits on concrete piles which are sunk into the lake.

Although the construction and appearance of the Boathouse is highly contemporary, it also manages to acknowledge its rural setting. This is achieved through the use of traditional materials such as neural oak and slate.

“The large expanse of sliding glass panels affords spectacular, uninterrupted views of the surroundings and the overhanging roof provides ample shade on a hot summer’s day”.

Special thanks to HomeDSGN for the above images.