One of these days I’d like to visit Sweden, and when I do I’m staying at the Treehotel.
Captured here by Mauro Puccini, the hotel has six rooms accessible through wooden ladders and ropes, and each features a unique name like the Blue Cone, UFO, Bird’s Nest, and their most famous room, the Mirrorcube.
Check out more beautiful images of the hotel here. Also see previous post on Linda Aldredge’s home for more treehouse goodness.
Something about this home brings up a random memory that I can’t define. Growing up I was never around homes like this, but the surrounding woods look all too familiar. If I was to pick my favorite part about this house I would have to say it would be the use of the dark vertical siding for its color palette. The palette is a well-thought natural reflection of the surrounding trees.
Located in Snohomish, Washington
Architect: David Vandervort Architects
Via Wanken / Contemporist
As a kid I grew up preferring objects that were round. Maybe it was because they seemed friendlier or maybe it even had to do with safety or maybe it was because I didn’t know any better. Regardless, I’ve come across David Jameson’s great portfolio that showcases a lot of rectangular form. Sure the same could be said for a lot of architecture but he does it very well.
This house in particular is designed with several sets of rectangular forms nested within one another. At the core of the house is a suspended meditation/lounge chamber. Although I’m not sure the exact intent of use for the chamber, I could imagine setting it up as my workspace. I wonder how the acoustics are in there…
Via Wanken
When Dieter Ram’s was 28 he designed the 606 Universal Shelving System aka the 60’s 606. Today Vitsoe a furniture design company that has a shop in Manhattan is celebrating this remarkable shelving by hosting Dieter at their shop today. If you get a chance please stop there is a special treat in which the front half of the shop is set up entirely with vintage systems from the 60’s, on loan from Dietrich Lubs(Dieter Rams colleague) himself.
Vitsœ
33 Bond Street
New York NY 10012
Tel +1 917 675 6990
Image Above: Dieter Rams’s first sketch including a shelving system, 1955
For my first post I wanted to share these striking retro-future-ish memorial sculptures shot by Jan Kempenaers in the former Yugoslavia region. Very reminiscent of the Expo ’67 stuff.
These structures were commissioned by former Yugoslavian president Josip Broz Tito in the 1960s and 70s to commemorate sites where WWII battles took place (like Tjentište, Kozara and Kadinjača), or where concentration camps stood (like Jasenovac and Niš). They were designed by different sculptors (Dušan Džamonja, Vojin Bakić, Miodrag Živković, Jordan and Iskra Grabul, to name a few) and architects (Bogdan Bogdanović, Gradimir Medaković…), conveying powerful visual impact to show the confidence and strength of the Socialist Republic.
More info and images here and at Kempenaers’ site.
Designed by John Maniscalco Architecture and resting on the hillside of San Francisco’s Cole Valley, this residence is a revitalization of a 1930’s home into a more relaxing, modern masterpiece. It sits at the end of a cul-de-sac where the first thing you see while approaching is an exceptional use of planked wood siding and black steel.
Via Wanken
This modern “weekend house” — designed by MVMArchitekt — sits in the Eifel countryside in Germany. All of those shingles (siding and roof) are apparently aluminum, I’d imagine this place will be a round a while.
More over at Stylepark
These drawings are by architectural draftsman Hugh Ferriss . His work is really incredible and demonstrates a fantastic imagination (not to mention patience). I prefer the style of the lighter, more detailed images, but I enjoyed the story behind the last few charcoal renderings. They are from The Metropolis of Tomorrow, where Ferriss imagined what a future megacity might look like. Delineator of Gotham indeed.
I recommend looking through this epic Flickr set to see more of his work.
This is about as good as it gets for me. This incredible structure is located in Gudbrandsjuvet, Norway and was designed by Jensen & Skodvin Architects. Luckily for us it’s a hotel and not a private residence, so there’s actually some outside chance you might be able to bask in it’s modern interior glory.
Via Wanken Blog
Las Vegas Studio: Images from the Archives of Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, published by Scheidegger & Spiess, is a collection of images from architects Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour’s field research in Las Vegas during the early 1970’s. The research was for their own book, the classic Learning from Las Vegas, which explored postmodernism in architecture and urban planning, using Las Vegas as an example.
Beautiful photography and an even better layout; amazing stuff. Stylepark has a great review of the book with some nice shots.
Images via Stylepark