The NA House in Tokyo barely has any walls and looks like scaffolding! Sou Fujimoto Architects recently completed this single family dwelling within a residential district in Tokyo, Japan. Similar in form to a stacked pile of boxes the internal areas generated by the exterior appearance are set at different elevations. The small rooms within each platform are connected by ladder stairs allowing a free movement through the home’s loosely defined program.

Source: Architizer Read more …

Nestled atop Cortez Hill stands the historic ‘El Cortez’, San Diego’s leading landmark since its grand opening in 1927. From its opening through the 1950s, it was the most glamorous apartment-hotel in San Diego, hosting multiple U.S. Presidents such as Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Gerald Ford, as well as entertainers like Bing Crosby and Elvis Presley. Today, the historically significant ‘El Cortez’ combines a contemporary high-rise lifestyle with the lure and attraction of old world charm.

While the building’s exterior is Spanish Renaissance style, owner Sasha Favelukis of Sequoian Investment Inc. considered modern Australian design team Pauly De Bartolo and Ivan Rimanic of De Bartolo + Rimanic Design Studio (DBRDS) a natural choice for the remodel of his 600 square foot condominium. To maximize space in the 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom small home, an ‘Australian-inspired’ custom kitchen was designed to provide additional depth of storage as well as a linear bench which runs the length of the kitchen, dining and living area to maximize storage and provide window seating.

The kitchen is clad in white oak to impart a textural balance between the dark wood floors and the white walls and features. A white modern interior allows the space to evolve from bright and clean during the day to evocative and golden in the evening, capturing the dynamic view of the San Diego skyline at night.

To reflect upon the history of the space in an otherwise modern interior, a wall featuring period-style moulding and a soft grey color was designed for the bedroom.  All of the design elements were hand selected to provide a cohesive, relaxing and unique feel for this modern living space. The only original elements are the bathtub and bathroom floor. To make his design vision a reality, De Bartolo reached out to the team at Hold It Contemporary Home to supply all of the furniture, artwork and accessories.

Through minor, non-load bearing interior modifications to the converted hotel rooms, DBRDS transformed the feel of the condominium into an open floor plan, allowing for flowing space and more natural light. The General Contractor on the project was Alan Loghman of Pacific Design & Construction. Read more …

MAD Architects just unveiled the China Wood Sculpture Museum in Harbin, northern China. The long, polished steel building twists and curves while bringing a bit of nature and abstraction to the urban setting. Skylights on the top draw natural light into the halls, while a thick shell minimizes energy losses. Featuring wood sculptures and paintings from the region, the China Wood Sculpture Museum is a break from the city.

Source: Inhabitat

Industrial designer Tobias Tøstesen transcends the inherent playfulness of standard LEGO elements to explore their infinite potential as a module for lighting. The floor-to-ceiling chandelier uses the transparent bricks to offer a glance through the colorless lighting installation, preferring to use the curved form to capture the changing glow of the day, from distinctive cool chroma to exclusive hot hues.

Source: Designboom

Is it a radiator, or is it artwork? These cool modern radiators by Caleido are both! The elongated rectangular shape is easy to incorporate among your existing artwork, or let it steal the spotlight and feature it as an art piece all on its own. These cool radiators are by Karim Rashid, who stayed true to his signature funky style. These new radiators made their debut at Salone Internazionale del Mobile 2010.

Source: Trendir

The urban metamorphosis of Marseille is progressing during a capital year: in 2013, Marseille is the European Capital of Culture. Combining offices, cultural facilities and housing, the new Euroméditerranée district is a showcase for the regeneration of Marseille. The H99 tower is part of this program.

With its 99,9 meters height, as suggested by its name, this skyscraper was designed by Jean-Baptiste Pietri, a renowned architect, and will be the first residential skyscraper built in France since the 1970s. Consisting of three modules set one upon the other (City View, Sea View and Sky View), it will stand facing the sea and contain 149 apartments, all enjoying the view.

Source: Contemporist

Shaped like ripples in water, the vases by Japanese oodesign allows users to place flowers into a PET formed resin void – floating nonchalantly on the water. According to the movement of the air, the plants change their position within the container.

Source: Designboom

A McDonald’s restaurant and a petrol station are concealed within this faceted glass shell in Georgia, designed by architect Giorgi Khmaladze. The structure, located in the coastal town of Batumi, features an elongated shape that cantilevers on one side to create the canopy for the petrol station. Glass lines the perimeter of the dining area and a terrace wraps around the outside. Rather than a view down onto the petrol station and road, diners are faced with the sloping topside of the canopy, which the architect has covered with beds of shrubbery.

Source: Dezeen

Silo 468, the official project of WDC Helsinki, stands by the blustery sea, besieged by notoriously prevailing winds. The silo’s twinkling surface—punctured with 2,012 holes—is lit up from 1280 LED domes placed within the structure’s deep-red interior, which symbolizes the object’s former use as a container of energy. The architects have fitted 450 steel mirrors that move with the wind behind the holes, and when the sun shines the walls “glimmer and sparkle like the surface of water,” says LDC in its project statement. The constantly shifting light patterns read “as halos racing across the walls.”

Combining their respective expertise in things that rock and things that roll, Argentine luthier Ezequiel Galasso and professional skateboarder Gianfranco de Gennaro Gilmour hatched an idea to breathe new life into retired skateboard decks by­­ transforming them into one­-of-­a-­kind electric guitars.

Source: Inhabitat