Daniel

The Rosenberry Residence located on a large wooded lot near Sutton in the Eastern Townships region, Canada, is conceived as a bi-generational family retreat. The owners, a finance professional now based in Asia and his parents still living in Montreal, come here to relax during summer and winter.

According to the project description provided by the architects at Arch-Fabg, the house sits on a podium with a swimming pool and a lawn terrace. Its exterior is clad with black lacquered aluminum panels and white cedar accents. The hybrid structure of the building is made of wood, steel and concrete floors with radiant heating, while windows include a low-E coating.

The common areas, kitchen, dining room and living room occupy the ground floor open space, as well as one of the master bedrooms. The second floor is reserved for the son and accommodates a living area, guest rooms, a terrace and a bedroom offering unobstructed views of Mount Sutton.

The two wings are disposed at right angles to minimize noise transmission between floors, which helps the occupants living on a different daily rhythm having to adapt to twelve hours of time zone separation. [Photography courtesy of Arch-Fabg]

What do you think of the extensive glazing featured in this modern family retreat?

The post Modern Family Retreat in Canada Features Extensive Glazing appeared first on Freshome.com.

Johnsen Schmaling Architects completed the design of a 1,855 square-foot modern residence located on the wooded eastern shore of Wisconsin’s Door County, USA. The project was envisioned for a graphic designer and her husband. It blends with the surrounding vegetation and offers a perfect retreat for artistic inspiration.

The architects’ objective was to achieve a smooth transition between the man-made structure and its natural context: “The building’s restrained exterior material palette is limited to charred cedar siding from Northern Wisconsin. Its textured, somber blackness is complemented by varnished clear cedar, dark-anodized aluminum, and glass.”

“Contrasting the building’s dark exterior shell, the interior material palette is dominated by white walls, white lacquered cabinets, and a gray polished concrete floor, all forming a deliberately neutral, serene backdrop against which the ever-changing tableau of the foliage outside can unfold,” the architects added.

The open-plan living room features minimalist furniture arrangements and a contemporary fireplace which descends from the ceiling. A wooden deck extends the living spaces outdoors, where the designed space flows effortlessly into the surrounding forest. The bedrooms are located upstairs, their position maximizing privacy and views. [Photography and information courtesy of Johnsen Schmaling Architects]

The post Graphic Designer’s House Blends With Its Natural Surroundings appeared first on Freshome.com.

Creative offices should be just that, as those who think outside the box for a living need an imaginative space to thrive. This growing graphic & product design office, a project by Terry.Terry Architecture , has accomplished this perfectly. It is located within an existing brick building in the Jackson Square Historic District of San Francisco, California, USA.

The design required the removal of the existing interior structure, while leaving the existing perimeter brick walls and the original front facade intact. A second story volume was added above the original floor. It opens out to a roof deck which brings elements of the outdoors into the office. A steel ribbon surrounds the front facade to create a large bay window and entry shroud, forming a looking glass from the workplace to the busy street life this neighborhood provides.

The main graphic design office space and conference areas are located on the first floor, while the second level hosts additional office space and exhibition venues. The new addition (above) straddles the existing structure and provides an informal conference area that is adjacent to the modern kitchen and outdoor deck space.

A series of steel frames are used as the primary support structure throughout the building. This is to seismically brace the existing brick walls as well as to collect the additional loads of the new second story. Both the roof plane and roof deck have been peeled back slightly from the perimeter walls to create skylight openings, which allow natural light to spill into the core of the building.

Enjoy the virtual gallery of this graphic design office below and let us know what you think! [Photos and information provided by Terry.Terry Architecture]

The post Uplifted Brick Building in San Francisco Houses Graphic Design Office appeared first on Freshome.com.

Martin Fenlon Architecture remodeled Fenlon House, a 1920’s three-bedroom bungalow in the quiet neighborhood of Hermon, just northeast of downtown Los Angeles.  Fenlon added a clear cedar frontispiece, cradled by a dark frame, that works as an outdoor space for the home.  Its terraced staircase wraps into a wooden bench for street-facing outdoor seating.

Windows running across most of the new front wall bring light into the living space and provide a uniform element wrapping around the property.  The clear cedar, on the other hand, contrasts perfectly with torched cedar planks used for the original exterior.

The architect raised the height of interior rooms by removing the original ceiling and exposing the home’s wooden roof.  A triangular skylight in the front of the home adds to its modern look, having replaced a gabled roof over the original entryway.

The kitchen is done almost entirely in wood, echoing the design of the wooden frontispiece.  The bathroom has a similar modern flair, done in a light-blue tile that complements the dark wood of the slanting exposed roof above. [Photography and information courtesy of ArchDaily]

The post Cedar Frontispiece Gives LA Bungalow a Fresh Look appeared first on Freshome.com.

This simple cast-iron candle holder possesses an ingenious feature: it extinguishes the candle before the wick has a chance to burn out. More »

Casa en Lago Villarrica was recently completed by design studio Plan Maestro on the shore of Lake Villarrica in Chile. According to the architects, priority was given to the conservation of the forest over the site’s other attributes, such as the views of the lake and the Villarrica volcano.

“The footprint of the project adapts to the position of the trees, avoiding the cutting of any important specimen,” the architects say. “This operation also allows every interior space to be in contact with the forest environment.” The residence meets the contemporary living needs of a large family and provides accommodations for weekend guests.

This casa in Chile was divided into four wings, coming together to form a wide X. “All family bedrooms look toward the lake and have access to a small, flat lawn between the house and the beach,” Plan Maestro says. “The guest-bedroom wing faces the forest and the hill on the northern part of the site.

“The common-area wing is one large, transparent space, with views to the lake and forest; it opens to an exterior deck. It contains the kitchen, dining room, living room and TV room.” The service-area wing, surrounded by the forest, houses the laundry room, pantry and service bedrooms.

In order to optimize natural lighting inside the house, the architects covered most of the south facade in glass, but employed dark-colored finishes to integrate the design in its forest landscape. [Photos and information provided by Plan Maestro]

The post Peaceful Casa in Chile Integrates Surrounding Forest appeared first on Freshome.com.

Malouna Villas by Sicart & Smith Architects is an exclusive resort on the north coast of Koh Samui island in Bang Po, Thailand. Set on a quiet part of beautiful Laem Noi Beach, the project boasts 147 feet of pristine beach frontage and views of the neighboring island of Koh Phangan.

The eco-friendly villas accommodate seven bedrooms (with 23 beds), spread around a central garden and making the most of Samui’s climate, views and light.

White blocks and dark teak timber were used as finishing materials for the buildings. The architects paid special attention to the tropical climate; all roofs have large overhangs with fixed louvers to protect the façades from the sun.

The villas have minimalist furnishings and were designed for indoor-outdoor living. The living rooms are open on three sides, allowing the gentle sea breezes to cool the space. This exclusive resort just might be the ultimate place for relaxation. [Photos and information provided by Sicart & Smith Architects]

The post Exclusive Resort Celebrates Indoor-Outdoor Living in Thailand appeared first on Freshome.com.

Hovertext: Also, some of your friends will be more like a rundown playground than Disneyland.

New comic!
Today's News:

Hovertext: That said, if anyone wants to invent a food pellet machine for humans, I'll buy it.

New comic!
Today's News:

Read 32 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Read 62 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Founding NBN chief executive Mike Quigley this evening launched a devastating attack on the Coalition's controversial Multi-Technology Mix model, using detailed analysis to show that the policy has set the NBN back years and resulted in cost blowouts to the tune of tens of billions of dollars.

Read 12 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Fireworks are a great way to celebrate any occasion, but like NuanQuan’s molten iron throwing festival, the Japanese city of Nara (the city of deer) has taken their festivities a notch higher.

Just behind Nara Park, stands an old, extinct volcano, called Mount Wakakusa, that rises gently to a height of 350 meters. From its peak, one can have unobstructed views of the entire city. Mount Wakakusa is hence very popular for walking and strolling. The mountain is covered by grass, and lining the slope of the mountain are cherry trees that are usually in full bloom around early April. But as winter approaches, the grass begins to die and the cherry trees lose their leaves and the mountain looks very bald. This is when the famous Wakakusa Yamayaki festival takes place.

Photo credit: Nagoya Taro/Wikimedia

Read more »

Hovertext:
A mere machine will never truly know the sensation of spraying aerosolized cheese directly into its mouth.

New comic!
Today's News:

Last day to submit for BAHFest Sydney!

Satya Nadella bounded into the conference room, eager to talk about intelligence. I was at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, WA, and the company’s CEO was touting the company's progress in building more intelligent apps and services. Each morning, he told me, he puts on a HoloLens, which enables him to look at a virtual, interactive calendar projected on a wall of his house. Nadella appeared giddy as he described it. The system was intelligent, productive, and futuristic: everything he hopes Microsoft will be under his leadership.

No matter where we work in the future, Nadella says, Microsoft will have a place in it. The company’s "conversation as a platform" offering, which it unveiled in March, represents a bet that chat-based...

Continue reading…

Read 100 remaining paragraphs | Comments

So, here's a crazy thing: this time last year, no one even knew that GM was working on an affordable, high-range electric car.

In automotive terms, going from concept to production to test drives in 12 months' time is an exceptionally tight schedule. There are regulatory hurdles and crash testing. There's the fact that engineering a good, roadworthy vehicle is fundamentally difficult and expensive. In reality, of course, development on the Bolt started long before the introduction of the concept car at NAIAS in Detroit last year, and it shows. I think this car might be ready for the real world.

But let's back up for a second and talk numbers. GM isn't going into any new details here, but the Bolt is expected to deliver "200-plus" mile...

Continue reading…