My Favorite House in My Favorite Place

I've decided I'm going to end the year with, quite possibly, my most favorite house on the planet in, most definitely, my most favorite place on the planet. Since my first visit to New Zealand in 2002, I've become entirely entranced with their simple 'Pacific Modern' style of architecture. The Crosson Family Bach on the North Island's Coromandel Peninsula expresses everything I love about New Zealand architecture: Simple lines, simple materials and context, context, context. With sides that fold down while the owners are in residence and fold-up at the end of an extended weekend stay, the simple lines of the Crosson Bach and the nonexistent "landscaping" make this home seem totally at one with its surroundings. I dream of soaking in these views of the Coromandel from the bathtub... literally. You'll see what I'm talking about below...







And that's it for 2009...

The Coolest Parking Lot in Miami and, perhaps, the World

There was a moment when the multistorey car park looked like it was going to be the future of architecture. It was everything that traditional, bourgeois buildings were not. It was the symbol of the new city, geared not towards the individual but to the machine. It was the modernist dream, untainted by history or sentiment; it was to be to the modern age what the great railway stations had been to the age of industry.

Parking garages were never thought of that way, until now. The newest building by starchitects Herzon de Meuron is... a parking garage. And I can't tell you how cool I think it is. A former bank building on Miami's chic Lincoln Road (Note: I've never been to Miami, but Lincoln Road is apprently pretty chic), the building houses swank shops on the ground level and cars up above. I can't help thinking how cool this would be as a concert venue...


Read the full article at Financial Times...

Images by Iwan Baan... who seems to be a pretty cool architectural photographer.

Good Read: Animal Vegetable Miracle

I just finished reading Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barabara Kingsolver and must admit, it's already got me changing the way I look at food. About six months ago I rekindled my relationship with the KCC Farmer's Market here on Oahu when I moved back into town. And its become a part of my Saturday morning ritual: Coffee, Farmer's Market and then home to whip up a couple of meals I can eat through the week. But back to the book...

When an old high school friend who wasn't particularly into organic food/enviromentalism/sustainability recommended it as a good read, I knew I had to pick it up. Barbara Kingsolver, of The Poisonwood Bible fame, moves her family from Arizona to a farm in rural Virginia and vows to eat locally for a year. Barbara's family's journey includes farming a few acres and raising their own chickens and turkeys, a little much for me, but the information she provides along the way about the state of the agriculture industry in the U.S. is eye-opening. I'd read about half of Fast Food Nation a handful of years back and felt constantly bombarded by information- good information, just wasn't loving the package. Kingsolver's Animal Vegetable Miracle gives you tons of insight along the way but also provides encouragement for reacquainting yourself with the kitchen. For some, the story may be a little dauting and she acknowledges it: Do many Americans have time to grow dozens of pounds of tomatoes to make homemade sauce and then can it using proper canning technique? No. But you can opt for organic tomato sauce at the store and whip up your own homemade pesto in about 5 minutes. Plus, she'll point out that your homemade pesto can be made for pennies compared to purchasing premade. I just whipped up my own pesto yesterday after my Farmer's Market trip and froze individual portions in a mini-muffin tray, mostly, I must say, inspired by this latest read.

A really inspiring read, I can say I'll increase my support of local farmers and be on the lookout for organic versions of dinner staples (spaghetti sauce, soup, etc). If you live in Hawaii/on Oahu, here are a couple of links to get you started:


Ma'o Organic Farms
Based in Waianae, Ma'o gets Hawaiian youth off the street and into the fields. They're all organic with a great mission and I buy something every Saturday from them at the KCC Farmer's Market.


KCC Farmer's Market
Hawaii's biggest Farmer's Market. I love the Hamakua Mushroom, Big Wave Tomato and Ma'o stalls.


Whole Foods
You already know about Whole Foods Kahala but they've just opened a Whole Foods Maui in Lahaina! Yes, they maybe a little pricey, but their online recipes are great, gotta check it out. Plus, they buy from local farmers and producers unlike Safeway, etc.

Vertical House: Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects

On a recent trip to Los Anegeles, I was driving down Pacific Avenue and out of the corner of my eye spotted this house I'd seen months before in Dwell Magazine. I couldn't believe I'd remembered it! Designed by Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects, cut-outs in the facade serve as "windows", creating an incredibly light-filled space in a house that takes up an entire, narrow lot... between two equally tall homes. More pics below via ArchDaily...


I love the way a simple sketch can turn a 2D pattern into a 3D design...





Super cool.

Shipping Containers Find New Life as Studios

More and more I find myself renewing my interest in Urban Planning and Architecture and the way we can build better cities and communities as we enter the next decade. When it comes to shelter, I've always loved a small, cozy footprint. I figure, less to clean, less space to feel the need to 'fill' and I just love the feeling of being enveloped by a house. My love of small wooden plantation cottages will never cease, and thankfully, Hawaii's backroads still contain these lovely gems from a bygone era. I'm equally apprecaiting the latest in small houses: refurbished shipping containers! I spied this project on Container City this afternoon, 3 artist's studios made of 6 shipping containers in Scotland. Imagine that, residences made of recycled shipping containers with a green-roof! Double points!




Find out more about the Cove Park project here...

The Rise of the Creative Class

On a recent trip to LA, I wandered into Borders and picked up 'The Rise of the Creative Class' by Richard Florida. I've realized the last couple of months that economic development and land-use issues interest me a lot more than I ever thought they did. After numerous conversations with acquaintances and friends over coffee, I realized it's time for me to get involved. Is a career in Urban Planning in my future? I think so. I've finally realized I've been a member of the Creative Class all along.

Hawaii is lovely and yet totally frustrating at times for the 20-30 something set that longs for a real urban core of people, places and culture in Honolulu. The Rise of the Creative Class was a great insight into how entirely essential nurturing culture and the arts and, most importantly, the PLACES these activities and exchanges take place in. Without a creative scene, places (towns, cities, what have you) will fail to grow economically: an economy of working/service class jobs will dominate, creative people born in the area will grow up and move away (the 'Brain Drain') and diversity will remain low. With the exception of the last of the three, Honolulu is one of the nation's Places (along with Detroit, Pittsburgh, etc) that has failed in the past to attract and grow a Creative Class.

The last decade or so, I've started seeing a shift in Honolulu. New 20-30 somethings moving in, college grads returning home and people of all ages renewing, or starting, an interest in the local arts and culture scene. While we're slowly getting there, The Rise of the Creative Class is a great read for those creative brains in Honolulu (and anywhere else for that matter) looking to push our economy and society into a new era.

Hip Hotel: The Remota, Patagonia

Argentina, Chile and Patagonia are next on my list... I've been dreaming of traveling to South America for a couple of years now. I'd love to spend a couple of weeks, a month even, strolling the streets of Buenos Aires and getting away from it all in Patagonia. I discovered design blog A Daily Dose of Architecture this afternoon and via them, the Remota Hotel in Patagonia. Feast your eyes...





I'm keeping this one on file.

images by #freelancer

Modern Planter Bench

A planter bench with pots of Flax. Need I say more? Love.

Beach Cottage Style

Just so me...




I live in a very teeny place but love my white slipcovered sofa, white sheer panels and pops of color. I spotted this cottage on Sunset Mag's site and had to share.

Aussie Wooden iPod Case

After reigning for years as a symbol of contemporary design, with its minimalist white finish and chrome accents, the iPod is going retro.

For most the iconic music player's white earbuds are a fashion statement enough, but Brisbane graphics designer Josh Darrah has always thought modern stylings were crass compared to old fashioned wood.

So he took matters into his own hands, gutting the electronic innards of his iPod mini, iTrip FM radio accessory and iPod dock and putting them into his own chassis, handmade from Australian red cedar.

The reaction from friends has been so positive that he is now investigating how he could mass produce the wooden casings and sell them online as part of a do-it-yourself kit.

continue reading...

Kitchen Dreams

I

Love

This

Kitchen.

Spotted today on So'mace's blog

Villa Style in Auckland

Since my first visit to New Zealand in 2002, I've developed this uncanny knack for recognizing down under design. I came across this image today on Design*Sponge and the first thought after 'Mmm, I'd love to spend my lunch break out there' was 'I bet this is New Zealand'. What gave it away? Kiwis and Aussies love using horizontal slats instead of vertical planks for their fences. I love that style.


Kiwi designer Cassandra Ellis calls this Auckland villa home. Lucky gal.

Simply Perfect Queenstown

It's pictures like this that make me long for New Zealand. There's nothing I love more than good design, beautiful landscapes and the promise of an alfresco dinner accented by the most amazing sunset you've ever seen. I can't wait to go back.

photo by Johanna Hughes of Stellar Photography

Stellar Photography is part of the Pacific Wedding Guide collection.

Fab Designer: Maruja Fuentes

I just came across Puerto-Rican born Maruja Fuentes on HouseMartin's blog and fell in love with her creative designs. Maruja's studies in Art, Architecture and Environmental Design have given birth to these amazing/fun/funky and yet totally functional outdoor concepts. The Leaning Mold is the alternative to the typical bench tagged as a 'furniture wall-system'. Love the photo shoot for this product, totally gets the concept across on so many levels.

I'm also loving her 'Green Pockets'- the planted wall tiles you can fill and arange with anything you want! How cute would these be in a kitchen right near the window? I die.


So amazing. I've got to keep an eye out for future creations.

My Dream...

I want to lay my head here at night
and dream of faraway places
wakeup in the morning, sun shining through
this is my dream

Fab Designer: Flora Grubb

Flora Grubb's nursery and shop just outside San Francisco is a gardener's heaven. This chick is cool. A landscape designer by trade, Flora's shop features chic garden accessories, furniture and, what else, flora. I've loved her color combinations and affinity for architectural/sculptural plants for a while now and just had to post these pics I spied on her blog. This image I adore- love the color combinations, mix of textures, and, of course, I love succulents!



Tilandsia 'Wall' at the Bardessono Hotel in Napa Valley- love the simplicity, bringing the outside in, the whole sublime yet freakish look of the thing.



When it comes to residential design, I love color. There's nothing like a potted masterpiece flanking a doorway and I love the height and architectural look she's going for. You probably wouldn't think of bright orange pots to complement a purple exterior, but the quirkiness totally works. Check out Flora's website for more inspring photos.

Rustic Affinity

While perusing Architectural Digest online, I came across an image gallery of some of the magazine's most exotic featured homes. This image of a haveli in India totally caught me. I love the rustic, whimsical facade- it reminds me of the feeling you get when reading a great book and you feel totally transported into the pages. What makes it for me (and this is funny because I have my degree in Landscape Architecture), is the lack of landscape. I love the little trees flanking the doorway and the bright red gate- the haveli would emote a much different feeling if it was covered in foliage, a style we're so familiar with in Hawaii. I imagine a clawfoot bathtub, sipping orange spice tea and laying on a double chaise on the roof watching the sunset. There's just something so amazing about this image and though I've never really had an interest in venturing to India, this makes me want to jump on the next flight out.

Pacific Modern: The Bible of Kiwi + Oz Architecture

A couple of years ago I came across Pacific Modern and just had to have it. When I first went to New Zealand in 2002 I was struck by the country's modern design aesthetic. Sure, I apprecited their victorian style wood cottages circa the early 1900's, but I definitely was not expecting to stumble upon a fully functioning 'Pacific Modern' aesthetic! From Auckland to Queenstown, I love Kiwi architects' use of wood, steel and concrete in combination, synthesis, actually, resulting in modern linear structures that actually take on an easy, beachy, calming effect. Author Raul Barreneche puts it this way:

[Sometimes these are crisp residential designs rendered in the most modern forms, while in other cases architects draw on local cultural or vernacular building materials, such as stone or wood, to create houses that, while still undeniably modern, are very much of their place. But the most ambitious and innovative of these projects all maintain a strong design sensibility that transcends geographic borders.]

If you're wondering, 'what the heck is New Zealand and Australian architecture?', I highly suggest Pacific Modern. We'll discuss highlights in a few...

Fearon Hay Architects, New Zealand

The first time I saw images of Fearon Hay's Shark Alley House in a 2005 edition of Architectural Record, my jaw dropped to the floor and it took all my might to pick it back up. The quintiscential modern New Zealand house- low profile, pocket doors all around, the almost seamless blending of inside and out. Here's what Architectural Record has to say:

To make the journey to Shark Alley House, you travel by boat or light aircraft some 56 miles northeast of Auckland to Great Barrier Island (also known as Aotea), New Zealand. Then, after a spin on the island’s serpentine main road, you need tides low enough to let your four-wheel-drive vehicle continue over sand dunes and splash right across an estuary. With only 900 permanent residents and no electrical grid or public water-supply system, this mountainous, 110-square-mile landmass remains mostly rugged and untamed. Its dense bush, rare fauna and flora, and spectacular white sand beaches are “still quite undiscovered even by New Zealanders,” according to Jeff Fearon of Auckland-based Fearon Hay Architects, designers of Shark Alley House. Even the house’s owners, he adds, found their 30-acre site on an isolated cove “a bit by mistake.”

Truly one of my favorite New Zealand architecture firms, check out the rest of their portfolio here.