Hasta La Ideas

Here’s a look at the posts that made the most buzz the past seven days.

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We’ve only just begun 2015, but it seems as though we’re going to see some massive hiring sprees in the digital media space. Both Mashable and Business Insider raise cash — $17 million and $25 million, respectively — and plan to put a good portion of that money into expansion. The number of new staffers could reach 100 at each publication, although some of those positions will be added internationally, as they look to expand their reach beyond the United States. Gawker Media, which spent much of 2014 expanding its editorial roster, isn’t slowing down either, raising $15 million in debt. If you can get it, why not do so?…

Modern Farmer is dead; long live Modern Farmer. The hip farming magazine, thought to be getting sent out to the pasture after its two remaining paid staffers walked out a few weeks ago, signs former Country Living editor-in-chief Sarah Gray Miller… Harper’s Bazaar poaches Aeriel Brown from Entertainment Weekly to be deputy photography director… Nylon’s editor-in-chief Michelle Lee adds head of brand strategy to her business card. The role of an EIC in 2015 is changing… Ariel Foxman takes over as editorial director of InStyle and People StyleWatch. He had been editor of the former publication. That means StyleWatch’s editor Susan Kaufman is gone… National Journal recruits John B. Judis as senior writer. He had been senior editor at The New Republic… Read More

Raw concrete and timber boxes create rooms inside these gabled blocks, added to a hotel on a vineyard in rural Portugal by architect and set designer João Mendes Ribeiro (+ slideshow).

The white pitched-roofed blocks are modelled on traditional Portuguese farm buildings, but are instead made from cast concrete.

They were designed by João Mendes Ribeiro to house extra bedrooms and a concrete-lined spa for the Torre De Palma Wine Hotel in Portugal’s Portalegre district.

The vineyard hotel, where guests come to taste locally produced wine, also makes use of an existing farmhouse and a cluster of renovated out buildings that sit on the plot of farmland.

Ribeiro tried to retain the character of the existing buildings, which feature white rendered walls and terracotta roof tiles, so he only made minor structural adjustments to the interior. Roof surfaces and cladding were also replaced where absolutely necessary.

The architect then added a set of new cast-concrete buildings that mimic the form of the existing architecture, replacing structures in too bad a condition to be saved.

These new building each have a cast-concrete structure, masonry walls and concrete slab roofs that differentiate them from their historical tiled-roofed neighbours.

“The new constructions had two different natures – entirely new buildings that were placed outside of the original built aggregate and new buildings that replaced old constructions with a new common material identity,” said the architect.

Inside, simple concrete and timber additions subdivide and furnish the spaces. In a spa area, the white ceiling struts are left exposed, and a concrete changing cubicle sits to one end of a blue-tiled pool.

The linear blocks skirt the edge of a yard paved with stabilised clay. A walkway made from white marble cobblestones from the Alentejo region runs around its perimeter.

The farmland around the complex was landscaped by the architect to include a vineyard by a historic levada – a traditional irrigation trench – and a new swimming pool.

An olive grove, orchard, and a kitchen garden planted with beds of vegetables and herbs provide fresh produce for the hotel restaurant, which is located in an older building with ochre paintwork and a white turreted tower.

A new meadow that stretches out by a row of stables completes the series of alterations to the landscape.

Photography is by Do Mal o Menos.

Project credits:

Architecture and landscape architecture: João Mendes Ribeiro
Collaborator: Luísa Bebiano (in the Wine Cellar and Cottar House buildings)
Coordination during construction phase: Filipe Catarino
Structural engineer: Paulo Maranha Tiago
Hydraulic engineer: Vítor Ribeiro
Electrical engineer: Luís Filipe Besteiro Ribeiro
Mechanical engineer: Francisco Viçoso, João Madeira da Silva, Pedro Dias Gas
Installations engineer: Pedro Ramos
Contractor: ABA – A. Baptista de Almeida, Construções Civis e Obras Públicas

The post João Mendes Ribeiro
 expands a
wine-tasting hotel in rural Portugal appeared first on Dezeen.

This being America, we’re not content to only produce the run-of-the-mill stadium luxury suites that we looked at here. While more than one NFL CEO undoubtedly has a swank, over-the-top personal luxury suite in their arena, given the current anti-rich climate they probably keep them under wraps; but somehow photos have leaked of Clark Hunt’s skybox at Arrowhead Stadium.

Maybe “skybox” isn’t the right word. Hunt owns the Kansas City Chiefs, and he can view their games from within the three-story, six-bedroom luxury suite you see here:

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Balance bicycles are known to be effective at helping children develop coordination, balance and counter-steering techniques at a young age. While they’ve been around for a while, they’ve remained pretty much the same for the majority of their existence……

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