A thick thatched roof covers the top of this house with ceramics-filled interiors in Ukraine, which was built by architect and designer Sergey Makhno for his own family.
The house – named Shkrub after an affectionate term used by Makhno and his wife for the structure – is located in Kozin, south of Kiev.
The architect drew inspiration from his trips to Japan for Shkrub, including adding a Japanese-style garden filled with sculptures.
“When I went to Japan for the first time and saw how they appreciate their heritage, I understood that Ukrainian culture is extremely rich but we rarely rate it highly,” said Makhno.
The house has is filled with a large collection of Ukrainian ceramics and has entire walls covered in ceramic tiles, also designed by Makhno.
A stone path winds through the garden and leads into a long, thin living and dining space, stretching the entire length of the home.
Adjacent to this is a dramatic, double-height living area overlooking the garden with a full-height window.
It is lined with a shelving system that displays Makhno’s pottery collection, built using wood recovered from abandoned houses.
A rough, plaster-lined staircase leads to the first floor, where a series of bedrooms and guest rooms for the extended family are arranged around a communal hall.
The hall tends in a balcony overlooking the double-height gallery and garden.
Each of the three children’s rooms has been designed to be distinct.
One has dark, oak finishes, one has wallpaper designed by Makhno and thee third has walls painted with animals and birds by Ukrainian ceramicist Serhii Radko.
In the master bedroom, the headboard has been sculpted to look like a clay cliff. The bedroom is split into zones, with space to study, a recreational area and an en suite.
Throughout, walls have been finished with irregular ceramic tiles. These have several types of clay finish, usually mixed with flax seeds, rye and wheat in accordance with Ukrainian traditions.
The simple elevations of the home have been finished in thin, horizontal wooden beams atop a thin stone base, above which the thatched roof protrudes with cut-outs made for the upper-storey windows.
“When in five thousand years, archaeologists from other planets will dismantle my house, they will say that it was built according to ancient Ukrainian traditions. That there was a lot of nature, and a lot of life,” said Makhno.
Sergey Makhno has previously worked on projects that attempt to blend Japanese and Ukrainian influences, including an apartment in Kiev where his family previously lived.
The three levels of this house by Santiago firm Hsü Rudolphy step down a sloped site to Rapel Lake, creating multiple terraces and access to the water.
Located roughly two hours South of Santiago, the 244-square-metre Slope House overlooks Chile’s Rapel Lake, an artificial reservoir that feeds into a dam further down the Rapel River.
Hsü Rudolphy, a studio led by Ian Hsü and Gabriel Rudolphy, designed the property to step down a slope to the water’s edge. The upper volume, however, cantilevers over the lower structure, to form a large window topped by a terrace that both offer views of the surroundings.
To avoid unnecessary excavation, each level is slightly shorter than the one above it, following the outline of the site’s slope. Integrating the home into its natural setting was a key part of the design, and a priority for the clients.
“The client is a family that loves nature and architecture, who pointed out the aspects they considered relevant and that we interpreted in a conceptual architectural proposal,” Rudolphy told Dezeen.
“The confidence they put in us was fundamental to achieve the final objective, combining the needs of the client in a complex terrain, with a simple architectural expression, well defined and respectful of the environment that they liked very much.”
Horizontal wooden cladding the home is covered in a protective treatment that darkens the tone, complementing the blackened steel structure of the windows and other accents. “The wood is radiata pine, the most used and economical type of wood in Chile,” Rudolphy said.
Inside, pale wood lines the walls, ceilings and floors, and is offset by black steel framing.
The studio chose a simple palette to complement the home’s steel-and-concrete structure. “We wanted to find simple solutions, simple finishes, but arranged efficiently, to achieve an optimal result for users, with low maintenance and high durability,” it said.
Because of the site’s slope, the main access to the home is from the top level, via a footbridge. A black metal outline frames the front door, creating a sheltered area that leads inside.
The top level is occupies by open-plan kitchen, living, and dining room, which enjoy the best views of the lake.
The roof here slopes up towards the landscape, providing a range of interior heights in the space. “This level has a roof, an inclined plane that gives hierarchy to the spaces with their height ranging from four to 2.7 metres,” said the studio.
On the lowest end is the kitchen, along with a bathroom and technical areas. At the opposite end, closer to the living room, sliding glass walls open onto a terrace that is shaded by a metallic lattice structure.
The intermediate floor contains the home’s three bedrooms; two of these face south, and share a hallway and toilet. Tthe master suite anchors the east end of the property overlooking the lake, so it enjoys an expansive window facing the rising sun.
On the lowest floor is another sitting room, which, like the common area two floors up, opens to an exterior terrace. The outdoor space here is partially covered by the home’s massing, and has a jacuzzi. “The lower floor has a versatile living space, with a second terrace, which connects with the ground and the lake,” said Hsü Rudolphy.
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The WYN WALLET 2.0 is literally fashioned out of a sheet of carbon fiber, known for its incredible strength, and its light weight. The card-shaped wallet comes with a specialized cut running across its body that converts into a clip you can flex and slide your cards and cash into. Known for its flexibility and resilience, the WYN WALLET 2.0 is strong enough to take a beating without ever breaking (you can apparently even ride your car over it without any danger) and is guaranteed to last a lifetime, if not multiple lifetimes. The wallet’s innovative design flexes to store as many as 12 cards and 8 banknotes, with its cutout shape making it easy to slide cards in, or even out with your thumb. Its carbon-fiber construction makes it water-resistant (unlike your leather bifolds), and pair it with an RFID blocking card and you’ve got yourself the world’s lightest and thinnest carbon-fiber wallet, with protection against digital theft!
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New York designer Bec Brittain has created lights with candy-coloured stands, ivory glass shades and decorative strips of suede for her latest collection.
Brittain created 27 lights including table lamps, hanging pendants and sconces for the Gemini Collection. She produced designs as pairs but made subtle differences between them, such as a knotted cord versus a braided cord, different sizes and lengths, and use of colour.
Net Globe lamps feature a diamond-shaped ivory glass globe surrounded by a decorative brass basket
“Creating the Gemini Collection allowed me to play with the idea of what constitutes a twin: is it two separate objects?” Brittain said. “Is it one object that seems to have split into two parts? Are they mimicking each other?”
They are sold as individuals that she imagines as twins “separated at birth”. Some are also grouped into threes, which the designer calls triplets.
Long cylindrical pendants painted with candy-like colours attach to small cube-shaped dimmers to form Hanging Beams
Brittain took cues myriad of paired objects that appear in the natural world and pulled from those examples to create the works. “I think of my works as being creatures, or having a creature-like aspect, and there is something soothing about these pieces not being alone, of having a companion,” she added.
“The final object stays close to its original inspiration, without sacrificing its essence through concerns about technical details necessary for production.”
Brittain fixed optical prisms that reflect light in all directions onto brass to create Prism Twin, which differ in length
All of the objects were crafted by hand and use a variety of materials and techniques. Table Lamps feature diamond shaped hand-blown ivory glass shades, powder-coated stands and glow in the dark cords, one that is braided and the other is made up of a series of knots.
Tactile elements such as colourful, patterned climbing rope construct long electrical cords on Net Sconce, while strips of leather and suede add drape-like decorative elements to other designs in the collection.
Hanging Beams attaches cube-shaped, candy-coloured dimmers to long cylindrical pendants made with powder coated brass. Prism Twin combines brass with optical prisms to form a fixture that hanging fixture that reflects light in all directions.
Other designs in Gemini Collection use leather and suede to create drape-like decorative elements that reach the ground
Ruslan Khasanov est un designer originaire de Russie. Avec comme devise « la beauté est partout », il utilise l’art visuel pour créer des oeuvres hypnotiques en tous genres. Dans la série « Distortion », l’artiste a utilisé de vieux CDs et DVDs qu’il a détruit de différentes manières afin d’obtenir des couleurs et textures inédites. Il capture les réactions physiques/chimique de chacun, donnant lieu à une superbe série photo abstraite presque surréaliste.
« Ce projet a été inspiré par un vieux CD rayé avec d’une musique des années 90 qui traînait dans la rue et brillait de toutes les couleurs de l’arc-en-ciel sous le soleil. Sur la surface déformée, des textures qui changent étrangement de couleurs. »
Designer Gavin Keightley used foods including mashed potato and jelly to create moulds for this furniture collection, which is cast from Jesmonite dyed in fluorescent hues.
The furniture collection, comprising two cabinets and a series of stools, features components made from plaster and Jesmonite that were cast in moulds fabricated from different foods.
University of Plymouth graduate Keightley told Dezeen that, throughout his studies, he enjoyed exploring alternative applications for materials and processes.
This culminated in an attempt to identify a new and more sustainable way of moulding materials.
“I do a lot of casting which means I need moulds to cast into,” he explained. “A lot of the mould materials on the market are synthetic so I began hunting for a natural alternative that would do what I wanted it to.”
One night during his student years, a failed attempt to cook a bowl of couscous resulted in a hardened mass that retained its shape when removed from the bowl.
Keightley realised that couscous and other foodstuffs could be used as a moulding material with unique properties that are expressed in the details of the resulting surfaces.
“I was inspired to take the label of food away from the material and explore food for all of its properties, not just the fact that we can eat it,” he said. “That opened up a whole library of materials that are otherwise undervalued and underused.”
The designer’s favourite discovery was agar jelly, which comes as a powder that is mixed with water and heated before setting into its gelatinous form.
By removing sections from the jelly using a spoon, Keightley created a negative space suitable for casting. When the casting material sets, the jelly is simply removed by peeling it away.
A range of materials including bread, couscous, jelly and mashed potato were used to produce the collection, which demonstrates the potential for different foods to be used for casting.
Once the pieces are complete, Keightley gathers the food-based casting materials and composts them. He suggested that the next step is to grow his own food that can be used to create a more circular manufacturing process.
The designer chose Jesmonite as the casting material for the objects as it picks up all the details of the mould and won’t react with the metal support-structures embedded in some of the furniture items.
It can also be dyed in any colour, including the fluorescent shades used to give the designs their distinctive character.
Keightley also experimented with other casting materials for different elements of the furniture. Handles on the drawers of the cabinets are made from pewter poured into moulds containing other foods including peanut butter, noodles, rice and mashed potato.
The most interesting effects were created by materials with a high fat-content, as the fat inside the mould would bubble when the hot pewter was added and create unusual, unpredictable textures.
The pieces were presented at the recent Decorex trade fair in London, where Keightley said he tried to encourage visitors to interact with the furniture.
“It’s part of our instinct as humans to touch and feel things to gain an understanding of them,” he added. “I wanted to create pieces that offer a multi-sensory experience. When people find out the furniture is made from food they want to smell it to see if there are any remnants of the manufacturing process.”
Keightley developed the Terraform project as part of his masters at the University of Plymouth, which he completed in 2018 following his undergraduate studies on the school’s undergraduate 3D Design – Designer Maker programme.
The project will next be exhibited at Dutch Design Week, which takes place in Eindhoven from 19 to 27 October 2019.
Designs exhibited at last year’s event included a chair raised on blocks to highlight the problems associated with rising sea-levels, and a range of artificial flowers that provide emergency food sources for urban insects.
Architect Alexis Dournier puts a new spin on Balinese vernacular in his three Uluwatu Surf Villas, at a retreat billed as a paradise for surfers.
The Bali-based, German architect has combined humble materials like natural limestone and reclaimed teak to create the luxury villas, which boast private swimming pools, indoor-outdoor living spaces and impressive sea views.
Carbon House is one of the three villas
They form part of a small resort in Uluwatu, a town on the southernmost tip of Bali that has a reputation for its big waves and a surfing culture that dates back to the 1970s.
Dournier wanted to embrace this culture but also to create spaces that “strengthen the memorable experience and identity of the place”. Working with Tim Russo, the entrepreneur behind the project, he developed his designs in response to the unique character of each site.
Like all the properties, it combines natural limestone and reclaimed teak
“Each project is new and different, but they all somehow derive from the question of what is good about the past, what is memorable and what do people associate with the place,” the architect told Dezeen.
“I love to see people walking through our spaces and experiencing a sense of familiarity,” he said, “but with all the elements together fostering curiosity and the excitement for the new.”
A triangular pergola shades the swimming pool of Carbon House
In addition to the more generic titles given to the villas by the resort, Dournier chose unique names for each one he designed: Carbon House, House Aperture and Puri Bukit.
Carbon House is the most striking of the three, thanks to a triangular pergola that juts out at an angle to shade the swimming pool in front of the property.
This sunshade features a geometric pattern across its surface
Slender lengths of wood create a geometric pattern within its transparent centre. Dournier likens both this element and the shape of the pool to a a diamond, hence the carbon reference.
“The wooden sun sail is reaching over the diamond-shaped pool, partly abstracting and framing both the ocean view and the sky,” he explained. “It becomes the memorable object of this house.”
Bedrooms open out to the garden and pool
Single-storey and hexagonal in plan, this house has a simple layout.
An open-plan and open-air lounge, kitchen and dining-space faces directly onto the pool. Four bedroom suites are arranged to one side, so that they can also open out to the pool and garden.
Limestone creates tessellating patterns across the walls
The reclaimed teak, which was sourced from Java, covers the underside of the roof, while the locally quarried limestone creates tessellating patterns across the walls of the bedrooms and bathrooms.
“We used limestone as the combining narrative in all the structures,” said Dournier. “This tied everything together in one composition, gave orientation and drew back into the identity of the resort.”
House Aperture is a three-storey property that offers guests elevated views
House Aperture is a more modest-looking property, arranged over three floors so that occupants can enjoy elevated views of the scenic surroundings.
It features large window-walls, which can be opened up or screened behind teak sunshades.
Teak sunshades slide across House Aperture’s glazed facades
“All facades are more or less equal, layered by the exterior shading elements,” said Dournier. “These filter the light, provide privacy and give the user the opportunity to passively cool all rooms.”
“The reconfiguration of those elements throughout the day and night gives the small building an ever-changing appearance,” he added.
Teak dominates through the interiors of House Aperture
The living space is located on the middle level, opening out to the terrace and pool, while a pair of bedrooms are located on the floors above and below.
Teak dominates in all of these spaces. There are a few thoughtful additions too, including framed black and white images by surf photographer Dirk Hoole.
Puri Bukit is the third villa, featuring generously sized interiors
The third villa, Puri Bukit, features the most generously sized indoor spaces.
The pitch of its roof is emphasised by the exposed, wooden ceiling-structure, which offers a striking contrast to the pale rendered walls.
An exposed wooden ceiling structure frames a central skylight
In the living space at the centre of the property, this decorative ceiling surrounds an angular skylight, which allows plenty of daylight to penetrate the interiors. The space also features double-height corridors.
“The absence of suspended ceilings give each room a unique character,” said Dournier. “The skylight brings in natural light and gives the space a chapel-like feel.”
Puri Bukit also features double-height corridors
Bedrooms are organised around the perimeter of the pentagonal plan.
Each one has a corner window, so residents can enjoy panoramic views of the seafront and gardens behind.
Bedrooms have corner windows, offering panoramic views
He is about to launch a book detailing the various projects he has completed over the past six years.
“All of our projects look very different, because they draw from different approaches. But one of the constants is definitely the spirit of the place and the stories surrounding the place,” he said.
Polished terrazzo fixtures and mirrored surfaces offset the exposed pipework and crumbling walls inside this minimal florist in Kiev designed by Rina Lovko Studio.
Located in a Soviet-era warehouse on the left bank of the Dneiper river that runs through the Ukrainian capital, the 300-square-metre Dicentra store was previously used as a workshop.
Locally based Rina Lovko Studio was tasked with transforming it into a retail space for the wholesale flower supplier on a tight budget.
The linear space now includes a reception area, a workbench for florists, utility rooms with a kitchen and a shared toilet for guests and staff.
Textured walls and floors that run throughout have been made to appear unfinished. The original asphalt floor was covered with concrete, while white and green paint was stripped from the walls along with the plaster. They were finished with a glazed coating.
“The idea was to make everything look untouched,” said the studio, “as if we had come, put down furniture and the store started working.”
Simple LED tube lights illuminate the space, their wires visible and stored in cable trays.
A private office for managers takes the form of a mirror-clad cube that sits at the far end of the room, its sides not quite reaching the walls to make the surrounding space appear larger and even longer.
Bespoke stainless-steel workstations dotted across the office are lined with grey terrazzo and finished with corners cut at 45 degrees.
“We previously developed a table for the Dicentra store in Lviv,” explained the studio. “It was made to the same design, but in different materials.”
The table is double-sided to allow for integrated drawers and bins. It’s also mounted on wheels so it can be easily moved around.
“Above the table is a lamp with a diffuser for comfortable work and on the other side a mirror so that florists, in the process of working, can see bouquets from the side,” said the studio.
White-wire outdoor tables and chairs have otherwise been used to furnish the space, along with potted plants. The studio also developed mobile shelving-units made from perforated stainless-steel which can transport batches of flowers.
“Flowers are always different, so the shelves were made with special milling, which allows you to quickly change the height of the mount,” the studio added.
A timber-panelled wall at the periphery of the store is inset with two refrigerators – one is fronted by glass to showcase flowers to customers, while the other is used to store cut plants for wholesale clients.
Both are made of special thermal materials and equipped with sliding doors and motion sensors.
“Aluminum was chosen so that the refrigerator would fulfil its task – to keep the flowers cold,” said the studio.
“Inside, the refrigerators are painted in a graphite colour. This decision is due to the product: flowers on a black background look bright and in contrast, which is good for sales. We supported this with lighting that made the flowers looked even brighter.”
The store’s angled entrance door has been made from red mesh and completed with neon signage, helping it stand out against the neighbouring industrial buildings and draw customers in.
US studio JHL Design emphasised “the interplay of light and shadow” and other classic Japanese principles when turning a vacant penthouse in Portland into a tech firm’s office space.
The downtown Portland building was constructed in 1927, though had been empty for many years before the project was initiated. Large glass windows that overlook the city lent to its desirability as a new office for a technology company.
Concrete angled walls enhance the feeling of roughness in the space, which Liz Morgan, JHL Design’s creative director, was adamant on keeping.
In order to maintain these qualities, there is a lack of finishing along the walls, showcasing the darkened and marked concrete.
“The walls are a part of the building’s rich historical texture,” Morgan told Dezeen. “The mansard roof and gabled dormers are particularly unusual for an office space and add to the historical quality of the building.”
Old terrazzo remnants were unearthed unexpectedly while treating the concrete floors.
“We were delighted when we discovered them,” Morgan said. “Not only were they a beautiful texture and colour, but they also contributed to the wabi sabi elements of the space we were working so diligently to preserve; the imperfections created through time.”
In contrast to traditional offices, the central space was left opened “to accentuate the high ceilings and angled architecture”. The free-flowing design was chosen to be more suitable for casual gatherings, flexible work space and communal dining.
Morgan envisioned an intimate entryway off of the elevator that would create an interesting transition walking into the brighter, full-height space. The lower ceiling and dark-stained wallpaper would also conceal mechanical equipment overhead.
“The inspiration came from the space’s architecture itself – the repetition of the columns and the way in which they framed the space,” Morgan said.
“We wanted to emphasise the inherent drama of the space by creating a transitional zone through a lowered ceiling and darker finish material, as well as a Phillip Jeffries thick woven wall covering we hand-stained black on-site.”
Henry Wilson lighting flanks the entry in cast bronze, and Allied Maker pendants hang over the kitchen island. Lighting in the banquette area is from Apparatus and the cloud-like pendants throughout are by Molo Design.
JHL Design‘s clients had also lived in Kyoto for several years, which influenced subtle nods to Japanese forms and materials. Morgan selected Alaskan Yellow Cedar for the construction of the office wall system. Complementing the aesthetic are hand-woven textiles and rugs, textured stone, hand-glazed ceramic tiles, and cast bronze that naturally patinas over time.
“In our exploration of Japanese architecture, we were inspired by the emphasis on the interplay of light and shadow to create poetic moments that evoke emotional and sensorial responses,” she said.
Rugs were sourced from SMG Collective, a Portland rug vendor who works with weavers worldwide. Custom pillows were made with a leather and wool-woven textile from Loro Piana, and a cotton and virgin wool textile piece comes from Azulina Home.
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