Hasta La Ideas

Chenchow Little Architects has completed a house in the Glebe suburb of Sydney featuring upside-down arches in the walls and curved openings in the floors.

Glebe House is designed to playfully reference its neighbour – a Victorian terrace with decorative arched windows.

Instead of matching these arches, Chenchow Little Architects chose to use them in various other ways.

On the facades, the shapes are turned upside-down to create large, high-level windows with views of the Sydney skyline.

Arched openings also create voids between the house’s two floor levels, emphasised by an accompanying spiral staircase.

“Unlike traditional Victorian houses, the arched openings in the Glebe House occur in both elevation and on plan,” explained the studio, which is led by architects Tony Chenchow and Stephanie Little.

“The arched windows on the elevation align with arched cutouts in the floor-plate to create three-dimensional internal voids within the space.”

Glebe House is the residence of a family of five. Previously, the site was home to an old cottage, but this was demolished to make room.

The shape of the house was dictated by surrounding buildings, which also include a 1980s housing block.

To respect setbacks from these existing properties, as well as the sight lines from their windows, only one volume was possible on the site.

This shape is roughly four-sided in plan, but the northeast end is significantly wider than the southwest end, and there are some angular setbacks at the building’s corners.

Inside the building the layout is kept fairly simple, to allow the geometry of the arches to be fully expressed.

The ground floor is largely open-plan, containing a kitchen, dining area and living space, and a connecting sheltered terrace. This terrace is fronted by the only arched window with a traditional orientation.

Upstairs, rooms are organised either side of a central corridor, which is punctured by curved openings in three places. There are four bedrooms on this floor, including a master suite with an additional two floor openings.

“The double-height voids maximise light penetration into the centre of the dwelling and add to the sense of space,” added the studio.

Textural material finishes were chosen both inside and out. White-painted timber boards are arranged vertically across the facade, as well as in the living space and bedrooms, while the bathrooms feature hexagonal mosaic tiles.

Timber also features often, on flooring, partition walls and kitchen cabinets. Vertical timber mullions also provide the necessary support to the upside-down arched windows.

“The vertical mullions of the windows reinforce the verticality and rhythm of the cladding and help to abstract the facades of the dwelling,” said the architects.

Chenchow Little Architects often works on quirky residential projects. The studio was longlisted for a Dezeen Award in 2018 for its Darling Point Apartment.

Photography is by Peter Bennetts.

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MOFT is back with a reiteration of their invisible laptop stand that’s designed to be bigger, badder, and better than before. You may remember the invisible laptop stand from earlier last year. Designed to be as thin as a credit card, the folding stand would stick onto (and practically disappear into) the back of your laptop when closed. When opened, it would help angle your laptop at not one, but two separate positions, giving you an ergonomic setup with a well-ventilated machine. The original MOFT saw as many as 32,000 supporters pledging their contributions and practically validating the fact that there’s a very strong need for ergonomic considerations as far as laptops are concerned.

The MOFT Z was designed keeping the original brief in mind, but was made to push limits. It does come with the ability to prop your laptop at three angles, but that’s not all. The MOFT Z even transforms your sitting setup into a standing one, elevating your laptop up by as much as 10 inches (25 centimeters). The MOFT Z does this using an innovative Z-shaped folding system along with its signature PU and fiberglass material which allows the laptop stand to have a high strength to weight ratio while being thin enough to slide right into a Manila envelope.

The MOFT Z was designed to be used independently, without being stuck to the back of your laptop (like the original MOFT). Slightly larger than a sheet of A4 paper, and at nearly half an inch thick, the Moft Z can be kept on your desk, stored in a drawer, or a shelf, among folders. It works with all laptop brands and sizes, giving you a stand that can be propped up at 25°, 45°, and 60°, or elevated to a height of 10 inches to transition you from a sitting desk to a standing one. The Z-shaped structure allows the stand to comfortably take up to 22 pounds of weight. Just as a reference, the 15-inch Macbook Pro weighs a mere 4 pounds. The stand can be set up in all of 4-5 seconds, MUCH faster than it takes for a motorized standing desk to elevate from sitting to standing height.

The laptop’s biggest pro has historically been its convenience, while its biggest con was an unintended consequence of that convenience. As a result of its sleek, portable design, laptops tend to sacrifice on ergonomics, causing strain to your hands and neck with prolonged use. The MOFT Z corrects that wrong by not just offering ergonomic angle-adjustments, but also the ability to transition between sitting and standing desks, all while being thinner than your laptop… proving that you can have your cake and eat it too.

Designer: MOFT Studio

Click Here to Buy Now: $49 $69 (29% off). Hurry, only 5/3700 left! Raised over $315,000.

MOFT Z – Invisible Sit-stand Laptop Desk with 4 Positions

The MOFT Z is a lightweight and convenient sit-stand desk that helps you develop a healthy working posture in the easiest way, keeping you active and productive all day.

One-piece Paper Structure

With the origami-inspired Z structure, MOFT Z provides one mode for standing and three-mode for sitting. It’s designed to offer the heavy laptop user a maximum comfort with maximum freedom on location.

Designed with a continuous one-piece structure. No tool is needed for setup. Stand it up easily when you need it, and unfold it back quickly when you don’t.

As the same size as a magazine, store MOFT Z in any corner. Keep it “invisible” on your desk. So you won’t notice it when you don’t need it.

Less Sitting, Better Health

Sitting all day in the office can be stressful to both your body and mind. A quick switch to standing not only helps you stretch a bit for a relaxing back, but also refreshes your mind with a different angle to see your works.

2 Working Modes (Standing & Sitting)

At Standing Mode, MOFT Z offers a natural height for your palms to rest onto the laptop, and your eyes to look at the screen with no strain or tension.

At Sitting Mode, there are 3 modes to fit your own working style while sitting.

Natural typing with palms resting on your laptop.

Write/read flexible working set-up with peripherals.

Browsing on smaller devices like tablets.

Unlimited Work/Life Space

MOFT Z is the ONLY sit-stand desk that you can use on your laps.

Strong Enough for Heavy Duty

Apart from the rock-steady Z structure and triangle bottom support, the team used the fibre-glass to ensure the toughness of panels and a maximum of 22-lbs weight.

Click Here to Buy Now: $49 $69 (29% off). Hurry, Only 11/3670 Left! Raised over $311,000.

Basée à Los Angeles, Rachael Pease a été récompensée par plusieurs prix et exposée dans le monde entier. Dans ses œuvres, l’artiste dessine des arbres, qui présentent une sorte d’aspect mystique. En utilisant de nombreux détails, Pease donne un aspect particulier à ses modèles végétaux, et travaille avec minutie sur la texture des branches et des racines. Réalisées dans des structures ovales et rondes, les oeuvres offrent un côté subtilement plus léger et plus coloré avec le ciel, qui donne un beau contraste délicat avec le reste de la composition.

Dans sa série Frontières, elle met au premier plan tantôt les branches, tantôt les racines des arbres qu’elle représente. Leur aspect tortueux est en équilibre avec les espaces moins occupés. S’ils représentent des paysages déjà vus par l’artiste, cette dernière nous donne l’occasion de les voir à travers ses propres yeux, et ses interprétations. Pour ce faire, elle utilise de l’encre de Chine sur du mylar givré. 

Plus d’informations sur son travail, à découvrir sur son site internet. 

A green steel frame and shallow arched ceilings form the structure of Space Popular‘s geometric Brick Vault House in Valencia, Spain.

Projecting out from a sloped site in the suburb of New Santa Barbara, the four-bed dwelling is the first completed building by the multidisciplinary studio Space Popular.

Brick Vault House was built in collaboration with local architects Estudio Alberto Burgos and Javier Cortina Maruenda as a new-build prototype for a local developer.

Its unconventional superstructure – a 10-metre-high and 10-centimetre-thin steel frame with vaulted brick ceilings – is intended to be easily replicable to suit various different sized plots.

“They wanted a house that was ‘different’ but still fulfilled the usual expectations of a medium-scale detached home,” explained founders Lara Lesmes and Fredrik Hellberg.

“This first house was to serve as a prototype for a larger plot where they plan to develop more in the future,” the pair told Dezeen.

“We suggested a grid system with which we could resolve the typical details that would allow them to create different configurations in the following houses, avoiding replication but still maintain some level of standardisation.”

From street level, the dwelling resembles a small two-storey villa. However, following a set of stairs down the sloped site to home’s entrance reveals the gridded structure in its entirety.

This is designed by Space Popular to “create an arrival sequence” that gradually reveals the different scales and features of the house.

“We think having a variety of spatial qualities and views around which to structure your daily life is an important value in medium and large homes,” explained the studio.

“That the place where you sit in the morning for breakfast could have a different feel to where you spend your afternoon, or your summer versus winter routines could make use of spaces differently configured, is something we strive for.”

While providing the building’s structure, the green grid has also been developed to blur the boundary with the outside.

The grid is therefore half-filled with habitable white cubes, positioned to maximise solar gain and natural light, leaving space for a number of covered outdoor spaces.

“We wanted to create a unifying element between interior and exterior, as well as reveal the way the house is held up,” the studio said.

“We think one feels more at ease living in spaces where the way it all comes together can be easily discerned.”

This feeling of a blurred boundary with the outside is enhanced throughout the dwelling where its brick-vaulted ceilings extend outside over the outdoor areas.

The ceilings, after which Brick Vault House is named, are called Guastavino vaults – a version of Catalan vault named after a Spanish architect who introduced the technique to the US.

They were used by Space Popular as they are structural and self-supporting arches, and can be constructed by hand without the need for scaffolding or formwork.

Inside, no floor of Brick Vault House is the same. However, they are each built around a three-storey staircase in a bid to reduce the need for corridors.

The house has a mix of open-plan living areas and bedrooms. They are complete with deliberately simple finishes to retain focus on the belongings of the tenants.

Now complete, Brick Vault House’s modular system will be replicated on various other plots by the developer, and adapted to suit the specific sites.

Space Popular is a design studio founded by Lara Lesmes and Fredrik Hellberg in in 2013 in Bangkok, where for five years they taught architecture.

Other recently completed projects by the firm include a spa in Bangkok, and a video installation at the gate of a historic palace in Seoul.

Photography is by Mariela Apollonio styled with furniture by Teulat.

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Towering ceilings and shadowy dining areas within this restaurant in Shenzhen are meant to emulate the experience of traversing a mountain valley.

Located in Shenzhen’s Futian district, Voisin Organique is a farm-to-table restaurant that offers a contemporary take on traditional Chinese cuisine.

Various Associates was tasked with developing the restaurant’s interior, which needed to include a lounge area, fine-dining room and extensive kitchen that measured over 100 square metres.

Immediately struck by the venue’s soaring ceilings and dark, shadowy corners, the studio was inspired to create a dining experience that was similar to “wandering in a valley”.

Diners first walk into the lounge area, where drinks and casual meals can be enjoyed. Tables and comfy armchairs have been arranged to sit directly beneath a void in the ceiling that the studio compares to a gully – a deep channel formed in hillsides by running water.

Surfaces throughout have been covered in a matte-finish silver foil to create a hazy quality of light that “makes people feel like they’re in a mist”.

“Entering the lounge area, people may feel like they are suddenly brought into a valley, with steep hills in between,” explained the studio.

“The ceilings show great height discrepancy… some are as high as precipices, attracting people to look upwards.”

The angular ceiling recession that sits above the fine-dining area has been painted a deep shade of red to foster a “sense of occasion”.

More formal furnishings like jet-black bistro chairs and dark-wood tables have additionally been used to dress the space.

Lighting has been sparingly introduced into the restaurant.

Just a handful of spotlights pepper the ceiling and a simple LED strip has been fitted at the rear of the bar counter, illuminating the bottles on display.

A huge bronze screen has been incorporated into the restaurant’s facade, blocking any sunlight from filtering through to the interior.

At the bottom of the screen is a row of convex peepholes, allowing passersby on the street to glimpse into the venue and diners to look out – a playful feature that the studio hopes will enliven the otherwise “sedate” exterior.

Various Associates was founded in 2017 and is based in Shenzhen. Last year, the studio designed the interior of a womenswear store in China’s Chongqing district.

The space features mirrored partitions, fur-covered changing rooms and display areas enclosed by dramatic slanting walls.

Photography is by Shao Feng.

Project credits:

Design team: Various Associates
Project leader: Qianyi Lin
Main designer: Dongzi Yang
Designers: Suki, Jingjing Tang

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