Hasta La Ideas

The ingenious expandable camper comes with a slide-out expansion option right above where the lift-up tailgate galley would be. This turns the compact teardrop into a full-sized caravan to accommodate a family of four. When completely expanded the camper makes enough room for a master bedroom, indoor kitchen, wet bathroom and a sizeable dining area. So, we are talking of the best of both worlds – the compact footprint of a teardrop trailer and the airy layout of a large caravan!

Demand for camper trailers is skyrocketing lately, as more and more people are fancying adventurous life on the road for a fortnight or even for life. This has had a surge in the number of camper trailers in production as makers try to fulfill the unique set of demands of customers who won’t settle for anything ordinary. The Campervan Raptor XC teardrop camper by Hunter Nature is another prime example a rugged camper that has plenty of room thanks to its ingenious design.

Hunter Nature is fairly new in the market debuting its first caravan in 2019 with a vision to plug the loopholes other campers in the market avoid or are unable to address. They started off with small all-terrain trailers in a more conventional body, and now they’ve taken the big leap in the form of the Raptor XC expandable camping trailer. According to them, the expandable camper is made to be towed with a Land Rover Defender or Toyota Land Cruiser – of course, it can be towed with other capable 4×4 off-roaders too!

That’s a perfect case scenario for an escapade to the quaint campsite by the river bank. The trip can be a short one or even a longer expedition because Raptor XC gives the owners plenty of options, and does not restrict the adventurous lifestyle. Keeping in mind the teardrop camper will bear the brunt of the elements, there’s a sandwich of exterior and interior aluminum walls on the XPS insulation. To make the ride smooth on all terrains, the shape-shifting camper is loaded with BFGoodrich all-terrain tires in alloy wheels. The independent suspension system should take on most of the imperfections encountered on the tarmac and on dirt trails.

The expandable section of the camper can be controlled manually or owners can also go for the remote-controlled motor system option too. In fully expanded configuration the Raptor XC increases the trailer’s body size from 15.7 feet to 22.6 feet. That is quite a roomy area for adventure seekers to put good use to once they park the trailer for a night of rest in a remote location away from civilization. The slide-out area is the master bedroom by default with overhead shelves, and the panoramic dual lights and side windows let plenty of sunshine inside.

This section is separated by a doorway leading to the main cabin which is equally airy having the L-shaped dining lounge behind the kitchenette loaded with a dual-burner gas stove, sink, L-shaped steel counter and 75-L fridge. Here the scissor-lifted table turns into a small bed for a guest or kid. There’s enough space for a private wet bath that has a toilet, sink, and shower. Raptor XC has 160-W solar panels on top that feed the 120-Ah battery, and the 120 L stainless steel tank along with the 100 L wastewater aluminum tank suffice the needs. For a price tag of approximately $43,900, the expandable camper is not a bad deal considering other similar trailers carry a price tag much higher than that!

Designer: Hunter Nature

Click Here to Buy Now!

The post This expandable teardrop camper gives adventure seekers plenty of interior room to socialize first appeared on Yanko Design.

Interior designer Kelly Wearstler has put an architectural spin on a Christmas classic, creating a gingerbread house in a California modernist style.

Wearstler designed the limited-edition Gingerbread Dreamhouse in collaboration with pastry chef Mark Tasker from New York restaurant Balthazar and entrepreneur Richard Christiansen from food retailer Flamingo Estate, with all proceeds going to charity.

“Gingerbread houses are such an iconic and traditional staple of the holiday season but Richard Christiansen of Flamingo Estate and I wanted to give them a classic Californian contemporary spin,” Wearstler told Dezeen.

Instead of the typical gabled cottage, Wearstler’s gingerbread house has the intersecting flat planes of a low-lying modernist home. Porthole windows and a white checkerboard icing facade, with varying sizes of checks, complete the look.

“We drew inspiration from many iconic mid-century and brutalist homes in Southern California, particularly Rudolph Schindler and Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic architecture,” Wearstler said.

The structure is built entirely from gingerbread biscuits with icing as the bonding material.

While coming up with a design that would be strong and stable under these constraints was challenging, Wearstler found that mid-century style was actually perfectly suited to the task.

“The main challenge was designing an incredible house that could be easily assembled in the classic gingerbread style,” said Wearstler. “We really leaned into the flat-pack, simple planes of modernist architecture and it truly all fell into place.”

“In the end, we designed a house we would actually like to live in,” she continued. “We often think of gingerbread homes existing in cold, alpine climates but ours is a desert home with sharp lines and a modern attitude.”

One hundred Gingerbread Dreamhouses have been made in total, and are available to purchase via the Flamingo Estate website for US$650 (£490).

All proceeds will go to Create Structure, a charity that aids communities to rebuild after natural disasters.

Wearstler founded her design studio in 1995 and is best known for her hotel projects, such as San Francisco Proper, which combines vintage European design for an eclectic look.

Her recent work has included the renovation of a 1950s Malibu beachfront cottage and a virtual house-garage hybrid designed for basketball player LeBron James’ electric Hummer.

The post Kelly Wearstler creates modernist Gingerbread Dreamhouse appeared first on Dezeen.

Residents at the Embassy Gardens development in southwest London claim its controversial Sky Pool is too cold to be used in winter, despite heating costs of £450 a day.

There are calls for the transparent swimming pool, which is suspended 35 metres in the air between two buildings, to be closed during the colder months to save money and energy.

“We are livid,” said one Embassy Gardens leaseholder, who did not wish to be named.

“The outside temperature has obviously dropped, but the Sky Pool is still open to residents and currently uncovered. We’re basically heating the sky.”

Dezeen has heard from three separate residents that the Sky Pool is now only being used by a small handful of people, though the developer of Embassy Gardens, Ballymore, said that the pool area was accessed more than 100 times in the last week.

“It costs roughly £450 a day to heat that pool before adding the costs for two staff including a security guard,” the resident added.

“It’s also only being used now by a handful of residents because the water’s actually quite cold.”

Ballymore’s running cost estimates for the Sky Pool put the total figure at £720,000 for 2021 including £164,250 for heating, with residents footing the bill via service charges.

“The water was barely warm enough to stay in the water for more than 5-10 minutes, even at the far end where the warm water jets are,” a recent post on an Embassy Gardens residents’ Facebook group said.

“Not that I’d normally rush to swim in an outdoor pool 13 floors up in the winter… but it’s been billed as a year-round facility that we’re paying to be open and staffed by two people.”

The pool is usually covered at nighttime to mitigate heat loss but has been left uncovered for the past fortnight after the cover became damaged and was removed for repairs.

It’s understood that the Embassy Gardens Residents Association plans to ask Ballymore at their next meeting to close and cover the Sky Pool for the rest of winter, with the water warmed just enough to prevent freezing.

Developer claims pool “remains popular”

Energy prices in the UK are set to rise dramatically next year amid record wholesale costs for suppliers and the raising of a government-enforced cap on bills, meaning that heating the pool could be even more expensive in 2022.

The Sky Pool gained huge attention after being launched in June, as aerial footage of it being enjoyed by residents on a hot, sunny day went viral.

But the facility came in for heavy criticism over the fact that affordable housing residents at Embassy Gardens are not allowed to access it, with the Financial Times’ architecture critic Edwin Heathcote branding the Sky Pool “a disaster that’s already happened”.

Architecture studio HAL, which designed the Sky Pool and claims it to be a world-first, previously told Dezeen it wanted to provide “a swim like no other”.

“The Sky Pool remains a popular amenity for residents during colder periods, including having been used more than 100 times in the last seven days alone,” said a spokesperson for Ballymore, which also manages the development.

The spokesperson subsequently clarified that this figure is based on the number of times the pool terrace has been accessed.

Some Embassy Gardens residents have expressed unhappiness with the quality of services at the development in the context of rising charges – which now stand at £6,500 a year for a two-bedroom flat, with that money going towards the running of the Sky Pool as well as other facilities including a separate indoor pool.

“Independent analysis of service charges across our London estate found that Ballymore service charges are competitive, represent good value for money and are, in the vast majority of schemes, in line with or better than market comparables – including at Embassy Gardens itself,” the Ballymore spokesperson said.

HAL did not respond to Dezeen’s request for comment.

Masterplanned by UK architecture studio Farrells, the 15-acre Embassy Gardens estate is in London’s Nine Elms district which has seen massive development activity over recent years and includes the Kieran Timberlake-designed US Embassy.

The photography is by Shelley Montez.

The post Residents “livid” over £450 daily cost of heating Sky Pool appeared first on Dezeen.

An agave plant fibre used to produce coffee bags could be repurposed in the furniture industry, according to Design Academy Eindhoven graduate Rosana Escobar.

Fique is primarily turned into coffee bags to be exported from Colombia all around the world, but Escobar believes the material is not being used to its full potential.

By identifying “missed opportunities” in the production process, the designer has found sources of waste fique fibres, which she believes could be used for crafting furniture and textiles.

To demonstrate this, she has used the material to create a bench, stool and rug.

“This is a huge industry that completely relies on another industry – it relies on the industry of coffee – and this makes this material very vulnerable,” Escobar explains in a video.

“I wanted to give a voice to this material, to produce new products that could give new narratives and could make us connect with the fibre differently,” she said.

Escobar developed the project, titled Unravelling the Coffee Bag, for the bachelor degree programme at Design Academy Eindhoven (DAE) in the Netherlands.

Originally from Bogotá, the designer wanted to look more closely at a material that is embedded in Colombia’s history, but which has become increasingly mono-functional.

She felt it was important to develop ideas that fit into the material’s existing lifecycle, rather than place more demand on an already strained farming industry.

To do this, she investigated each stage in the fibres’ journey from plant to product.

“In all these different stages I found opportunities where waste is produced and discarded,” she said.

The first opportunity takes place when the fique fibres are harvested. As the material is combed, it creates a “kind of fluff” byproduct, which Escobar has turned into felt.

The designer also discovered that coffee bags are largely disposed of after use. She proposes unravelling the woven fabric to create hair-like fibres.

Escobar used the felt to create her rug, while her bench and stool are made from the recycled yarns.

These designs were developed in collaboration with local fique producers, building on their existing craft techniques.

“I think it is necessary for new products to come out of this industry and to be produced locally,” Escobar told Dezeen. “Because if raw materials are exported, to be processed elsewhere, the value is only gain on the other end.”

Escobar presented the project as part of Design Indaba’s Antenna showcase