Hasta La Ideas

EBBA Architects has completed a house extension in east London that combines brutalist-style materials with details inspired by a classic Roman villa.

The project, called Cast House, is a rear extension to a Victorian terraced house, creating an enlarged room incorporating a kitchen, a dining space and a conservatory.

EBBA‘s design features a number of distinct details, including brown pigmented concrete surfaces, wood-panelled windows, a vaulted ceiling and a climbing-plant wall.

The aim was to combine highly textured utilitarian materials, typical of brutalist architecture, with a more classic formal arrangement.

“We started with two images in mind,” said architect Benni Allan, founder of the London-based studio.

“One was of a garden framed by a heavily textured sculpted interior, and the other was of a central space in a Roman villa, akin to Can Lis by Jørn Utzon,” he told Dezeen, referring to a famous 1970s summerhouse in Mallorca.

“The ambition was to be able to use honest materials with simple detailing, as a way of stretching the client’s budget.”

Cast House belongs to a young couple with a newborn baby and a pet dachshund.

The new layout aims to provide them with practical spaces that can be used in different ways, for hosting guests, working from home or downtime.

Changes in ceiling height and floor level subtly divide three zones.

The kitchen is more intimate, with the vaulted ceiling overhead, while the adjacent dining space is more generously proportioned, with a skylight bring in plenty of daylight from above.

Three steps down is a flexible space at the same level as the garden. A large pivoting glass door provides access to the terrace beyond.

“The layout was intended to create small pockets that one can nestle into,” said Allan.

The name Cast House refers to the subtly brown-toned concrete elements, which the architect said were constructed using a pigmented eco-cement.

Exposed both inside and out, these simple columns give the structure a sense of solidity.

Similar earthy tones feature elsewhere, in the stained timber joinery, brickwork flooring, clay plaster wall finishes and a cork feature wall.

“We wanted to use materials that would add warmth to the interior,” said Allan.

“The orientation of the house allows the sun to flood the extension at all hours of the day, which helps the materials capture the light and change throughout the day.”

EBBA is a newly established practice, with recent projects including a warehouse apartment and the Construction Skills School at London’s Olympic Park.

Cast House continues the studio’s ethos of “finding ways of making more with less”. The project also involved refurbishing the rest of the house.

The extension is completed with an addition by its owners, one of whom works as an interior design stylist. The couple installed a criss-crossing wire grid on one wall, providing a support system for climbing plants.

“Both are keen gardeners and big believers of having nature throughout the home,” added Allan. “It is a finishing touch they have been working towards since they moved in.”

The photography is by Nick Dearden.

The post Cast House extension by EBBA features brown concrete and vaulted ceiling appeared first on Dezeen.

If you’re a gamer, you understand the desire to have a screen that can give you a sense of immersion into the world you’re entering. If you’re both a gamer and an avid watcher of all things movies and TV (and music videos as well), then you’ll understand even more the joy of having a screen that can fit all of these things and can even adjust according to your desired “shape”. The arrival of flexible and bendable OLED displays like from LG Display have made this possible.

Designer: Hongseok Seo

The Gaming OLED Display is a concept commissioned by LG Display to showcase what’s possible with its bendable OLED through their differentiated technology. With this tech, you can freely change the shape of the display without needing a backlight or a liquid crystal display. This particular concept uses this bendable quality and turn it into a monitor for gamers and video viewers alike. It’s 42 inches wide and with just a touch of a button, you’ll be able to turn it from a flat screen for your video viewing into a bent screen for gaming and vice versa.

If you want a more immersive quality to your game or even your viewing of your favorite movie, you can just tap a button and the screen can bend up to 1,000R. If you prefer to watch something on a flat screen, you only have to press the button to return it to its flat-panel display. It also of course brings you great resolution whatever shape you want it to be. The screen itself is mounted on a small stand that can fit on your desk and where the touch controls are located.

They also said that this has the fastest and most accurate response time when it comes to bending your screen according to your desired shape. It would be nice to have this on my desk or living room, even if I’m not really a gamer. Having the option to have a bent or flat screen is something I’d like to have when I’m watching high-quality videos. Or maybe I should also start gaming to make this make more sense.

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For people who like saving things up like plastic bags and other single-use bags for future use, chances are you actually won’t be using more than half of them anytime soon. You end up having a lot of plastic bags inside other plastic bags until you finally decide to get rid of them, therefore adding up to all the plastic pollution if you don’t bring it to a recycling center. Not all places have a center nearby so they most likely end up in the trash and don’t get recycled. What if you had a machine in your house that can help you take a convenient first step in the recycling process?

Designer: Clear Drop

That’s the idea behind the Soft Plastic Compactor, a machine that is meant for houses or small buildings that turn these plastic bags and other soft plastics into bricks. These bricks can then be stored and eventually brought to recycling centers where they will be broken apart and then sorted and eventually be recycled. Turning them into bricks will make it easier to transport and turned over to those who actually know how to further recycle these materials.

The SPC looks like a trash compactor and should not take up that much space in your kitchen or wherever you sort your trash. It’s also pretty easy to use as you just need to feed in the plastic bags and other soft plastics into the machine and it will then turn them into a solid cube. What actually holds them together is a thin layer of melted plastic. The final product look like just any other bricks expect that it’s made from plastic. There’s no other use for the bricks except to bring to these recycled centers.

Clear Drop says that they will be working with recycling facilities first to help them understand how they can break open these bricks. They will not be selling the Soft Plastic Compactors without the participation of said facilities. They also assured users that there will not be any unhealthy fumes that do not meet the safety regulations. This is a handy device to have if you have a lot of plastic or you regularly have them at your home.

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Stories from the year that demonstrate how change was and always is possible

Whether it comes to fighting climate change, giving back to marginalized groups or uplifting the LGBTQ+ community, there are always creatives and companies that focus on social and political justice. As we report on these movements, we tag each story with the words Good Measure, curating a resource for ourselves and our readers to refer to whenever hope, encouragement and empowerment is needed. This year—between the Russo-Ukrainian War, the overturning of Roe v Wade and attacks on queer people’s rights—these stories rose to the occasion, reminded us to stay resilient and showed us how to keep going. The following are a few favorites from 2023 that demonstrate how change was and always is possible.

Walid Raad’s “Festival of Gratitude” Uses Birthday Cakes to Examine Worldwide Fascism

On 28 July, the same day former and controversial president of Venezuela Hugo Chávez was born, art series Festival of Gratitude launched with decadent birthday cakes for Vladimir Putin, Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and Chavez himself. The mystifying NFT project is the inaugural series from new art platform Artwrld and stems from artist and co-founder of the platform Walid Raad whose performances, installations and photography often address politics. Through ostentatious and seemingly absurd digital cakes, Raad’s festival celebrates the birthday of tyrannical and controversial world leaders as a means of depicting the global state of fascism in an incisive manner… Read More.

Inspired by California and Owned by Women, LA’s Future Gin

Within the expansive category of gin distillation, few embody the juicy and refreshing taste of California and even fewer are fully owned and operated by women. These distinctions are just part of what makes Future Gin so exceptional. Founded by four friends—Amy Atwood, Mary Bartlett, Freya Estreller and Natasha Case—Future Gin bottles the 50+ combined years of expertise in the food, wine and spirits industry that the team holds. Together the quartet created one of the first fully women-owned and -operated distilled gins in existence, an optimistic spirit in taste and values… Read More.

Meal-Delivery Platform Shef Empowers Immigrants and Refugees

When Alvin Salehi worked as a senior technology advisor under President Obama, he visited the Syrian border to learn more about the refugee crisis and, in doing so, found himself looking into something of a mirror. As a child of Iranian immigrants who came to the US in the 1970s, Salehi knew firsthand that whether one has the privilege of a safe and stable life or not begins with where you happen to be born. Having grown up in motel rooms, watching his family struggle to build a new life in a new country, Salehi doesn’t take that privilege lightly. So when he met with seven-year-old refugee kids who looked almost identical to him, he saw himself and his younger brother reflected in them. “After a trip like that, there’s just so much that compels you to want to do something to help,” he tells us… Read More.

The Ali Forney Center’s We Are Family Dance-A-Thon

On Trans Day of Remembrance, this 20 November, the Ali Forney Center (AFC)—the nation’s largest non-profit committed to housing, feeding and supporting homeless LGBTQ+ youth—will host the WE ARE FAMILY DANCE-A-THON at the Knockdown Center in Queens, NY. Funds from the culinary-oriented, energetic and optimistic event will directly benefit AFC’s meals program and the organization’s critical efforts at assisting the food insecure… Read More.

Cxffeeblack’s Mission to Decolonize The Coffee Industry

Coffee is a $430 billion dollar industry amassed off the labor of Black and Brown people. Yet, African countries—where the plant has always grown or was forced to grow due to colonialism—make almost two percent of that money cumulatively. While the industry has increasingly tried to re-think its practices, particularly where sustainability is concerned, it has yet to reconcile the history of violence, theft and slavery that built one of the most consumed beverages in the world. On a mission to rectify this is the Memphis, Tennessee-based brand Cxffeeblack… Read More.

Chef Nornie Bero Makes Australian Native Ingredients Accessible

A professional chef for more than 25 years, Nornie Bero—who is from the Komet People of Mer Island in the Torres Strait—has just released her first cookbook, Mabu Mabu. The book is named after her company Mabu Mabu, which comprises a catering service, small-batch products and two venues—Tuckshop and Big Esso—in Melbourne, Australia, but that name itself originates from a phrase in Meriam Mir (spoken in the Eastern Islands of the Torres Strait, and Bero’s first language) which means “help yourself.” Mabu Mabu’s overall mission is to make Indigenous food and Australian native ingredients accessible. More than that, Bero wants to change people’s perspectives and set an example for kids who grew up like her… Read More.

Interview: Photographer Vlad Zorin on His Powerful Debut Book, With Love From Russia

Moscow-based fashion and fine art photographer Vlad Zorin published his debut book, With Love from Russia, in December 2021. Across 256 pages, through intimate portraits of queer men and deeply personal corresponding text about their sexual awakenings, the photographer explores the questions “What is sex?” and “What role did it play in defining me as a person?” Zorin—whose debut photographic exhibition, Hare, was held at Cube.Moscow in 2019—uses his artistry to upend stereotypes and break down barriers in a country devoid of protections for the LGBTQ community… Read More.

Grain’s “Clover” Collection Reveals The Playfulness and Sustainability of Cork

Comprising a series of floral-shaped side and coffee tables made from renewable and carbon positive cork, Clover is an elegant and playful execution of sustainable furniture—but it’s also much more. Crafted by Chelsea and James Minola’s Washington-based design practice, Grain, and debuting in NYC at Jean Lin’s design co-op, Colony (on display until 30 September), the collection weaves together innovative materials and technological research while paying tribute to nature’s resources. The culmination is an exhibition that harmonizes organic structure and substance… Read More.

Experimental Farm Network’s Rare, Unique Produce Fights Climate Change

While an array of grains, vegetables and fruits line grocery stores, farmers markets and health food stores, they are mainly alike, with a limit on their taste and quality. For one, these selections always adhere to conventionally popular produce—the same species of strawberries, avocados or lettuce, for example. While these selections can vary in quality with organic and natural options, in reality many of them come from the same place, as the majority of the world’s seeds are owned by a select few companies… Read More.

The World’s Only Single-Varietal Rum Distillers, Kō Hana, Revive Hawaiian Sugarcane

In 600 CE, Polynesians set sail for the Hawaiian islands on canoes and brought with them select varietals of sugarcane. This was centuries before Christopher Columbus ever got to the New World and spread the crop throughout Europe. Hawaiians valued the plant holistically and medicinally, using its sweet juice to maintain gum and teeth health, relying on its leaves for thatching, and honoring the plant in ancient religious and love ceremonies. It’s a history and concept of sugar that existed long before European contact—a legacy that Kō Hana seeks to celebrate… Read More.

Hero image courtesy of Patrick Arias for the Ali Forney Center

Located in a vibrant green forest in Connecticut, is a beautiful wooden cabin that functions as a quaint home for a family of writers. Occupying 1200 square feet, the home has a minimal environmental footprint, and is a secluded retreat in the East Coast forest. The home is located in a rather remote location and can be reached either by foot or via light utility vehicles.

Designer: Scalar Architecture

Designed by Scalar Architecture, the dark-green cabin is built entirely from wood, except for the pier foundations, and a leaf-resilient siding. It seems as if the cabin is floating over the sloped terrain it is positioned on. The home is marked by large openings which enable the residents to connect with nature. It features a concave roof surface that collects water and light, and controls ventilation, creating a living environment that is warm and comfortable.

As you walk towards the cabin, you are welcomed by a tiny staircase that leads to a semi-protected porch. The porch provides access to the interiors of the home, which include a living and dining space, two bedrooms, and a loft. The multiple large openings in the home add to the impression that it is hovering above the ground and create a deeper connection between the indoors and the outdoors.

“Exposing a boulder on the ground, the courtyard or impluvium functions in a number of ways: It establishes a relationship between the indoors, the porch, and the forest; it produces a clearing for contemplation within the clearing of the forest for the house; and, it elevates the process of rain and snow nurturing the forest by framing it, augmenting it by the surface of the roof, and, articulating all spaces around it,” said the architecture firm.

Besides being built from wood, the home is heavily insulated with sustainable materials. The openings in the home address the southern solar exposure, the northern and northeastern winter winds, and a local summer southwestern wind.

The post This dark green cabin floats above a sloping terrain in a forest in Connecticut first appeared on Yanko Design.