Hasta La Ideas

Tucked away in the rainforest landscape near Southern Chile’s La Unión city is a tiny cabin called the 3×3 retreat. Designed by Estudio Diagonal Architects, the tiny home was designed to create a sense of cohesion between the ‘radical geometry’ of the structure, and the natural and organic essence of the site. The home was designed to seamlessly merge with the surrounding forest scape, allowing the site’s true beauty to shine through spectacularly.

Designer: Estudio Diagonal Architects

The cabin aims to function as a comfortable, cozy, and functional dwelling in the raw rainforest, without disturbing or causing harm to the forest in the least. It is placed on a slope, that subtly overlooks the Radimadi river. This was a genius move since it allows the cabin to provide its residents with stunning views of nature, and the lovely sounds of the nearby river. The 3×3 retreat measures three-by-three meters, which is the reason behind its intriguing and unique name. It is elevated 4.8 meters above the forest floor, with a double-height ceiling that magnificently adds on to its height.

The retreat has been distributed into three sections. The first section is the terrace which functions as a nifty spot for residents to meet up and have a barbecue in. The second section is the first floor or the ‘day floor’ which includes the kitchen, dining room, and living room. This space also features a double-height front window, which gives access to surreal views of the rainforest. The third section is the second floor or the ‘private floor’ which houses the bedroom, and bathroom. This section can be accessed only via a ladder, in an attempt to save space and make the section more private.

The entire cabin was constructed by using common and economical building materials, such as standard pre-dimensional pine wood. Local construction techniques were utilized, in an attempt to showcase their functionality and sustainability. The 3×3 retreat is a peaceful and serene haven that provides an oasis in an otherwise bold and dynamic forest. It takes immense care to not disturb the natural equilibrium and system of the rainforest it has been placed in. It’s a great escape from our hectic city lives if you’re looking for one!

The post This tiny sustainable cabin in the Chilean rainforest measures only 3×3 meters first appeared on Yanko Design.

Our smartphones have become more powerful and more sophisticated, but the batteries that power them haven’t really changed much in the past decade or so. They have grown larger, yes, but most of the improvements in battery life come from making other hardware more power-efficient instead. Sooner or later, you’ll have to reach for a charger, which is why many people carry power banks with them when they’re often on the go. That means having yet another thing in your bag that doesn’t serve any purpose except in an emergency. Multifunctional products are on the rise these days, so this particular power bank design combines a useful mobile device with a common lifestyle accessory and wraps it in an eco-friendly package.

Designer: Lenny Ming Lo

Checking yourself in front of a mirror is less about vanity and more about respect for others and yourself. You don’t always have to look like you stepped out of a parlor, though some would definitely prefer that, but you will probably want to look decent and at your best to help give yourself a confidence boost. For some people, checking themselves doesn’t just happen in front of a bathroom mirror, which is why compact mirrors have become a common item in some people’s bags, especially for ladies.

Mica is a lifestyle accessory that binds this item with yet another common thing in people’s bags these days: a small power bank to charge their phones in a pinch. You simply put down a compatible smartphone on its flat surface to begin charging, though you can also opt to charge via a USB cable if your phone doesn’t support wireless charging yet. Flipping the charger open reveals two mirrors on both sides, one with 3x magnification and the other with an LED light strip running around it.

More than just combining functions, however, Mica was thoughtfully designed to take inspiration from everyday objects. In particular, it looked at the basic form of bowls whose design hasn’t changed drastically over millennia. When folded shut, Mica looks like two flat bowls stacked on top of each other, giving it not only an interesting shape but also adding to its comfort of use and ergonomics.

Mica was also designed with sustainability in mind, which is a rather surprising detail that might be easily lost on buyers. Most compact mirrors and power banks employ a lot of non-sustainable materials, so it’s a surprise this product uses 80% recyclable plastic to help reduce its carbon footprint. It’s not exactly a ground-breaking new product, but Mica’s combination of two common items and its sustainability focus make it a unique and desirable accessory to have in your bag.

The post Sustainable wireless power bank is also a compact mirror in disguise first appeared on Yanko Design.

The children’s wardrobe should not only be highly functional but also spark the creativity and imagination of the kids. So, break away from using single colors and experiment with various design themes as well as low-contrast and high-contrast color combinations. Plus, making space for neatly storing clothes, toys, and books can be fun, especially in a themed space where the bedroom decor can reflect your child’s tastes, interests, and personality. Here are some stunning ideas that will give you some food for thought and allow you to go wild and creative with your imagination.

Designer: Elena Likhacheva

1. Cool Tones

The wardrobe is designed with cool blue and white tones to create a restful space. Each wardrobe panel is demarcated with different heights of white arches. Note that the lighter shade of blue makes the space appear much bigger.

Designer: alanbuchana

2. Wardrobe cum Window Seat

The floor-to-ceiling wardrobe encloses a window seat and optimizes vertical space. It houses a window seat that provides extra seating under cabinet storage and brings in natural light. Hues of sage green, mustard yellow, and white are smartly used to demarcate different sections of the wardrobe.

Designer: Carafina

3. Curved Silhouettes

Rounded edges introduce softness, while reflective mirror surfaces on the cabinets add quirkiness to this bedroom. Children are usually fascinated by some animals and see them as a source of inspiration. A fusion of pastel hues creates a fun element. A penguin on the wardrobe shutter and rabbit-shaped ears behind the drawer unit form an interesting design feature. Just see how the combination of opaque and reflective surfaces forms a beautiful contrast of color and materials and creates the illusion of a larger space.

Designer: Shiima Ibrahim

4. Under Cabinet Lighting

Compact yet functional, just see how the triangular form of the soft board has provision for under cabinet lighting and provides adequate task lighting for studying. In addition, the profile of the overhead cabinet moves a step further onto the wardrobe in the form of an inverted triangle in woody tones to smartly complete the look.

Designer: Shushan Vardanyan

5. Cozy Nook

Ideal for cozy seating, this custom-made hut-shaped seating nook adds depth and dimension to an all-white wardrobe. The wooden flooring and seating nook infuse warmth into the space.

Designer: Alpnach Cabinets

6. Rainbow Cheer

Just see how the rainbow colors add cheer and work as a strong design element in the form of vertical stripes on the wardrobe shutters. In addition, a semi-circular rainbow design is integrated into the ceiling to accentuate its look, while colorful corner shelves add life to the surrounding decor.

Designer: Interrio Concepts Studio

7. Ripples

Evocative of water ripples, a circular knob is surrounded by concentric rings, forming a prominent design feature on this blue-hued floor-to-ceiling wardrobe. It extends further to become a floating study unit and makes excellent use of the corner of this room. This design typically does not break the continuity of the wardrobe and makes multi-functional use of the corner space. It contrasts beautifully with the grey and white tone of the room.

8. Branches

The branch shape handles of the wardrobe infuse a forest vibe into the décor of this children’s room. Here the idea has moved a step further into the ceiling light fixture. The white and peach color palette brings a snowy wintery feel into the décor.

Designer: Ekaterina Domracheva

9. Pastel-hued Wardrobe

Every child loves colors! Bring in a good dose of color with a fusion of pink and blue hues of this children’s wardrobe, making it a perfect gender-neutral place. A niche is created within the center of the wardrobe that transforms into a sitting nook and imparts a neat, clutter-free look. The seating nook is surrounded by a curling display of open shelves for books and toy storage that is in perfect flow and rhythm. The open sections at the base of the wardrobe make provision for keeping storage boxes.

Designer: The Art Group by Daria Vasilkova

10. Wave Pattern

Featuring a myriad of shapes and forms, this sweet and sophisticated children’s bedroom includes curved surfaces that integrate the seating nook, built-in shelves, and closed cabinets into a single entity. The combination of peach, white, and grey creates a soothing color palette that infuses a calm and peaceful vibe into the space. The room is a haven of fun and play with plenty of open floor space.

Designers: Ebrahim Gamal, Basant Alaa

11. Space-Inspired Decor

The wardrobe shutters are inspired by rockets, satellites, and UFOs and are a perfect theme for aspiring astronauts, while a lego theme is introduced for the side wardrobes. Different sections of the wardrobe are perfect for tucking away toys, books, accessories, and clothes.

12. Wardrobe cum Study Unit

This well-designed study cum wardrobe in pastel hues is perfect for housing books, clothes, stationary, toys, and other knick-knacks. A fusion of closed and open storage with provision for adequate lighting creates an interesting design feature.

Designer: Mamka

13. Cubes

Cube-shaped open shelves combine with an all-white wardrobe and storage boxes to create an efficient storage solution. The white cabinet shutters are wonderfully contrasted with woody tones and hues of deep grey behind the TV unit.

Designer: Mamka

14. Bright Hues

In this, hues of green, white, and yellow are used to create an interesting layered pattern. Note that laminate finishes are easy to clean and maintain.

Designer: Bonito Designs

15. Color Blocking

Color blocking is a method of using two or more solid colors to create a bold look that stimulates the creative side of children. An exciting contrast of warm yellow and cool blue hues demarcates different wardrobe surfaces and brilliantly introduces color into a neutral-hued space. The low drawers offer practical storage and are easily accessible by the kids.

Designer: Moretti Compact

16. Calm Color Palette

Introduce an unusual combination of multiple colors within a single space. A fusion of earthy colors in muted tones combines with warm lighting, creating a restful space that does not look overwhelming.

17. Geometric Shapes

The arched design on the door and geometric-shaped cut-outs in the wardrobe shutters create a playful look in the children’s bedroom. The best part about a children’s bedroom is that it can easily handle contrasting colors and geometric shapes.

Designer: HAO Design

18. Sophisticated Color Scheme

This sophisticated bedroom incorporates grey and burgundy colors that blend with similar-hued wallpaper and a biophilic theme that brings nature indoors. All the design elements come together to create a well-coordinated color scheme.

Designer: Asia Design

19. Bubbly Pink

This girl’s bedroom has a magical and dreamy aesthetic achieved with a light and airy palette of pinks that prevents the wardrobes from looking bulky. Nature-inspired wallpaper accents the arched wall behind the seating and functions as an interactive backdrop within the bedroom. The décor exhibits a beautiful combination of modern and classical elements.

Designer: Daniel Design Studio

20. A Round Reading Nook

Reading is a wonderful habit, and the child’s room should be designed to encourage it! Give a private space to your little one to escape into a fantasy land while reading a book. Don’t miss the functional bunny rabbit-shaped wardrobe handles that add a fairy-tale vibe to the space.

Designer: Daniel Design Studio

So let your creative juices flow and add a playful flair to the wardrobes of your kid’s bedroom. A well-designed space looks great and is important for your child’s overall development.

The post Spectacular Ideas for Children’s Wardrobes first appeared on Yanko Design.

Soothing experimental jazz, a sunny new song, rock with an infusion of soul and more new music

N NAO: Saison des orages

Montreal-based singer-songwriter N NAO (aka Naomie de Lorimier) recently released the new album L’eau et les rêves, a dreamy, synth-inflected experimental pop record inspired by eco-feminism, the subconscious, rituals and nature. The lush opener, “Saison des orages,” is a nearly five-minute track whose shimmering and swelling acoustic strings captivate against elements that are more sparse. The song’s organic and moving soundscape perfectly sets up the album’s transcendent tone.

Georgia Anne Muldrow feat. Josef Leimberg: Nuke’s Blues

From the upcoming Sun Ra tribute album Nuclear War (set for release 26 May) comes Georgia Anne Muldrow’s “Nuke’s Blues,” featuring trumpet player Josef Leimberg. It’s just as beautifully chaotic and avant-garde as one would expect from a track created to reimagine and reinterpret music from Sun Ra’s “Nuclear War“—a song from 1982 that Ra wrote in response to the 1979 Three Mile Island accident, which was “the most serious accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history” according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Nuclear War EP is the first in the Red Hot & Ra series from the AIDS-focused non-profit Red Hot Organization.

Red Hot & Ra: Nuclear War by Red Hot Org

Nick Waterhouse: (No) Commitment

Ahead of the release of The Fooler (out 1 April) by critically acclaimed recording artist Nick Waterhouse, the California-based singer-songwriter has unveiled the final advance single, “(No) Commitment,” a slick, soulful rock track. Produced by Mark Neill in Valdosta, Georgia, the album is Waterhouse’s sixth. Of the album, he says, “Many of the stories come from a feeling of plasticity. What is memory? What is time? What is love between two human beings like in this imaginary city?”

Georgia: It’s Euphoric

Buoyant, playful and sunny, “It’s Euphoric” by London-based artist Georgia lives up to its name. Co-written and co-produced with Rostam (aka producer, musician, singer, songwriter and composer Rostam Batmanglij), the spirited song is the first one the duo crafted for Georgia’s upcoming third studio album, the 10-track Euphoric, out 28 July on Domino. Georgia (a singer, songwriter, producer and drummer) explains that she had to relinquish control to work with Rostam, “I wanted an adventure! Being a self-produced musician, it’s easy to get stuck on one thing or in one place.” That meant surrendering “to my issues, to my past, to my flaws and to the healing process.”

Pearl & The Oysters feat. Laetitia Sadier: Read The Room

Tinged with glam, surf and psychedelic rock, the new track from Parisian duo Pearl & The Oysters (aka Joachim Polack and Juliette Pearl Davis), “Read The Room,” features Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier. Short and sweet, the 2:22-minute song (from the pair’s upcoming album Coast 2 Coast) comes accompanied by a trippy, retro-leaning animated video by Mickey Miles. It’s lyrically spare but big on layers and atmosphere.

Daniel Rotem: Wave Nature

The title track from Israel-born, LA-based saxophonist and composer Daniel Rotem’s forthcoming LP, “Wave Nature” is a melodic, jazz-adjacent soundscape with an ethereal synth infusion. The textured, expressive arrangement debuts alongside a contemplative visual creation by Charlie Weinmann. Together, the song and music video offer a delightfully unusual, soothing escape.

Ouri: Twin

Montreal-based singer, musician, DJ and producer Ouri shares “Twin,” a track that’s at first led by acoustic guitar and featherweight vocals, before including glitchy, otherworldly effects. While layered, the track is also sparse and delightfully dissonant. Gentle and unpredictable, “Twin” was partly inspired by, and samples, Vegyn & Danny L Harle’s gorgeous 2022 track “Britnaeys new baby.” Ouri says, “I was driving every day, screaming/singing in the car my new song to my love, while listening to Vegyn & Danny L Harle’s ‘Britnaeys new baby.’ To the point where I couldn’t imagine the song without the sample.”

Listen Up is published every Sunday and rounds up the new music we found throughout the week. Hear the year so far on our Spotify channel. Hero image courtesy of Ardhira Putra + Pearl & The Oysters

Zurich studio Appels Architekten has created the Wooden House by the Lake, a home in southeast Germany with a cross-laminated timber structure and black-stained cladding.

Comprising boxy volumes topped with a staggered single-pitched roof, the mass-timber house was entirely prefabricated before being assembled on the forested site close to a lake in Bavaria.

Aiming to take advantage of the views of the surrounding nature, Appels Architekten designed the home with plenty of open spaces and large openings.

“Our aim was to let the open space unfold horizontally and vertically, bringing light deep into the house – even in winter – as well as drawing views into the garden, the treetops, and across the lake from any vantage point,” studio founder Kaspar Appels told Dezeen.

Wooden House by the Lake has a cross-laminated timber (CLT) structure clad in vertical spruce battens that have been stained black.

The CLT modules were designed to allow for shorter assembly times and the future reuse of individual components.

“Wood construction allows for a high degree of prefabrication off site compared to conventional solid construction, and thus shorter assembly times and fewer construction site trips,” said the studio.

“The consequent separation of building components facilitates repair work and would enable demolition with greater material separation for a maximum degree of reuse and recycling of the used building components.”

Inside, many of the wooden walls are painted white to brighten the rooms while ensuring that the texture of the timber remains visible.

“We wanted to show the construction wood openly, but avoid that ‘sauna atmosphere’ that many wooden houses have,” said Appels.

“The light colour was important to us because bringing in natural light between the many large trees played an important role in the project. The minimalistic colour scheme reinforces the impression of the abstract sculptural interior of the stacked boxes,” he continued.

To preserve the materiality of the timber under the paint, Appels Architekten chose a finish that highlights its natural texture. The choice was made by the studio after it spent several months observing the effect of various paints and finishes on the material.

“The individual slats of the cross-laminated timber get natural cracks and the joints between the slats also remain in motion,” said Appels. “We have therefore experimented with different paints to find one that does not cover the natural structure of the wood.”

The rooms of the Wooden House by the Lake are arranged across its connected cubic volumes. Bedrooms are located on the top floor, while the living and dining spaces occupy the ground floor.

The ground floor also houses a kitchen that can be fully opened to the garden. Large openable windows and sliding doors elsewhere on this level cater for further connection to the outside.

There are additional rooms in the basement while, outside, a stone-paved garden features a curved staircase that runs through the landscape.

Appels Architekten was founded in Zurich by Kaspar and Nikolas Appels in 2018. Other German houses recently featured on Dezeen include a timber holiday cabin in a forest and a reconstructed thatch cottage with a glazed extension.

The photography is by Florian Holzherr.

The post Appels Architekten prefabricates black house in rural Bavaria  appeared first on Dezeen.