Hasta La Ideas

Outside of Asheville, North Carolina, a luxurious and ethereal way to experience the outdoors

Sophistication and nuance may not be words typically associated with wilderness dwellings. And yet, sitting along the Appalachian Trail, surrounded by dense forest and natural hot springs, Mirror Hotel possesses those characteristics and more. Designed in collaboration with hotel owner Joanna Cahill and architect John Yurko, the mirror-clad structures, which are set to open this May, reduce their visual impact by disappearing into 55-acres of surrounding wildlife in Marshall, North Carolina, 20 miles north of Asheville.

Crisp lines and 15-foot-tall windows surround the cabins, making the landscape the main character with unobstructed views that complement the minimalist architecture. Keeping natural surroundings in mind, all mirrored panels are designed with a special coating that lets birds and other wildlife know there is a physical barrier. And to keep light pollution at a minimum, low lighting is used whenever possible.

Diverging from Doug Aitken’s “Mirage” art installation, a mirrored sculpture of a home, Mirror Hotel’s mind-bending invisible cabins are intended to be put to use as evidenced by the full kitchen, bathroom, HVAC system and high-speed internet. Creating a gentle dialogue with nature, the soothing warm wood elements throughout the house (including custom cabinetry, furniture and built-in beds) present ethereal moments that are undeniably of the mountains.

A nod to Scandinavian and industrial interiors, the living space is injected with hygge, a Danish feeling of coziness and comfortable living that induces a perception of happiness, well-being and satisfaction. The hotel’s promise to “deliver the restorative power of nature while providing the ultimate level of comfort and ease,” is further unlocked through the hot tub, patio, pizza oven, pergola and outdoor dining area at each of the 18 cabins.

Despite the grandeur of these touches, the cabins remain decidedly anchored in a serene setting thanks to the creativity of Yurko and Cahill, who founded Asheville Glamping. After opening a glamping camp in the Southeast US in 2012, Cahill witnessed the replenishing power of being immersed in the outdoors. The goal with Mirror Hotel is to “take everything our guests love about glamping and to remove all of the things they don’t. Disappear into nature while feeling the embrace of 5-star luxury.”

Guests will also have the opportunity to view New Zealand Kunekune piglets. This naturally friendly and mild-mannered miniature breed of pigs are raised on the property. Talks provide another opportunity to mingle architecture and ecosystem.

The hotel’s agrarian DNA is revealed in both the elevated cabins, which have over 1,500 square feet of living space and three bedrooms, and the grounded cabins which feature a 600-square-foot, loft-style layout that comfortably sleeps four, with an upstairs bedroom and a pull-out sofa bed.

The property is currently taking bookings for stays in May and beyond, during what Cahill calls a 30-day VIP booking event reserved for email subscribers. During this period, rates will be reduced by up to 50 percent. Elevated cabins start at $595 on weekdays and $795 on weekends, and Grounded cabins start at $299 on weekdays and $495 on weekends.

Images courtesy of Mirror Hotel

Computers might be powerful machines that help improve our lives, but it’s almost a bit ironic that their extended use can actually cause us harm instead. Keyboards and mice are critical in being able to properly use these computers, especially desktop computers, but their designs are innately uncomfortable and even harmful to use for long periods of time. There are, of course, newer and more ergonomic designs for these devices, but those often require changing familiar habits and retraining muscle memory. For the rest of us, we have to settle for non-ergonomic mice, but fortunately, there are still ways to mitigate potential injury. This mouse pad, for example, comes with wrist support, but it changes the design quite a bit to improve the product’s value, both in functionality as well as aesthetics.

Designer: Wonjun Jo

Rendered on KeyShot: Click Here to Download Your Free Trial Now!

Mouse pads with wrist support aren’t exactly uncommon these days, and they even come in all sorts of designs and appearances. Although there are some people that doubt the effectiveness of these accessories, it’s still better than keeping our mouse hands unsupported all the time. The problem with the typical design of these wrist supports, however, is that the materials they use aren’t exactly made for longevity. Foams deform and become dirty, while gels burst and become useless. Mouse pads are cheap, of course, but this only means they contribute to unnecessary waste.

The Curble Mouse Pad is a unique design that sort of does away with the middle man in providing necessary elevation and support for the wrist. Instead of some material like foam or gel underneath some fabric, it uses a sort of foamy material that is hollow inside and divided into strips. The result is a more resilient type of material that can retain its form regardless of the pressure exerted on it while still remaining comfortable.

The end result is a mouse pad with a distinct design that’s not only built for durability but also for hygiene. The mouse pad itself is designed to be easily cleaned, and the wrist support can be detached for easier washing. In fact, the detachable design of the wrist support makes it possible to use it without the mouse pad part, something that could be more convenient on cramped desks or public spaces.

The modular design of the mouse pad is also useful in mixing and matching different colors and designs, which opens the door to potential branding and collaborations. Curble is definitely an interesting twist to the common and bland mouse pad design that achieves a distinct appearance while also improving its usability and longevity.

The post This mouse pad with wrist support adds durability and hygiene by removing parts first appeared on Yanko Design.

From a cantilevered rooftop pool in Marbella to a brutalist home with a swim-up lagoon, here are eight houses that don’t relegate swimming pools to the garden.

Most of these residences are located in balmy climates such as Mexico or Singapore that allow living spaces to be opened up to the elements – and with that to direct pool access.

But we’ve also included in a house in rainy Seattle that belongs to an avid swimmer and features three different water features.

Read on for our roundup of homes that integrate swimming pools into their architecture:

Casa Aviv, Mexico, by CO-LAB

Tall, pivoting glass doors enable the double-height living room of this villa on the Yucatán coast to be opened up onto a crystalline swimming pool, with a small flight of stairs allowing swimmers to step straight into the water.

The neighbouring primary bedroom overlooks the pool via a protruding window and also has direct access via a small private patio.

Find out more about Casa Aviv ›

Casa B, Malta, by Architrend Architecture

Rather than being hidden away, the glass-walled rooftop pool of this Maltese home is visible from the living spaces below as well as from the street, thanks to strategic cut-outs in the building’s concrete frame.

The pool is connected to a small deck on the fourth floor of the residence, with views towards the coast and the capital Valletta.

Find out more about Casa B ›

Casa Xólotl, Mexico, by Punto Arquitectónico

When Punto Arquitectónico renovated this single-storey home in Mérida, the Mexican studio decided to split the building into two separate volumes divided by a walled-in courtyard.

Here, a shallow pool now flows around the building’s original stone walls and its refurbished cistern, allowing inhabitants to swim right up to an outdoor lounge.

Find out more about Casa Xólotl ›

Lake Washington Shores Residence, USA, by Garret Cord Werner

Set on an island in the middle of Lake Washington, this home belongs to an avid swimmer who wanted to live close to the water.

With this aim, local studio Garret Cord Werner added a reflective pond, a lap pool and a jacuzzi across two different levels, creating a “spine” of water that divides the public and private spaces of the home and can be traversed via small bridges.

Find out more about Lake Washington Shores Residence ›

Villa Cava, Mexico, by Espacio 18 Arquitectura

This brutalist holiday home in Tulum was designed to pay homage to cenotes – Mexico’s ancient freshwater sinkholes – by integrating not just one but two different pools into its concrete structure.

One is a swim-up pool that leads directly onto the ground-floor living room and the other is perched on the roof but visible from below via a striking circular skylight, creating the impression of looking up at a cenote’s cavernous opening.

Find out more about Villa Cava ›

Jellyfish House, Spain, by Wiel Arets Architects

A glass-bottomed pool cantilevers out from the roof of this house by Dutch office Wiel Arets Architects, covering a semi-enclosed terrace beside the main entrance on the ground floor.

“The searing Spanish sun constantly filters through the pool’s glass wall and floor, creating ripples of iridescent turquoise reflections throughout the entire house,” the design team explained.

Find out more about Wiel Arets Architects ›

Cornwall Gardens, Singapore, by Chang Architects

This multi-generational family home in Singapore is arranged around a central courtyard with a swimming pool as well as a waterfall and Koi carp pond separated from each other by a small bridge.

From the ground-floor dining room, inhabitants have to cross a small bridge to reach the living room. Alternatively, they can descend a few steps into the dry, sunken seating area that is built into the pool.

Find out more about Cornwall Gardens ›

Panorama House, Brazil, by Fernanda Marques

Swimmers in the pool of this two-storey apartment in São Paulo can be watched from the home’s double-height living room like fish in an aquarium tank.

Designed for a couple, the 10-metre-long pool is visible through extra thick glass windows that had to be imported from abroad.

Find out more about Panorama House ›

The post Eight houses that integrate swimming pools into their architecture appeared first on Dezeen.

With just over two weeks left until entries close, Dezeen Awards judges including interior designer Eny Lee Parker, and architects Paola Navone and Piero Lissoni, explain why awards are a chance to promote your work.

Dezeen Awards 2023, in partnership with Bentley Motors, is open for entries. Submit your project before midnight London time on 1 June to avoid late entry fees.

“Award competitions can be a source of promotion – by entering a competition, you are automatically having your work seen by industry leaders,” US interior designer Eny Lee Parker told Dezeen.

“Because it’s like telling a story with tried and tested evidence, you manage to present yourself and narrate a better story to potential new clients,” agreed Lissoni & Partners founder Lissoni.

“Awards encourage design innovation”

Italian architect Navone believes awards are valuable tools when trying to learn about and transform the creative industry.

“They are an important opportunity to socialise, belong to a community, gain knowledge about the creative world, as well as participate actively in the transformation of the spaces we live in,” said Navone.

Interior stylist Colin King agreed that award programmes offer an opportunity to connect and build new networks.

“Award programmes encourage design innovation and enable makers to build new relationships and reach new audiences in addition to exposing their work to other industry professionals who are participating on the judging panel,” King told Dezeen.

Dezeen Awards is an “enormous benefit to our industry”

Canadian architect Kelly Alvarez Doran of architecture practice MASS Design Group considers programmes such as Dezeen Awards to offer a valuable opportunity to reassess a project and set new design benchmarks.

“Awards are a great way to revisit a project to assess its impacts,” said Doran. “We’re in the process of gathering environmental and social project data together for upcoming awards. It has been enlightening to see project performance relative to the goals we’d set out years ago, and how and where we’re either exceeding or falling short.”

“Awards like those of Dezeen can be of enormous benefit to our industry – if we’re reporting performance metrics as part of the submission awards stand to be a great aggregator of data and benchmarks that we’re in desperate need of,” added Doran.

Japanese interior designer Masamichi Katayama is also of the opinion that awards give studios the chance to evaluate their own work.

“I think it is very important to test the strength of our designs in this award, where many members of the jury have the ability to select designs that will be evaluated in the future,” said the Wonderwall founder and principal of Katayama.

Enter now!

You have until midnight London time on 1 June to complete your entry. Visit our entry information page to see how you can enter and drop us a line at awards@dezeen.com if you have any questions.

Dezeen Awards 2023

Dezeen Awards celebrates the world’s best architecture, interiors and design. Now in its sixth year, it has become the ultimate accolade for architects and designers across the globe. The annual awards are in partnership with Bentley Motors, as part of a wider collaboration that will see the brand work with Dezeen to support and inspire the next generation of design talent.

The post Dezeen Awards are an opportunity “to test the strength of our designs” appeared first on Dezeen.

Algae-focused design practice EcoLogicStudio has turned its subject into a biodegradable biopolymer, from which it has “grown” a 3D-printed, 10-metre-tall tree that carries out photosynthesis.

Titled Tree One, the massive, self-supporting tree sculpture was shown at two exhibitions presented by car brand Hyundai at its studios in Korea – first Habitat One in Busan and then Habitat One: Sustainable Shelter in Seoul.

The tree incorporates two algae-based elements – the trunk, which is 3D-printed from a biopolymer that EcoLogicStudio has formulated from the biomass created from harvested microalgae, and a number of photobioreactors containing living cyanidium microalgae cultures incorporated into the trunk and base of the installation.

The most recent installation, in Seoul, incorporated 40 of these glass photobioreactors, containing 500 litres of algae cultures that are actively carrying out photosynthesis, drawing carbon dioxide out of the air and releasing oxygen as they grow. EcoLogicStudio said the installation had a photosynthetic potential equivalent to one mature tree.

Tree One grew out of EcoLogicStudio’s long-time interest in the air-purifying power of algae, which co-founder Claudia Pasquero described as being hugely efficient.

“When you use a mechanical filter, you extract elements from the air, but you still see the pollutants somewhere,” she told Dezeen. “What happens with microalgae is that they really feed on them and by feeding, they grow and remetabolise, and by growing, they produce biomass.”

The biomass in question is more of the microalgae itself, which is also known as phytoplankton and is a single-celled organism. The microalgae growing in artificial environments such as EcoLogicStudio’s photobioreactors needs to be harvested every few weeks to make way for new growth and remove naturally decayed cells.

With the harvested biomass, EcoLogicStudio has several options: it can either reuse it in a new photobioreactor, or it can dry it out and turn it into a product, such as a material or even a food source.

“With Tree One we started experimenting with bringing this back to architecture by synthesising a biopolymer that is completely biodegradable, can be 3D printed, and therefore despite being quite soft, acquires structural stability through its morphology,” said Pasquero.

By making it into a material, EcoLogicStudio stores the carbon captured within the biomass until it is returned to the earth to biodegrade, in a similar way to timber.

“Tree One is the largest structure we have built with this idea to complete the overall cycle of remetabolisation of air and store the carbon in a new architectural structure,” said Pasquero.

EcoLogicStudio made the biopolymer by combining the biomass with four other biodegradable ingredients – chitin (derived from mycelium, mushrooms or crustacean shells), agar (derived from potato peel or corn), vinegar and glycerin.

The designers used four industrial robots and 20 large-scale 3D-printing machines to extrude this material into the Tree One structure, which has a pleated shape that references the fibruous trunks of real trees and which gives it its strength.

The design was developed with the help of algorithms that combined the logic of architectural columns and arboreal systems, mimicking the “biological intelligence” of the natural world to obtain maximum strength from the pliable material.

The designers started with a minimal path or minimal-network algorithm, which EcoLogicStudio co-founder Marco Poletto describes as simulating how fibres would grow from the base of a tree to the top. Another algorithm turned the bundles of fibres into more solid folds that could be extruded with one continuous line.

“Tree One plays a little bit with this archetype of architecture, the column, which since antiquity was inspired by nature, by trees,” said Poletto. “There are classical orders, and maybe we have added one now, of a kind of bio-digital column.”

According to Poletto, the algae-based biopolymer used to make Tree One is already suitable for use as cladding on interiors or exteriors, while experimentation on larger, self-supporting structures continues.

Showing alongside the sculpture in the Habitat One: Sustainable Shelter exhibition were two videos using artificial intelligence to envision the architecture of carbon-neutral cities, and an educational “Bio Lab” that broke down the process of making Tree One.

“Imagining a carbon neutral city implies the complete redefinition of all our production, construction and waste recycling processes,” said Pasquero. “It is not enough to consider upgrading a contemporary city through application of new green technology, but we need to imagine and visualise new photosynthetic processes that will determine its future growth.”

EcoLogicStudio is based in London. Its recent work has included an air-purifying children’s playground and the Bit.Bio.Bot exhibition of edible algae at the Venice Architecture Biennale.

Photography is by Joonhwan Yoon.

Habitat One: Sustainable Shelter was on show in Seoul until 14 May. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

The post EcoLogicStudio turns algae into air-purifying biopolymer “tree” appeared first on Dezeen.